Reflective Synopsis

This synopsis aims to critically reflect on the past five weeks of digital learning, accessed and challenged through an interactive online university course.  The 21^st Century digital world has opened many locked doors to a highly technical digital future that is beyond our current comprehension.

First, let’s look into some of the theory underpinning the digital technology of today’s classroom.  The four learning theories applied throughout this course were Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Social Constructivism and Connectivism; all of which when cleverly combined and used effectively next to each other, contribute to creating the successful learners of today. 

The TechnologicalPedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPCK) was also used to inform theoretical understandings for implementing technology into the classroom.  As the framework states “TPCK is the basis of good teaching with technology and requires an understanding of the representation of concepts using technologies; pedagogical techniques that use technologies in constructive ways to teach content; knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face; knowledge of students’ prior knowledge and theories of epistemology; and knowledge of how technologies can be used to build on existing knowledge and to develop new epistemologies or strengthen old ones (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p.1029).  

Effective application of the TPCK Framework into current pedagogy also addresses requirements of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL, 2012) Standards 1, 2 and 3.

Of course, with the benefits of accessing digital technology in schools, practitioners must also be aware of the dangers and must adhere to safe use, policies and procedures when accessing the Internet. Ways in which these issues are addressed, as outlined by the Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE, 2013, p.1), are to:

• “Develop and implement procedures and guidelines for web publishing at the school level
• Skill staff to manage school-based web publishing
• Guide and supervise students during the course of web publishing
• Develop and implement policies and procedures for the removal or replacement of inappropriately published material”.

Addressing these issues is also another requirement of the AITSL (2012) Graduate Teacher Standards 4 – Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments.

One of the first online activities completed required the application of De Bono’sSix Thinking Hats.  This activity involved accessing Wikispaces as a collaborative online tool and applying learning theories such as behaviourism where thinking was re-shaped throughout the process, cognitivism - discovering the massive benefit of using De Bono's model to become a more effective thinker, social contructivism – accessing and reading what other peers were thinking to elaborate or widen original perceptions of the subject matter, and connectivism - where all thoughts, ideas and experiences were added to a learning space aiming to enlighten minds.

Online learning spaces like Wikispaces are fantastic engagement tools for the classroom as they may be used by an individual to lead into collaborative and social construction of knowledge, are accessible from a range of locations and contribute to learning through the evaluation of the perspectives and ideas of others.  An individual critical reflection was recorded onto a personal blog, accessible by all enrolled in the course.  Blogs are quickly becoming essential learning tools in modern day classrooms.  As noted in Michelle Lampinen’s (2013) blog; students are quickly able to experience the benefits of blogs, are easily engaged and enjoy expressing their opinions in an online space, whereas they usually wouldn’t in classroom discussions due to shyness or disability.      

Working harmoniously alongside these two collaborative online tools are thousands of other digital technologies.  As this is an ever evolving subject area, the digital technologies that were focussed on to create this synopsis were Weebly, YouTube, Prezi, Voki, Moviemaker and Zooburst.  When any of these tools are implemented effectively into classroom practice, a level of learning and achievement is accessible to all learners, regardless of age, gender, ability or disability; so long as the school has access to a computer lab with Internet connection.  The Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition (SAMR) Model is an effective tool used for scaffolding learning development when integrating these technologies into the classroom (Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE), 2012).  This model is used to demonstrate how computer technology enhances teaching and learning (DETE, 2012).  Now is the time to see and understand that technology assists in creating presentations and products that are not only professional, but include multiple types of media including text, images, video and audio files.

Image retrieved from: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=samr+model&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7LmlUunYJ4qtiAfEk4HADQ&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1088&bih=532#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=GmvxCULeCAOgvM%3A%3BZ7AkAIjdndRXuM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fjohnsteachingblog.files.wordpress.com%252F2009%252F03%252Fsamr1.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fbartontech.wikispaces.com%252FAssessment%3B3896%3B2834

21^st Century pedagogues must acknowledge the importance of assisting their students in becoming technologically savvy as it is a fundamental need and right of young learners today.  There is currently an intense focus on supporting and extending literacy skills in Australian schools.  The implementation of technology can assist in this area as information literacy is a skill that should be supported by the explicit modelling and teaching of processes that can be used to make informed decisions about the reliability of information found on the web.  All stakeholders involved in education need to see the value of technology, as technology has the potential to save time, providing students with more time to analyse and interpret solutions that enhance capacity-building whilst supporting a greater emphasis on problem solving.    

