continue to test the green board by collecting evidences from different learning experiences in each...

Continue to test the Green Board by collecting evidences from different learning experiences in each research context

Make focus groups and interviews with privileged users in order to define the requirements for the interface of the Digital Library

Proposal[ Barcellona 21st february 2005 ]

OBJECTIVES

INTERVIEWSMarch 2005

Define the first requirements for the interface of the Digital Library by…

> identifying the relevant factors in a learning process starting from real teachers’ experiences(and not form Green Board Elements)

> investigating experts’ process in designing a learning process

Prof. Guastella teaches Ancient literature at University of Siena in the Department of Humanistic studies . He is also in charge for professional training for the administrative staff of the University of Siena

He reports two experiences of teaching:

Professional training at UnisiSubjects: “changing of administrative rules in Italian University”

Course at University Humanistic departmentSubject: ancient literature.

Prof. Guastella

1- Professional training “Changing of administrative rules in University”

“My starting point of view on the subject was different from the participants and this made the course more interesting and various”

2- Course at University “Classicist”

“There were a lot of discussion among persons

Key elements

1- Both Teacher and Students curiosity about new themes presented and discussed subject

2- Open discussion among participants and teacher made the course more dynamic Teaching method

3- Variety of contents and heterogeneity of the class Students profile

4- Few students let me well manage the interaction Student number

5- Students had a good knowledge background about the subject of the course Student profile

Best teaching experience

“In my opinion every time the students are forced to attend a course, the learning experience can be considered negative”

Key elements

Teaching as a social rite: when both teacher and students feel themselves compelled to attend the course, the lesson seems to be a sort of “rite”, in which the actors are not engaged.

Regret teaching experiences

Prof. Guastella starts from the contents and the results he want to achieve: the amount of contents that the students individually or collectively have to learn during the learning process.He defines a minimal set of contents he wants them to acquire, which can be easily extended during the experience.Content: subject

Guastella chooses the best method to give the students the theoretical tools to manipulate to the contents during and after the learning activityMethod

The other elements (like students number, students knowledge background, physical characteristic of the class,…) are unknown at the very starting point of the process design, so the learning process has to be flexible enough to allow the contents and method management in relation with them: i.e. “If the class is too numerous I can divide it in small groups”

Design a course

Contents

Studentsprofile

Method

Prof. Putti teaches Visual Anthropology at University of Siena in the Communication Science Department. He is also in charge for professional training for the technical staff of the University of Siena


Course at Teachers Training SchoolSubject: Philosophy

Professional training at UnisiSubjects: “Audio-video tools”

Prof. Putti

Key elements

Establish a “personal relationship” with the student in order to increase his/her motivationMethod (one to one teaching)

Professional training: “Phylosophy”

“A student didn’t want to learn the subject. I decided to teach her at least some reasoning modalities on philosophy by interviewing her everyday on small parts of the program”

Best teaching experiences

Key elements

Students had a too much heterogeneous knowledge background. Difficulty in creating a common ground among experts and beginners attending the same courseStudent profile

A lot of students were not really interested in the subjectLack of motivation

Professional training: “Audio-Visual tools”

“once I choose the wrong objectives with respect to the students: I deepened some topics they didn’t interested to and I only superficially addressed the ones they were more interested to”


Prof. Putti first takes into consideration all the aspects of the context in which is going to teachContext: Istitutional context, Students information, Physical space

Then he organize the timetable of the course Subject | Duration and step

Try to distribute the contents to give the course a good “balance”Contents

He chooses the best method for each part of the course: lecture, visual presentations, discussionMethod

He defines the roles and the interaction modality with the studentsSocial orchestration: Interaction and roles

Design a course

CONTEXT

Time

Subject

Method Socialorchestration

Simone Gambini is a technical employee of the University of Siena.

