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.
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