Friday, 17 August 2012

Reflective Synopsis


Introduction-



E-learning is a course that is teaching us how teaching will occur in the future of education. Schools all over the world are adapting to the knowledge that students today are more reliant on technology than ever before (Bruno, 2012). Learners in the 21st century are described by Prenski (2001) as "digital natives" who have grown up in the world of technology and therefore expect it to be included in learning experiences. Children are growing up with technology surrounding them throughout their childhood with computers, iPads and mobile phones. A decade into the new millennium and computers are now a staple in the majority of classrooms, their usage has inclined over the years with 26% of students beginning before the age of 7, and 51% between the ages of 7 and 10 (ABS). Because of these figures there have been shifts in what constitutes effective teaching as Learning Managers, and they are now legally bound to participate in the national standards which insist on using ICTs when the learning engagement demands it (UNESCO, 2008). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge (Koehler,2011). In this reflective synopsis I will be looking at several different ICT’s that are used in the classroom and how they benefit the students learning, as well as any negative aspects of these technologies.



Wiki activity-



I did not get an opportunity to participate in this activity due to my own fault of missing that week through family commitments, but did not go on the Moodle site to see what I missed. However, going from what I have seen on the wiki, as well as viewing my peer’s blogs I have been able to gain some knowledge of what I failed to complete. The question was asked ‘should mobile phones be used in the classroom’. Using the 6 de bono hats, my peers went through their opinions through their selected hat. Once this information was all completed, everyone could see what everyone else thought. Now the question was not the important feature of this activity, it was the way a wiki could be used in a classroom. I found that looking at how my peers viewed the topic compared to my own was very different; I actually found that I may have changed my mind. In a school, students could participate in a similar wiki based activity. This would mean that students reflect on their own opinion as well as find out what their peers are thinking, presenting information in another way and sometimes presenting new information in order to help other students in their learning.



Tool 1- Blogger



Blogger has the ability to be quite an engaging tool, especially for outside of school use as described in this previous blog. Teachers using Blogs through the TPACK learning framework can use it to become an engaging, useful way to add technology into the learning context, allowing for lessons to be easier for students to engage in. Students could use the blog to complete homework or assignments at home and have no excuses like ‘the dog ate it’. This will also allow for other students to critique and/or review others work. This would provide a means of peer feedback, as well as teacher input. This method will assist the lower range students who struggle in the lessons to be able to participate and take knowledge off other students, showing those students different ways of interpreting the topic and allowing further study on topics that they found difficult. Another useful way of using blogs is that a teacher can post weekly/daily posts about what is to be learnt in the coming day/week or a revision of what has been completed, allowing for students who were away to catch up on any work they missed. Ellison and Wu state that through the means of ICT’s, like blogs, the student teacher relationship and cooperation with increase due to the increased amount of communication away from school. This will build a better classroom environment at school where the students will be more eager to learn from the teacher. The Queensland Government of Education has policies in place to build a safe environment for the students to set up their blogs, not allowing outside disruption and unwanted access. The teachers will be responsible for setting up the private blogging space for students to work in secure environments ensuring safe ethical guidelines are adhered to.



Tool 2- PowerPoint



Most teachers use this particular ICT and students no longer get a great deal of engagement from it due to its overuse. However what many teachers and student do not know is that what most people see/do on PowerPoint is only a tiny amount of its potential. As stated in an earlier Blog, PowerPoint has the ability to do many engaging tricks. It has the ability to link to the 6 cognitive frameworks stated by Bloom. This should ensure that students not only take in the knowledge and information but are able to replicate it at a later date. PowerPoint is also an excellent tool for students to work with. It is a simple, creative tool which students can use for assignments. A teacher could also teach the students all the advanced functions of the PowerPoint to allow for the more creative, visual students to have a new way to present information in the future.



Tool 3- Websites/Weebly



I have not been able to personally have an in-depth look into Weebly unfortunately as I discussed in a previous BLOG, but have experimented and have a good basic knowledge of how it works. A website is a good way to gain the attention of all learning styles. You can embed videos, images and written work to attract visual learners. You can also embed podcasts for audio learners. Not only that, but you can hyperlink words in your website to send the students to another website with more information. This could be effective for students to use when studying for an exam, where they can read all the work that has been done throughout the term, as well as any other sites that can add extra information for those who are willing to put the effort in. The teacher can choose to either allow for students to edit the site, giving them the opportunity to personalise the site and add any information that they deem will help themselves/others, or lock out the students, so that the teacher can put only the information they are willing to show, so students only have valid information.



Tool 4- Bubblus



As stated in a previous blog. This could be one of the most useful and effective ICT’s even though it is one of the most basic tools. It has a lot of potential in helping students understand and link knowledge better. A student can write a mind map in their books essentially the same as what can be achieved through this site, however Bubblus can make it stand out, more colourfully for the visual learners, as well as allow for a combination of multiple students inputs to have a class mind map and therefore more engaging. This benefits a teacher as they can go over this information as see how a student’s mind works, and how they understand and interpret information and plan classes for the future accordingly.



Safety-

The legal requirement for children working safely on the Internet as described in the child protection act and Learning Managers must consider the risks of cyber bullying and other forms of harm that can students can partake in if not carefully blocked and monitored. Anything posted on the web can be seen, so it is essential that the teacher does all he/she can to keep as much private information out of the internet as possible. All sites that students participate in should be private, so only those invited can view the site. The teacher must also discuss plagiarism. To copy someone else’s work or claiming it as your own is known as plagiarism and can lead to a serious offence, so all students should always complete the proper referencing, again to be monitored by the teacher.



