Teachers, professional development and the Ultranet
The Ultranet, love it or hate it, we have it! My first experience with the ultranet in the classroom was to create a Level 4 Blog. I panicked. How can I make it look appealing? How can we transform the Ultranet to look somewhat similar to Edublogs with all the widgets, gadgets, and basically, colour? Actually, why would we want to use the Ultranet when we could use media such as Edublogs?
Over the last six months, I have been on a journey of using and implementing the Ultranet into a user appealing ‘space’ for level 4 children. We have learnt to blog, used wiki’s, created backgrounds and embed HTML code for the insertion of widgets and other Web 2.0 applications.
For many years now, teachers have been trained to use ICT in their classes, to implement ICT and to integrate ICT into their classroom and their curriculum. Yet, we still have many teachers who are reluctant to use ICT seamlessly into their planning and curriculum. ICT is evolving rapidly throughout our society and teachers are expected to not only have knowledge of the changing technology but to also use ICT purposefully in the classroom and in their curriculum.
In August 2011, a group of Masters students’ created a survey for primary and secondary educators to determine how Web 2.0 technology was being used within the classroom, how often, the confidence level of the teachers and the factors that were limiting the use of using Web 2.0 technology. Two hundred and four teachers responded to the survey, and of those, 135 teachers ‘do not feel confident’ or ‘somewhat confident’ in using web 2.0 technology within their classroom, leaving a small amount of teachers from this survey feeling ‘confident’ with their web 2.0 ability and use within the classroom. Nearly a quarter of the respondents use web 2.0 technology ‘always’ and ‘often’, which again, leaves a large range of engaging and exciting technology out of the classroom’s curriculum. We also asked the teachers what factors would assist and encourage them to use Web 2.0 technology in their classroom on a regular basis. The results are not surprising, with 140 teachers requesting professional development how and when to use web 2.0 technology, and 110 teachers believing classroom support with an ‘expert’ teacher in ICT to assist their lessons, while half of the respondents added lessons plans and ideas for classroom use.
Previously, ICT training and Professional Development has focused on technical aspects of ICT, there has been little training about the pedagogical practices for using ICT in the classroom, how to incorporate and integrate ICT into the curriculum. Cox, (1999) believes that motivation is the key to teacher professional development in ICT ‘if teachers see no need to change or question their current professional practice they may not accept the use of ICT in their teaching.” So what motivates a teacher to use ICT in their teaching?
Teachers must be fully confident and competent in the pedagogy of using ICT, motivating factors also are their attitudes to ICT, their beliefs in the value of ICT for teaching and learning and their perceptions of whether or not they can use it themselves and use it effectively in their teaching. (Cox, 1999). Teachers who use ICT innovatively in their classroom will often network with their colleagues and other experts in ICT, and will often experience first hand the advantages of innovative ICT use with their students. For a teacher to change their teaching practice, they too need to experience innovative ICT use. Teachers need to learn how to use ICT in their classrooms through engaging themselves in the technology. It is important that teachers are given time to gain an understanding of ICT resources and materials, and once confident, they are more likely to teach with ICT.
How can we train teachers and provide professional development when technology is changing rapidly? We can use ICT and make it work for us. Jung (2005 p94) believes that ‘ICT can promote international collaboration and networking in education and professional development. There's a range of ICT options – from videoconferencing through multimedia delivery to web sites - which can be used to meet the challenges teachers face today.’ The internet can be used to facilitate professional development and networking. Lave and Wenger describe how we best learn through a Community of Practice, where groups of people share a common skill or passion and through their interaction, learn how to do it better. With technology available at our fingertips, there are numerous options for networking and belonging to a community for ongoing support and professional development. Belonging and subscribing to a blog is one of these aspects of Communities of Practice. Interaction between the reader and writer is encouraged, the ability to see other’s questions and ideas, how they use ICT innovatively or perhaps even where they have failed dismally at using an application!
Through this blog, I hope to encourage teachers to use ICT innovatively in their classrooms. I hope that teachers can understand the pedagogy of the integration and implementation of ICT in their curriculum, and most importantly, gain experience and confidence in using ICT in order to engage their students.
I will focus on the applications of the Ultranet, as this is a new and exciting media we have in the Victorian classrooms. However, what applies to the Ultranet also applies to other blogging media. The main applications I will focus on is the pedagogy behind blogging and wikis, chat room and polls. I will also endeavour to provide ideas on other Web 2.0 tools that can easily be embed into the Ultranet to engage students and create exciting lessons.
Cox, M. P. (1999). What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers from Using ICT in their Classrooms? British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. University of Sussex, Brighton.
