Education I Session - eRA-11
Education I Session
1. Education for Educators: Equipping Educators with the use of Virtual Learning Communities
Ismini Kavallari
EdD Doctor of Education Candidate (Distance Learning Programme)
Department of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Tel: +44 114 2228096, Fax: +44 114 2228105, E-mail: edq10ik@sheffield.ac.uk
Introduction
Things have definitely changed in the educational realm since the last time each of the teachers presently teaching has been attending school earning their degrees in education. The past decades have given a steady rise to new systems and innovations, which have given birth not only to new technologies, but also to a new breed of students. As anticipated, the need for a new method of communication, interaction, and teaching this new generation has also risen. Whereas in the past teachers were the wise, the “sage on the stage,” the people from whom the only knowledge supposedly came from and who were always considered to be the best sources of information, this does not apply today. Teachers are now more likely – or rather, encouraged – to be simply facilitators; in other words, teachers’ roles are more of supervisors as the students teach themselves (Prensky, 2008).
New technology, particularly labelled as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), has become an inevitable part of education, a most important way of educating, as some may argue. There is the rush to do away with the “old school,” as “observers, from educators and policymakers to parents and business people, overwhelmingly agree that technology is an essential component of education” (Grunwald and Associates, 2008, p. 5). Doing away with the old school, however, may also mean doing away with the traditional class where students and teacher meet at a geographical location at a regular schedule. The advent of the Internet has opened many possibilities, one of which is the Virtual Learning Community (VLC) type. Adapted from the traditional learning community one commonly finds in the old classroom setting, the VLC is determined to mimic such a brand of community. The conventional learning communities had one goal or purpose: students and teacher congregate for the purpose of learning (Boettcher, Duggan, and White, 1999). The same happens with the VLCs. Students congregate in an online community for the purpose of learning. The teacher’s role, if any, is to first present or provide the starting point for the learning, the launching pad, from which the discussions could take off, and so, the learning as well. Once this has been achieved, it is then the teacher’s role to aid the students, to facilitate the discussions to achieve an outcome in which students are able to arrive a goal, which may be to arrive at a conclusion, or simply to have a good, lively discussion (Kimball, 1995).
To be able to achieve such goals, however, educators must be adept in the use of such technologies. One would think that after all the lengths lawmakers and educators go to promote the use of ICT, their efforts seem to be inadequate, as still a number of teachers are quite inefficient and lack knowledge with regards to ICTs.
Equipping Educators
With the advent of the Internet, there are numerous ways in which a student nowadays could access any information he or she may want, and a desktop or PC may not even be necessary. Since the reality of the laptop, tablet, smart phone age, mobile information has dawned, and rather than ignore it, it might be best to make the best possible use of it. It simply is absurd to try to suppress or avoid it and it is far wiser to tap into this resource rather than fight it. If one chooses the latter, he/she shall inevitably lose.
Before teachers and educators could begin teaching students, however, there are issues which require resolution. Perhaps one of the most basic and yet most important issues to be faced is the teacher’s general attitude with regards to technology. It will simply be useless to discuss other issues such as curriculum and the like with a teacher who is not willing to use technology and instead prefers to employ the traditional teaching methods. Grunwald and Associates (2010) estimate that around only 15% of primary school teachers and 27% of secondary school teachers make frequent use of technology in teaching.
To be fair, in the continuum separating the “new school” and the “old school”, most educators are probably between both extreme ends and still in the process of adjusting. Prensky (2008) puts it aptly when he insisted that: “The role of technology in our classrooms is to support the new teaching paradigm.” This new teaching paradigm is of course the “new school”: where students, with the new tools available to them, teach themselves, with the teachers standing by as facilitators and supervisors.
Wicklein (1993, p.62) identifies several of the most crucial issues educators in this ICT age face: the first and most critical is curriculum development, the second is the lack of a knowledge base for technology education to which educators could refer, and the third is the lack of interdisciplinary approaches with regards to how technology education has been used and taught so far. The issues Wicklein presents are tightly interconnected. There is a great need for a standard curriculum to be developed for educators to rely on; this, by far, is still a problem being faced by educators. The lack of a common ground for educators has posed a problem in standardizing lessons and, thereby, prevents having a common knowledge base. Needless to say, the lack of a curriculum and knowledge base precedes the absence of measures to integrate Information and Technology Communication methods with other lessons, measures that are necessary for interdisciplinary approaches.
If teachers are to become effective educators and are able to get the best out of and maximize the use of ICTs in their teaching methods, then these teachers, trapped in between the “new school” and “old school” paradigms, would have to move to the “new school” paradigm a little bit faster than they should. Educators need to understand that ICTs are here to stay, along with many advantages; therefore, educators must make it their goal to capitalize on these potentials for the greater benefit of 21st century students. Information and Communication Technology has untold potentials, and have gone beyond simply aiding the teacher teach the students, to aiding the students teach themselves (Prensky, 2008).
With this recognition of the advantages of the use of ICTs in the classroom, came the emphasis on the importance of the “21st Century Skills” especially in primary and secondary schools. The 21st Century Skills is a set of skills recognized and proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization, believed to be infused into the educational system. They are as follows: Critical thinking and problem solving; Communication; Collaboration; Creativity and Innovation; Information, Media and Technology skills; Life and career skills, such as flexibility and adaptability; Initiative and self-direction; Social and cross-cultural skills; Productivity and accountability; and finally, leadership and responsibility. Meanwhile, the 21st Century themes are Global awareness; Financial, economic; Business and Entrepreneurial literacy; Civic literacy; Health literacy; and Environmental Literacy (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2011).
These skills meant to prepare students for the 21st century world and trends, are meant to be taught with 21st century technology and mindset as well. Moreover, such skills are meant to be taught in the context of the following core subjects: English, reading or language arts; Mathematics; Science; History; Geography; Government and Civics; Economics; World languages; Arts. At first glance, the subjects seem significantly similar to the core subjects taught in the past. The difference, of course, lies in the method employed to teach such modules. This is why it is paramount for current and future teachers to learn how to effectively maximize such technology, if optimum effectiveness is expected.
Virtual Learning Communities
The Virtual Learning Community is a type of Information and Communication Technology that has been slowly gaining popularity over the years. Although once dismissed as ineffective, a VLC is now being carefully and seriously considered as one of the most effective ways of promoting education and higher learning, according to the new educational perspectives, coupled with evidence of its effectiveness,. Young people, the students of this generation, are naturally attracted to technology and are, undoubtedly, more adept at handling and understanding them than their older counterparts; there is little need for proving it. Students are already host and owner to a number of technological devices, and their natural inquisitiveness is their strength in the event that they are presented with unfamiliar technology.
As previously mentioned, the VLC is adapted from the community formed supposedly between students in a traditional classroom. The traditional concept of community, which pertains to a group of people who necessarily have to be in the same location at a given time, is the source of the modern concept of “Online Community”. This modern concept, of course, is open to various speculations and ambiguity. Indeed, it seems there is still much speculation at present about how to really define and characterize a so-called “Online Community”. Boetcher, Duggan, and White (1999), however, define online communities as an “assembly of people, in an online ‘space’ where they communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time.” The solid place, the classroom, is now replaced with space. It is in these online spaces that students congregate to learn and impart their knowledge.
Online Communities may range from simple bulletins, to gaming sites, social networks, e-groups, etc. There are various types of online communities; to our knowledge, there are even online communities which one might not exactly label as “educational”. Nevertheless, whether the online community that a student (or any other person, for that matter) joins explicitly falls under the category of “educational”, or whether the student joins one which is simply for leisure or hobby, one must never doubt that he/she inevitably learns – something, anything, and this consequently results to the student imparting his or her own knowledge about the subject.
A Virtual Learning Community has the specific purpose of allowing the student to learn in a venue and through a means other than the usual classroom style. Many universities and colleges specifically have made use of the VLC as another means of educating people, effectively defeating geographical restrictions in educating someone towards his or her degree. This is not surprising, given the ease and convenience VLCs offer. A student may easily contact and connect with his or her online fellow classmates, and do research whilst on the Internet as well.
It must be noted that some educators prefer using VLCs to complement their “physically-held” classes, rather than completely substituting them by VLCs for their classes. Perhaps it is preferred, and perhaps this proves that VLCs’ limitations lie in the fact that no physical interaction takes place. Porterfield (2001) purports that for all the convenience these online classrooms bring, it is still best to schedule occasional meetings in person as much as geographical limitations would allow, to give the students the chance to interact and solidify the sense of “community” they have online.
Another challenge that particularly interests the researcher is the grave concern over the students’ use of technology. Parents, administrators and even teachers rally with the concern that students are liable to abuse the technology. The use of VLCs means the use of the Internet, which definitely poses a number of distractions, thereby impeding the actual process of learning.
This issue is not limited to VLCs, but to most ICTs as well. How, indeed, would a lone teacher be able to monitor a whole class to do research or study this particular topic? Parents are even more wary – their child tells them he/she is joining an educational online forum for a project, yet it suspiciously looks like something else.
And yet these challenges are nothing compared to when the teacher himself or herself is not knowledgeable about the use of the technology. Most teachers dispel the need for educating themselves, thinking that since students are already knowledgeable, all they need to do is supervise, right? Definitely wrong, Grunwald and Associates (2010) say; this kind of thinking, according to them, is actually a widely-held belief which is nothing but a myth. The effectiveness of ICT still lies in the teacher’s ability to present and manipulate the technology.
Making VLCs Work
What to do then? Porterfield (2001) recommends setting up an Organization by connecting with the administrators and other stakeholders. This would depend significantly on the type of school where the educator teaches, as this may determine the level of freedom a teacher may have in the methods he or she chooses. Generally, challenges are more at the earlier levels of education. At these levels, teachers may have to consult with the administrators for various reasons, such as lack of equipment (which undoubtedly would be a further complication). “If the classroom teachers, teacher educators and the supervisors/administrators of technology education hope to direct the profession into a desirable future, they must understand the issues and problems that will influence the success or failure of technology education,” says Wicklein (1993, p.3).
Organizing would as well begin with laying down the parameters around the plan, or “drawing the blueprint” (Porterfield, 2001, p.3), identifying the rationale behind having VLCs and assessing the potential participants (both students and teachers alike), their geographical locations, time zones, students’ access to technology and students’ level of technological proficiency.
Assuming that the previous step was successfully carried out, the next task would be to encourage the students to be involved. In order for a VLC to function, participation is important. Guidelines with regard to protocol must also be stated, as explicitly as possible (Porterfield, 2001). Because of the limitation of not being able to see each others’ nonverbal gestures, participants of an Online Community often take frustration out verbally. This may come out in the form of undue and unconstructive criticism, foul language, or any other form of behaviour that does not promote the flow of energy and knowledge in a VLC.
Encouraging more private conversations between VLC members is also highly recommended (Porterfield, 2001), as it draws them closer. For instance, personal emails or Instant Messages between just two of the VLC members, or between one member and the facilitator must be encouraged. It must always be remembered that a VLC is a Community, albeit online, which means that a form of camaraderie and familiarity is a requisite. Whenever an opportunity for a physical meeting comes up, this too must be grabbed. Attachment to each other would also ensure that the VLC members would have a stronger commitment to the community.
Conclusion
In the earlier days, the VLC, just as any other ICT, has had more than its fair share of criticisms. ICTs, critics allege, do more to distract the students from learning the content of the core subjects. This, admittedly, is one challenge that ICT and ICT users and advocates must solve. Despite criticisms and the valid issues and flaws being pointed out with the use of ICTs, people in the academe and educators still would never be able to ignore technology, not anymore. Deliberate ignorance of the current trends may not only lead to poor performance on the part of the students, it could also lead to an unsatisfying career for the educator, which could, presumably, be a result of the lack of participation and the students’ low levels of performance.
Far from being simple, a VLC is more than just an online group – it is a place, and most especially a tool, for learning. For a teacher to formally adopt the use of a VLC, would require an amount of responsibility and work. The Virtual Learning Community is a tool with which education could be enhanced and learning could be further promoted. Used with the right care, and with wisdom, it could yield tremendously amazing results.
References
1. Boetcher, S., Duggan, H., and White, N., “What is a Virtual Learning Community and why would you ever need one?”, Retrieved from (accessed July 2011), January 2002.
2. Ham V., Gilmore A., Kachelhoffer A., Morrow D., Moeau P. and Wenmoth D., , “What Makes for Effective Teacher Professional Development in ICT?”, Retrieved from Education Counts Publications (accessed July 2011), 2002.
3. Grunwald and Associates, “Educators, technology and 21st century skills: Dispelling five myths”, Retrieved from Walden University, Richard W. Riley College of Education website: from (accessed July 2011), June 2010.
4. Kimball, L., “Ten ways to make online learning groups work”, Educational Leadership, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 54-56, October 1995.
5. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, “Critical Issue: Ensuring Equitable Use of Education Technology”, Retrieved from the Learning Point Associates website: from , (accessed July 2011), no date.
6. Partnership for 21st Century Skills, “p21”, Retrieved from (accessed July 2011), July 2011.
7. Porterfield, S., “Towards The Development of Successful Virtual Learning Communities”, Retrieved from University of Saskatchewan Educational Communications and Technology website: from (accessed July 2011), April 2001.
