Unlocking Learning from Formal Settings: Transformations and Fantasies with Technology

2GO: Pedagogical Mobility

Conference

Oslo, October 18, 2002

Bridget Somekh

Manchester Metropolitan University

Lets go on an ‘ideas journey’: presentation outline

• Learning transformation in the home: examples from ImpaCT2

• Pupils’ awareness of ‘Computers in their World’• Evidence from Pupil Researchers in ImpaCT2• Separate Cultures of home, school and peer group• Schools going mobile - examples from ICTHOS et al.• Fantasies and practical experiments with mobile phones• Finding ‘fit’ between people and technologies• Can we find ‘fit’ between technologies and pedagogy?• What next? transformations and fantasies to come …

2GO with knowledge transformation

• ICT (IKT) is a new tool and we must expect it to transform human activity (Wertsch, 1998). It is doing so in many areas but not so far in schools.

• The development of mind includes ‘distributed cognition’ (Salamon, 1993) and ICT supports the collaborative process

• When knowledge is situated in authentic contexts it is transformed from ‘school knowledge’ to ‘usable knowledge’ (Brown et al 1989). ICT can provide authentic contexts for learning - for example, when it is self-directed or collaborative with an adult.

So - are 10-16 year old pupils havingany transforming learning experiences?

The ImpaCT2 project, 1999-2002, looked at theimpact of ICT on pupils’ learning. Strand 1 looked for evidence of improved performance intest scores. Strand 2 looked for evidence of newkinds of learning, including informal learningin the home and within youth culture.

(Harrison et al. 2001; Somekh et al. 2002 forthcoming)

One method used was concept mapping. Pupilswere asked to tell the researchers their ideas about‘Computers in My World’ through drawing a map.

Emma, aged 15: personal and social use of ICT

Learning transformation - in the home

Young people

have highawareness

of ICT

either have ICT skills

already or acquirethem quickly

Cole1999

Time using ICT

at home is oftenunlimited

Powerfulcomputers

at home andno ‘blocks’

Home use of ICT is

self-directed andexploratory+ may be‘situated’

ImpaCT22002

Chaiklinand Lave

1996

Analysis of concept maps• Both quantitative and qualitative• Started with detailed scrutiny looking for

patterns (grounded theory / phenomenography)• Five part analysis: number of ‘nodes’, number

of ‘links’, ‘connectivity’ (links divided by nodes), number of ‘spheres of thinking’,number of ‘zones of use’. Correlations with kids’ responses to questionnaires on use of ICT

• Semiotic interpretation of the maps• Follow up interviews looking for patterns of

awareness.

Young people’s ‘ways of knowing’

• Emma, aged 15: social and personal use

• Roger, aged 10: electronic games

• Amanda, aged 13: information/communication

• Tom, aged 14: computers in different locations

• Brian, aged 11: different kinds of technologies

Phenomenography,

Marton and Booth1997

Roger: electronic games

Rogeraged 10June 2000:Gamesmachines

Amanda: information and communication

Amanda, aged 10, June 2000: information and communication

Tom - zones of use

Scott, aged 14, June 2001: ‘Zones of Use’

Brian, aged 11, June 2001: fascination with technology

Working with pupils as researchers

• Teachers were asked to invite selected pupils to work with the team as researchers

• They provided additional data:

- A log of one week’s computer activities

- A Special Report of an ICT activity which had been particularly helpful for their learning

- A questionnaire on their use of, and attitudes to, the Internet

- Pupil interviews of other pupils on their use of mobile phones, games or the Internet.

 

Name:

Age:

School:

Please choose a time time when using the computer has helped you with your school work. This is not a test!

Please tell us

what you think.

pupils as informants: the Special Report

Name: Age:

WHY is your number one website your f avourite?

Which are your 5 f avourite websites? How of ten do you visit them? Please provide the names of t he sites or their f ocus.

1………………………………………………………………… 2………………………………………………………………… 3………………………………………………………………… 4………………………………………………………………… 5…………………………………………………………………

Most days Every few days About once a month

pupils as informants: the Internet Questionnaire

Are you happy for the interview to be recorded?

This cassette and the report will be sent to a university researcher.

That person will listen to the tape and read the report.

The information will be used to help the ImpacT2 team to find out about how we use computers at home.

What people say is private and no names will be given in the project reports.

Are you happy with this?

Please make sure you have the things you need:

• these instructions• your questions• a pen or pencil (so that you can tick off which questions you have asked)• a cassette recorder• a blank cassette.

  

IMPORTANT!• Please check that the cassette recorder is working properly (that it records and plays back).

• Please ask If it is okay to record the interview.

• Please make sure you switch the cassette recorder on.

• Please explain what the interview is about.

• Please explain what ImpacT2 is and what your job is.

 It is okay to change your questions or add more.

Informal use at home - doing what?

Simon’s ‘log’ of ICT

use for a week:one hour at school

seven hours at homeof ‘games’

Monday:‘I went on the

internet and gotpictures.’

Wednesdayand Thursday:

‘I played a manager game.’ (runninga football club)

Thursday: ‘I played the game

“sensible soccer”.’

Friday: ‘I played on a

game where youcould make your

own music.’

Playing‘Games’ involves learning

Cultures of home, school and peer group are very separate

• ‘Learning’ is about school in the discourse of UK young people. It’s not ‘cool’.

• ‘Games’ and ‘playing on the computer’ is their discourse of using ICT at home. It’s ‘cool.’

• Learning is the business of school, and home and school should be kept apart: ‘I don’t want to be at school learning for six hours and then go home and my Mum’s drumming information into my head as well.’ (14 year old boy, ICTHOS project)

Pedagogy is frozen in the school, not mobile.

ICT and Home-School Links Project (ICTHOS)

• Focus: experimental work using ICT to link home and school in innovative schools.

• Knowledge mapping exercise, drawing on ‘gray literature’ and published work.

• Questionnaire of 100 schools which had been ‘noticed’ for this kind of innovative work.

• Interviews with ‘key informants’ known to be influential in UK policy development for ICT

• Stake-holders seminar after 3 months• Case studies of seven schools selected from

questionnaire responses for interesting types of use.

(Somekh, Mavers and Lewin, 2001)

Experimenting with mobile pedagogy in innovative schools in England

Transferring pupilswork between home

and schools usingfloppy discs

Transferring files between

home and schoolby email Access

to the school’sintranet and own

personal work spaceat home and at

school viainternet

Personallaptops for

teachers and pupils used both

at school andat home

Accessto the school’s

intranet from homeusing a ‘thin client’

located athome.

Laptopswith wireless

links ‘owned’ bydepartments for

flexible in-schooluse instead of

ICT rooms

Linkinghospital, schooland home using

Video-conferencing

Wirelesslinks between

schools and between home and school

Earlier examples of mobile pedagogy

• Video-conferencing to bring specialist teachers to remote schools in the north-west of Scotland, for example Art and Science

(Hall, McPake and Somekh, 1997)

• Primary children learning with Psion Peresonal Organisers

e.g. Project work in theforest: noting observationsin a portable Psion.

Psion Projectled byDiane Mavers1993

Schools can change.Classroom walls can bebroken down.

Because new technology tools transform what we cando to facilitate learning.

Examining a leafas part of projectwork in the forest.

All the childrenare entering data about their observations in portable Psions.They will down-loadthe data into PCsback at school.

Fantasizing with phones

Phones are ‘cool’because no oneneed ever again

be alone

Phones arecultural capital for

teenagers

Escapingfrom here ..

Practical experiments with mobile phones for mobile learning

• The M-Learning Project, Ultralab, LSDA and CTAD (UK); CRMPA (Italy); Lecando (Sweden) funded by the EU IST Programme - 16-24 age group not in full time education- microportal- ‘bite-sized’ learning materials

• M-learning, a project of the Norwegian NKI Electronic College www.nettskolen.com

Finding ‘fit’ between people’s practical and emotional needs and technologies

• “Phones are a bit like a soap opera. You get addicted and youcan’t wait for the next soap - you can’t wait till the next call.”

Young man aged 20-24 in a shopping centre survey conductedby Carol Savill-Smith of the UK Learning and Skill Council in the ‘m-Learning project’ (Savill-Smith, 2002)

• Buying books from Amazon ‘fits’ the needs of university researchers.

• Accessing the internet via a G2.5 mobile phone ‘fits’ the needs ofJapanese young people, because few have computers at home. Email by mobile phone is ‘cool’ and cheap, ‘texting’ is hardly used.

(Dias, 2002)

• In England, ‘texting’ by mobile phone fits the needs of teenagersin school - because it is silent, secret and private.

