In Fronter we have different rooms. One of these rooms, at my school, is a room with many folders. There is a folder for each subject (such as maths, science etc.). Each subject is further on divided into different grades. The thought of making this room was that every teacher could, during the school year or in the end of the school year, upload lessons, electronical tests (made in Fronter), exercises (made in Fronter or in Word) and other good ideas. This should be a good idea in the way that other teachers could find resources for their teaching, when they were going to teach these subjects. It wouldn’t cost much work to upload an already finished work. At least I thought so...
For different reasons just a few of the teachers do this. What could be the reason? I think it’s because of the teacher’s urge to be perfect. They don’t want to give away something that isn’t perfectly made, especially when they know that other teachers can see who has made it. But my point is that if you have an electronical product to start with, you can easily adjust it so it fits your teaching, or you can develop it further on.
Let’s say you find a Notebook presentation for Smart Board about geometrical figures at http://www.smartskole.no/ or on your school’s learning platform. This presentation was meant for the 4th graders. You are going to introduce geometrical figures and angles, but on a higher level. I generally think it’s clever to have a brainstorming to repeat what the pupils have learned before.
Example of sharing ideas on www.youtube.com
So, in that manner you could use the the 4th grade presentation as an introduction, and you could develop it further on fit the older pupils levels. As a gesture for the principle of sharing you upload your presentation to for instance Smart Skole, or on your pedagogical platform. Then maybe a 8th grade teacher could use it and develop it further on. This is one of the advantages with the use the new technology. Instead of each teacher holding on to their paper based folder, we all could share, and develop more exciting and better products for our pupils. That's the purpose of sharing! For different reasons just a few of the teachers do this. What could be the reason? I think it’s because of the teacher’s urge to be perfect. They don’t want to give away something that isn’t perfectly made, especially when they know that other teachers can see who has made it. But my point is that if you have an electronical product to start with, you can easily adjust it so it fits your teaching, or you can develop it further on.
Let’s say you find a Notebook presentation for Smart Board about geometrical figures at http://www.smartskole.no/ or on your school’s learning platform. This presentation was meant for the 4th graders. You are going to introduce geometrical figures and angles, but on a higher level. I generally think it’s clever to have a brainstorming to repeat what the pupils have learned before.
Example of sharing ideas on www.youtube.com
Hello Dag Frode. Interesting topic. I agree that maybe some teachers are afraid that it is not good enough. But as I see it in our school is that there are many teachers who have "computer refusal". Word and the Internet runs smoothly, but with the digital platform it is difrent. Teachers don`t use it if they`re not pressured into it. And it's not just an impression. We have had It `s learning for 2-3 years now, and many teachers rearly use it . Frightening little really. LMS has many opportunities, but many teachers do not throw themselves into the unknown without the Tutorial first. And it's not just an assumption but a reality. At least inmy school.
SvarSlettThis was interesting. I've been using Fronter for several years. I recognize the problem. After we had spent much time learning the different tool basically, it became much better. But still Fronts many opportunities that are not utilized fully. One reason is there is no time to learn this. When considering all the other necessary byrokratiske works is done, there is little time left. There are less people who are willing to do this in the spare time I think.
SvarSlettThanks for your comments, Inger Tora and Øystein! I do agree with you, Inger Tora on your view on teachers that don't dare to challenge themselves, especially with stuff that involves the use of computers. In our case we have had tutorials for several times, and I have noticed that many teachers actually do other things while having a tutorial...
SvarSlettI also agree with you, Øystein! Leaders in schools think it's great to have the new technology in hand, but they seldom give the teachers enough time to explore. On my school some of the teachers had to use good arguments like: "If we don't practice we can't learn the kids to be digital users, and if we don't do that our school will have a really bad result in the digital tests we have in Oslo". I think the last comment helped better than the first one... :-) On the other side I think each teacher should grab the opportunity, and just explore and learn new things. I think a teacher who varies methods is a benefit for the pupils, and with the new technology we got the possibilities to do exactly that...