Finding meaningful and fun learning with technology through the authorial and creative approach.
What resources and ideas can we use so the learner's relationship with technology becomes not only meaningful with learning but also fun?
General topic of interest
The use of technology at school with Grade 5 learners usually refers to moments of only fun or only research and school work, without any in-betweens that merge them, creating the idea that they are opposites. However, using active learning methodologies and visible thinking routines, educators can create environments that not only are fun and interesting for learners but also can help them develop their reading, writing skills, autonomy, and creativity.
Participants
The participants will be the learners from Grade 5C, 9 to 11 years old. They participated and provided feedback during the process.
At the start of the process, students were presented with the concept of blogs and discussed their knowledge on the theme.
Literature Review
The research is supported with literature from Lilian Bacich, Mark Church, Ismar de Oliveira Soares, and Guillermo Orozco-Gómez.
Data collecting approach
Data was collected by analyzing the steps towards the final goal of developing the vlog and the learners' feedback. During the process, they were observed, and notes were taken on how they dealt with the challenges they faced during the activities proposed by the educator and a moment of reflection and feedback was given during and at the end of the process.
Data collection tools/resources
The tools used were a survey with the learners at the end of the process, as well a journal with the step-by-step of everything that was done. Learners also had moments of sharing and reflecting on their own process as a group.
Learners shared their experienced throughout the process and gave feedback about the project at the end of it.
After watching their videos, comparing their experiences and seeing the different approaches, learners had a moment to reflect on their learning journey about persuasive texts while writing their reviews. This was used as a data collecting tool to analyze their engagement and how they approached the proposals.
Emerging results
During the process, learners took the opportunity to be autonomous in developing their work. They showed a lot of involvement, taking ownership of their vlogs, using the school spaces responsibly, and helping each other. According to the feedback, they felt like they were Middle School students with all the freedom and opportunities to do their own work. Their resulting vlogs also showed the development of their writing and their oral expression, and they ended the process feeling more knowledgeable about video editing, persuasive writing, autonomy, and authorship.
https://youtu.be/-L3fuV34L74
By being able to experience a new writing genre in a context that is familiar allowed them a much more engaged journey, which lead to a more meaningful result and a product which they were proud to show their parents during the Festival of Learning.
As a reflection of their journey, students said that they felt much more responsible and free, even saying that they felt like a Grade 6 student.
Reflections
The action research project unfolded as a journey of exploration and application, transforming the students' relationship with technology from a passive tool into an active and enjoyable medium for learning and creativity. By seamlessly integrating literature reviews with familiar media with YouTube videos, the project enriched the students' technological skill set. It fostered a sense of responsibility and agency in contributing to their learning journey. The culmination of these efforts underscored the potential of technology as an educational ally and illuminated the power of hands-on, collaborative projects in shaping well-rounded and empowered learners.
Students took the opportunity to be autonomous and independent during filming, developing their sense of authorship, collaborating and giving each other valuable feedback.
Being able to work with technology with a proposal that prioritized their reading with books from their choosing and using a language familiar to them fostered their excitement and made their process light and fun, but also meaningful.
