Paradigms


 * ICT and Teaching and Learning Paradigms **

There are various ways to view the relationship between teaching and learning and ICT. These may be grouped into four main perspectives:

 * ====ICT as Teaching Machine ====
 * ====ICT for content construction ====
 * ====ICT for competency construction ====
 * ====ICT as support for learning conversations ====


 * ICT as Teaching Machine:

====This model has its roots in behaviourism and productivity. It encourages a view of learning that is content based and sequential, where students are suitably reinforced as they master each step. ICT as a method for implementing this system may be traced to BF Skinner and his seminal article ‘The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching’ (1954). In this work Skinner described the deplorable conditions of the average classroom, "A single teacher cannot individually and appropriately reinforce thirty or more students at the same time". His answer was a teaching machine for use by individual students. The machine would present information, reinforce appropriately and then move on to the next level of difficulty depending on the pupil’s responses. Today’s Integrated Learning Systems (eg: //SuccessMaker//) have friendlier names and prettier graphics but operate along very similar principles. ICT as teaching machine is a useful means for developing quantifiable content knowledge within a specific context.====

**Readings:**

 * //Teaching Machines// BF Skinner
 * //Integrated Learning Systems// North Central Regional Educational Laboratory || media type="youtube" key="EXR9Ft8rzhk" height="349" width="425" ||

ICT for Content Construction: ====This constructivist philosophy can be traced back to John Dewey, working in the1890’s to prove that thinking was a direct result of physical experience. Simply put, constructivism perceives of learning as an active process. It is about making mental links between concepts and ‘constructing’ meaning according to your individual place in the world. The role of the teacher in this process is to provide the learner with ‘scaffolding’. That is initial information and opportunities to construct new knowledge upon it, ‘knowledge’ generally meaning curriculum-related content. Within this context computers are perceived of as an effective vehicle for providing scaffolding. They become a stimulating and interesting tool that learners can use to build subject knowledge.==== ====ICT for Content Construction is often referred to as ‘integration’, meaning the incorporation of information and communication technologies into an existing educational system. The model does not seek to challenge the system at all, accepting the acquisition of subject-related content as a worthy educational goal and while the routine does involve learners developing things like creativity and thinking, these are seen primarily as useful methods for constructing and understanding content. Within this model they are a means to an end, not a valuable educational end in themselves.====

**Readings:**

 * //Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Critical Thinking and Representing Knowledge// David Jonassen
 * //Computers and Constructivism// Southwest Educational Development Laboratory

====This perspective rises also from constructivist philosophies and like the last model it emphasises the idea of the active construction of knowledge by the learner. Unlike the previous approach though, the valuable knowledge it believes ICT can help learners to construct is competency rather than content -related. ICT for Competency Construction reverses the hierarchy in the last section, perceiving of curriculum content only as a convenient context in which really important things like creativity, analysis, participation, and communication can happen.In this model it is the technologies themselves that supply the scaffolding and allow the discovery and development of intangible approaches and competencies. Within this discourse these kinds of personal, conceptual skills are valued as transferable tools that children can continue to use to make meaning throughout the rest of their lives.====
 * media type="youtube" key="JkJHXmHi8j0" height="349" width="560" || ==== ICT for Competency Construction: ====

**Readings:**

 * //Vision for Education: The Caperton-Papert Platform// Seymore Papert & Gaston Caperton
 * //Good Video Games and Good Learning// James Paul Gee ||

ICT as Support for Learning Conversations:: This discourse arises specifically from the develoment of the internet and stresses the interaction of people through or around a computer. Eugene Gormy believes that use of the internet to communicate and collaborate and therefore construct social and cultural knowledge, has lead to the internet becoming a domain of social and individual creativity with it’s own specific knowledge, culture and symbols. He terms this phenomenon 'cyberculture' and states that "Cyberculture is a creative activity in the digital media, based on intrinsic motivation and principles of interaction and sharing. It’s… aim is knowledge and the self-sufficient creative act…It is based on the idea that ICT is a means of realization and perfection of human potential –both on the individual and social levels". This phenomenon he describes is illustrated by the continued development of creative ‘sharing’ technologies, or web 2.0 applications, for example [|social networking sites], [|blogs], [|wikis], [|video sharing] sites, [|hosted services], [|web applications], [|mashups] and [|folksonomies]. Such applications have various implications for teaching and learning, from accessing resources, to creating shared work, publishing, and contributing to dialogue in a variety of online contexts. Proponents of the approach believe students will also attain a deeper world view as they access the global network and cross their local boundaries. See also the Social Networking page on this wiki. **Readings:**
 * //Breaking Down the Classroom Walls// Mark Berthelemy
 * Encouraging Cyberculture Roger Clarke