Week Eight

Week Eight

What a journey!  This is my final blog and concludes eight weeks of learning (and personal growth) throughout this course.  When I think back on my original thoughts and beliefs about ICT I consider how little I actually understood.  To me it was mainly about computers, ipods, cameras and the various technological components and their software.  I now understand it is not just about the hardware or even the software, it is about how these tools can be used to increase student engagement, learning and productivity within the classroom and beyond.   

I’m proud to say I have been successfully using Google reader, groups and docs now for the past eight weeks.  I have an active twitter account and can upload and edit my own blog posts to Blogger - what a huge achievement.  I can’t believe how daunting I thought these tools were to use just eight weeks ago.  I will definitely be utilising them from now on within my own life (both personally and professionally).

Digital Presentation

Our PD video is now complete.  This learning task has been a fantastic instrument to assist in further developing my understanding about how to increase student learning and productivity when engaging with ICT’s.  In hindsight it was actually quite difficult to come up with a content area, pedagogy and technology that would effectively enhance student learning in a fun and engaging way.  The original ideals that our group started with are not what we ended up with, however I believe this was all part of the journey and exactly why Jason set up this learning task in the format that he did.  After all there is nothing like having to ‘do it yourself’ to fully understand how and why things work.

How am I going to use ICT within my own classroom?

Whilst I still have much planning to do for my upcoming practicum my first goal is to set up a learning task whereby students create a web page to promote their own restaurant.  This task will be incorporated within an integrated unit based around students designing their own restaurant and studying various health and science aspects relating to the food industry.  Whilst this task still needs further ‘tweaking’ I believe that it will enhance student learning through incorporating aspects of literacy, technology and SOSE through a relevant and engaging technological based task.

Week Seven

Week Seven

Digital Presentation

Our group professional development video is now in the final stages of production.  We have made numerous changes to the layout over the past few weeks, however I believe this is all part of the learning journey.  Our main (and hopefully final) change this week was altering our pedagogical focus from a purely constructivist approach to an inquiry based learning (IBL) approach.  Whilst IBL is derived from a constructivist background we decided that our content topic and technology would be best suited to IBL.  Within our PD video students create their own Haiku poems using an environmental focus as their theme.  In pairs students then film a short self created video based upon this theme and edit it using Windows Movie Maker.  Finally students present their finished productions to the class for viewing. Self discovery is a focal point of this learning adventure with students working both alone and with their partners to create their own masterpieces.  Throughout this journey students learn “how to identify problems, reflect and ask questions” to form their own knowledge and understanding of how to effectively create their own digital videos (Conklin,  2004).

Video Goals

Our main goal for our professional development video is to create an engaging and informative piece that we can share with fellow peers and teachers alike to enable them to effectively use basic video editing within their own classroom using an IBL approach.

How I can use ICT in my classroom

I have begun to reflect upon how I am going to incorporate ICT within my practicum classroom.  With only a couple of weeks to go now until my four week prac. block I have already started planning lessons.  My classroom has an IWB, access to a block of computers and several digital cameras available.  I am planning to use all the technology available to me; however am still to decide how I am going to effectively incorporate ICT to enhance student learning.  That is my goal over the next week.  I look forward to sharing that with you soon …….

References:

Conklin, W. (2004).  Applying differentiation strategies:  Teacher’s Handbook for Grades 3-5.   Huntington Beach:  Shell Education.

Week Six

Week Six

Since the beginning of this course Jason has been emphasising that fact that effective use of technology in the classroom is not just about incorporating ICT into lessons.  It took me a few weeks to fully grasp the understanding that technology should not just be an ‘add on tool’ that teachers use to jazz up their lessons. (This is definitely how I would have used ICT in the past).  Throughout this course I have learnt that if technology is to be used effectively it should be embedded within a lesson to not only engage students but to enhance teaching and learning.  Hence teachers should ask themselves when thinking about incorporating ICT into their planning “how is this technology going to enhance student learning?”  I know this question is something that I will be asking myself from now on.  This new thinking (of mine) aligns with the TPCK model that has been heavily referred throughout the duration of this course.  This model is “a way of thinking about the knowledge teachers need to understand to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms (Koehler & Mishra, 2008).”  In essence the TPCK model is a useful guiding tool to refer to when curriculum planning as it incorpates technology, pedagogy and content into the one proforma to ensure you (as a teacher) are effectively integrating technology into your teaching and learning practices to cater for the diverse learning needs of all students.

