All posts by dearpaulinelim

Reading is fun

June 16, 2022 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

Reading is fun

depaulyan@gmail.com

D Paul ylan

the flipped classroom

January 4, 2021 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

As Gregor has said, If you have really good learning design then digital tools can
enhance that learning design in almost limitless ways.
One strategy that I use is the active learning, or Flipped Classroom method.
With active learning students complete a reading or do an activity prior to coming to class.
I like to use short videos that are around five to seven minutes long.
This teaches the background theory or the surface learning which means it doesn’t
need to be delivered in the lecture.
So students come into the classroom or lecture theatre already equipped.
What happens is that students are able to engage more deeply with the content.
I usually include hands-on activities that allow them to apply that knowledge in practical,
and ‘real life’ ways.
The feedback from students is that they like the active nature of the course, and the way
the flipped classroom operates.
I’ve also found that they engage with the content really well.
When I poll students, at least 70% have watched the videos prior to coming to class.
I use a lot of collaborative learning approaches, although the tools I use aren’t necessarily
specifically designed for collaborative learning.
One collaborative digital tool I use is called Padlet.
Padlet is an online site which is very easy to use.
The students type in their answers in real time – it’s like sticky notes but online.
I also use other active learning tools such as learner response systems.
The Echo 360 Active Learning Platform is an example of this.
With this tool, you can ask various types of questions, like open ended, true/false,
or multiple choice.
Student responses in real time allow you to gauge where the students are at and focus
on areas that need attention at that time.
Interactive whiteboards are another great tool to support Deep learning.
The activities are at the student’s level and they are really hands on.
This is particularly great for kinesthetic learners with interactive whiteboards encouraging
engagement and motivation and more broadly, by shifting the physical space and challenging
students to come to the front and not just have the teacher use the tool.
Interactive whiteboards also provide a wealth of resources that are at the teacher’s fingertips.
Because so many schools now use interactive whiteboards we actively prepare our preservice
teachers to use them in the future.
The collaborative nature of these types of tools means that it is less worrying for students
if they don’t know the answer individually because other people in the group might know
the answer.
Students also like working together in a non-assessed format as a lot of the group work at university
is actually assessed.
Student surveys reflect this indicating high levels of engagement and students really enjoy
the active learning nature of these activities.
Digital technologies are changing rapidly but some are here to stay.
During the 1990s I started using Microsoft Excel to teach graphing to Year 4 students.
It was pretty cutting edge at the time and I presented this great new tool at a teacher
conference.
Someone actually asked me what I would use in 5 years time.
I said that I would use Excel but this person insisted that Excel wouldn’t be available
because we would be using a new technology.
But of course we are still using Excel 20 years later, so yes some technologies do change
but what we want are students to be able to do is use the skills and concepts in different
and new contexts.
For example we previously taught Photo Story to our students whereas now we teach Microsoft
Office Mix.
The students that learnt to use Photo Story don’t have any problem adapting to Office
Mix as they are able to engage with that type of technology and the interactive nature of
such digital tools.
So going back to the critical importance of learning design, it’s important to use digital
tools that are relevant and appropriate for the task.
Technology isn’t the answer; learning design is.
Digital tools should enhance learning, and not just be used for its own sake.

Digital tools to enhance deep learning

January 4, 2021 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

There is a really strong tradition looking
at the ways in which digital technologies can be used to support and enhance student
learning generally, and also what people would think of as deep approaches to learning.
There was a lot of research in the 1980’s that looked at digital technologies as what
we could call cognitive tools to support students with skills such as elaborative thinking,
organizational thinking and self-regulation.
From my perspective, the most useful ways that digital technologies can support students
taking a deeper rather than a surface approach to learning is through learning design.
We might develop through learning design, opportunities for students to engage with
conceptual simulation or problem based learning tasks or some sort of peer based collaboration,
and these learning designs will inspire students to do particular things in classrooms that
invite them to be critical thinkers and self-regulators and to think about problems in ways that are
not surface oriented.
The ways in which digital technologies can be used therefore sort of dovetails with those
learning designs.
Some of the affordances of the technologies that arrived on our desktops in recent times
like social media or Web2 technologies, are really quite closely aligned with some of
those learning designs that I mentioned.
And the work that we’re doing at the University of Melbourne with our Graduate Online Program
is thinking really carefully about the ways in which we can change learning design and
pedagogical models, as we move into a wholly online environment to support those deep approaches
to learning.
This includes the kinds of structures and support that you need in terms of learning
design and then the ways in which we can employ technology to support those learning designs.
I think that the short answer is that they most likely can, but it does raise an interesting
point about synchronous and asynchronous communication within digital environments.
Often face-to-face communication is held up as something of a gold standard for collaborative
activities with synchronous communication.
But if you make a distinction in the temporality of conversations, communications and collaborations
online, and you make allowances for the temporality of communication, then I think that you’re
in a much better place.
There are technologies at the moment that allow people to engage in synchronous communication
around artefacts in virtual classrooms, that emulate a skype type arrangement.
But there are also a range of asynchronous technologies that can be also used to emulate
these types of conversation.
The frisson, the vibrancy associated with conversation, often needs to be synchronous,
but there are also aspects of conversation, so thinking in particular about things like
review and reflection, where it’s quite useful to have technologies that allow you to pause
and reflect on what another person is saying.
And that’s where asynchronous communications can be a useful layer on top.
I think that the main message here is not to view digital technologies as being some
sort of saviour, or tools that will solve a problem.
The real issue is providing students with tasks and activities that encourage them to
engage with an approach that is associated with those principles of deep learning.
And then think about the ways in which technology can be used to support and facilitate that.
Digital tools can sort of super charge learning design, provide options and opportunities

