Action Research Report 3: Action research report on learning through the use of the internet.

by Cheryl Chennery

Context
Planning
Conduct
Review
Conclusion

Context

The school is a large independent Catholic High School for girls, situated in the Illawarra. It has a population of approximately 1100, with students of mixed abilities and diverse cultural backgrounds. A part of the school's current planning includes a commitment to increasing the effective use of new technologies by staff and students. My personal teaching experience at the college has included substantial involvement in promoting computer applications as a learning tool and as a learned skill. For several years I was responsible for the creation and implementaion of a school-based course in Office Skills, (a precursor to the current VET course). My teaching experience has been quite diverse and includes Computing Studies, History and English. This background has allowed me the opportunity to explore the practical issues associated with effective use of classroom technology, both the imperatives and impediments. Schools are increasingly networked places, and our instruction must grow to reflect and accommodate this change. My vision is one of more open classrooms as schools become true learning communities, while personal technology increasingly empowers the individuals within them, both students and teachers.

The opportunities for online learning are increasing rapidly, and the implications for school students are that they are being provided with opportunities to study topics, even entire subjects that might not otherwise be so accessible. For example, in secondary education, language schools are providing classes using combinations of internet and telephone communication. CD-Roms are widely available for reading, mathematics, geography, history, science - to name a few, which, according to the blurb in catalogues, will break down the boundaries of the school walls. Educational bodies are now providing forms of virtual school rooms: the Queensland Department of Education is piloting a Virtual Schooling Service; at the end of 2001 the Director of the Catholic Education Office, Wollongong launched a website for Catholic schools in the Illawarra for use in classrooms and at home. If children are unable to come to school, they will feasibly be able to access the internet from home. Any search of the internet reveals a substantial range of similar educational services, one other being the Association of Independent Schools, which provides a site called Studentnet for teacher and student services. All indications are that facilities for integration of resources through internet use are growing, and one might assume from this that similarly, teachers are taking advantage of these.

Students are also finding learning support via the internet. Publishers increasingly offer website support for new textbooks, and for HSC students in NSW, Charles Sturt University, in collaboration with the Board of Studies and DET have developed student tutorials. The NSW Board of Studies also provides a range of links for teacher support. Furthermore, bibliographies attached to students' assignments increasingly indicate that they are confidently accessing information through the internet. This facility has in some cases become an alternative to the local council library.

For teachers of secondary history, the resources that are accessible are certainly diverse, and provide a variety of learning opportunities. The extent to which teachers in the college are exploiting the internet as a teaching/learning resource, however has been mixed. From 'teacher talk', two problems inhibit integration: accessibility and lack of expertise. It is expected that the current concentration on learning technologies, and provision of support structures will drive change.

A small number of teachers have developed lessons using the resources available through the world wide web and web images to design lesson resources that can be delivered on- line. Involvement in an action research through the NSW History Project has provided the necessary personal motivation to explore the idea of creating a web-based project initially for a senior secondary Modern History class. The process will be evaluated by students and teacher to determine: To what extent will this task affect teaching and learning? How will teaching practice change? And how will learning outcomes be affected?

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Planning

From Horsley's paper (2001), Putting the Schools lessons and program online: Lessons we are learning, the following conditions need to be considered if classroom use of technologies is to improve learning outcomes in any meaningful way:

· How the students use the technology

· How much time they spend on the computer

· How the technology has been combined with good teaching practice

· How the teacher uses the technologies and integrates it into the curriculum

· How the technology is used in assessment

· How the school supports the use of technology in the curriculum

· How the teacher approaches professional development

These have been taken into consideration and are reflected in the design of the learning activity. The class that was selected for the conduct of this action research is a Year 11 Modern History class. They were selected for two reasons. Firstly, the available resources for the topic, Nuclear Testing in the Pacific in the 1950s and 1960s, needed to be extended if it was to be offered, and the information that could be accessed through the internet was varied and suitable. Secondly, the class size was small. This would provide me with more flexibility in gaining internet access through the library. A survey of the students indicated that all were confident users of the internet.