8. Prensky, M., “The Role of Technology in Teaching and the Classroom”, Educational Technology, Retrieved from , (accessed July 2011), November/December 2008.
9. Wicklein, R. C., “Identifying Critical Issues and Problems In Technology Education Using A Modified-Delphi Technique”. Journal of Technology Education, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 54-71, Fall 1993.
2. Digital Revolution in the Classroom of 21st Century:
A Transatlantic Overview
Georgia Kafka, Ph.D.
Experimental Institution, Athens, Greece
benqfp567@
Abstract
In the decade of 2000s, use of technology in the classroom of any level of education, from First to Secondary and Higher level, has established and it is advanced systematically. Teaching process is based on technology and new applications. A great number of applications have been appeared the last years. They have enriched the teaching process. Some of the most important applications are as follows: a) electronic platforms for long distance education, 2) e-books and e-readers, c) smart whiteboards, d) pocket computers and tablets, e) clickers, f) the webinars through Skype or relevant programs etc. These applications are the media for assisting the teaching process. They are considered supportive tools for the instructors. They have also strengthened the interest of the learners.
These days, the above applications have already been implemented. Some others have been in experimental process. The higher level of education has applied many of them and it has contributed to their advance.
The present paper will examine the contribution of these applications in the classroom regarding the instructor’s point of view. For this reason, the instructors have to be informed and educated in order to implement them. Reports regarding case studies will bring this issue into light. The application and the evaluation will fill out the gaps and contribute to the advance of new technologies. Where will this technology’s revolution be led? Do the new technologies apply to any scientific field? What are the advantages and/or drawbacks of these applications? More future research studies are needed to examine the impact of new technology’s applications on any level of education.
Key-words: technology, new applications, education
Introduction
Information technology has become an integral part of our lives at work and home settings. Teaching and learning processes have continued to be transformed by technology. Lectures can be delivered to students over the Internet while they are out of the classrooms. Lectures can also be recorded and downloaded by students from a professor’s web site. Collaboration is the key-element for partnerships between universities and industry or high schools, industry and policy makers. A balance is needed between use of technology in and out of the classroom.
What is needed is an overview of classroom technology that is available to students, teachers and professors and how it is being used today. Experts’ opinion is important to provide advice and training to teachers in general. They can lead them to understand the use and the advantages of new technologies. Teachers and Professors can provide students with very useful set of software tools to complete learning activities. Use of blogs, websites or wiki can be incorporated into teachers and professors’ lectures and presentations. What is needed is the knowledge of how to collaborate using wiki and design informative visual presentations. They also need to use VoicP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software to promote communication. The use of online research databases and the application of good research practices are essential media for teaching experience and student’s learning process.
In particular, this paper will present the contribution of technology applications in and out of classroom in today’s world. The most recent applications will be examined and be presented for a better understanding of the impact of technology in teaching process.
1. Contribution of digital applications in and out of the classroom
A great number of technological applications have been appeared the last decade to assist the teaching process. The key-element is not the use of technology for teaching purposes, but to achieve specific goals. It is important for an instructor to define the course objectives first and then to select the appropriate applications of technology that they will assist to reach the goals. Some of the most popular applications in use today are as follows:
a) Software in teaching courses and use in or out of the classroom
b) Electronic platforms for long distance education
c) E-books and e-readers
d) Smart whiteboards
e) Tablets
f) Clickers
g) Use of webinars through Skype or relevant programs etc.
There are more applications based on particular IT programs. The knowledge of use the above software or the above applications is considered a reality in teaching process today. Training instructors in use of technology is required. The instructors can provide informative presentations based on software in teaching any kind of courses from Classical Studies to Social Studies and Computer Science to Natural Studies.
The Educational Service Platform is considered of components that they are necessary for the teaching process. Some of these components are the learning modules (online classes), learning facilitators (blogs, wikis, discussion boards, chat applications) and the data (Weber and Abuhamdieh, 2011) [1].
The electronic platforms for long distance education are some of the tools that can be implemented especially for out of the classroom teaching and learning process. They are Open Course Management Systems, also known as Learning Management Systems or Virtual Learning Environments. They have included online classes, discussion forums, data bases, assignment pages, creative activities pages as well as grading-evaluation system and feedback system. Some of the most well known e-platforms today are as follows: Moodle, Blackboard, eFront, ATutor, eClass, Sakai, Desire2Learn and Virtual World. Educators can use them as tools to promote education. First, the instructors need to be trained on how to use them and then they can apply them for long distance education. The electronic platforms web sites have offered guidance on the use of these platforms. The educators, who are not familiar with the virtual teaching-learning environment, need to be trained first in developing positive attitude towards the use of technology.
In addition, the learning facilitators such as blogs, wikis, discussion boards and chat applications have offered specific service environment to the educators as well as the learners. Blogs can offer free courseware. They create archives of old posts and they can be easily developed. They are also a tool useful in measuring satisfaction after completing a course. They can offer links to online readings and websites and they can be kept private.
On the other hand, a wiki is an interactive web page that can be edited by any of its members. Wikis are easy to use. Wikis allow students to help create reading lists. Their main advantage is that wikis are not locked into a course management system. That means a course is available to credit and non-credit students. Wikis are collaborative. The instructors can keep them open to changes for a certain period of time, and then they can lock them. Wikis are searchable by key words or phrases. They can allow students to set permission and determine if they want them to be public or private.
There are applications that the educators and especially their students can use such as e-readers (e-book readers). They are portable handheld devices that can be read anywhere and anytime. The first e-readers appeared in 2006. There are twenty three e-reader models today. Instructors and students can use this appliance and plug into a computer to download information from an account. Some of their features are as follows: a) text-speech reader for books, b) MP3 interaction file-transfer for background music, c) keyboard or touch keypad d) radio, e) interact capability with Facebook and Twitter and an Oxford Dictionary, f) memo pad, g) audio and photo storage, h) sketch/writing pad etc. Since 2006 there is an advance in the function and features of e-readers. E-readers allow instructors and learners to download their favorite novels, the last newspaper and magazine issues to a compact and lightweight device. This device can hold up to 1.500 digital copies of e-books and magazines.
The instructors can use the e-readers and download books through Internet. It could be a useful teaching tool, when learners can use them to download instructors’ lectures from their web sites or download the required books for their courses.
Technology in classroom could also be based on “smart whiteboards”. These boards are “smart” because they can be used as teaching tool, interactive board, touch screen board, an Internet based tool that can assist teaching and learning process. They are electronic whiteboards. They are compatible with Windows and Macintosh. The interactivity they are provide, allow instructors to let their audience collaborate, draw and interact with information on the screen. Lessons and activities in classroom setting become more engrossing for students and increase overall retention of the lesson content. Last research studies have shown that teachers, professors and professional presenters who have used the smart whiteboard, see improvement from their students compare to classrooms that do not use the above enriched classroom content. These boards improve students’ engagement and retention.
One of the last generation’s electronic devices for teaching and learning purpose is the tablet, a type of pocket computer. A few years ago, tablets run Windows XP and users could write or read and navigate through Internet. Today tablets run Android and Windows 7. They have multi-touch screens. Teaching process can partly be based on tablets. Students can learn through software that companies, schools and/or universities’ IT Offices can upload. Teaching tablets can be locked because of safety reasons. As for those learners who are between 8-16 years old, Internet safety is important. School boards can allow young students to download specific learning material. “Locked” tablets can offer good sources for particular subjects as well as a tool for processing information and complete assignments.
A new collaborative tool is the “clicker”. Clickers are electronic devices and they are used by students to respond immediately to multiple-choice questions given by the instructors. They can engage more students into classroom lessons or lectures. They can facilitate a qualitative transformation of class lessons or lectures. “Instead of students being passive absorbers of information, they actively participate in creating knowledge from their information and experiences”, said Dr. Stelzer.
The new students’ respond system consists of the instructor’s components and the student clickers. Learners can buy their clickers and use them for multiple courses. The instructor’s components are a receiver and the appropriate software. When instructors have decided to bring the device into the classroom, they need to make their students understand why they use clickers. Some of the objectives of the of use clickers are as follows: 1) Promote discussion in the classroom, 2) show to the instructors a better sense of when students are struggling with course content, 3) assist students to maintain focus especially during complicated material and 4) strengthen the students’ engagement in the classroom. Engaging students in classroom discussion and other activities needs the knowledge of encouraging and challenging them.
One more application is the Skype program in the classroom. Skype is a software program that allows instructors and learners to communicate to each other or with other teachers and students anywhere in the world using Internet. Skype is used to make free videos and voice calls and share files with other teachers or classrooms. For instance, use of Skype provides students with the opportunity to learn foreign languages and cultures and connect with classes in all over the world to practice their language skills. A collaborative teaching process through Skype is very important. Some of the most important elements of teaching process through Skype are as follows:
1) It allows teachers to share information with other teachers and classes around the world
2) It allows instructors to provide mentoring or homework help
3) Teachers can conduct parent conferences in school districts in remote areas
4) It develops the collaboration among teachers or teachers and students
5) It allows instructors to participate in professional development activities such as webinars (online seminars)
6) It allows students to ask questions of experts
7) Students can read or present for other students
8) Homebound students can participate in classes etc.
The professional development activities are based on Internet and software that allows the audience to attend online seminars. There are also new programs that can be used for webinars or virtual conferences.
2. Transatlantic Overview: New Technology’s Implementation in Canada and Greece
The electronic platforms for long distance education have been implemented in various teaching settings such as schools, colleges, universities as well as companies. There is a number of universities in Canada and a great number of high schools in Greece that they have used the above platforms. One of the most well known e-platform is Moodle. There is an online community for teachers, professors and instructors who can participate in forums and discussion boards about the use of Moodle and its features. There are 1.175 Moodle partner organizations, universities, colleges, schools and education centres in Canada including 306 private classes. There are 327 Moodle partners such as schools, universities, continuing education centres, and language classes in Greece, including 31 private classes. Those Greek schools that they have used Moodle as an e-platform, they have instructors who are trained in new technologies and like to experiment in teaching methods.
As for e-reader, it is a new tool that the students can use in and out of the classroom. For instance, a Canadian private school in 2009, partnered with two publishing companies to provide students with an e-reader in place of printed textbooks. E-readers are loaded with the courses textbooks, outlines, assignments, reference materials and background reading. According to a recent research report in Canada, 6% of people have owned an e-reader. It is the same percentage for those who have owned a tablet.
On the other hand, e-readers are not a well known tool for students in Greece today. There are a few schools that they have been provided with tablets. Locked tablets with specific learning material structured and uploaded by the Ministry of Education. It is a pilot project applied for a specific period of time started in spring of 2011.
The interactive whiteboards are an essential tool in the classrooms the last three years in schools in Canada. Western Canada has a great number of smart interactive boards in the classrooms. Teachers are pleased because they can use this tool to increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes. Recently one of the Boards of Education announced that they would like to equip the 4.000 classrooms of the area with interactive whiteboards. They started to provide schools with 3.000 whiteboards in 2007. Using graphics and animation to teach lessons is important for teaching and learning process.
Even though smart interactive whiteboards are a digital tool in the classroom, there are just a few schools in Greece that they are equipped with them. Some teachers in public Experimental Institutions and private schools have used these whiteboards to enhance the teaching process. A small number of teachers are trained to use the interactive whiteboards. Teachers have used them to teach language, mathematics, physics etc.
In addition, use of e-readers is limited in Canada. Tablets have replaced them. According to a research in Canada in 2010, the older teacher-users have used e-readers and the young-students have used tablets. The features of tablets are increased the last year.
There are other teaching programs and media that instructors and professors have started to use the last two years. There are some universities that they have used clickers to enhance learning experience. Universities in Western and Central Canada have adopted the new device as an innovative tool. Professors have used clickers when they have taught chemistry, physics, neurobiology, micro-economics and more courses. Students in Canadian Universities are satisfied because of the new device and their engagement in the classroom. Clickers are well adopted by crowded classes. “Instructors find clickers very effective at identifying areas and concepts that require additional work or explanation” says Kathy Gaul, director for a Medical Program at a university in British Columbia. “Students have reported that they tend to be more involved and focused in the sessions in which the clickers are used” says Dr. Gaul (Jennifer Grayson, 2009) [2]. In contrary, there is no any report about the use of clickers in Greek Institutions today.
Skype for education is one of the last high technological applications in use in Canada. There are teachers at schools in remote areas using Skype to teach French, History and other courses. There is no evidence about using Skype in the classroom in Greece.
Conclusions
In concluding, the contribution of technology in the classroom as an instructor’s tool is an important one in the teaching process. The applications of technology can serve as an enabler in teaching and learning. They organize and provide structure for material to students (Noeth & Volkov, 2004) [3]. They help instructors and students to interact. Simulate, visualize and interact with scientific structures. The good use of technology depends on the levels of planning, structure, preparation and evaluation of the potential impact that instructors will have on teaching process.
Today technology is an integral part of teaching and learning environment. Teachers, instructors, and professors can use the new applications of technology in order to provide simulations and real world experiences. The good use of the above applications has developed cognitive thinking. They can provide access to a variety of information.
As a productivity tool, the new applications have enhanced the education, solve problems and produce sophisticated products (Fouts, 2000) [4]. According to the instructor’s point of view, effective and adequate teacher training is an integral element of successful learning programs based on technology.
