Impacts of increased ICT use in Business Studies: A reflection on past, present and future!

This blog post will consider the development of my pedagogical practice. It will examine how my teaching has changed since beginning the MTeach program at the start of this year, it will evaluate questions such as:

·      How much ICT was used in my previous lessons?

·      Did ICT make positive and/or negative contributions? and;

·      How will the increased use of ICT change in facilitating content and therefore the development of students in the future?

 

Specifically this post will highlight how my approach to implementing ICT within the Business Studies classroom has changed since beginning my professional practice.

In teaching Year 12 Business Management, Unit 4 requires students to study The Management of Change. Students identify organisational change can come from a wide range of areas to affect the way Large Scale Organisations (LSO’s) are run. Changes are identified as coming from three main environments:

·      Internal (created within the company),

·      Operating (generated often from within the industry, i.e. competitor forces) and;

·      External (from outside the companies influence, of which technological changes are the most prevalent).

During discussions I quickly observed my students were very receptive to discussions based on the use of technology, both within the world of business and within the scope of their learning while at school. Successful teachers will often purposely examine their student’s behaviours, including their language and social interaction. Victorian Institute of Teaching standard 3 states; “Teachers know their students” (VIT 2010). Understanding this key point (along with the remainder of the teaching standards) is crucial to the success of a newly graduated teacher.

During my professional practice I ensured I surveyed my students fields of interests so that I could use this knowledge in order to make meaningful connections when facilitating content.

In a previous post here, I assessed the use of iPads within the business studies classroom. Using the Apple iPad proved to be a significant leap, students were able to construct knowledge through the use of differentiated learning, involving social interaction with peers and trading thoughts regarding the use of the iPad as a suitable learning tool.  As the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) it was very interesting to study the strong links to social constructivist theory, observing the communication and interaction between students.

Indeed the possibility of substituting “tired, old textbooks” (as one student remarked) with that of an app based educational and learning software, is already beginning to take place in schools! Find out more here.  The use of iPads within the schools is a very popular topic in the education sections of newspapers, for another article click here

The use of ICT and the use of learning tools involving ICT within the study design of  Year 12 Business Management lessons is very minimal (if at all!). By implementing the use of the iPad within a lesson, I was able to observe students eagerness to incorporate popular technology within the scope of learning business content. I am optimistic in the future use of iPads as a learning tool, with the development of app based learning software in conjunction with the possibilities of cloud computing.

It is the duty of all teachers to guide their students in the construction of knowledge. In future I will be examining ways in which I can achieve differentiated learning of students with a range of learning styles and intelligences by incorporating ICT as a learning tool.   

References

Apple (2011) iTunes Preview: GCSE Business Studies. Retrieved Oct24th 2011. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gcse-business-studies/id437783373?mt=8

MacNN (2010) Textbook publishers reformatting school books for iPad. Retrieved Oct 24^th 2011. http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/02/02/study.guides.and.test.prep.content.also.considered/

The Age (2011) Schools ponder if an Apple a day keeps ignorance at bay. Retrieved Oct 24^th 2011. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/schools-ponder-if-an-apple-a-day-keeps-ignorance-at-bay-20110730-1i5kr.html

Victorian Institue of Teaching (2010) Professional standards. Retrieved Oct 24^th 2011. http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/standardsandlearning/Pages/professional-standards.aspx

Wikipedia (2011) Clous Computing. Last modified on 23 October 2011 at 23:27. Retrieved Oct 24^th 2011.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

The future is in our hands...literally!

After browsing the internet this morning, I found another great article that considers the benefits of the use of iPads within education. I thought I'd share this article, the link can be found here:

Many US Schools Adding iPads, Trimming Textbooks:
 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Many-US-schools-adding-iPads-apf-1245885050.html?x=0&.v=2


One particularly interesting passage within the text reads:

"At Burlington High in suburban Boston, principal Patrick Larkin calls the $500 iPads a better long-term investment than textbooks, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available".

