“For online learning to be successful and happy, participants need to be supported through a structured development process.” (salmon,2002)

Salmons reading on the 5 stages of e-Activities focuses on the development of children’s technological skills whining a socially constructed ad interactive way of learning.  There is a heavy focus on child learning and the teacher’s role is not to teach, but act as an e-moderator to assist the learning and move it forward. This approach is in line with Vygotsky and Piaget socially constructed learning but also reflects the 21 century form of learning.

 

What are the stages and what do they support?

Stage 1:

 The main aim of stage 1 focus on access and motivation of children’s participation and confidence with technology. Trough motivating children they not only enjoy using the software but creates a sense of accomplishment if they set out to do something they were unsure they could achieve.  However it is important to note that in this article it states that this is not enough to keep children going. They must also value their work, understand why they are doing it can have the opportunity to share their work.  As a result they will be more engaged in the activity even if they are unsure how to use the software.

Stage 2:

Stage 2 moves away from motivation and starts to establish online socialization and getting children to create their own online identities. This idea of belonging to a group can really support children’s learning and confidence within the classroom. As well as this there is a large emphasis on the importance of trust. Children need to value others ideas and support these and work together to achieve their goals. Personally I can see this being a challenge in some respects as strong online persona and lack of face-to face communication can lead to challenging behaviour but teacher should encourage children to get to know each other better and see this as a successfully learning resource not a social media.

Stage 3:

At this stage, children are learning to value the importance of exchanging information and supporting others to achieve their goals. It is important that they are given time to explore the information before it is reinterpreted by others. As a result, pupils are working together to learn on any given topic and are starting to understand what information is the most important and where they can gain these sources. It’s important to note that it may be difficult to locate these and while it should be guided children must have the opportunity to explore and find it for themselves. Through Presenting and linking the data they have found, ideas and interests are underlined in a way that will stimulate productive information sharing.

Stage 4:

Moving on to stage 4, it now looks at the idea of constructing knowledge in a collaborative way. Similar to stage 3 however this is more sophisticated. Children need to make use of the information they are given and active think and interact with others online to critically analyse creative practise.  As a result children can be seen as online authors and develop not only their computer skills but also their communication skills too. In my view children who are using their personal experience to enhance their knowledge display are becoming more literate with computes and developing in all areas of the curriculum.

Stage 5:

This stage is the final stage that children will continue to work on in every subject… Development. They can build on their own learning and apply this to individual context and manipulate systems to help achieve their personal goals. Children are creative and committed to learning in a different environment which is beneficial in so many ways. Such as their Meta-cognitive skills control of their own thinking. Children understand the point of learning and will continue to develop.

Each stage within this model focuses on a different skill and the importance of these. The process of learning with a computer mediates a context to achieve a specific skill that is supported with e-tivies and e-moderators. I.e. the teacher. Therefore it is important that though out these stages, moderates are taking a step in the right direction to support children’s computational learning.

How do teachers act as an e-moderator when using resources in the classroom?

Before evaluating how teachers can be moderators in the classroom I think it’s important that the qualities of an e-moderator are listed. This chapter gave a detailed insight into how we as teachers can support children without being behaviorist teachers …

• Should introduce the use of technology regardless of entry level, every child has to start as some point and should not be avoided. Allow them time to contribute to this themselves, not so heavily teach focus.
• Give feedback on how their learning is progressing and suggest what changes they can make.
• DO NOT BE NEGATIVE: they are not helpful to children and can demotivate them causing them to be unite rest.
• Have a go approach: let children have a go at practicing the technical skills rather than explaining how they work. This is far more practical and engaging.
• Support children’s knowledge of each other’s interest online by encouraging their online personas.
• Assess the use of online communities, are they appropriate for the learning required?
• Provide children with a range of materials that they can gain information from
• Demonstrate a high level of building and sustaining online communities

Overall all of salmon’s stages have been put in place to benefit children in socially constructing their learning with others, through a slow and progressive structure.  Children work at different levels and the pace of each stage should varies for each child. Each stage can be taught on its own without being in order, but they will develop more effectively if taught chronologically. However they are taught, it’s important to note that these skills are transferable to not just learning about software but for every subject. Children need to be motivated unsupported in all their learning and given the opportunity to have a go.  Personally, I think this idea of splitting learning into these stages similar to Piaget cognitive development theory works well, and gives time for children to understand what they are learning.