#IntellectualQuality

[itstimetomakeadifferenceblo-blog]

Six elements make up Intellectual quality, seen in figure 1.

We as teachers need to plan effective lessons that involve deep knowledge, understanding and higher order thinking. HOW? And WHY? Well, these lessons encourage higher levels of intellectual quality from our students. This concept allows students to construct a deep understanding of key concepts, abilities and ideas. Hattie (2009, p. 36) “teachers need to be actively engaged in, and passionate about teaching and learning”, this means in order for our students to learn, we NEED to have an actively constructed understanding of concepts, skills and ideas. Quality teaching also needs diversity to cater for each student’s specific needs. When using ICT in the classroom, it’s essential to utilise the technology effectively. Mishra & Koehler (2006), “technology and content are reciprocally related” and as technology evolves, so must our teaching methods. We have to keep the tasks relevant and use technology to assist our lessons being purposeful and not just ‘filling in the gaps’. There are many benefits for using technology when completing tasks, a podcast for example would encourage students to use appropriate metalanguage. My classroom will use technology to encourage deep knowledge so students develop an understanding of what they’re learning, to create meaning and help them make ideas their own. The way students approach a task will influence the quality of their learning, therefore, to get students learning at a deep level, students must be actively engaged with the topic. Encourage a ‘deep’ approach by encouraging engagement. For example, if students are engaged in research based tasks, or investigations, explore these issues, problems or case studies using technology as resources. Students are able to relate the material to their own lives which keeps students engaged. By giving the students control over their own task, higher order thinking skills are used as students engage with each other debating how the task should be presented (McLeod & Reynolds, 2006). This gives students the chance to develop the skills for lifelong learning. Students are to “thrive in the knowledge rich, constantly-changing world of today and the immediate future.” (Bryce & Withers, 2003, p. 1)

 Bryce, J., & Withers, G. (2003). Engaging Secondary Students in Lifelong Learning. Camberwell: Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd.

Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. NY: Routledge.

McLeod, J.H., & Reynolds, R. (2006). Quality Teaching for Quality Learning: Planning through reflection. South Melbourne: Thompson Social Science Press.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. The Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. New South Wales Department of Education and Training (2003). Quality teaching in NSW public schools. Discussion paper. Sydney: NSWDET

[cariellejade-blog]

How can the use of ICT contribute to ‘intellectual quality’ in the classroom?

In recent years there has been a significant shift towards classrooms becoming more pupil centred and directed (Smeets, 2005). There has been a need for teachers to create intellectual learning environments for students to thrive and learn (Smeets, 2005) and, if embraced, information communication technology (ICT) does a lot to assist teachers in achieving this. 

Research has shown that “ICT may... make complex processes easier to understand though simulations that, again, contribute to authentic learning environments. Thus ICT may function as a facilitator of active learning and higher order thinking” (Smeets, 2005, p. 345). The use of ICT can even, at times, help teachers learn and explore along side the students (Smeets, 2005) and gives students the opportunity and support for talking, writing, engaging exploring and sharing of ideas, facilitating collaborative learning and substantive communication (Passey et al., 2004). Students are able to gain a deeper understanding of a concept by using ICT resources to question, research, experiment and problem solve (Smeets, 2005). Additionally, teachers sometimes struggle to accomodate all ability groups throughout a lesson. Therefore, gifted students for example, are able to use ICT to be more independent, guide their learning and move further at a faster pace by providing additional material and platforms to keep challenging and building on their already vast knowledge (Smeets, 2005). 

Including ICT throughout lessons each day creates classrooms that challenge students in an engaging and collaborative way (Passey et al., 2004). It gives students more control over knowledge exploration and an ability to answer their own questions - even being able to teach their peers. This takes the focus of the teacher needing to be ‘all knowing’ all the time and allows the students more control to work together with the teacher in their learning process, shifting from being talked at, to talking with.  References Passey, D, Rogers, C, Machell, J, & McHugh, G. (2004). The motivational effect of ICT on pupils. Department of Educational Research: Lancaster University. 

Smeets, E. (2005). Does ICT contribute to powerful learning environments in primary education? Computers & Education, 44(3), 343-355. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2004.04.003 

[ehartigan-blog]

I believe that ICT has the ability to impact and enhance each aspect of the Quality Teaching Model. In particular, the subsections within INTELLECTUAL QUALITY:  - Deep knowledge: The knowledge being address is focused on a number of key concepts identified from the syllabus and on the relationships between and among these concepts. - Deep understanding: Students demonstrate a profound and meaningful understanding of key concepts and the relationships between and among those concepts. - Problematic knowledge: Students are encouraged to address multiple perspectives and solutions and to recognise that knowledge has been constructed and therefore is open to question. - Higher-order thinking: Students are regularly engaged in thinking that requires them to organise, reorganise, apply, analyse generate ideas and evaluate information, processes and ideas. - Metalanguage There are opportunities in design projects to explicitly identify and analyse the specialist language, and provide frequent commentary on language use and various contexts of differing language uses. - Substantive communication: Students are regularly engaged in sustained conversations about the concepts and ideas they are encountering. These conversations can be manifest in oral, written or graphical forms. ICT provides students with an almost infinite amount of tools to address each section of the Intellectual Quality umbrella. I visualise it as cycle or a flow diagram in which students can: - Find information - Organise Information - Create information. Students are able to access a diverse range of perspectives and solutions (Problematic Knowledge) from people all over the world. Students are able to access a multitude of perspectives, solutions and ways of achieving an outcome by accessing online tools such as Youtube, search engines (Google & Bing), blog posts and credible websites/journals or books. ICT gives students a greater access to content and as a result a ‘Deeper Knowledge and Understanding’. Not only does ICT provide efficient research tools, but it allows students to organise, analyse, generate and evaluate information that is obtained (Higher Order Thinking). Students are able to create graphs, tables, spreadsheets, videos, documents, folders, THE LIST GOES ON! ICT allows each student to pick their desired form of organisation tools, enhancing differentiation and student-directed learning. Students are subject to unlimited Meta-language from different sources. This has the ability to enhance vocabulary. I believe most importantly, however, is the ability students are given to create and share their own ideas to a local, National and Global level. Students become more engaged in their learning, because they’re no longer just writing for the teacher. They’re writing to ‘the world’. Motivation is increased and school becomes fun and more realistic, whilst still meeting curriculum outcomes. ICT and Intellectual Quality work hand in hand!

E. Hartigan