ICT for Teaching Assistants

John Galloway, Hilary Norton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415583060
• eBook ISBN: 9781136717994
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The role of ICT in enhancing both teaching and learning in classrooms continues to develop, no more so than when in the hands of effective practitioners. This easy-to-use book outlines the many ways in which it can be used, both as a subject, and as a tool to support learning across the curriculum.

Now fully updated to take into account innovations in ICT and the revised National Occupational Standards, ICT for Teaching Assistants looks at the impact of these changes and includes:

• Practical examples of how ICT, including web-based tools such as 'blogs' and 'wikis', can be used;
• Guidance to working competently and safely on the internet;
• Suggestions for activities with ideas for how these can be used in a variety of contexts;
• Advice on gathering evidence to help build assessment plans
• Information on health and safety and legal requirements.

With links throughout to the National Occupational Standards for Teaching Assistants at Levels 2 and 3, this accessible book is essential for teaching assistants who wish to develop their confidence in ICT.

CHAPTER
1
	How we learn and how computers help

Those of us involved in education are all the time thinking about what our pupils need to learn and what is the best way that this can be achieved. Some of them will bury themselves in books for long periods, while others find it hard just to sit still, so we have to tailor what we do to help them to learn.

The introduction of computers into classrooms has brought about new tools for doing this, new ways of working and even new topics for study [STL 7 K1; STL 8 K2,3]. Working with computers is something all our pupils, regardless of skills and ability, need to know how to do, and quite often it is a way of working that leads to most (but not necessarily all) learners concentrating for longer periods of time than they would do otherwise, and helps them to become more creative while working with the powerful tools provided.

Computers also give quick and easy access to all sorts of knowledge. While it is still important to remember facts for instant recall, because of the introduction of technology into the classroom it is now possible quickly and easily to find much more information than our brains can hold, so rather than simply retaining knowledge we now need to know how to find it quickly and efficiently.

The web also allows us to be creators of information as well as consumers. The advent of blogs (online diaries), wikis (jointly created information sources), and video, music and photo sharing sites means that anyone anywhere in the world, regardless of their age, ability or location, can contribute to other people’s knowledge and understanding of the world. Learning facts and figures is shifting towards learning about how to learn, how to find information and how to communicate and share it.

How human beings learn is the subject of constant research and debate, and our understanding of how the brain works is developing all the time, giving rise to new theories about how we gain, store and retrieve knowledge. We know that learning involves more than simply sitting quietly while someone at the front talks to us – and that people do not absorb everything they read or write down. In fact, people generally learn about:

10% of what they read,

20% of what they hear,

30% of what they see,

50% of what they both hear and see,

70% of what they say,

90% of what they simultaneously say and do.

(Ekwall, Shanker and James, Diagnosis and Remediation of the Disabled Reader, 3rd edition, 1988)

So to teach our pupils effectively we need to find a variety of different ways to get our message across. Simply reading a book is the least effective way of learning.

Computers are very powerful tools for changing how we work. They allow us to present material in different formats – as text, animation, sound, video or image – often simultaneously. A simple example is the use of subtitles on films, so we can hear what is being said and read it at the same time – useful for those who are studying a particular book, but also for people who are hearing impaired or learning another language.

Computers also provide the option of demonstrating what has been learned in different ways – not only can pupils write an answer, but they can also create an animation, record a song or annotate an image. Through the internet they can share their outputs with other pupils for comment and contrast, or to showcase their work, perhaps to relatives in distant places.

Developments in technology also mean a range of devices are available to use – not just computers such as desktops, laptops, notebooks and netbooks, but also pocket-sized devices, including mobile phones, MP3 players, iPods, iPhones and Blackberries, and games consoles such as the PSP or Nintendo DS. All of which are items you may find in your schools [STL 7 K2].

The internet provides the ability to access information in almost any place at almost any time and to create and share our own responses, reflection and reactions to where we are, what we are doing and what we see. Technology has revolutionised learning, and is continuing to do so.

Theories of learning

Debates about how people learn started long ago with the Ancient Greeks, and these debates continue today. Although staff in schools adopt very practical approaches in reaching their charges, they are often not too concerned with thinking about how learning is happening, as long as it works. Very few teachers consciously work with one particular theory or another (although in areas such as literacy, approaches are often structured around particular ideas – phonics in particular).

