Making hard topics in English easier with ICT

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Making hard topics in English easier with ICT
Teaching and technology in the United Kingdom

• Tom Rank
• NATE ICT Projects Manager

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Policy

• Entitlement to ICT in secondary English, Becta,
  2003
• ICT in English A NATE Position Paper, 2007
• There are hugely practical reasons for teachers
  of English to make good use of the new tools
  available. Beyond the practical there is a wider
  need for us to deliver teaching and learning that
  is relevant to a digital generation, to view
  technology not just as a tool but as an
  entitlement.

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Policy

• Entitlement to ICT in secondary English, Becta,
  2003
• ICT in English A NATE Position Paper, 2007
• There are hugely practical reasons for teachers
  of English to make good use of the new tools
  available. Beyond the practical there is a wider
  need for us to deliver teaching and learning that
  is relevant to a digital generation, to view
  technology not just as a tool but as an
  entitlement.

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Practice

• UK government ICT agency Becta has funded a
  number of professional development projects by
  subject associations in last five years
• NATE invited to investigate whether ICT can help
  with hard to teach topics
• Teachers invited to take part 22 embarked on the
  project, 17 complete case studies
• One teacher completed two!

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What is a hard to teach topic?

• Inherently repetitive or tedious material
• Conceptually complex areas of learning ahead of
  the pupil
• Topics that use language that alienates or
  confuses (for instance subject-specific
  vocabulary)
• Topics that stretch learners or take them into
  unfamiliar territory

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Where is the problem?

• Sometimes the difficulty lies with the class
• Sometimes it lies with the topic
• Sometimes the problem lies in a combination of
  topic and the limitations of the class

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What can ICT contribute?

• Motivation for students and teachers!
• Novel perspectives and fresh approaches
• Animation and video that explains or unpacks
  concepts and ideas
• Vivid source materials
• Communication and collaboration that transcends
  the classroom

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Targets

• Poetry, especially for 16 examinations
• Literary heritage
• Shakespeare
• Reluctance to write
• Writing poetry
• Reading for meaning

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Methods

• The Visualiser
• Podcasts
• Using a wiki to encourage students to discuss
  poetry leading to wiki-wars!
• Blogs
• Images projected, annotated, etc
• Online cartoon software

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Building learning power wikis 1
Giving all students, no matter what their
ability, a voice
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Building learning power wikis 2

• Students connecting with the text in a personal
  way

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Building learning power wikis 3

• Students becoming collaborative

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Building learning power wikis 4

• It had certainly made the topic of poetry easier
  to teach in fact, Im not sure how much
  teaching I actually did I merely facilitated
  their learning.
• Seeing implicit meaning
• Understanding metaphorical language
• Seeing alternative readings
• Developing critical thinking
• Research skills

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Wiki-wars

• Unexpected school block on wiki editing toolbar
• Students discovered by accident that there was no
  block on the discussion tab behind each page
• Significant use as revision tool
• Dramatic improvement in boys scores
• I think it should be for everyone as they would
  gain vast amount of different interpretations
  giving us a wider knowledge of the poems.

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Wiki-wars sample
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Wiki-wars 3
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Podcasting

• 16 year olds (examination year) incredibly
  motivated by the discussion aspect and by the
  end-product of a revision podcast
• Exploring how poets use language for effect
• 15 year olds highly enthused by the prospect of
  tailoring a radio show for a teenage audience
• Selected students highly skilled at editing but
  not necessarily the highest English achievers

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Caveats

• Halo effect
• Yes but...
• Self-selected group of knowledgeable enthusiasts
• Yes so...

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The special contribution of ICT 1

• Supported and encouraged both independent
  learning and collaborative learning
• Fostered individual creativity
• Brought real audiences and real purposes into
  play
• Enabled and encouraged reflection and evaluation,
  including self-assessment and peer-assessment

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The special contribution of ICT 2

• Allowed teachers to respond to students swiftly
  and assess effectiveness of teaching and learning
• Provided anonymity in exchanges and
  contributions, leading to a much wider degree of
  participation achieved
• Encouraged teachers to become more experimental
• Gave both students and teachers confidence and
  increased motivation

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Find out more

• NATE site www.nate.org.uk
• English and ICT ? Professional development ? NCTE
• Draft report Making hard topics easier with ICT
• NATE publications on display and online
• Sharing not Staring whiteboard resources, 2008
• Twenty Things to do with a Word Processor
• The Full English by Julie Blake
• Tom Rank tom_at_literaryconnections.co.uk

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That was SMART!

• Thanks to SMART Technologies Corporation for the
  digital projector www.smarttech.com
• Find free resources for the SMART Board on the
  NATE site English and ICT pages

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• www.nate.org.uk
• Tom Rank tom_at_literaryconnections.co.uk