Introduction | Getting involved | Innovative practice | Reflective practice
Innovative practice
Innovative practice is exciting and takes teaching and learning into new domains. The innovator has a clear view of the value and place of ICT while remaining aware of the necessary contextual features, which enable innovation to take place. Innovative teaching and learning does not have to involve cutting-edge technology nor does it mean a school has to be equipped with all the latest software, hardware and technical support. The innovator is the sort of teacher who can make the most of technology to produce varied and demanding activities for pupils.
The real challenge is to use ICT effectively to enrich the learning experience of pupils in novel and engaging ways. At times, this may involve some risk or uncertainty regarding a particular piece of hardware or software or activity but the innovator makes realistic decisions grounded in experience and realistic judgements about gains to be made.
For the innovator, technology supports learning and does not lead it and the key objective is always to develop language competence. The innovator will be able to assess the challenges so that pupils do indeed engage enthusiastically and purposefully with technology while having clear linguistic objectives to fulfil.
New ICT
Technological advances present new challenges and create new horizons in education. The pace of change is rapid and it is certain that new approaches to teaching and learning will continue to develop. The interactive whiteboard is an increasingly common feature of modern language teaching while audio and video are being increasingly used in innovative work at all levels. A combination of a cheap digital camera, elementary sound recordings on Windows Sound Recorder and presentation software can engage pupils meaningfully and creatively in demonstrating their understanding and use of language.
For more ambitious, but not more difficult, audio work, many schools use Audacity, a free, downloadable sound editor which is easy to master. Its Windows interface makes it familiar and students quickly learn to cut, paste, trim, fade in or out, mix with music and export the finished product as an mp3 file, which they can place on the school network or VLE to download to their mp3 players or simply use in presentations or other work. Teachers also use audio software to prepare study aid material, exam revision or grammar explanations, which students can access on the VLE in a resources area. Some teachers post recordings of this type on the Internet as podcasts, thereby making learning more focused and flexible. See students using Audacity in the video-based case studies at ICT in action.
Digital video appeals to pupils and with reasonably-priced camcorders, or even mobile phone technology, it is an achievable goal in the modern languages classroom. See Digital Video in Action at ICT in action for summaries of digital video projects. See also CILT’s Digital Video in the MFL Classroom which details a project undertaken with Specialist Language Colleges, CILT and the BBC 21CC (21st Century Classroom). Many of the approaches tried out in secondary schools lend themselves to language and cross-curricular work at primary.
Podcasts, blogs, wikis and social networking sites are recent developments which are often referred to as Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 allows the user to interact with material on the Internet, uploading and downloading materials, sharing files, posting comments, leaving messages and taking part in online discussion. Some teachers create blogs for teacher-to-teacher sharing of ideas and experiences. Wikis are similar to blogs but used often for collaborative work and users with appropriate permissions can edit the wiki page. Wikis have been used by Gordano School, Bristol for developing writing skills, and for exam revision. See Languages ICT Action Research archived projects at ICT in action. Think.com is a social networking site designed for educational use. It is a secure area and offers all the facilities of sites such as Facebook with which students are very familiar from their personal lives. You can read articles and case studies on the way these technologies can be used to engage students and transform learning at the ICT section of Reshaping Languages. You can also link to modern language blogs from the May 2008 edition of ICT Outlook.
If it is not possible to work with Web 2.0 technology and camcorders or voice recorders are not available, you can still involve students actively in using multimedia to develop their language and language learning skills in a more personalised way. Many mobile phones have the facility to take photos, and make video or audio clips. Transferring data from such a phone to a computer or memory stick is not difficult and can even be done wirelessly if the phone is Bluetooth enabled. Many students are familiar with this technology and use these features of phones in their everyday lives. Engaging them in their learning by allowing them to use their phones to create photos, video or audio gives them ownership and responsibility for their learning in an appealing way. See the Action Research archives for 2005-06 at ICT in action for a summary of a project conducted by Brinsworth School, Rotherham where students rose to the challenge of using their mobile phones to complete a creative project on healthy living.
