8 posts tagged “literacy”
Bettina Schwenger and I recently presented at The student experience: HERDSA 2009 in Darwin. As part of the presentation we asked participants to add details to the mindmap pictured below - the original mindmap only included the nodes that have images. Participants collaborated in pairs or small groups to add to the mindmaps, and we collected all of their contributions at the end of the session. The results have been collated and added to the original mindmap, which has created an insightful visual resource into beliefs around Professional Development and the embedding of Literacy, Language and Numeracy into programmes.
At the end of the presentation we asked for evaluation of our session via sticky notes that were left on the door as people left, and received some very positive comments which have been collated below. In particular, it was reassuring to see the comments about the transferability and generalisability of the model in particular, and the approach to PD as a whole.
Resources
- Link to our presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/hazelowendmc/supporting-academic-development-to-enhance-the
- Link to our handout: http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/13811344/16po9clq1zj2zeys7rrp
- Link to the full paper: http://www.scribd.com/doc/17624375/Supporting-Academic-Development-To-Enhance-The-Student-Experience-Handout-of-resources-HERDSA-2009
Feedback from the participants at the session:
- Well presented and food for thought in dealing with resistant teaching staff. Thank you
- Great project. Well done
- Great
model (transferable to any T& L context or group) for meaningful PD
engagement of academics. (Could be replicated with students)
- Generalisable model. Thanks
- Inspiring. Good stuff
- Provoking. Thanks for some great ideas
- Thought provoking.
- Breaking down barriers
- Interesting pictures on slides
- Nice symbolism
- Used accessible terminology
- Excellent. Good job. Well done.
Link to the 'live' mindmap (pictured below): http://www.mindmeister.com/23798819/building-capability (you will need to access the online version to be able to view the full mindmap :-) )
An article from The NY Times
has summarised the findings of a 93-page report on online education,
conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education (US).
The key findings are:
"Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of Education found that, on average, students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance, compared with the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. That is a modest but statistically meaningful difference."
I
must admit that I haven't as yet read the report in full. However,
yesterday (26th August 2009) I participated in a really
thought-provoking session run by The Centre for Teaching and Learning
Innovation: TPA around literacies and the huge range of 'texts' we
interact with and produce...digital, visual, audio, written, academic,
multimodal. The conversation covered a variety of topics, and as the
session progressed a couple of things occurred to me. Firstly, a lot of
the participants seemed to think of digital literacies as basic ICT
skills (i.e. turning on a computer, file management etc) - and by doing
so, there was little recognition of the potential offered by digital
literacy around empowerment, meaning making, scaffolding,
communication, and building social networks. Take, for example, the
opportunity to encourage, value and celebrate Freshman students' text
creation (no matter what media they are using) - their identity, world view,
culture, experiences and ideas - and how this might then be
incrementally linked through activities such as reflection, to Higher
Order thinking skills and research. Also, if words are most effective
when they create images which in turn resonate with our emotions, the
use of graphics, video and audio could offer opportunities to scaffold
learners who are not fluent in print literacy, thereby supporting and
embracing those learners who have previously been excluded from further
and higher education.
I will, however, be studying the report to see if there are any recommendations around design, facilitation, assessment and evaluation that achieves the level of effectiveness and engagement indicated by the results of this study....
The HERDSA 2009 conference was held at Charles Darwin University,
Darwin, Australia. Having arrived a day before, I had a wee bit of time
to explore the township of Darwin. The 2 ½ hour time difference meant
that I was awake at about 4am, so hopped up, had a leisurely breakfast
and hatched a plan to run to the Charles Darwin University campus for a
look around as it was about 12km away. It transpired that the route I
took along the coast, past indigenous settlements, and the racecourse,
turned out to be more like 15 km! However, it was a delightful
experience to wander around the deserted campus, enjoy the grounds, and
spot the student creativity tucked away in an area that was obviously
for relaxing.
