Week 6 - Interactive Learning

In this day and age, especially in the classroom, the ever evolving and changing technology is something that definitely needs to be considered. In the NMC Horizon Report, there is definitive reports on key trends, current emerging technologies and significant challenges which are likely to occur and have a major impact throughout the next five years throughout the world. (NMC Horizon Report, 2014) This exhaustive document holds some wonderful information and points, particularly to with teaching and engaging the students using the technology becoming available. To go even further, the authors of this report likened learning environments to being something like a 'live ecosystem.'(NMC Horizon Report, 1, 2014) Which I believe to be incredibly true simply because of the fact that the teacher, who should be interacting with the students constantly, is nurturing and helping students to grow and thrive.

This report, alongside the important and eerily true metaphors for the future, makes an incredibly information point which, fantastically, relates exactly to the topic being explored this week. This being interactive classrooms. 

It was stated that, 'learning by creating and doing will engage students in their education, prepare them for college and develop problem solving skills.' (NMC Horizon Report, 8, 2014) This statement, among others, was one that I found to ring true to me, as I know that the students I worked with whilst on my first Prac, interacted and learnt better if there was a genuine interaction used, even more so if it was something pertained to technology. The interaction lays hand in hand with engagement - so why wouldn't educators strive to create, interact and engage their students?

Within the course materials, and of course the NMC Horizon Report, was, and I'll admit this, a very confusing looking circle. See below for image. This circle, I discovered after some consideration and direction from my lecturers, divulged information about the values that educators all over the planet, considered to be important and would make a large impact in education in the next few years.

(NMC Horizon Report, 2, 2014)

For consideration as part of interactive learning, I gathered this list of sites and programs that can be used for learning that is both interactive and engaging.

- Scootle

- Text2MindMap

- Learner.org

- Dipity

- Google Maps

- Quizlet

My favourite out of this list is Text2MindMap, concurrently, the one I will be examining on this post!

This program/website, once it loads, is fantastically easy to use and has many wonderful uses in the classroom! The one I created, specifically about analysing short stories, is below.

This website and interactive tool is incredible useful as a mind-map in any form of classroom situation, it is easy to use and if the URL is shared, once it is saved, there is the possibility of having multiple authors, which within itself raises some problems, people could edit the mind-map anonymously, however, fixing it requires only a few backspaces and a republish from the editor. 

The website/program itself doesn't require much to run/use consistently, all that is really needed is an up to date web browser and a computer that will allow you to save images, if you so desire to save it as an image.

Whilst there is the option to multi-author the mind-map, there is an element of security and privacy as you can only access the specific mind-map if you have the corresponding URL or email code that can be sent through email, shared on Facebook or on Twitter. 

I believe that this program could have serious, practical use in the 21st century classroom as an engaging learning tool as well as one that is also incredibly interactive. For example, students could use it at the start of each term to brain storm and start to get an understanding of the topic they are going to undertake. It could also be used as part of assessment, the first few pieces of writing, the ideas sorted out logically and neatly, without having to worry about students 'misplacing' their hard copy. It could also be useful for students who work extremely fast, for example in an English classroom, students could use it to start a brain storming activity on the next theme in the play or what a certain character's beliefs, family life and status is. In a History classroom, it could be used to think about and keep track of student's ideas on what could have caused a war or a significant action in the past.

Like every piece of technology examined through these blog posts, Text2MindMap has to be pitted against the extraordinarily useful, if not at times confusing, SAMR model. Unlike some of the other pieces of technology examined in this course, I seem to be able to fit Text2MindMap into each level of the SAMR model.

In Substitution, it can be used in place of word, which can be confusing to use for mind-maps or on a piece of paper,- used by both teachers and students.

In Augmentation, students, classes or teachers use the website Text2MindMap to create, redraw their mind-map in a more organised and easy to read setting - this ensures it is interactive.

In Modification, after creating the mind-map, students or teachers can save or print out the mind-map and use it as a study, revision or jumping tool into other parts of the lesson.

In Redefinition, students, after creating and editing the mind-map could save and download it, and then continue to share it either through a blog, wiki or email. To which other students could comment on and possibly add their own ideas to. This can be extraordinarily useful if multiple tasks have been assigned by the teacher, because rather than having to get each group to come up and write out their mind-map, they could be shared quickly and easily so everyone could have a look and understand the information.

I believe and hopefully it is evident as well, that mind-maps are a fantastic tool to use in the classroom to engage and interact with students, particularly if using Text2MindMap.

By creating these mind-maps students are honing and working with their problem solving skills, simply by having to figure out how to get the website to co-operate in the first place, even with the discussion and thought process that goes into a mind-map.

And unlike many other pieces of technology, Text2MindMap achieves and works through each level of the SAMR model, a big tick in my books.

References:

NMC Horizon Report (2014) 2014 K-12 Edition Retrieved from http://redarchive.nmc.org/publications/2014-horizon-report-k12