2015 saw the introduction of two Year Nine eLearning
classes at Christchurch Boys' High School. Students in the eLearning class
bring their own internet capable devices to school to aid their learning. With
ICT increasingly seen as a pillar of modern education, the Ministry of
Education has been actively encouraging students to use digital technologies in
every day education (Walsh, 2013). Many schools in New Zealand have been
encouraging students to bring their own devices to school for several years and
there is a growing body of research that shows ICT is motivating for boys
(Gresham & Gibson Langford, 2012; Lindsay & Muijs, 2006; Passey,
Rogers, Machell, McHugh, & Allaway, 2004). Brown, et al., (2001) strongly
encourage ICT as part of teaching and learning strategy to raise boys’
achievement. West (2001) supports the use of ICT for boys’ education,
recommending schools provide more opportunities for computer assisted learning
and also more support and assistance for teachers who help boys to learn on
computers. “Not only do boys enjoy their time on the computer; it is preparing
them for the future” (Brown et al., 2001, p. 76).
In order to develop an understanding of ‘bring your own
device’ teaching and learning, 2014 involved a Year Nine class trialling two
different devices for a short periods. These trials involved students receiving
an iPad from Apple NZ for three weeks and a Windows laptop from Cyclone
Computers for another three-week period. These trials were valuable to gather
information about which device would be most suitable for teaching and learning
at Christchurch Boys' High School, and for teachers to gain an understanding of
whether/how their pedagogy would change when teaching students with their own
devices.
After a considerable amount of research, professional
development and school visits, a model was adopted for 2015 which would see
students bring their own laptops to school for learning in their core lessons
of Maths, English, Science, Social Studies, PE and French/Chinese.
At the end of 2014, all Year Eight students were posted an
information pack which welcomed then to apply to be included in to a Year Nine
eLearning class. Over 90 students applied via an online excel survey. Survey
questions related to eLearning experience and desire to be part of the class.
Applications closed at the end of October and two eLearning classes were
created for students who performed at about the same level in the Year 8 Entrance
Exam. Teachers were then allocated to the two eLearning classes. All teachers volunteered
to teach the class and teachers received approximately eight hours of
professional development before the 2015 academic year began. Many teachers of
the 2015 eLearning classes had taught the Year Nine trial device class in 2014.
Before the 2015 school year began, all students in the
eLearning classes received one one-day and three one-hour sessions of teacher
directed education in order to learn how to best use their device at school. A
major focus was using OneNote. Microsoft’s OneNote Notebook creator is a
fantastic tool for teachers and students, however we anticipated using this
programme would be a significant area of learning for students.
After six weeks of eLearning the class is now progressing
very well. Teachers feel the technology is very beneficial for learning: Teacher
S believes that the
ease of research, neater more organised work and not having to try to scramble
for a booking in the high demand computer rooms are significant positives.
Teacher E believes that students in the eLearning class have more opportunities
for more student directed learning. “Each
student can easily get on with a task and create an outcome up to their level
of knowledge (thinking of using it for research and presentation wise). It also
provides seamless between classroom and home.”
43
out of 47 students surveyed on 9th of March 2015 rated their
experience in the eLearning class at a seven or better out of ten. Some student
comments included:
“I enjoy it more
and its a lot easier to research and find out what a word means or something
during class.”
“Its easy to write things down and to research
things”
“…a lot of the
technical issues have been solved. I find using one note a lot easier than
using a large variety of books.
Parent
comments from a survey conducted on the 6th of March included:
“He is more keen
to do work and seems to achieve more than he would writing”
“he seems more
self-motivated, organised”
“he seems more
confidant about his progress in class”
“(My son is) Becoming
competent and confident with using his laptop, not to mention improving his
keyboard skills!”
Although
students, staff and most parent feedback now is quite positive, initially there
were some difficulties. The first few weeks were very demanding on students. There was a
massive learning curve for almost all students in the eLearning classes. Coming
to a new school, new teachers, classmates (and for some a new home) as well as
learning in a different manner was quite taxing on students. Almost all
students in the eLearning classes had no previous experience with OneNote which
was a major component of the eLearning class. It took students quite some time
to understand OneNote and how it can be used. The professional development time
for students at the beginning was the year was insufficient. In the first few
weeks many teachers noted that they had to stop teaching subject content and
teach technology – specifically how to use OneNote. One teacher commented “They need some
dedicated ‘how do I use a computer’ time”. While another teacher noted that the boys
needed “…a few days of getting student's
knowledge around their device and making sure that all are working on the
system before classes start (even if it meant a two day course and year 9s
start a little later than the rest!)”
Although
many boys in the class are now very competent laptop users, at the beginning
there was a broad range of skill levels in the class “…we assume they are all computer whizzes.” Teacher A
A student survey after two weeks of Term One showed that
students too felt that the learning curve was quite sharp at the beginning of
the year “I enjoy the e-learning class
just how complicated it can be is annoying” and student A “I enjoy the learning but onenote confuses
me and I find hard to adapt.
