University Learning in Schools Using talk and technology

University Learning in Schools Using talk and technology to develop learning Katie Clemmey King’s College London

Some background • Technology and Teaching RE • MA action-research led to Ph. D research • Problem solving: effective talk in the classroom + using online discussions as a form of extended learning space • Transferable skills: talk and literacy • English Language as an example

Some Key Questions • Do students have enough time to really explore their ideas in your lessons? • Do your students effectively use their discussion skills in lessons? • Would you like to extend students’ learning beyond the classroom? • Wouldn’t it be a good idea to make use of students’ digital literacy to promote better learning discussions?

Three Key Writers • Robin Alexander • Rupert Wegerif • Neil Mercer Why do these writers suggest we can use talk more effectively for learning?

‘Towards Dialogic Teaching’ Robin Alexander (2008) • ‘Children, we now know, need to talk, and to experience a rich diet of spoken language, in order to think and to learn. . . talk is the true foundation of learning’ • ‘In Britain at least. . . considerably lower educational status is ascribed to talk than to writing’ • ‘Do we promote the right kind of talk; and how can we strengthen its power to help children think and learn even more effectively than they do? ’

Dialogue and Teaching Thinking Rupert Wegerif (2010) • ‘The concept of education. . implies some growth in the intellectual freedom of the learner’ • ‘Teaching knowledge content and teaching for thinking do not need to be mutually exclusive goals’ • ‘the most educationally productive dialogues are those that teach thinking in the sense of liberating students to be able to think for themselves, regardless of what else they may also learn’

The Guided Construction of Knowledge Neil Mercer (1995) • ‘Why do teachers talk to children? . . . (to) provide educational experiences which would be hard to provide by any other means than by talk’ • ‘Some of the most creative thinking takes place when people are talking together’ • ‘One of the opportunities that schools can offer pupils is the chance to involve other people in their thoughts – to use conversations to develop their own thoughts’

How do these writers suggest we can use talk more effectively for learning?

Features of Dialogic Teaching Alexander (2008) • Collective: students (and the teacher) engage together rather than working alone • Reciprocal: listening, sharing and considering alternative viewpoints • Supportive: ideas articulated freely, no wrong answers, common understandings reached • Cumulative: build on each others’ ideas and chain them into coherent lines of thought • Purposeful: there is an educational goal

Impact of Dialogic Teaching in practice - Alexander (2008) • • More probing questions from teachers Pupil-teacher exchanges longer More flexible of use of different types of talk More (and longer) pupil responses Increase in speculative answers More pupil-pupil talk Pupils comment and build on each others’ questions and ask new questions

Three Types of Talk Mercer (1995) 1. Disputational Talk – Lots of disagreement; individualised decision making; short exchanges; assertions and counter-assertions 2. Cumulative Talk – Speakers build positively but uncritically on what others have said; common knowledge accumulated; repetitions, confirmations and elaborations 3. Exploratory Talk

Features of Exploratory Talk • Exploratory talk is seen less often; more sporadically • Partners engage critically with each others’ ideas • Statements and suggestions are offered for joint consideration; these may be challenged and counter-challenged • Alternative hypotheses are suggested • Reasoning is more visible in the talk

Encouraging Exploratory Talk Mercer (1995) • In research examples there has been shown the need to guide both teachers and students to encourage talk • Mercer introduced ‘Talk Lessons’ • Need to stress the importance of: – Sharing ALL relevant ideas and suggestions; providing reasons for comments; asking others’ questions; trying to reach an agreement; accepting the responsibility of the whole group to engage

Dialogue, Thinking and Technology Wegerif (2010) • In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates rejects writing for fear of it’s negative impact on the thinking associated with the process of engaging in dialogue; he sees thinking and teaching as inseparable but with words as ‘living’ things • Dialogue as important as a way of interacting with the ‘spark across difference’ and enabling ‘interthinking’ (Mercer, 2000) • Perhaps we might see technology as having a role in making ‘new and better kinds of thinking possible’ by using it as a tool?

Technology and talk in Education Wegerif (2010) • Involved in exploratory talk research, Wegerif noted that talk becomes better due to the relationships between individuals • He noted the importance of silences – they usually preceded a leap in thinking • In order to use technology we need the same ground rules as for any other dialogue • We need to use technology that allows for these dialogues – with all the features of useful, educational talk

Talk, Literacy and Writing • Much talk of the need for student literacy • Literacy as a feature of all lessons • Much concern with text-speak and the effect of technology on writing • Students are digitally literate • Might we be seeing the emergence of new literacies? • How concerned are we with literacy in group discussions?

Some of the Issues • ‘Talk and collaboration (group work) are not inevitably useful’ (Mercer, 1995) • Time needs to be invested in ‘learning to talk’ • Teachers need to be technologically literate • Students need to be trusted and trustworthy • Schools can be resistant to the use of these technologies

Some of the Possibilities • Students engaging with each other in a new medium that they access regularly • Students engaging in more productive dialogues with each other and with the teacher • Students learning to think through talking • Students taking learning conversations beyond the classroom • Students using technology in an educational and mature way

Thank you for listening. Please feel free to follow up via email: kathryn. clemmey@kcl. ac. uk Any Questions?

References • Alexander, R. J. (2008) Towards dialogic teaching: Rethinking classroom talk. Cambridge: Dialogos. • Mercer, N. (1995) The guided construction of knowledge: Talk amongst teachers and learners. Multilingual matters. • Wegerif, R. (2010) Dialogue and teaching thinking with technology. Educational dialogues: Understanding and promoting productive interaction, 304.