OER4Schools/3.4 Group work with ICT: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 11:05, 24 May 2012
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Talk:OER4Schools/3.4 Group work with ICT
Review of homework
Last time:
- Try out your groupwork with ICT. Video some of the groupwork if you can (ideally a colleague can do this for you so they can capture you as well as the pupils) and upload it to the server.
- Remember to think about your own role in the classroom; it is not just to monitor progress but also to interact with pupils, assess their understanding, offer support and help move their thinking forward. Sometimes a group will even need you to sit with them and offer intensive support to progress. Think about how you can identify this need?
Judith's workshop reflections
Continue with reading, and listening to the clips.
Later in the OER4Schools workshop Judith indicated how her thinking had changed through discussion with her peers, illustrating her open mind and flexibility as a reflective teacher:
“I have learnt from that to say, so those if they remain like that [slow learners together], they will remain like that forever. They can never learn anything from others. So the best I can do, just the way we have been discussing, to say, it’s better to mix them so that, at least, even them can learn something from the rest of the group. So to me this is an advantage I have gained.”
In a subsequent interview Judith was probed to elaborate and reflect further on the incident when pupils laughed at the low-achieving group. She concluded that mixed ability grouping would be better than same ability grouping. Listen to these 2 very short excerpts from that interview.
Judith's Interview - Clip 1: (For CBS, local playback, local download)
Transcript for clip 1: We have learned that if we mix them up then it is to the advantage of the slow learners because they are able to learn from their friends because when they are bringing group work every child will want to participate in group work. So, through interactive ICT, which we have learned, it is really helping pupils to share more ideas, including those who used to be idle. They are able to participate now. At a certain point sometimes, it is even them [idle pupils] now, who report, in their groups if the work is to report after finding the answers, they even get it and they report also. So, they are participating. It is helping every child in the class. Yes.
Judith's Interview - Clip 2: (For CBS, local playback, local download)
Transcript for clip 2: The government has a policy whereby children have to be put in ability groups. So that time, when you came, the children were in their own ability groups. Yes. So, they worked according to their ability groups. So those four, because I put them into fours, but in that group of slow learners they are not only four, they are nine. But, the others within their group, the other group who have stayed the other side, they managed to get everything correct. But those four, they failed. The other contributing factors, those four who stayed alone, they usually don’t come to school. Yes, they absent themselves.
Reflection followed by discussion in pairs
Initially participants reflect on their own (for a short period of time), making notes if they like.
Then participants reflect and discuss in groups.
Reflection (11 min). Consider the following statements and associated questions for reflection on Judith’s clips:
In this interview Judith informed us that there were 9 slow learners in her class and only 4 formed a slow pace group; these 4 scored 0 but the other 5 were dispersed in other groups who got correct answers to the same problems. This indicates that not only is participation higher in mixed pace groups but achievement can be too (and research with bigger samples backs this up). Nevertheless, the 4 who achieved poorly were also regularly absent so their prior knowledge base was probably lower.
Do you think this means that the absentees are even more likely to benefit from peer interaction in a mixed group?
Judith was quick and effective at discouraging pupils from laughing at the low achieving group.
What other things could a teacher do during the lesson to prevent this situation?
Pair / small group discussion (11 min). Suggested questions for reflection on both examples (on the audio and video clips from Agness and Judith):
- What in your opinion is the effect of labelling groups as low, middle or high ability of the pupils?
- How would you like to form groups supportive of everyone’s learning? Why?
Additional things to consider:
- helping low achieving group while everybody else is working in their groups
- peer support within a mixed pace group
- assigning roles within group
Groupwork with computers
If you are starting to run out of time, then skip this section - it can be done as part of the next session!
We now consider the role of computers in group work. Mobile computing technologies (such as netbooks or tablets) are very versatile and can be used as and when needed. By contrast, computer labs are now becoming outdated in schools as they remove technology from subject teaching and learning and from the normal classroom environment and teaching aids. Many do not even have a blackboard. Some of the issues are:
- Moving a class into the computer room is disruptive to teaching (especially in primary)
- Computer labs can enforce a rigid seating pattern if benches are fixed.
- If you have a computer lab with desktop machines, can it be re-arranged to support groupwork?
- If machines are located around the perimeter (learners have backs to each other and teacher), or in rows, this is not conducive to collaborative learning.
- Some computer rooms even partition off machines so learners cannot interact
The seating arrangement. Sometimes labs are arranged in a certain way, because of certain concerns. For instance, if the school administration is worried about off-task behaviour, computers are arranged in rows. However, this isn’t a good solution, as it interferes with groupwork. Instead, if a teacher is worried about off-task behaviour, they can cruise around the room!
Experience shows that an island arrangement works best, ideally large hexagonal tables, but large round or square tables are fine too.
Discuss some of the following statements and questions:
- How would you interact with learners in these various setups? For instance, if computers are arranged in rows, what would the interaction be like? If they were sitting in groups, what would the interaction be like? For these activities, refer to the two pictures above! What is the interaction like in the picture that shows the booths in the comptuter room?
- With mobile technologies, what are good ways to configure group seating? Refer to the picture of our lab!
Drawing (11 min). Draw a sketch to show how you would arrange computers among groups.
Access to computers: “We need more computers." Many schools don’t have access to computers at all, but where schools do have access, it is often felt that there are not enough computers. How many computers would a school need? While some might say that one computer per child, or perhaps one computer per two children would be ideal, for many schools (and classrooms) this is totally unrealistic. In general, when you have access to computers, you should therefore make sure that the computers are used in the best way possible in your context. We now consider how to deal with shortage of computers in group work.
Pair work (11 min).. Spend 5 minutes as pairs, considering the following scenario: You have 60 children in your class, and 10 computers. How would you arrange the groups, how would you distribute the computers, how would you structure the lesson?
To help with this, consider the following questions:
- In devising groupings consider how many children can see the screen and get hands-on experience.
- If you only have a few computers, it is better to operate a carousel so everyone gets a chance?
Discussion (11 min). Discuss the outcomes of your reflection. What different proposals are there?
Often the computers would be distributed equally (in this case one computer per group of 6), and all groups would do that same task. This distribution may well be seen a equitable. However, in practice, more than 3-4 children per computer does not work well.
Another way is to do different tasks groupwork, where some groups do computer-based work, while others do non-computer-based work. After a period of time, you can swap around the tasks, so that the groups which were not using a computer can now use one.
Refer to the two pictures above: In the picture with many children behind one netbook, do you think the children are using the netbook effectively? In the picture with the tablet, are the children interacting?
Having considered how computers are distributed among groups, we now consider how the computer can be shared equally within groups.
Pair work (11 min).. Consider the following question: What would you do if there are some students who always control the computer, while other group members never get to use it? Would you say that it is sensible to mix computer-literate pupils with novices? How will you ensure they help rather than dominate their peers?
You should discuss strategies for access to computers within the group, i.e. rotating access to trackpad. You could also discuss the benefits of using tablets or putting computer screen flat (where this is possible).
Discussion (11 min). Discuss the outcomes of your reflection as a whole class.
Pair work (11 min). What role do mini-blackboards play in groupwork? With and without computers?
Discussion (11 min). Discuss the outcomes of your reflection as a whole class.
