E-learning for Maartenscollege

By James Serra j.serra@maartens.nl

More schools are using an ELE (electronic learning environment) in which students and teachers are able to communicate and share information. School managers tend to focus on commercial ELEs and pioneering teachers tend to experiment with rather small open source ELEs or websites on subject level. Teachers start from their subject a new form of learning and a transparent way of communicating with their students and parents. Prices are dropping for commercial ELEs, making them attractive for school managers, but more important is, why should we use an ELE in the first place? Are there really benefits for students and teachers in the daily practice? University ELEs are mostly too complicated for secondary school use.1 ELEs can be useful in a school organisation to present learning content online for students, but also to manage and organize the school administration and the results of students like reports and products they have made. This paper will present the didactical requirements we need for E-learning and will not discuss the administration relation and or the transparency to parents about their childrens results. To find out if an ELE is useful in our school we have to see what the requirements for ELE use are, mentioned on Wiswijzer.2 Didactical requirements for E-learning: E-learning has to be embedded in the curriculum, E-learning is mandatory; students have to participate in the E-learning course. E-learning needs to focus on knowledge construction, not only fixed content units. The focus has to be on active learning. E-learning has to enhance subject, methodological and social competency of the students and teachers. E-learning uses didactical teaching forms that relate to all known learning styles and intelligence forms of students and have especially a focus on collaborative learning. E-learning links school learning and social contexts.

Focus on the requirements When you take a look at the requirements the following is visible. Students have to participate in the E-learning course. This means teachers have to use the ELE and make a course students have to follow as part of the curriculum. How should this course be filled? What is the new part of the course compared to conventional teaching from a book only? The main difference is that the focus lies on knowledge construction compared to ready made fixed and static content units. The benefit of the ELE content is that it can be changed and adapted to fulfill the students needs and to focus more on recent developments in society. It still has the basic structure of the book content, but next to the fixed and static content units it can present more information in relation with developments in society. The student is not passive in learning with the ELE but has to be proactive. In the Maartenscollege mission we have experiencing success, initiative, innovation and initiation mentioned in our teaching vision. Teachers have to present themselves as subject specialist
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11 February 2011. URL<http://www.internetonderwijs.net/Levende%20Talen/LTM2006/elo%27s.htm>. Wiswijzer, 11 February 2011. URL<http://www.wiswijzer.nl/pagina.asp?nummer=1102>.

but also as coach of the learning process of the student. Teachers are no longer director of students all the time, but give students opportunity to direct their own learning and make their own choices within the mandatory curriculum learning objectives as set by the teacher. Next to the previous mentioned success, initiative, innovation and initiation students have to justify their choices and have to be responsible for their own learning. From passive students they have to become intrinsically motivated proactive students. Conventional learning and teaching in schools is mainly based on two intelligences students might have. Primarily mathematical logic and verbal linguistic intelligence is used to transfer and test knowledge and understanding. Students with a high IQ have a high mathematical logic and verbal linguistic intelligence. This is not the case for every student. To use the ELE in order to get the best out of all our students, other intelligences students might have should be triggered by presenting knowledge in other forms. This relates also to one of the areas of interaction (AoI); approaches to learning. Computer technology can be used to reach students who have a higher intelligence in other areas like visual intelligence or intra- and interpersonal intelligence. Within the ELE differentiation of teaching should be used by offering multiple intelligence approaches to learning (ATL) forms. ELE can be used e.g. to show video material that is related to subject specific objectives that will help the student visualize information and gain better understanding of the processes of the particular subject. Research has shown students gain more knowledge and understanding after performing simulations related to electrical circuits.3 Most students have interpersonal intelligence and like to communicate about everything, especially in the technological age we are living in with I phone and messenger options. Students are allowed to collaborate to make tasks like poster assignments or debate preparation or solving complex challenges. Discussing about the topic connects new information with already existing knowledge and results in better understanding of the subject objectives from the curriculum. Formulate a clear ELE vision If we would like to use ELE to teach students, we really have to think about how to teach in another way. Students have to change from passive to proactive. They have to see opportunities and have to be responsible for their own learning process. We as teachers have to provide basic content with clear objectives and clear relations to AoI and next to this basic content, also video and audio content sources that can be used to enhance learning for students with other intelligences have to be provided within the ELE. We have to change the education paradigm within our school like suggested by Sir Ken Robinson.4 Before we start using an ELE we have to stock take of what we do now in our current curriculum and how we can adapt part of the curriculum to use it in the ELE to enhance learning and communication. In short we have to formulate a clear ELE vision with a clear curriculum with partial mandatory ELE courses that will let all students achieve the highest achievement level by using their own best ATL within their best developed intelligence.

N.D. Finkelstein et. al. Can computer simulations replace real equipment in undergraduate laboratories? Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder. 11 February 2011, URL < http://www.colorado.edu/physics/EducationIssues/papers/Finkelstein_PERC1.pdf>. 4 Sir Ken Robinson, 11 February 2011, URL <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U>.