Technology, Trust and Positioning Theory

This week Professor John Holman came to visit our school with some researchers working with the Gatsby Foundation. I was asked if he could come into my classroom to observe what the students were up to. At the time I was teaching some Year 7 students, we were exploring how to make observations in a series of practical lessons focussed on the 5 senses. In this lesson, the students were observing 3 chemical reactions.

When Professor Holman and his team came in, we were in the thick of it. Students were performing their reactions, filming and talking with excitement. At one point Hannah came up to me and said: 'Miss, look at this!' It was a slow motion video of her group performing the pop test for hydrogen. After reacting magnesium with acid, they collected the colourless gas in a test tube. A burning splint was placed in the test tube and... POP! An observation made with our ears. What was interesting about this video was that slow motion allowed us to see the hydrogen combusting. We saw the  length of the test tube ignite. This happens so fast that it can be missed when observing with our eyes.

As the lesson was coming to an end, the research team stayed to see how we'd conclude. After getting the class settled, I asked Hannah to hook up her phone to the projector - I've got all the connectors and any student with a device can display their work. We didn't watch the video with sound and when the hydrogen ignited there was a collective 'Wow!'

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to catch up with Hannah this week to ask if I could post her video. Below are some I've taken to help my classes unpack observations.

Later, the Science faculty was invited to talk with John Holman and his team. We spoke about the reasons teachers choose to do practical work and the subject turned to video. I love video in the classroom, but not video for the sake of it. At some point in my career I tried to order some chemicals to make nylon 66, I was asked if my class could just 'YouTube it' instead. In my opinion, video should never replace practical work or demonstrations teachers could do with students. Further, video can be a powerful tool to inspire curiosity.

For these reasons I allow my students to use their phones in class... The right to do this comes with an important duty: the videos and pictures must by shared to allow us greater focus on the science.

When the conversation turned to my use of Hannah's video, it didn't surprise me to hear that it was a risky pedagogical move. Considering the policies regarding mobile phone use some educational institutions implement, it seems that there exists a very real fear of how students use the powerful computers they carry with them.

This made me think about trust, rights and duties. Lately, I've been listening to some old BBC Reith Lectures: A Question of Trust by Onora O'Neill. Here's an interesting talk she gave not too long ago:

When I listen to O'Neill, I think about the level of trust that exists in my classroom. To establish trust the students and I have to display a level or trustworthiness; we are competent, reliable and honest. From the video above, being trustworthy means making your self vulnerable... taking a risk. So, yes, there were risks in my classroom. They were made by me pedagogically and by the students. 

Why is risk-taking important? Let's think about positioning theory (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999). The following is a very abridged explanation. In positioning theory, conversations consist of positions, speech-acts and story lines. Below is a modified version of the positioning theory triad:

Positions are adorned with distinct rights and duties, they arise from interactions and power imbalances connected to perceptions of agency, identity, values and beliefs. Positions are situation-specific and ephemeral; they may constrain, enable or be employed as coping mechanisms. The storyline reflects a person’s rights and duties but also individuals' interpretations of the rights and duties of others. Speech-acts or discursive practices mean what person says and does. Positions, story lines and speech-acts constitute the local moral order: the system of rights and duties within which private and public intentional acts are carried out (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999).

What does positioning theory have to do with this post? It's easy to socially position students based on what we as educators expect of them... I think about report card comments: 'Susan needs to work harder to meet the expectations of the course.' Whether Susan accepts or rejects this positioning depends on her interpretation of the social world around her. Does she understand this comment as calling on her own personal agency? Does she hear it from a storyline in which she is a victim? Susan might have an altogether different understanding about whether she needs or wants to meet the expectations of the course. 

In my classroom I actively work to position my students with the rights and duties associated with curious and responsible technology users and information communicators. I'm fortunate enough to have displayed a trustworthiness that allows me to do this in my school, but my students have also given evidence that they are responsible, competent and honest to be worthy of an extension of that trust. Together through our communication and actions we experience adventure story lines where there are twists, turns and surprises.  

What's more intriguing, I think, for both the student and the teacher is working to position students as cultural agents  (Redman & Rodrigues, 2008) which means possessing a self understanding of their capabilities and an agentive response to use those capabilities in some positive way: 'I'm allowed to explore with my phone and think I'll find something interesting to share with others.'

Can the risks in these lessons reveal enabling factors to shape the identity of self as a cultural agent? What has trust allowed you to find in your classroom? I'd love to hear your thoughts on these questions.

References

Harré, R., & van Langenhove, L. (Eds.). (1999). Positioning theory: moral contexts of intentional action. Malden, Mass: Blackwell.

Harré, R., & Moghaddam, F. M. (2003). The self and others: positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Redman, C., & Rodrigues, S. (2008). Researching the relationships in the Technologies of Self: Habitus and Capacities. Paper presented at the Australian Association of research in Education (AARE), Queensland Univeristy of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus, Brisbane.

Example Videos 

In the video to the left, students were trying the answer the question: Are earthquakes predictable? You can also watch the video here. 

In the video below, I was exploring hydrophobic sand with the lab tech. You can watch the video here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

BYOD Observations: Experience and Educational Theory

My biggest fans, my retired parents, have been hankering for something other than PhD chapters to read. They're avid Facebook users and recently posted something like this: 'You should really be working on your digital profile and do another blog post.' This week I got to thinking about what to write, most inspiration comes from my time working as a Science teacher in an all girls secondary school in Australia. 

