Konzept zur Nutzung von iPads im Englischunterricht einer 5. Klasse

Watch out teachers!
Unter unten stehendem Link findet Ihr ein Konzept einer Unterrichtssequenz für iPads im Englischunterricht, die ich selbst durchgeführt habe. Probiert es doch selbst aus und gebt mir euer Feedback. Viel Spaß!

http://de.slideshare.net/ElenaRecher/concept-paper-ipadunterrichterechereducationized 

Die unstrukturierte und nicht zielführende Nutzung von Apps und Tablets im Unterricht liefert meist keinen Value Add für Schüler. Mit diesem Concept Paper habe ich mit einer SWOT- Analyse die Nutzung von iPads im Englischunterricht einer 5. Klasse analysiert. Ergebnis war eine Unterrichtssequenz, die die Stärken des iPad harmonisch in den Unterricht einfließen lässt und im Feldversuch erstaunliche Ergebnisse der Schülern hervorgebracht hat. Diese lagen deutlich über dem Durchschnitt der Leistungsfähigkeit der Schüler.

Ergebnisbeispiel aus meinem Unterricht:

Postcard_iPad_ERecher

Ergebnis Comic

Ergebnis Comic

 

Disclaimer: Inhalte, Copyright Elena Recher, Weitergabe oder Vervielfältigung nur nach vorheriger Information, für Inhalte und Konzept wird keine Haftung übernommen

Digital education without a plan

“They key is context, not content: only if content is embedded in real context, e- learning gets magical!” – new innovative concepts have to be developed, old school teaching aborts E- learning.
This is what happens if schools and educational institutions lack a strategy for digital education!

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/01/21/19el-rotation.h33.html?tkn=PWRFvQdRXSDeaaVxT1UMmT75RaLRGFbUDAqJ&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

Are teachers dossers?

Why do people choose to become a teacher?
Do they love working with children and dealing with their problems? Were they always good at explaining things to others? Has it always been their career aspiration?
Or were a job that includes 12 weeks of holiday, end of school most often at 1 pm or an appointment as a tenured German civil servant more convincing?

At the end of 2013 a heated discussion started as an elementary school teacher wrote a letter to her pupils’ parents complaining about the kids’ behavior during a school excursion. She blamed the parents for bringing up their children badly as they yelled at each other, punched classmates and eructated in public. She claimed to be ashamed of her students since they had not learnt about appropriate social behavior at home. Her task as a teacher was to induce kids to learn and not to teach them manners. Parents were indignant at such accusations.

Having a look at a teacher’s role (you can find that in any book dealing with didactics, pedagogy and education) it does not look like an easy job: teachers are resource providers, instructional specialists, curriculum specialists, classroom supporters, learning facilitators, mentors, school leaders, data coaches, catalysts for change and learners … and of course it is their task to teach a child good manners, social behavior and to assume personal responsibility for their actions.

Interesting do sound ‘catalysts for change’ and ‘learners’.
As lifelong learners teachers should improve themselves and have an open mind about new concepts and innovation (DIGITAL education). And of course they are eager for knowledge  and information and participate in education and training to improve their skills – especially when it comes to digital education. As catalysts for change they are  visionaries who are ‘never content with the status quo but rather always looking for a better way’.” – sad to say, but this only applies to very few. Disruption and with that innovation hurts and turns anything that is ‘old’ and obsolete upside down. It’s naïve to think that a teacher’s everyday work is not affected by that. Most teachers demur at opening for innovation. Gladly industries guess the potential of e-learning and will disrupt politics, parents and educational institutions. I do think it’s no wise to wait for that as you cannot influence and help fashion future education then – on the contrary you will be forced to adapt yourself to a new era.
I do understand that older- generation teachers are highly skeptical and fear that they have to do all their years and years of work again as it cannot be reused for digital education. But when it comes to young teachers – the ones that just finished their teacher training – I can hardly believe my eyes. They try to do what teachers before them have been doing for decades. To me there is no excuse for that!
For sure this is not correct for every single young teacher. There are very enthusiastic ones who want to change the world of teaching and work together in task forces to get there: flipped classroom, video education, tablets and iPads during lessons, digital A- levels, … Actually a pretty good step in the right direction if everyone sticks to the topic and tries to find solutions without having the watch and one’s own spare time in mind.