The contrast in skill level was highlighted by student C “i know how to use my computer fine but with
the others issues it holds the whole class up”
The myth of modern students being ‘digital natives’ has
yet again been disproven. The term Digital Native is used by many
to describe the technology savvy generation of students who are presently in
our classrooms. This term was created in 2001 by Mark Prensky – an American
writer and public speaker. Prensky’s terms of digital native and digital
immigrant have been widely discredited in educational research. “It is clear
that the claim that young people are digital natives has little or no basis in
empirical evidence and that blanket statements about generational differences,
however nuanced, provide little if any insight into current or future
educational needs (cf. Bennett et al, 2008; Bennett & Maton, in press).
Instead, there exists a range of access, use and skills and it is this
diversity that may pose far more significant challenges to educational
institutions and systems than a proclaimed wave of homogenous ‘digital
natives’. It is evident that we need to develop a much better understanding of
young people’s technology use and experiences if we are to effectively respond
to their needs, and unevidenced claims do not add to that understanding” (Bennett & Maton, 2011).
Students
need support for their learning at all times, but in particular when such a
significant change is made to their learning. This was highlighted by one
parent:
"For
my husband and I, it would have been good to maybe have had a 'parent's intro'
once the boys were all set up, so we know first hand how/where they are working
both for ease of checking and also to enable us to assist more readily."
Parents
also noted other disadvantages:
“That his bag is
very very heavy to carry around and bulky”
“I was hoping that he would have less to carry
around in his bag but it seems he carrys what non e-learning students carry
PLUS his computer. It makes his bag very
extra heavy.”
Student
W also commented:
“We
should be able to get all the books we need on our laptops and not having to
carry around all the books.
Several
parents also commented about the possibility of their son being distracted by
social media and games in class. Another
difficulty in the first few weeks was with students using Apple Mac computers
when connecting to the Wi-Fi. Many Mac users had difficulty accessing the
school’s BYOD Wi-Fi network. A Mac OS X version upgrade for all student
laptops and an
alteration to the Wi-Fi settings at school has solved this issue.
It is clear that boys need
time to adapt and to be supported for their learning in the eLearning classes.
Schools around the city have different approaches to this. Some schools offer a
very similar short intensive learning days at the beginning of the year while
many schools offer nothing at all. A neighbouring school offers an optional four
periods per week for two terms eLearning course.
“They
learn about Digital Citizenship (how to search and re-use correct images, how
to reference properly, the terms for things), how to work the core software
teachers had identified they would commonly use … and also key terminology
things like URL’s, Omibox, snipping tool, connecting, printing, intranet,
moodle, and other troubleshooting things”. Teacher P.
Much
has been learned from implementation of the first eLearning classes at
Christchurch Boys’ High School. A recommendation will be made to the Head
Master for more time to be given to students before the beginning of the
academic year in 2015. A parents evening is planned for Wednesday 26th
of March and the opportunity for parents to walk through their son’s class will
also be advertised to all parents as soon as possible. Regular student, teacher
and parent surveys will occur as the year continues and students will be
encouraged to use their lockers as much as possible. Class teachers will
investigate which textbooks are able to be purchased online too.
REFERENCES:
Brown, J., Murphy, J., & Noble, C. (2001). How to
raise boys' achievement. London, United Kingdom: David Fulton.
Bennett, S., &
Maton, K. (2011). Intellectual Field or Faith-Based Religion. Deconstructing
Digital Natives: Young People, Technololgy, and the New Literacies,
169-185.
Bennett, S. & Maton, K. (in press). Beyond the
‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’
technology experiences. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. Bennett, S., Maton,
K. & Carrington, L. (in press). Understanding the complexity of technology
acceptance by higher education students. In T. Teo (Ed.), Technology Acceptance
in Education: Research and Issues. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense. Bennett,
S., Maton, K., & Kervin, L. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A
critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology,
39(5), 775-786.
Gresham, P., & Gibson-Langford, L. (2012).
Competition, games, technology - boys are loving English. English in Australia,
47(1), 81-89.
Lindsay, G., & Muijs, D. (2006). Challenging
underachievement in boys. Educational Research, 48(3), 313-332.
Passey, D., Rogers, C., Machell, J., McHugh, G., &
Allaway, D. (2004). The motivational effect of ICT on pupils. London: Department
of Education and Skills. Retrieved March 13, 2012, from
http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/protected/spss/docs/motivational-effect-ict-brief.pdf
Walsh, N. (2013). Boys and blended
learning: achievement and online participation in physical education.
West, P. (2001). Report on best practice in boys'
education. Sydney, N.S.W.: University of Western Sydney, Men's Health
Information & Research Centre, Research Group on Men & Families.
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