When they are combined with traditional instruction, the use of new applications can increase teachers’ involving in traditional curriculum. Instructors and professors can teach more quickly and with great retention of their students. Teachers using technology have led their students to change their attitudes and become positive toward courses and learning process (Silvin-Kachala and Bialo, 2000) [5]. They can manage student-centered, activities based on new applications. What is needed is the evaluation of teaching outcomes of technology in the classroom. Teachers, instructors and professors should receive adequate, tailored and continuing education about how to best integrate technology into schools and universities’courses.
References
1. P. Weber1, A. Abuhamdieh, “Educational Service Strategy; Educational Service Platforms and E-Learning Patterns”, International Journal of Instructional Technology-Distance Learning, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 3-4, April 2011.
2. J. Grayson, “Bridging the Participation Gap”, Campus Technology, vol. 22, no 12, pp. 18-20, August, 2009.
3. R. Noeth1, B. Volkov2, “Evaluating the effectiveness of technology in our schools”, ACT Policy Report, pp. 8-32, 2004.
4. J. Fouts, “Research on Computers and Education: Past, Present and Future”, Report to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle: Seattle Pacific University, 2000.
5. Silvin-Kachala1, E. Bialo2, “2000 Research Report on the Effectiveness of Technology in Schools”, Software and Information Industry Association, Washington DC, 2000.
Websites
innovativelearning.ca/archive/learningspaces/smart_pdf/news_release smart.pdf
.gr
3. E- literature as metonymy of postmodernism: emancipation or new homage?
Dr. Moula Evangelia, Secondary Education,
Parodos Agion Anargyron 58E- Rhodes- 85100
Tel: +306974643612, E-mail: moula@rhodes.aegean.gr
Introduction: Postmodernism, hyperreality and the shift in literary paradigm
From oral to typographic culture and to the invention of printing press and the development of word-processing and electronically net-worked textuality a theory of transformative technologies followed each major change. Each historical shift in the symbolization of reality brings with it new semiotic resources and a restructuring of the psyche[i].
Semiotic resources are produced in the course of social/cultural/political histories- histories which of course keep on going. New needs lead to new ways of communicating and to new communication technologies– as well as to new communication theories[ii]. Literary discourse is mainly communicative. As long as every discourse has its innate ideology, then every new literary paradigm is rooted in an ideological starting point., the matching of the ideological content with the appropriate ideological frame has always been the catalyst for literary evolution[iii]. But what is the ideological frame of our post- modern era, which affects and modulates the new literary paradigm?
If modernism is the story of one culture and one perspective, postmodernism is a multicultural narrative with multiple perspectives (Doll, 1993; Middleton & Walsh, 1995; Wolterstorff, 2002; Van Brummelen, 1997)[iv].
The era of late modernity is regarded as a period of fragmentation, of disparateness and dispersion. Postmodernism, among other things, refuses modernism’s implicit or explicit distinction between ‘high’ culture and commonly lived life, the dominance of form and the idea of the aesthetic, concepts that created a ‘special world’ for art, cut off from the variety and everydayness of life. Postmodernism provided at least an opportunity to move beyond the entrenched and interlocked positions defending the ideology of what Williams called "minority modernist culture" and called into question the axiom of purity[v].
On the other hand, the contemporary “transfer of power from state to market” (Kress and Pachler, 2007:7)[vi] has led to a change in priorities. If the former favoured homogeneity in its preferred social identity of “citizens”, the latter “is interested in a high degree of differentiation” (Kress and Pachler, 2007: 7) of consumers, its preferred social identity.
Critical distance has been abolished in the new space of postmodernism. The various contemporary art forms become formal analogies of postmodern hyperspace, a disjointed and incoherent space in which the individual becomes disorientated and loses his or her sense of physical placement in a whole that it is comprehensible. “One cannot find a place from which one might be able to evaluate or analyze, from which one might engage in an “old-fashioned ideological critique” that would make political judgment and effective action possible”[vii]. Jorge Luis Borges’ story “The Library of Babel” is an appropriate metaphor of hypertextual systems. In Baudrillard’s more despairing vision of the hyperreal simulacra -divorced from all connection with the referent- dominate our landscape and replace representations, which might have been judged on the basis of how accurately they reflect political and social truth. Hyperreality is his term for a world in which “events, politics, history” exist only as “screen events” broadcast by the media. “I am not sure if one can speak of authenticity, but nevertheless an ordinary reality which has an historical actuality . . . disappears behind the mediating hyperreality of things.”[viii]. The real is produced from miniaturized units, from matrices, memory banks and command models — and with these it can be reproduced an indefinite number of times. It no longer has to be rational, since it is no longer measured against some ideal or negative instance. It is nothing more than operational. In fact, since it is no longer enveloped by an imaginary, it is no longer real at all. It is a hyperreal: the product of an irradiating synthesis of combinatory models in a hyperspace without atmosphere[ix].
As everywhere else, in literary texts as well, a dispersal and decentering of the Cartesian locus of subjectivity itself is reflected.
In contrast to the objectivity of modernism, the foundational principle of postmodernism posits that the sign or symbol (i.e. word) does not have an one-to-one correspondence with the object or experience it represents. Therefore, instead of objective certainties deduced from observable phenomena, postmodernism refers to possible meanings with metaphors such as “collage” “matrix,” or “rhizome.” Each of these images implies interconnectedness, branching, overlap, and therefore, multiple perspectives, decentered texts, and nonlinear reading.
Postmodernist aspects about textness, meaning and creativity
Postmodernism questioned the value and legitimacy of the basic narrative categories of coherence and closure. Derrida reached the conclusion that the category narrative is nothing but a fictional construct artificially imposing temporality and meaning upon an endless chain of signifiers.[x]
Following Machail Bakhtin’s notion that the meaning of a word in a literary text results from its dialogical interaction with various voices and positions within the text, between texts and in reader’s mind, Kristeva[xi] premised that “The text is therefore a productivity and this means, first that its relationship to the language in which it is situated is redistributive (destructive- constructive)…and second that it is a permutation of texts, an intertextuality: in the space of a given text several utterances intersect and neutralize one another. Barthes[xii] also viewed the text as “experienced only in an activity of production…its constitutive movement is that of cutting across…it cannot be contained in a hierarchy”. Kristeva’s and Barthes’ postmodern notions of textual freedom were based upon a conception of a mutating individual, “a divided subject, even a pluralized subject that occupies not a place of enunciation, but permutable, multiple and mobile places”[xiii]. For Foucault “since the eighteenth century the author has played the role of the regulator of the fictive, a role quite characteristic of our era of industrial and bourgeois society, of individualism and private property”[xiv]. Hypertext deconstructs the author status as well.
Hans Enzensberger supports that the entire web of human meaning-making activities has been transformed into the symbolic exchange of empty signs, the modes of production have been liquefied and leukemized into the giant political economy of exchanging signs[xv]. Basic strains of postmodernist art focus on the prevalence of the image (particularly the media image), technologies of reproduction, and strategies of appropriation of already existing works. Nowadays, combination, arrangement and bricolage of resources are signifiers of differentiation and individuality, and shape the notion of production in new terms: New meanings are assigned to signifiers each time they are used; at the same time, signifiers are more likely produced through selection, recontextualization, transformation and assemblage of pre-existing “templates”[xvi]. In downloading, ‘mixing’, cutting and pasting, ‘sampling’, re-contextualization, questions such as “where did this come from?”, “who is the original/originating author?” seem not an issue […] the very same processes are in use at ‘higher levels’, as ‘pastiche’ in Post Modern art forms[xvii].
A related phenomenon is the development of numerous hybrid genres that erode the distinctions, for instance, between literature and journalism, literature and (auto) biography, and literature and history. Heim says “the new publishing resembles the modern megapolis,…this is the architectural equivalent of the absence of the philosophical and religious absolute[xviii].
What is e- literature?
Electronic literature is best understood as a continuation of experimental print literature, as long as algorithmic procedures are not unique to networked and programmable media. Guillaume Apollinaire's "calligrammes" from early in this century (Apollinaire 1966) Raymond Queneau’s Cent mille milliards de poemes, John Cage’s Mesostics, and Jackson Mac Low’s The Virginia Woolf Poems, had applied similar procedures in print literature as well, but they did not create literary tradition[xix].
Novels, like John Fowles' The Magus (1966), Alain Robbe-Grillet's Le Voyeur (1955) or Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), have been characterized as labyrinths without exits, a quality similar to hyperfiction, or to computer-generated Web texts with multiple branching links. Readers with only a slight familiarity with the field of e- literature however, will probably identify it first with hypertext fiction characterized by linking structures[xx], which is its main characteristic.
Electronic literature is generally considered to exclude print literature that has been digitized and is by contrast “digital born”, a first-generation digital object created on a computer and (usually) meant to be read on a computer[xxi]. Hayles cites the definition offered by the Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) as, “work with an important literary aspect that takes advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer”.
For the purpose of our study we will consider the digitalized print literature as partaking in the concept of e- literature, as it is also being subsumed in the new electronic environment.
Located within the humanities by tradition and academic practice, electronic literature also has close affinities with the digital arts, computer games, and other forms associated with networked and programmable media.
The demarcation between digital art and electronic literature is at best, often more a matter of the critical traditions from which the works are discussed, than anything intrinsic to the works themselves.[xxii] The varieties of electronic literature are richly diverse, spanning all the types associated with print literature and adding some genres unique to networked and programmable media. Hybrid narratives transform the conventional reading experience into a transmedia multiplatform which comprises apart from print other multimodal material of all kinds. Literature converses with other art forms, like video, trailers, sites, internet games[xxiii], or traditional paper- books are supplemented by cd- roms or dvds[xxiv]. Fictions such as The , an E- mail interactive Novel demand that the readers leave the book and visit a site () to accomplish several missions, while in Level26: Dark Origins, cyber bridges are built through passwords given to the reader at the end of the passages to access short videos in the net. Such transmedia projects enrich traditional narrative with dynamic elements of the interactive world of social networking, on line games, virtual reality and even of user- generated content, by creating on line communities, who partake in competitions, exchange opinions or even write part of the story (See also : The 39 Clues Series, Amanda Project etc). Equally, books inspired by videogames or dealing with them, narratives being transformed into games and gadgets is a very common practice which establishes the interconnection of literature with the broader cultural fermentations and specifically with new technologies.
The absence of a primary axis, facilitates and encourages branching and enriches the reading experience of the conventional texts but at the same time weakens the privilege of the original text, dissolves the distinction between text and context and alters the whole notion of what text is, as intertextuality will cease to be regarded as such, because there will be in fact, only one text, an intertext, a hypertext [xxv]
Arguments, fears and objections….Emancipation or new homage?
In a utopian scenario Michael Heim[xxvi] suggests that “ the entire tradition of books will be converted into information on disc files that can be accessed instantly by computers.”
Many writers display an irrepressible enthusiasm for new technology emphasizing the dissemination of power and the great potential for hypertext in education[xxvii]. Jay David Bolter[xxviii] sees contemporary culture as organized as a network rather than a hierarchy. Anyone who has access in internet can reach hundreds of sources of information including many full text publications, can download these items and navigate the texts in various ways. All texts can be used for personal or educational purposes but cannot be reproduced or sold for profit. From this perspective the development of hypertext suggests an empowerment of the reader, who can append his own comments and responses, add new nodes or create new links to any parts of the texts. The text is no longer an one communication system, but a system in which all participants can contribute to and affect the content. This way the distinction between reader and writer is attenuated while the text becomes a writerly one[xxix].
However there is a dystopian scenario as well. Electronic networking has grown much faster than the capacity of anyone to control its rules or structure. All the old issues relating to free speech as opposed to legitimate restraints are raised in hypertext but with an even greater urgency. The most dystopian scenario is described by William Gibson in his 1983 classic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer in which multinational corporations control a virtual hyperreality and freelance cybernetic hackers work as private pirates, who at risk to their lives and minds enter the space to steal information.
And although the reader’s ability to make choices seems to indicate control of the complexity of the web, on the other hand the possibility of having to make decisions without sufficient information regarding where any choice may lead, can result in disorientation. “The user risks becoming lost in the docuverse” [xxx].
In hypertextual literature the reader makes choices among titles of sections or key words. Although there is a finite number of lexias the reader is never sure whether or not they all have been read. The reorganization of the lexias, changes their frame and meaning, while the narrative may not provide any clear closure. Because of the variety of ways in which the story lexias can be collaged together, it is inappropriate to try to define an unambiguously correct reading. There is no single story, only readings. The reader dematerializes the story as an object and makes it elusive, in a way that he/she is not simply studying it but is actively involved in constructing it.
Nevertheless, the cybertext puts its would-be reader at risk. He/she struggles not merely for interpretative insight but also for narrative control[xxxi]. The use of the second person, much more widespread in electronic fictional forms -"text adventures" or "interactive fiction,"- often implies a more direct correspondence between actual reader and narratee than such passages in print fiction.
At the same time, the player unfamiliar with the conventions of interactive fiction, the necessity of looking under every table and into every garbage can, will be frustrated by the puzzles, develop an antagonistic relationship with the program, fail to be drawn into the narrative, and type "quit" at the next prompt. Graham Nelson has described text adventures as “a crossword at war with a narrative”[xxxii] but for an inexperienced player it can sometimes seem like a narrative at war with the reader[xxxiii].
