After reading Collaborative Inquiry; A Facilitator’s Guide, a publication by Learning Forward Ontario written by Jennifer Donohoo, I was intrigued to find out if there had been any follow-up to the suggested practice. The Guide describes a process by which schools may undertake collaborative inquiry as a means to improve student outcomes. Did schools actually implement this? If so did they have success? Who provided the facilitation, was it the principal, a teacher, someone brought in? The Guide brought forward many great concepts, however I was left with thoughts about participation and process outcomes, would educators take part in this? Is there time for this? I’ve been part of the beginning phases of a process like this, which quickly fizzled out, how do we generate a genuine inquiry?
To begin to answer some of these questions, I read The Transformative Power of Collaborative Inquiry: Realizing Change in Schools and Classrooms, by Donohoo and Velasco. What follows are my major takeaways from this book, which proved to elaborate on many of the questions I was left with after reading the Facilitator’s Guide. Promoting Participation
Factors for Success
Shifting Perceptions
Donahoo, J. and Velasco, M. (2016). The Transformative Power of Collaborative Inquiry: Realizing Change in Schools and Classrooms, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
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As a college teacher, this has been a topic of debate since I began my teaching career about seven years ago. There have been many both for and against students utilizing technology in the classroom, be it smartphone or laptop.
Those for the use believe that students in this era are so accustomed to the technology, that in fact their very being comprises this technology, and thus does not distract. It is questioned that the alternative may be more true, that being without the smartphone and online access is more distracting and thus detrimental. A study published recently demonstrated that laptop use in a classroom not only can decrease performance of those utilizing them, but also of those students sitting near them in class. Interestingly, the decrease in performance is seen most dramatically in those students that typically perform above average. It is postulated this is perhaps due to the over-confidence of these high-achievers of their ability to multi-task. My own anecdotal evidence suggests the use of laptops interferes with their self-regulated learning habits. Those accustomed to taking traditional hand-written notes often re-write these after class, followed by further research into areas of interest or confusion, and adding this to their notes as well. Having word-processed notes perhaps eliminates the need to re-write them, and they're likely spending time in class researching further into areas of immediate interest and thus missing parts of the subsequent lecture. I know this topic falls slightly outside the topics of this course, however it was brought back up in a recent forum discussion, and has rekindled my interest. Has anyone else, particularly those teaching at the post-secondary level, had experience in classrooms that have allowed technology use? Currently my school supports the teacher's discretion to allow or disallow, so long as it doesn't preclude or single out those who require supportive accommodation. My practice is to leave it to personal choice of each student, after providing them with my own study habits and thoughts on note taking, along with my understanding of the potential distraction that laptops may cause them. This recent study also focuses on the distractive nature of technology to students sitting in proximity to those using laptops, so I may take the advice given and designate certain areas of the room to technology users. Thoughts? http://seii.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SEII-Discussion-Paper-2016.02-Payne-Carter-Greenberg-and-Walker-2.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/16/why-smart-kids-shouldnt-use-laptops-in-class/?utm_term=.5c7490ef6214 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/laptops-classroom-digital-distraction-1.3949743 https://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/2015/08/laptop-use-effects-learning-attention/ https://web.stanford.edu/class/linguist156/laptops.pdf
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AuthorI teach Paramedicine at Cambrian College, in Sudbury, Ontario. I also continue to work as a paramedic, and ride bikes. This is my third semester in the PME program, and I look forward to learning with everyone! Archives
March 2017
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