Teachers need to view technology as a universal skill; as digital pedagogy.  Once this vision has been unlocked and basic skills and competency in using the hardware and software packages has been achieved, they will understand the power and potential it encompasses (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2012). Graduate teachers. Retrieved from http://www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au/CareerStage/graduateteachers/Standards

Department of Education, Training and Employment. (2013). Risk management. Retrieved from https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx

Department of Education, Training and Employment. (2012). The SAMR model: engage in deep learning and authentic contexts. Retrieved from https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx

Lampinen, M. (2013, April 8). Blogging in the 21st Century classroom. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blogging-in-21st-century-classroom-michelle-lampinen

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. (pp. 1017-1054) [PDF for digital Edition]. Retrieved from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Week 5 Digital Technologies Continued

This week I focussed on making PowerPoints more interesting by creating a virtual museum/room.  I feel that this is a tool I will definitely use as I really enjoy using PowerPoints during class and it's a great program for kids to begin learning on.  I also looked into using Prezi.  Prezi is a great way to present information and is easily accessed through the Internet.  I feel Prezi is the next step up from PowerPoint and the presentation and animations in Prezi are automatic so less time is needed for the animation side of things.  My only concern with using both of these technologies is the time needed to learn how to use them.  Also when explaining to students how to use these, there needs to be a 'mother' computer for the teacher to be able to demonstrate and instruct step by step for the students to follow.  My learning style is very kinaesthetic and visual, so I always need to find tutorial clips via YouTube to understand how things are done.  I have attached the clip I viewed to help me understand how to create the PowerPoint ' virtual room'.  

My other digital focus this week was using Zooburst.  I love Zooburst and found it very easy to use and could instantly see the benefits of implementing this into the classroom.  I feel it would particularly benefit students who dislike literacy as the 'pop-out' effects are effective and engaging.  I created a very rough story using Zooburst which is linked below:

http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb01_529ac6843cd64 

Week 4 Digital Technologies

Hi welcome to my week 4 blog post.  This week we looked further into digital technologies.  Let me tell you it has not been a very successful week!

Anyway here is an image that I uploaded to my blog of me teaching at school this year. I attempted the image resizing and downloaded Mobaphoto but was unsuccessful in getting that program to work.  I do however, see the benefits of being able to upload my own photos to the Internet as they do improve the overall look of webpages and blogs etc, and are great ways of showing evidence of activities and events.

Here is a link to my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/109522626@N08/
You should be able to see the same image as the one above.
So far I see no benefit in using Flickr as you can look at photos pretty much the same way as through using Facebook.  The only thing I found with it, is that you can look at someone's photos in a similar format to a PowerPoint slide show which is different to Facebook, so I can see how that could kind of work in the classroom, but you can use PowerPoint to create and upload slideshows and publish them on YouTube to share over the Internet.

Here is my first ever Voki that I have created.  Hope you enjoy!

Using Voki's is a fun and engaging way to introduce students to technology.  It's also a really great tool for helping students to overcome stage-fright in that they can hide behind the voki and use their own voice for activities.  Also if a student has a speech impairment, they can type in a message into the Voki which essentially gives them their own voice!  How awesome for that student to be able to engage in conversation and expressing himself/herself with a voice.  Voki's are able to be used effectively beside podcasts in much the same way, however podcasts do not interpret typed text and require voice input to relay messages.  

This is my photostory that I created using Movie Maker for an art assignment at University.  Using Movie Maker and the like is another great way of engaging students with digital technology and creativity.  I do still raise concerns about having so much personal information broadcast over the Internet.  Hope you enjoy my little video: 

Reflecting on the use of ICT's in schools

I feel that through implementing blogs into the classroom it's  great way of engaging students as they appeal to their interests of using technology.  In my short experience with blogs, I've found that they can be a fantastic way of sharing information about virtually any topic as well as expressing particular viewpoints.  With blogs it is easy to add images, links to other websites and videos or YouTube clips.  So far ways that I have considered using blogs effectively within my classroom would be similar to the activities I am completing throughout this course; through critically reflecting on my experience and reading about other peoples experiences.  I feel that blogs could be useful in the classroom for writing persuasive pieces, where other students are required to leave opposing comments whilst learning to be mindful and tactful in their responses - Internet etiquette rather than cyber bullying!

Last week I created my first Wiki and engaged in an activity where I was required to leave comments.  I found the task to be much less daunting and overall the experience was rather enjoyable.  The only concern I really have about using wikis is the ease of accidentally deleting other students work.  I am aware of the history button to bring back any deleted work but I still have concerns that if someone hit delete then save, are you still able to go back through the history to bring back the deleted information?  Also if you are unaware of deleting someone's work how will you know who deleted the work, can you retrieve this information and how long does the history save this information?

