Category: Computing Specialism Follow-Up Reading

This blog is a follow-up reading by Salmon (2002) and the focus of this blog is how teachers act like e-moderators to the children. This 5 Step Model, shown above, is the focus of the chapter and is one method of teaching online learning within the classroom.

For our VLE learning resource I believe the teacher using our resource will act as an e-moderator. The main basis of this is due to the young age of the children who will be completing the phonics programme. Most of the children will be starting at Stage 1 and building on their limited knowledge. As shown in the diagram, Stage 1 will have the e-moderator “Welcoming and encouraging”. Based on my experience of working with similarly aged children on my last BSE placement, most of the time technology is still new to them, meaning motivation should not be an issue. This is because they engage in a lot of playing time with technology such as tablets and laptops at home and when using them in school, have a great interest in using them.

Overall, when looking through the model I would suggest the teachers would be aiming to move the children onto Stage 2. The social constructivism approach Sian and I took will need children to be comfortable talking and commenting on each other’s work in the Google Classroom. As the children are young and only need to use technology for basic tasks, some children might be able to progress onto Stage 2 and work there co-dependently. However, as the Google Classroom is only 6 weeks of work, there are likely to be a few children who stay at Stage 1, but this is to be expected. And as the teacher I would not be rushing these children onto Stage 2 without the solid foundation of Stage 1. The role of the e-moderator for Stage 2 is to “familiarise and provide bridges between cultural, social and learning environments”, which means the teacher will be supporting the children create their online persona and how to safely communicate with others, including those from other cultures. For Sian and I, our resource at the moment is not going to be used or open to the world. Children and their teacher/s will be given logins which if the parents/carers too want to see the resource can login using their child’s details.

The follow-up activity this week is to reflect on our knowledge and views of learning communities.

From a teacher’s perspective there are many advantages to VLEs becoming more widely used. The main selling point is the accessibility of VLEs such as Fronter or Moodle. By having the resources, instructions and the chance for assessment of the children online through the internet and the web, teachers can set homework and/or classwork that is readily available to the class. Whilst working in a Primary School through my job and on BSE, I observed the prior approach used by most teachers of giving a physical copy of the homework for children to complete. One recurring problem became apparent when children forget to bring the physical copy back into school to hand in. Whereas when teachers use a VLE to set homework, it could be something uploaded and handed in online; this then eliminates the situation of “I did my homework, but I left it at home”.

Children may also enjoy using VLEs for the ease of accessibility because all the resources and teacher’s instructions are online and can be referred back to at any time. This makes it easier for children to understand the task and enables parents/carers to have a grip on what the children’s homework/classwork is at any time throughout the school year. Also, as most of us have done homework and honestly forgotten it, some children may appreciate the use of a VLE to avoid the stress of scourging through their school bag looking for homework could now be a thing of the past.

However, VLEs may not be the best option for everyone or every school. As teachers will need to learn how to use a VLE, some may be nervous about involving computers when they have been handing out homework physically for years. Also, not all VLEs are created equal; some may be very clunky and difficult to edit and adapt to suit your class. The BBC has done research and found schools to support the evidence that some VLEs to be clunky, but some believe it opens valuable communication between school and home (2010).

Children may not like using VLEs either. For example, similarly to teachers as some VLEs are hard to use, children could have issue uploading or downloading homework/classwork from home. Also, even though it is 2016, some children may not have consistent access to the internet and the web away from school. Another issue raised by Barber & Cooper (2012) is the opinion that using computers and the internet is likely to been used at home for leisure and switching that focus to appropriate use for educational purposes is a challenge for schools.

Personally I love the idea of using VLEs in my future classroom as I prefer involving technology wherever I can to make my life simpler. Some of the barriers to using VLEs I believe can be avoided if the school trials the software first before deciding which is best for them. Additionally, by giving teachers an input to what they want from the VLE will avoid some of the pitfalls and allow them to see the benefits to using one. Selwyn (2011) argues technology-based education is seen to provide a more conductive way to facilitate the informal, collective and communal forms of learning which many educationalists believe to be important.

What is Fronter?

How does Moodle work?

Video URL – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltvryZ-Llc

For more information on how to use Moodle – [embeddoc url=”https://eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk/linfootj/files/2016/10/using_moodle_2e-19dialr.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

References:

BBC (2010) Why you should use a Virtual Learning Environment, accessible here: http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/WhyyoushoulduseaVirtualLearningEnvironment.aspx

Barber, D. & Cooper, L. (2012) Using New Web Tools in the Primary Classroom, London: Routledge

Cole, J. & Foster, H. (2008) Using Moodle, 2nd Edition (first edition published 2005), Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media Inc.

Selwyn, N. (2011) Education and Technology, London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd

YouTube video (2014) Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), accessible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltvryZ-Llc

 

The follow-up reading this week is a webpage written by Tim Berners-Lee where he answers a lot of FAQs for anyone researching and/or learning about how the World Wide Web has invented. Whilst reading this for myself I found various sections very informative and of great interest. Particularly, where Berners-Lee explains how webpages are found and opened on your computer when you click a link by your computers sending packets of information to other computers.

Additionally, myself partially included, a lot of people in the world use the internet and the web every day and have no real insight to what or how it happens to work. From my initial personal experience of the internet and the web, I can remember my dad bringing home our first personal computer and having dial-up internet during my time at Primary School. At this time I did not use computers for the web until later on when we upgraded to broadband.

I believe Berners-Lee summarised the internet and the web very concisely by stating that the World Wide Web is a tool and ‘that any really powerful thing can be used for good or evil.’ His hope is that ‘the Web can help people understand each other.’ Berners-Lee continued on to finish by stating, ‘Let’s use the web to create neat new exciting things. Let’s use the Web to help people understand each other.’

Reading Source:

https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Kids.html