Planning a telelearning environment to foster higher order thinking

Abstract

Throughout Australia, audiographic conferencing is widely used as an instructional medium to link schools in rural and remote areas with urban schools which have curriculum and teaching expertise in particular subject areas. This technology involves a two‐way audio link via telephone, and a computer link up via modem. The computer acts as a shared visual link between teacher and students. Curriculum documents increasingly emphasise the importance of fostering higher order thinking (HOT) for students, and this presents challenges to teachers who must meet the needs of distance students. The present research was an in‐depth investigation of telematics classrooms in Western Australia, with a deliberate focus on changing the teaching‐learning environment in order to develop higher order thinking in learners. Planning for higher order thinking was orchestrated through a research partnership approach and a formative experiment. This entailed successive interventions in the learning environment in order to create conditions conducive to HOT. Each phase of the process was monitored and talk was analysed in order to uncover students’ thinking processes through dialogue. The framework adopted for analysis of HOT investigated types of talk which were indicative of reasoning processes. Results indicated that students’ capacity to display HOT increased as a result of changes in pedagogy, in particular, the scaffolding role of the teacher, and opportunities for social interaction, dialogue and collaboration among students. Technology was used to support learning rather than merely to mediate communication, or act as a conveyor of the teacher's instructions.