As a part of this week's managing e-learning task we were asked to participate in a wikispace activity which posed the question " Mobile phones- Should they be used in the classroom." During this activity all students were asked to record their own opinions of mobile phone use in the classroom. These thoughts and opinions were scaffolded by the inclusion of de Bono's six thinking hats.
Prior to completing this week's task I had used wikispaces for a number of other university subjects. Most of these previous experiences using wikispaces have been positive ones. I believe that it is an extremely effective tool to create webpages and online collaboration spaces. It can be edited to include a number of different pages, links, tables and images. I believe that the use of wikispaces in the classroom is beneficial to both the student and the teacher. Wikispaces is an effective tool as it can be used to connect students to range of information, it can also be used for assessment purposes (How many times do teachers ask students to create a poster... why not incorporate ICTs and create a wikispace page instead) and as a collaborative learning space.
The use of wikispaces within the classroom is an effective tool as it allows students to view and comment on each other's work. This collaboration is advantageous as it allows for maximum learning; Students who do not fully understand the task at hand, can view others work before writing their own and students can add on to their peers' ideas. This type of learning fits in with the social constructivist learning theory approach. Basically social constructivism is learning that is based around social interaction. The use of online hosts such as blogger and wikispaces are a valuable tool in constructivist learning as they allow for collaboration, editing by multiple people and additional comments. Constructivism is an important learning theory to use in the classroom setting as it encourages student discussion. When involved in discussion students begin to think of things in ways they would not have in an individual situation. They are also able to find new information and ideas through collaborating with their peers.
Wikispaces and similar online sites can be used for a range of purposes in the classroom; they can be used by teachers as a means to gather and organise information that students have researched, they can be used to create online advertisements or newspaper articles or organise group work ideas. The possibilities are only limited by the teachers and students own creativity. However, wikispaces does have its flaws. Prior to completing this activity it was mentioned by the lecturer that when editing a wikispace page it is vital that any work completed is also copied in to word document. This is because if two people are editing a page at the same time their work may be saved over. Luckily, this did not happen when I was participating in the De bono's hats activity but it has happened while using wikispaces for other university subjects.
While participating in this wikispaces activity we were required to fill out a graphic organiser containing the six types of thinking used in the de Bono's thinking hats strategy. Prior to completing this activity I had heard of de Bono's thinking hats but I was a little worried about using them as I had never properly worked with them before. After a little research I found that each hat had a different purpose and required the participant to think in a different light. The main focus of this activity was to consider the different perspectives of whether mobile phones should be used in the classroom. As I had never worked with de Bono's hats before I thought it would be advantageous to complete each hat with detail. Below is my response to this activity.
I believe that the use of this particular graphic organiser for de Bono's thinking hats is extremely effective tool for both the use of this activity and for use in the classroom. This is because it provides a practical description of each of the thinking hats which anyone would be able to use.
The use of the de Bono's thinking hats was an excellent way to scaffold student learning and thinking processes. When the question "do you think mobile phones should be used in the classroom" is brought up many students (both university and primary school) would answer with a simple "yes" or "no". The teacher may further prompt them for a reason why. To this students will usually answer with one reason that applies to their original answer. This type of questioning does not encourage students to think about both sides of the argument. However by scaffolding this question further (with the use of de Bono's thinking hats) teachers are able to encourage higher order thinking. de Bono's six thinking hats requires the students to think of the negative implications and the positive implications as well as known and unknown information, how the topic makes them feel, the process and other creative aspects. Once the student has then thought of all the information relating to the topic they will be able to make a more informed decision when answering the posed question.
If I was to have completed this activity without the use of de Bono's hats I would have instantly thought 'no, mobile phones should not be used in the classroom can you imagine how big of a distraction that would present' but by using de Bono's thinking hats I have come to the conclusion that 'if mobile phone use was closely monitored and controlled I would see the advantages of using them in the classroom. However at the current time this may not be possible.' This opinion was also altered by reading everyone else's contributions to the de Bono's hats as they had ideas that I had not been able to think of myself.
Overall I believe that this activity, the use of wikispaces and de Bono's six thinking hats are all very effective strategies for use in the classroom. This is because they encourage collaboration and higher order thinking. This is definitely something I would like to try in my own classroom in the future.
Cheers for reading (I hope I did not write too much)
Michelle.
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