Teaching under the_microscope

Teaching Under the Microscope

Rachel Roberts

Integrating new technologies to empower learning and transform leadership

A Tale of Two Teachers - poles apart!

http://www.rfidjournal.com

With the walls of the classrooms

disappearing, teachers find that their

practice is put under the microscope. Any

issues can be magnified beyond the

traditional classroom setting because of

the far reaching nature of distance

education. Nothing is behind closed doors

anymore

Industrial to Informational“In the industrial age we went to school…

in the information age school comes to us”

All New Zealand secondary schools

offering distance learning courses have

now become dual-mode institutions with

online teachers recruited from the rank

and file of classroom teachers.

A developing trend in NZ

Expansion of curriculum

Shortage of specialist teachers

Small rolls

Introduction of new assessment regimes

Teacher workload issues

www.virtuallearning.school.nz

ConvergenceWenmoth, D. “LCO Handbook 2010)

“What is evolving is a new form of

‘blended education’. In the future,

teachers may or may not be in the same

physical location as their students, and

ICT will be an integral part of virtually

every lesson” (Browning 2005, p3). 

VLN Secondary Schools 2002 – 12 schools sharing classes

VLN Statistics February 2010        Current Total Schools:268 Current Total Teachers:170 Current Total Courses:234 Current Total Classes:258 Current Total Enrolments:1526

Growth

Flexible Learning

Technological Advancement

The rapid development of technology is

enabling new ways to communicate and

share information.

A need for teachers to up-skill and be

technically competent to teach confidently

in an online environment.

Connecting Learners through Video Conferencing

Student-Teacher face-to-face contact enables the

distance to dissolve

Adobe Connect

Matapu Students in German Class

Online Learning Environments

Spaces catering for different interests

Tools for managingparticipation

http://moodle.minedu.govt.nz/taranet/

M Learning

Gartner forecasts that phones will become the most common web browsing device by 2013

“It will no longer be a question of should we use these devices to support learning, but how and when to use them”Michael Levine

Web 2.0 – Social Networking

Pedagogy

“Although teachers in virtual classrooms

are immersed in ICT, many simply use it

for uploading or downloading information

and teaching in the traditional way.”

(Bolstad & Lin (2010). Virtual Classrooms: Lessons for teaching and learning in the 21st Century. SET 1, 2010, p 2 - 9. Wellington: NZCER.)

It could be argued that teacher

pedagogies need to change equally in

face to face environments as they do in

online learning. There is a drive to change

from a transmission model of teaching

delivery to a constructivist model of

learning as an active process.

Student Expectations

Role of the Teacher

Manager

Planner

Facilitator

Participant

Model

Guide

www.i-learnt.com

Teacher Concerns

Outside their comfort zoneIncreased workloadOnline classes threat to f2f classesTechnical supportCopyright issuesSupport & professional developmentUnderlying belief in the value of online

learning.

Teacher Workload

Recognised by PPTA◦ “Three hours non-contact for each hour of on-

line delivery (in addition to the mandatory non-contact time)…” PPTA (2005). PPTA Submission On The Draft (E) Learning Framework For The Schools Sector.

TIME for:◦Developing course work◦Preparation for classes (more intense)◦Individual attention to students◦Professional Development

Professional Development

Based on the discourse of teaching and

learning for all teachers and those teachers

who have developed through this process will

have skills and understandings which will

enable them to better adapt to the changing

natures of flexible learning and new

technology environments.

teachers should learn a range of strategies that will:

develop partnerships between teacher, students and parents

embrace new technologiesmaintain a work/life balancefoster a positive classroom environmentgive and receive feedback with students

that is open, honest and timely(Pasco-Walsh, L. (2005). From teletubbies to teleteacher – Effective practices in video conference teaching.)

OER – Open Education Resources

OER are learning materials that are freely available for use, remixing and redistribution.

Created, co-created, shared, adapted, reused.

Creative Commons licencing

www.wikieducator.org

Virtual Professional Development

“Becoming an online teacher is like being a beginning

teacher all over again. Teachers need time for

professional development, to learn alongside their

students, to be prepared to try different teaching

strategies, to develop their curricula content for online

interaction and become more proficient technically.

Teachers need to feel capable and supported to

become the self-efficacious and effective eteachers

that are currently such a scarce commodity but which

are in growing demand in our schools.”