CN: Tabitha could you tell us what you do?

At the moment I work in three main areas: People Capability Advisor with Meridian Energy Ltd; Volunteer for One Laptop Per Child; and e-learning Consultant with HRD (Human Resource Development, a Moodle Partner) where I work mainly with educators.

Things I do for HRD include facilitating the Northland Polytechnic Certificate in e-learning Design and Development, working with educators to assist in making decisions about their e-learning platform and how to implement e- learning within their schools. Our clients are across the education sector including early learning, primary, secondary, tertiary, private businesses, and the educators I work with teach in a diverse range of fields from maths and history, to music and tourism.

CN: What do you teach on the course at Northland Polytechnic?

E-learning design for teachers; developing competence in the knowledge and skills required to create effective and engaging e-learning environments. The course focuses on new media and emerging digital technologies and on building the skills required to choose the right tools at the right times to achieve the best result for the students in that particular school. There are lots of tools out there and it’s up to that institution to decide what platform and tools will work for them. It is a question of helping them to develop engaging learning experiences through creative use of the tools that fit the given situation.

CN: Can you give us an example?

Suppose a teacher wanted to develop a language course. The first thing they might do is write an online glossary but instead of providing students with the words and their meanings as defined by their teacher, there are other ways of helping students learn new vocabulary which are far more effective in developing their understanding. I would work with teachers to help them find ways for their students to define their new vocabulary in the context most relevant to them during their studies. An example could be to have the students create a word list and then make their own definitions. With some coaching in giving constructive feedback the teacher can make the students act as the teachers, encouraging them to critique each others work until as a group they have developed meaningful definitions for the words they will use in the right context for them. Students have then participated in the construction of their course and will intimately know their learning content. Another example could be the teacher getting the students to use an online glossary tool to construct sentences using new words they are learning in a language course. They could write the word and then instead of writing a definition they could use the word in a sentence. Students are getting involved in their learning process and taking ownership of their learning.

CN: Won’t this kind of approach mean that teachers are just given extra work and does it work?

After having attended and presented at a series of conferences around the world in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Spain, and having talked to educators at the 'Moodle Moots' - a conference for those using the learning management system Moodle bringing together the educators, administrators and developers – it definitely works. The establishment of a shared creation of knowledge approach is seen as extremely valuable. Yes, teacher workload does increase but so does the reward you experience in seeing your students succeed in taking their learning to new levels. It is in stark contrast to the previous thought that teachers would not be necessary at all in the future with the implementation of e-learning.

CN: Why is this ‘creating’ knowledge valuable?

In the example of asking students to define their own words this means that students are coming up with their best description of the word in the context relevant to their course. When they use the word in a sentence and then ask other students to give constructive feedback on how that word has been defined these things develop a student’s engagement with the task. This needs a supportive teacher who can coach the students in developing different ways of working. In time this becomes students helping other students in a collaborative learning process.

CN: Are their any implications for online Early Childhood teacher education using this approach?

It means that in online learning there is a potential for not just a teacher but for students to work in developing other students’ capability. Teachers can have an advanced group of students helping the up and coming group, so depending on the dynamics of the online community students can become mentors for other students. Some learning management systems will allow the allocation of roles for certain students to work with other students and help them coach each other to create a deeper understanding and to apply their studies.

CN: ‘Creating a deeper understanding…’ does that mean all within the scope of exchanging ideas through discussion forums?

You can direct students using Web 2.0 participatory environments to contribute in creating their own knowledge so feedback and continuing conversation is about owning their growth. A discussion forum is one of many ways to do this.

CN: How and why should Web 2.0 figure in all this?

If you’re providing an online environment then I hope every teacher is considering a Web 2.0 approach and investigating social networking and its ability to transform their students learning opportunities. Anything that assists students to become involved in their own learning so that they become authors as well as consumers of knowledge is the way to go – I am a firm advocate of social constructivism. For early childhood this can start with something as simple as children creating video blogs and uploading them on the web for their parents, and lead to children developing online portfolios over time where they reflect on and are guided by comments from their parents, teachers and peers.

CN: Can this idea of sharing and creating knowledge fit with students having to achieve graduating standards?

I don’t think finding ways to engage students so they take ownership of their own learning is a problem. There is so much more to learning than passing exams, if students have their own portfolio from the time they are very young they can see themselves and their learning taking shape, they have a lot more to offer employers in a transparent portfolio that indicates their growth over time, than in a piece of paper with some grades on it. Look at Mahara as an example, there is a lot of discussion now in schools and tertiary education about e-portfolios. We can use these learning tools to help students to see their own journey and shape its path, in a much broader sense than being competent in this or that before going into university.

CN: Nevertheless graduating standards are still to be addressed aren’t they?

