Mobile Phones & de Bono's Six Thinking Hats - Week 2 Wiki Activity Reflection

This week in class, we had to again use an online Wiki to deconstruct various issues revolving around using Mobile Phones in the Classroom. The issue was deconstructed using de Bono's six thinking hats.

Using de Bono's six thinking hats combined with a wiki was very similar to Week 1's PMI/Wiki approach as both support higher order thinking & collaboration under a Constructivist approach. The characteristics of the wiki that led me to thinking it was a Constructivist exercise was that as a group we were each given one thinking hat, on which to add information. As a whole we were each constructing on each other's ideas, hence a constructivist approach.


I personally (so far) do not like Wikis or should I say my experience with Wikis. My major complaint with wikis is that as a classroom, so far we have not been able to edit the same wiki page simultaneously without chaos. This is because one person's edits overwrite the other or in other words, you can't have 2 people working on the same page at once. So this is definitely a drawback. However, if a wiki is properly utilised/organised, then I think this issue can be minimised.

To me (or should I say, what I like), a wiki so far is more effective/holds more benefits as an online resources page, and there could better alternative avenues on which to hold class discussions or work collaboratively online. However, I am yet to become aware of these avenues but hope to throughout this course.


I feel a wiki could contribute to the learning of my students by acting as an online resources page, kind of like a central home to where they can find any information, links, powerpoints etc that they need to access. There could maybe be a section where students' leave a personal reflection on certain topics (because the students aren't simultaneously adding to the page all at once, this can work), or where they collaborate in groups to add information to group pages.

Also, for anyone that's interested, below is a website that has many examples of educational wikis that were constructed for use in the classroom;
http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

Last but not least, my reflection on de Bono's Six Thinking Hats;

Personally I do not like them. To me, they are alien, difficult and partly silly (partly because I am extremely comfortable with the old trusty Positive vs Negative approach practised by the PMI Analysis), however being 'mature about it', I can appreciate their use in a classroom and that I must learn to like them, as I will be using them, however at the moment I am a teensy bit resentful towards them. This is when I knew, that for me to feel comfortable with de Bono's approach, I will have to conduct extra research on the utilisation of these six hats. I am hoping that de Bono will be discussed further upon in class because at the moment I find these hats difficult; particularly the red hat and the blue hat. The red hat; feelings; my first thought is how do you analyse a text with the red hat? How are students to break down a text under 'intution, hunches and gut instinct'. To me, it just doesn't make sense. The blue hat - thinking about thinking; my first thought; 'Aaagh! Get me out of here, what do I do with this hat?!!!"

That aside, I do think the Six Thinking Hats supported the collection of a range of perspectives on the use of mobiles in the classroom (more so than the traditional positive vs. negative). This is because it offered alternative ways of thinking, such as the green creative hat and the blue thinking hat (it's also a shame the text that was added to the Mobile Phones Wiki has since disappeared). As a whole, the thinking hats produce a higher order thinking approach and a deeper analysis of a topic or text, and I can see how they would be valuable in the classroom.

References:
CQUniversity. (2011). Readings: active learning, learning diversity and the theory (pp. 6). Retrieved from CQUniversity Course Resources Online FAHE11001
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=186311

CQUniversity (2011). fahe11001Mackay. Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://fahe11001mackay.wikispaces.com/Mobile+Phones+Wiki

Mindwerx Pty Ltd. (2011). Dr Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats [Image]. Retrieved from   http://www.mindwerx.com/mind-tools/5970/six-thinking-hats

Tangient LLC. (2011). Educational wikis. Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

Digital Natives & Immigrants (Marc Prensky) & PMI - Week 1 Wiki Activity Reflection

Yesterday, Shannon and I had to collaborate together on a Wiki activity, which required us to read an article written by Marc Prensky, 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' (for those of you who don't yet know, a digital native is someone born into our digital frenzy world with the operation of mobiles, laptops etc. second nature and a digital immigrant is someone who is foreign or immigrant to technology). From this article we were asked to further examine under the PMI approach; positive, minus and interesting.

On a side note, I found the below YouTube video to be a nice introduction to what is a wiki?

This week's wiki exercise could be seen as similar to the Jigsaw approach (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique) for further information & see diagram below; http://www.maryborougheducationcentre.vic.edu.au/successforboys/resources/pdf/planning_core/planning_activity5.pdf)

Jigsaw Approach

The differences however, were that Shannon and I were given a segment (in this case 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'), we were to dissect the information, and to report back to the class online by adding our information to the Learning Theories Wiki. So instead of having both home groups and expert groups, we only had a home group.

This strategy could be useful in our own teaching context, if utilised correctly, as it relies on the student's ability to be an active constructivist in their learning. Of course a student's ability to be a constructive learner is influenced by the teacher's enabling of the student. Teachers can equip their student's with the right scaffolding tools and mediums in which to use them, to support collaborative social understanding and interaction with others.

The act of reading and presenting back information online can be better than in a classroom if the activity is designed properly and the task given to them is clear. That way students are able to utilise scaffolding tools combined with social interaction to collaborate with each other and share ideas, to eventually interalise the new knowledge.

A constructivist approach does support individuals with different learning needs, as the students are learning together in a collaborative approach. The knowledge can be documented collaboratively online in forums, wikis, blogs etc. so that each student can build upon the other's learning. Each student is also given the chance to contribute, opportunities that are sometimes lost in a classroom context.

As mentioned earlier, knowledge from this task was scaffolded using the PMI Analysis tool. It was used to dissect the article and seperate it into the following categories; plus, minus & interesting. This technique supports greater analysis as it asks the reader to think about/analyse the text on a deeper level, by triggering the reader to examine all options before making any decisions.  You can also use the PMI tool to grade a text. For example, if every plus was graded +5, every minus -5, at the end of analysis, the text would have a grade that could support or reject a decision. This technique could be a useful strategy with my own learners as it encourages students to analyse on a deeper level as well as being a useful scaffolding tool for collaborative learning. A PMI tool could also be particularly effective in a Wiki as it allows each student to contribute to the list.


References:

Commonwealth of Australia. (2006). Planning guide: Activity sheet 5: Expert jigsaw. Retrieved from http://www.maryborougheducationcentre.vic.edu.au/successforboys/resources/pdf/planning_core/planning_activity5.pdf


ramitsethi. (2007, Mar 2). Pb wiki - What is a wiki? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmByB0sIPog&feature=player_embedded


Wikipedia. (2011). Jigsaw: Teaching technique. Retrieved July 7, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique)