Synopsis

In the 21^st century technology has permeated our lives in ways that would have been unfathomable just a few decades ago. Students in contemporary learning environment have been raised within this world of technology, making them digital natives (Prensky,2010). The way they communicate, think, interact and socialise is through technology. Our society is structured heavily on the need to be technologically capable and literate now and in the future. Students need to be given the opportunity to actualise their learning potential through the application of ICTs in contemporary classrooms. This allows for students to interact and collaborate to assist in meaningful learning as well as instil the idea of connectedness and becoming global citizens.  Through this course, it has become clear that through effective digital pedagogies education can be transformed to cater to the needs of students and offer an enriching learning environment. It is also imperative that teachers instil and model for students how to exhibit safe, legal and ethical digital behaviours.

Digital pedagogies enable students to use ICTs for accessing and evaluating information, developing global perspectives,  collaborate,   foster higher order thing and deep knowledge through inquiry, organise and express ideas through many digital avenues, and evaluate their own thinking. Two Pedagogical frameworks that assist with these objectives in the classroom are those of SAMR (Hogan, 2011) and Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom,1956).  These frameworks have been central to the learning process in this course. Bloom’s Taxonomy placed an emphasis on higher order thinking and synthesising ideas. With complex and nuanced learning objectives regarding high order and critical thinking Blooms Taxonomy is essential in inquiring how ICTs can enhance the learning experience.  Blooms Taxonomy was applied weekly through our engagement with blogs and wikis. We were forced to constantly articulate, synthesise and evaluate our thought processes.  

The SAMR model is an essential pedagogy for enhancing learning through ICTs. It has been very beneficial to research how different mediums such as images, audio and video can be used by students to curate and express ideas. These technologies are essential in the initial stages of the SAMR model. The most critical stages of the model are the final two. The ‘modification’ and ‘redefinition’ stages are critical frameworks to consider when incorporating and selecting relevant ICTs, as they allow educators to constantly consider means of expanding an activity to enhance learning and become more student centred. When an activity is student centred the pupil is able to control and engage with their personal learning. When the SAMR model is executed, students are able to evolve their original ideas and perspectives and collaborate to extend their initial learning. This was proven when examining the use of various presentation methods in weeks five and six. A student could use the technology of ‘Dipity’ to easily create digital artefacts conveying information through many digital avenues. This activity can then be furthered by using blogs and wikis to allow students to engage with each other allowing them to critique and comment on the work of their peers. This can then be furthered by students updating their new perspectives and sharing them with a global community through the internet. This framework informs how teachers can design classroom experiences that cater for diverse learning needs of students and allow them connect, engage and be facilitated to take charge of their own learning.

Collaboration is a pervasive theme in digital pedagogy as it allows students to interact intellectually on a deeper level and instils the value of being able to expand learning beyond the four walls of the physical classroom. The ‘de Bono’s Thinking Hats activity’ set the tone for engaging with a vast range of perspectives and allowing collaboration to enhance learning. This has also been true of the blogging, wiki and social media activities like ‘scoop it’ as it demonstrates how enriching collaboration is to the learning process. It is essential that students learn the value of engaging with alternate perspectives. This not only allows empathy and higher order thinking but helps them view themselves as part of a global community that has the capacity to create and disperse important ideas. It is not only essential for students to collaborate. Educators need to be able to engage with technology to collaborate with their peers for their own personal and professional development. By consistently engaging with technologies and digital pedagogies educators can help meet the demand of using cutting edge ICTs in the classroom.

Another need when considering ICTs in the classroom is to consider how to create emotionally and physically safe learning environments. The internet is an incredible tool but it can be dangerous as students can be vulnerable. It is possible to create safe environments by monitoring what students access and giving students safe websites to use. It is also essential create safe spaces such as wikis or chats for students to interact and collaborate. The onus is on educators to teach students how to interact respectfully whilst using technologies. Students must also be made aware of how to be legally and ethically conscious when using technologies. This can range from using sites with integrity to ensuring they are not passing off intellectual property as their own. This has been consistently modelled through group activities in this course as students are accountable for interacting responsible and demonstrating safe, legal and ethical behaviour regarding ICTs.

