Waiting for the Media Anti-teacher Spin

byhookorbycrook

So extensive use of technology is linked to poorer outcomes in education?

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/lack-of-computers-in-schools-may-be-a-blessing-oecd-report-1.2351683

I'm shocked the media hasn't found some way to pin the blame for this on teachers.

byhookorbycrook

Well, that didn't take long, Six One News, the issue is teachers not trained how to use ICT are the problem.

mirrorwall14

Man that is ridiculous.... I would argue that everyone is undertrained though. Teachers, parents, the whole lot. We have ipads, the amount of parents who have done absolutely no moderating of their childs useage be that apps or other is crazy to the point that the system has been changed this year and students cannot download any apps or access any websites without the parent entering their parent code. However we know well there are some parents who will just give the code to their students.

There is also an issue with huge underfunding of technology in this country at all. Students and teachers alike are using outdated, incredibly slow technology which actually cannot even cope with a lot of the modern possibilities. Having computer rooms in schools, grants available etc is useless since there is no ICT coordinators in schools unless there happens to be a teacher how is "good with computers"

At the other end of the scale is the massive variation in teacher training and ability. There has not been a single PDST course on computer use that was in any ways useful to me because I am "good with computers". I would LOVE to learn more about applying technology to my syllabi and teaching but its just not there. I don't want to learn about google apps-I'm using them all the time. I sat through a presentation last week and there was only one sentence I didn't know (That I have unlimited storage on my google scoilnet account!). However at the other end of the scale you do have teachers who are still scared of technology.

My argument would be that both myself and those weak at computers are not being catered to. We want to be told how we can use technology to teach our specific subject, what sections of the course it is relevant to and what advantage there is to teaching it. We don't want a generic course "oh you could maybe use this for teaching languages", we want "This is how you would use it teaching languages". Its that that I argue is missing and without that motivation to be able to apply it specifically to your own subject teachers will continue to say its more effort that it is worth.

A decent example of what I mean is this: We had a google apps presentation a while back. As part of it the presenter lauded the ability of google classroom/drive/docs and pointed out that it has the ability for the teacher to generate a single document and have all students work on it. Or alternatively the teacher can create a single document and classroom will send each student their own copy to work on. They went through this in detail showing how to do it however no examples were actually given of specific in classroom scenarios where it could work. I love computers and thought this was great so I went off immediately to figure out ways where this could help teaching my course. I found two very easily.

First: For class test Revision I often have students create their own question and answer sets for the topic (music or maths), then put all the data together, check it and hand it out as decent mixed revision questions for the students. It really helps because they have to think about the topic from the examiner perspective but still benefit from loads of practise questions afterwards. With google classroom I can now create a file that all the students can edit at once, then I can correct it still within the file and then either print it or distribute it via classroom to all students. It eliminates a huge amount of work for me in rewriting the questions into one document and allows students who struggle with inspiration to see what others are doing.

Second: For the Junior Cert Music General Study. Students have to write a general study about a topic in music, the headings are more or less the same year on year and I always get my students to do one (you could actually just hand one out and have them learn it off but thats a topic for another thread!). I would usually give the headings down to the students from the board and they handwrite theirs into their copy. Or I have photocopied a template for them to fill in. With google drive/classroom I can create one template file and it will automatically send an individual copy to each student for them to edit and they can submit it back to me via classroom. Classroom automatically creates a folder with all of their answers in my drive and I can send back the corrected copies easily. I have a copy, they have a copy and it can't go missing like a copy!

Both of these are examples that I will use (and have already used). However I spent breaktime today in the classroom giving these (and others) as examples to staff members who thought the presentation was cool but didn't know how to apply it to their subject.

