Using ICT to Learn About Parts of Speech

As an activity for the online course I am taking on ICT in primary education I was asked to brainstorm the ways I could use technology for students to learn something in particular, considering the "Learning Types" developed by Diana Laurillard in her book "Teaching as a Design Science: Building Pedagogical Patterns for Learning and Technology" (I just bought a sample of this book, looks interesting!)

I purposefully tried to choose a topic that would typically be taught in a very boring, classical, text-booky way, to see how easy it would be to change it.

The topic I chose was different parts of speech (for 11 year old english language  learners) (this topic is actually part of a Unit of Inquiry I am currently developing, where I want students to understand this central idea: Each part of speech has a function and they work together to create complete sentences of different types. "Different parts of speech" is actually the content from one of the lines of inquiry: an inquiry into what different parts of speech are like (Form). I will post about this unit later when I have worked on it more, but any suggestions are welcome!).

The course suggested us to use this template to think about how technology could help students understand any given topic, and here is my brainstorm:

Learning through:	Students learning about different parts of speech could....
Acquisition	Student’s could watch a video about an everyday conversation or about of topic of their liking.
Discussion	Students could use Voicethread to attach their comments to the video they watched, mentioning the parts of speech they were able to identify.
Investigation	In order to identify all the parts of speech in the video they watched, so that they can comment on them on Voicethread, students could research parts of speech definitions online.
Practice	Students could practice by recording their own discussions or conversations where they intentionally use and point out different parts of speech.
Collaboration	Students could share their Voicethreads with each other so that they can continue adding their comments to point out parts of speech that others may have missed in the video.
Production	Students could choose their best recordings and edit these to create a short video that showcases their conversation while pointing out the parts of speech that were used.

What do you think about these ideas? Do you have experience using Voicethread or other similar apps with students? Do you have any suggestions?

ICT in Primary Education

I have just started taking an online course on ICT in primary education, "The ICT in Primary Education: Transforming children's learning across the curriculum", from the Institute of Education at the University of London. 

(I hope this course will help me not only in using technology with my students in school, but I am also interested in seeing how the course is facilitated, as I am also taking (for the second time!) an online course from the IBO to become an online facilitator.)

The school I used to work at had a strong technology integration programme that was just beginning to be implemented. We had 6 ipads that we could check out to work with the students, and a technology specialist that was available to help. We were all struggling on how to incorporate technology in a thoughtful way to develop higher order thinking skills. This was no easy, I think mainly because we did not have the training that we needed, despite the hard work from the technology department, who really tried very hard to get the programme going as expected!

I think I might be sharing some of the resources, content, ideas and suggestions from this course, as well as recommending it to my friends there!

So far, something important that I think needs to be shared with anyone using technology with students is the following:

Every resource we use is good for different types of learning. 

When we use a book and ask students to read from it to gather information, we are fostering a certain type of learning style. When we use a small group discussion for students to gather information from each other, we are fostering a different type of learning style. When we use a video, we are pointing towards yet another learning style. Well, when we use technology, we are also pointing towards a different learning style. And just as we would not have students ONLY use reading to learn, or ONLY use discussion to learn, we should not expect students to ONLY use technology to learn. As we differentiate the resources we offer to students, and the styles behind our lessons, we should consider technology as another resource, oriented towards another learning style. 

When planning a lesson, we are basically "solving a problem": This group of students has not understood the concept of addition. How can I help them understand it?  Planning has to do with solving this problem. If all we ask ourselves is "What can I use this technology for?", we are not addressing the problem. We are just trying to "fit" technology in. So instead, we should ask:

This group of students has not understood the concept of addition; Can technology help? How?

The goal of thinking in this way is to "challenge the technology to help with the really important learning needs".

How do students learn? How can technology help?

This is what we need to ask ourselves, and in this order, not the other way around!

I wonder what your experiences are in implementing ICT in education. I'd love to know your thoughts and experiences!