Alan Porritt, file photo: AAP
It’s been 3 pretty long years since I set foot in a high
school and 10 years since I was in a school with teenage boys. This eventful
day would definitely be one I will remember for a lifetime.
My first impression of the school was that it was like any other.
Students were throwing around balls; others were running across the parking lot
to get to homeroom and a teacher was calmly sipping from large travel mug as he
kept a vigilant eye on his charges. It wasn’t until I set foot in the classroom
that I realised how ignorant I was to the incredible changes in classroom since
I was last there.
Gone are the days of black boards, white boards and even
projection boards. It’s the age of smart boards and smart devices. Each
individual in the class sported a shiny Macbook laptop with access to a wealth
of information in the form of Edmodo, E-portfolios, G-drive and good old
Google. Once upon a time, in a class quietly copying notes, we could hear the
pleasant sounds of pens scratching paper but now we hear the rhythmic tapping
of keys as students type information presented to them via a large projected
image.
When I questioned the teachers about the new arrangement,
many words of praise were given about this new form of pedagogy. Laptops
allowed students to complete work in their E-portfolios, an electronic notebook.
Work could be viewed and marked by the teacher at any time. There was no longer
an issue of illegible handwriting, bent pages, and questionable stains in books.
Also, sheets and information could be accessed online for students who miss
class. Paper usage has also gone considerably which would probably be given a
big-thumbs up by the environment. This revolutionary change to a very ICT (information
and communication technology) based learning has been embraced my most teachers
in the school, as an essential tool to engage and maintain the academic
capabilities of their students.
In the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, an article
called the “Transforming teaching and learning: embedding ICT into everyday
classroom practices,” was published exploring the use of ICT as a useful tool
in classrooms across a range of subjects. The project covered 5 strands that
came together to create a complex picture of ICT in education. Each of the strands were examined to see how teaching
and learning, policy and management, subject cultures, professional development
and learners' out-of-school uses of ICT were linked in providing students with
new learning strategies. One detail that was concluded from the study was that
assessment tasks should also evolve along with these new pedagogies. The
dominant mode of assessment now is frantic writing with pen to paper. Does that
form of testing really reflect on what is important and widely-used once the
students leave school? Reviewing the
current methods of assessment might be a good way to finally test the aspects
of student abilities that really matter, their knowledge not their writing
speed.
Alas, along with tremendous benefits, there appear to be
some pitfalls in using integrated technological methods of teaching. Although
most students were organised and arrived to class with their laptops, charged
and ready to go, some students arrived with various excuses for their lack of
smart device. One student claimed to have broken their laptop and another had
lost his charger. Most simply forgot to bring theirs to class. A couple of the
students with their laptops on their person didn’t have much luck completing
their work either. With the endless stream of updates on Apple devices, some
students’ laptops were just not compatible to the school’s intranet. Even when the
laptops were in tip top shape with perfect access to the internet, there arises
the problem of students remaining on task. In my rounds around the classroom I
witnessed students playing games, chatting and looking up irrelevant images on
Google. How does a teacher kept their class in order while faces are buried
behind a screens?
With much talent and experience, I discovered. The teacher I
was observing revealed that he tactfully allowed one or two students go off
task as long as the rest of the class were completing their set work. It was
all about the big picture. By micromanaging the class, no work could ever be
finished because the teacher would spend most of their time calling students
into order. By relaxing, showing patience and the will to change to the
changing needs of students, teachers can become gifted artists, moulding the
little people of tomorrow.
