Discussion
This appendix contains a transcript of a discussion between the two assignment authors, Megan Dick and Alastair Reynolds. The purpose of the discussion was to compare conclusions from each case study and to jointly reflect on the findings.
NOTE: The discussion was carried out on ExcitePal, an Internet-based real-time communications program.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Discussion participants : Megan Dick and Al Reynolds ----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Al Hi Megan Megan Hi there. Al Sorry I'm late! Megan I'll forgive you this time... :) Been reading my mail. Al I had problems connecting. Megan Drag! Hope this thing doesn't cut out on us. Al It shouldn't. Al (cut out) Megan I've got a notepad's worth of comments to make. :) Al You're very organised - mine are in my head. Megan :) ... I just don't trust my head. Al Me neither (my head that is) Megan Here is one we might want to talk about before we start ... Al okeydokey Megan "There was a general feeling from the staff that the amount of work which would be retained would depend on the individual pupil. This was interesting since the majority of those pupils who gained new skills or understanding as a result of the activity could still recall that new understanding two weeks later." Megan What do you mean? Al They thought it would vary a lot, but actually most remembered the stuff they learnt. Megan Ah...not clear that you were disagreeing with the teachers. I got the opposite impression. Al OK I'll edit it. Megan And also, there is a bit where you say it is a mixed ability group...though you do mention before that it is a grammar school, but could still be misleading. Al okeydokey - will probably leave that one as is Al You have a grammar error at the end of "Description of activity" Megan Hmm, looking. Al word 'managed' is missing Megan Am fixing it. Megan Just fixing it. Al ;-] Megan That took me WAY too long! Al not to worry Megan Ok... Al So, what else? Al What conclusions did we both come up with? Megan Ok, shall we begin? Need topic heading type stuff. Al You suggest things Megan Ok, there is stuff to talk about to do with results. Al And similar conclusions Al Were you surprised by your results? Megan I've got something to say about your use of Scrimshaw and the fact that I didn't. Megan We both used the word surprised. :) Al OK say it Megan I was surprised that the teachers had such clear expectations. Al I can't remember what I was surprised about Megan Huh? Al What was I surprised about? Megan "At times I was surprised to discover that the activity I was considering was actually achieving its aims." Al Oh yes. Well I was. Megan Me ----- "I was surprised that the teachers had such clear expectations of the program. Their expectations also encompassed skills that are not explicit in a History lesson and I found this impressive." Megan About Scrimshaw..... Al yes Megan Thought Scrimshaw would be good for me to look at initially ... but since think it is not relevant so much to mine "Questioning of the kind described in Scrimshaw (1993) encouraged pupils to analyse more carefully their own decision-making and checking procedures." Megan But reading yours, can see that this was missing from my study and therefore that is why students did not gain the complex understanding the teachers expected. But they were all my students and I had not made it explicit ... maybe other teachers did? Al This links with something I thouht came out of both our studies ... Megan *raised eyebrow* Al We both sort of concluded that we should have made our aims more explicit to the students, and that if we talked more about what we wanted them to learn it would have been more effective. Megan Very well put! Al I guess I thought telling them what I wanted to know was cheating. Al which is silly really Megan Me too. :) Megan The other teachers in my study might have done that....flaw that I didn't ask them. Megan Did you get what I was saying about my students not getting the complex understanding that the other teachers seemd to be looking for? Al Yes Al You mean social stuff and so on, or more complex history stuff. Al I think I probably did talk about my objectives when I actually taught the activity with _my_ class, not the research group. Megan Hmmm. I just let the students get on with it. Al Perhaps the key is expectation and _clearly expressed_ aims? Megan I guess I was trying to see what the program itself taught them ... and that does overlook Scrimshaw hugely! Al So we let the research get in the way of our teaching - something to include in our reflection probably. Al Still there?[connection broken temporarily] Al I'm still here - respond to this one Megan I can't respond to that one - have you got first part of the chat? Al I have it, but respond to this one Megan And send it to me so I can write the conclusions. :) Megan *wipes sweat off brow* Al OK Al I'm checking it's all there before I close the other chat down. Megan Okey Al That's fine - it's saved. Megan So, where were we? Al Not sure. Megan :) Megan Ok, I think that Scrimshaw thing is good for conclusion. Al Talking about how we let the research get in the way of our teaching. Megan Yep. Megan Ok...now about personal reflection? Or have we done that? Al sort of - I put a fair amount of stuff in the case Megan What do you mean? Al I had a bit about my personal reflection in the case study Megan What about our styles of working/writing? Al Did you mean about me being a scientist and you being an artist? Megan Your stuff about need for evidence ... useful to make sure something is effective. But on the other hand, we got evidence at the expense of teaching? Al So next time we should teach and just be observers. Al except with education it's impossible to just observe - you're always involved Megan Right...which is VERY difficult to do. Though might be easier the next time with experience. Megan This will be useful for our joint conclusion. Al yes. Megan We both have stuff about students not getting the theoretical or more complex stuff. that is interesting too. Megan Links up well. :) Al I think that's because the closest model for both of ours is SITUATED learning, which isn't great for conceptual learning (Underwood) Megan It could be...there just has to be more reliance on teachers stepping in and facilitating ... which I didn't do enough of. Megan Can you make these two conversations into a page...adn then send to me to write conclusion? Megan Or send it all to me and I will edit it? Al I'll put it all in a page and stick on-line tomorrow after school. Al That ok? Megan Wow! Very efficient. Al I think the intervention is absolutely fundamental Al It fits with the zone of proximal development idea as well - assistance is most effective when intervention happens at the point where the pupil is learning new things. Megan Yeah...I should have walked around, making erudite coments about why William was building these types of castles instead of just letting them get on with it. Megan Then again ... we were studying what the program taught them ... interesting dichotomy. Al And I should have asked more of them pointed questions about how they were estimating things Al It's very difficult - how do we divorce the software from the whole learning experience? Al I don't think we can - we tried and it didn't really reflect the real world as well as it might have. Megan So we were studying how students learn with IT, not WHAT the programs were teaching the students ... I think that was a mistake we both made. Al I don't think it was that bad, we just tried to see what the IT was helping them learn without considering that teachers can help. Megan Very true...very good conclusion! I am loving this! Megan We did all that research, and didn't apply a lot of it. I think because we didn't understand it well enough until we had done it all. That make sense? Al I think we applied the stuff we thought was relevant - I tried to fit my research in with the stuff in my lit review. Megan Yeah ... but I thought Scrimshaw was relevant to me, then forgot about it. Then saw that it was relevant at the end ... Megan And hadn't applied it! Al In a world where individualised learning systems are being promoted all over the place it's nice to see that teachers make fundamental differences to learning using IT Megan *applause* Al *bow* Al Do we have enough stuff for you to write a conclusion and reflection? Megan Yep. Al Shall we log off and I'll call you on the 'phone? Megan Ok. I'll call you though, from my room. Megan That OK with you? So some of my conclusion will be about flaws in the study. Think that will be ok? Al Maybe it should go in reflection? Megan Where? Al In reflection part of 'conclusions and reflection' Megan Yes...joint ones. Megan So, log off and I'll call you? Al Yep, bye. Megan Bye then! Al See you later. Megan Bye. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - End of transcript ---------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------