EdX course – deep learning through transformative pedagogy

January 4, 2021 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

transcript – how has schooling changed over time

4:13 / 4:13

In western culture, approaches to teaching and learning have shifted over time.
While it’s not a tidy timeline, in very broad terms, compulsory and universal public
education was largely a product of the industrial age.
Prior to that, education was largely reserved for the privileged – nobility, wealthy landowners
and clergy, for instance.
But new technology – the printing press, trains, electricity and so on – meant that more people
had access to knowledge and also that people needed new kinds of knowledge and skills.
So new approaches to education developed in response.
What we often refer to as ‘traditional’ mass schooling was designed to prepare people
to take their places in this new society.
This approach to education aimed to produce compliant and punctual workers.
The teacher was the ‘sage on the stage’ – the holder of knowledge and the ultimate
authority figure.
Students were viewed as empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge – certain knowledge,
of course, not of their own choosing.
The physical environment was one of hierarchy and control – desks in rows, children facing
their teacher who controlled subject matter, talk, and activities from the front of the
room.
The focus was on rote learning and correctly recalling information.
Across time, this has shifted – mercifully!
That’s not to say that teacher-directed learning episodes don’t have their place;
indeed they do.
Nor is it to say that the ‘chalk and talk’ model is extinct or always undesirable, because
it isn’t.
But we no longer live in an industrial age.
Twenty-first century life is very different and it isn’t effective to keep on trying
to pump out students like a production line.
We live in what is sometimes called the information or digital age.
The kinds of skills that students need if they are to thrive in this contemporary world
are quite different from the past.
I am not simply referring to the kinds of skills we associate with digital technology,
although of course technology has contributed significantly to the changed educational landscape
we now occupy.
As a result, approaches to education have shifted from a teacher or knowledge centred
approach to a student or learner centred approach.
Contemporary pedagogical frameworks, such as constructivism, encourage learners to ‘construct’
their own knowledge individually and collaboratively by making connections with prior knowledge
and experiences.
We might even say that in the past, surface learning was sufficient – memorizing facts,
selecting the correct answer and so on.
But to be equipped for today’s world, surface learning is not enough.
Today’s ‘facts’ may not be facts next year.
Today’s ‘skills’ may be obsolete within a decade.
The kinds of approaches associated with deep learning – approaches that develop higher
order skills, encourage critical thinking, and the capacity to be agile, flexible and
adaptable – these skills are not optional or reserved for a small percentage of learners,
they are critical for all students.
Now, teachers know this and, I think, want to be the kinds of teachers who design learning
experiences that equip learners with these skills.
But of course, the question is how?

Effective and Active learning

Robyn: Research shows that student-centred approaches to teaching that change and develop
students’ thinking gets better student learning outcomes than the more traditional, teacher-directed,
information-transmission approaches.
For teachers to make this shift, it’s important to have the capacity to reflect on one’s
own practice and to be familiar with evidence-based research into effective teaching.
To be effective, learning must be active.
So effective and active learning are interdependent and one cannot occur without the other.
They are two sides of the same coin.
When learning is effective, students are actively engaged and they are motivated.
They accept responsibility for their learning, work together to achieve shared goals, listen
to others’ ideas, and support one another through challenges.
So the effectiveness of active learning is not limited to the academic or cognitive,
but extends to social and personal development.

Constructivist Theory

Sensorimotor stage: Developing motor control and learning about physical objects.

Pre-operational stage: Developing verbal skills, naming objects and reasoning skills.

< i think dylan’s in transition between these 2 stages>

Concrete operational stage: Developing skills to learn about abstract concepts, numbers and relationships.

Formal operational stage: Developing skills to reason logically and systematically.

PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Image of Piaget stage development with animated images at each

Vygotsky’s Social Cultural Learning Theory (SCLT) was based on the idea that social interaction is fundamental for cognitive development.

Life at its best

March 7, 2019 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

What is it that you want to do that you can’t do now

7 March 2019

Why I should continue to work

February 27, 2019 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

Keep the money coming

We miss you mum

November 5, 2018 dearpaulinelim Leave a comment

Mum was called home on Sunday, 21 Oct 2018.

Her wish: All of you to go back to church.

R – attend church, fear & follow God

G – cute!

B – enjoy your life, calm & confident girl

D – adorable but cheeky. Brought her great delight.

Three sons: She appreciated all your love & concern for her especially after she was diagnosed with her first cancer. Each one of you is special in an endearing way.

Daughters in law : P, B, & B- all of you have a special place in her heart. All to go back to church.

Grandchildren

R – go to church, fear & follow God

G – cute, idea is

B – enjoy her life, calm & confident

D – adorable, cheeky boy

Three sons: appreciate your love & concern. Every one in your special endearing way.

Daughters in law : P, B, & B- all of three of you have a special place in her heart. She particularly appreciated your support for your your husbands. Treasured your love for her.