Evelyn W and I have gone through the Chartered Teacher journey
together and today we went along to hand in our dissertations.
A grand day out!!
All we have to do now is pass 
Archive for May, 2008Well …. it’s gone now and there’s nothing more I can do apart from have a very welcomed glass of wine (at least that might help to blur the carnage that used to be home!) It’s in the local bookbinders, Tom Valentine’s, just a 5 minute walk from here. They’ve got a website. Have a look They were so nice – and they even offered to allow 4 or 5 budding book writers from my class to pay a visit so that the children can have first hand experience of seeing their writing turned in to a real book! The children are just over the moon at the prospect! Watch this space for the chosen few (who will make that decision??? – not me !) Anyway … I took some photographs of the moment I handed my chartered teacher dissertation over. I’ll see the ‘dressed up’ version on Monday when I go to collect it and deliver it to the Uni I’ve put the last full stop and printed it off …… all ready for tomorrow morning’s drop off at the printer’s! Phew!! Meanwhile, Marc has put a great post on his blog about this evening’s CPD ‘Blog Training’ – thanks Marc I was too ’essay’d out’ :) Marc’s blog new blog post is HERE
This post is for Kim who has kept me going! It’s been great receiving her supportive comments. I read them and think … OK – maybe it’s not such drivel after all The abstract (like everything else) still needs fixed. Unfortunately, I think I’ve gone off on a tangent again ?:( Abstract Current thinking in the review of literature suggests that it is possible to draw on the online communication skills already being developed in pupils’ lives outside of school. The literature also proposes that, as blogs and wikis are not unlike the new media tools currently being used by young people today, these media could potentially be adapted by schools to allow e-learning to occur successfully. This study sets out to investigate whether weblogs and wikis and other emerging social software tools can be used to create an effective on-line learning community. The research is confined to one particular class of primary 7 pupils who have been using these new social software tools since entering their final year of primary school. A fresh approach to using the blogs and wikis was adopted during the three month research period and the children were given the freedom to use the tools as they wished within a supportive online environment. The teacher’s role became that of a facilitator, and guidance was provided through creating a sense of online audience by submitting comments on the children’s posts regularly. Offline, new interesting posts were shared with the children. Particular consideration is paid to:·
A case study method was adopted. Data was gathered systematically throughout the research period and consists of:
This case study consists of two elements. The first is concerned with the wider field of focus, and analyses the breadth and depth of posts and comments. The second narrows in to investigate any formal / informal learning taking place, and explores the useful features and barriers of managing web 2.0 tools with primary school children The findings show that the relationship between the digital and the real worlds began to merge and this had an impact on teaching and learning. The children’s informal online voices began to have a direct influence on what was to be included in their more formal offline learning programme. Sharing the entries from the blogs and wikis in the offline environment of the classroom had a direct influence on the teaching and learning taking place. The curriculum became more ‘child led’. ……. I keep editing this final bit AAAAGHH! I’ll try writing the acknowledgement section, or something else less likely to hurt the brain!! |
|
Entries (RSS)