A teachers’ project: “Towards learner autonomy”

A teachers’ project: towards learner autonomy §Rationale §What we wanted to achieve §The process §Problems §The experience §The teachers’ opinions §The 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 achieve §Design a learning unit of the subject we teach: l use materials already made (CD-rom, Internet..) or create new ones. l 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 à7 Teams of teachers according to subject area and level. àTraining sessions in programmes such as hot-potatoes, click, multigestor, power- point, dreamweaver. àAgreement on the design of the units. àDesign of the assessment questionnaires for the students and teachers. àProblem 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 war §The Second world war §Geometry: “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

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’ opinions What 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’ opinions During 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.

The students’ opinion What did you think about this unit? Most students think of the unit as interesting, easy and profitable. The same unit; traditional class: 60 % boring; IT class 29 % boring

Thank you