Education for an Information Age: Teaching in the Computerized Classroom

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Education for an Information Age Teaching in the
Computerized Classroom

• Presentation given by
• Bernard John Poole, MSIS, PGCE
• Sri Padmavathi Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Womens
  University)
• Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
• to
• 5th National Conference of the Academy of
  Psychologists (NCAP)
• Directorate of Distance Education
• Sri Venkateswara University
• Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh
• Saturday, December 5, 2020

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• Good tools do not make a good teacher, but a
  good teacher makes good use of tools.
• Eleanor Doan

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What goes on in a good teachers classroom?

• Teacher and students seem to be involved in
  everything that is happening
• Teacher has a ready alternative whenever students
  fail to understand and/or perform a given task
• All students are actively involved in the
  proceedings
• Students show willingness or interest
• All students are attentive to others and the
  teacher
• Learner reactions to learning activities seem to
  be expected by the teacher
• Teacher is in possession of all the material that
  is required
• The entire classroom is buzzing with eager
  anticipation in the activities

Excerpted from Conceptual Inputs for Secondary
Teacher Education The Instructional Role. by
M.S. Yadav T.K.S. Lakshmi, 2003 National
Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi.
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Reflections on teaching from Carl Rogers

• When I have been able to transform a groupand
  here I mean all members of a group, myself
  includedinto a community of learners, then the
  excitement has been almost beyond belief. To
  free curiosity to permit individuals to go
  charging off in new directions dictated by their
  own interests to unleash curiosity to open
  everything to questioning and exploration to
  recognize that everything is in process of
  changehere is an experience I can never forget.
  I cannot always achieve it but when it is
  partially or largely achieved then it becomes a
  never-to-be-forgotten group experience. Out of
  such a context arise true students, real
  learners, creative scientists and scholars and
  practitioners, the kind of individuals who can
  live in a delicate but ever-changing balance
  between what are presently known and the flowing,
  moving, altering problems and facts of the
  future.
• In Rogers, Carl, 1965. Client-centered Therapy
  Its Current Practices, Implications, and Theory.
  Boston Houghton Mifflin

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How do we learn?

• Jerome Bruner
• Enactive learning
• Iconic learning
• Symbolic learning
• Alan Kay
• Doing with images makes symbols

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Individual versus individualised education

• Formal education has traditionally emphasised the
  individual as a cog in a machineevery student is
  processed along the assembly line and given the
  same treatment
• Many students fail to make the grade
• A modern education recognizes individual
  differencesevery student has the opportunity to
  develop individual talents

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Brain-based Learning and Multiple Intelligences

• We have a complement of at least seven distinct
  intelligences, according to Howard Gardners
  Theory of Multiple Intelligences

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Multiple Intelligences

• Visual-Spatial
• think in terms of physical space, as do
  architects and sailors. Very aware of their
  environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw
  puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught
  through drawings, verbal and physical imagery.
  Tools include models, graphics, charts,
  photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video,
  videoconferencing, television, multimedia, texts
  with pictures/charts/graphs.
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• use the body effectively, like a dancer or a
  surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like
  movement, making things, touching. They
  communicate well through body language and be
  taught through physical activity, hands-on
  learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include
  equipment and real objects.
• Musical
• show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love
  music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in
  their environments. They may study better with
  music in the background. They can be taught by
  turning lessons into lyrics, speaking
  rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include
  musical instruments, music, radio, stereo,
  CD-ROM, multimedia.
• Interpersonal
• understanding, interacting with others. These
  students learn through interaction. They have
  many friends, empathy for others, street smarts.
  They can be taught through group activities,
  seminars, dialogues. Tools include the telephone,
  audio conferencing, time and attention from the
  instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer
  conferencing, E-mail.
• Intrapersonal
• understanding one's own interests, goals. These
  learners tend to shy away from others. They're in
  tune with their inner feelings they have wisdom,
  intuition and motivation, as well as a strong
  will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught
  through independent study and introspection.
  Tools include books, creative materials, diaries,
  privacy and time. They are the most independent
  of the learners.
• Linguistic
• using words effectively. These learners have
  highly developed auditory skills and often think
  in words. They like reading, playing word games,
  making up poetry or stories. They can be taught
  by encouraging them to say and see words, read
  books together. Tools include computers, games,
  multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.
• LogicalMathematical
• reasoning, calculating. Think conceptually,
  abstractly and are able to see and explore
  patterns and relationships. They like to
  experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions.
  They can be taught through logic games,
  investigations, mysteries. They need to learn and
  form concepts before they can deal with details.

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• Traditional education systems have rewarded the
  students who have good Linguistic and
  Logical-mathematical intelligence
• In schools, physical education, drama, art and
  music are considered expendable subjects, and
  nothing much is done to recognize and appreciate
  individual personality types

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Thomas Armstrongs 12 Qualities of Genius
The following qualities of genius emanate from a
brain-based approach to teaching and learning

• Curiosity
• Playfulness
• Imagination
• Creativity
• Wonder
• Wisdom

Inventiveness Vitality Sensitivity Flexibility Hum
or Joy
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The most important multimedia element in the
classroom?
The Teacher!
Insert your picture here ?
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A Chinese proverb

• I hear and I forget.
• I see and I remember.
• I do and I understand.
• Hence the importance of the senses in learning,
  because when you do you engage all the senses.
• The computer is a virtual library and work space
  for learning, with rich multimedia, interactive,
  and increasingly tailor-made content.
• Data visualization, music/sound, play, physical
  interaction, communicationespecially writing and
  speech communicationall help students understand
  and retain information.

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The Affective nature of learning

• Feelings are important, too
• A ffective learning is E ffective learning
• Good teaching begins, not in the mind, but in the
  heart
• Teaching is hard work because its heart work

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Education is a balancing act between teaching and
learning

• The learning becomes more as the teaching becomes
  less
• The student is at the center of the learning
  process
• The teachers role is to prepare the environment
• Not the sage on the stage, but the guide at the
  side

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Theres nothing new under the sun

• These ideas about education are as old as the
  hills
• Froebel (à la Plato and Pestalozzi)
• Educational value of play and physical activity
• Montessori
• Prepare the environment so that the student will
  learn spontaneously
• Dewey
• Learning by doing
• Piaget
• Reaffirmed Vigotskys Constructivism
• Bruner
• Discovery learning

The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to
be able to say, The children are now working as
if I did not exist.
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I have a dream
that modern, computer-based technologies for
teaching and learningin time, and as these
technologies become ubiquitous at home and at
schoolwill fundamentally change the way
education is done. For each one of us, the
journey begins here the journey begins now.