However, it is worth spending some time thinking about theories of learning as resources for computers, particularly software, are often created from a particular perspective about how children learn, and it may, or may not, suit what we are teaching. When choosing, or creating, software resources we need to be aware of the process of learning that it supports, as well as the content. This does not mean that you need to categorise everything as promoting a particular theory of learning, but rather that when using ICT you have given thought to how learning happens – in the NVQ there are several criteria where this is important [STL 7 K1,15; STL 8.1 P1,2,3,4 and K2,6,8,22,28].

There are two main theories about how we learn, Behaviourism and Constructivism. Both are in evidence in our classrooms today. Most teachers, probably without knowing it, will use different strategies that fall into each category.

In Behaviourist theory knowledge is seen as a change in behaviour, with our internal processes, such as thinking and remembering, being types of behaviour. Learning then becomes a process of imparting a body of knowledge to our pupils, and as the way they act, think and feel changes so learning is happening.

We can see this in primary schools today in the use of rote learning. Times tables are often learned by saying them out loud in unison. Children can learn that ‘seven eights are fifty-six’ even if they do not understand how the multiplication is worked out. Or another example is very young children repeating the alphabet even when they do not yet know which letter matches which sound. Or even that they are different sounds rather than one long string. As their behaviour changes – saying the different sounds and pointing to the corresponding letters for instance – so their understanding, that the two are linked, will also change, and they will then allocate the correct sound to each letter.

The second theory, Constructivism, is based on the idea that we all have our own, unique understanding of the world that we build as we learn new things. As we gain knowledge so we fit it in, relating it to what we already know and juggling ideas around so as to accommodate it. It is like a constantly changing jigsaw puzzle where we move the pieces around to fit each time we find a new bit so that we can make sense of the picture of the world we now have. This is the basis of discovery learning, where pupils are offered experiences from which they then extract their own learning. The role of the teacher is to provide challenges and new experiences for the children, and to guide them through these.

We could think of project work as Constructivist, where pupils follow their own course in learning, and teachers help them to make sense of what they find out, often raising questions that are a little harder than the children might ask if left to themselves.

Both theories have their supporters and their critics. Behaviourism is thought to be too restrictive, and Constructivism could mean pupils miss out on learning key knowledge. So what we tend to do in schools is to use a bit of both. Although children might chant times tables, they will also be colouring in number squares to spot the patterns the tables make. Sometimes we teach children the outcome and let the underpinning concepts follow, and sometimes we let them discover the concepts and point out particular outcomes later. In maths we might let pupils try out different ways of doing sums before showing them the standard notation.

Computers can be geared to either way of learning – they are tools that we adapt to our particular methods. Software can be seen as being developed from either perspective. Many revision programs, such as the BBC’s Bitesize website, are based on multiple choice and can be seen as Behaviourist. If you get an answer wrong you can retry until you get it correct. This way you can learn what is the correct answer to a question without necessarily understanding why it is right. This can be an effective way of working for remembering specific facts, but on its own it can lead to a rather boring educational diet.

The best known example of Constructivist approaches through ICT can be seen in ‘Logo’ style programs, such as 2Go and Softease Turtle from Softease. Here pupils can draw on screen using a ‘turtle’, an onscreen pointer, creating designs of increasing complexity, ranging from simple shapes to letters, numbers and patterns, all the time developing programs to tell the computer what to do. The process can be as simple as clicking on buttons to change direction, to writing a string of commands, each built up from other sub-programs. Teachers will provide the challenges – for instance, to write your own name – and show children how to write commands, but pupils will learn through trying things out rather than being directly told. All the time the teacher will ask questions and set new challenges.

Learning styles

We have five dominant senses, and unless one or more is severely impaired, we learn through all of them. In schools we generally work with sound and vision, reinforced with some tactile experiences, and barely acknowledging taste and smell, although these in themselves offer powerful prompts for our memory – you will probably have experienced the situation where a certain smell reminds you of a past event, such as your grandmother’s perfume evoking thoughts of sitting on her knee being read to.