Fuller comment on the role of Web 2.0 technology, multimedia and other aspects of ICT for teaching and learning languages can be found on this site at Transforming teaching and Transforming learning.
For articles and case studies, including video-based case studies, go to:
- ICT in action: video case studies, summaries of the Digital Video in Action project and Languages ICT Action Research projects.
- Reshaping Languages: articles and case studies on wikis, blogs, podcasts, social networking, video, audio, and digital photos.
Effective ICT
Effective use of ICT is guided by an understanding of its place, value and appropriateness in the teaching and learning process. Experience guides the user in arriving at this understanding and gives the confidence to go further. A key principle underlying the use of ICT is that it should support learning and not lead it. A linguistic focus must always be maintained. Technology may be long-established or fairly new but it must be simple to master and easily fit into teaching and learning.
Podcasts illustrate this well:
- Recording and saving a file in mp3 format with the sound editor Audacity is straightforward.
- To upload the voice recording so that it becomes a podcast is not difficult.
- Podcasting can be used for many purposes, one of which is to help students focus on grammar.
Podcasts from Nodehill Middle School are a good example:
- Under the supervision of the teacher students prepare their scripts, explaining the details of a grammatical structure and how it is used.
- They complete the recording, save the file in mp3 format and upload.
- The activity is embedded in the scheme of work, fits in neatly with other activities, motivates students and obliges them to think about language.
- You can hear their teacher, Joe Dale, explain how he uses podcasts and how they fit into the normal programme of teaching and learning in the video-based case studies at ICT in action.
A project on a social networking site such as Think.com can likewise be integrated easily into the scheme of work and such is the flexibility of access to the site that students can access it anywhere any time and communicate with their peers abroad. This is what happened at St Julie’s School, Liverpool where teachers discovered that students were using weekend and holiday time to maintain communication online with their counterparts in a French school. Read about this project and social networking on the ICT pages of Reshaping Languages.
Using more traditional software students may work creatively on the topic of Home with, for example, special reference to modern furniture and stylish décor. This could involve research on the websites of leading retailers or designers to locate suitable images for illustration. The pages of multinational companies are often multi-lingual, thus enabling the learner to access up-to-the-minute vocabulary, phrases and logos. The task might be to produce a simple advertising brochure or a photo guide to a dream home. To do this with minimumtechnological difficulty pupils can use the wizards in desk top publishing software. In this case, using the wizards reduces the ICT load to Web research, copying and pasting images and inserting them into the finished document. A linguistic focus is maintained without any loss of appeal in the task itself and ICT enables the learning process to proceed efficiently without dominating or distorting it.
Effective cross curricular work can be undertaken with confidence using ICT. The VLE or network can be used for sharing resources and storing and accessing pupils' work. Software designed specifically for another subject can be used within a modern languages context. Linguistic focus can be adapted to another discipline. To take an example from the secondary school context, a study of a region in another country can be shared with the Geography department. The areas of study might include climate, population, tourism (its economic impact or spatial distribution) and infrastructure. The topic-specific language can be located on the Internet or through any available colleague who is a speaker of the target language. Subject-specific software might be used to analyse data or test hypotheses and other learning and ICT skills might be used to complete a task in the target language. Science across the World lends itself to stimulating cross-curricular work in other languages with schools from around the world.
Appropriateness
In addition to knowing when to use ICT and understanding its value in enhancing teaching and learning, it is essential to know what is an appropriate level of ICT. Often, the maxim 'little is more' is worth remembering. For example, a study on a home town, a familiar topic, could be extended to focus also on the themes of heritage, modernity and image. For resources, the website of the home town (or a cheap digital camera) can provide images. Key language can be researched on the website of a similar town in the country of the target language. The final product could be produced using word-processing or presentation software. The themes will need to be discussed and the language of argument and persuasion explored so that pupils can prepare a suitably balanced piece of work which will guide the reader or listener through the various issues and tensions in projecting an adequate image of a town around the themes of heritage and modernity. In this exercise many intellectual issues are tackled, perceptions are explored and language use remains the primary objective. The ICT used is relatively light but very appropriate. In this case, “little is more” describes the role and value of ICT.
