Deirdre Butler- Emerging Models of Teaching & Learning

“Fundamental change, or

incremental improvement;

the question is not so much which is right,

but rather why has there been so little

discussion about the question”?

Where do you see your school?

Incremental improvement. Continual small changes to the way school might function to provide measurable improvement.

Fundamental change/transformation looks very different. It is not “tweaking” at the edges; this is not doubling the length of classes or developing cross-curricular programs. Rather than build on the successes of the past, fundamental change requires a complete rethinking of the nature of school and learning from the “ground up”.

Incremental Improvement Fundamental Change

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Emerging Models of Teaching & Learning

Teacher Learner / Learner Teacher

Deirdre Butlerdeirdre.butler@spd.dcu.ie

Difficult Questions

• What kind of future do we want to create?• What kind of people do we wish to

nurture?• What are the values we want to live by?• How can digital technologies help this

happen?

Digital Natives / Digital Immigrants

Marc Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, From On the Horizon (NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001)

Schools & The Knowledge Economy

• In an economy driven by knowledge rather than manufacturing, employers are already valuing very different skills, such as creativity, communication, presentation skills and team-building. Schools are at the front line of this change and need to think about how they can prepare young people for the future workplace.

(Their Space: Education for a digital generation, Demos, Hannah Green & Celia Hannon, 2007,p.15)

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” (Alvin Toffler)

“We must be the change we want to see in the world.” (Gandhi)

The Trinity Knot

We need to empower learners to use and shape the world with these “convivial tools” (Illich, 1974), rather than be shaped by them.Vygotskian principle - that changes in tools will bring about changes in thinking, and that these changes in turn are associated with changes in culture.

“until recently the narrowness of range of the possible doings severely restricted the implementation of the idea. The educational vocation of the new technology is to remove these restrictions” and enable “a restructuring of knowledge itself” (Papert, 1991, p.22).

Invest in people as much as PCs ?

• In order to see change across the system, there needs to be a shift in thinking about investment from hardware towards relationships and networks. In the last ten years we have seen a staggering change in the amount of hardware in schools, but it has not had a significant impact on teaching and learning styles. (Demos p.16)

Re-imagining schools

• Shift in kinds of investment - People & PCs

• Shift in the kinds of skills, experiences and relationships that schools value

Constructionism

The Learners• The Learners’ needs, interests and

experiences are at the forefront of the learning experience

• Control / ownership vested in the Learner• The Learner must accept responsibility for

setting their own learning goals in order to meet their interests and needs

Constructed Artefact • “Object to think with” • A means by which others can become

involved in the thinking process as it develops

• Iterative design process• The group dynamic is important as the

artefact grows and learners share and reflect.

Materials Challenging

Addressing personal needs and interests

Conversational Inviting contemplation and negotiation

Connective Supporting personal relationships and idea

that transcend traditional subject boundaries

Don Quixote

Narrative Context • Don Quixote – Impos

sible Dreamers

Mind Map - September

Mind Map - November

Mind Map - March

Self-Determined Learning• Ownership and control vested in the learner [Dignity]• Democratic decision making [Inclusion]• Provocative, engaging, and challenging computational materials;• Challenging learning experiences in sustained, immersive, Atelier-

style learning environments;• Embedding learning in their own experiences (“objects to think

with”);• A support framework that addresses each individual needs,

interests and experiences;• A supportive community with a diverse range of backgrounds;• Adequate time to allow self directed learning to develop and

changes to take place.

Second Level System – DCC & ISP• LASW - “Object to Think with”• Embedded in Classroom context / everyday

reality• Set of rubrics that describe 5 key dimensions

for Innovative Teaching and Learning– Knowledge Building – Collaboration – Problem Solving and Innovation – Self- regulation– Use of ICT for learning

• “One of the most valuable courses I think we did with you was the coding of the assignments… because you had people sitting around the table who were from all different subject areas. That I felt was very, very beneficial, and I know that they enjoyed it greatly, and there was great feedback from it…with the one-off training people have been thinking how can I use that in my specific subject. But I felt the coding was more universal, it was across the board of what a 21st century learning assignment should look like, and that got people thinking an awful lot”. (Interview_School_Leader, 2009)

Digital Learning Peer Coaching- “Object to Think with” – Classroom

practice

- Digital Fluency- Communication / Collaboration skills- Deepening understandings of learning

- Sustainable / Scalable Framework