Winter 2006

The ICT agenda

Improved learning outcomes for all

Supporting the learning needs of Australia’s Indigenous students is a major priority for education systems and organisations and the work being done by The Le@rning Federation (TLF) is no exception. Olivia Clarke and Louise Bowe report on a recent trial.

In late 2005, the capacity of the new TLF literacy, mathematics and science online interactive multimedia curriculum materials to support Indigenous student learning was the focus of school trials in the Gippsland region of Victoria.

Teachers and students enthusiastically welcomed the digital curriculum materials —known as learning objects —and key findings indicate that they worked well for teaching and learning. The extensive use of visuals, voice-over audio support, immediate feedback, engaging interactive learning contexts focused on clearly defined concepts and skills, and opportunities to revisit and redo the learning activities are features of the digital content that seem to most support Indigenous students.

The trial schools

In a partnership between TLF and the Department of Education and Training (DE&T) Victoria, trials of the content took place in seven mainstream classrooms across years P–8, in one secondary school and three primary schools.

Classroom teachers, students and Koorie educators were involved. Ten to twenty per cent of students in trial schools were from Koorie backgrounds and between two and six Koorie students were part of each trial class. The cohort of Koorie students reflected the full range of ability levels. Some struggled with mathematics, others with literacy; some did not struggle at all.

Koorie educators

Koorie educators sometimes withdraw students, individually or in small groups, for specific learning tasks. Sometimes they modify teacher worksheets with Koorie cultural content. These educators encourage deeper understanding of Koorie culture for all students. They liaise between parents and the school on matters of attendance, reading and completing administration forms and sometimes on health matters. Some provide after-school classes and homework support. All of the Koorie educators had good computer skills and felt confident in their ability to support students with computer-based tasks, especially in the primary years.

Preparation for the trial

Each school was well resourced with computers and teachers involved had used information and communications technology (ICT) to varying extents in their programs. Only two teachers had used TLF digital content prior to participation in the trial.

The learning objects were accessed from the curriculum server on the school network and on laptop computers. One teacher used her school’s new interactive whiteboard to demonstrate the materials and for students to show their learning pathways through the objects.

Prior to the trial, classroom teachers and Koorie educators participated in a one-day workshop with TLF and DE&T staff. They explored the suite of content, selected learning objects to include in their programs and discussed ways in which the content might be integrated into teaching and learning activities for the school term.

The process

With the assistance of the Koorie educators, teachers then used the selected learning objects with all students. TLF and DE&T staff visited classrooms during the term and all teachers/educators were involved in a follow-up workshop to share and discuss their experiences.

Findings

The teachers and Koorie educators were enthusiastic about the capacity of TLF digital content to engage and motivate students and to support learning needs, especially for Indigenous students.

The objects offered Koorie students a more interactive, multimodal learning environment than a text-based pen and paper approach. They allowed self-paced exploration and increased sense of ownership of learning and opportunities to experience success. This led to increased levels of self-esteem. Importantly, an increased focus and positive engagement with learning resulted in noticeably improved learning outcomes.

The trial also showed that successful learning outcomes were not solely dependent on the learning objects. Well designed learning tasks that gave all students the opportunity to participate in a range of related offline activities with a judicious mix of instruction, exploration, practice and reflection, both individually and in groups, enhanced the learning opportunities offered by the digital content.

Chris, a classroom teacher:

The Koorie children in my class like a lot of visuals, a lot of hands-on. The learning objects are very colourful, very visual, simple instructions. They found them really exciting and we were able to get involved in the literacy ones quite readily, select from the menus and go through the modelling that goes with the learning object. The end results were better sentence structures and descriptive writing. And reluctant writers were more willing to start using the learning object than a piece of paper and a pencil.

Terry, a Koorie educator:

They really concentrate, they really focus, because they’re looking at the screen, it’s not a book they have to flick through … And hearing it —they can hear it and they think, ‘Hey I know, I can do that’ and then they just click on to it. So I found that’s really working for the kids, that interaction.

Students: Lennard and Cody

Yeh. It was great fun and we learnt heaps about different animals and what they get their energy from.

Students: Naomi and Sarah

We loved using this activity. We liked the way it got harder and made us think about what we have learnt and use that to continue through the higher levels. We created nine different food chains. We want to do it again!

The trial provides evidence that the use of TLF digital content is clearly engaging, motivating and supportive of learning for both Indigenous and non–Indigenous students.

Interactive multimedia curriculum resources built on sound instructional design and pedagogical principles, and well integrated into day-to-day teaching and learning practices, have the potential to traverse cross-cultural boundaries and support learning for all.

Reports of trials of the learning objects are available at www.thelearningfederation.edu.au

Olivia Clarke is the program implementation advisor at The Le@rning Federation.

Louise Bowe is a senior project officer in e-learning, Innovations Branch, Department of Education and Training, Victoria.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au