Reflective Synopsis
*Note – All photos are owned by me besides 3 in my PowerPoint which are
referenced.
Introduction
In my opinion E - learning refers to the practice of teaching and
learning through the use of ICT's. Our world is ever changing and depending
more and more on digital tools. Most people would be lost without facebook,
mobile phones, laptops mp3’s or their tablets. The use of digital tools in the
classroom enhances students learning through flexibility, creativity and
engagement and will prepare them for our rapidly changing economy. E - Learning
is an important aspect to integrate into all classrooms and curriculum areas
because it gives students more opportunities to learn and develops within them
life long skills that will help students to navigate through our technological
future.
According to ACARA (2012), ICT capabilities support and enhance learning
experiences in most strands. They also state that students are coming into a
world of digital age and these students need to be highly skilled to use,
develop and communicate with ICT's, to be able to be successful in an ever growing
technological sophisticated society. Basically, ACARA (2012) is backing up my
earlier statements of students needing to become ICT literate in schools to
prepare for our quickly inclining digital age world.
In consequence to these statements by ACARA and to align with the new
curriculum, new pedagogical developments have been made to support students and
learning managers within the classroom. T-PACK is a framework
that combines technological, pedagogical and content knowledge to teach as a
combined package instead of individually. Bloom’s Taxonomy
(Chapman, 2008), is another framework, that when utilised correctly and
scaffolded through the use of ICT’s, will push students to higher critical thinking
levels. This will advance students in their knowledge and skills to use ICT’s
and also the content that they chose to construct these digital tools with. The
four tools that I have chosen will have opportunities to promote higher order
thinking.
This reflective synopsis will look at legal, safety and ethical issues
when working online or with digital tools, how collaboration and constructivism
support ICT learning, pedagogy, and four specific tools that will promote ICT
learning in the classroom. The four tools chosen are Weebly, Flickr, Titanpad
and PowerPoint. Over the last 5 weeks we have looked at many digital tools and
these four in my opinion have the most benefited for classrooms and student
use.
Working Legally,
Safely and Ethically
Working legally, safely and ethically in my opinion refers to two
things:
1. Issues involving the legality of using other peoples work, pictures,
videos, etc
2. The safety of students from online predators and ethics of respecting
each other to stop cyber bullying.
It is important to always give correct acknowledgement to the creator or
copyright holder. As a learning manager, it is our duty to display for students
correct behaviour when it's comes to using other people’s pictures when
teaching and giving the attribution deserved (Mpofu, n.d). Students need to
understand that it is classed as theft if they use someone else’s work without
permission or without giving attribution (Mpofu, n.d). My blog
posting discusses this further.
Teachers must ensure that student are always kept safe and display safe behaviours
when working with digital tools or in an online space. This point refers to
predators that may be lurking around on certain sites and also the sometimes
very graphical ads that can be displayed automatically and cannot be removed in
the free account versions of some online tools.
As stated by Chavez (2010), cyber bullying is on the rise. He also
states that there is a fine line between what some people can banter and others
call bullying. Learning managers will need to discuss this issue with students
and monitor interactions on sites considered to pose a risk.
After analysing this point, the Weebly, Titanpad or the PowerPoint would be the best
tool in supporting safe ICT use in the classroom (See blog postings for more).
Weebly and Titanpad can both be password protected and set to private.
PowerPoint keeps students safest from predators because it isn't an online
tool. Safety is the most important aspect to consider when students are working
online.
Pedagogy
Over the course of three years at university, I have learnt that
pedagogy is the way we teach, style or strategies we use. Getting students to
work effectively and productively online when there are some many distractions
sounds difficult but with the help of pedagogies and linked planning they will
sure to be engaged and work efficiently. We looked at digital pedagogies in the
second week of this course. Wendy constructed a wiki page that saw us use De
Bono's thinking hats to deeply evaluate mobile phones in the classroom. The way
in which it was set up gave students to opportunity to express ideas and
opinions constructively with other students. I feel that this was a good way to
get students involved because it have students purpose - to express their ideas
which could, help other and visa versa with other students ideas. This strategy
also organized out thinking and perspectives for easier interpretation and to
promote higher order thinking.
Weebly and PowerPoint were chosen to be most effective in scaffolding
ICT learning. My Weebly (click to view)
shows a whole unit from SOSE that guides students through the learning process
and allows them to work without much teacher involvement. Weebly (See PMI) has the
positives of being able to structure the tabs to suit the learning of all the
students.
PowerPoint’s allow the teacher to present ideas in an engaging way. It
also allows them to scaffold the learning by having each idea on a different
page to guide the students step – by – step through the thinking process. This
way, students can go back or forward for differentiation (See PMI).
These tools also allow or a learner centred approach.
Collaborative and
Constructivist learning.
“Many teachers have embraced the opportunities that computer – mediated communication
and collaboration offer” (Snowman et al, 2009). In other words, students are
participating in online collaboration sessions that allow them to work
collaboratively and communicate in a constructivist way.
Ultimately, these theories, Collaborative and Constructivist, can be
promoted successfully through the use of Weebly and Titanpad.
Chan (2006), agrees with this by stating in simpler terms that constructivist
learning environments engage learners in knowledge construction through
collaborative activities that embed learning in a meaningful context through
the use of ICT’s.
Weebly allows students to work through content together (See PMI)
or create a Weebly together to suit their group assessment task. Titanpad (See PMI)
is a really good tool to use for collaborative sessions. This tool involves
students communicating collaboratively to complete the task. The Department of
Education (2012) suggest that the sessions need to be controlled in a focused environment.
They also say that communication in this form has the potential to improve
students thinking and literacy skills and help develop critical literacy. Like
all activities, these tools would need to be taught and used in a scaffolded
way to ensure student on task participation and skill building.
Conclusion
Over the past 5 weeks I have been introduced to many differing online
and digital tools tolls I will strive to use in my classroom as a future
learning manager. I have also learnt about the pedagogy and theory that
underpins successful ICT use in the classroom and what it means to work
legally, safely and ethically with digital tools.
I believe that we are only at the very beginning of technology and there
are bigger, better advances to come. I will endeavour to be competent in the
use of various digital tools that will not only benefit my knowledge but also
the education of my future students. I feel
that the four tools I have chosen for this reflective task are ones that are
easy for students but can then be advanced to push the advanced students. These
tools are also capable of being used right across the curriculum and the
possibilities for these tools are limitless. These digital tools will with no
doubt give students the skills they need to have a successful future in our
rowing digital community. I believe that this course has given me valuable
skills and knowledge that will stay with me for my future.
References
ACARA. (2012). Information and communication technology capability. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Information-and-Communication-Technology-capability/Introduction/Introduction
Chan, D. (2006). The role
of ICT in a constructivist approach to the teaching of thinking skills.
Retrieved from; http://www.learnerstogether.net/PDF/ICT-in-Constructivist-Teaching-of-Thinking-Skills.pdf
Chapman, L. (2008). The aligned curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.une.edu.au/gamanual/staff/the_aligned_curriculum.pdf
Chavez,
P. (2010). Cyber bullying on the rise. Retrieved from: http://www.fyiliving.com/mental-health/relationships/parenting/cyberbullying-on-the-rise/
Department of Education. (2012). Chat in the Classroom. Retrieved
from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/chat/index.htm
Mpofu,
S. (n.d). Ethics and legal issues in online teaching. Retrieved from: http://www.col.org/pcf2/papers/mpofu.pdf
Snowman. Dobozy. Scevak. Bryer. Bartlett. Biehler. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton, Australia: John Wiley
& Sons Australia.
