3rd Learning reflection

Well, Another week down and I am feeling a lot more confident as time goes by.

This week I learnt about e-Learning Maturity Model (eMM) and e-Learning Planning Framework (eLPF). I only had to choose the one which was best suited to my context (eLPF) however I started doing the readings for eMM by mistake and found it extremely interesting so I completed an intuitive assessment based on a distance course which I completed a few years ago. It was quite amazing looking at the course based on the assessment scale,it highlighted many things in which I had not considered when I was taking the course and although the assessment was completed on my own knowledge it was still very intriguing to look into. I know the course has been restructured since I completed it so I question as to where it would now sit on the eMM if I was to look at the new structured course and then complete another intuitive assessment.

After I had completed this I did the e-activities related to eLPF, as this framework is more suited to my context. Again when looking at the readings I found myself thinking through how things were within the school I did the assessment on. I decided it would be quite interesting to go and spend a day at Lowmoor School to see first hand how they are using technologies within the teaching and learning. I think as some technologies are a new thing and is still being implemented within the education sector there will be many schools out there that are going to be sitting around the engaging stage. The implementation of these technologies are not going to happen overnight as as I have also learnt by looking at CBAM and LAT that the implementation of new technologies needs to follow model and it can take many years to implement even one small change. As schools are utilising technologies more and more they will continue to move along the framework to the 'Empowering' stage.

When doing these readings and activities I thought about the planning framework in not only the school I did the assessment on but also another couple of schools in which I have spent a bit of time in. I never really thought about the differences in the way technologies are used within the different schools so my eyes are definitely a bit more open then they were.

At the start of this course I felt like a fish out of water, I was floundering and uncertain on which direction to take and whether I was doing things right. I am extremely thankful that the lecturers for the course have been fantastic so far and given some extremely useful constructive criticism where needed to give guidance to the essay which will soon be due.

eLPF school evaluation

I am completing an evaluation of a school using the e-learning planning framework. (eLPF)
For this evaluation I will be looking at a state contributing primary school based in one of the major cities of New Zealand.
My overall judgement is that the school is currently sitting at the "engaging" stage of the eLPF framework.

Leadership and strategic direction:

I have placed this school in the engage stage. The school vision talks about how ICT is used to support the school curriculum. Senior management and staff within the school mentor others on the use of technologies to enhance the teaching and learning. cybersafety is briefly touched on and the needs of the children sometimes informs the strategic plan.

Professional learning:

Teachers within the school are very good at trialing and reflecting on ICT in action, they are heading towards the impact of e-Learning on identified learning needs. There is a supportive culture throughout the whole school in relation to e-Learning. The e-Learning throughout the school is getting better as teachers are continuing their professional development by attending additional courses for implementing ICT more effectively within the classroom, there is support to allow the teachers to ask questions and personalise the use of ICT for learning purposes.

Beyond the classroom:

Technologies are being used to engage with the community however this is minimal. There is a school facebook page and class blogs that are used to engage with the community but these are often not updated and irregularly checked for comments.

Technologies and Infrastructure:

The school has a lot of access to reliable ICT resources, each class a a mixture of resources and classrooms are able to use the equipment from other rooms if required. There is an extremely well managed system in place to improve organisational efficiency. The school network environment is currently being developed so that the it suits the needs of the school and the community.

Teaching and Learning:

 The use of ICT is used across most curriculum areas within the classroom. E-Learning resources are appropriate for the required needs of the learning. There is a growing awareness about digital citizenship amongst students. Technologies are being trialed for their uses in relation to diverse students and if effective are being utilised to help with the learning. The school uses technologies as tools of reflection. Students are freely able to use the technology to share and reflect on their learning.

Reference:

Ministry of Education (n.d.) The e-Learning planning framework retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/content/download/1122/7656/file/e-Learning%20Planning%20Framework.pdf

Disclaimer:

This evaluation was conducted as a personal learning exercise to gain understanding of the eLPF and my evaluation of the school was restricted to public documentation and personal knowledge without detailed insights into all organisational processes.

eMM Intuitive Assessment

I am conducting an intuitive assessment of the processes L1, L2 and L3 based on my knowledge of the course restricted to the delivery dimension. I have selected an undergraduate course where there is a choice to study on campus or by distance, I will be using the distance option for my assessment. This course is delivered by a university within New Zealand.

I will be using the eMM capability assessment scale of: Not Adequate (NA); Partially Adequate (PA); Largely Adequate (LA); or Fully Adequate (FA)

L1. Learning objectives are apparent in the design and implementation of courses.

PA - Formally stated learning objectives provided to a limited extent,either as narrative descriptions of the course outcomes or only in documentation provided after enrolment.
LA - Most, but not all, assessments and learning activities contain explicit linkages to course learning objectives or restate learning objectives using different wording.

PA - Learning objectives linked implicitly, incompletely or inconsistently during design and development to wider programme or institutional objectives.
LA - Learning objectives address student outcomes other than recall in most but not all courses.
PA - Learning objectives linked implicitly, incompletely or inconsistently during course workload and assessment design and development.

L2. Students are provided with mechanisms for interaction with teaching staff and other students. 

PA - Interaction between staff and students provided only through a limited or informal mechanism or only through face to face contact.
FA - Course documentation contains clear and consistently presented lists of teaching staff email addresses repeated in suitable places.
LA - Technical support is provided to students to assist them in making effective use of the available communication channels, but support is not actively promoted or provided to all students.

L3. Student skill development for e-learning is provided.

LA - The relationships between course components and activities are conveyed to students explicitly, but only for some components or courses, or in an unnecessarily different way between courses.
LA - Formal opportunities for students to practice with e-learning technologies and pedagogies provided after commencement of courses, or only cover some technologies and pedagogies or some courses.
PA - E-learning skills support and training is provided informally and depends on the teaching staff skills and availability.
PA - Course activities provide limited, inconsistent or informal feedback opportunities beyond the marks assigned for assessed work.

Value Judgement:

This assessment is based on my memory of a course. This course was completed a few years ago and I know that the course has been altered but I have not looked into the new details. This assessment is based on what I remember from when I completed the course and therefore should not be taken as a reliable analysis.

Disclaimer:
This eMM intuitive assessment is based on limited knowledge and personal experience of the course from only my perspective. It was completed as a course activity for EDEM630 and is not a valid assessment.

Resource used:
Marshall, S. (2007). E-Learning Maturity Model: Process descriptions [draft report]. Retrieved from http://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/mod/page/view.php?id=186287

2 more bibliography resources

Sherry, L., & Gibson, D. (2002). The path to teacher leadership in educational technology. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education

Description:  

This looks at Learning/Adoption Trajectory (LAT).  It has a series of four stages which are used to learn to use instructional technology (IT).

a)      Teacher as the learner. This is the information gathering stage where the teachers learn the knowledge and skills necessary for performing instructional tasks using technology.

b)      Teacher as the adopter. This is the stage where the teacher progresses through personal and task management concern whilst experimenting with the technology within the classroom.

c)       Teacher as co-learner. This is where the teacher focuses on developing a clear relationship between technology and the curriculum.

d)      Teacher as reaffirmer or rejecter. This is when the teacher develops a greater awareness of outcomes and begins to create new ways to observe and assess impact of the technology.

Once the four stages have been used the teacher will then move onto the stage: Teacher as leader. This is where the teacher is experienced and expands their role to become an active researcher, also to share improvements and teach new members.

Evaluation:

This looks like a useful model however I don’t think it will fit with my research topic very well. It is based more on the teacher using the technology within a whole class environment rather then for specific students within the classroom.

Ronnie H. Shroff, R.H., Deneen, C.C. and Ng, E.M.W. (2011). Analysis of the technology acceptance model in examining students’ behavioural intention to use an e-portfolio system, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. 2011, 27(4), 600-618.

Description:

This looks at the Technology acceptance model (TAM) and how it is used for the adoption of e-portfolio use, It looks at the perceived usefulness and ease of use followed by the attitude towards use and the behavioural intention towards usage.

Evaluation:

I think this model would be a useful one when looking at the use of learning games for ASD children, The ease of use and the usefulness are important aspects to have when introducing a new technology. This model would help to look at the attitudes and behaviours from introducing the new technology.

Reflection 2

Well, time has gone so quickly!

Its funny how we take things for granted. Yesterday I discovered I was unable to access learn, uni databases, student web and all other online areas that required a password to get into. This got very quickly sorted with a password reset and I was able to continue working on my assignments again. However today when I tried to log in I encountered the same unable to log in problems. Ringing the IT help desk gave me no answers and a really long wait for the problem to be solved (4.5hrs)
I rang them in the end and discovered that my account had been terminated however they could not tell me why as they didn't know.

Anyway now that I can get back into everything again I can continue to work on assignment 1.1 since I have just completed assignment 1.2 and am getting ready to upload it. I am feeling quite good right now :) With scenario planning fresh in my mind the decision to complete that first was a pretty easy one to make.

It was quite interesting being a part of a mOOC, something I had never done before. I did find it extremely hard to keep within the time frames for some of the tasks and on occasion spent well over the 1-2 hours a day reading and researching information. (highly addictive)

Schools: Destroying our environment!

Gone are the days where schools are attended by all children, where there is government funding for schools and where children get multiple interactions with the teacher and their peers.

Today we have none of that, with the government constantly losing money, the decision to stop funding in the education sector was made. Majority of schools could not survive without the funding and the now empty buildings that used to be filled with children's chatter and laughter are only being  used by poorer families that are trying to give their children some type of education by using old textbooks and anything else they can find that was left behind in the classrooms.

However some schools did survive, they turned into privitised schools with enormous tuition fees, large sized classrooms and huge amounts of technology. The children that are wealthy enough to go to these schools have the newest technology and learning tools as soon as they are released. There are no concerns about the amount of children within each class as all the children work at their own speed as determined by the new computer technology. This technology keeps track of how well the student is learning and plans their learning for the following day based on the days achievements.Technology is now used for everything within the school day and the children are beginning to rely on the technology for all aspects within their lives. Due to the increase in technology the way the children are taught has changed significantly. You will not find a pen and paper within the class, children don't have textbooks and the library is now online with all books available to be read online by multiple people at one time.

In order to maintain the cost of the new privitised schooling the schools have had to constantly upgrade their technology used within the classrooms. Parents want to see their children learning to their full potential and with the price they are paying for their children to be able to learn old technology just won't do. The schools employed techno-teachers to find the best technology from around the world and obtain it for use within the school. When the new technology arrives the old gets disposed of as soon as the new is installed.

With the rate of technological advance the stream of new technologies entering the different privitised schools is extremely high, due to this the rate of technological equipment being disposed of is skyrocketing, the demand for old technology is low as everyone wants the next best thing, so it just starts to pile up. Recyclers of the technological waste centers work hard to keep the levels of waste at a minimum but it quickly becomes hard to do and the waste starts to pile up and affect the environment that we live in.

Schools are being warned that if they continue their technological ways then not only are they making our children reliant on technology but that they will also continue to destroy the environment around them.

By Jennifer Bourne

Scenario Matrix

I really struggled with this task, been pondering if for 2 days before I could get to the point of typing it up. I wanted to look at technology in education and the increase having effects on socialism within schools but also the difference between privitised and public schools using the technology.. hopefully I have done this right

Couch Potato
School has moved to online tutorials, these are monitored by teachers for attendance and achievement levels for each student. Learning is not individualised but teachers are available for online support during the day if necessary. The technology used is very basic and not always upgraded when required due to funding and the cost of new technology.
The students in the scenario see school as a bore, they can't learn as they want to as the technology is not available and will often not completed the required tasks due to problems with the old technology.

Closed clam:
Schools are attended online, the learning is expensive due to the technology required to access the learning content. Once logged on the programme for the day is available and the students work through at their own pace. Tests are included within the daily programme if necessary to help the technology assess the students progress and assign the learning for the next day based on their achievements.
Students do not talk to each other or a teacher as all learning is independent, technology is used to ensure this.

Wallflower:
Schools are all public funded, Student grouping is used on a regular basis to maintain the social aspect of school. The technology is not relied upon and has a small presence within the classroom with other equipment and resources used before technoogy. Schools receive funding from the government to keep up with the change in technology but this is a minimal amount and is spent with careful consideration on technology that will last the longest and have the most uses. Teachers guide the learning by selecting appropriate programs for the students to match their learning needs.

Social Butterflies:
School is maintained for the social factor within education. In this scenario funding is not an issue as the schools are all privitised and tuition fees are high to allow new technology to be accessible at all times. Technology is relied on for all aspects of the day and as soon as something new is released the classroom equipment is upgraded. Teachers are only there for supervision and support as students learn through online tutorials.
The draw back of this scenario is the amount of e-waste that is accumulating due to constant upgrades within the schools, the amount is not able to be disposed if fast enough to stop it causing damage to the environment.