A teachers’ A teachers’ project: project: ““TTowards owards learner learner autonomyautonomy””

A teachers’ project: A teachers’ project: towards learner towards learner autonomyautonomy

RationaleWhat we wanted to achieveThe processProblemsThe experienceThe teachers’ opinionsThe students’ opinions

Rationale:

Lack of motivation of the students in traditional classes.

Belief that schools need to be better adjusted to the students’ world.

Do students learn better using I.T.?Project designed by the R+D

coordinator

What we wanted to achieveDesign a learning unit of the subject we

teach: use materials already made (CD-rom, Internet..)

or create new ones. Methodology should focus on the learners’

autonomy.Teach the units using the materials created.Where possible, contrast with a class taught

in the traditional way.Students and teachers fill in questionnaires

to evaluate the experience.

The process

7 Teams of teachers according to subject area and level.

Training sessions in programmes such as hot-potatoes, click, multigestor, power-point, dreamweaver.

Agreement on the design of the units.Design of the assessment

questionnaires for the students and teachers.

Problem solving and follow up sessions.

Problems Some teachers dropped out because:They had to create the materials in their own

time. Some did not feel confident enough in the use of

basic programmes. It was the first experience in unit design for most

teachers. Some were not motivated enough if they were

not going to teach the unit that the team chose. Day to day life does not leave much time for

meetings and doing personal work.

The experience:

Creation of 7 learning units for CFGM (vocational studies), 2nd and 4th year High School.

Materials created were used in the classes: In 2 classes it was possible to compare the same unit taught in 2 different ways.

There was no comparison of the academic results in the respective exams.

The materials

Sample of units:Science: “Cinematics”The first World warThe Second world warGeometry: “Quadrilaterals”

The teachers’ opinions

Programmes used:

-Word, - Power point, Excel, Internet explorer -Access, Multigestor, Hotpotatoes...

Photoshop The programmes used to create the

materials are the same as the ones used by the students to go through the unit.

Material used

Text book, notbook, tape, ...

About the material created or used

The teachers’ opinions

Percentage of alredy made materials used (internet, CD-roms...)

Varies from 90% to 10%. Average 55%.

Preparation time of the unit and the classes

Between 15 and 80 hours. It seems that the higher the level the more time is invested.

Everyone agrees that they would spend half the time to create another unit.

Material already made:

Most of it, from the course book and materials from previous years.

Preparation time : Three hours

(most materials were already prepared)

About the material created or used

The teachers’ opinions

What took you most time? searching for materials Creating the desired format. preparing the tests

Satisfaction level with the material created. Very high (this was also the case in the traditional

class)

Things that you would like to change More attractive format Include more links More evaluation activities Find more communication strategies between students

and teachers.

The teachers’opinions

Problems: Very few technical problems Some low speed computers Some links didn’t work Different computing skills of the students

There were no references to any other problems.

About the experience in the class

The teachers’ opinions about the students’ response

Motivation: between high(4/5) and very high (5/5).

Achievement of the objectives : high (4/5)

Participation and implication of the students: quite a lot (4/5)

Benefit for the students of this type of methodology:

Higher motivation for learning More autonomy Easier to deal with mixed ability

classes. More personal work Better result and presentation of

the work

Motivation: average (3/5)

Achievement of the objectives: high (4/5)

Participation and implication of the students: (3/5)

Benefit for the students of this type of methodology:

The presentation of the contents by the teacher focus on the main ideas of the content

Teachers’ opinion

Problems Not enough computing

skills in some cases. Danger of getting lost in

so much information. Not used to these type of

classes.

Problems The teacher is the center

of the class. The dialogue is one way

(sometimes it is a monologue)

Boredom of the students who do not follow the class

About the students’ response

The teachers’ opinion

Where is the teacher during the class?

Facing the students, next to the blackboard

Benefits of this type of class for the teacher

Easier to control if something is understood by looking at the students.

About the role of the teacher

Where is the teacher during the class? Back of the class or going around students.

Benefits for the teacher-less tiring-results are more satisfactory-more motivating-more individual coaching-student centered

Problems-lack of computing skills/ technical problems.-more preparation than class hours. -more difficult to control some students.

The teachers’ opinions

The use of IT involves a change in the traditional concept of class:

preparation, position of the teacher, type of room used, organisation of work, class management, relation

with the students and between students,...

Final comments

The students’ opinions

What did you learn in this unit?

IT classes: quite a lot.

Traditional class: little

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molt bastant poc queden dubtes

En acabar la unitat, què has après sobre el tema

ESO2 Mates

ESO2 Exper.

ESO 4 Soc (TIC)

ESO 4 Soc ( no TIC)

CFGM Comerç

CFGM Electr.

c

The students’ opinions

When you had a question what did you do?

•Ask the teacher so he could answer individually, 60 % little, 15 % never

•Ask another student, 55% a lot; 35% little

•Check through the material, 47 % a lot

•I didn’t do anything; 67% always tried to solve their questions.

IT class: (67%) always tried to solve questions

Traditional class: (37%) always answer the questions

The students’ opinionsWhat you learnt in this unit was mainly due to … Teachers’ general explanation, teachers individual explanation,

another students help, own research

•Differences between groups depending on the way the teachers teach.

•Big difference between the group who used IT and the traditional class:

•Traditional class: 76% learnt mostly from the teacher and 20 % from personal research.

• IT class 50% due to personal research and 23 % to the teachers’ explanations.

The students’ opinionsDuring the class what did you devote most time?

• ITclass (109):

•(91%) spent class time working

•(72%) speaking to other students about the unit.

• (42%) listening to the teacher

•85% consider they have wasted little time during classes.

•Traditional class (25):

•84% spent most time working

•88% spent listening to the teacher,

• 20% spent talking to other students about the unit.

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treballant escoltant el professor parlant amb un companysobre la unitat

parlant amb un companysobre altres coses

perdent el temps

The students’ opinionWhat did you think about this unit?

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interessant avorrida fàcil profitosa

Most students think of the unit as interesting, easy and profitable.

The same unit; traditional class: 60 % boring; IT class 29 % boring

Thank you