He is also in charge for professional training for the technical staff of the University of Siena


Professional training at UnisiSubjects: “Audio-video tools”

Seminar inside a University course at Science of Communication Department

Subjects: “Audio-video tools”

Simone

Key elements

Good knowledge background of participantsStudents profile

During the lesson there was a constant discussion among students and teachers. The interaction was really highSocial orchestration, interaction

Seminar in “Audio-video tools” for university students

“When I had a positive feedback about what participants learnt”


Lessons in “Audio-video tools” for university technical employees

“Participants did not have a sufficient background knowledge to be engaged in the course”

Key elements

Some of the participants did not have a sufficient knowledge to share a common vocabulary with the more trained Students profile

There was not interaction among participants but a one way transmission of informationSocial orchestration, interaction


Simone first takes into consideration the subject is going to teachSubject

Then he organize the timetable of the course Duration and step

He arranges the contents in different topics linked logicallyContents

He takes in account the physical spaceMethod

Design a course

Subject

Time

SpecificContents Method

Andrea teaches Bioinformatics at University of Siena in the Bio molecular and Biology Departments.

He reports two experiences of teaching Bio informatics to university students in molecular biology. Both teaching experiences reported have the same subjects: Bio informatics software applications and database for Bio molecular analysis.

Andrea

Students Course in Bio informatics software applications and database for Bio molecular analysis

Elements

Practical exercises on computers give the possibility to follow students in accomplishing the given tasks. Further more is possible to provide them with technical assistance in interacting with software and to guide them in the procedure Teacher: method (Teaching format: practical)

Proposing unsolved case studies connected with real world experience the students may have (e.g. during the classes SARS was an unsolved analysis case proposed while the Media attention on the disease was really high) Contents: situated content

Some of the case study solved were issued as Scientific paper. This possibility motivated the students that really seldom have access to the production of scientific publications and proved that the gap between research and teaching can be bridged Traces: externalization | Student information: need, profile, motivation


Students Course in Bio informatics software applications and database

Elements

The motivation of students was not properly addressedThe pre-existing knowledge of students was not integrated in the content of the coursesStudent information: need, profile, motivation

The unavailability of computers compelled Andrea to teach more theoretical classes (e.g. teaching database structure or algorithms instead of using the software) Artefacts and materials: availability, status

The shift towards theoretical contents did not match with the interests of studentsStudent information: need, profile, motivation


Key Elements

Motivation of students Student information: need, motivation

Availability of resources in terms of contents Artefacts and materials: availability, status

Availability of spaces and artefacts Spaces: physical characteristics, use

Continuous presence of teachers and tutors Teacher: role

Situating the content of the course according to other courses the students have already attended or are about to Contents: integrated content

Choosing content considering what could be interesting for students and connected to their real world experience Contents: situated content

Make explicit the objectives in relation with the skills students should acquire Aims & Objectives: aims, objectives | students information: needs

Organize the activity in relation with the numbers of student and time. Time: duration and step | social orchestration: number

Design a course

Student

Space

Artefacts

Teacher

ContentsObjectives

Time

Moira works for the network of Siena University Libraries as a programmer of software applications for content management.

Really often she teaches the personnel of the libraries (her colleagues) how to use the software she assembled.

She reports two experiences: one as a teacher the other one as an attendant .

Moira

Teacher in a Course for the personnel of University Libraries. subject : software applications for content management

Elements

The activity during the course was mainly practical Teacher: method Teaching format: practical

The content was really well situated in the everyday experience of the participants Contents: situated content

Teaching to a Community. Moira personally knew the participants (most of them are usually colleagues)Organizational & cultural context: community

The participants most of the times knew the problems the software applications attempted to address Aims and objectives: sharing

A high degree of interaction among participantsSocial orchestration: numbers, interaction

Few participants have more possibility to cooperate and collaborateSocial orchestration: grouping


Attendant in a Course for the personnel of University Libraries. subject : software applications for content management

Elements

Due to the high number of people was not possible to establish a satisfactory degree of Interaction among participantsSocial orchestration: number, interaction

The seats were not comfortableSpaces: physical characteristics, use

Wrong participants expectations about the objectives of the courseStudent information: need, motivation