In previous courses we have been required to create or build websites which I will link below.  For the subject of global science we were required to apply Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to a science sub strand creating a learning journey to scaffold knowledge within this area.  I chose to build my website using Weebly.  While it took sometime to figure out what and how all the buttons work, I am now really comfortable with using Weebly's and intend on using them in the future.  One of our lecturers last term showed us how effective using Weebly's for student homework can be.  She just has the Weebly ready to go and the students log in and complete their maths and literacy homework - no more paper wastage or forgetting to take/bring homework to and from school!

One negative aspect of Weebly's is that is so easy to get caught up in making the page/s look pretty rather than completing the research to add the information.  I have found that by using a blank word document in order to complete the research or writing for the Weebly, allows more time to play and decorate the webpage.  In some ways this is similar to the SAMR model in that we start with a very basic technology product such as word and then use that information to go into the webpage to be accessed by many others.

So for now the learning journey continues as I continue to figure out how to use all this technology stuff...

Link to my weebly for science: http://monica-dixon-mackay-at2.weebly.com

Should mobile phones be allowed in classrooms?

Hooray!  I actually found this activity to be far less challenging than I had anticipated. And I was really surprised with the opinion and ideas I formed throughout the activity. 

My first step, as I am a highly visual/kinaesthetic learner, was to find a YouTube clip demonstrating how De Bono's six hats are used during a class lesson in order to really gain a deep understanding of this tool.  This was the video that I posted in my first blog. The way the video demonstrated the use of the hats really made sense to me and I felt it was sequenced in a logical order.  So for the mobile phones task I answered the questions in the same order as the clip in order to more constructively scaffold my thinking.  I feel by scaffolding my thinking this way, it is similar to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy; start small with prior knowledge and experience and extend it. 

The first hat I addressed in my draft was the red hat, where I focussed on my emotions and feelings about the subject; which I felt rather negative about.  Once I got the emotional stuff out of the way I began thinking more clearly about what I factually knew - the white hat.  Here I listed the facts that I knew about mobile phones and their uses.  Then I looked at the positives, negatives, creativity and outcome of what I had learned.  This is where I was really surprised - I actually had changed my thinking and finished by stating that mobile phones have the potential to be really positive tools within the classroom!  I think that Mr De Bono really knows his stuff and I am so excited to use this in further lessons!

I also found the use of the wiki to be a great tool for engagement and connecting with others.  As the word limit for our responses to the hats was very limited, it was great to be able to read everyone else's contributions and extend on ideas they may have missed.  The activity was fantastic for self-directed learning, as not only did I need to figure out a new technological tool, but also to view the subject through a variety of different lenses. 

So in  a nutshell, the underlying theories that I mentioned in my earlier blog were all present and working harmoniously and effectively next to each other throughout this activity.  There was behaviourism where my thinking was re-shaped throughout the process, cognitivism - where I discovered the massive benefit of using De Bono's model to become a more effective thinker, social contructivism - where I was able to read what my peers were thinking and elaborate or widen my original perception of the subject and connectivism - where we all added our thoughts, ideas and experiences to a learning place to enlighten our minds.  Overall I am feeling really positive about this experience and think I will be ok to continue my learning journey!

Learning Theories

Hi my name is Monica Dixon and I am in my second year of study at CQU Mackay studying a Bachelor of Learning Management - Primary.  I am very new to all of this 'technology stuff' and fear I will be clumsily stumbling my way through this entire course.  Over the next few weeks I will continue to update this blog hopefully demonstrating to you my learning journey!    


As an educator of children in the 21st Century, the fundamental skill of understanding and applying the learning theories developed by educational theorists to inform best pedagogical practice has never had such an important impact as now.

The four main theories which are the focus of this blog are Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Social Constructivism and Connectivism; all of which when cleverly combined and used effectively next to each other, contribute to creating the successful learners of today.  

It is essential that learning is authentic in that it connects students to the world around and beyond them. Learning must be in a context that presents problems related to real life situations, where students are highly supported in solving these issues through the application of higher order thinking or complex thinking strategies. Learning managers achieve this through cleverly scaffolding the learning by implementing pedagogical tools such as De Bono's Six Thinking Hats and Bloom's Revised Taxonomy encouraging learners to be active participants in their own personal learning journeys.The use of curriculum frameworks and guidelines is also another important aspect of teaching; however it is important to keep in mind that learning managers teach students not curriculum.  

I found this video link to be a fantastic explanation for implementing De Bono's Six Thinking Hats into everyday classrooms: