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Unit description
The focus of this unit is learning with information and communications technologies (ICTs). It is designed as a general elective for those interested in using ICTs in schools (K-12), post-secondary institutions such as TAFE colleges or universities, as well as training establishments.
Students should be given the opportunity to consider a variety of educational questions related to the use of ICT in schools and other educational or training institutions, as well as the opportunity to develop some expertise with basic practical teaching skills in this area. The unit is not intended to concentrate on technical matters of how to use particular computer systems, either at home or at school. It is not aimed specifically at those who wish to teach primary or secondary school ICT units, but instead aims to provide an introduction to the use of technologies as powerful tools for learning every day in all subject areas.
Unit Aims
The main purpose of the unit is to give initial teacher education students in the primary, secondary and post-secondary programs the opportunity to consider critically a range of issues of concern to all teachers who use ICT in their classrooms, such as:
What are some appropriate uses of ICT in our classrooms?
Who has access to ICT in the classroom?
In what ways does a use of ICT require us to reconsider curriculum issues?
What are the educational implications of technologies such as online learning and the Internet?
How can participatory elements of the web be used to facilitate learning?
Teaching philosophy
This unit is based on constructivist philosphy of teaching and learning which encourages students to be actively engaged in the learning process. In particular, it uses an authentic learning approach. Authentic learning is a process involving dynamic interactions between the learner, the task and the environment. Authentic tasks that encourage and support student engagement and immersion in a cognitively real environment can facilitate self-directed and independent learning (Herrington, 2006), encourage confidence, and cultivate "portable skills" such as patience, synthetic ability and flexibility that most learners have difficulty in grasping (Lombardi, 2007).
An extended version of Herrington, Reeves and Oliver's (2010) authentic learning design framework provided overall guidance for the design and implementation of the course. Herrington et al's elements of authentic learning and elements of authentic tasks were used to ensure the course and task design adhered to authentic leaning principles.
Unit learning objectives
On successful completion of the unit you should be able to:
Identify some of the key issues in the design, implementation and evaluation of ‘elearning’ environments
Explain some of the major issues in ICT in education
Use major applications such as word processing, presentation or web tools to design a significant and authentic unit of work for education
Unit structure
The unit was implemented using a Moodle Learning Management System (LMS): Murdoch Open Education and a public website: ICT in the classroom 2012 companion website (free Google Sites). The LMS provided a protected environment for confidential student information, assignment submission, results and feedback. It also acts as a central hub for course announcements and discussion forums to support student learning. The companion website was the primary learning environment and contained detailed task instructions, examples of completed assignments, course content, access to unit readings, links to tutorials and other student support resources. The companion website provided links to many pages on the Technology Toolbox for Educators wiki. This wiki was created to assist educators to learn about a range of pedagogical approaches and technologies to support student learning. Students are also encouraged to do their own research on the world wide web and seek alternative perspectives and resources to learn about the concepts covered in the course.
Open educational resources
The primary reason for creating the open companion website (instead of putting everything in the Moodle LMS) was to ensure that the instructions, information, links etc. for this unit are available to students AFTER they have completed the unit. Using an "open educational resource" approach allows students to revisit the unit content and resources when/if needed to support their future teaching placements and teaching careers. It also provides the opportunity for teachers to share their ideas and knowledge with each other and adds to the rapidly growing array of educational resources available on the web. I strongly encourage students and teachers to publish their work under a creative common license. We encourage our students to research the web for information and resources, so this is a way to "give back" to those who have already shared their work with us.
Disclaimer: We recommend other educators use a structure that best suits their own institutions course requirements.
References
Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic e-learning in higher education: Design principles for authentic learning environments and tasks. In T. Reeves & S. Yamashita (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2006, 3164-3173. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Herrington, J., Reeves, T. C., & Oliver, R. (2010). A guide to authentic e-learning. New York: Routledge.
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