The welcome evening was impressive. Held at the Parliament building, we were greeted with glasses of bubbly, and
The conference itself has been great…really well organised, and fun. For the techie geeks amongst us a wireless network has been set up especially for the conference, with IT support for anyone struggling with passwords and permissions. I, personally, found the first keynote very engaging. Ron Oliver was talking about the importance of outcomes focussed design and facilitation to engage learners and to enhance the acquisition and use of higher order thinking skills – especially those studying in blended and distance modes. In particular he suggested that the purpose of education is to encourage students to spend as much time as possible in a state where they are learning (as opposed to being busy). This state is fostered mostly where students engage a task that needs to be unpacked with a problem to be solved, and where there is no particular solution provided, thereby offering opportunities for creativity and originality. However, this mode can be uncomfortable at times, but learners do not learn very much until you take them to a point where they are uncomfortable. If learners are going to be pushed to a point beyond their comfort zone they need to be supported and scaffolded which act as a safety net and source of guidance.
A highlight of the conference was the activity where attendees were grouped and met on each of the days. Time was given to discuss learning experiences from the past, now, and what it may become in the future. It was great to be
This morning I had a wonderfully chat with an academic practitioner who is dyslexic, and some of the design considerations that she builds into presentations, reading texts and online sites that make them accessible. So, for example, she pointed out that slides with dense text…or even with bullet points just meld into a mish-mash with ‘snakes’ of light running through the letters. As such, she tries to translate slides like this into a graphic or image…which has the knock on advantage of assisting students who find written literacy a challenge, English as an Alternative Language students, while also meeting a greater range of learning preferences. This once again, emphasised the value of the conversations and interactions around the presentations, as much as the presentations themselves!
All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed the conference, have come away brimming with ideas, and also with a great appreciation of Darwin and the Northern Territories of Australia.
Abstract:
"The success of students is of central concern for tertiary
institutions globally and in New Zealand. When learners are unable to
meet the literacy and numeracy demands of their programmes, they
struggle to achieve the learning outcomes necessary to graduate, and
tend not to reach full potential in their community.
To improve the
quality of teaching and learning at Unitec NZ, staff is beginning to
employ an integrated approach to teaching courses, thereby assisting
students with literacy and numeracy challenges. Professional
development is essential to engage staff in the process of refocussing
and revisioning the experience offered to learners.
Please cite as: Please cite as: Owen, H, & Schwenger, B. (2008). Student Success; Increasing student success through effective literacy and numeracy support. Paper presented at the EIT Teaching and Learning Conference, 2008, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand.
Well put together (although quite long :-) this is a great Slideshare presentation tailored to ESL learners and teachers. It has some superb ideas of how Web 2.0 tools might be used in language learning, as well as links to example tools. For key concepts that need further exploration and explanation Thiago Eduardo (the creator of the presentation) has included links to You Tube and other resources that give clear, accessible overviews.
A really well produced, thought provoking exploration of literacy in the digital era by Dr Mike Wesch (Kansas State University).
I found it a little odd, but incredibly inspirational, to find that communicating through Web 2.0 was actually helping folk in rural communities, especially those working in agriculture, share and improve their practices.
The full report can be downloaded from the IAALD blog ( http://tiny.cc/aNGS ) and covers issues such as literacy and connectivity, as well as describing the results from specific case studies.
Peter Ballantyne (the IAALD President) concludes:
"Where
information and knowledge in agriculture once comprised rather linear
processes managed by specialists, tomorrow’s harvests will spring from
more organic approaches where innovators of all types become active
creators and managers of information and knowledge. This is already
happening as researchers and farmers become bloggers, extension workers
build wikis, and librarians become film makers. Underlying it all, the
new ‘social’ Web 2.0 acts as a catalyst for people to interact, for
knowledge sharing and communication to flourish and for innovators to
connect and act together." (p. 19, The Participatory Web -
New Potentials of ICT in Rural Areas)
Well worth a read if you are interested in ICT enhanced learning and teaching, literacy, the potential of Web 2.0, or anything to do with climate change and sustainability.
Nick Marsden from Unitec New Zealand ran a training session in June 2008 with the UATI School to discuss ideas that would help students access the technical texts required as part of their vocational courses.
Click here to watch it:
Vodcast: Ideas to begin accessing a technical text