This week in the lecture we looked at digital pedagogies and digital learners.  Digital pedagogy moves the focus from ICT tools and skills, to a way of working in the digital world. (The State of Queensland, 2011).  Digital learners are the students of the 21^st century that have access to technology 24/7.  These are the ‘digital natives’ within our classrooms that live in a world composed of “cell phones, MP3 players, computers and video games” (Jackson & Crawford, 2008).  It is important to realise as educators that this generation of young learners are very different from past generations and as such we need to embrace technology and look at ways of incorporating it into the classroom to enhance their learning experiences.

Digital Presentation

Our PD video is coming along in leaps and bounds.  I am now really excited about the video that we are in the early to mid stages of creating.  Since last weeks Blog we have decided to change our content focus from a Mathematics base to an English focus whereby students create their own Haiku poems and then using Windows Movie Maker create a short video clip portraying their self created theme.  We are all meeting again on Sunday to collaboratively capture footage and discuss the finalities of this project.

On a final note I believe my personal growth during this course (thus far) has been enormous, not only have I learnt about some fantastic new technologies but I have also learnt (and am still learning) of the importance of using ICT effectively within the classroom.

References:

Jackson, S., & Crawford, D. (2008). Digital Learners: How Are They Expanding the Horizon of Learning? Retrieved on 5 April, 2011 from the Connexions Web site: http://cnx.org/content/m17218/1.2/

Koehler, M. & Mishra, P. (2008). Introducing technological pedagogical content knowledge. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York City, NY.

The State of Queensland, (2011).  Education Queensland.  ELearning Portal - Smart Classrooms. What is Digital Pedagogy? Retrieved on 4 April, 2011 from http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=45965

Week Five

Week Five

This week during the lecture we looked at ‘The New Basics Project’ which was a four year pilot project undertaken by Education Queensland to incorporate a series of cross-curricular units into specifically selected schools across Queensland.  (The State of Queensland, 2004). This project aimed to increase student engagement and learning through a series of specially created integrated tasks. These tasks called Rich Tasks enabled students to engage in productive pedagogies which included intellectual quality, connectedness, supportive classroom environment and recognition of difference. 

It is interesting to note that whilst this project only ran for four years, its rationale proved to be very popular.  In fact so popular that Rich Tasks continued to be incorporated into many schools for several years afterwards.  My own children actually attended a school (for a few years) that used these integrated tasks and I found that many teachers spoke positively about them, however others thought that students were spending too much time on Rich Tasks and not enough time on the basics such as literacy and numeracy.  My own opinion of this framework lies somewhere in-between.  I think for some students (particularly the brighter ones) that these tasks were fantastic, however for lower level and special needs students they were problematic in the sense that these students often needed more teacher directed lessons and Rich Tasks were predominantly student centred and constructivist based.  However saying that if individual teachers were aware of this then they could have modified/adjusted tasks to cater for individual learner needs.

Digital Presentation

Our group presentation is coming along nicely with all three us finally agreeing on our content area, pedagogy and technology.  We had decided early on that we wanted to use Windows Movie Maker – video editing using a constructivist approach, however we were uncertain about what content area to focus on.  We have decided to go with an integrated unit approach but predominantly focus on mathematics as our main topic.  So far we have collaboratively written the script and now need to focus on getting the video filmed.

Stay tuned for more ……..

References:

The State of Queensland, (2004).  Department of Education and Training.  The New Basics Project.  Brisbane.  Retrieved online on 2 April 2011 from http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/newbasics/index.html

Week Four

Week Four

Augmented Reality

This week we explored the world of augmented reality.  Previously I was of the opinion that augmented reality was the same as virtual reality, namely a 3 dimensional artificial environment created by a computer, however I now realise that augmented reality is so much more.  (Burdea & Coiffet, 2003).  This new technology incorporates virtual reality features with real life aspects, thus enabling the viewer a more realistic and engaging viewing perspective.  The possibilities for this technology within classrooms (of the future) are mind boggling, for example wouldn’t history lessons be so much more engaging if students could actually see (rather than just envisage) how historical items and places once looked.  (Johnson et al. 2010).  I firmly believe augmented reality has enormous potential and scope for linking real world (and realistic virtual world) applications into the classroom setting.

During the tutorial we looked at Zoo Burst a digital story telling tool that enables anyone (who has an account) to create 3D pop-up books.  This is a fabulous interactive tool that could be useful in primary school classrooms, particularly to engage reluctant writers.

The Horizon Report

This report discusses new and up-and-coming technologies that will impact upon educational and classroom learning environments, now and in the future.  Since technology is advancing so quickly it is imperative for educators to be aware of what is currently available and what will be available within the foreseeable future.  Although this report is lengthy (40 pages) it is easy to read and has many useful web links and examples of classroom applications.

