Monday, December 06, 2010

Teachers, technology and design

From the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. Teaching as:
  • telling is traditional model
  • fascillitation - the newer student centred approach
  • design - often neglected
learning by
  • listening is traditional model
  • doing is the newer approach - more active forms of learning & focus on task
Importance of design
  • diversifying student needs and expectations
  • rising expectations about graduate capabilities
  • technological change
  • increased pressures on teaching staff - staff student ratios, fund raising, etc
Issues of teachers using tech when they have no teacher training! Lecturers are gifted amateurs when it comes to teaching and ignorant of the literature: often seen as meaningless or not related to their field.

LAMS used to planning pedagogy. Lecturers need vocab to talk about what is happening in lectures. Provides various activities, e.g. problem based learning (PBL) which is learner focussed and there is not one right answer. LAMS provides a generic scaffolding for this. Form you fill out as the content expert. Such scaffolding helps give lecturers the opportunity to think like (teaching) professionals.

Next came discussion on TPACK I can't follow. Link here on what TPACK is about: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge as a framework to capture some of the knowledge that is required for the inclusion of technology into teaching. Includes content, pedagogy and technological knowledge. As I see it, good design means you know what it is you want learners to learn/explore/become competent or develop mastery in, know how you are going to enable this and how best to use the technology.

Talk found other related contexts include curriculum knowledge, learner characteristics, institutional conext and educational ends.

Most academics when starting design for a new unit start with outcomes or content. Usual stuff on design, taking student feedback into account, usually not throw away all predecessor's material but familiarise and align to own teaching styles. My own experience matches this - you change emphasis and look but content only if significant gaps. Other teachers are a valued resource.

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