Mindmaps
A podcast about the learner benefits of mindmaps.
Generation Y has a new name according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, they have now been dubbed Generation M (see Time article The Multitasking Generation, 10 April 2006). With the advances of technology young people are becoming adept at doing many things at once. Whilst doing their homework, they are chatting online with friends, downloading music, listening to music, eating dinner, text messaging and a myriad of other activities. They are cramming more and more into their lives. The question is are young people really multitasking and is it even possible? According to decades of research the quality of one’s output and depth of thought deteriorates as one attends to ever more tasks (2006). This means serious implications for the quality of work that is being produced by students at home. They are not fully concentrated on the task at hand and are therefore not working to their full potential and are not even aware of their full potential. A lot of pressure is put on Gen Ms to keep up with this fast-paced world but it should not be at the cost of quality work. While students should not be discouraged from using technology, teachers need to ensure that students are aware of what a healthy study environment is and there should be collaboration with parents to ensure that they are monitoring this at home.
I have recently read some very interesting studies by Mark Warschauer (see Computer-Mediated Collaborative Learning and Computer Learning Networks and Student Empowerment) about the positive effects that learning networks have on a student’s autonomy and learning skills. Unfortunately during prac I didn’t have the time or the means to set up that sort of connection for my students but I can’t wait to have a go when I get my own class. I think that not only is it a great way for the students to take their learning into their own hands, most importantly it is an opportunity for them to experiece the culture and the language in an authentic environment. With the technology that is now available, students can begin speaking French with French people immediately, they don’t have to wait to bump into them on the street or search them out, they can connect to the internet and they are there waiting for them. There is a chance for relationships to develop thanks to the rapidity of e-mail and instant-messaging, and the fact that students are already communicating with each other through these mediums. Gone are the days of long and laborious letter writing, that was only for the really motivated students, now everyone can benefit.
According to the co-creator of Webquests, Tom March, a real WebQuest is a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of an open-ended question, development of individual expertise, and participation in a group process that transforms newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding (see March’s blog post The Learning Power of Webquests). There are many elements that go into making an effective Webquest and yet when I did a google search to find some on the internet none of them fitted the description. True the tasks required the use of the internet but only in order to look up basic information. A cloze passage or a find a word would have been just as effective in achieving the same educational goals. Here is a link to an example of what I am talking about, French Speaking Countries Webquest, it directs the students to the exact place where all the information canbe found and they simply transfer this information into a powerpoint presentation, hopefully osmosis will have caused them to retain some of what they have learned. Now there are endless possibilities for the students to be exposed to authentic French texts via the internet (as opposed to ratty old copies of newspaper the French teacher pulled out every year when I was at school). What they are learning about can be current and relevant to their everyday lives. These webquests are another example of teachers being on the right track and wanting to incorporate the technology into the classroom but not realising the potential it actually has for authentic learning.
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Al Upton has been very vocal in the positive aspects of using technology in the classroom. In this interview for E-learning Insights he discusses the success that his class has had using blogging as a learning tool. The simple truth is that students are already on-line. They share their lives, interact with peers and they have personal spaces on a range of different web-sites. Despite teachers perhaps not being as technologically savvy as their students what they can offer is their life skills and wisdom. They need to direct the students to make correct choices about the way they use the internet and ensure that they are learning from the tasks that they are doing. Teachers should not be afraid to let go of control and allow the students to teach them something. Another important aspect of blogging or publishing work on the internet is that the students now have an audience for their work and therefore take pride in what they are doing and are more motivated to do the work. It is inspiring to hear Al Upton talk about the enthusiasm his students had for their blog project both before and after the project took place. He also mentioned a tool called voicethread which is amazing. It is a great way to safely collaborate on projects either with people in the same class or members of Ed.voicethread. I googled it to find out more and am really looking forward to using it in class.