Digital Presentation

Our group is currently in the researching/planning phase of the digital presentation.  A few weeks ago we decided to create a Google Doc for us to collaboratively share our ideas and thoughts.  This page has been useful as a planning proforma, in particular as we each come up with new ideas we can add them to the one document, rather than emailing (each new contribution) backwards and forwards.  Google Docs is a new technology for me and I can now see the real benefits of utilising it both personally and within the classroom environment. 

References:

Burdea, G., & Coiffet, P., (2003).  Virtual reality technology, Volume 1.  New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons: 

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A. & Haywood, K. (2010).  2010 Horizon Report:  K-12 Edition.  Austin, Texas:  The New Media Consortium.

Week Three

Week Three

We are three weeks into this course now and I must admit I am starting to slowly get my head around some of the technological jargon and new ICT’s such as Google – sites, groups and reader, blogging and twitter that I have been exposed to.  Whilst I wouldn’t say I am an advanced user (particularly with twitter) I think I would now be able to explain the benefits of and how to use these to others – something I could not do a few weeks ago.  I also believe the variety of readings that Dr Zagami has made available have been extremely helpful; whilst some of them are not quite sinking in, others are definitely helping me reflect and question my own ICT knowledge and classroom ideals.

During the tutorial Dr Zagami linked us with Mrs M and the Year 2 GEMS.  What a wonderful teacher she is, and how engaged and ICT literate the students appear to be.  The knowledge and understanding that Mrs M is imparting on her students through their blogs is invaluable and something that other teachers could, and should aspire to.  I know I certainly do.

In my practicum classroom on Tuesday the students were required to search for specific information on the computers.  Prior to their ‘search activity’ the teacher spoke about reputable websites and told the students that Wikipedia was not reputable.  At that point I remembered Dr Zagami talking about this very topic in Monday’s Lecture and stating that in fact Wikipedia is quite a good reliable source of information.  (I pondered whether to say anything to my teacher but decided to keep my thoughts to myself).  Another interesting thing I noticed was that many of the students were able to search for simple facts which they copied from the computer to their worksheets, but when it came to searching for inferential or deeper information they became stuck and unable to think of how to gather this knowledge.  This reinforces the point to me that students need more than basic “googling” skills and should to be given learning opportunities and access to more in depth ICT activities than simply copying or cutting and pasting information from the computer to their worksheets. 

PS.      I think my personal growth thus far from this course has already been significant, and I look forward to what the future weeks hold.

Week Two

Week Two

The second week’s readings have been both insightful and thought provoking.  In their article titled “What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge?” Koehler & Mishra (2009) describe TPACK and how this framework enables teachers to effectively incorporate pedagogy, content and technology into their classroom setting. Koehler et al. (2009) further emphasise the underlying ideals that teachers need to ‘move with the times’ through integrating meaningful technology within their classroom planning, and stress the reason many teachers fail to use ICT is due to time constraints and/or a lack of adequate ICT training. (Koehler et al. (2009). I believe the latter to be true. In my case as the mother of 3 children I am time poor; hence I find I have limited time to interact with the various technologies and to learn more than just the basics.  As a teacher I consider this will be one of my greatest challenges/barriers to incorporating ICT within my classroom.

Another aspect that appears to be an area of concern is ensuring that students are learning more than the basic fundamentals of ICT.   In her paper titled “Generation cut and paste” (2008), Beverley Head stresses “Googling isn’t learning” and that ‘cutting and pasting’ does not adequately teach students how to construct, evaluate and transform information.   Looking back on many of the instances where I have see students ‘doing ICT’ in the classroom has involved them both googling answers and cutting and pasting information. I must admit prior to this course (and we are only two weeks in) that I would have said that this was an effective use of ICT within the classroom.  However I am starting to change my mindset.  Whilst I believe there is a place for these basics, I am beginning to discover (through the lectures and tutorials) that ICT can be used for so much more. 

Upon reflection it is evident that student’s need the skills and know-how to use ICT meaningfully and purposefully. Consequently one of my challenges throughout the duration of this course will be to learn what technologies are effective classroom tools, and how to successfully incorporate them so that students are engaged yet actively learning.

References:

Koehler, M.J. & Mishra, P. (2009). What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge? Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, 9(1), 60-70.  Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/f/29544

Head, B. (2008). Generation cut and paste.  Retrieved from http://www.zagami.info/4001EPS/Readings/Entries/2011/3/7_Week_2.html