Most significantly the subject of the author is challenged by the hypertext. The “unboundness of the new textuality disperses the author”[xxxiv]. Hypertext creates new kinds of communities emancipated from physical, geographical or political boundaries and encourages a value system that emphasizes the solving of problems and the growth of learning by and for the good of the community as a whole. So “restrictions on the availability of text, like prohibitions against copying and linking, appear absurd, indeed immoral constraint”[xxxv]. Hypertext de-naturalizes ideas about authorship, authorial property and texts as objects and forces us to notice that those ideas are products of a specific historical period with a specific kind of technology. Nevertheless such concepts as authorial property and rights need to be maintained within the hypertextual exchange, because they motivate the authors to publish their works. A new balancing of rights is required, that protects the rights of authors to profit from their work but at the same time not to restrict the flow of information from which a large number of people can benefit. Even more, formulaic aspects of writing can be easily routinized by algorithmic procedures and as a result personal expression is de-empahasized. The superabundance of possibilities leads to the disappearance of the authentic human voice. In subtler and more immediate ways electronic textuality modifies our feeling of subjectivity. The lack of a clearly delineated autonomous text may be reflected by a subject that is less autonomous too. The post modern body extends the organic body as well as the psyche outward. The whole becomes a complex cybernetic human and machine intelligence[xxxvi].
Thus the book encourages a disciplined and orderly mental attitude that valorizes personal individual contemplation, while digital writing and reading changes this framework. Mutlinarratives and interactivity inhering in computerized literature run against deeply ingrained and necessary cognitive and sensual human faculties. Jameson’s apt use of the metaphor of “schizophrenia” to describe this type of comprehension points to the arbitrary type of narrative reception posited by post- modern and media determinists[xxxvii]. The interactor’s attention diverts towards memorizing and puzzle- solving, activities that have little to do with the satisfying deep engagement offered by narrative.
Another point we should take into consideration is that the textual archive of the past to be made machine readable presupposes a considerable cost, which means that a substantial portion of the written past will be left behind, accessible only in a manner that could come to seem archaic or inefficient[xxxviii]. Because hypertext totality is impossible, those empowered to make decisions about what is to be included or not, will manipulate the literary production and create new canons, regarding the accessibility of texts. As long as e- literature is deeply entwined with the powerful commercial interests of software companies, computer manufacturers, and other purveyors of apparatus associated with networked and programmable media, economic restrictions must be taken into account too. Almost all literary multiplatform concepts adopt the most effective promotion practices from commercial advertisement, which debase literature’s supposed acculturation purpose. In the trilogy of Cathy’s adventures (Book, Key and Ring) the commercial agreement between Cover girl (Procter and Gamble) and Perseus Books Group to promote each other, inaugurated a new ethos in the field of literature, that foregrounds the inextricable and indissoluble relation between art and profit.
Access in general could as well be limited to those with political or professional qualifications, or members of certain organizations. Moulthrop[xxxix] points out that the potential of hypertext depends more and more upon sophisticated and expensive technology provided by capitalized multinational companies that do thriving business with the defense establishment. This affiliation clearly affects the development of new media. So, instead of egalitarianism to be it is easy to imagine a future with a polarized society based on wealth and the ability of people to access information.
Conclusion
E- literature to fulfill its innate emancipating qualities, must remain interactive not only in its exploratory but also in its constructive capacity, otherwise viewers will be provided with an illusion of freedom that is really equivalent to a grocery aisle filled with different brands of laundry detergent. Even more, a new balancing is required in many aspects, such as intellectual rights, economic restrictions or new literacy competence. The relation of the individual reader with e- literature is controversial and contradictory. It ranges from the upmost optimistic point where its adherents profess an interconnected- web- paradise of free expression and creativity up to the most pessimistic point of the techno- Ludd-ists, the doomsayers who foresee the advent of Big brothers and the imposition of thought control. New technologies of production, when aligned with the intellectual resources required to undermine the premises of the “minority culture” may offer tentative elements of a future beyond cultural pessimism, but nothing “in the technology” guarantees anything[xl].
References
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4. Technology teachers’ beliefs regarding science-technology relations
GOMATOS Leonidas, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), General Department of Pedagogical Courses, Patras, Greece, tel. +302610433664 , fax +302610433544, e-mail Gomatos@otenet.gr
Abstract
Literature on the history of science and technology shows that technology cannot simply be considered as a set of scientific applications. This conception is, however, widespread and is enhanced by scientific textbooks. Research has recently focused on teachers’ ideas on the subject. In this work, technology teachers’ ideas regarding science-technology relations are approached.
Three problems presenting different characteristics are proposed in a questionnaire which is handed out to Greek secondary school technology teachers. The teachers’ task is to characterize the problems and evaluate their use as tools in classroom or workshop work. The questions focus on the cognitive demands and on eventual strategies of the students for each problem, as well as on the degree to which teachers consider each situation as a “technological theme”. Besides, teachers’ representations concerning science-technology relations are approached through the questionnaire.
This research shows that teachers’ prevailing conception regarding science-technology relations is one of technology as an ‘applied science’. Concerning the status of technological knowledge, teachers rarely see autonomy from scientific knowledge. For many of them it is only the presence of application and psychomotor aspects that distinguish technology from science. The idea that technology is not a simple application but can advance by itself and is in a dialectic relationship with science is not common. Some implications of these findings such as the content of teachers’ preparative courses are discussed at the end of this work and some perspectives of further research are proposed.
Key words: Technology teachers, technology, science, relations
Introduction
Literature on the history and philosophy of science and technology supports the idea of a dialectic relationship between the two (Gardner, 1997, Habermas 1973). This interrelation does not appear however, in common views on the subject where the idea of ‘applied science’ dominates (Layton, 1993). A conception of technology as ‘applied science’ emerges from science textbooks as well (Gardner 1999, Gomatos 2009, Solbes & Vilches 1997). According to Gil et al. (2005) such a conception justifies the lack of attention to technology in science education which impoverishes scientific teaching.
What other views of science-technology relations are possible?
According to Gardner (1999) if we accept that science and technology are different then four positions are possible regarding science technology relations: a) Science precedes technology b) Science and technology are independent, this is what the writer calls the demarcationist position c) Technology precedes science, the materialist position always according to the writer d) Science and technology engage in two-way interaction. Those positions have not been the subject of research as possible science-technology relations’ representations in teachers or students, but they can certainly serve as a framework for analysis.
Layton (1993) considers that there are two possible models of representations of science-technology relations: the linear model or, as he calls it ‘technology as applied science’ and the interactive model. It is clear that there is a correspondence with the first and the last positions described by Gardner (1999).
In a previous work (Gomatos, 2007) three types of science-technology relationship representations were distinguished.
A. Technology as applied science.
Teachers in this category consider, in general, science as a closed, accomplished corpus of theoretical knowledge, which is not applied in everyday life but becomes applied through technology. The idea of a closed corpus of knowledge, concerning science, seems to be supported, if not generated, by the content of school science books. They rather consider technology as more “dynamic” than science but only in the sense that it has an enormous field of applications that is continually expanding.
B. Technology and science present some interactive characteristics:
Technology uses science, but it also contributes by its artefacts to scientific development. Scientific investigations are based on existing technologies. Technology offers the devices for the research and therefore supports further investigations. These teachers claim that technological mechanisms serve as a field of verification of scientific principles and theories. However the vision of technology is here rather more instrumental than mediating (Petrina et al, 2008)
C. Complete dialectic relationship between science and technology.
For these teachers science and technology complement one another. Some of them state that in science, as the history of science shows, a technological problem is often the beginning of the investigation in the course of which partial concepts are developed in order to reach the final objective.
Why are representations on science-technology relations important? Gil et al. (2005), claim that the idea of technology as an applied science leads to an impoverished view of science and technology, “which generates negative attitudes in many students and makes meaningful learning more difficult”. (p.316). Gardner (1999) considers that clear visions on science-technology relations would help science education which is accused of being too theoretical and too far from reality. This author refers to two more areas influenced by science-technology relations. The first is students’ choices for future careers: unclear views on science-technology relations do not help them make a conscious choice. The second is the social distinction between blue collar jobs and white collar jobs which is partly supported by vague and inaccurate views on technology.
When teaching technology in school, a vast variety of elements emerge concerning content, objectives and student attitudes. They are discussed by Black & Harrison (1994) and by Eggleston (1994) regarding technology as a general course and by Pastré (2002) and Pelpel (2000) regarding technological courses in vocational education. Greek secondary schools technology courses resemble either science courses or apprenticeships. An identity of technology education does not seem to have been established. The aim of this work is, among other things, to investigate whether or not technology teachers’ representations on the status of technological knowledge and on science-technology relations contribute to this lack of identity.
Methodology
Three problems (cf. Gomatos, 2007 for a detailed description) presenting different characteristics are proposed in a questionnaire to be answered by teachers of technological subjects. The problems could possibly be used as work material in class.
The teachers’ task is to characterize the problems and evaluate their use as tools in classroom or workshop work. The questions focus on the cognitive demands and on eventual student strategies for each problem, as well as on to what degree teachers consider each problem as a ‘technological theme’. Moreover, teachers’ representations concerning science-technology relations are approached through the questionnaire.
The questionnaires are handed out to the teachers after a brief introduction to the subject (in a pre-arranged meeting). The author chose to be present in the distribution of the material so as to encourage participation. The amount of time invested in order to deal with the questionnaire as a whole and the presence of open-ended questions would not have guaranteed a high participation if the questionnaires were mailed to the schools.
The questionnaire is distributed to Greek technology teachers after the approval of the Greek Educational Institute. Sixty-four teachers, all mechanical engineers, participated in the study. The participants’ demographics are similar to the general population of mechanical engineering teachers in Greek secondary schools.
The questionnaire problems serve as stimuli in facilitating expression on science-technology relations. Moreover, they are seen as permitting the possibility of associating teachers’ ideas about science-technology relations with other variables, such as teachers’ educational practices. In this work teachers’ ideas on science-technology relations is focused.
Two questions directly concerning science-technology relations are addressed at the end of the questionnaire:
1. It is often said that Technology is a set of applications of Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc). Do you agree with this point of view?
2. Is there a certain autonomy in technological knowledge? What differentiates technological knowledge from Physics, Chemistry etc?
For the analysis every comment of the teacher relating to the opinions researched in order to classify teacher’s ideas in one of the two models proposed by Layton (1993) and presented earlier in this paper were taken into account. These two models of representation constitute the framework of an a posteriori analysis of teacher’s ideas.
Results
Answers to the first question fall into three categories: ‘I agree’; ‘It can be so but additionally technology is ...’; ‘This is not necessarily true’, the first category being the most common.
The next question invites further discussion on the subject. Almost all teachers speak of some characteristics of technology that give certain autonomy or differentiate technological knowledge from scientific knowledge. There is a great variety of characteristics. Here are the most commonly proposed:
“the very fact that it applies”; “the fact that it combines sciences”; “the fact that the psychomotor element is of great importance”; “it is the art of the tangible, of the concrete”; “it deals with problems which concern life and human activities”, “it is also patents and invention”, “it creates artefacts which give rise to scientific investigation”, “it goes further and advances basic science”.
Several teachers propose more than one of the elements presented. The answer “I see no autonomy. It depends entirely on sciences” appears as well but only by a small number of teachers.
Some of the above ideas were seen when further analysing the answers to the first question, especially in order to see ‘what else technology is’ in the second of the three categories mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph and “when this is not true’ in the third category.
It is in fact the answers to both questions as a whole, that serve as the material which characterises teacher’ conceptions on science - technology relations. As explained earlier, for the purpose of this work as a framework of analysis the two models of representation proposed by Layton (1993) were used.
The classification of the answers in the two models appears in the following table:
|Ideas |Number of teachers |
|Linear model |47 |
|Interactive model |11 |
|Not classified |6 |
|TOTAL |64 |
Table 1. Teachers’ ideas regarding science-technology relations.
The number of teachers, who represent science-technology relations according to the linear model, is much larger than those who adopt the interactive model. From the test x2 goodness of fit realized, this finding is statistically significant (x2=46,7 with df=2, p=0,001). Therefore it seems that it concerns the population as well.
Let us look at what sets of opinions correspond to each model:
Teachers, who represent science technology relations according to the linear model, often declare “I agree” to the first question. ‘‘Having knowledge from theoretical subjects is necessary for the correct practice of technology” claim some of them. Some others declare ‘‘I agree but technology is also something else’’. This ‘else’ is in some cases the idea that technology uses some other sciences other than those mentioned ‘‘it is an application of the sciences mentioned but it is also mathematics” “it is also mathematics and drawing’’. In any case the dimension ‘application’ accounts very much for the teachers classified in this model ‘‘it’s the application that makes it different. Through application it passes in everyday life to all activities’’. Very often this ‘else’ is the presence of the psychomotor factor. ‘‘The various tangible artefacts result from the application’’, ‘‘technology is an application provided that it is combined with laboratory work’’, ‘‘it is an application but not with hands in the pockets’’. Here the idea that application is not assured is seen. According to these teachers there must be a certain training in order to bring theoretical knowledge into practice. Perhaps this practice, this training is the essence of the difference for these teachers, between science and technology.