Do you remember this computer game? 

When I was reminiscing with my colleague, Edwin the conversation touched on what it was like growing up with a computer in the house from a very young age. We were thinking about how the students in our school are continuing to adapt to a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program that's in the last phase of a 5 year implementation.

At our school, all students from years 7-12 are now expected to come with a device ready to use in the classroom. Unlike other schools in the area, there's no prescribed device and students can choose which programs to install. This means that in any classroom there could be students using laptops and tablets from any company. They might be using Pages or Word, Numbers or Excel and any other program or app. In anticipation, I've worked to become proficient across Mac and PC while exploring information sharing programs and social software. 

One of my favourite scholars is Elliot Eisner, in The Educational Imagination (2002) he reminds us:

'The improvement of educational practice is a process that is adaptive in character. In this adaptive process, both the classrooms and the materials undergo change (p. 41).'

My interest involves understanding how people, both students and teachers, are also changed in adaptive processes. I'm going to share an observation from a year 9 Science class working to design a group experiment testing whether people have better balance with their eyes open. 

These students have been exploring Edmodo and the Google Drive as tools for collaboration and information sharing in the classroom. They're new users to online educational software and may not understand the affordances offered. I try to guide them to make considered choices about how to use the software to meet their abilities and needs as learners. 

Earlier this week, the class gathered data to measure the speed of a nerve impulse. Together, we entered it into Google Sheets - the equivalent of Excel - and I tried to show the students the analytical power this software has. We discussed averages and how to calculate them with the computer. We looked at the =AVERAGE(...) function and others to explore which type of analysis would help us to find the answer to our experimental question. Here's an example of what was done.

I find it fascinating listening to students' conversations as they work. After investigating the speed of nerve impulses, it surprised me to hear Rosa say: 'I hate Google Docs!' She said this when she began working with Maria and Isobel on the balance experiment. 

I reminded the group that they didn't have to use Google at all. They could create spreadsheet and share it on Edmodo, they'd only be able to work on it one at a time, not simultaneously. They looked perplexed, so I offered to give them another tutorial but it was up to them to choose which solution would work.

We began signing into Google with our school accounts. 'Oh, we already have an account!' said Rosa. 'Yep! It's all been done for you. Just use your school email address and password!' We began on a more positive note and Rosa was already positioned as a user. After going through the basics, I showed them how to share the file: anyone with the link can...view/edit/comment. We discussed their needs and decided that 'edit' would be the best choice. 'You don't have to use this if you don't want to,' I said and left the group to check on the others. 

The bell rang and students packed up ready to start their weekend. I always say good bye and have a great day or something like this at the end of class. Most times, they respond with a 'thanks,' but not this group. They were leaving the room talking about how so-and-so would put something on the Google Sheet while someone else would be doing something else. What struck me was the language they were using, listening to their conversation you wouldn't have been able to tell they were novices with this technology.

I'm not claiming they are or will be expert users with it yet, remember this is an adaptive process...  

What I am interested in is how people are changed by these adaptive processes. This will be an ongoing narrative in the classroom, we're at the 'Once upon a time...' stage in the narrative. It will be interesting to see how Rosa and her group progress with this technology.  

I should also mention that despite these tutorials, other groups chose to upload individual files to their Edmodo small groups requiring each person to download the file, make changes and upload it again... Another question to explore is: How do these students adapt to the process of implementing technology in the classroom?

Mentioned earlier was that having the Google account already set up for Rosa positioned her as a user. My use of 'position' comes from Positioning Theory (Harre & van Langenhove, 1999). In short, positions are linked to the rights and duties of individuals in social situations. Positions inform speech and other acts while giving rise to plots in story lines. I'm not going to go into a PhD chapter on this, but it's a fascinating philosophy. 

It seems that creating an account for Rosa opened her up to a new set of rights and duties to others. The all-of-a-sudden positive and excited: 'Oh, we already have an account!' might suggest a cognitive shift from something the students were expected to do versus something they could opt to do. 

Perhaps having to set up an account is viewed by students as: 'Oh... another thing we have to do...' a denial of their personal agency. Maybe having the account already set up for them allows students to take control of their mental activity (Bruner, 1996, p. 87) as they interpret their local system of rights and duties (Harre & van Langenhove, 1999). Perhaps this offers students a greater sense of personal agency.

How does this relate to my childhood use of computers mentioned in the beginning of this post? By the time I was 10, we had a personal computer in our house. I was lucky, I could use the computer whenever I wanted. My dad worked with computers and he was one of my first teachers. I remember the day when he brought home the game Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? No one pushed me to play and explore, I was my own personal agent. BUT I wouldn't have known about the possibilities, though, if my dad didn't take an interest in introducing me to them.

We hear about the digital divide and what we need to think about as teachers is how to enact behaviours and pedagogic practices to directly address the divide when we scaffold students toward using digital technologies for educational purposes. I think of this part of my job as similar to my dad's way of teaching me: unassuming, growing up in the digital age doesn't mean being born with the skills to use technology for scholastic purposes, and willing to help students explore those possibilities. 

If you, readers, have any comments, I would love to hear them.