Wednesday 17 July 2013

EDEM 630: Arena of Change



The goal for writing my case study will be to identify the changes that were needed to be made and then identified throughout the study of using wikis as a means for collaborative writing. The information I will use will be a foundation of knowledge about the current state within my classroom/ school/ country and why the reinvention of collaboration using wikis is needed. I will identify the difficulties that this country places on technology and educating students for the better and not as a passive means of ticking a box. By introducing the wiki I will identify changes in our ecosystem and how the possibilities of future advancement utilising this tool will affect this “arena”.

 
As a person that does not like the format of wikis through prior experiences this is a real challenge for my personal change. My biggest personal change will possibly be changing my mindset but through in-depth planning and ‘playing’ I am hoping to swing the balance to a positive experience. My pedagogy will need to change to ensure students feel confident and are able to participate fully throughout. I will link to the Roger's (2003) "Diffusion of Innovation Theory" as this plays a key part in the adoption of the wiki and identify theories and models of change that can assist with the adoption of this technology. 

 
The key question I will look to answer at this stage will be, “What changes are needed within my school for the successful reinvention of collaboration using wikis in student writing?” The change in Brunei is more important initially in the local context as Robinson (2009) states “it’s conversations that spread adoption”. Ground floor working my way up. I have introduced AVAILLL into my school and it was kept at a ground floor initial trial/ research study. Through word of mouth the Ministry is very keen to implement it. By going directly to them this would not be possible.

 
Main themes:

  1. teacher/ student/ school pedagogy
  2. support within the school
  3. links to each change, how it affects the arena
 

 
I am hoping it is well received by the immediate community and that data shows an improvement in collaboration. I anticipate the initial support from management but they have little knowledge of technology in education and are comfortable in their traditional system. I hope to conclude that students are more motivated to create knowledge through wikis by collaborating through synchronous and asynchronous communication and that adoption of the wiki was successful by the teacher, student and school to support learning.

 
Robinson, L. (2009) A summary of diffusion of innovations. Enabling Change.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press.
 
 
 

6 comments:

  1. Hi Aaron, really like how you have coloured codes to keep the themes clear. I also like the way you are specific about the various areas being effective - e.g. Effective collaboration. The exotic location is exemplified by your regional incluence of royalty. :-)
    So far mine is more like a mind dump and I have not been as discriminating as you. Anyway, it will hopefully be up tomorrow night, still too wordy to fit on a page!

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  2. Hi Aaron

    Your research idea sounds great; one question though, did you consider using Google Docs as your collaborative writing tool? It really is superb for shared and collaborative work, but will require a little research to find out how it works; there's heaps of useful stuff on YouTube for teachers that demos the programme.

    Cheers

    Tim

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tim
      Thanks for the feedback. I chose wikis as I like the idea but don't like my prior experiences and wanted to give it some valuable time to hopefully change my thoughts on the tool. I did think about goggle as I haven't explored much with that either. But wikis wins out as I don't like to give up on something if I haven't fully experimented and given it my best shot to implement it for the better.

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  3. Hi,
    I have to admit I liked your mindmap and before doing my own I had a look at yours and a few others as I was unsure.
    The way you color coded things and how you have made you links are clear to understand and I found it quite easy to follow.
    Looking at you above reply as to why you chose wikis over google is fantastic, I like to push myself to not give up unless I have fully experimented so it is great to see someone else that is the same. I look forward to reading more about your research as I haven't had a big opportunity to experiment with wikis, and it would be good to know effective ways to implement it within writing in a school

    Jen

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  4. Hi Aaron,

    I must say that your mind map is very clear and conceptual in design. I enjoyed exploring it and just had a query about the Bureaucratic influences(BI) in your area. Is the school an International one? I am in the ME and the BI has a relatively large global impact but rarely interferes with our classroom arena. Just curious to hear your thoughts.

    I am looking forward to hear how the introduction and set up for the Wikis progresses. I am going down the route of Individual blogs based on projects for fundraising, and it will be interesting to compare notes. Looking forward to interacting during the course.

    Cheers,

    Aleta

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  5. Hi Aleta
    No mine is a state school which comes with very many dilemmas. Schooling here is run by the MOE but has severe influence from organisations and people higher up which I can not mention (conversations get tracked at times). Nothing here is really global, think small get small results. It is a interesting country that can drive you mad/ frustrated many times a day

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