This presentation is associated with Technology Together: Whole-School Professional Development for Capability and Confidence, by Renata Phelps and Anne Graham. Copyright 2013, ISTE ® (International Society for Technology in Education), Distribution and copying of this presentation is allowed for educational purposes and use with full attribution to ISTE and the authors. The research informing this publication was conducted as a collaboration between the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University and the Catholic Education Office, Lismore Diocese, NSW, Australia and was funded by the Australian Research Council. Other resources are available from the Technology Together website: Clipart is drawn from Masterclips 500,000 ® IMSI

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Learned Helplessness and Attribution Resource 18 || Presentation (See also Resource 18)

What is learned helplessness? When individuals who are faced with technology challenges or difficulties employ self-handicapping tactics. They: Avoid personal responsibility Resist efforts to problem solve Procrastinate Blame others They fail to help themselves Learned helplessness often relates to attribution.

What is attribution? Attribution concerns people's explanations for the causes of events – both successes and failures. Individuals’ beliefs about the explanations for events in their life influence their expectations, which in turn influence their behaviour.

success Typical attributions in relation to success include: ability effort or hard work. lack of success Typical attributions in relation to lack of success include: task too difficult lack of training lack of time or luck/chance.

How was I supposed to know I had to push that button. No-one has ever told me that. Oops. I’ve pushed the wrong button. I won’t do that again. Still, with a bit of effort I can solve the problem, or ask for some help. I’ve learnt a valuable lesson. Wow! I’m really proud that I solved that problem. I had a bit of help and some tips from Jane but I made a real effort and it really feels great to achieve this. I’m so glad Jane showed me how to do that. I’d never have worked it out by myself. No matter how many times I try loading documents into my interactive whiteboard presentation it simply doesn’t work. It isn’t worth the effort – I’d rather just photocopy handouts for the class. Attribution

Attribution can get in the way of good learning, and sometimes is used as an excuse for not integrating ICT at all.

There are four dimensions of attribution Locus of control Internal attribution - when someone predominantly believes that the reason for success or failure resides within themselves External attribution - when someone predominantly believes that their success or failure is due to influences outside themselves Stability - The degree to which someone believes that the cause of their success or failure will change over time Controllability - Whether the individual feels they have control over the determinants of their successes and failures Globality - whether the individual believes success (or failure) will occur in all similar situations.

Most people indicate that they have internal attribution in relation to technology learning and use Generally this is a good thing; it encourages us to take responsibility for our own actions However people with internal attribution are also more likely to ‘blame’ themselves when things go wrong… …even if there are technical faults with hardware, networks or other equipment that are not within their control.

The ability to determine whether the cause of success or lack of success is external or internal – due to yourself or to factors outside your control A central component of the metacognitive approach Appropriate attribution is also a really important thing for teachers to model explicitly and to discuss with their own students (Phelps & Ellis, 2002). Appropriate attribution

Originally I had a tendency to blame myself when I was unable to complete tasks on computers…However, after working in a classroom that housed extremely old and often faulty computers, I have been able to accept that some factors are completely out of my control... My only way to deal with this situation was to work with what I could achieve and leave what was physically impossible to achieve. My biggest and most frustrating problem was that I had to learn to recognise what exactly was a technical fault and what was caused by my own lack of knowledge.

The metacognitive approach can: Support and motivate teachers (and students) to actively and consciously adopt appropriate help-seeking strategies Convince teachers (and students) that effort is a learning investment more than a risk to self-esteem Reinforce that lack of success does not imply low ability, but rather, is part of the normal process of learning.

This week, become aware of any attributions that you make in relation to technology. Also take notice of the attributional comments made by your students. Weekly challenge Metacognition in the classroom Explicitly discuss the concept of attribution with your students.

Three key things from today… What three points can you take from today’s discussion? You might base your thoughts around the metacognitive model…..

This presentation is associated with Technology Together: Whole-School Professional Development for Capability and Confidence, by Renata Phelps and Anne Graham. Copyright 2013, ISTE ® (International Society for Technology in Education), Distribution and copying of this presentation is allowed for educational purposes and use with full attribution to ISTE and the authors. The research informing this publication was conducted as a collaboration between the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University and the Catholic Education Office, Lismore Diocese, NSW, Australia and was funded by the Australian Research Council. Other resources are available from the Technology Together website: Clipart is drawn from Masterclips 500,000 ® IMSI