This brings up one very important aspect that I failed to reflect on in my previous post, analysis of the use of iPads through my teaching experiences. 

iPads have the potential to become an effective teaching tool, and a better long term investment than textbooks, but only when used in subjects that allow for it. Teachers should also consider the use of iPads to complement the use of other teaching resources, such as textbooks and workbooks. 

Joining both Traditional (textbooks) AND Innovative (iPad) teaching resources together may compliment the use of each in facilitating constructive learning principles with the school's learning environment.

The practice of ICT in schools in 2011 - Using ICT to inspire students in Yr 12 Business Management

According to a survey by technology giant Canon, advancements in technology has been ranked as the biggest force for driving change within companies. Canon surveyed around 300 senior executives of companies within Australia, along with 700 workers who were not involved in decision-making. This article can be found here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8304599/technology-biggest-change-for-many-firms

Within the scope of Unit 4 VCE Business Management, students will study the ‘Management of change’ of which the impact of technological changes effect large scale organisations, forming internally as well as externally.  In my professional practice, I decided to use the above article as a case study analysis, setting some review questions related to key criteria in understanding this content.

This proved to be an excellent topic to study. Integrating key milestones of ‘technological developments in society’ as content within the Yr 12 Business Management class, allowed students to incorporate existing knowledge in the area of ICT and their personal experiences of example technological advancements.

One critical observation I have learnt since beginning this Masters of Teaching program through the University of Melbourne, is that students will respond very well and begin to construct and develop their knowledge at a faster and more effective rate if the teacher is able to teach content while integrating aspects and linking examples from the students own life and the lives of those around them.

While developing students understanding of key concepts of how managers would deal with technological change within the world of business, I decided deeper analysis of other case studies as well as the introduction of a real-life example, may provoke higher-order thinking within students.

During a lesson I presented the students with an article relating a major technological develop in the way society reads book. The class then discussed and evaluated how online book retailer Amazon had forecasted a major change within the industry from traditional paper books, to a growth in electronic book readers (e-Readers). Amazon’s new e-Reader innovation the Kindle, has become a fierce competitor with Apples iPad2.

While many would expect Apple’s track record for industry-leading technological development would usually blow most competitors out of the water, a simple Google search proves ‘tech-heads’ have found Amazon’s Kindle tablet is more than a match for the iPad.

While analysing these articles I asked if any of the students had an iPad or similar tablet, to which one student replied, “Yes, I do! Its great, you can do lots more than just ‘read books’ on it though! you can surf the net, write documents and spreadsheets, check emails, play games and heaps more stuff!” This proved to be an excellent opportunity to perform a real life experiment of how a new piece of technology may be managed by the students; in the same way it may affect a large-scale organisation within a certain industry.

There have been many studies and academic evaluations of the effectiveness of Apple’s iPad and a learning tool for students within a school setting. Meurant (2010) considered how Korean schools will be using these tablet within an ESL (English as a Second Language) setting, stating “EFL/ESL usage will in future predominantly be online. It will be used to access, navigate and contribute to English language digital resources, and for computer-mediated communication with others who are in the main non-native speakers of English”.

Mulholland (2011) believes children will be able to explore, create and construct knowledge in a whole new way, “having kids with a device such as the iPad in the classroom (within the curriculum) is very powerful...Our feedback from our teachers and students is that this is something they’re using every day. It’s embedded in all of their subjects”.

Walters (2011) estimates the iPad will revolutionise education “The iPad allows for portability and kinesthetic interaction that a laptop cannot provide…(it) gave us the opportunity to transition from long-term projects that incorporated software-specific projects with a steep learning curve to smaller-scale, app-based learning activities”.

In the next Business Management session, the aforementioned student brought the iPad to class, where I then asked students to split into groups systematically and complete three business related content questions, using the text editor application on the iPad. Some students found it difficult to adapt to the new changes taking place in the operations of the classroom environment, opting to return the tried and tested method of ‘paper and pen’. However most students relished at the chance to use the iPad as part of a learning tool. Questions arose such as “This is great! Heaps easier to use than I thought, how much are they?” followed by “If I do my notes on this can I print them off?, ‘cause I’ll need them for exams!”

When given the opportunity to experience the iPad for myself during the Business Management session, it was possible to see the reasons for the rapid growth in popularity of tablets both as a learning tool and a personal electronic device. It is, although, important to reflect on thoughts and areas of concern for the use of this ICT tool.

Firstly I would have liked more time to be able to continue the testing of this device as a learning tool, one lesson cannot hold the basis of findings. Ultimately, it is the success of future case studies undertaken in the academic community, which the Principal and the admin team would review in making their decision to buy iPad’s (e-readers/tablets) for the student body. Secondly, I believe I was rather fortunate to have an acceptable focus group when using the device, as teachers of younger year levels may struggle to keep their students on task, given the wide range of abilities and software applications the iPad has.

References

Barrile, S. & Cameron, T. (2009) Business Management: Corporate management, people and change. VCE Units 3 & 4. Eighth Edition.  Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia. Pg 306-307.

Gotta be Mobile (2011) Consumer Reports: iPad 2 Is Best Tablet On The Market. Retrieved 24^th Sept 2011. http://www.gottabemobile.com/2011/04/05/consumer-reports-ipad-2-is-best-tablet-on-the-market/

Meurant, R. (2010) iPad Tablet Computing to Foster Korean EFL Digital Literacy. International Journal of U- & E-Service, Science & Technology, Dec, Vol. 3 Issue 4, p49-62.

Mulholland, J. (2011) iPads Strengthen Education. Government Technology, Apr, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p20-24.

Ninemsn (2011) Technology biggest change for many firms. Retrieved 24 Sept 2011. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8304599/technology-biggest-change-for-many-firms

SOA World Magazine (2011) NEWSWEEK: COVER: Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.) Retrieved 24^th Sept 2011. http://soa.sys-con.com/node/463057

Walters, E. & Baum, M. (2011) Will the iPad Revolutionize Education? Learning & Leading with Technology, May, Vol. 38 Issue 7, p6-7.

Get Those HD's Nath!

Hi Everyone!

This is a game I created using Game Maker 7 for Mac. Its an example of how Game Maker might be used within a secondary school setting to educate student on how to create their very own games!

This particular game I have made is my very first attempt and as such is quite unpolished and crude! > But hopefully my fellow LAIT student get a laugh from it!

Please ensure you download Game Maker to be able to open this file (familiarise yourself on how to demo the game once you open it within the program) Please read the ReadMe file also!

Download the file here: (Download all files to your computer)
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzhlGysklpDkZjdhMWE1MTAtNDVjNC00NjVhLThmMTQtZmUxODQ4Yzc0MjY5&hl=en_US

I was able to make this game by following this very simple tutorial here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2oa77R8MU

This is another excellent teaching resource you could use!

Enjoy and Good Luck!

Brendan

ICT as a student centred learning tool

I believe ICT provides a rich and flexible learner-centred environment in which students can experiment and take risks when developing new understanding. Being given the opportunity to teach IT is an excellent but challenging experience, It is very rewarding to see students succeed and even surpass expectations, learners can at times have more knowledge than the teacher, as even the most ‘seasoned’ IT teachers would attest to! It’s important that both beginning and established teachers identify the exceptional opportunities that ICT provides for teachers in delivering content to learners as well as aiding students in developing knowledge. From a pedagogical theory view, the use of ICT is a superb method of promoting constructivist learning principles in students, allowing students to construct knowledge through technology-based means.

While completing my pre-service teaching rounds through the University of Melbourne, my classes of focus has been the Business Management streams (Business Management, Economics, Legal Studies, Accounting, Industry & Enterprise), This Blog is devoted to providing teachers and parents with Business Management related teaching resources. In teaching my secondary field of I.T. for the Year 9 level class, we focused on the study of creating websites with the use of basic HTML coding. As primarily a business teacher, I took the opportunity to ‘inject’ some business and economics related aspects, implementing cross-curricula content and learning and development.