Jung, I. (2005). ICT-Pedagogy Integration in Teacher Training: Application Cases. Educational Technology & , 8 (2), 94-101.
Over the last six months, I have been on a journey of using and implementing the Ultranet into a user appealing ‘space’ for level 4 children. We have learnt to blog, used wiki’s, created backgrounds and embed HTML code for the insertion of widgets and other Web 2.0 applications.
For many years now, teachers have been trained to use ICT in their classes, to implement ICT and to integrate ICT into their classroom and their curriculum. Yet, we still have many teachers who are reluctant to use ICT seamlessly into their planning and curriculum. ICT is evolving rapidly throughout our society and teachers are expected to not only have knowledge of the changing technology but to also use ICT purposefully in the classroom and in their curriculum.
In August 2011, a group of Masters students’ created a survey for primary and secondary educators to determine how Web 2.0 technology was being used within the classroom, how often, the confidence level of the teachers and the factors that were limiting the use of using Web 2.0 technology. Two hundred and four teachers responded to the survey, and of those, 135 teachers ‘do not feel confident’ or ‘somewhat confident’ in using web 2.0 technology within their classroom, leaving a small amount of teachers from this survey feeling ‘confident’ with their web 2.0 ability and use within the classroom. Nearly a quarter of the respondents use web 2.0 technology ‘always’ and ‘often’, which again, leaves a large range of engaging and exciting technology out of the classroom’s curriculum. We also asked the teachers what factors would assist and encourage them to use Web 2.0 technology in their classroom on a regular basis. The results are not surprising, with 140 teachers requesting professional development how and when to use web 2.0 technology, and 110 teachers believing classroom support with an ‘expert’ teacher in ICT to assist their lessons, while half of the respondents added lessons plans and ideas for classroom use.
Previously, ICT training and Professional Development has focused on technical aspects of ICT, there has been little training about the pedagogical practices for using ICT in the classroom, how to incorporate and integrate ICT into the curriculum. Cox, (1999) believes that motivation is the key to teacher professional development in ICT ‘if teachers see no need to change or question their current professional practice they may not accept the use of ICT in their teaching.” So what motivates a teacher to use ICT in their teaching?
Teachers must be fully confident and competent in the pedagogy of using ICT, motivating factors also are their attitudes to ICT, their beliefs in the value of ICT for teaching and learning and their perceptions of whether or not they can use it themselves and use it effectively in their teaching. (Cox, 1999). Teachers who use ICT innovatively in their classroom will often network with their colleagues and other experts in ICT, and will often experience first hand the advantages of innovative ICT use with their students. For a teacher to change their teaching practice, they too need to experience innovative ICT use. Teachers need to learn how to use ICT in their classrooms through engaging themselves in the technology. It is important that teachers are given time to gain an understanding of ICT resources and materials, and once confident, they are more likely to teach with ICT.
How can we train teachers and provide professional development when technology is changing rapidly? We can use ICT and make it work for us. Jung (2005 p94) believes that ‘ICT can promote international collaboration and networking in education and professional development. There's a range of ICT options – from videoconferencing through multimedia delivery to web sites - which can be used to meet the challenges teachers face today.’ The internet can be used to facilitate professional development and networking. Lave and Wenger describe how we best learn through a Community of Practice, where groups of people share a common skill or passion and through their interaction, learn how to do it better. With technology available at our fingertips, there are numerous options for networking and belonging to a community for ongoing support and professional development. Belonging and subscribing to a blog is one of these aspects of Communities of Practice. Interaction between the reader and writer is encouraged, the ability to see other’s questions and ideas, how they use ICT innovatively or perhaps even where they have failed dismally at using an application!
Through this blog, I hope to encourage teachers to use ICT innovatively in their classrooms. I hope that teachers can understand the pedagogy of the integration and implementation of ICT in their curriculum, and most importantly, gain experience and confidence in using ICT in order to engage their students.
I will focus on the applications of the Ultranet, as this is a new and exciting media we have in the Victorian classrooms. However, what applies to the Ultranet also applies to other blogging media. The main applications I will focus on is the pedagogy behind blogging and wikis, chat room and polls. I will also endeavour to provide ideas on other Web 2.0 tools that can easily be embed into the Ultranet to engage students and create exciting lessons.
Cox, M. P. (1999). What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers from Using ICT in their Classrooms? British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. University of Sussex, Brighton.
Jung, I. (2005). ICT-Pedagogy Integration in Teacher Training: Application Cases. Educational Technology & , 8 (2), 94-101.