Embedded Task 1- de Bono’s Hats/Mobile Phones wikispaces activity

I must admit that it took me a good deal of time to pinpoint the exact purpose of this week’s embedded assessment task.  This in itself is a great example of the way in which contemporary pedagogies necessitate higher order thinking. As with the learning material presented in week 1, this week’s material exposed me to a number of new concepts and ideas I was not yet familiar with and I found ‘de Bono’s Hats’ wiki activity to be a very effective learning experience. In particular I like the fact that the activity is presented on a platform open to a group of students rather than one individual and therefore encourages the sharing and comparison of ideas.

           

 When analysing the purpose and design of de Bono’s Hats activity in the context of this week’s learning material, I was able to make various connections between it and Blooms Taxonomy, and the SAMR model. As pointed out in the assessment task instructions de Bono’s activity primarily focuses on the cognitive processes of evaluation and analysis, though other processes are involved also. The activity directly encouraged me to analyse and evaluate the perspectives put forward with each different ‘hat’, as well as the responses of the other students. I needed to draw on my knowledge of mobile phones and my recollections of instances where I had been in classrooms when mobile phones were present. The fact that I could see other students’ responses encouraged me to question my initial ideas rather than write down the first thing that came to mind when I synthesised my final response. These are all cognitive thought processes found in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

           

 When analysing de Bono’s activity in the context of the SAMR model my initial response was that it only corresponded to the 'substitution' level as the same activity could be conducted in a classroom setting using a whiteboard and classroom discussion. After reflecting on my response and comparing it to the descriptions of the levels presented in the YouTube clip, I realised that the activity could qualify for the 'augmentation' level, as the activity is not necessarily limited to one classroom and could be presented to a large network simultaneously. In addition the participants have the option of formatting the text of their responses as they desire, encouraging individuality and creativity.

             

Overall I feel that de Bono’s activity is a very effective way of engaging students and is relatively simple and accessible. The activity is well scaffolded and facilitates desirable learning outcomes through the necessitation of cognitive thought processes, critical thinking and idea exchange.