Mobile phones Wiki
The task for the mobile phones wiki was to read an article and watch a video on the use of mobile phones as a learning tool in the classroom. We were then asked to contribute to the mobile phones wiki that was designed as a graphic organizer using De Bono’s six thinking hats. The exercise was scaffolded very clearly with only a couple of steps. I had not used De Bono’s Hats before and found this a very interesting exercise. I was and still am a little unsure as to how each ‘hat’ is unique. To me there is some grey area between what content is applicable under each hat. I wanted some additional information than what was provided in the reading and choose to do some additional research. I posted several comments to the wiki, often sourcing the articles I had researched. However, when I checked back later I see that all my comments have been deleted from the wiki with no trace of my ever having participated! I understand that wiki’s are meant to be a flexible document, but I can see no reason other than another technical malfunction for why my comments have disappeared. I did not think to back-up my posting anywhere and I am resentful that the Wiki show no trace of my participation. I have since found that I blogged about some of my reflections on the mobile phones Wiki. Rather than repost I will let my blob stand as my comments.
Once again this activity has reinforced in me the need to have as few problems as possible to prevent learners from becoming frustrated and disengaged. The use of De Bono’s Hats for business or drama subjects could be useful. A group design project could be incorporated into this graphic organizer with students commenting on its viability and aesthetic merits. The ability to provide an alternate forum for students who many not feel as comfortable speaking in class would be a nice addition to engage more students.
The structure of De Bono’s Hats encourages a constructivist approach to learning. Students are scaffolded to elaborate and justify the qualities of an idea and break it down to the parts that fit under a particular hat. Students will construct meaning that is relevant to them based in part on their prior knowledge. In the example of the mobile phones wiki I did not agree with everything that others had listed as positives or negatives about the use of mobile phones in the classroom because my experiences with phones and school are different from others. There were elements of cognitivism associated with the reading itself, which was a more direct form of instruction. For me, I think there are usually elements of multiple learning theories in most activities.
I thought the use of the reading and the video was a good way of catering to visual and auditory learners. Alas, the video link was inoperable the first few times I accessed Moodle but eventually an alternative link was provided. With eLearning it will be important for me to remember that it is very easy to provide multiple sources of content and using different forms is an excellent way of accommodating different learning styles.
I also appreciated how the use of a graphic organizer like De Bono’s Hats was employed to elicit higher-order thinking skills. To put comments under each hat I needed to analyse how the use of mobile phones could be beneficial or detrimental to a classroom. The various hats gave scaffolded instruction that required the use of more advanced thinking as detailed by Bloom’s Taxonomy. This is not unique to eLearning but the space provided by the wiki would allow for more independent thought time than might be available during class-time.
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