When designing their personal websites and delivering theory behind HTML coding, I suggested students research other websites which they believed were in the same industry, or closely related with their own website they would develop. This presented a great opportunity to introduce the notion of (in the business world) Enterprise and Entrepreneurial leaders will research the needs of their business idea, gaining an insight into current market trends and identifying targets markets which their business idea will be able to capitalise on. This is a direct focus on Level 6 of VELS Civics and Citizenship:

Learning Focus:

“Students explore what it means to be a leader, considering different leadership styles and learn how they can lead by example. Students are provided with opportunities to participate in leadership activities and projects that contribute to the wellbeing of others and which may have a local, national or global focus”.

Standards (Community engagement):

“At Level 6, students draw on a range of resources, including the mass media to articulate and defend their own opinions about political, social and environmental issues in national and global contexts”

The students were able to identify wants and needs of society and able to apply them in an enterprising or entrepreneurial sense. Some students were also able to use their website as a means to promote a Not-For-Profit or charity cause, this lead to discussions on societal changes, environmental concern and other humanitarian issues.

Another area of cross curricula implementation, which I was able to focus on, was in the demographic make up of different races within the school. This particular school has a very wide range of cultural make-up, student backgrounds including Afghan, Chinese, West-African, Indian and Sub Continent as well as students with Pacific Island decent. This provided another excellent chance to consider areas of target markets and the study of different cultures, using the VELS level 6 Information Technology,

Learning focus:

“Students accept and respect differences in others’ approaches to using ICT for solving problems and designing products, and respect cultural diversity among users of ICT”.

(Cultural acceptance)

“Students use ICT techniques to make their information products accessible to a wide audience, taking into account special needs”.

(Defining target markets for product)

Being able to deliver precise content knowledge within a unit area as well as incorporating cross-curriculum content is an essential skill to possess for any beginning or established teacher!

 _______________________________________

References

Victorian Essential Learning Standards Website (2011) Viewed 24^th Aug 2011. http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vels/level6.html

Welcome Back to Semester Two!

Hi Everyone!

After a very relaxing, recharging and above all recommended (given the intensity of the course) mid year break, this Business Blog is back and ready to continue bringing you the best free teaching resources for all of those budding Business Studies teachers out there!

This second semester of the Master of Teaching (Accelerated) with the University of Melbourne also heralds the introduction of a new technology based unit taught named ICT in Secondary Education! This Business Blog will be used as a means of displaying this new unit's content, assessment and other communication in teaching ICT within a secondary school environment.

As always stay tuned to Brendan's Business Blog for examples of great Business Studies teaching resources, why not bookmark this page!? For windows press Ctrl + D or for MAC users press Cmd + D now!


Brendan    : )

Reflection – “Designing Delivery: A student centred approach to Year 11 ICT in Small Business”

As teachers, it is important that we identify the need for observation and reflection of our practice, which aids in the construction of positive and negative feedback. This feedback can form the basis for further suggestion for our own benefit or the benefit of our peers and fellow teacher colleagues. This reflection post will consider the design and delivery of a whole unit of assessment within Business Management for VCE Year 11 – ICT in Small Business. This unit is available on this website in the form of a Unit Outline (posted below) as well as attachments of teaching resources complementing the delivery of this content. This reflection essay will also consider aspects of pedagogical importance such as the delivery of content, identifying the development of key knowledge and skills and the application of pedagogical theories.

Technology is very much part of the everyday lives of young people, however there is a considerable difference between young peoples ability to operate technology and their understanding of how it actually works and its role in society, especially in the world of business and economics. Hadjerrouit  (2008) in studying the delivery of secondary education in Norway, suggests “despite the importance of ICT as a school subject in secondary education, there is a lack of an integrated ICT pedagogy that is elucidated within a broad framework of educational practice…to realize the potential inherent in ICT, there is a need for innovative ICT pedagogies in secondary education”.