When choosing to become a teacher you commit yourself to give your best for students – take your task seriously, roll up your sleeves and turn education in an education that meets the challenges of a digital era! Not to step up to the plate is what teachers have to be ashamed of since our students’ behavior and performance reflect our work!

 

21st century education is like teenage sex!

Everyone is excited about it. Some think they do it already. Everyone has an opinion. But no one has a clue how it really works.

Let’s just start with the end: No one has a clue.
Any material available on the internet seems to be a mere compilation of apps, programs and ideas. Having a look at teachers, students, parents and industries, one question comes up: How do they and their attitude and believes have to change to make digital education possible?

It’s not enough to develop apps that replace worksheets. The whole concept of education has to be reconsidered! This starts with teacher trainings. Lesson give the impression not to have changed within the last 50 years. Unfortunately this is true for many schools that train German teachers after they graduate from university as digital education and e- learning seem to be a closed book. How can young teachers prepare for a radical change in education – and there is no doubt it will come – if everyone only focuses on content? Their mindset has to be changed as well: We need concepts that reveal the explicit value add of digital education and push every single student to his/her limit to get the most out of him/her. They key is context, not content: only if content is embedded in real context, e- learning gets magical!

Innovation in education is disruptive and hurts!

No one, particularly teachers (sorry, there has to be someone who says that out loud!), can stay in their comfort zone. Innovation completely changes a world – teachers should be thought leaders and not people who enjoy their spare time for 12 weeks a year! When choosing to become a teacher you have to realize that it’s hard work to be up to date. Disruption replaces the ‘old education’ by a new one and the there is no room for these teachers that everyone knows and hates. Roles will change: teachers’, students’, parents’, industry’s.

Everyone is excited about it.
There is a hype to use tablets during lessons in order to play fancy games, biology seems to be more interesting since you are able to discovering a DNA helix in 3D view or printing, interactive whiteboards are said to enhance classroom interaction, video teaching is obviously the latest craze… Digital devices give you the chance to get students’ attention and also increase their motivation. Learning cannot be more fun! – at a first glance.
Millions of dollars are invested in the field of education by the big players (Google, Apple, Microsoft) and VCs (Mark Zuckerberg, First Mark Capital New York, Sequoia Capital, etc.). Moreover numerous start ups come up with innovative ideas designed to revolutionize teaching. E- learning is one of the fast growing markets with undreamt- of possibilities and potentials.
Got it. If someone wants to increase his or her degree of hipsterness, one should at least consider to start something in e- education.

Some think they do it already.
Ongoing projects prove that e- education is in the ascendant.
LA invests $ 30 million for an iPad program (Los Angeles Unified School District‘s program) to keep up with trends – obviously without considering all expanses that are incurred with iPads. Schule Schloss Neubeuern – a private school – jumps at the chance to be the first digital school in Germany by replacing paper and pen by tablet PCs from grade 9- 12. In Cologne another school (Kaiserin Augusta Schule, a state school) introduced iPads to focus on learning rather than teaching. The Khan Academy aims at improving education and offers free videos for everyone, anywhere, anytime. Sofatutor, a German tutoring concept, advertises better grades at school and university. Their offer includes learning videos and private lessons – endless content. Coursera believes “in connecting people to a great education so that anyone around the world can learn without limits”. As top universities such as Stanford, Yale, Princeton and the Ludwig- Maximilians Universität partner Coursera this vision might become true!

Concepts such as flipped classroom, challenge based learning, Apps (Google, Apple) and Wiki for schools rule educational institutions.

Everyone has an opinion.
The only thing that can be said about all the opinions about digital education is that no one is right. Everyone is hunting for the Holy Grail.