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2006 Knowledge Bank Rich Picture Case Studies
Wedderburn College P-12 - Educating Anne/Wedderburn Wonders

Name: Anne Baird
School: Wedderburn College P-12
Postal address: PO Box 20, Wedderburn, 3518
Telephone no: 5494 3011
Email: baird.anne.p@edumail.vic.gov.au

 

Teaching and Thinking with Technology

I want to reflect on the way education is changing and how it affects our students, our teachers and my life professionally and personally. I want to know how we can use information and communication technology to support that.

 

 

Case study focus

ICT’s 1 and IWBs 2 in the Early Years of schooling through a Problem Based Learning project - “There’s No Place Like Home-A study of Insects”

It will communicate that with careful planning and skilling of teachers and students, ICT’s can engage and enhance the early years classroom in a way that provides students with opportunities to explore, learn, think and reflect in a way that they couldn’t otherwise do.

 

 

 

What aspect of best practice will be the focus of the case study?

Teachers will participate in professional development designed to increase their understanding of problem based learning and the use of curriculum framing questions that develop higher order thinking. They will also explore the place and value of ICT’s in the curriculum that they develop. Students will participate in learning activities designed to challenge and engage them by providing authentic and real opportunities for learning through activities in the classroom and their local community. Students will use ICT’s to plan, visualise, stimulate, illustrate and present their thinking and their learning.

 

How does the case study intend to showcase or demonstrate best practice?

A team of Early years teachers and myself will be involved in the development of a problem based unit of work that will integrate and afford opportunities for students and teachers to use ICT’s to visualise, to plan, to represent and to demonstrate their learning. It is proposed that the teachers involved in the case study will be ones who have completed Participant Teacher training in the ITTF Essentials3 course.

As part of the case study they will participate in further planning and professional development that will build on their understanding of Curriculum Framing questions, associated teaching and learning strategies and how these transfer to the classroom.

Learning opportunities for students will be designed to allow them to use ICT’s to enhance and demonstrate their learning but equally importantly to enable them to make links with their community and globally through the internet.

 

The form of the case study

Blogs, audio and podcasting, digital images.

What multimedia and/or online tools have been used?

• Blogging
• Powerpoint
• Copyright free digital images (FreeFoto.com and Pics4Learning)

Engagement and benefits

By presenting our learning through variety of audio-visual and information communications we hope to ensure that those who view the case study will see our findings as relevant and engaging. Our plan is to create a case study that is real, authentic and achievable to the ordinary classroom teacher. We envisage that the material and ideas that we produce will be easily adaptable for older students.

The fundamental aim of our proposal is to demonstrate that through the development of a rich and relevant curriculum that uses ICT’s and IWB for real and authentic purposes we will be able to demonstrate how they combine to produce an effective and engaging curriculum and therefore best practice.

Classroom teachers will benefit from a case study such as this as it focuses on developing and improving pedagogy through a small closely knit team and is a model for a very effective method of professional development. We plan to demonstrate that the integration of ICT’s and the use of an IWB need not be difficult. We plan to use very simple and readily available software that is either free shareware or available through DE&T and we believe that this will increase the uptake of such practice. The case study will illustrate how problem based learning and the integration of ICT’s into the classroom can be achieved. It will contribute to the reform agenda by illustrating sound pedagogy, effective integration of ICT’s and practical examples of student’s deeper thinking.

 

 

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