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Innovation of the Teaching Practice in the UNAE,
Ecuador recurring to Web 2.0
Authors: Gladys Isabel Portilla
Faicán
Universidad Nacional de Educación, UNAE
Azogues, Ecuador
Amauris Laurencio Leyva
Universidad de La Habana, UH
La Habana, Cuba
Abstract
In this paper is socialized an innovative approach of teaching practice developed
at the Universidad Nacional de Educación (UNAE) in the Society and Culture
subject. It was identified that students had difficulty to understand
problematic disciplines such as historical time, multi-causal explanation,
collective actors, among other topics. In the logic of action research, in the
collective subject Teachers was created a learning community as a management
strategy for the innovation of teaching practice. To address the problem, the
Lesson Study methodology was used. The teaching-learning processes were guided
by the pedagogical-methodological principle of the overturned classroom and the
pedagogical approaches of the Pedagogical Model of UNAE, such as
constructivism, enactivism and connectivism. The objective was to innovate the
teaching practice to develop the comprehension of fundamental curricular topics
of History taking advantage of the educational potential of the Web 2.0.
Keywords: pedagogical innovation; pedagogical
research; educational technology.
|
Date Received: 04-10-2017 |
Date Acceptance: 06-12-2017 |
Innovación
de la Práctica Docente en la UNAE, Ecuador recurriendo a la Web 2.0
Resumen
En este trabajo se
socializa una experiencia de innovación de la práctica docente desarrollada en
la Universidad Nacional de Educación (UNAE) en la asignatura Sociedad y
Cultura. Se identificó que los estudiantes tenían dificultad para comprender
problemática disciplinares como el tiempo histórico, la explicación
multicausal, los actores colectivos, entre otros temas. En la lógica de la
investigación-acción, en el colectivo de la asignatura se formó una comunidad
de aprendizaje como estrategia de gestión de la innovación de la práctica
docente. Para abordar el problema se recurrió a la metodología Lesson Study. Los procesos de
enseñanza-aprendizaje fueron orientados por el principio
pedagógico-metodológico del Flipped
classroom y los enfoques pedagógicos del Modelo Pedagógico de la UNAE, el
constructivismo, enactivismo y conectivismo. El objetivo fue innovar la
práctica docente para desarrollar la comprensión de temas curriculares
fundamentales de la Historia aprovechando el potencial educativo de la Web 2.0.
Palabras clave: innovación pedagógica; investigación
pedagógica; tecnología educacional.
|
Fecha de Recepción: 04-10-2017 |
Fecha de Aceptación: 06-12-2017 |
1.
Introduction
This paper presents a
result of a theoretical-methodological conception to innovate the teaching practice,
using the innovative potential of Web 2.0, in the context of UNAE. One of the
professional competencies of the contemporary teacher raised in the Pedagogical
Model of UNAE is the ability to design and build contexts and learning
communities (Sanz and Pérez, 2009, Management Commission of the National
University of Education, 2015a).
The subject Society and
Culture, part of the curriculum of leveling careers in education in Ecuador, is
a synthesis of the social sciences in the curriculum of the Ecuadorian
baccalaureate, which has as its pedagogical axis the development of historical
thought for the understanding of the events throughout History. The curricular
reform of the baccalaureate implemented in 2012 by the (Ministry of Education
of Ecuador, 2012), brought with it the challenge of innovating the
teaching-learning processes and, consequently, the teaching practice. Despite
efforts to implement the curriculum students still come to the University with
many difficulties to face the cognitive challenge of understanding historical
time.
In the collective of
the subject was identified as a fundamental problem for the development of
historical thinking of young people, the ability to understand the relevance of
historical narrative, from identifying the continuities and discontinuities of
historical time, the collective actors, the multicausality, among other
disciplinary skills. As a result of the diagnostic evaluation of the students'
previous knowledge, the lack of these skills was identified, in view of the
imperative of "fostering the development of a historical view of the
present, through the informed analysis of the history of humanity, with special
emphasis on that of our country and the region "(National Leveling and
Admission System, 2014, p.16).
In this context, a
learning community was formed in the collective of the subject, with the
purpose of innovating the teaching-learning processes. The objective of the
research of the teaching practice itself was to develop students' understanding
of the notions of temporality, multicausality and collective actoria in
historical events, in order to understand the historical present by resorting
to the innovative use of WEB 2.0 technologies.
The collective
constituted as a learning community, decided to improve the teaching practice
through the Lesson Study methodology. This methodology contemplates seven
phases: 1). Define the problem, 2). Cooperatively design an "experimental
lesson", 3). Teach and observe the lesson, 4). Collect the evidence and discuss,
5). Analyze and review the lesson, 6). Develop the revised lesson in another
class and observe again, 7). Discuss, evaluate and reflect on new evidence and
disseminate the experience (Soto and Pérez, 2014a).
In the community of
teaching practice, based on the problem, three lessons were designed, in which
methodologically it was observed, analyzed and planned the improved and
successive lessons. The Lesson Study was defined as a methodology for research
and improvement of the educational practice itself (Soto, 2014b), as a
permanent process of reflection on the action (Management Commission of the
National University of Education, 2015b). The design of the lessons focused on
the teaching-learning processes of the disciplinary subjects that involve historical
thinking skills.
The design, redesign
and implementation of three lessons were very effective and highly innovative
for the learning of History in the context of the digital era. The process of
designing and developing the Lesson Study as a team involved an excellent space
for collective reflection of the teaching practice itself. It was very
enriching to assume alternately the roles of designers, lead teacher of the
lesson, observer and then all reviewers. The analysis of the practice generated
spaces for the socialization of the collective about what was observed (by the
registrars) and what was implemented by the teacher executing the practice. The
environments and learning scenarios, the personal interrelationships, the
roles, the languages and resources for the presentation and communication of
the learning achievements gave an account of the positive impact of the
innovation developed through the methodology Lesson Study.
2. Methodology
From the identification of the students' learning problems, the first
action of the group was the formation of a learning community. To face the
challenge of innovating teaching practice and improving learning, we proceeded
to cooperatively investigate our own teaching practice, using the Lesson Study
as a research methodology for innovation and improvement. A Lesson Study was
designed based on information from the diagnostic assessment of previous
experiences of student learning and thinking skills. 158 students and four
teachers of the collective participated in the Lesson Study. The lessons were
designed, redesigned and developed in a cooperative way and involving
educational technology of the Web 2.0, conceived as a motivating, dynamic and
generator element of collective, situated and authentic learning.
The method of the didactic sequence with which the design of the lessons
was developed was project-based learning (PBL). In the experimentation phase of
each of the three lessons, direct observation and filming of the development of
the lessons was made. In the pre and post-development phase of the Lesson
Study, diagnostic and results evaluation surveys were applied, as well as the
focus group technique, to evaluate the initial and subsequent situation, as a
result of the impact of the methodology on learning. achieved by students.
3. Results and discussion
UNAE emerges in the Ecuadorian educational system as a
strategy to promote educational excellence (Constituent Assembly, 2008,
Ministry of Education of Ecuador, 2012). In accordance with this normative
framework, the Pedagogical Model of the UNAE has as one of its pedagogical
principles "Promote inverted didactics, the Flipped classroom, virtual
social networks and digital platforms" (Management Commission of the
National University of Education, 2015c) , using an innovative methodological
strategy, such as the Lesson Study (Soto and Pérez, 2014c).
The problem of achieving understanding of the present
as something historical is one of the didactic-disciplinary principles of
history (Vallejo, 2008, Ministry of Education of Ecuador, 2010). The understanding
of the notions of temporality in the analysis of historical events implies
identifying continuities and discontinuities, which explain the present and the
historical legacy as a fundamental element of them.
In order to have a reading of the previous knowledge
and thinking skills of students, around History, a survey was applied to all of
them at the beginning of the semester. The results of the analysis of the
survey and the first evaluations of the learning processes in the subject
showed that the students presented difficulties to understand the present as
historical, which implies the understanding of the historical time, the actors
and processes that explain the events Historical, because they were used to
make a linear reading of history, in which events happen and become part of
history, with iconic figures and superficial explanations. This was evidenced
in the diagnostic evaluation. Faced with the challenge of developing students'
historical thinking, the proposal to design a teaching-learning process aimed
at developing the understanding of History, in its complexity, arose.
3.1. Experimental
lesson
According to the methodological process of the Lesson Study, proposed by
Soto and Pérez (2014d), the problem was defined in the collective and an experimental
lesson was designed (a didactic sequence), which had as objective of learning,
to characterize the continuities and discontinuities of the historical time,
with the purpose of understanding the present. To the difficulty of the broad
and complex understanding of temporality in the learning of History was added
the passivity of the role of the student.
To deal with this situation in the design of the experimental lesson, we
resorted to Web 2.0 technologies, as a transversal methodological element of
the experimental lessons. In the inquiries about the uses and criteria of the
students about ICT, their taste and interest in connectivity and access to
digital resources could be identified. Developing historical thinking demands
the participation and empowerment of students in their learning processes. To
develop in the students, and to strengthen in the teachers, the culture of the
protagonism of the students in the learning processes, the digital educational
technology was a component of fundamental innovation in the lessons.
The didactic sequence was structured according to the PBL methodology.
This methodology is considered one of the most relevant to develop autonomous
and collaborative learning (Maldonado, 2009), and at the same time promote the
student's role. The design of the projects was oriented to communicate their
results through multimedia productions, such as radio, reverse, online
newspaper; web pages, audiovisual productions, design of Facebook pages and
other social networks of students' domain. In all the phases of the Lesson
Study were taken as pedagogical-didactic principles the Flipped classroom, the
enactivism and connectivism, articulated to the methodology of the ABP,
didactic sequence. In teacher training in the digital age, it is essential to
incorporate the design of author resources as teaching material (Peña, 2017).
In the phase of teaching and observing the lesson the teachers of
the group prepared the conditions of the classroom environment to minimize the
distorting effect of the filming and direct observations in the classroom on
the behavior and environment of students and teachers. The students of the
Lessón Study and its methodological process were explained to the students. The
first lesson was developed according to the design. The proposal of the PBL
methodology was socialized with the students.
The students worked in groups and took to the classroom and other
learning spaces, such as forums and chats: doubts, difficulties, resources,
findings and learning outcomes to be socialized in larger and larger groups. In
this way the students were empowered of their role as protagonists, mainly
through cooperative work between peers and more autonomous, with respect to the
teacher. To achieve this autonomy, the orientation of the teachers in the
design of the projects carried out by the groups played a determining role. In
this process the students with the guidance of the teachers established:
themes, objectives, resources, schedules, results and responsibilities.
The projects were worked in groups, with specific individual
contributions; they learned by doing highly complex tasks, such as critical
reading of texts and audiovisuals, participating in discussion and feedback
forums, using ICT and transforming them into technologies for learning and
knowledge (TAC), building results reports in their own online and interactive
multimedia languages of the Web 2.0. Teaching and learning in the digital era
means going from ICT to TAC (Sancho, 2008, Granados J, López R, Avello R, Luna
D, Luna E, Luna W, 2014).
The development of these processes involved high levels of challenge and
complexity, which in most cases was assumed with great commitment. The
plenaries to socialize the results of the projects showed that the design of
the experimental lesson was very effective to achieve the learning objective,
the understanding of the historical present. It was observed the first
experimental lesson concluded with good results, depending on the learning
objective, however, it was observed that adjustments should be made to the
didactic process.
3.2. First
lesson revised
After the development of the
experimental lesson, the analysis and revision of it was made, based on the
evidences collected in audiovisuals and observation cards. Some improvements
were made to the first lesson, such as reinforcing the process of inquiry and
socialization of the previous knowledge of students around the subject of
learning and the development of thinking skills related to it. In the revised
lesson, the cognitive processes oriented to relate the previous knowledge of
the students to the new learning were reformulated, depending on their
significance, more time was devoted to participation and the students' stories
were oriented on the arguments of their students. previous understandings
The formation of groups was also
reviewed, as a factor of impact on the quality of autonomous and cooperative
learning processes. It could be perceived that some groups were more efficient
and more committed to group work than others, because the groups formed by the
students themselves, in some cases were distracted in conversations of friends
and in other cases there was no complementarity in the abilities and
competences required for the group task. For this reason, groups were reconstituted
according to their capacities to contribute cooperatively to the group. It was
also oriented so that multimedia productions use more images, resources
produced by the students themselves.
The revised lesson was developed,
followed the same procedure of observation and collection of evidence. The
changes made were very effective in improving the level of achievement of
learning objectives. We inquired more broadly about previous knowledge of the
students, through the exemplification, from personal experiences. The students
showed more mastery and prominence in the PBL process. They used much more
powerful multimedia digital resources in the communicative field, such as the
use of more interactive and novel languages and environments, which went beyond
what was oriented and recommended by teachers in the didactic process.
The results of this lesson were
better than in the previous lesson. The students' presentations gave an account
of the understanding of how the stories of history are traced in continuous and
discontinuous lines, with the participation of diverse historical actors.
However, the understanding of the determination of the present and the identity
of individuals and peoples, from this reading of temporality in history, still
presented some difficulties, because this understanding implied notions of
sequentiality and causality.
3.3.
Second revised lesson
The first revised lesson was revised again and activities aimed at
developing thinking skills aimed at understanding sequentiality and causality
in historical processes and time were inserted into the didactic planning. From
the exploration of the previous knowledge, to the presentation of the results
of the learning projects, the notions of temporality, sequence, collective
actoria and causality were developed in an intrinsically linked way. With what
was achieved a broad, complex and significant understanding of the historical
present as an identity element of individuals and peoples.
Throughout the process of the Lesson Study, learning environments were
achieved, both face-to-face and virtual, in which cooperative work among
students and teachers predominated. The personal interrelations of
horizontality were a constant in all the observations. Despite the presence of
cameras and observers there was always a very natural environment, as a very
marked characteristic of cooperative work and planned by processes and results.
The communicative productions with which the students presented the
results of their projects, with a great display of multimedia resources,
evidenced their understanding of categories of continuity and discontinuity in
historical time, in subjects such as the historical legacy of the great
civilizations of the East , The West and the Andean World and the three wars of
the 20th century.
Special emphasis was placed on the Cañari and Inca civilizations, due to
their importance in shaping the Ecuadorian and Latin American identity. One of
the main results that was reached through the Lesson Study, is that the
students valued as very important to have understood that they are heirs of
great civilizations, that there are legacies that must be preserved, and in
some cases rescued, and others that are already part of history, as something
overcome. Another result to highlight is to have fostered the collaborative
work of the group of teachers, in order to innovate the teaching practice
itself.
4. Conclusions
The experience of the Lesson Study was evaluated by
students, teachers as a highly innovative proposal to develop historical
thinking. The impact of Web 2.0 technologies on learning was one of the
elements best evaluated for the ability to generate cooperative, enactive and
connectivity learning.
The slogan of the UNAE, "Every day they teach
something, every day you learn something" became very pragmatic in the
development of this Lesson study. Students and teachers learned to learn,
teaching and learning with their peers and teachers, assuming their
responsibility as the principal interested in the what, how, with whom, with
what and where they learn more and better. With this methodology all the
participants lived an important experience of metacognitive reflections.
The methodology of the Flipped classroom, in this
experience, proved effective in reversing the roles (Pérez, 2012), of the
student as only a learner and of the teacher as only a teacher. Faced with the
challenge of developing complex thought processes, students learned and taught
between peers and their teachers. Developing communicative productions as
results of learning projects in multimedia languages motivated teachers to
learn together with students and their peers. A true learning
community was lived.
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Gladys
Isabel Portilla Faicán
e-mail: gladys.portilla@unae.edu.ec
Born in Cuenca, Ecuador. Third level and fourth level
education in Educational Sciences and Social Sciences. Professor at the Universidad
Nacional de Educación (UNAE-Ecuador). Teacher-Researcher in the areas of Social
Sciences, Social Science Teaching, Teacher Training, Educational Innovation and
Emerging Educational Technology.
Amauris Laurencio Leyva
e-mail: amalaur@cepes.uh.cu
Born in Havana, Cuba. PhD. President
of the Commission of Scientific Degrees for the Social Sciences of the Universidad
de La Habana. Coordinator of the Doctorate Program in Educational Sciences.
Deputy Director of CEPES-UH. UNESCO Chair in
University Management and Teaching.
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- Original Version in Spanish -
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29394/Scientific.issn.2542-2987.2018.3.7.7.140-154