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How laptops make a difference becomes obvious
when we consider what laptops replace.
When I began teaching, my mother gave me her history
exercise books from the early 1950s. At the time, I was
struck by how much had changed in 50 years. My mother’s
work reflected the ‘chalk and talk’ didacticism
prevalent at the time; analytical concepts like reliability
and interpretation were absent and the historical content
was overwhelmingly political. I recently visited colleagues at my previous
(non-laptop) school and had an opportunity to glance through
a pile of exercise books waiting to be marked. In complete
contrast to my earlier ‘student teacher’ experience,
what now stood out were the similarities
with my mother’s exercise book of 50 years earlier. |
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The
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Despite
50 years of technological advance, the exercise book full of hand
written words and the occasional pencil drawn diagram, is still the
most important expression of student learning. Perhaps more
importantly, from a student perspective, the exercise book peppered
by red-penned teacher comments and grades is also still the
predominant source of assessment. Doing ‘well’ in history,
whether in 1950 or in the year 2000, is still largely calculated by
how well the student performs within the artificial constraints of
the lines of the traditional exercise book...In contrast to exercise
books, laptop computers have at least two distinct advantages.
Firstly, when equipped with good software, laptops become
multimedia educational ‘toolboxes’ that can help the student to
learn. Secondly, although it may resemble a typewriter, a laptop
will allow students to store evidence of their learning and
achievements that might not easily be expressed through the written
word. (The Laptop Revolution, 2001 - http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/history4a.htm)
Multimedia Toolboxes – scaffolding and stretching the
learning
…
the potential utility of computers in the process of matching
individuals to modes of instruction is substantial…the computer
can be a vital facilitator in the actual process of instruction,
helping individuals to negotiate sequences at their preferred pace
by using a variety of educational techniques… (Howard Gardner, Frames
of Mind)
Example
1 - Word Processing - Year 7 essay writing
http://www.intst.net/humanities/y7/term3/medieval_pilgrimage/empathy.htm
'Laptops
lead to more student writing and to writing of higher quality. In
response to an open ended question, more than one-third of the
surveyed teachers named writing as the academic outcome or skill
that has been most directly affected by use of the laptops. Some
teachers said simply that writing had generally improved; others
said that students were doing more writing more often'. (Rockman et
al, 1998,http://rockman.com/projects/laptop/index.htm)
Example
2 - Hypertext Curriculum - IGCSE History coursework
http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/coursework/reichstag/index.htm
Example
3 - Online Forums - The Student Education Forum
http://www.studenteducationforum.ipbhost.com/
Multiple intelligence portfolios – real world
learning
It's
a teaching/learning model that is out of synch with the rest of the
world. Many of today's students can tell you in no uncertain terms
just how “unreal” (and boring, and silly) the educational
context is. Traditional educational theory, practice and
organisation are each day becoming more irrelevant and unworkable:
just as the scribal model became obsolete after print was invented.
(Dale Spender, Nattering on
the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace)
Example
4 - Desktop Publishing - KS3 examples, all
activities taken from Think Through History textbook series.
Year 7 board games - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y8/term1/boardgames/index.htm
Year 8 booklets - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y8/term2/reformation/henryviii/5-8_2003/index.htm
Year 9 display graphs - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y9/term2/1815-32/student_graphs.htm
Example
5 - Websites -
Year 7 'timeline of my life' - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y7/term1/who_am_i/timeline/gallery.htm
Year 9 French Revolution - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y9/term2/french_revolution/causes/student_webs.htm
Year 10 Weimar Germany - http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/term2/weimar/student_work/index.htm
Example
6 - Digital Video
Year 8 Lollards Role-play - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y8/term1/lollards/roleplay.htm
Year 9 French Revolution Documentaries - http://www.intst.net/humanities/y9/term3/documentaries/2004/index.htm
Year 12 Cold War Documentaries - http://www.intst.net/humanities/ibhist/coldwar/documentaries/index.htm
Example
7 - Multimedia Group Work
- Year 10 - Nazi propaganda websites and digital
videos
Activity - http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/term3/persuasion/film.htm
Resources - http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/term3/persuasion/resources.htm
Student work - http://www.intst.net/humanities/igcsehist/term3/persuasion/film2003.htm
Conclusion
In contrast to what Dale Spender describes as traditional
classroom, the ‘educational context’ of the laptop classroom is
very real. But it is a context in which the role of a teacher has to
change significantly. Putting it simply, teachers have to
‘teach’ less and support more.
Some might see this as a threat to their professionalism. But
as professionals we have to face up to the fact that a student with
a laptop ‘knows’ more than a teacher without. My experience
suggests and the American research confirms, that teachers in a
laptop school get more time to do the things that teachers have always considered important: working with students on a one-to-one
basis, differentiating between the different ability ranges,
planning challenging and relevant learning activities etc.
...Only inertia and prejudice, not economics or lack of
good educational ideas stand in the way of providing every child in
the world with the kinds of experience of which we have tried to
give you some glimpses. If every child were to be given access to a
computer, computers would be cheap enough for every child to be
given access to a computer –
Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon (1971) quoted in http://www.stager.org/
Further
Reading
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