Computers monotonous for some, magic for others.

     This weeks computer lesson that I observed was carried out in the same format as the previous one, and I have noticed that for many students this seems monotonous. I was disappointed to see such a potentially engaging anf motivating lesson have such little impact. The students were this time learning about formatting tables in a word document. Many of my university peers struggle with some of these functions, so even though I thought it was potentially dull, it is important for students to be familiar with.

     They were shown a demonstration and then had a chance to practise inserting pre-existing tables (like calendars) into a document and also creating their own. They looked at changing cell alignment, the appearance of lines, thickness and line style, the shading of cells, changing text orientation, changing the width of columns, etc. There was no particular goal or finished product at the end of the lesson but students were given the time to explore freely on their own. There were mixed results because of this - some students didn't achieve much at all during the lesson, and mucked around, whilst others really did a lot!

     After each lesson, the students save their work in a folder, so the teacher can visit all their work and assess the progress being made and skills being developed. The layout of the room and the style of the teacher resulted in many instances of peer-to-peer teaching, which I thought was wonderful.

     Whilst some students in the class seemed obviously computer-savvy, all the students in the class were able to participate and complete the activities. No one struggled at all with the lessons, which may be an indication that more challenging activities were needed for some, if not all, students. To find out what the students thought about the lessons, I spoke to them afterwards during the walk to the next class and also over the next few days. Whilst all agreed that they enjoyed the lesson, it was clear the some had skills that extended much further beyond this level. A group of three boys in the class explained to me a game that they were creating on their own at home. They were using a website to create a MMORPG! Don't you know what that is? Nor did I, but I discovered it is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that involved various characters, multiple players and a little bit of magic thrown in. Not only were they making a game that contained magic elements, but it was clear from the discussion that the process of creating the game was actually a little bit of pure magic for them. The mostly reserved, shy boy in the group spoke animatedly about the project with obvious passion. So the question remains... how do we use computers in the classroom to spread this magic, and create authentic learning experiences..? Next week I will have the chance to work with a small group of students on a constructionist learning activity... Stay tuned to hear if the result is magic or monotony!

Thanks to flickr for image: 'untitled' 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65414509@N00/2819175465

Thanks for flickr for image: 'Super Wizard Boy ~ Day 3/365'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18234353@N08/3188774118