Reflections on technology being used for teaching or for learning.

OK I'll get the ball rolling - not to sure what to write but here goes...

In the presentation that was given on our first evening the use of IT in teaching and learning split into 2 categories ‘Learning from computers’ and ‘Learning with computers’.

In my experience teachers who are new to using IT in teaching & learning find it natural to plan activities where students learn from computers. An example of a typical task could be ‘research about a planet in our solar system’ and so they simply use IT as a replacement for a text book or a library.

Teachers may then progress to using IT as a tool to assist them to teach the students; maybe an animation of a heart pumping is shown on the white board whilst didactically explaining how the circulatory system works. Personally I still classify this as learning from computers since it is again being used simply as a replacement for a diagram, but the activity of the students (sitting and listening) has not changed.

The first step towards students learning with ICT seems to come when a teacher stops focusing on the IT resources and starts to focus on what the students are doing.

In this case simple changes to activities can occur which suddenly allow the students to learn with IT and not from it. For example the solar system activity could be changed to:

‘Create a 2 minute advertisement for a travel agency about why people should visit Jupiter. At least 1 minute of this advert should have been recorded with your webcams (ie. you should be the presenters of the advert)’

This changes the students’ activity from indiscriminately scooping up facts to interpreting the information they have viewed, making critical decisions about its validity and then presenting it to others.

I have experienced colleagues in the UK resisting the introduction of IT into a school with arguments of its just a fad / it won’t improve anything / not as good as a text book. I would agree with all of these points IF teachers are unable to embrace the process of students learning with computers.

I spent a few years in Kenya working with teachers there and the vast majority of them were extremely excited about the prospect of using IT in the classroom, but due to lack of exposure their vision of the use of IT was limited to learning from computers.

It takes time and training to encourage teachers to make this transition from making students learn from computers to allowing them to learn with computers. In my view this transition is critical if a school is to use IT in a meaningful way.