E-portfolio students still have to write essays and complete exams but I think these should lead to further reflection and development in a continual growth approach. I would be looking to more than repetition of someone else’s work.

I see this working all around the world and I hear people saying that really the hard part is educators choosing the right tools to keep up with the students’ requirements. The challenge is definitely for educators who have not grown up with social networking to see the potential that lies before them.

CN: So what happens then as today’s secondary school students come to the institution?

Let me answer your question another way. One of the other things I do is volunteer for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). This not for profit organisation provides educational opportunity for developing countries and is again something that lends itself to Web 2.0. Everything about OLPC is based on collaboration and creating together with ‘mesh’ networking. To some extent these children in developing countries might be seen as more developed than their first world counterparts: however this does not mean that the children rely solely on the computer to learn. It is a tool to create engagement and opportunities for developing learning.
There is still a place for a benchmarking, but exchange of information and ideas is commonplace in how they learn. Similarly we still need benchmarks, I wouldn’t want my surgeon to have a great e-portfolio but not know how to do the practical side to the job!

CN: How then do institutions change and develop this broader notion of what it is to be educated?

There’s a couple of different ways institutions change. In schools one way is by motivated teachers implementing a learning management system they think will meet the needs of their students. I have had the privilege of working with some very committed teachers and helped them in getting their message out. Many have been successful and this becomes a powerful journey for some schools. This has often been the most successful way, working from the ground up rather than a system being imposed. Some institutions decide on a learning management system and implement it without consultation or training for the education staff. Educators are in contact with students every day and have an understanding of what students want, so it is best they are involved in the process. Where the system has been imposed there is often an anxiety on the part of staff and this can stop their creative side in developing a learning environment that works for their students. When teachers are told to use a tool they don’t connect with, they will not use it in an engaging and exciting way to help their students learn. Educators need support to reduce their barriers so they can use the learning management system effectively. They often can't see the connection between the new software tool and what their students are doing, and sometimes the system implemented does not meet student needs. Some organisations find themselves in this situation and find there is a contradiction between their vision and what they are actually doing as a company.

CN: So in terms of Web 2.0 how can this affect the learning process for a tertiary college?

Students should not make all the decisions around an organisations’ learning environment but they should be listened to. There has to be a sense of what “turns them on!” We need to know about what works for them. Some primary schools are now getting students developing their own podcasts and videos explaining their work that then goes on the webpage for other students, teachers and their parents to see. This has come about as a result of the students developing their own capability through using the tools their school makes available to them. Again a lot comes down to teachers knowing what is available and making the connection as to how their students can benefit from a collaborative approach to learning.

I know of one kindergarten that puts up information on what they do during the day on their webpage and they keep an active blog. Again the children create this: it doesn’t take a lot to show a three year-old how to use a camera, especially with the new cameras with a large visual display. There is software that allows children to use the computer on their own or with minimal support by staff. Parents can see on the web what their child has been doing that day and then this leads to more conversations at home that build on what they have been learning in kindergarten – a chance for parents to reinforce the learning going on in the early learning centre. This is great for communities but again relies on teachers being supported in using these tools. This is why a lot of the courses I deliver are hands on and practical.

CN: Do you work on site?

At the moment I am working full time with Meridian, however, I do deliver some on site courses and can run evening and weekend workshops, as well as the workshops I run at conferences each year.

CN: So what are the latest developments in the field of social networking for tertiary education in New Zealand?

Moodle provides a means for universities to share together and provides a network solution to education. TANZ (Tertiary Accord of New Zealand) is for universities and polytechnics to work together. In this way costs can be reduced and different institutions can develop different types of courses than they may normally. This means that the resources of one institution can be shared with another, as in the Diploma in Business offered by the TANZ group. These institutions are very realistic about how this works and how to support the students in turn. This has interestingly also led to a re-evaluation of the librarians and all the other support being offered to students at tertiary level. An interesting (free) course that looks at social networking is available on www.elearning.org.nz – Moodle, Web 2.0 and Social networking.

CN: Thanks Tabitha.

References

www.hrdnz.com
www.elearning.org.nz
www.mahara.org.nz
www.tanz.ac.nz
www.moodle.org
www.laptop.org/xo
www. manaiakindergarten.blogspot.com

Tabitha Roder is e-learning Consultant for HRD, a Moodle Partner. Tabitha has taught across age levels from early childhood to adult. She started working with teachers approximately fourteen years ago as part of the advanced qualifications team at Auckland College of Education, and now focuses on working with teachers to overcome their barriers to learning how to use Web 2.0 technologies to create engaging learning environments. Tabitha also volunteers for One Laptop Per Child - Give a Laptop Get a Laptop Change the World.