There have been many advances in recent years in our understanding of how the brain works and therefore how we learn. In schools there has been a lot of talk about learning styles, with the term VAK becoming widely used, referring to three dominant routes to learning – visual (seeing), aural (hearing) and kinaesthetic (moving or feeling). One instance where we can see these in action is in learning phonics. While repeating the sounds, and looking at the letter or phoneme on the interactive whiteboard, pupils often make an associated movement. For example, the ‘ess’ sound of the letter ‘S’ is associated with the fingers slithering along the forearm like a snake.

Computers can be a multisensory medium, combining sound and visuals in lively and stimulating ways that encourage learning. The more senses we can connect to, the more chance of reaching all of our pupils and helping them to learn.

Multiple intelligences

Howard Gardner suggests that there are eight intelligences:

■ logical-mathematical – such as detecting patterns and reasoning things out

■ linguistic – using language both orally and in writing, such as discussions or writing poems

■ spatial – able to manipulate images mentally

■ musical – can recognise elements of music and make up tunes

■ bodily-kinaesthetic – able to coordinate one’s own movements

■ interpersonal – having an empathy for others, how they think and feel

■ intrapersonal – being aware of our own thoughts and feelings

■ naturalistic – awareness of one’s environment.

This isn’t to say that we can only learn in particular ways, simply that each of us have different strengths and we should look to exploit all of them in our teaching and learning. Each of us has these abilities to some degree; however, we all use some more successfully than others.

Computers allow us to work with all these different aspects of our pupils’ intelligences. We can compose tunes, write, express our thoughts in many different ways, do complex sums and experiment with numbers. Many activities that previously required specialist skills and knowledge are now available to all of us. By using software we can produce the authentic sounds of any instrument and compose multilayered compositions without needing to be able to play a note or read music. We can do calculations in split seconds that used to take hours. We can try our hand at flying aeroplanes, and analyse in slow motion how we kick a ball. If we do not like the photo we have taken we can improve it to appear how we want it to look – perhaps making ourselves look thinner, or younger.

Whatever the activity, talking helps to reinforce learning. Ask your pupils to describe what they are doing, to talk through the steps of a task. Get them to explain to you, and to each other, how they have worked something out, or how they came to a particular answer. This is as valuable in ICT as in any other subject.

Summary

We have five senses, eight intelligences, two sides to the brain, two contrasting theories of learning and about a dozen subjects to teach. While it may seem difficult to juggle it all, ICT can be very helpful as it offers many possible ways to work. In some senses it can become an extension to our own brains, a place where we can find knowledge and be creative in hitherto impossible ways. In constructing our own understanding we can put these machines to use in a way no other tool allows.

All of us learn differently. Some of our pupils, those with SEN, have very particular learning needs. However, the more we can teach to the broad spectrum of learning the less we will have to make specific, special accommodations for pupils. The need will not have gone away, it is simply that more pupils will be engaged with learning for more of the time. Computers are powerful tools for making this possible.

CHAPTER
2
	Including all learners

There has been a shift in recent years from a narrow focus on SEN to a broader one on inclusion. This means meeting the individual learning needs not just of those with special needs, but of all pupils. This chapter will consider some of the different groups the term has come to cover, including those who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) and the gifted and talented.

Special education needs

Computers can offer access to the curriculum for SEN pupils in ways that other tools for learning cannot. There are two main ways to enable this. We can either change how the computer works, or we can add to it in some way. This is true for both hardware and software.

Changing what you’ve got

All computers have a set of programs installed known as the ‘operating system’ (OS). Whether you are using a Microsoft Windows based computer (commonly referred to as a PC), an Apple Macintosh machine, or a computer using open source software (this is software that is free to download and use) such as Linux, you will find that built into the machines are ways to change how they look, how we can input information and how they respond to what we do. Typically these include reading text out from the screen, changing the colour settings to get better contrasts, enlarging icons and fonts or providing magnifica...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. How we learn and how computers help
• 2. Including all learners
• 3. Using ICT in teaching and learning
• 4. The scope of ICT
• 5. ICT to communicate
• 6. Working with data
• 7. Presenting ideas
• 8. Developing multimedia skills
• 9. The opportunities of working online
• 10. Being safe online
• 11. Taking control – putting yourself in charge
• 12. What is good ICT teaching?
• 13. Health and safety issues
• 14. Legal knowledge
• 15. Keeping up to date and getting qualified
• Appendix 1: National Occupational Standards for Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools
• Appendix 2: NVQ for TAs
• Appendix 3: Useful websites
• Index