The content presented was not structuredActivity: actions


Elements

Stating the objectives with respect to the participants experience and expectationsStudent information: need, motivation

Well structured teaching activityActivity: actions

Numbers of participants (small groups to facilitate interaction) Social orchestration: number, interaction

Artefacts available and well functioning (make the course more appealing)Artefacts and materials: availability, status | Artefacts and materials: availability,

The summative evaluation is a good tool to monitor if the course was successfulEvaluation: summative evaluation

the teacher should make the participants feel comfortable (avoid the learner-teacher traditional relationship)Teacher: role, attitude

Design a course

Students

ArtefactsTeacher

Activityplan

Socialorchestration

Evaluation

Background/Expertise: Musician – Music Teacher

Title of the Project: Musical Educational Programme for Primary Schools (Sponsored by the Municipality of Perugia, Italy)

Role: Programme Designer, Coordinator, Operator (teacher)

FrancescaFrancesca is the coordinator of an educational program aiming at teaching music (basic level) to Primary School children (5-11 years old). She has been teaching music for 18 years, in these interviews she speaks about her experience both as teacher and as educational programs Coordinator.

. Some years ago I was going to meet the young students of a primary school class (5-6 years old) for the first time. I decided to use a “special” (or magic) object to introduce myself to the class;. I found a gummy yellow coloured ball with some blue points painted on; I called that “Lulù” (…like “the sphere yellow and blue”); . After few Lulù became part of the lessons: she “taught” the children the basic parameters of the sound (duration, loudness, height…) through its behaviour, she looked after the behaviour of the children during the class activities, she evaluated their elaborates…. After several years I sometimes meet some of those children asking me about “Lulù”

. Lulù was unexpectedly successful for me. I decided to re-formulate the whole didactic course around that;

. You can’t expect too much from the activity you plan for such young children. Something that seem to be gripping(for the tools involved, the typology of the activity…) can even result boring for the students. Sometimes an idea you didn’t consider of too much interest will result very intriguing for these young students

The importance for teaching to be “flexible” and “improvise” their role and the activities during the interactions with students

Emerging issue(s)


. I’ve never met a real bad or unhappy experience. I have a general concern regarding the difficulties I usually face in involving the teachers and the families in the musical activities;. Sometimes it seems that teachers consider musical didactic as a “matter of fact” in the development of primary school curricula. They rarely put too much attention at the proposed activities and it’s always quite difficult to find space for teaching music or to link the various subjects together;. Beside that, It’s even difficult to consider parents and families as resources for our activities. In the past, we proposed them to collect funds for buying musical instruments or for recording musical material for all the children. Anybody really seemed sympathetic with such ideas…

. The importance of integrating subjects and coordinating teachers in the development of complex scholastic programmes (e.g.: music, maths, literature…);. Involving external stakeholders (i.e. the families) as resources for didactic projects;

Emerging issue(s)


“I usually start with a general aim, which is trying to give the children a meaningful musical experience. All the other specific objectives (sense of rhythm, acquisition of singing basic skills…) are secondary. I’d like to open them a door into the world of music […]”“For doing this we have to collect and organise an interesting musical material. That could be original (songs and tunes composed “ad hoc”) or existing musical material (symphonies, folk/pop songs, didactic material…)”“For doing this we have to collect and organise an interesting musical material. That could be original (songs and tunes composed “ad hoc”) or existing musical material, symphonies, folk/pop songs, didactic material…)”“The objectives are almost always the same: sound/silence, concept of music, musical parameters, rhythm…”“I schedule the Activities in the time-span (usually 3-4 months) trying to following the availability of the various schools and teachers”“During the courses I usually schedule at least 3-4 meetings with the operators (music teachers) for check-ups”“The courses end up with a “public performance” of the children that may be held within each school (teachers and families are invited) or in a public space (e.g. the main theatre) for all the kids involved”

Aims

Contents

Artefacts/Materials

Objectives

Activities

Time

Assessment

Outcome

Design a course

Background/Expertise: Humanistic Area (Literature&Philosophy degree) – High School Professor of History, Literature and Philosophy.