While this particular study may be based in a different country, its application draws many comparisons to our own secondary system in Australia. Miliszewska and Moore (2010) highlight the challenging issue of teaching ICT in secondary education effectively, suggesting there is also be a gender element, “…as governments, higher education providers, industry, and the voluntary sector complement each other in their search for effective solutions to a dilemma that is increasingly recognized as being much more complex than a simple dichotomy of gender and technology”.

In the initial stages of framing this unit of work for Year 11 VCE, understanding students could have differing levels of prior knowledge surrounding this topic was critical to success. While most students have some knowledge in the operation of everyday technologies, such as mobile technology - SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia message service), social networking and Internet web browsing, not all students have the same level of interest, or may not have the same level of access according to their lifestyle. Striking a balance between the delivery of new content for those students lacking technological experience, whilst at the same time engaging and keeping the interest of those who had vast previous knowledge, was critical to success and the internalisation of key knowledge and skills.

Internalisation refers to a key concept in constructivist theory, pioneered by Lev Vygotsky, a Polish born Psychologist circa 1930’s Russia. Students ‘construct’ knowledge from their own experiences. In his work, Vygotsky emphasises how “historical, social and cultural factors predict cognitive development” (Kozulin et al. 2007). Cognitive changes occur…as teachers and learners share cultural tools, and this culturally mediated interaction produces cognitive change only when it is internalized in the learner (Schunk 2008). As I could identify a strong link between the different stages of development in key knowledge between the students due to their background, constructivist theory played a big part in developing the different methods of delivery of this unit of work

In delivering this content, I decided to use modern day language/slang for the different types of technology, i.e. young people calling Facebook as ‘Facey’ and SMS also being known as ‘Texting’. This was a contributing factor to the development, facilitation and overall success of this VCE unit. Vygotsky himself emphasized the importance of language as a major, if not the primary mechanism of the internalisation of experiences (Kozulin et al. 2007). Language in all forms, is an essential method of communication, collaborative dialogue and communication between teacher and student or student and peers, is instrumental in creating a successful learning environment (Schunk 2008).

One final strategy, contributing to the success of this unit, is in the preparation of content and additional resources, helping to sustain the engagement levels of the students. “Holistic teaching does not necessarily require sacrificing content, but it does involve structuring content differently” (Schunk, 2008). I identified that many of my students were ‘visual’ in their learning style, meaning they constructed understanding and the internalisation of knowledge though experiences using visual stimulants such as pictures and diagrams. Within the PowerPoint slides, I included humorous visual stimulants pertaining to the specific content focus, i.e a picture of a solider, when exploring the use of Internet security, viruses etc. Using this method as a engagement strategy, I found students were very responsive and an enthusiastic to learn, filling gaps in knowledge for those students who had little previous knowledge, while holding the attention of those whose technical experience was vast.

In concluding, while the creation and delivery of this specific unit of work was very successful, it’s important to be mindful that there are many variables, which may influence a student’s social and academic interaction. There is no ‘one way to teach for all’ strategy and successful teaching should be about a continual state of development, with forward planning and goals. In keeping with Vygotsky’s social constructivist view, teachers should structure the syllabus and learning environment so that students can construct their knowledge as explained in my example.

References

Hadjerrouit, S. (2008) Using a Learner-Centered Approach to Teach ICT in Secondary Schools: An Exploratory Study. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology. Volume 5. Pg 1 -27.

Kozulin, A., and Gindis, B. (2007), Sociocultural Theory and Education of Children with Special Needs: From Defectology to Remedial Pedagogy, The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky, (eds) Daniels, H., Cole, M., and Wertsch, J.V., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 332-36

Miliszewska, I. and Moore, A. (2010) Encouraging girls to consider a career in ICT: a review of strategies. Journal of Information Technology Education 9 (2010): IIP-143, 24

Schunk,D. (2008) Chapter 6 “Constructivist Theory”. In Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective. 5^th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall

Thune, T. & Welle-Strand, A. (2005) ICT for and in internationalization processes: A business school case study. Higher Education. 50: 593–611