Reflective Synopsis

Managing E-learning is a very different, yet increasingly important concept which we, as future teachers, need to incorporate into our classrooms to give our learners the best possible learning experience. Managing E-Learning is a concept which could be confused by many as simply using ICT’s in the classroom, however, e-Learning is the way in which you use ICT’s to assist learners in their learning development and the way you implement these ICT’s to scaffold future learning.

It is know the 21^st century where we see technology becoming a dominant aspect of society. Old teaching practices, seen in the industrial era, do not have the same effectiveness, as the children of today have adapted to the technological changes and changes in society. As future teachers we need to consider the changing world and the realisation that every student has individual differences which need to be catered for to achieve successful learning for all learners.

This reflective synopsis outlines the importance of ICT’s being best used integral to learning. As future teachers we need to make sure our learning experiences are engaging, interactive, collaborative, and provide an environment where extended learning is achieved. This reflective synopsis provides my opinion on ICT’s being used in the classroom, ways they can be used to scaffold effective learning, and links to my blog postings, as well as the literature, to provide appropriate evidence.

I believe that ICT’s should be used integral to learning in all classrooms. This is the knowledge error, where technology plays an important role in society. Teaching practices need to expose students to the technological developments and develop their skills to prepare them for their after schooling life. In the last 5 weeks we have had to investigate digital tools that could be used, a long side digital pedagogy, to provide students with a learning experience which is collaborative, interactive, engaging and up-to-date with their technological beliefs.

If you look at my blog postings; blog! blog! blog!, it's week FOUR!, and week FIVE is finally here!  you will see that in all of them I have either embedded or linked photo’s, videos or even audio. In most of my posting I have embedded YouTube videos that give examples of how the digital tool could be used effectively in the classroom. With all of my blog postings, and the digital tools, comes the topic of working legally, safely and ethically. When publishing information on a webpage, such as a blog, teachers and students need to consider conflict of interest, breach of legal implications (copyright etc), ineffective resource usage, and/or breach of duty of care (Department of Education, Training and Employment, 2002). If Blogs, Glogster, Audioboo or YouTube editor were to be used integral to learning in the classroom, we as future teachers, have to ensure that our students are working under safe conditions and that no breach of copyright, intellectual property or privacy are met. These digital tools have to be used with strong rules and regulations to allow the students the best possible usage.

As well as the need of strict rules and regulations, ICT can only be effectively used in the classroom if current and appropriate pedagogical strategies are implemented to achieve successful learning. Pedagogical strategies are the teaching strategies which are implemented so that ICT’s are used in the best possible way and used to scaffold extended learning. Pedagogies such as the four dimensions; recognition of difference, social support, intellectual quality and relevance (Department of Education, Training and the Arts) should all be used to ensure learners are accommodated for as individuals, and not a class as a whole. Pedagogical strategies would need to be used, when looking at the four digital tools I investigated, to provide the students with a chance to reach that ‘create’ stage of Blooms Taxonomy and so that higher-order thinking is achieved.

Teachers need to provide their students with effective and engaging learning experiences. ICT provide a very collaborative and interactive environment which caters for all learning needs. All of the digital tools I investigated encourage creative thinking, encourage collaboration, promote interaction and encourage higher order thinking. They work in with the learning theories of behaviourism, constructivism, connectivism and cognitivism and scaffold a learning environment to ensure students have the opportunity for collaborative learning and to enable students to have a positive interdependence with their fellow class members, and members of society (Roger T. and David W. Johnson, 1994). 

Retrieved from:

teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/staffdev/mcdonald_j/downloads/21st/comm/BenefitsOfCL/OverviewOfCoopLrng_Benefits.html

As a pre-service teacher I am going to work towards the positive use of ICT in my classroom. Society is developing and the learning outcomes required by students upon finishing school are becoming higher. I believe that it is my responsibility to give my students the best possible learning experiences. I need to ensure that my students have multi-modal resources that are available and that support all learning styles. I need to ensure my students have the opportunity for collaborative and interactive learning. I believe that ICT can provide my students with an environment that will be engaging and give the students the determination to succeed. The digital tools I investigated and the blog postings I created provide ideas of how the digital tools could be used to assist learning in the classroom. Of course rules and regulations have to be monitored and strictly implied; however, ICT use in the classroom is the thing of the future and will provide students with a learning environment where they can achieve optimal learning outcomes.  