On the other hand teachers who represent science-technology relations according to the interactive model speak typically about a dialectic relationship between science and technology: “Technology and science are interdependent notions. The various sciences study the environment using technologies and technology creates an artificial environment with the help of science”, “the relationship is a two-way street. Technology also helps sciences in the discovery of new things”. “Technology and science go together. Technology aims at the solutions to the problems. Science searches ‘how’ and ‘why’.” Some other ideas expressed by the followers of the interactive model are “ In some cases science precedes technology but some times technology comes first (with incomplete scientific explanations) and science follows”, “technology applies sciences but there are other important factors as well, chiefly of a socioeconomic nature”, “it is not only the application of science. It utilizes scientific knowledge but it can advance supported by a series of other factors. Sometimes it is possible that technology produces scientific knowledge or at least helps by using previous experience and technological achievements”
Of all sixty-four questionnaires only 6 authors opinions regarding science-technology relations could not be classified. In four cases there was not enough material; they wrote very few or controversial phrases on the subject. The other two expressed the idea that science and technology are different and there are no indications in their text that one precedes the other. This is the demarcationist position (Garder, 1999) described earlier. It seems that although Layton’s’ models constitute a simple and practical framework of analysis the classification they provide may not be exhaustive. Some other positions apart from the linear or the interactive models are possible. These positions do not seem to occur very often at least as shown by this research: Two teachers expressing the demarcationist position and no teacher expressing clearly the materialist position (the one stating that technology precedes science). This idea is certainly expressed but always with other ideas which usually refer to the interactive model. Finally apart from the two teachers who expressed the demarcacionist position the idea that science and technology are different was expressed by 14 teachers but this was along with other ideas which finally expressed either the interactive or the linear model.
Discussion
This research provides enough evidence showing that the prevailing conception of technology teachers regarding science-technology relations is that of technology as ‘an applied science’. Concerning the status of technological knowledge teachers rarely see ‘autonomy elements’ beyond the fact that it advances to applications and the idea that psychomotor aspects are of great importance. The idea that technology is not a simple application but advances by itself and is in a dialectic relation with science appears quite rarely. This is in contradiction with ideas supported by work in history and the philosophy of science. Moreover, this can mislead students and impoverish science and technology studies as described in the beginning of this article and result, among other things, in a lack of identity of technology teaching.
As a result of the previous findings an enrichment of the content of preparative courses for technology teachers could be considered. It may be important to deal with important aspects of history and philosophy of technology during these courses. The findings also suggest vigilance when selecting problems to be included in technology textbooks: presenting questions that demand inquiry, creativeness and invention by the students through the proposed tasks, becomes indispensable. This could contribute to a holistic approach to technological themes and could induce teachers to re-evaluate those aspects as important elements of technological themes.
The above suggestions can both be supported, among other methods, by historic examples of technologies and artefacts presented in relation to social and scientific data, demands and evolutions of the era of invention and the era of broad practice of these technologies. Such studies selected from the existing literature could be present in technology teachers’ preparation programmes curricula, as well as in secondary education technology curricula. It could also be the subject of investigation of educational projects that can combine science, history and technology courses. Finally further research could be done in exploring whether technology teachers’ ideas such as those revealed in this study, relate to variables such as previous studies, previous work and teaching experience and especially to teacher practices.
References
1. Black P & Harrison G. (1994) Technological Capability, Teaching Technology, The Open University, pp.13-19, London.
2. Eggleston J. (1994) What is Design and Technology education? Teaching Technology, The Open University, pp. 20-35, London.
3. Gardner, P. (1997) The Roots of Technology and Science: A Philosophical and Historical View, International Journal of Technology and Design Education 7: pp. 13-20.
4. Gardner, P. (1999) The representations of science-technology relationships in Canadian physics textbooks, International Journal of Science Education, vol .21, No.3, pp. 329-347.
5. Gil-Perez D., Vilches A., Fernandez I., Cachapuz A., Praia J., Valdes P. & Salinas J. (2005) Technology as ‘applied science’. A Serious Misconception that Reinforces Distorted and Impoverished Views of Science. Science & Education 14 : pp. 309-320.
6. Gomatos L. (2007) Conceptions de la discipline et relations avec les choix didactiques des enseignants de technologie. SKHOLE numéro hors série, pp. 119-125. IUFM Aix-Marseille, Université de Provence.
7. Gomatos L. (2009). Relations between Science and Technology as they emerge from physics textbooks. 13th International Congress of Greek Pedagogical Society, Curricula and textbooks: Greek reality and international experience. Ioannina, 20-22 November 2009. Vol 2, pp. 197-205 Diadrasi, Athens.
8. Habermas J. (1973) La technique et la Science comme Idéologie Denoël, Paris.
9. Layton, D. (1993) Technology’s challenge to Science Education, Open University Press, Buchingham.
10. Pastré P. (2002) L’analyse du travail en didactique professionnelle, Revue française de Pédagogie No 138, pp. 9-18 : INRP, Paris.
11. Pelpel P. (2000) Pratiques et modèles pédagogiques de l’enseignement technique, Revue française de Pédagogie No 131, pp. 43-54 : INRP, Paris.
12. Petrina S., Feng F. & Kim J. (2008) Researching cognition and technology : how we learn across the lifespan, International Journal of Technology and Design Education 18 : pp. 375-396.
13. Solbes, J. & Vilches, A. (1997) STS Interactions and the Teaching of Physics and Chemistry, Science Education 81(4), pp. 377-386.
5. Gender and ICT: an action research in teaching history with ICTs
Chryssanthi Palazi, Philologist, PhD student at the Department of Education, School of Philosophy and Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, E-mail: palazi@
Introduction
Objective of research
The present research has been carried out in the context of the doctoral thesis on the subject: "Gender and Technologies of Information and Communication", Department of Education, School of Philosophy and Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
The objective of the research is the investigation of possible changes concerning perceptions and opinions of male and female students, with regard to the integration of Technologies of Information and Communication (ICT) and the teaching of History. The teaching and learning process is based on the use of educational software, teaching “scenarios”, as well as the use of educational material from the Internet. The means of teaching used consist of the computers in the Information Technology lab and the interactive whiteboards in a room specifically set up for the purpose. The “subjects” of the research are students of the High school of Iraklia, Serres. Three classes of the 3rd grade are involved in the research, one as a control group and two classes in which the experimental procedures were applied. In order for the research to be possible, an application for authorisation for educational research from the Ministry of Education, and the Pedagogic Institute was necessary. The evaluation of the research was implemented with educational methodological tools (quantitative and qualitative analysis).
Working hypotheses
The study appreciates that the attempted research into teaching High school students history with the integration of Technologies of Information and Communication (ICT) will enlighten the following hypotheses:
• girls are more interested than boys in the history course,
• boys are more interested in computers and their applications,
• teaching history with the integration of ICTs (educational software, Internet, use of PC and interactive whiteboard) will change the convictions of girls about computers,
• teaching history with the integration of ICTs (educational software, Internet, use of PC and interactive whiteboard) will change the convictions of boys about the history course.
Key words: Gender, ICT, action research, history lesson.
Main corpus
The model of research-action is applied for the purposes of this research. This is a process that combines theory and action and is concerned with the study of concrete situations or strategies in education, aiming not only at comprehension on the part of the participants in the research, but also at improvement. This is related to the daily practical problems of the educational process, and aims at the diagnosis, comprehension and deepening of problems, and the change and improvement of education in the future. Even though, the limited sample of subjects restricts the possibility of generalisation of conclusions and the production of theory, research in this form provides flexibility, because is adapted to the particular conditions of the situation [1].
Starting points of the research, are both the bibliographic documentation, and also our own conclusion and observation as teachers involved in the research process, that on the one hand the girls have decreased efficacy in regard to the use of computer and multimedia applications, and on the other hand that the boys feel more familiarized with the PC, but present worse scores than the girls in the history course [13, 14, 15].
The plan of research:
• recording students’ opinions by using anonymous questionnaires
• implementation of teaching plans in the course of history by using educational cds approved by the Pedagogic Institute (eg. history for the 3 grades at High school, from the Korimvos company, URL: ), teaching scenarios based on selected web pages from the Internet, use of computers in the IT lab and the interactive table for the digital support of the lessons (images, videos, interactive maps and etc)
• recording students’ opinions by using anonymous questionnaires (follow up) at the end of the school year and after the implementation of teaching plans.
The process of sampling:
Students of the 3rd grade of High school were selected to participate in the research, because at this age the students already have experience with the Information technology and the computers from the previous classes. The history course was chosen as it offers the teaching flexibility to enable the use of a variety of available multimedia resources and integration of ICTs.
Moreover, the teachers that collaborate in the research have been trained and have received certification in the Training of Teachers in ICT (Level B) in the use and integration of ICTs in the educational process () and consequently they are familiar with and pedagogically informed concerning the implementation of teaching scenarios of this type.
Profile of "Digital class" at Iraklia High school Serres Greece:
Various factors contributed positively to implementing the research:
• the supportive attitude on the part of the school Director, Mr Konstantinos Aslanides and the majority of the colleagues [18].
• willing acceptance of rules and good collaboration from the students
• re-organisation of the school’s timetable, in order to have the school library, the interactive whiteboard and the computer lab at our disposal [17].
• the teaching plans concern the history curriculum of the 3rd grade of High school and are carried out with:
• projection of material onto the interactive whiteboard and completion of worksheets by the students
• collaboration in groups in the computer lab and completion of worksheets by the students.
In both cases teaching sources from educational sites and various additional multi- modal materials (pictures, maps, video) are used, with the consistent aim of the more complete comprehension of the historical period that is under examination [20].
Attempt of internal-formative evaluation:
In order to formulate a first assessment of the results, we choose the method of focused interview, so as to have feedback from the students concerning the attempt being made, while the research was still in progress.
The technique of anonymous completion of questionnaires intentionally did not used at this stage of internal-formative evaluation, in order to encourage students to speak freely and put forward their opinions.
In the process of discussion both the positive and negative points pointed out by the children were recorded, with projection of recordings on the interactive whiteboard. The children added more conclusions with suitable questions to each other, and enlightened aspects that were revealed with regard to their convictions and opinions concerning the integration of ICTs, the use of computer and the interactive whiteboard as well as the pedagogic value of this type of teaching and learning.
After the research has been carried out, the data from two questionnaires (one administered at the beginning and one at the end of research as follow up), will be statistically analysed and assessed using the SPSS statistical program. Thus it will be possible to evaluate the conclusions, with regard to the hypotheses that were initially set out for investigation.
Conclusions
In the discussion that followed the recording of students’ opinions, the following interesting and useful conclusions were drawn:
• the problems regarding the composition of groups that arose, were proved to be unrelated to the gender of the children involved, but to individual character traits
• those who defended the value of typical teaching, with the teacher in front of the blackboard (in their majority girls) declared that it is a known process that offers "safety [7, 2, 11]
• the students feel that they acquire more essential learning studying the historical event from the school handbook, no matter how obscure and difficult verbally it is. With the teaching scenarios with ICTs, they feel- without being absolutely sure - that they did not manage to retain in their brain specific items of knowledge and this causes them insecurity [4, 10]
• the uneasy attitude was expressed by girls [16] who do not have particular relation with the use of PC; potentially this is related to the feeling of digital " self efficacy "
• certain students realised that the factors that change concerning the traditional teaching in their class (change of room, change in the method of examination, even change in students’ seating arrangements )" remove" its traditional identity from the course and decrease its gravity and prestige. However, the consensus was that none of the factors affect the prestige of the teacher [6].
Absolutely generalised were the opinions that:
• time and familiarization with the new teaching methods are needed [3, 8]
• the role of the teacher is the key factor in keeping students’ interest and attention. The teacher’s contribution should have not only a coordinative, but also an interactive character [5]
• an essential prerequisite for the successful transaction of teaching is a compound form of teaching, in which elements from both traditional and modern educational methodology coexist in harmony with integration of ICTs [9]
• in the comparison of teaching scenarios in the computer lab and in the library with use of an interactive whiteboard, there was an overwhelming positive preference for the use of the interactive whiteboard
• the students of our research, believe that the method of teaching with the support of the interactive whiteboard constitutes a intermediary stage between traditional teaching and self-directed learning, and is necessary when someone works in groups and uses the computer as the exclusive means of learning. The children also appreciate that the interactive whiteboard allows them to have more complete picture of historic events, more and varied content information (pictures, video, photographs and maps) and that in this way they are able to learn more effectively. That is to say that they prefer to be taught by the teacher, with enrichment of the learning process through multi-modal sources.
The attempt at assessment and evaluation was exceptionally useful and offered feedback to the teachers involved. Moreover, the process of discussion and recording of conclusions (positive and negative elements of the teaching approach), demonstrated the maturity of thought and judgement that the children employ, and furthermore shows their active participation when something really interests and motivates them.
At the same time, it helped the teachers who carried out the research to realise where errors had been made, mainly in the syntax of teaching sheets and in the constitution of students’ groups. These conclusions will be useful for the teaching scenarios that follow. Moreover the success or the failure of our carefully drawn-up strategies of action helps us to evaluate various aspects of our practical theory and we discover ways to develop, modify or radically revise it [12]. It confirmed, also, the interactive character of such research with regard to subjects of interest, activation of students, evaluation of teaching and the self-assessment of teachers who are themselves involved in the research process [12, 19]. Research of this kind can contribute positively to proposed changes in educational planning and show via their pilot application the advantages or disadvantages of such an undertaking.
References
In English
1. Cohen, L., Manion, L., Research Methods in Education, London, 19893.
2. Colley, A. & Comber, Ch., «Age and gender differences in computer use and attitudes among secondary school students: what has changed?», Educational Research, 45:2, pp.155-165, 2003.
3. Gressard, C. & B. Loyd, «Validation studies of a new computer attitude scale», Association for Educational Data Systems Journal, 18, pp. 295-301, 1986.
4. Herrington, J. & A. Herrington, « Learning with Techology: An Integrated Approach», Themes in Education, 2:4, pp. 401-413, 2001.
5. Jimoyiannis A. & V. Komis, « Exploring secondary education teacher’s attitudes and beliefs towards ICT adoption in education», Themes in Education , 7:2, pp. 181-204, 2006.
6. Kirkup, G. & Keller, L.S., «The social construction of computers» ιn G. Kirkup & L. Keller (eds), Inventing Women: Science, Technology and Gender, pp. 267-281. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992.
7. Loyd, B. H. & C.P. Gressard , «The effects of sex, age and computer experience on computer attitudes», AEDS Journal, 40, pp. 67-77, 1984.
8. Marcoulides, G. A., «Measuring computer anxiety: The computer anxiety scale», Educational and Psychological Measurement, 37:4, pp. 733-739, 1989.
9. Mitra, A., «Categories of computer use and their relationships with attitudes toward computers», Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 30(3), pp. 281-294, 1998.
10. Mouzakis, Ch. & Zakopoulos V., «Attitudes towards Information and Communication Technology among Greek student teachers of technological education», Themes in Education, 7:1, pp. 79-96, 2006.
11. Shashaani, L., «Gender-based differences in attitudes toward computers», Computers and Education, 20(2), pp.169-181, 1994.
In Greek
12. Altrichter H., Posch P. & Somekh B., Οι εκπαιδευτικοί ερευνούν το έργο τους. Μια εισαγωγή στις μεθόδους της έρευνας δράσης, μτφ. Μ. Δεληγιάννη, Μεταίχμιο. 20012.
13. Δεληγιάννη-Κουϊμτζή, Β., Ζιώγου-Καραστεργίου Σ., Φύλο και Σχολική Πράξη: Συλλογή εισηγήσεων. Θεσσαλονίκη: Βάνιας 1997.
14. Δεληγιάννη-Κουϊμτζή, Β., «Ο παράγοντας φύλο στην ελληνική σχολική πραγματικότητα: συνοψίζοντας τα ερευνητικά αποτελέσματα», στο Δεληγιάννη Β./ Σ. Ζιώγου, Λ. Φρόση (επιμ.). Φύλο και εκπαιδευτική πραγματικότητα στην Ελλάδα. Προωθώντας παρεμβάσεις για την Ισότητα των Φύλων στο ελληνικό εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. Θεσσαλονίκη: Κ.Ε.Θ.Ι., 2002.
15. Εκκεκάκη, Ε., Φύλο και Νέες Τεχνολογίες στους Μαθητές Ενιαίου Λυκείου: Προεκτάσεις για τη Σταδιοδρομία/μεταπτυχιακή εργασία. Αθήνα: Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, Τμήμα Φ.Π.Ψ., 2004.
16. Ζιώγου-Καραστεργίου Σ., Διερευνώντας το φύλο: Ιστορική Διάσταση και σύγχρονος προβληματισμός στη Γενική, Επαγγελματική και Συνεχιζόμενη Εκπαίδευση. Θεσσαλονίκη: Βάνιας. 2005.
17. Ματσαγγούρας, Ηλ., Ομαδοκεντρική Διδασκαλία και Μάθηση: Θεωρία και Πράξη της Διδασκαλίας κατά Ομάδες. Αθήνα: Γρηγόρη, 1990.
18. Μπίκος, Κ., Εκπαιδευτικοί και Ηλεκτρονικοί Υπολογιστές. Στάσεις Ελλήνων εκπαιδευτικών απέναντι στην εισαγωγή ηλεκτρονικών υπολογιστών στη Γενική Εκπαίδευση. Θεσσαλονίκη: Αφοί Κυριακίδη, 1995.
19. Φρόση, Λ., Εκπαιδευτικοί σε διαδικασία αλλαγής: εφαρμογή της μεθόδου «Ο Εκπαιδευτικός ως Ερευνητής» στην επιμόρφωση εκπαιδευτικών σε θέματα ισότητας και σχέσεων των φύλων/διδακτορική διατριβή. Θεσσαλονίκη: Α.Π.Θ., 2005.
20. Χοντολίδου Ελ., Εισαγωγή στην έννοια της πολυτροπικότητας, στο Γλωσσικός Υπολογιστής, Περιοδική έκδοση Του Κέντρου Ελληνικής Γλώσσας για τη Γλώσσα και τη Γλωσσική αγωγή, Τομ 1, τευχ.1, 1999, αναρτήθηκε στο (πρόσβαση 7/3/2010).
6. Class, race and within neighbourhood segregation. The case of a Greek School.
Garas Georgios, 1st Experimental School of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Tel: 2103221687, Fax 2103313973 ggaras@
Abstract
In this paper I present the problem of within-neighbourhood segregation, in terms of class and ‘race’, in an urban Greek neighbourhood. The underlying mechanism is exposed as it is seen by an acting agent. Action Research has been used. I study the local dynamics in response to changes imposed by the transforming ideologies in the context of a broader national system and a universal super-system. I present a review in “school effectiveness” literature which I criticize for its validity for local communities, in relation with class and race-ethno segregation in terms of ecological, functionalistic, meritocratic and egalitarian models. I evaluate programs in the direction of amelioration of social inequality problems as well as current trends to the opposite direction. I employ Systems theory informed by chaos, dynamic and ecological systems’ theories. Aspects of self-reflexivity are considered and research itself is exposed as a systemic actor. I propose further research in local systems as a means of self-knowledge for schools and society.
Key words: school, segregation, class, systems, effectiveness.
Introduction
In nature, substances of molecules that attract each other mix easily, otherwise they separate. Temperature is the variant that opposes the tendency towards segregation. In society things are similar. There is a strong force towards segregation when class or ethnicity or “racial” repulsion is stronger. Classes “choose” different neighbourhoods, different cities, even different countries and this tendency probably lags or reverses for a moment during some “high temperature” periods (crises - revolutions) and then “phase separation” – to use a term from physics - starts again. Schools, as parts of the social system, follow the same rule. The first segregation which marks the difference between upper classes and lower ones is “good” expensive private schools and the “public” schools (state maintained schools). Then the segregation between “good” public schools and “bad” public schools comes, which, in general, goes with the “good neighbourhood” – “bad neighbourhood” segregation. But as this work stresses, another type of segregation, the within neighbourhood segregation, might be equally or even more important.
Tendency towards segregation can lead to imbalances in professions and facilities as well as in dangerous inequalities and social unrest. The state mechanism is seen by many as a means of amelioration of effects of inequality or even as a means of reducing inequality. In this context schools have been seen as a means of social transformation towards a more just social system. In this regard, despite the fact that educational systems are in general made to serve in different and unequal ways the different classes - e.g. with different school nets - legislation has been produced aiming to ease this tread towards a system of “equal opportunities”.[xlii] In Greece, for example, private schools cannot teach on a different curriculum or pay their teachers more. There are not “choice schools”[xliii] and according to Greek law parents should send their children to the school that corresponds to the place they live. However, as it will be shown below, these restrictions are easy to overcome.
According to some theorists class is the only important factor for school quality and children’s achievement.[xliv] On the other hand, there is a body of research mostly characterized by the term “effective schools research” that claims that “effective schools” share a list of characteristics and can be found even in deprived neighbourhoods.[xlv] However, as many works have already implied[xlvi] and this work stresses this can be explained not as a class-neutral phenomenon but as related to within-neighbourhood school segregation. The middle classes employ a number of “warlike” strategies in order to enable their offspring to attend a “good” school i.e. a school that can help their child to maintain or enhance social status. These are “avoidance” to enrol to the “inferior” public school, “withdrawal” that refers to leaving the public education system and choosing a private school and “colonization” that is the captivation of a public school by the middle class by expelling deprived children and obtaining extra resources and probably changing the “covert curriculum”.5 This work is mostly concerned with this last case.
The Method
This paper presents a case study of a secondary education school in a Greek big city that started at the middle of one school year and lasted one and a half school years. The research has been done by an active member who has been a part of the teaching and administrating staff and a parent of a pupil of this school. Thus it comprises elements of “action research” and ethnographic methods.[xlvii] The concept of “actors” or “agents” of a physical entity in the system is supposed, though I am aware of the limitations of the “corpuscular model” [xlviii] (systems are composed of “communicative actions”) [xlix]. The data of the study are researcher’s self – report on utterances, signs and stances of actors (meaning content)8, as well as any other type of information that came to the researcher during his work in the school system and was collected in a strictly statistical and not personalized manner. These data have been subjected to content analysis and constructed a picture on the practices and the flow of ideologies in the system. Permission to use the above data for this research was not asked because of the variety and the great number of the members of the system and the disturbance (change of behavior - reflexivity) that would have caused. Since there is possibly an ethical problem here – which is probably ameliorated by the usefulness of this research towards a more just school system[l] - the identity of the system under investigation is not disclosed.
Reflexivity in this work comes also into play through personal involvement and interest of the researcher both as an employee in this school and as a parent of a pupil of this school. It shapes the responses of the members of the system as well as the way these responses are observed. The outcomes of this research are also shaped by the ideology and personal intentions of the researcher. Schools as well as classes – as subuniverses of meaning[li]– are learning systems thus publication of this research might have an impact on the self-knowledge of these systems. This work is part of a universal tread of an ideology of “change”. But what change? According to Marxist’s and ecologists’ view this is an “economic liberals’” change that is relevant to “progress”, exploitation and environmental degradation. Some, instead, propose an ideology of “resilience” for a “zero-growth” development.[lii]
The Case
This paper presents a case study of a city school. The school is situated in a privileged position at the centre of the district in a desirable position near a recreation park. The neighbourhood comprises a social continuum of middle class city servants, teachers, shop keepers, merchants, doctors and other professionals who either are well off or have difficulty to make the ends meet and a “working class” employed in markets, shops, house maintenance and other uncertain jobs or living in partial or full unemployment. They coexist with groups of Roma, Balkan, Asiatic and African ethnicities living in poverty. “Class” as it is used is rather defined by wealth, status, prestige and ideology, not merely just by their position in production.[liii] The neighbourhood belongs to the third lower socio-economic level according to a ranking published by the Greek National Institute of Social Research.[liv]
The fact that the pupils of the school have been selected by some mechanism has been established by the declarations of the actors (parents, pupils and teachers) as well as by other information that came to the researcher during his work in the system. It is estimated that in last-year class less than 50% of pupils lived in the assigned district of the school. Also, the jobs of parents of the children of this school class tend to belong to the middle class rather than to the working class. Also immigrants’ percentage reported by the school, though an important one is the smallest in the district and, as the records of school show, the school has a relatively small percentage per school year of children that drop out of the school.
According to law, each school should take pupils that live in a certain area around the school within certain limits decided by the overseeing authority. Given the size of this school the area thus defined is small. So, the area does not have many families so that there is space for selected children from other districts to be accepted. Parents can obtain the privilege to send their children to the “good school” by giving a false address to the elementary school schoolmaster. Officially they should check but parents can bring documents such as house contracts or electricity and phone bills that were obtained just for this occasion or, possibly, a telephone call from a person of power might be involved. Parents can also obtain the desired enrolment by putting pressure on the secondary school principal in a number of ways, which include claims of proximity, of other children going in nearby schools, of being themselves pupils of this school, problems of health, reference to strong friends, implicit or explicit threats that these friends will be involved, reference to cases that obtained enrolment without living in the school district, threats that these cases will be revealed and, rarely, implicit threats of using physical violence. Parents belonging to lower classes and impoverished ethnicities either do not know anything about these mechanisms or they can do nothing or they do not want to do anything or if they do attempt to protect their rights it is usually with little perseverance and success. The process of transferring schools works all over the year, children of immigrants and low class children transfer – with no constraint - to other schools “to be with their friends” while Greek middle class children flow to the privileged school utilizing the strategies described above to fill the “vacancies”.
Looking at data one can see that there are certain major ideologies that inundate the system. The leading one that is also the driving force of the mechanism of segregation is a Greek ethnocentric ideology that is coloured with middle class values of education and success in life. This ideology, which is sometimes expressed as an “inclusive” one – in relation to people of other ethnicities – but most often as an “exclusive” one and is revealed by the overuse, explicitly or implicitly, of terms such as “Greek”, “Foreigner”, “Albanian”, “Gypsy”, etc and flows in and out of the system by all its pores, mostly mass media, curricula, official texts, teachers’ utterances and signs, etc. There is also a second power “open”, Eurocentric or Cosmo-centric ideology expressed by terms as “human being”, “child”, “immigrant”, “unemployed”, “poor fellow”, etc. Both ideologies split into two distinctive parts, one stressing security and equality and the other stressing success. Ideological trends related with other nationalisms are also expressed in conflict with the Greek ethnocentric ideology.