Title of the Project: Interdisciplinary class project called “The Cultural and Musical Revolution in the 60’s – 70’s”

Role: Project Coordinator, Professor

Elisabetta

. I haven’t any previous experience in the “project area” ‘cause I come from a school in which this area is not developed at all; moreover this is the first year I’m experiencing the project tutoring;

. This year I found very positive the activity of lyrics production and music recording;

. I observed most of the students actively taking part at the the proposed activities, especially those ones usually distracted during the standard lessons

. In this kind of non-conventional activities the “change of context” plays a crucial role. Students show competences which are not usually demanded in the standard courses, in some cases experimenting the “inversion of role” between them and the teachers


. Again, this is the only experience of tutoring I have and I didn’t face any actual unhappy situation.

. I’ll probably adjust some aspects in the next years. Some activities might be better arranged and scheduled.

. In the very early period I tended to plan too many activities and results in too few time. This unrealistic perspective overloaded the students who weren’t completely able to accomplish the requested tasks.


“It wasn’t me planning this project for the first time. I became the coordinator of the project during the second year so what I made has been trying to re-arrange the whole plan”

“I scheduled a calendar of meetings and activities in a way that students could have been working together with the teachers, in groups, in the classroom or in the Labs.”

“I scheduled a calendar of meetings and activities in a way that students could have been working together with the teachers, in groups, in the classroom or in the Labs.”

“I noticed too much waste of time and resources. That was why I decided to establish a minimum set of (more specific) objectives/priorities for the first year and a different set of more general objectives (to be refined) for the second “

“For some of those objectives (e.g. lyric production or song composition…) I needed some external collaborators. I contacted them asking their involvement in the project “

“I’m not sure whether some kind of evaluation is expected or not at the end of the project…I see my colleagues producing many kinds of files and charts… Sometimes I would like to be like them, sometimes I feel them (filling in forms, producing evaluation files…) like a sort of constriction…”

Contents

Evaluation(???)

Activities

Time

Finding External Resources

(teachers)Objectives

Design a course

Background/Expertise: Scientific Area (Naturalistic Science Laurea Degree) – High School Professor of Science and Chemistry.

Title of the Project: Interdisciplinary class project called “The Cultural and Musical Revolution in the 60’s – 70’s”

Role: Professor

Elisabetta

. I recently took one of the 4th class in the traditional “naturalistic trip” (IV Biologico);

. Students walked around a naturalistic site (in this case down the river) for then collecting together observations and discussions;

. Teachers gave them a common topic (“the river”) to be deepened under different perspectives (economical, historical, literal, scientific…);

. They conducted the activity with much enthusiasm and ability, positively impressing one of the expert/lecturer invited by the school;

. For the first time the students experimented the “research” approach;

. We (teachers) showed them how to speak about the same topic following different points of view;

. In this situation it emerges the importance of “empirical” activities rather than theoretical/speculative approaches;

. This experience suggests the importance of linking different contents together and to ground them in a concrete, shared experience;

Emerging issue(s)


. It deals with one of the class involved in the interdisciplinary project: “living downtown” (VB Biologico)

. Nobody of them is going to use the contents developed within the project for the final exam at the end of the year

. The students say they don’t see the link with any of the topic or the subject they usually study. It’s the first time this kind of objective is missed in the experience I have in tutoring

. The theme of the project didn’t come up from any students discussion/debate. It has been imposed by the committee of teachers;

. The project is not shared among the class; nobody really seems to feel involved in it;

. In a parallel experience I have in tutoring interdisciplinary projects the classroom chose the theme of the course. That is making them feeling much more involved;

. The importance of allowing students to be part of decisional/addressing processes;

. Sharing the decisions seems to be crucial for increasing students motivation;

Emerging issue(s)


CONCLUSIONS

> Even when they work in the same context, teachers don’t have a common approach to learning design

> Some “given” elements are considered basically influencing to design/act/evaluate a learning experience:

- context (not-manageable factor)

- students motivation (difficult to manage)

- students background (not-manageable factor)

> Mostly all the teachers design a learning process starting from the subject and/or aims and objectives

then…

teachers on technical topics usually focus on factual elements which can influence the learning process (i.e. tools, space, students number, etc.)

teachers on humanistic topics are more interested in defining the objectives and the activity in respect with students profiles and needs

FOCUS GROUP5th April 2005

Define the first requirements for the interface of the Digital Library by…

> testing consistency and significance of the Green Board categories for privileged users by observing their effective use of the elements

> investigating the clustering and the hierarchy modalitiesof the Green Board elements

OBJECTIVES


SIMULATION

+ simulation of the design of real learning activity

+ active involvement of learning experts

+ critical factors emerge during the discussion

METHOD


2 heterogeneous groups:

Group A 1- Carlo, University of Siena Administratorteaching experiences in professional training

2- Diego, musician music teacher for beginners

3- Maria Alessandra, University Professor in Mathematicsteaching experiences in University and school for teachers

Group B 1- Giovanni, University of Siena Administrative employeeexpert in human resources management and training

2- Veronica, Software developer teaching experiences in informatics courses

3- Francesco, musicianteacher of music

GROUPING


Group A Organize a choir with a final performance

target: university employees

activity duration: 6 months

Group B Design a course of Informatics for children

target: children of primary school (10 years old)

activity duration: 2 semesters

TASKS


> Green Board elements (written on post-its)

> Blank post-it

> Form for the description of the elements

TOOLS


TOOLS


> 20 minutes of discussion inside each team to identify key elements

> 30 minutes of writing down description of each elements using forms

> 10 minutes defining relations, hierarchies and groupings of elements

> 5 minutes final presentation and discussion

ACTIVITY


Negotiation of the general aims of the course

Group A The course has mainly a social value,

It gives participants an opportunity to establish new kind

of social relations.

Secondly it gives opportunity to learn music

Group B The course aims to provide children with a basic knowledge of

the main functionality of a computer.

It has an explorative and playful approach

ACTIVITY steps


Negotiation of the description of key elements:

aims and context constituted the starting elements of the project for both groups

Group A put in relation aims with students profile and needs in order to specify the objectives.Then they defined the duration and steps and the activity. The group discussed about the meaning of assessment in this particular learning activity (mainly leisure activity)

Group B started from aims to define the objectives of the course and refine the subject. The definition of context helped them to describe the students profileand lead them to introduce a new element significant for the learning activity:funding and resources strictly related to tools availability and spacesthey also created another element concerning the possible integration with other subjects in the same learning context (primary school)

ACTIVITY steps


Arranging the elements

Group A disposed the elements on two axes: x- time (chronological order) y- relevance (priority of the element in the learning activity)

They clustered the elements in three macro-areas according to the different phases they went through during the design:

1- resources management2- unfolding of learning activity3- evaluation of the whole activity

CONFIGURATION /A

Arranging the elements

Group B mapped the elements around two main core elements: aims context

The connections among the elements were established according to theirrelations without pre-existing criteria (e.g. time).

The configuration they used was shaped around that course without constituting any standard learning program structure

CONFIGURATION /B

Both groups presented their plan explaining the rationale and describing

the main elements they used for the learning activity design.

Then the others commented and asked clarifications on elements and their

disposition on the board.

DISCUSSION

Aims and context as prior elements of research within the digital library

The two different configurations of the Green board elements

proposed by the two groups suggest at least two different approaches

to the use of the Digital Library.

1- a modality based on a sequential or abstract composition

(e.g. use of templates, already made schema…)

2- a modality based on narrative exploration of elements to acquire

inspiration from similar experiences

CONCLUSIONS


Use the results of the feedbacks from the different contexts to define the users requirements for the Digital Library

Next step[ Bristol 6th April 2005 ]

Allumino karto a tutti!

continue to test the green board by collecting evidences from different learning experiences in each...

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