REFERENCES:  

Department of Education, Training and Employment, 2002. Risk Management. [online]

Retrieved from: http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html [Accessed: 15 Aug 2013]

Department of Education, Training and the Arts, unknown year. Productive Pedagogies Reflection Tool. [online]

Retrieved from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=146081 [Accessed: 15 Aug 2013]

Roger T. and David W. Johnson (1994). An Overview of Cooperative Learning. [online]

Retrieved from: http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/staffdev/mcdonald_j/downloads/21st/comm/BenefitsOfCL/OverviewOfCoopLrng_Benefits.html [Accessed: 15 Aug 2013]

Do they help, or do they hinder?

                            Welcome to week 6 everybody! 

This is the last blog post that we have to submit for assessment so I will try my best to make it interesting! :) 

Mobile phones, and/or iPads are going to be the topic of this blog post. The question is; would these technologies help, or hinder learning within the classroom? 

I personally think that using iPhones or iPads in the classroom is an excellent idea to assist learning. I think that classrooms need to become up-to-date with the technological changes in society. Schooling is aimed at scaffolding our learning and preparing us for the big scary world of the 'workforce'. In this day and age technology is used in almost every workplace in the country, and the world. We need to use phones to call people, to let your parents know where you are, to use them in emergencies. We need computers to write assignments or we use them to email people about work related issues. Technology is used every day, at work, at home, on holidays. I believe that the use of mobile phones and iPads should be implemented into the classroom to teach learners how to use them appropriately, to use them efficiently, and to use them from things other that what you would do with a typical phone. 

I have made a SWOT chart about my ideas on these technologies, if they were to be used in the classroom: 

In this class, 'Managing E-Learning', we have been exposed to a number of sites and applications which could be implemented into your classroom to add an ICT aspect to the learning experience. For example, we were showed a digital tool called 'Audioboo'. This tool can be used on either a computer or can be found in the iTunes Application store. This application is free to download and provides the learner with an application which allows you to make voice recordings and save them to your personal account. If mobile phones were to be used alongside this application learners would be able to make sound recordings with their own devices for class activities, experiments and even assessment tasks. If mobile phones were to be used in a situation like this it would allow the students to have some control over their work, and would help their learning. It would allow this activity to run efficiently and the mobile phones would be being used for educational purposes. 

You could use these devices in a number of ways. Some schools provide their students with an iPad to use for the entire year. I think this is a great way to eliminate inequality and expose the students to the changing technologies in society. At my little brothers school he uses his iPad everyday, for things like; note taking, writing up assignments, and participating in classroom activities.

These devices could also be used in art of photography classes for editing or taking photo's. They could be used in HPE for videoing performance, counting how many steps you take, or measuring how far you run. It could also be used in a subject like mathematics by using the calculator or downloading applications which help with equations etc. 

There is a limited number of applications which you can download onto these devices which assist learning in almost any subject. You can download handwriting applications, which in an early primary school environment, could help the learners practice their letter writing on an interactive screen. You can download applications which could help you make engaging and interactive presentations for assessment pieces. The options are almost limitless. 

Of course if these devices were to be implemented into the classroom rules and regulations would have to be enforced to minimize the threats. I would only encourage these devices be used in the classroom if it was in an educational way. I think if these devices were used in a controlled environment, under teacher supervision that they could indeed help learners learn. 

The video below explains some uses of mobile phones in the classroom: 



Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mec1d1gMuTw

I think mobile phones and/or iPads would engage the students in classroom tasks and I believe they would cater for all learning styles. It would be very easily to adapt these tools to a number of classroom activities. It provides the students with a hands-on and interactive learning environment. 

Well that is me finished for another week (: I hope you all enjoyed reading.