Teaching and Learning and

ICT’s

Alan Amory
Sarah Gravett
Duan van der Westhuizen

Faculty of Education
Digital natives

• “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer

the people our educational system was designed to teach.”
• Grown up digitally
For example computers, cell phones, music, video, games, interactive
TV, Mix-It, Facebook, bluetooth
• Today’s students think and process information fundamentally
differently from their predecessors
• “Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures“
• “Likely that our students’ brains have physically changed – and are
different from ours “
• Students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of
computers, video games and the Internet.
• Immigrants: turns to the Internet for information second rather than
first, reads a manual rather than assuming that the program/device
itself will teach you how to use it
• Problem: Digital Immigrant teachers speak an outdated language and
are struggling to teach those who speak an entirely new language.
Digital Immigrants

• Believe learning takes place step by step, or sequentially

• Believe learning can’t take place while the TV/IPOD is on
• Don’t believe learning should be fun
• Believe old teaching methods are still valid

• “Smart adult immigrants accept that they don’t know about their new
world and take advantage of their kids to help them learn and
integrate. Not-so-smart (or not-so-flexible) immigrants spend most of
their time grousing about how good things were in the “old days.”

• So:
• Change thinking about METHOD of teaching
• Change thinking about content
21st Century Teaching and
Learning
• Learning to be
Students learn not only about something but rather learn to be something.
Here learning is the enculturation into the practice of the discipline or
profession, often through legitimate participation in authentic tasks
• Learning to speak digitally
Multimedia literacy is part of learning to be and fosters pattern-making, skill
development, nonlinear thinking, navigation in incongruent spaces and
complex story-telling
• Learning to imagine
It is the act of imagination that leads to the construction of new academic
artefacts, and thereby transforming both the individual and the world they
live in
• Learning to network
Social networking is a lived experience of most students as they organize
themselves into communities
• Learning to share
Rip-and-burn approaches to music sharing is an example of how many
students make available information to their communities (e.g. why students
plagiarise)
21st Learning Information

• Possessing information does not imply that learning has occurred,

learning takes place ”when students act on content, when they shape
and form it. Content is the clay of knowledge construction”
• Information is not knowledge
• Merely providing information is not teaching
• Attributes:
• Pervasive
• Accessible
• Open
• Increased rate of change
• Multiple views and understandings
• Examples:
• MIT course work
• Wikipedia
• Open access
Contemporary Learning Theory

• Learning is a social activity

• Learners are viewed as individuals with pre-existing knowledge,
aptitudes, motivations and skills, rather than empty vessels into
which pre-digested information is poured
• Learners adapt their approach to learning (surface versus deep)
based on:
• Expectation
• Assessment
• Teaching approach
• Teaching and assessment practices to learn the practices of the
knowledge domain
Learning Activity Design
Components
• Philosophy • Engagement
Based on the ideas of Dewey, Vygotsky and Complex and authentic
Piaget • Task Orientation
• Text Importance of context
Multifunctional - represent cognition and • Motivation
representations of the world, but are part of Intrinsic motivation supported through rich media
social interactions • Teacher’s Role
• Belief Systems Facilitative
Knowledge as a tool for social reform • Cultural Sensitivity
• Supports Change Respective of different cultures and associated
Implemented by stakeholders to facilitate value systems
transformation of individual minds • Metacognitive support
• Social Cognition Facilitate learner’s developing a plan and
Active processing, social construction and evaluating learning strategies
shared representations • Collaboration
Where conversational group activities accomplish
• Learning Style shared goals
For example, Howard Gardener’s theory of
multiple intelligences and Grogorc’s learning • Reflection
styles Include reflection of learning and professional
practice
• Gender
Inclusive - depict and include different gender
identities -- not just include biological male
and female identities
• Focus
Sharply focused versus general
ICTs in Teaching and Learning

• Information stream
The delivery of learning resources and other necessary information
pertinent to learning, research and administration
• Communication
Both synchronous and asynchronous modes that make use increasing
intelligent devices
• Collaboration
Provide support for social networking and community building
• Transformation
Information transformed from one, or many, information streams into
more meaningful individually or group constructed knowledge
• Professionalization
The use of technological tools associated directly with a profession
(for example, the use of Computer Aided Design software by
architecture students)
 Emerging Technologies Web 2.0

• User Created Content

• Audience listening and creating
• Create collaborative, learner-authored resources open to public
feedback
• Social Networking
• Connect with friends, colleagues, or even total strangers who have
a shared interest
• Opportunity to contribute, share, communicate and collaborate
• Mobile Phones
• Gateway to our digital lives and learning
• Encourage creativity and mediamaking
• Virtual Worlds
• Chance to collaborate, explore, role-play, and experience other
situations in a safe but compelling way
• Learn through simulations and role-playing
• Massively Multiplayer Educational Games
• Engaging and absorbing but difficult to produce
• Develop leadership and management skills and supports
collaborative complex problem solving