The role of the technology in the exercise is a learning tool in the same manner as students will use a text, a video or a CD-Rom. The topic was restricted to a period of six weeks, three weeks of which were allocated for the internet research task. From past experience in preparation of activities which involve use of technologies, students often require a greater period of time than if the activity is conducted in the classroom using more teacher centred strategies. To address this, the entire task was created on web pages; all links were provided, along with a question page, which would direct the students in the information that they needed to complete the assessment. The time frame will need to be monitored in this action research for future planning. The design of the web page was based on web quests. Two tasks were set: one a group oral empathy, and the other an individual essay. This satisfied the requirements of the preliminary assessment schedule.

The structure of the preliminary year course allows the teacher an opportunity to establish the standard of work that is expected for the HSC, and students need to have a clear understanding of what is required, and how it is to be presented. Preparation of the students for the research task was carefully considered. The web-based task comes after a three-week period of teacher-directed activities relating to the creation of the atomic bomb, its role in the closure of the War in the Pacific, and the beginning of the Cold War. Students are then introduced to the commencement of nuclear tests in the Pacific with a range of primary and secondary source materials. By the time that the research task is commenced, students had a good understanding of the key issues that were to be studied in relation to selected Pacific countries and the expectation relating to outcomes. They started the task with keen interest.

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Conduct

The first part of the task was a group oral/empathy task, so the students were required to work collaboratively. They were required to make decisions relating to interpretation of the task, planning and allocation of roles. During the period of the research task, the teacher's role was that of facilitator. She was kept busy, responding to questions, providing support when needed, and ensuring that students were able to work within the time constraints. Once students started collecting information, she needed to monitor students' review and consolidation processes. The students need to feel that they are in control of their task. One anticipated and regrettable difficulty that emerged was that the file server went down at 8.17 each morning, and alternative means of accessing information needed to be sought.

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Review

Teacher's Perceptions:

· The online environment was useful in terms of getting students involved in gathering information to respond to questions.

· Students had to work together to plan tasks and allocate roles.

· Students delegated tasks and roles very well. The interaction between the students was very valuable as they took the unit on as a common task and supported each other's learning. There was a substantial improvement on a group task that was conducted in term 1.

· The online learning environment was too limiting for some students, who would have preferred more variety in resources, electronic and other. Some students preferred to make more use of the video resources, perhaps because the information was more summarised. Efforts will be made to improve these resources before 2003.

· The teacher's role as facilitator was important. The first week was busy, dealing with students' questions relating to their chosen topics and at different levels. By week two, informal meetings were conducted to check progress and understanding of task. Students had taken on their responsibilities very well. Some were inclined to work individually, and needed to be encouraged to maintain communication with their groups. Week three, tasks varied considerably, from writing and practising the oral empathy tasks or writing their essays. All had completed their tasks ahead or on time. The students were independent and content with their management skills.

· Pacing of work was good. An extension activity should be considered for week three in future for those who are unable to go forward for a variety of reasons. A fun task to maintain co-operation may be appropriate

· Students started to process the information and make the connections themselves.

· Some students were better than others in synthesising - this was reflected in comments as well as the tasks.

· Depth is a problem on the internet. Concerns about too little or too much information was a common discussion.

· Students handled the task well. All groups bar one provided excellent group tasks (One student opted to leave school for TAFE in the last week, causing some upset for her partner).

· Oral reflections during the last lesson indicated that students were well informed, and were identifying ethical issues associated with nuclear tests.

· The learning outcomes which relate to planning an historical investigation (P5.2) and collaboration (P6.2) were well suited to this type of task.

Students' responses to evaluation questions:

1. Has the web page assignment made your internet research any easier? Explain.

· Yes, with the web page it gave me direct sites which meant direct information.

· Yes, it seemed well structured.

· Yes…you could locate information easily. The hard work had been done for you.

· Yes, I found all of the information to do the assignment.

· Yes.

· Yes, the webpage was good in that it had already found the websites for me.

· No. It confused me.

· Not really, because I use the internet for a lot of research anyway, but I suppose never to this extent.

· Yes, having an internet site made it more accessible and less time consuming.

· No, I liked the videos better. I got all my answers from the videos.

· Yes, especially when Mrs Chenery gave us the web address so that I could do the research at home.

2. What has been the most interesting part of the research task?

· How the government denied the complaints that the people of the Marshall Islands had birth defects and aftermath.

· Learning the ins and outs of countries plans.

· Probably the research I did at home for my essay.

· Finding out about the ways in which the governments persuaded and abused their power with the people.

· Learning about the nuclear tests on the native islands.

· The effects of nuclear testing in the Pacific.

