Using TPACK, what a challenge! (5)

The opportunities/challenges of Flexibility

During the design process we thought about opportunities for flexibility in the lesson design. There are flexible opportunities for the teacher as well as for the learner. But flexibility is also a challenging aspect, because how much flexibility can be considered responsible? For example for the learners, in this case it are learners from primary education (grade 5/6), how much flexibility can be offered to them? How much structure is needed and how can flexibility be still part of the designed lesson?

Flexibility for the learners
Although the lesson is designed for children from grade 5/6 of primary education, this does not mean that the lesson can not be made flexible. Children are able to deal with flexibility, but of course some structure is needed to let them also accomplish the learning goals. Within inquiry learning a certain independence from the learners is asked. Although this does not mean that they don’t have to be supported! The teacher has to guide the entire learning process of the learners.
Also the technology provides in a certain amount of flexibility. Within the WebQuest the learner can find resources needed to find answers for the predictions that he or she has made in advance. The resources are given, and therefore structured (the teacher can provide the learner with those resources on the WebQuest) but the learner has to find out him or herself what to do with the resources and how to use them. The teacher can in this case also be flexible by providing the learner with more or different resources.

Next to that, we thought about the possibility to let the learner choose when he/she wants to work on the lesson (with the WebQuest) this provides a lot of flexibility for the learner. When the learner can for instance choose two moments in a certain period when he/she wants to work with the WebQuest, the flexibility will be higher than when the whole class has to work on the WebQuest at the same time. Another advantage of not working with a whole class at the same time on the WebQuest is that less computers are needed at the same time.

Another flexible part of this lesson can be found in the fact that the learners can perform a self-assessment on the WebQuest. The teacher does not have to assess every learner, he has to guide the learning process. This leaves flexibility options for the learner to assess when he/se thinks to have finished the lesson. It also recalls to the part that learners can decide for themselves when they want to do the lesson on Electrical circuit on the computer, using the WebQuest.

Flexibility for the teacher

When the learners get the opportunity to choose for themselves when they want to work on the lesson within a certain period, this can mean a problem for the teacher. It could mean that the teacher has to prepare the lesson every time for only one or two students (learners). But in our design this should not be a problem, because of the way technology is integration in the lesson. Explanation: some lesson activities have changed because of the technology. By making use of a WebQuest new approaches became possible. Learners can now try how a electric circuit works in a simulation. They can switch wires, lights, batteries and switches as much as they want to see what happens with the lights and the electric circuit. The teacher does not have extra preparing time, in contradiction when learners have to test their hypotheses (predictions) by making an electrical circuit with real wires, real lights (that can break), real batteries and switches. When learners (especially in primary education) are going to “play” with real material (and real electricity) the teacher will have much more preparing time, because all the materials should be there and should be save. Afterwards all the materials have to be cleaned up again. While, when a simulation in the WebQuest (in the resources) is used, the learner can practice safely, without extra preparing time for the teacher and without making a mess out of it. (This can spare the teacher also a lot of time, now it is possible to spend this ‘extra’ time on guiding the learner in the learning process, while he/she is doing their own investigation based on the resources of the WebQuest).

The learners can perform a self-assessment on the WebQuest. The teacher does therefore not have to prepare the assessment of the lesson, and to correct it afterwards. Although it is possible that the teacher wants to test other knowledge or skills about electrical circuits than are presented in the self-assessment. When the self-assessment is being used, the teacher does of course have to guide the learner when necessary and monitor the learner when completing the self-assessment. This also has flexibility options, because the teacher does not have to monitor all the learners at the same time.

The teacher has flexibility options in organizing the lesson. It is possible to give the learners the opportunity to decide for themselves when they are going to work on the lesson, but the teacher can also decide how many learners at one time will be working on the lesson. Although the lesson has an inquiry approach, this does not mean that there is no structure within the WebQuest. The learners can decide for themselves how they attain in the WebQuest, but the structure will lead them to the goal. This gives also flexibility to the teacher, because the learners can work independent on the lesson. The teacher can help them, if they have questions.
A flexibility challenge can be found in the fact that the teachers can make their own WebQuests. Next to pedagogical based support, they will need to get technological based support to do so. But when they have learned how to make WebQuests themselves, they can choose to use them for different topics. This provides the teacher with a lot of flexibility in integrating ICT to adopt new approaches in instruction, by applying inquiry learning in using WebQuests.

Personally I think flexibility is really important for the learner as well as for the teacher. I believe people are more motivated to learn when they can have some influence in their own learning process. Whether it is because they can decide for themselves when they are working on a lesson (or with a WebQuest), or how they use the resources in the WebQuest. I also believe that a teacher will be more motivated to use a lesson if he/she has designed it him/her self or was part of a design team. Whether it is because they have made their own WebQuests or because they used the whole TPACK framework to design their lessons. Therefore I do believe that teachers should try to work with the TPACK framework, it can help them integrating ICT suitable with the pedagogical approach and the content in an innovative way. I see it as an change on flexibility for teachers in designing their own lessons.