Wednesday, June 06, 2012

20120606 Personalised Learning Workshop at eduLab@AST

Reflection (I) (session before lunch)
Designing learning experiences in accordance to the learner's learning style is the KEY IDEA in today's session.

In the segment of the designing "Traditional" lesson plan, it requires us to design a lesson (as a group) on the topic "Forces". One "characteristic" of this lesson plan is WITHOUT the use of ICT (means back to times before the first IT Masterplan).
(A) Choice of Resources

One of the challenges that came up most prominently is we seemed to be quite handicapped with ICT is "not allowed" (or not available). Many a times, technological platforms like LMS or video might just pop-up in the teachers' mind. So, my question here is, are teachers becoming more handicap if we were to revert back to the "old" ways? On the other hand, to what depth and extent are we really leverging on the affordances of technology? I wonder. Well, the second half of this training programme will tell (I think).

(B) Customising Experience according to Learning Styles

Each group is assigned a learning style such that we will design the activities that are suitable to these learners.

It's a challenge to design a Science lesson (Forces) using just strategies for auditory learners. Why?

One of the key consideration is the EFFECTIVENESS of the learning. Will designing a lesson using just strategies catering to the learning style bring about effective learning (understanding of the topic) for the topic, if the topic, by nature demands hands-on experiences?

Reflection (I) (session before lunch)
amDON's amBook
This is a (Science) digital textbook, that comes with "interactivity".

Why does the word come with a quote ""? I guess it's actually depends on what degree of interactivity are we talking about - because "interactivity" does not mean just simple navigation (by clicking at the various buttons on the screen). This experience predominates (based on my exploration within a limited time).

It goes further into how the system 'interacts' and respond to the user's 'enquiry' as well. Of course, by 'automarking' the responses in a Quiz is interactivity being one level above 'pure navigation'. I think this is a common feature of LMS, but definitely useful and stands out as compared to a hardcopy textbook.

One interesting feature would the 'online worksheet' (more like a template that chanced upon). With the amBook being installed in the client machine, students can record their observations which they could revisit subsequently. On the other hand, this is just confined to the client machine, which cannot be shared or submitted to the teacher.

One aspect that it could possibly improve would probably be a link (optional, embedded in each chapter) which leads to a space where teachers can 'customise' to include other relevant materials for the students. Another would be... it would be great if there's a section in the book that comes with a free editing area that students could add 'personalised' notes or resources (e.g. links to YouTube videos)




(2) NASLead
This is the platform that NAS used to deploy lessons suitable to learners of various learner types (VARK).



Imprint


10 tips to incorporate ICT into personalised learning
  1. Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media
  2. Gather adn use immediate feedback on students' understanding
  3. Give students options
  4. Automate basic skills practice
  5. Practice independent work skills
  6. Create a weekly "must do" adn "may do" list
  7. Pre-test students' knowledge before each unit
  8. Be flexible when plans go awry
  9. Let students drive
  10. Share the work of creating differentiated lessons

Reflection of the Workshop... Has its objective been achieved?
The workshop aims to introduce to participants the following tools/ platforms:
HueX, NASLead, VARK, CanberraLive (Imprint), amDON's amBook
I think...