Conclusion-



I remember when I first found out about all these new concepts 5 weeks ago and I was thinking how I could ever get a decent understanding of all of these things. Just 6 weeks ago the most I did on a computer is find Google. Now, although I am by no means an expert, I have a decent knowledge and understanding of what and how to use ICT’s, and have discovered that some of these could prove to be a vital aspect of teaching in the future. They can engage all students both in and outside of school with a lot of teacher control and supervision. This class has shown me that I need to change my ways and experiment and find ways to include technology in a classroom and hopefully achieve a high learning outcome for most, if not all my students.





Referencing:



Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook I: The cognitive domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.



Australian Bureau of Statistics. Real Time: Computers, Change and Schooling. viewed 15/08/12 at
http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/featurearticlesbyCatalogue/D34A3B2E9ED5BC12CA2569DE0028DE8F?OpenDocument




Australian Government. (2011). Australian Curriculum And Reporting Authority, Viewed on 15/8/12 at http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/general_capabilities.html



Bruno (2012), Are students becoming too reliant on technology? viewed 15/8/2012 at http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/are-students-becoming-too-reliant-on-technology/



Downes, S, (2004), 'Educational blogging', EDUCAUSE Review,vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 14–26. veiwed 15/8/12 from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/educational-blogging



Ellison, N.B. Wu, Y. (2008) Blogging in the classroom: a preliminary Exploration of students attitudes and impacts on comprehension. Veiwed 15/8/12 at http://matias.wiki.westga.edu/file/view/Blogging_article.pdf/265498220/Blogging_article.pdf



Koehler, M.J. (2011). TPACK– Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge: What is TPACK?. Viewed 15/8/12 at http://www.tpck.org/



Prenski, M. (2001). ‘Digital Natives Digital Immigrants’ from On the Horizon University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, viewed 15/8/12 at http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf



Snowman, J., Dobozy, E., Scevak, J., Bryer, F., & Bartlett, B. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons.



UNESCO. (2008). Accessed 13th August 2012 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001562/156207e.pdf


Bubblus

Last but not least is bubbbus. This is a great tool I believe. It is very, very simple but can show a lot of information in a easy to access site. A teacher could split students up into groups and get them to work on a mind map through bubblus, then once all the groups are finished put them all together to create a class mind map. This basic ICT is one of my favourite that we have looked at so far due to its simplicity and adaptions to show students learning patterns.

Websites/weebly


Creating a website has many benefits. For one, you can privatise it so only those you select, your students, can access it. You can then allow for the students to edit the page to allow for them to feel in control of their learning. Then they can add any information they deem necessary in it, and the teacher can go over it to correct anything that does not belong. I was able to create a page and do a few little things in it, e.g. add a video and image and thought it was actually quite simple and would not take long for students of the modern era to adapt and use this ICT effectively. Due to time constrictions as well as loss of internet at home for a period, i havent had the opertunity to look further into creating a website.

Powerpoint

PowerPoint is one of the few things I knew about prior to starting this course; however I did not have any idea that so much could be done on it. I have used power points before, using slides to teach instead of write on the board. However through this course I have found a million different things you can also do with it. For example, I knew you could change the background, but not move it around and personalise it. You could also make a video like thing with added sound to engage auditory and visual learners. Powerpoint has many different ways to engage the learner and hopefully I can go out to a school with these new techniques and optimise my students learning.

Blogger

Although I was born in 1993, I have a very limited ability when it comes to technology; I am defiantly not a ‘digital native’. In week one when we were to start up the first of our many ICT’s, the blog entry, I was not sure as to how well I would understand it. The computer I have at home has experienced Google and that’s about as far as it goes. First things first, I had to create a new email account, which in itself was a challenge as many people, including myself were not able to complete it during the tutorial. Once I was home and was able to create the new email account, I got started trying to start up my blogger account. I was able to start it up pretty successfully but once it was up, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how to post, or watch videos or anything. Once I got a better understanding of blogger and what it is capable of, I think that I could be an excellent tool. It could be used as a student’s daily journal, where they put all their information, or that of others in the class, to be revisited at any moment.

Thursday, 16 August 2012

Activity 1, week 1


Activity 1

I believe that I am a kinaesthetic learner, meaning that I prefer to learn things by doing more that thinking, listening or reading. For example, I would rather learn how the laws of gravity work by going outside and participating in an experiment, rather than copying off a board. However I know that not everyone like to learn this way and as a student teacher it is my responsibility to try to engage all learning styles, not just my own. A good way of doing this I think is through a smart board. At the school I am currently based at for EPL, they have a smart board in the class room and I find this to be really engaging to the students as they can listen to the teacher, or video, read the information provided from the teacher, watch a video, and actively participate in same technological activities. This is a great way to luring in students despite their learning styles. Given that I have a very limited knowledge of ICT’s. eg. Google is about as far as it goes, I would find it hard to discover really engaging ways to teach students through this means. It is vital that a teacher continually asks students to participate in class discussions to allow for the teacher to gain a good understanding of the students to cater for their needs. Some good questions to ask would be to ask how they believe they work best. i.e. in groups, individually, PowerPoint, whiteboard, practicals etc. ICT’s in the classroom creates interactive resources for kinaesthetic learners, audio for auditory learners and videos/images for visual learners allowing for, hopefully their optimal learning outcome.


*Handwriten and completed 16/7/12