Education Investigation

I have formed a small team of colleagues to work collaboratively on the eportfolio trial. So far we have been busy reading and discussing research. We found the following two studies particularly helpful:

• JISC publication (Sept 2008), “Effective Practice with e-Portfolios: Supporting 21st century learning”
  
• Ian Fox’s research (Feb 2008) “Eportfolios; a personal space for learning.

During this time I put together a brainstorm of ideas identifying:

1. Why we have chosen eportfolios (the purpose).
2. How they could be set up based on Nick Rate’s criteria for an eportfolio platform.
3. Management ideas to facilitate eportfolios in the classroom, including the ICT skills/resources we might need to teach the students.
4. What the eportfolio might contain (targeted at my Year 6/Grade 5 students).

Click here to download the brainstorm.

Our next step is to finalise the platform that we will use for the trial. Can you help us?

• What platform have you used that has been successful?
• How does it compare with Nick Rate’s criteria?
• Has anyone used Mahara, Wordpress MU, 21Classes or Edublogs for eportfolios and can comment on these?
  

Picture Authors: Reading = http://www.barnstable.k12.ma.us/bhs/Library/1index.htm Brainstorm = http://www.sitefriends.com

From time to time you come across a post that is worth sharing and collecting for future reference.

Today I was catching up on my Netvibes account (as you do) and Durff’s post “Who Do You Want To Be?” caught my attention.

According to research there are three types of teachers: expert, experienced, and novice. They each focus on different aspects of classroom culture.

Expert teachers are more effective scanners of classroom behaviour, make greater reference to the language of instruction and learning of students, whereas experienced teachers concentrate more on what the teacher is saying and doing to the class and novices concentrate more on student behaviour. (Hattie, 2003).

Reference: Hattie, J. (2003). Teachers make a difference: What is the research evidence? Interpretations, 36(2), 27-38, Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/RC2003_Hattie_TeachersMakeADifference.pdf

Hmmm now which one am I?

Thanks Durff (and Hattie) for challenging us with your work.

Picture Author: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Blue_flag.svg

Ok I had other ideas for a post but after reading Wesley Fryer’s post “The Ouboard Brain, Memory, Transfer and Learning” I have to ask the question – Who has hit the nail on the head when it comes to teaching spelling? What works best for you?

In his post Wesley says “The fact that my own children are regularly taking spelling tests at school continues to both trouble and irritate me as well. There is virtually NO academic research I read or was exposed to in my masters and doctoral graduate coursework in education which suggests giving students spelling tests of decontextualized words on a weekly basis improves their abilities to spell, read or write. The real skill related to spelling is WRITING, and the best way to improve writing skills (according to the body of literacy research reviewed by Dr. Stephen Krashen of USC in his excellent book, ““The Power of Reading, Second Edition: Insights from the Research” is to encourage students to READ prolifically.”

Options I have used in the past include:

1. Giving Parents a list to go through with their child.
2. Using Essential Spelling Lists and then placing these new words into children’s homework books.
3. Progressing through spelling activity books where children complete fun games that teach them to learn how to spell and use grammar correctly.
4. Taking misspelt words out of their writing and placing it into their homework books.
5. Teaching spelling as part of my “Word of the Week” feature where I hit an English rule once a week eg: “When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”

In all of the situations above there is a test on Friday with the teacher/buddy to monitor progress. Sometimes we graph the results so the students can see a trend.

I don’t feel I have hit the nail on the head yet – does anyone else have any other ideas??

Picture Author:

"Classroom" - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart