Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Open source is also taking a huge role in revi-
talizing education. Cottenham Village College in
Cambridge, UK, now runs its entire online teach-
ing, learning and home community, which con-
sists of about 1,500-1,600 users, on a completely
open source system. Google and Moodle provide
email and the virtual learning environment (John,
2008).All of the Information and Communication
Technology curriculum is entirely online with
all lessons and learning activities completed at
school and at home. Moodle is used to direct the
students through the learning objectives. Google
not only provides quick, efficient and easy-to-use
email and calendar but also the capabilities for
sharing documents online through Google Apps.
In preparation, students are brought in over the
summer for a week to acclimate themselves to the
web site and software. They get their own Google
Apps accounts and then communicate with each
other over the summer (John, 2008).
Wikis have recently come to the forefront in
education as a form of software allowing a wide
range of collaborative learning activities. Grant
(2008) discusses the potential uses of wikis in
relation to collaborative learning communities and
networked groups and briefly addresses the use
of other types of social software such as internet
discussion forums, social networking sites and
social bookmarking. The study examines classes
of 13-14 year olds in Information Communication
and Technology at a specialist secondary school
in Gloucestershire, UK. The teachers assigned the
students to random groups of six and nine, each
group having its own separate wiki, which was to
address a three week history-based project about
“Innovations in Technology Since 1950.” Students
were given latitude to present their research any
way that they wanted in the context of their wiki
and could work on it during class time and at home.
The students worked collaboratively, individually
or in pairs on a particular topic within the project
scope. While the students understood that they
were publishing their content online, they were
more concerned with editing their own pages than
someone else's. They took ownership in their
work and treated it as they would have any other
project to be worked on for class that would use
traditional methods (Grant, 2008). Grant (2008)
concludes that wikis have enormous potential
for learning both in and out of the classroom and
different types of social software can very likely
support learning communities and group networks
in education.
In a project called “Teaching with Games,”
over one-thousand teachers and students (made
up of 10 case studies in four schools with over
300 students ranging in ages 11 to 13 years) used
commercial over the shelf games to teach content,
teamwork, and problem solving (Ulicsak, 2007).
Games such as, The Sims 2, Roller Coaster Tycoon
3, and Knights of Honor were used in traditional
settings with content-based curriculum. A key
result was that teachers who focused on com-
petency skills such as teamwork and problem
solving were more likely to use the game as it
was meant to be used. Teachers who were more
interested in developing content knowledge were
more likely to change the intended usage of the
game for their purposes. The researchers suggest
that, in order that the games can be more easily
used in an educational setting, that it would be
helpful to have other resources available related
to different uses of the game. It was found that
teachers only need the game to be accurate to a
certain degree in order to be useful in the class-
room. In general, teachers take what they need
from the game to accomplish their educational
needs (Ulicsak, 2007).
in-depth Case study at
one us middle school
This case study demonstrates how situated learning
and cognitive apprenticeship ideas can play out
in a formal learning setting to foster 21
st
Century
Skills in students. The case study involves a
computer graphics elective for 7th and 8th grade
students at Suncrest Middle School in Morgan-
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