· Assuming the role of an environmental activist.

· How politicians can slur the information to justify the cause.

· I thought finding out about personal experiences - the emotional side of it.

· Finding out about what the Americans did to the Marshall Islands people.

· How ignorant the governments were about the damage they were doing to the land and to the people.

3. What difficulties have you experienced?

· Finding the people of Marshall Islands' view about the bombs.

· Finding things on certain anti-nuclear groups.

· It was a hard topic to tackle as information quickly becomes very fickle.

· Difficulties in finding information on indigenous people as well as information on the people's reaction - Australia. Also the internet going down a lot didn't help.

· Lack of information about governments

· Limited information by government websites.

· Internet not working.

· Finding information about the natives.

· Difficulties finding out about how certain groups reacted/felt about the situation.

· The file server not working.

· The information about anti-nuclear groups.

4. What changes would you like to be made to improve this type of research task in future?

· Maybe add some more sites like those, because they gave a lot of information.

· More info on anti-activist groups.

· I'd like more resources and more time on the computers without having to postpone because of 'technical difficulties'.

· I would change the fact that information on some places was abundant and on others wasn't, which made it harder for some.

· None.

· None.

· Perhaps. Not be so much internet work, because it was hard when internet was not working.

· The Australian government should also have a Learning Curve (a British website).

· Do a topic that uses a lot more resources and has more information available.

· The internet needs to be working all the time. It was hard.

· More resources in the library for when the internet is down.

5. Would you like to undertake further classroom tasks on a web page, such as a web quest?

· Yes, I enjoyed the web page task and think it works better than usual tasks.

· Yes, but not all work.

· Only if there is plenty of information and the computers are fast and effective.

· It would be OK as long as the internet didn't drop out as much.

· Yes, if there is lots of information.

· Only if more sites were given, found information slightly limited.

· I think that one internet topic is enough.

· No.

· Yes, I like using the net.

· Yes, but not so much work.

· Yes, it would be OK.

Student response to the technology

· Technical problems. Students lost valuable time and consequently became anxious about completing the task on time.

· Some students found difficulty extracting information.

· The web page assignment made the information accessible and less time consuming.

· The websites provided adequate information for completion of the tasks.

· Students would have preferred more variety in kinds resources (electronic and other) for many reasons.

Student response to structure of the web-based task:

Comment:

Some evaluation questions were interpreted in different ways (particularly Question 3), and in future, these will need to be more discerning. More specific evaluation questions will also provide a better indication of student needs and expectations. For example, would students benefit with opportunities to consolidate and review as a whole class prior to their presentations rather than working exclusively within their small groups?

Student response to the time allocated (oral feedback):

All students felt that they had adequate time to complete the tasks, in spite of technical problems.

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Conclusion

Internet sites are only one type of resource, and students should have the opportunity of accessing information from a broad range - electronic, hard copy, and visual. Students process information in different ways, and at different rates and this needs to be accommodated through frequent opportunities for verbalisation both in small groups and with the whole class. Careful preparation and modelling of the way that information should be processed prior to the setting of the task ensures that all students will experience success in their learning.

The accessibility and availability of technology can have a large impact on the success or failure of the task. There is no 'magic answer' for this in schools. Hopefully the school will have a very supporting systems manager with will be available to overcome annoying problems. Access to sufficient computers with internet access is equally difficult. A practice that has been used in the past with success is to prepare a series of workstations with a variety of resources and rotate the groups. It is important that the teacher knows her students and organises groups to ensure that support is available for those who may have limited skills in researching using technologies. A selection of focus questions will help students when they are confronted with such a large amount of printed information. It is vital that each student experience a sense of success if learning is to be enjoyed.

The integration of technology into learning activities is more easily achieved in a classroom environment where students are provided with the learning skills, then encouraged to locate the information, process, share, review, apply, reflect and consolidate. At this stage, working with these technologies are fraught with difficulties, but the results can be very satisfying both for the students and the teacher.

Finally, this action research has been a positive experience, and the lessons learned will be applied in the next web-based task. The internet is valuable as a learning tool and will help us as teachers in our endeavours to make learning richer. The possibilities are only limited by the imagination.

Bibliography

Horsley, M., 2001, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney Putting The schools lessons and program online Lessons we are learning at http://www.edfac.usyd.edu.au/staff/horsleym/learning_online.htm