The ideological war and the class war have been expressed in school in various ways. 1) As conflict between teachers and pupils. Teachers are engaged in conflict with lower class pupils on the grounds that the latter are disruptive or do not cooperate in classrooms or have no “good manners” or even they are not good learners. Often lower class children come to conflict with teachers because teachers express middle class values (“if you don’t study you will end up as a labourer”). Also conflict arises between teachers and immigrant children or Roma children when teachers overstress the leading Greek ethnocentric exclusive ideology or even when they express stereotypes that are offensive to certain ethnicities.
2) As conflict between middle class parents and teachers. The most usual complaint of middle class parents is that their child is in a low performance class where “problematic children” do not let their children unfold their potential. They ask for their child to be transferred to another class a request which, however, was not accepted by the principal on the grounds that such a move would result in a within school segregation.
3) As conflict between middle class children and working class children or children of immigrants and other ethnicities. This conflict is an everyday experience and is also expressed in student elections for the students’ communities - either class or the all school community - where violence (bullying) and cheating are present.
4) As a conflict between teachers mostly arising as a conflict between an exclusive and an inclusive ethnocentric ideology.
There is not need to say that failure in exams in this school was highly correlated to class and ethnicity. The conflicts, acting chaotically in small scales, ended mostly not in favour of immigrants and lower classes. For example – for the chaotic nature of interactions to be exposed – conflicts between children had as a result a talented immigrant child to be elected as the president of students’ community. However, soon afterwards, he unsuccessfully attempted “katalipsi” - a yearly ritual of closing down the school by the pupils - which resulted in his ridicule and stigmatization.
The Greek middle classes after “hijacking” the school behave selectively in many ways. For example, in end-year fiestas that the parents association organized, a pricy ticket and a “face control system” in schools door, discouraged poor children from taking part. The middle class occupation resulted – during this research – in many improvements in the school. The constant pressure of middle class parents on the principal might have played a role in 1) minimizing the number of incompetent teachers in the school 2) minimizing the shortage of educational personnel 3) improving the substructure of the school – it obtained a new audio system, and a number of “interactive boards”. 4) The school avoided the endemic “katalipsi”. The school’s improvement might be the reason that an upper middle class “special needs” child, with severe mobility and mild cognitive problems, applied for this school, despite the fact that the school does not have any special facilities.
Discussion
We learn from Tsoukalas’ book on Greek educational system1 that this was born as soon as the new state emerged, under an “ideological action” and had a “democratic nature”, in the sense that there was only “one school network” serving all classes. There was no technological branch and attendance was obligatory for boys and girls and cost free. It expanded rapidly for a newborn “exclusive” nationalistic ideology to be transmitted to popular and rural strata (p. 25). However, this democratic nature of Greek Education - established long before anything similar happened in Europe - was impeded by the imposition of an archaic language that served the leading ideology and was planned to serve privileged children to go to university (p. 505). But this did not discourage peasants since “there is a nearly atavistic precondition in the Greek peasant to send their children to the middle class” (p. 156). From this work I conclude that this “atavism” has been already transferred from the peasants to their middle class offspring that live in towns. They know that the role of school in class mobility is immense (p. 524) and act, according Poulatzas, under the “ideological syndrome of an ascending root”.[lv] Intra-class antagonism is also important. Some middle class members of this neighbourhood have “succeeded” in migrating in a “better” neighbourhood, while they who didn’t make every effort to compensate for this.
There is another reason for the middle class to hijack and occupy a school.[lvi] School is part of the state and “unproductive Greek middle classes of the towns” and Greek state, have been serving its other from the beginning.[lvii] The middle classes have been feeding upon the state while the state has been inflating by employing and producing middle class members. School is a great consumer of products that middle classes sell, owns facilities that middle classes use and gives occupation to middle class (and working class) members such as teachers and auxiliary personnel. However, State and Civil Society - and market - are also different.[lviii] In this study this difference has been revealed as a dispute between the “school” (school personnel) and the “society” or the market around rights of the latter on school facilities during out of school hours. In the end “society” won the battle with the help of an official document that explicitly states that a member of the “school committee” – that decides about allocation of school resources - can have personal invested interests in school substructure. This directive acts as a “pore” that enables communication between different systems (the school, society and market) but at the same time endangers the separation of these systems.8
The unprivileged children of immigrants and working class, as this study shows, are expelled from the “good” school one way or another. Ideologies of “multiculturalism” or “inter-culturalism”, imported trough EU subsidised programs, though gaining pace, do not seem to have any success in democratizing schools.[lix] And this is not only a Greek tread. According to Ettlinger “While diversity has been represented discursively in the United States as a reflection of democracy, in practice it has been a signpost of uneven development.” [lx] As this work shows in a dynamic and chaotic way multiculturalism or “diversity” accelerate segregation. The Greek middle class, which mostly values language - a basic element of nationalistic ideology and at the same time the means of going up and ruling – discontented in having their children in the same school with children of poor language skills and conspicuous of an exogenous ideology reacts to this “politicizing of identity problem”18 using its “cultural capital”[lxi] in a kind of “racial complicity”1 and succeeds in keeping the “good school” under control.
The initially “democratic” Greek, one way, education system obtained a technological branch after the WW2 as well as separate “model” schools for the brightest children. This was put into question later and “model” schools were replaced with “experimental” schools - where children who applied for enrolment were chosen randomly. However, even these schools have been subjected to segregation for the simple reason they have been the favourite schools of the middle classes5 – even a PM studied in one of them. Lately Zones of Educational Priority (ZEP) have been introduced to give support to disadvantaged districts and in a new change of direction “model” schools are given another chance.
This case study might help to find an answer to the effectiveness paradox of “good schools” in disadvantaged neighbourhoods performing “effectively” in terms of quantitative academic success criteria. “The school effectiveness research”4 has not taken into account the within neighbourhood class and “race” segregation that in this study is revealed to be really important resulting in accumulation of recourses in certain neighbourhood schools and then even more segregation.
In unbiased systems even with a small initial difference segregation is unavoidable. It happens spontaneously even in simple physical systems of particle like molecules, more easily in systems of some complexity, say polymers, where interactions are much richer.[lxii] In society, a real complex system, segregation comes out due to non linearity of interactions as an “emerged” property. Schools, as open systems, though assigned a certain volume of physical space around them, act in “phase space” as basins of attraction[lxiii] steered by ideology or “meaning”8 and transform them selves. From an egalitarian point of view segregation blocks opportunities for poor people and impede communication between different people so it is destructive for democracy.[lxiv] From an ecologist, a functionalist or a systems’ theory point of view segregation might save resources by accumulating and reallocating them so they are not wasted and can result to efficiency and diversity8. This research indicates that the answer lies in between, at a shifting point that is always for systems to decide. Within neighborhood school segregation works unjustly towards the local underclass but at the same time might prevent the enhancement of class segregation in a greater scale. More research is needed in hope that self-knowledge and action – personal and political – will be directed towards a better school system of justice equality and progress – as they should be redefined in a time of instability and environmental deterioration
Acknowledgment
I thank Dr. Greta Akpeneye for hours of inspiration and challenge during her lessons at LMU and for her critical reading of this paper.
References
1. K. Tsoukalas, “Dependence and reproduction. The social role of educational mechanisms in Greece.», Themelio, 1976, In Greek.
2. R. A. Mickelson, M. Bottia, S. Southworth, “School Choice and Segregation
by Race, Class, and Achievement”, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. March 2008. .
3. B. Bernstein, ‘Education cannot compensate for society’ New Society 387, 344-47, 1970.
4. P. Mortimore, ‘School Effectiveness Research: Which way at the Crossroads?’, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Vol.2, No. 3, pp. 213-229, 1991.
5. T. Maloutas, (2006) «Education Strategies of Middle Strata and Housing Segregation in Athens” Επιθεώρηση Κοινωνικών Ερευνών. 119, p. 175-209.
6. M. Larkin, “ What is reflexivity?”, 2004,
7. W. J. Sewell, "A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation," American Journal of Sociology 98:1 – 29, 1992.
8. H. Willke, “Introduction to Systems’ Theory”. Κριτική ΑΕ, 1996. In Greek.
9. Μ. Punch, «The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork», Qualitative Research Methods Vol. 3, Sage Publications, California. (1986)
10. P. Berger and T. Luckman. “The social construction of reality. A treatise in the sociology of meaning”, Penguin. 1967.
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14. N. Poulatzas, “Fascisme et dictatoure”, Mapero. Parish, 1971.
15. G. Garas, "A changing school at the crossroads of two civilizations" First International conference “management in education” , Arta, Volume 2, 2006, In Greek.
16. K. Tsoukalas, “Social Development and State», Themelio. In Greek, 1981.
17. A. Gramsci, “Selections from the prison notebooks”, Lawrense & Wishhart. London, 1971.
18. K. Tsoukalas,“The invention of the “other”», Kastaniotis, 2010. In Greek.
19. N. Ettlinger, “On the Spatiality of Segregation and the Governance of Change”, (2010).
20. Bartlett, S., Burton, D. and Peim, N. “Introduction to education studies”, Paul Chapman. London, 2001.
21. G. Garas, “Macroscopic, properties of binary polymer blends.” PhD Thesis. University of Ioannina, 1996 (In Greek).
22. E. Ott, T. Sauer, J. Yorke, “Coping with chaos”, John Wiley & Sons, 1994.
23. I. M. Young, “Inclusion and Democracy”. Oxford University Pres, 2000.
7. Collaboration in a web-based environment and analysis of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
Eleni Panou-Papatheodorou, French Language Teacher
Phd Candidate University of the Aegean, Department of Pre-School Education and Educational Planning, Panou2@aegean.gr
Abstract
The development of a collaborative and productive ambiance is an essential priority of the modern school. Educational research has shown that collaboration can improve students’ performance, due to different types of interaction developed within the classroom framework. Social interactions in particular interest students and help them remain highly motivated during the learning process.
In this present research our goal is to present the potential uses of collaborative learning environments. We will analyze the conditions that enhance Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Additionally we will present issues related to group structure, means used by the teacher, effective evaluation of the interactions and the group performance. The main research questions that will determine our work are the following:
What are the key features of pedagogical approaches and how do they contribute to the development of social interactions in a collaborative learning environment?
What are the main functionalities and benefits of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)?
Key-words: Pedagogical Approaches, Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
Introduction
In a collaborative learning environment students act collaboratively: they act, explain, communicate, exchange information and find solutions (Matsaggouras, 2000). Collaborative group-learning is thus characterized by positive interdependence, interaction and collaboration between its members, as well as by the role of the teacher as a consultant.
Pedagogical approaches in a CSCL environment
Collaborative learning as a didactical approach has existed long before the computers era and it is based in pedagogical theories of Dewey, Bruner and Vygotsky. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) acquires new forms through the use of real technological environments, which aim at mediating communication and supporting social interaction through computers (Komis, 2007). The evolution of CSCL has been largely influenced by the following pedagogical approaches:
Activity theory: it focuses on the activities involving humans, tools, social relationships, objectives and the results of pedagogical activities (Wild, 1996). It is based on two principal ideas: Human meaning exists and can be understood only in the frame of human interaction which is socially and culturally defined.
Constructionism: this theory is based on the principal that learning is a result of the reflection on the experiences on which the personal knowledge of the world is constructed. The main applications of this theory in the field of CSCL are the logo-programmable environments, microworlds, simulations concerning representation of fantastic phenomena.
Social constructionism: according to this theory learning is achieved through interactions. CSCL environments and the situated learning that takes place in a laboratory or a working environment (Komis, 2004:94-95). There are four main features of this theory:
Active knowledge construction of the subject leading to deeper understanding
Learning within a specific context through autonomous activity and social support
The community where learning takes place contributes to the development of culture The dialogue which makes possible the participation and the negotiation within the community context
The influence of sociocultural theories regarding the creation of learning environments enhanced by ICT could be classified in the following categories:
Internet applications: forum, wikis, chat, blogs, e-mail
Search engines
Digital libraries
Internet portals
Collaborative learning systems
Following our bibliographical research we could define collaborative learning as “a system of methods where students work collaboratively and interdependently in small groups, in order to achieve common goals” (Charalambous N, 2000).
Computer –Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)
Creating a collaborative learning environment raises questions regarding the appropriate pedagogical activities, the evaluation of individual results, the conflict management within groups of students. In particular when we are talking about computer-supported collaborative learning we should consider various technical, pedagogical and organizational parameters such as:
Interdependence among group members
Formation of mixed abilities groups
Distribution of work in interdependent activities
During the evaluation of the collaborative learning process we need to take under consideration various parameters. According to McGrath, 1991, there are four levels of collaborative learning analysis:
1. Task performance
2. Group functioning
3. Social support
4. Help supply
According to (Kazoullis,2001), a functional and effective learning environment should include the following characteristics:
A small mixed abilities group
A problem to solve-a common goal
Interaction and interdependence between group members
Collaborative abilities
Individual and group responsibility
Equal chances to succeed
Creative communication
Teacher as a consultant
As a consequence we should categorize the benefits of CSCL as following:
Academic domain:
1. Development of critical thinking
2. Development of the oral communication ability
3. Creative inquiry learning environment
4. Responsibility
5. Improvement of learning process
6. Emotional domain:
7. Satisfaction from the learning process
8. Development of self-esteem
9. Social domain:
10. Students undertake different roles
11. Sense of responsibility
12. Autonomisation of the learning process
Conclusion
Technologies of Information and Communication to support collaboration offer new ways of interaction an consequently favor the collaborative achievement of learning goals. Collaborative learning environments support student-centered methods. In this framework students evaluate the results of their own work `(Kollias & Vosniadou, 2002). They promote active forms of learning which support group work, exchange of ideas and free expression.
