Blogs

First week back at school and an opportunity to give some context to the week we had just had in Christchurch.  This research is being carried out in partnership with real children, real teachers and looking at real issues – it is not simply an academic exercise at all.  

A highlight of this week was having the opportunity to participate in a Tautoko on Thursday at Weymouth Primary School. A small group of adults and some nervous members of the culture group (all their leaders have left and gone off to intermediate schools) were privileged to experience one of the wonderful by-products of the Treaty of Waitangi.  A respected colleague and friend has moved on to a new position after six years teaching at Pt England and we were able to go with Michael to his new school and in a special assembly ‘hand him over’ to his new school.  The principal and the Board of Trustees member who spoke on his behalf let the new school know in no uncertain terms that we were giving them a Taonga ( a treasure) that we have valued – and to tell them they had better look after him!

Then again on Friday another Tautoko was held for a teacher moving to Grey Lynn School after ten years teaching at Pt England.  And the ceremony was repeated, though with a Samoan flavour this time to include Otalani’s culture.

Both occasions were very emotional, but what a fantastic, positive way to be able to start out in a new job. It sure beats a farewell at the end of the year before and everyone hoping that all goes well at the new school.

So here I have been, sitting in my office next to some classes beginning their new year with a look at the Treaty of Waitangi, while I was examining the ethical issues surrounding the case study I am embarking on.  We have gained some awesome things from our treaty partners and here’s hoping that this project I am researching in 2007 will offer some new insights in return in an area that so many of the children struggle with – Reading.

Well the next few weeks are going to be very busy. Firstly there will be the Learning@schools conference in Rotorua where I will be presenting my research in breakout 2 and catching up on information relating to my new job as an ICTPD cluster facilitator. 

On the last day of that conference I will travel to Auckland to catch a flight to Singapore where I will be visiting the Microsoft schools for the future. I will then fly to Cambodia for the Microsoft Innovative teachers' conference. So a very exciting time. A huge thanks to Microsoft and the Ministry of Education for making this possible.  

(You should see this view on a sunny day!)

I have nearly finished my first week working on my own as an efellow and I must say I am enjoying the different point of view.  As a classroom teacher you take it for granted that you must do ten things at once and give half of your attention to most things (while, I must say, doing a superb job at all of those ten things :-) ).  

 This week has been one of adjustment.  I found myself  at first preparing all the things I needed to do and trying to do them all at once with two browsers open and Skype and iChat (and a landline for those users of old technology).  While simultaneously folding my washing and planning a bathroom renovation because now that I am spending time at home I realise it is long overdue! 

But I stopped, looked out my study window, and realised that this is my year to slow down and pay particular attention to one thing at a time.  What a luxury.  It will take a bit of getting used to but I think I might manage it.  One thing it has made me realise is that maybe in classrooms not only do we not allow ourselves enough time to think, but maybe our students would like a little thinking time too?
 

My initial concept is to create a game / simulation based on the events at Gallipoli in 1915. There is many resources around and it is such an important event in our national history. An increasing amount of young people are travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac day as a renewed interest grows. I was fortunate enough to travel to Gallipoli when I was twenty, and still remember the impact the visit had. It is a very sombre place. New Zealand and Australia must be one of the very few countries in the world to have such an immense tragedy as a national day! I finally feel that I am making progress on the research plan. I am now working out the details of the research project and am carefully looking at some History achievement standards and internet resources from Australia and New Zealand for teachers... Time to get back into it...

Wow! First may I give my heart felt thanks to Vince, Michael, Ann and the team at CORE-ED for making last week such an enjoyable and useful experience. To spend the week in the company of teachers who have such interesting and challenging ideas of what education could be like in the 21st Century was something special.

At an individual level the week was spent crystallising my ideas about what my research topic should be on. At the start of the week I knew that I wanted to research something to do with how Moodle is used in secondary schools - probably some aspect of what 'community' means - how to sustain and cherish learning communities but was concerned that I'd not be able to look at what what types of activities in Moodle appear to be interesting for students to use. After having an Eureka! moment, I realised that what teachers perceive to be interesting, engaging and successful is not always the case from the learners point of view. Web2.0 activities are often promoted as being effective means to teach and learn using social or co-constructive methods. My research will look at the experiences of teacher and learner - (Y13 students) when using Moodle to learn about Linux, Apache, MYSQL, PHP to build interactive websites.

The running title of my project is "What does co-constructive learning in a web2.0 context mean from the perspective of facilitator and learner?" Hopefully at the end of the year I'll have a more firm idea of the educational possibilities of using Web2.0 tools with senior classes.

Last night I read more about Blooms taxonomy, as well as articles looking at Peter Checklands "Soft Systems" methodology. These thoughts framed themselves into the question: "How can you develop video games that enable "deep thinking"? Shirley Alexanders theories on "surface" and "deep" thinking would provide a theoretical underpinning to work to in developing an understanding of how to enagage players in "higher order" cognitive activity. This morning I have been at work trying to get this direction down on paper - and have been pleased with at least constructing a Research Plan that has enough detail to have some concrete discussion about...

Today was the first day working from home. It consisted of searching the web for suitable relevant literature, and trying to write the research plan. My task was to come to some clarification about my research topic. The problem is that I am very aware of the importance of getting the research question right... and I feel the weight of it. I am also aware that I am unfamiliar with a huge body of knowledge and research on educational learning theory. My interests in game research also varies extensively, but predominantly lie in measuring effective learning through game play. It is also my desire that the results from my years project, not just be of interest, but of real use. Mmmmm The research question I left thinking about last week was "Does the level of immersion in a 3d game affect effective learning?" On delving into the definition of immersion, it seems that there is no consenus. However my loose interpretation would be along the lines of: immersion is the degree to which the player relates the game experience to a real world experience. Thinking about this it would be possible to adjust the level of immersion by varying the level of graphics, game logic, audio etc etc. However I think there is an arguement to be made that levels of immersion lead to levels of engagement and engagement creates one condition for learning. There has been much research into engagement of video games in education -and for this reason I am rethinking the research question. Today I have read a little more about Blooms taxonomy. I am interested in considering whether this could be used as an effective measure of learning in video gameplay. Or possibly looking at Alexanders "deep learning" theory... More reading and "deep" thinking required...

I thought I would record here the process I go through as an eFellow and as a classroom teacher who is embarking on research.  In our classrooms we are continuously undertaking research when we reflect on what is happening in our rooms but not in any formal way.  This week in Christchurch the eFellows were introduced to research methodology and methods and given superb guidance to formulate a research question and a research proposal.  My question is:

In what ways and to what extent does the use of podcasting improve oral literacies in primary aged students?

My next step is to start looking for research around this question.  I'll let you know how I get on. :-) 

Progress !!! After a busy week of fellowship I feel a lot happier in my research. The fellows and CORE resident experts were inspirational yet challenging and a lot was achieved. Is this the end of the begining or the begining of the end ?

This week is the first week of our 2007 e-fellows project. We all met at Core education in Christchurch on Monday for a very busy week... There has been a lot of thinking, writing, rethinking and rewriting going on. The inital focus has been on defining our research questions. When I started at the beginning of the week the question was: "How do you enable students to create their own 3D immersive computer games for their peers, that incorporate a sound educational philosophy with clearly defined educational objectives and content?" and... "How do you measure the effectiveness of learning acquired during game play?" It has morphed a number of times, at present, into: "How does changing the degree of immersion in a 3d game affect effective learning?" The next task is to clarify my thoughts and produce a draft research plan and grid...