My immediate reaction to this article is that Dan was correct when he said the article doesn’t do a good job with talking about learning styles, multiple intelligences, or individualized instruction. My second reaction is that the author is somewhat out of touch with a real classroom environment.
The article did offer an introduction to the idea of learning styles and multiple intelligences. Hopefully, none of this information was new or surprising to anyone active in the field of education.
I did not really care for the suggestions for activities to introduce the concepts of learning styles and multiple intelligences to the students. Assuming that we all have access to each of the programs that offer different ways to organize information, the activity did not allow students to play around with each one before deciding which they would like best. I prefer to have the students complete an activity that would suggest to them which learning style or intelligence they lean to, and then suggest a software program they might prefer.
At one point the author says, “Many language teachers in CALL classrooms find it necessary to have students work in groups in order to increase the time spent at the computer during a task.” I thought that statement summed up my disappointment with this article. The focus seems to be on getting the students using the computer. It overlooked that the goal should be language focused.
My critique of computer based mind mapping programs is that they can stifle creativity rather than enhance it. No matter how many ways or how easily the program allows the user to draw the mind map, it is still more limited than what a person can do on paper with a pencil. The user is also focusing on which tool to use and where to find it.
Computer based mind mapping tools often have really cool features that allow the user to switch their product from a mind map or web to an outline or another format. They also are really useful when the mind map is something that needs to be published. However, for most practical uses, a mind map can be dirty, sloppy, and does not need to be published.
I believe the author was trying to make obtainable suggestions to the reader by making them more general. The suggestion for a thematic project seemed to be based on an actual project the author had implemented or observed, but was then generalized. By making it more general it seemed to suggest that a teacher would search for heart transplant patients of a specific age and in a specific country for the project. The idea seemed really impersonal and a little scary to me. Now if the teacher happened to know of this sick child before, or had a previous connection to a hospital in a foreign country, this project might make a little more sense.
I have to say that after reading this article I do not really have any new ideas about how I can use computers in my classroom to meet the individual needs of my students as we learn a new language.
I feel as though I’ve critiqued this article pretty harshly. Does anyone agree with me? Did anyone else get some great ideas after reading this article that I somehow in a strange period of pessimism overlooked?
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6 comments:
Hi Eric-
I too was not overwhelmed by the article, and my main reason was that it takes a fair amount of time to discover one's true preferences and learning style that works in any particular situation. I thought it was funny to imagine that kids could arrange themselves in groups with the somewhat rigid roles and have it all be smoothly accomplished. I think it is a more difficult task than depicted.
Nice analysis,
Doug
I don't disagree with you much. I think that your critique is pretty good. However, I'll add a couple points.
1) The article as a whole is best used as an introduction to MI, learning theory, and individualization. And, as you suggested, it is just a brief introduction and anyone with any background knowledge on the topic wouldn't find it too interesting.
2) I'd have to disagree about the use of mindmapping software. It's very similar to using a word processor when writing. Yes, handwriting might be more spontaneous and might allow more for the free flow of ideas, but word processing software allows users to move it around and play with it. This is true for mindmapping software as well. While it does take away some of the freedom of creation it creates the ability to easily re-map connections based on changing information and conceptions.
Dan
Dan, You are exactly right about advantages of word processing software. I'll have to look again at the mind mapping software we have available to us.
hmmmmmmmm
Eric
Hi Eric, you were a little harsh, but I agree with most of what you said. I think that most of the activities that she talked about wouldn't work so well in my classes. I do like the idea of using several programs to work on a project. I think I will do more of that. But, apart from that, didn't take too much away from it. Good critique.
Eric,
While I can agree with both you and Dan to a degree, I tend to think that mind-mapping, just like other organizers must fit the individual as well. It's something that some students will like very much and others will not. To impose certain forms of organization on students is not always to help them. In Swedish we call this "björn tjänst"--where one is trying to be helpful to another and then only harms him instead.
When I was in junior high and high school, I remember having to outline stories, textbook chapters, my concepts for papers and whatever written document we might have to turn in. As you may recall, all 7-12 style outlines (at least in the 70s) expected the same format. I hated this approach to organization. It had nothing to do with my brain and it never helped me. I am someone who must write first--then organize, if necessary.
Mind mapping for me is an equally spontaneous process where I want to scribble, make messes, link crazy notions, and not see it diagrammed except in my own way.
Two weeks ago, I walked down the hall of the economics department at the university here and saw some class exercises displayed all over the walls. Evidently students had been asked to create these mapping diagrams of entrepreneurship and innovation. They may have been useful to each individual, but why they were posted for all to see was beyond me. They made very little "sense" and I couldn't help but think of the Emperor's New Clothes.
Well, it's very late and as you can tell I've digressed in a rather obscure way--but I hope you see the connection!
Mary
Eric,
I liked your very opinionated critique. Not that I agreed with it but it did get almost everyone to reply! :)
I suppose her idea of arranging kids in rigid roles made complete sense to me because this is exactly what we did with AF officers in education course (leadership/followership exercises). Now that I look at it I suppose it wouldn't work for younger kids but I still think it would be a good exercise for high school students. Maybe, maybe not? I teach adults so I'm sure my view is not quite right.
Stefanie
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