A better-equipped school might enhance a project such as this with digital video or sound recordings made with voice recorders. Simple editing of audio takes place in Audacity. Windows Movie Maker, standard with Windows XP, is a very easy-to-use movie editor. Still photos can also be imported into Movie Maker to create a movie. An alternative approach is to use Photostory3 to create a slideshow with student narration and music. All that is needed is a digital camera, or mobile phone that can take photos, a microphone and headphones, the software and Windows XP, and a little imagination!
On the other hand, a heavy ICT commitment might be needed in order to achieve certain goals. A good example of this is the Global Leap project, where video conferencing is used to bring together pupils from around the world. In this case, the potential gains in linguistic competence and developing cultural awareness in live encounters with peers makes the technological demands very worthwhile and appropriate.
Contexts
The context in which you can become an innovative practitioner is crucial. No single context is perfect and even the best-endowed institution does not by default become a beacon of innovation. However, for you and your colleagues to develop confidence in taking ICT further, some or all of the following elements need to be present.
- Knowledge sharing and training
- Formal training structures serve the needs of teachers and institutions. In-house training can be cost-effective and also very context-sensitive, thereby maximising its relevance and value within the specific institution or department. Formal training is also available from external bodies such as CILT whose Comenius Network provides workshops and training on a wide range of topics, including ICT, throughout the year. Check also for training opportunities at the CPD Network of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). Don’t forget to consult your Local Authority too.
- Informal knowledge sharing amongst colleagues is often a flexible and need-specific model. See CILT’s discussion lists and other suggestions in Getting involved.
- Resource sharing amongst colleagues is by implication a form of knowledge sharing as colleagues learn from what others have done in the classroom. Increasingly, teachers are sharing interactive materials and ideas online, at school websites or blogs. See Key Stage 4 resources for a PDF document of schools sharing interactive materials and the May 2008 edition of ICT Outlook for a list of blogs run by teachers of languages.
- Technical support
- Reliable technology and technical support and regular updating of facilities, hardware and software are essential.
- Fitness for purpose. The opportunity to assess software or hardware before adoption is invaluable, although not always possible. In that case, access to some form of reliable advice is necessary. Teem is a review site for educational software.
- See the notes on working with commercially produced ICT resources and the downloadable PDF document, hardware and software, in the Resources section of Transforming Teaching.
- A clear role for ICT in teaching and learning
- Within your department and your school in general the case for ICT is accepted and its value is appreciated for the development of effective and interesting teaching, and a range of learning styles and learning experiences for pupils.
- Resource sharing and informal knowledge sharing are often signs that such an acceptance is in place.
- A whole school approach to ICT
- A commitment to the use of ICT and development of resources and facilities for all fosters a clear sense of purpose and develops confidence in teachers.
What next?
If you recognise yourself as an innovator or feel that you and your school are developing in that direction, why not share your experience and learn from others? Have a look at Getting involved, where you will find lots of information to help you share your practice with others and develop in new directions. For a broader view go to ICT international and discover something of ICT developments around the world. Keep up to date via ICT Outlook and scan the database of lessons and ICT ideas at Useful ICT ideas, effective language lessons. Technology for Languages contains downloadable resources for Key Stage 4 and tips for a range of hardware and software, while ICT in action has video-based case studies, summaries of action research projects and digital video projects. You can join Linguanet-forum to keep in touch with like-minded practitioners.
Download a set of useful links detailing innovative practice with ICT for teaching and learning languages.
