Talkin' 'bout my cerebration.

Recently I was fortunate enough to be involved in the facilitation of a workshop designed to prepare HODs and HOCs (middle management) for a 1:1 environment.  The 1:1 environment will essentially be forced upon all secondary schools by the current federal government as they fund the provision of computers and laptops for every student in years 9 to 12.  Unfortunately, too many school administrations believe that preparation for a 1:1 environment is as simple as having the space and furniture.  Inevitably this results in poor integration of ICTs into the curriculum.  One particular session I was responsible for was entitled “What it looks like.”  My role here was to describe some of the processes I have in place to enable a rich ICT experience for learners in my class and staff in my school.  As regular readers of my blog will know, the whole school strategy is very new therefore I could not provide much information there.  However I could provide plenty of ideas in regards to processes I put in place to enable ICT rich learning in my classes.

My interpretation of a 1:1 environment is more complex than having 1 device for each child. Its about a process that encourages use by students to achieve learning outcomes.  My 1:1 environment involves four processes.

1. Increase choices
   I’ve found in my experience that when you increase the options available to students, the use of ICTs in learning is greater than when you specify a particular item. Sometimes one has to be creative in promoting this choice.  For example you may wish your students to blog a response.  This does not provide them a choice, but if you ask them to choose how they blog (words, audio, pictures) then engagement generally increases.  I have no hard data to support this, just observations from my own experience.  In particular I notice that when a range of devices are available, then student use is increased.  Not all may use the camera, but if they can choose between camera, iPod, phone, audio recorder and Flip Mino there is bound to be something they will use.

   The increasing choices also aligns with a significant aspect of Transformational Learning Theory – student negotiation.  Provide the learners with some power in the learning relationship for increased engagement and ownership of learning.

2. Increase access
   Improving access to ICT is as much about learning design as it is marketing.  By designing learning experiences and assessment items that utilise ICTs you are increasing required access.  Marketing is still for me the biggest challenge.  This marketing could be relevant to staff and administration in an attempt to change policy and allow or encourage utilisation of a particular device or resource, or it could be to students by demonstrating the benefits of use to their life long learning (learning beyond that required within my subject).
3. Increase usability
   Increasing usability has some crossover with the concept of increasing access.  Through marketing of benefits I hope to promote the usability of certain technologies to life long learning, and cross curricula performance.  I believe the main influence on increased usability is the role modelling by the teacher.  If the learners see the teacher using the resource effectively, they are more likely to attempt use themselves.  So increasing usability for me is generally a focus on teacher competence and utilisation of a resource.
4. Increase prevalence
   The age of ubiquitous learning – anytime, anywhere, anyhow.  This in itself drives the need for increased prevalence of ICTs.  I specifically encourage my learners to continue learning once they leave the boundaries of the timetabled class and walled classroom.  Simply using a camera to capture items of interest as they continue through their lives, and using them when in th “boundaried learning” is a step towards ubiquitous learning.  The concept of information consumption and analysis as continuous is enhanced and enabled by the use of a range of devices and technologies.

The Smart Classrooms strategy of my employer has developed a concept entitled 21 Steps to 21st Century Success which outlines a program of preparation for a 1:1 environment.  My take on it is a little more focussed on learning implementation but both deomonstrate the need for preparation prior to implementation.