I'd love to attend a maths inservice for example that went through the topics on the course pointing out ways that it can be taught using (free) technology. Not just "oh this maths app is good" with very little further info

I can dream

EDIT: God I'm sorry that is waaaay longer than it felt when writing it!

evolving_doors

using technology is just a tool to teach your subject. I think the impression being given is that we are expected to 'teach' IT.
People often forget that most secondary teachers are subject specialists first and foremost, not psychologists (teaching mindfulness!), not philosophers, not nutritionists, not environmentalists, not addiction councillors, not social media guardians etc...
Its funny that the article I read said that kids were quite adept at technology and the use of it in schools was minimal... and on a wider level kids do better without being 'taught' it. I also remember someone writing an article about kids of IT gurus in Silicon Valley being given a very classical style education with little emphasis on teaching through ipads etc.
It works above for mirrorwall (to an extent ,given the limitations) but I think you can have similar outcomes with completely different methods.

Tom Dunne

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

So extensive use of technology is linked to poorer outcomes in education?

I don't think it is fair to say that is what either the Irish Times or the OECD report is saying.

It is saying that there is no evidence to suggest that increased investment in ICT in schools leads to corresponding increases in reading, maths and science achievements. Essentially there is no improvement, rather than poorer outcomes. Two very different things.

RealJohn

Tom Dunne wrote: »

I don't think it is fair to say that is what either the Irish Times or the OECD report is saying.

It is saying that there is no evidence to suggest that increased investment in ICT in schools leads to corresponding increases in reading, maths and science achievements. Essentially there is no improvement, rather than poorer outcomes. Two very different things.

That article only says that there's no improvement but most of the articles I read yesterday on that study (not a huge number but I read a few) said that there was evidence that extensive use of IT might well be detrimental. They didn't go so far as to say that it was conclusive but the message was definitely 'no IT - bad, moderate IT - good, extensive IT - bad'.

Tom Dunne

RealJohn wrote: »

That article only says that there's no improvement but most of the articles I read yesterday on that study (not a huge number but I read a few) said that there was evidence that extensive use of IT might well be detrimental. They didn't go so far as to say that it was conclusive but the message was definitely 'no IT - bad, moderate IT - good, extensive IT - bad'.

I'm currently working my way through the OECD report, and that is not what it is saying.

evolving_doors

Tom Dunne wrote: »

I'm currently working my way through the OECD report, and that is not what it is saying.

The OECD aren't basing this all on PISA tests are they by any chance!

derb12

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Well, that didn't take long, Six One News, the issue is teachers not trained how to use ICT are the problem.

I saw the 6-1 news and didn't perceive any anti-teacher sentiment.
The "expert" they had on was head of digital learning (at DCU?) so in fairness, he was trying to downplay the findings and defend appropriate use of technology. Stating that teachers aren't trained specifically in ICT is just stating an obvious fact. You could argue that the report shows that we are better off with our cohort of teachers who aren't relying on technology for every class as better educational outcomes are associated with less use of ICT. Plus, it's OECD-wide, not specific to Irish teaching and learning.

Wouldn't it be more fruitful to have a discussion about the value of ICT in the classroom rather than the wagon-circling on this thread?

I saw an interesting article about teaching the circulation system but I can't find a link to it. Basically, 2 groups of similar students were given a class on how the heart works: one class were shown a dynamic simulation showing how the blood circulated around the heart/lungs/body in graphic detail, the other were shown still images and both classes got the same explanation. The second group performed better in a test and the thinking was that they understood it and remembered the content better, because they had to engage with it and visualise what was going on between the images.

I'd be curious to hear other teachers experiences using ICT. I've used it in maths - decamping to the IT room to get the students graphing on geogebra, or looking at the student area on the project maths website, but it's a one-off class to make sure they know how to use it. Other than that we used manga high for maths and it's useful maybe once a term but students use it at home too. Parents seem to appreciate that we encourage it, but I really couldn't be sure if it's actually of any use.

We haven't gone the ipads and ebooks route in my school, and I kind of prefer it that way.

flutered

the media will not say much until quinn is retired and liebour do not have the portfolio