Virtual Classroom in the School Context
Integration of Remote Classrooms
The Kilpisjärvi project
PPT-dia
The local authorities of the Kilpisjärvi village decided to extend the primary school to include the lower secondary level of the comprehensive school (grades 7-9). The University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education was interested in supporting the project. ----> authentic interest
THE AIMS OF THE PROJECT
To familiarize student teachers with the use of information technologies
To open up new learning perspectives for all participants involved
To seek novel ways to support small rural schools and communities
Practical arrangements
same curriculum
constant evaluative discussions on learning outcomes
The division of distance lessons in the Kilpisjärvi Project Subject Number of % of all distance lessons lessons ______________________________________________________ English 156 58 History 115 58 Mathematics 110 37 Biology and Geog. 38 17 Swedish 31 15 Finnish 24 9 Religion 11 6 Pupil counceling 17 5 ______________________________________________________ Total 502 15%
Defining virtuality
CMC (computer mediated communication) ---> lectures and discussions are possible in electronic environments (Hiltz 1986)
reality in effect, not in fact (Rajasingham 1996)
---> Defining virtual classroom
Research
Research tasks
What kind of influence does the setting and the pedagogical approaches used have on the roles of the teachers and pupils involved?
How does the distance education project affect the local communities and vice versa?
Data gathering methods
questionaries
Findings
Technical aspects
problems in video link
Instructional process and teaching methods
verbal interaction
teaching methods
amount of independent work varied according to teacher and subject matter
Teachers’ experiences
mutual planning sessions with the remote site teachers
video conferencing is more suitable for certain subjects than for others
extensive amount of preliminary work ---> requires time and effort
role as a mediator in classroom management
Students’ experiences
publicity
variation into day-to-day routine
How local interactions and mediated interactions can be handled at the same time by the teacher?
“It is not the technology but the way it is used which ultimately affects the learner. A good teacher has presence in any medium.” (Mason 1994)
Using distance education in school context
international connections; e.g. in teaching foreign languages
acquiring up-to-date knowledge
Sähköposti: marjo.salonen@helsinki.fi
Kotisivu: http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/marsalon/