Well now I can actually get a little bit of time to do this properly. I have learned so many things in the last week I think my brain is just about ready to explode.

So I went and took the Felder and Soloman online test I seem to be an active learner tending to retain and understand information by doing something active with it. I do however have some reflective learner tendencies so I need to make sure that I balance this out.

I show some strong sensing learner aspects and need to be careful to try and find ways to apply the abstract and theoretical aspects of the information to practical elements. I showed myself to be an equally visual and verbal learner so that creates a good balance but I have a very strong preference for sequential learning. This all states that I need to be careful not to leave things til the last minute as this may cause problems for me. Well wow did that all hit me like a nail on the head or what!!!

I then took the Engagement Activity 2: Multiple Intelligences test. It would seem that I am a word smart but I also have aspects of Logical and Interpersonal aspects as well as Intrapersonal aspects

The funny thing about learning this stuff is that you now see not only how it applies to you but also how it applies to other people.

To consider how to bring this to bear in a class room with 25 students brings its own varied and interesting challenges. Personally I would probably do some of the following:

• Be sequential in my process but able to explain to global learners what the big picture of the unit would be;
• Be factual in what I apply to realistic problems while allowing group discussions that allow for innovation and brainstorming;
• Provide visual and verbal stimulus in the form of power-points, graphs, handouts and other items to give a visual cue whilst also allowing for simply factual learning and then think-pair-share/groups discussions to expand on that knowledge.

Better recognition that there are some students that will be learning at a slightly different rate and using a different method. Incorporation of different ways to display and provide the information rather than just utilising the standards of verbal, books and maybe handouts – also use power points, blogs or wiki’s etc.

2. What sorts of profiling questions would you be asking about your learners to ensure you cater for everyone's preferences?

Perhaps looking at what the children do at home or out of school, are they using the internet, computers, phones etc. Use more direct checking when at school

3. How does ICT support differences in learning styles?

ICT allows provision of almost all the learning styles. The only one that you would struggle with would perhaps be Active learners but they too could be incorporated by activities designed to cater to their requirements.

 

But here is the really cool thing that I have learned in the last week but it will have to go back to a fairly boring story about how I got there!

I was asked to provide the negative presentation to the Schools Constitutional Convention in Mackay (how do I get roped into these things!).

The topic was rather challenging "Would amending the Australian Constitution provide greater equality", we were to particularly address this issue from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Well how do you provide a negative argument to that one without sounding like a complete and utter jerk!

Anyway managed to get all the research done, it was to be a 10 min speech to then allow 10 min of questions from the students. If we were available I was then to stay and assist the students in their further work on at the Convention. The Constitutional Convention is held every year around Mackay and other areas to pick a delegate to travel to Canberra to represent the region at the national Schools Constitutional Convention. 

Then I read my work while I was doing the research for this and realized something, that if I gave a pure speech then I would only be appealing to the "verbal" learners but those who were more strongly visual would miss out. I would not be catering to more that one type of learner. 

I also remembered that because Constitutional Law is somewhat dull some of the students would be so bored they may actually fall asleep, not great for getting them to think! I recognized that the last time I had seen my constitutional law textbooks was when I used them to hold up a desk and my lecturer essentially was so boring that we used his lectures as a time to catch up on sleep. So how could I reach these students and getting them thinking about other ideas?

Dammit ICT for Learning Design you already got me thinking so I prepared a Power Point for the Presentation. I will try and upload a copy to my blog but please do not cross reference it as it was not fully reference checked but the information came from the Constitution  Constitutional Law textbooks, Law Council of Australia papers and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity reports. Anyway after a period of time I ended up with a 28 page Power Point that was very useful not only from a learning perspective but also from a teaching/presenting perspective as it helped me keep on track.

I ended up with the other presenter agreeing with my argument which was pretty cool but also I was able to get to some students who the teachers later indicated do not normally engage and get them to think.

One of those kids was an indigenous girl and another was a very shy student who rarely spoke. Well after my speech and question time we asked the kids in mixed groups to come up with their own preamble to the constitution and consider what should be included as well as further group work relating to what should if anything be changed.

Both these students were amazing by the end of the day. The indigenous girl had indicated to her teacher prior to my speech that she was concerned by what I would say, she ended up voluntarily speaking to me about the issues and agreeing with some of the points that I had raised. I explained to her that it was simply one position and the important thing was to understand the topic and all the options that were available. By making her realize that there was no such thing as a wrong answer she was able to really engage with and think about the issues. Her teacher was amazed.

The second very shy student ended up introducing one of her schools' speakers which her teacher said had never happened. It's is amazing a a safe and supportive learning environment combined with utilizing alternative teaching methods and understanding what those methods can achieve can create in opening the minds of the students.

What a truly inspiring mix of students and teachers. I can say that I loved every minute of it and the feeling that you may even for a short period of time have made a real tangible difference to show those kids their own potential was amazing. Anyway that was my week last week so even though I did not get everything down in a post last week I was reading and understanding some of the issues that are being raised.