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8. Multimodal Teaching and Learning through ICT education: teaching English as a foreign Language
Potamias Georgios, Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, University of Athens, Athens, Greece, Tel: +00306951822253, E-mail: giogeo_gr@yahoo.co.uk
Nassiou Sophia, Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, Tel: +00306932279609, E-mail: sophiena@
Abstract
Multimodality is a major factor in promoting education through multidimensional aspects in an approach determined by its social environment. Thus, Multimodal educational approach enhances not only the teaching through the principles of ICT education and technology, but also the reforming of school culture. Modality, according to the principles of modern social semiotics, is considered the relative approach of truthfulness. Through the social semiotic approach, truth and the concept of reality are determined by the means and commands of a generally accepted social context. Multimodality is the multidimensional representation and reconstruction of a generally accepted “truth” and its social status. In the approach presented in this paper, school is considered a part of a generally accepted given social context, where a dynamic and active involvement in the learning process is recognized and given to the subject of learning, utilizing new trends in language teaching and opportunities that the information of technology and communication provides.
In this paper an instructive example for the course of English through authentic learning contexts (situated practice), direct teaching of analytical skills and understanding texts (overt instruction), critical analysis (critical framing) and transfer of knowledge to different environments and situations (transformed practice) is presented -and at the same time proposed. This proposal regards the teaching of a grammatical phenomenon in English as a foreign language by using texts, videos, films, computers, and the internet and is directly related to the students’ interests and needs. An opportunity is given to understand the ways and means of communication producing oral, written and electronic speech on authentic communication situations, as much as possible, while fostering metacognition, social literacy and self-evaluation.
Keywords: multimodality, ict education, social semiotics, English language
Introduction. Multimodality in education.
Multimodality is nowadays considered by a large number of academics as a key factor in promoting sustainable knowledge through multidimensional and in many cases interactive aspects, in an educational approach, strongly determined by social environment
[lxv]. Modality, according to the principles of modern social semiotics, is considered the relative approach of truthfulness[lxvi]. Multimodality is the multiple representation of a given “truth” through video, audio and interactive stimuli[lxvii]. This truth can be knowledge, skill or even competencies. Thus a Multimodal educational and pedagogical approach is enhanced not only by the means and principles of ICT education, e-learning and modern technology, but also by the reforming of the traditional school culture. In the approach presented in this paper, school is considered a part of a generally accepted given social context[lxviii].
In an educational context rich in visual interactive stimulus[lxix] (medias, computer, cinema) an educational approach attached to the traditional method of teaching is impossible to cope with the needs and every day learning experiences of modern day students. Students are consistently receiving information in multiple and interactive forms whose validity can be questioned. Critical visual literacy, which is defined as the ability of understanding, decoding, producing and criticizing visual messages has become more indispensable than ever in the modern multimedia world[lxx]. Amongst other competencies that are necessary for forming an independently thinking citizen, critical visual literacy has become vital in order to cultivate and enhance the ability of reading and semiologically decoding both a text and image as a whole or separately[lxxi]. Especially in the context of liberal western societies, a literate person will be considered one that can identify, read, analyze and develop a widespread of visual and interactive stimulus[lxxii]. According to multimedia researches[lxxiii] images can largely promote a social based critical thinking. As a result teaching and learning through interactive multimedia activities is obligatory for a sustainable educational system. The most important advantages of teaching through the use of interactivity and in particular images are:
▪ The images can be saved easily in long term memory.
▪ Images do provoke a wide range of reactions, especially stimulating imagination.
▪ The readers or users of interactive multimodal teaching material prefer material with high informational quality.
▪ Combining imagery and text is more effective in promoting comprehension than text alone.
▪ Images can be useful in promoting understanding of highly abstractive knowledge.
▪ Mentally or physically challenged students can be aided more efficiently through technologically enhanced learning material.
▪ Use of efficient multimodal imagery is proved more effective when teaching is combined with the flexibility and resourcefulness of internet and computer enhanced edutainment[lxxiv].
The role of a modern educator is to create a sufficient educational environment that enhances students’ critical thinking towards interactive imagery as the great number of visual stimuli makes students confuse reality with the virtual reality through technologically empowered artificial environments[lxxv]. Thus developing critical visual literacy competencies is imperative for a modern sustainable educational system.
Multimodality and teaching a foreign language.
Teaching multi-modal education in the field of foreign languages is strongly related to modern visual stimuli[lxxvi]. Cinema, television and moving pictures, being more traditional semiotic means of education than computer enhanced visualizations, can be a flexible source of teaching activities with parallel analysis of images, text and sound. In this way a foreign language is approached to its social basis, through interactive stimuli related to students’ every day experience. All activities are formed according to the experiences, needs and expectations of a given group of students. The ultimate goal in this approach is the promotion of multiple communicative and sensory interactions between students, in educational context determined by social reality[lxxvii].
Multimodal education is necessary for the comprehension of a foreign language in a modern multimodal media world. The multimodal teaching and learning experience promotes the ability of:
▪ Using a huge data source of visual and audio interactive material.
▪ Criticizing and decoding the multiple function and rhetoric of visual material.
▪ Using modern interactive sources (computer, video, cinema) for collecting and managing critical information.
▪ Using computer enhanced applications in order to create interactive compositions and real communicating and expressing language activities (combination of image- text- sound).
▪ Presenting multimedia creations (powerpoint applications, multimedia creations, cartoons, mini-computr games) that promote students’ imagination[lxxviii].
Efforts for creating a school curriculum that empowers multimodal approach have been recently carried out in many countries. Such curriculums consider crucial the development of metacognitive skills[lxxix]. Since the use of internet has given students access to an inexhaustible source of interactive information, the risk of confusing valid knowledge and useless information is more real than ever[lxxx].
Despite the ongoing objection towards abstractivity and real life irrelativity of virtual interactive projects, approaches under sophisticated criteria can be at least theoretically able to promote students’ understanding of foreign language communication in praxis[lxxxi]. It is also generally accepted that students accept willingly the integration of visual material, in order to support and enrich textual and non-textual material in a holistically empowered semiotic context[lxxxii]. In this way knowledge and in particular communication skills in a foreign language can be easily attached with every day students’ experience. Especially in English language, its use as a “lingua franca” in computer related communication activities (social networks, e-mail, computer games), can be a resourceful way in forming interactive educational activities.
Recent introduction of interactive blackboards and rich visual educational means has revolutionized school context and made the necessity of connecting education in praxis, through computer and visual enhanced interactive activities more vital than ever. However, teachers tend to be very cautious and concerned towards the pedagogical quality of multimodal activities as criteria should be formed in order to evaluate multimedia interactive material
[lxxxiii].
In the approach presented in this paper, language is considered in its social content. Therefore it holistically promotes multimodal educational activities determined by students’ social context.
Multimodality and English as a foreign language: a case study
Organizational frame
The basic learning object is English language, as a subject suggested by the school curriculum. Secondary learning objects are also present to help conduct the lesson. For example in the field of Geography through the use of the solar system, that has been taught in a previous lesson, and the use of computers through ict education for the use of Internet and wiki platforms. The thematic unit presented is the Simple Future tense (formation and use), which is included in the formal curriculum.
The school of interest is an urban school with 12 classes. The majority of students are Greek. Class E’ has 18 students and is a mixed ability class. Teaching takes place in a typical school hour (45΄) during the lesson of English. Teaching aids that help the venture are the class projector, a laptop for displaying videos and power point slides with images and gif images, the school computers for Internet interactive exercises and paper worksheets for certain activities.
Basic knowledge of the English Language in Grammar and specifically in forming present tenses of the verbs is necessary and belongs to previous acquired skills, as well as knowledge of the planets of our solar system taught in the lesson of Geography. The use of a computer by each student is a prerequisite. If the number of the computers at school is insufficient, nonetheless, the students can work in pairs or teams.
General aims of the project
The general aims are:
✓ To get students in contact with the metalanguage of the structural characteristics of videos.
✓ To get students acquainted with the method of analysis of the audiovisual message.
✓ To familiarize students with the forming and the use of the Simple Future tense.
✓ To make students wonder about their future and the planet’s, to cultivate ecological consciousness and team spirit through teamwork activities.
✓ To highlight “multimodality” as an operating means of motivation, a dynamic aesthetic and teaching tool, a means of cultivating “visual critic literacy”, a teaching object for the development of critic and creative thinking, as well as for helping produce and reform knowledge.
✓
Teaching objectives
The formation of the affirmative, question and negative forms of the tense are the specific objectives of the lesson, along with the correct use of the Simple Future tense for decisions made on the spur of the moment, for predictions, as well as the use of “shall” for making suggestions. Time expressions accompanying Simple Future are also presented, the names of the planets of our solar system in English are revised and a reflection on the future life of the Earth is attempted.
Lesson plan
➢ Stimulation is brought on by showing a video extract of a documentary (first part) about the future of the planet. Questions are made by the teacher in order to introduce students to the notion of the future.
Duration of activity 4΄.
➢ An analytical presentation of slides including images and gifs with the affirmative form of the tense takes place. Next, students are urged to produce the questions and short answers (affirmative and negative) by matching them to the planets of the solar system while revising their names. Students with learning difficulties can also participate, since they get help by the inscription on the slide. Sample questions: “Will you visit….?”
Duration of activity 6΄.
➢ A video extract of the movie “Shall we dance?” is displayed to show the use of “shall” when we want to make a suggestion. Students are urged to involve in a role play game in pairs. They ask their partner to do an activity together. Sample questions: “Shall we go for a picnic?”
Duration of activity 6΄.
➢ The slide with the “grammar box” (the tense in all forms) and the time expressions that go along is presented.
Duration of activity 3΄.
➢ The second part of the video about the planet is displayed with alternative forms of energy and their use. It aims at developing listening skills, that is why a worksheet of scaled difficulty questions is given to be completed in a relaxed way, in pairs.
Duration of activity 10΄.
➢ Small groups of students are formed that practice the formation and use of the tense in Internet interactive activities. Weaker students are supported by the team. When the teams have finished, they get the self-correction done with the correct answers given by the computer. They have the opportunity to retry to get the highest score.
Duration of activity 10΄.
➢ Last, homework is assigned. Students are asked to join the wiki we have created and produce future phrases for the corresponding situations. An optional activity is to look for lyrics of favorite songs on “You tube” containing the Future tense and bring them to class.
Duration of activity 10΄.
Evaluation of the project
The assessment of teaching practices we applied in the functional language instruction was based on the finding of the changes that took place in the students’ language and communication skills concerning:
• Managing group/pair work.
• Amount of time students speak in English.
• Effectiveness of instructions.
• Success of materials/aids.
• Timing of activities.
• Balance of activities.
• Board/ projector work.
This frame also includes the assessment of multimodal practices. We found that the students’ improvement of language competency at all levels (morphological, syntactic, semantic) and particularly of communication skills, with the comprehension and production of various textual items in various conditions of communication, was very satisfactory. In terms of grammar, the children familiarized themselves with the planned items, specifically in actual communication conditions during the processing of the generated texts. Students also learned to freely express their views on the response of the texts in the original objectives, to respect and value the opinions of others and to practice matacognitive skills in linguistic self-correction with the help of the computer.
On the assessment of the approach practices of multimodal texts, the understanding of multimodal characteristics of different textual types and the ease of switching communication "channels" were used as key axiological indicators. Understanding the multimodal characteristics mainly took place during the 'double' processing of the produced texts, where apart from language issues, responsiveness to multimodal communication requirements of the occasion was also discussed. This process highlighted the intuitive knowledge of students concerning the modality factors, such as the role of a video or an image.
The "drawing" of empirical and intuitive student knowledge, of multimodal features, and their usability in real communication conditions were the two items of multimodal literacy that resulted from the editing process. It turned out that the frequent use of multimodal texts and the discussions on their goals at the societal level, created a "continuum" of multimodal literacy. Multimodal texts played an important role in developing critical thinking and sensitivity towards ecological issues to children, as well as cultivating social and emotional skills.
As for the students with problems of linguistic expression (forms of dyslexia, reading weaknesses, etc.) we believe that the results were satisfactory, because students had the chance to produce more texts than those that could normally produce in the current program, particularly in conditions of experiential expression.
The response to the whole venture was positive and students were interested and motivated. Of course, results would have been improved if the school process was based on experiential teaching practices throughout the project.
Conclusion
Multimodal teaching and learning emerges as an educational approach that can provide a sustainable pedagogic context in modern classroom. As presented, multimodal educational display and interactive activities combined with traditional educational actions (group working, dynamic worksheets, differentiated teaching and learning) form an appealing and dynamic learning experience in praxis. In the project presented in this paper, learning a foreign language through the principles of multimodal approach becomes an interesting intrinsic adventure that can respond to the needs and interests of modern students.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the National Scholarship Fund of Greece for its support during our research.
References
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