MY LEARNING, MY WAY Realising Learning Potential A practical guide to using ICT to personalise learning. • Is personalised learning an attainable goal or will it always remain just a vision? • What have we learned about the nature of learning itself and how can technology help children learn better? • What is the role of ICT in the modernisation agenda? Mike Lloyd Schools Marketing Manager Microsoft Ltd CONTENTS Introduction 3 Teaching with Tablet PC 18 Personal potential 3 Learning with Tablet PC 18 Personalising learning with ICT 4 Tablet PC graphical tools 18 The Tablet PC Composition Tool 18 1. EXTENDING THE BOUNDARIES OF TEACHING 4 Class Server 19 Engaging learners through their personal learning styles 4 Microsoft Office 20 VISUAL 5 What products are in Office 2003 Professional? 21 Learning by seeing 5 Outlook 21 Why not try… 5 Excel 21 AUDITORY 6 PowerPoint 21 Learning by hearing 6 Publisher 22 Why not try… 6 Producer 22 KINAESTHETIC/TACTILE 7 Office System Applications and related products 23 Learning by doing 7 Exchange Server 23 Why not try… 7 OneNote 23 Feedback and assessment 8 MapPoint 23 What should I do next? 8 Visio 2003 24 InfoPath 2003 25 2. DEVELOPING MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES 9 Encarta 25 Linguistic 9 Windows SharePoint Services 25 Logical mathematical 9 Windows Media Technologies 26 Musical 10 Movie Maker 26 Visual and spatial 10 Speech technologies 26 Interpersonal 10 Text-to-Speech 26 Intrapersonal 11 Speech recognition for dictation and PC control 26 Bodily kinaesthetic 11 Agent 27 Naturalist 11 Your computer in the language of your choice 27 Education pricing for Microsoft products 27 3. EXTENDING CURRICULUM CHOICE 12 From differentiation to personalisation 12 APPENDIX 2. PROGRAMMES 28 Technologies that support reading 13 Innovative Teachers 28 My Computer, My Way 13 Partner Schools programme 28 My Tablet, My Way, by John Davitt 13 Technocamps 29 Fresh Start for Donated Computers 29 4. BUILDING CONNECTED LEARNING COMMUNITIES 14 The Education Community 29 Managing change15 Building schools of the future 15 APPENDIX 3. RESOURCES 30 APPENDIX 1. PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS 16 APPENDIX 4. REFERENCES 31 Microsoft Learning Gateway 17 Tablet PC 17 APPENDIX 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 32 The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS Document. © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Some rights may belong to specific owners. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners INTRODUCTION How do we fit the learning to children – not children to the learning? How and why do we personalise learning? How can ICT help teachers help pupils achieve their full potential? Progress in education “means building every aspect of education around the talents and needs of each individual pupil, personalised around each child” -1. Personalised learning isn’t new. It builds on what the best teachers do now. The challenge is to make it universal. To get the best out of our children, we need to understand how they learn and then provide the resources and teaching strategies that enable them to learn in the most effective way. Of course, technology can’t provide all the answers, but ICT can play an important role in every aspect of personalised learning and help schools realise the full potential of their pupils and students. This guide explains how to exploit ICT to address different learning styles, build multiple intelligences and engage the home and wilder community in the learning process. Four principles behind personalising learning with ICT are explored and explained – 1. Extending the boundaries of learning 2. Developing multiple intelligences 3. Extending curriculum choice 4. Building Connected Learning Communities PERSONAL POTENTIAL Over a lifetime, human beings have the potential to think more thoughts than there are particles in the universe! The human brain is composed of billions of brain cells, which are linked together by trillions of connections. Yet scientists estimate that we use a mere four per cent of brain capacity. In other words, a vast well of potential remains to be untapped. Imagine the impact on learning and achievement if every school child was able to use just a fraction of one per cent of this untapped potential. It is clear that ICT has a central role in this and the aim of this guide is to connect our understanding of technology with our emerging understanding of the nature of learning to show where targeted use of ICT in schools can personalise and accelerate learning. Humans are not only remarkable; we are also unique. All of us have our own preferred ways of learning. Many UK schools are looking at how ICT can help us exploit what we know about the brain and learning in the classroom. By understanding how children learn best and by using ICT to help deliver learning that is richer, more varied, more engaging and more personalised, schools can help their students to tap into a huge reservoir of potential. Based on the work of Dunn and Dunn, Barbara Prashnig suggests that: • Only 30% remember even 75% of what they hear in class • Only 40% retain even 75% of what they read in class Furthermore, Holland (1998) reported that boys – in schools in which she researched – revealed that they spent 25-70% of their time listening passively to teachers. So there’s plenty of scope for improving learning, and technology offers some exciting solutions. ICT can offer children a range of learning experiences and help schools organise, manage and administer the curriculum in more imaginative, effective and flexible ways. It can help identify a child’s strengths and weaknesses, providing both teacher and learner with valuable information that can be used for developing a child’s potential. It can also help forge links between schools and the wider community, and most importantly help schools deliver a much more “consumer” orientated learning experience. 3 PERSONALISING LEARNING WITH ICT 1. Extending the boundaries of teaching The first principle behind personalising learning with ICT is to use technology to more deeply engage pupils and students through a range of learning experiences. No matter how talented a teacher is, he or she will find it difficult to set the pace and style of learning so that it suits all the students in a classroom. Students have different abilities, interests, aptitudes, experiences and learning preferences. Portable computing devices such as laptop PCs, and Tablet PCs mean that ICT can be used for teaching and learning almost anywhere and any time. Wireless networking makes ICT even more flexible. Add to this the proliferation of online digital content and “input” technologies – such as cameras, pen and voice, and “output” technologies – such as whiteboards or video. It’s easy to see why so many teachers are embedding ICT into the curriculum. Engaging learners through their personal learning styles New models and theories about learning have recently emerged and these can help schools to develop more effective teaching and learning programmes. One model of learning, known as learning modalities, defines learners by the sensory pathways through which they acquire information. Under this model, there are three main types of learners: • Visual • Auditory • Kinaesthetic/tactile Put simply, if you want to communicate with someone who has a visual learning style, he or she will find a lesson that consists only of a teacher speaking tedious. Conversely, someone who learns best through listening (an auditory learner) will benefit less from a presentation that relies purely on slides. While teachers should allow each student to use his or her preferred learning style they should also be giving them opportunities to develop their ability to learn through the styles that they do not necessarily prefer. In reality, people learn through a mixture of modalities. However, most people have a dominant modality, which offers the most effective route to learning. Research suggests that in a typical classroom, 25-30% of students will be visual learners; 20-30% auditory; 15% kinaesthetic/tactile and 25-30% mixed modalities-2. 4 VISUAL Learning by seeing The first learning style that we’ll look at is “visual”. People who think predominantly in images and have a natural affinity for pictures and graphics are Visual learners. Visual learners learn best through seeing things. ICT can be used to stimulate visual learning with the use of digital images, graphics, animations, simulations and paint programs. Interactive whiteboards and PowerPoint presentations allow teachers to present various concepts in a highly visual way. Other examples include: • Children at The Millennium Primary School in Greenwich are using their Tablet PCs (which use a pen and ‘digital ink’) to design outside play areas. They take digital pictures, download them and then draw on top of the images using digital ink. • Schools in Torfaen LEA, Wales, use video software to create animated movies. This develops a multitude of skills and intelligences including story telling and Design and Technology. • Some schools in the US have even set up daily news report “channels” on their networks. Why not try… Basic. Show Discovery Channel videos from Encarta to illustrate a relevant topic. Intermediate. Ask children to present a concept such as “Water Cycle” using pictures and diagrams in PowerPoint. Advanced. Get children to produce a time-lapse movie of a plant germinating and growing using Movie Maker 2 (video editing software contained in WindowsXP).