Can we find ‘fit’ with technologies through pedagogical mobility?

The m-Learning project’s microportal:

“Desk and field research into the needs, preferences, attitudes and habits of young adult mobile phone users informs the iterative design and development process.” (Popat, 2002)

GridClub is an educational ‘fun’ web-site for 7-11 year oldchildren developed by Channel 4 TV, Oracle and Intuitive Mediawith funding from the British Government. www.gridclub.com

Mike Sharples adopted a similar iterative process to research anddevelop ‘portable learning technologies’ for young chldren

(Sharples, 1999)

New forms of assessment for new kinds of learning with ICT

• Stephen Heppell’s example from yesterday (incorporating assessment within a meta-cognitive cycle)

• Switch from summative to formative assessment with an emphasis on supporting learning (Wiliam and Black 2002)

• Computer adaptive assessment - the support model (Ahmed and Pollitt, 2002)

Transformations … or fantasies … to come?

•Schools will have wireless networking.•Adults’ and kids’ roles will both be as co-learners.•Both will own personal, portable, computers with wireless connectivity, full internet capabilities, and access at home and school.•These might be mobile phones with‘pop-out’ screens and plug-in keyboards.•Learning will be ‘unlocked’ from schools.

More transformations … or fantasies …?

•The curriculum will be negotiated. •Assessment will incorporate use of ICT and access to on-line resources •All schools will engage in learning through exploration, self-directed projects & play.•Timing of the school day will be flexible •Groupings will vary in size to fit purpose.•Communities will share with schools therole of caring for young people.

Ahmed, A. and Pollit, A. (2002). Computer-adaptive assessmentfor learning: the support model. British Educational ResearchAssociation Conference, University of Exeter.Brown, J. S., Collins, A. and Duguid, P. (1989). “SituatedCognition and the Culture of Learning.” Educational Researcher32(Jan-Feb): 32-42.Chaiklin, S. and Lave, J. (1996). Understanding Practice:Perspectives on Activity and Context. Cambridge, New York andMelbourne, Cambridge University Press.Cole, M. (1999). Cultural psychology: some general principles anda concrete example. In Perspectives on Activity Theory. Y.Engestrom, R. Miettinen and R.-L. Punamaki. Cambridge, NewYork and Melbourne, Cambridge University Press.

References

Dias, J. V. (2002). Cell Phones in Education: Not Just a Nuisance. British Educational Research Association Conference, at Exeter University.Hall, J., McPake, J. and Somekh, B. (1997). Education Departments' Superhighways Initiative Final Report of two Scottish Projects. Edinburgh, Scottish Council for Research in Education.Harrison, C., Fisher, T., Haw, K., Lewin, C., McFarlane, A., Mavers, D., Scrimshaw, P. and Somekh, B. (2001). ImpaCT2: Emerging Findings from the Evaluation of the Impact of Information and Communications Technologies on Pupil Attainment. London, Department for Education and Skills. www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/ImpaCT2/Marton, F. and Booth, S. (1997). Learning and Awareness. Mahwah NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Popat, K. (2002). Microportal Development for an m-Learning Project. British Educational Research Association, at Exeter University.Salomon, G., Ed. (1993). Distributed Cognitions: psychological and educational considerations. Cambridge, New York and Melbourne, Cambridge Univeresity Press.Savill-Smith, C. (2002). The m-Learning Project and Its Investigation into Young Adults' Use of Mobile Phones. British Educational Research Association Conference, at Exeter University.Sharples, M. (1999). Disruptive Devices: Personal Technologies and Education. Inaugural lecture of the Kodak / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Educational Technology, University of Birmingham.

Somekh, B., Lewin, C., Mavers, D., Fisher,T., Harrison, C., Haw, K., Lunzer, E.,McFarlane, A. and P, S. (2002 (in press)).ImpaCT2 Final Report Part 3: Learning withICT: Pupils' and Teachers' Perspectives.London, Department for Education andSkills.Somekh, B., Mavers, D. and Lewin, C.(2002). Using ICT to enhance home-schoollinks: an evaluation of current practice inEngland. London, Department for Educationand Skills.www.becta.org.uk/homeschoollinksWertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as Action. NewYork and Oxford, Oxford University Press.Wiliam, D. and Black, P. (2002). WorkingInside the Black Box. London, King'sCollege, University of London