cc licensed flickr photo shared by motionblur
I’ve been thinking/pondering about how much new tools/technology really change learning since Edubloggercon at ISTE earlier this year in Denver. There were a lot of smart people with interesting ideas there, but the one that created the strongest impression was during a breakout discussion on the use of iPads in schools. There were a lot of iPads at ISTE and they were in especially high concentration at Edubloggercon so this was a discussion that was of interest to many of the folks there. Most of the iPad nation (I was amongst them) were abuzz about how the iPad was going to be a transformative tool that would really change teaching and learning.
But Scott McLeod (or David Jakes – they were both pursuing the same line of thought in the ensuing discussion) asked a question that stuck with me for … well, right up until now actually. He asked if the iPad was truly transformative – that is, would it change the way we approach teaching and learning in the schools – or was it just a better status quo. Was it really going to allow us to get students learning in a different, and hopefully better, way or was it just the same old same old with some bright shiny objects thrown in to get students’ attention. Scott and David made a convincing assertion that it was the latter. I thank them both for provoking some lengthy reflection on my part. The iPad is great at presenting content in fascinating ways, but how does it let students engage in the creation of knowledge differently than the methods that have been used for the past 50 years? Is it just a shiner, better and more expensive textbook?
The question arose again this morning when I followed a tweeted link to a list of alternatives to book reports. It’s an interesting list and some of the techniques/tools mentioned sound like a lot of fun. I’m sure the students would find them to be a welcome change from the written style of book report. (Dare I even call it a noel approach?) But I’m not sure the students would learn anything more about the book or any different cognitive skills from the analysis of a book than a written book report. The change has been the type of assessment but how much of an alternative is that?
I don’t want to come across as condemning the iPad’s usefulness as a tool in education or the value of have alternate methods of assessing student learning. Access to information that is up to date and well presented will, I think, keep students more interested in the information. Alternate methods of assessing learning will provide some students with a better way to communicate their learning instead of assessing how well they take written tests. My concern is that if we see these as being transformative, we’ll give up looking for ways that really get students involved in deep learning.
#1 by Richard Byrne on 2010/09/24 - 12:44
Hi Rob,
Since it’s my post about book reports that you linked to, I thought I should offer some clarifications and explanations.
At first glance, yes some (perhaps) all five suggestions are just “jazzed up” book reports. However, what I have found is that when students know that their work is going to become, for lack of a better term, a “performance piece” they tend to invest more effort and care not only in making their products look good, but also in making sure that they look for and include as much information and insight as they possibly can in their final products. In my experience this happens because classmates, parents, and others are much more likely to look at one of these short performance pieces than they are to read a two page book report. Therefore, the students creating the alternative book reports take care to include as many details as possible.
I’m not suggesting that traditional book report assignments are inherently bad. They’re not. In fact, they can be excellent exercises in analyzing and writing. I’m simply suggesting that if writing is not the purpose of a book report assignment, there are alternatives that students can use to convey the meanings and main ideas of a book.
(Granted, the following example is with a research assignment instead of a book report, but I think there are many parallels). In my own classroom over the last week and one half my 11th grade students, many of whom have in the past been reported as having a poor attitude toward school, have worked on creating short videos about the Revolutionary War. Those students have worked as diligently as they possibly can to make sure they know their content and convey their stories as clearly as possible. Many of them have revised their works, without my prompting, three or four times. I know that I probably would not have gotten the same effort out of those students if I had made the assignment a standard research essay. Why? Because they know that the whole class is going to see their final product whereas if it were an essay assignment they know that the whole class is not going to read every student’s essay. Are my students learning more about the content because I made their final product a video instead of an essay? Yes. Will there be times that my students do write traditional research papers? Yes, because I do believe that writing skills are important, but I’m sure that that process will not be as cheerily undertaken by my students as video creation projects are.
Richard