It is essential for teachers to effectively engage with and use ICTs within the classroom. Graduate teachers are expected to meet the following standards: 

2.6 -  Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students

3.4 - Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.

 4.5 -  Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching.

(ATLSL, 2014)

In conclusion, this synopsis has aimed to identify and synthesise the values and key ideas that have been presented thus far in EDSE12024. For teachers to do the best by their pupils it is essential to engage with digital pedagogies and use ICTs to their full potential within the classroom. It is also imperative to impart the value of collaboration, being global citizens, student centred learning and model how to practice safe, legal and ethical behaviours when interacting with technology.

References

AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list

Bloom, B. (1956) Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains, Retrieved from

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#cognitive

Hogan, L. (2011) SAMR- A Model for Instructional Technology Use- VIDEO, Retrieved from     https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=519&v=PRo9cfp2baA’

Prensky, M. (2010). Teaching digital natives. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin

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Week 7 Reflection

Greetings,

From the beginning of this course there was a clear emphasis on collaboration. The most exciting aspect of the online learning experience is this seemingly infinite opportunity to engage with new ideas and perspectives. With quite a broad learning structure students were enabled to explore different content and direct their own learning. This both allowed individuals to cater to their interests as well as expand their horizons. I would think of it as a group foraging experience as students were able to go off on different tangents, collect information and report back each week on their blogs. The topics were straightforward but the avenues that individuals explored were vast. This experience created a pool of knowledge that was filled with alternative perspectives. It also gave students the means of expressing their ideas through different forms of media like images, text, videos and interactive websites.

 With the course wiki, it was very easy to access the blogs of each student in the course. By using blogging and wiki technology it was possible to collaborate on a deeper level with student work. The technology allowed for individuals to comment and critique ideas in a safe environment dedicated to learning. This allowed for students to truly engage with content and delve deeper into the ideas they contributed. In terms of commenting I believe I may have refrained more than others as I enjoyed the ability to watch ideas organically grow, develop and change through the process of this course. The empowering thing was that I always had the opportunity comment and respond to content at whim.  It was interesting week to week noticing students take structures like the SAMR model and continually add depth and relevance to its value in creating effective resources. This was a great way to incorporate new perspectives an paradigms that I may have overlooked into my own work. This was a wonderful experience as there were very few limitations on my ability to contact and collaborate with students. If I desired clarification or discussion it was at my finger tips and never limited by location.

A particularly useful activity at the beginning of the course was the ‘De bonno’s thinking hats’ activity as it set the tone for students to voice their opinion, think from different perspectives and collaborate with others. This tone continued through the length of the course. Discussions were able to overlap from blogs/ wikis, to student’s social media and into the physical classroom. I feel that this added a new level of depth to the classroom experience as learning was taking place outside of a physical space and was not limited by scheduling. I feel that overall the combination of an online and classroom environment enriched the learning and collaboration potential of this course. It further demonstrates the imperative of incorporating these technologies in a contemporary classroom.

Embedded Task 5

Greetings,

This week I have chosen to focus on the free digital timeline website called ‘Dipity’. This website allows users to generate interactive timelines which they can use to embed material, share and collaborate. It allows students to create timelines that are visually appealing. The content that is able to be placed on timeline includes video, audio, images, texts, links, social media, location and time stamps. The technology also allows for the timeline to be easily converted into a flipbook, list and or map.  Thus, adding new aesthetic and educational dimension to the content.

This technology is particularly useful for both students and teachers. For teachers it offers an opportunity to distribute a range of content from one location. It could be used for a plethora of objectives in regards to students. It would be a very useful means of conductive formative and summative assessments by asking students to create timelines, maps or flipbooks that relate to content.  It would be wonderful for history students to be able to create a timeline using a variety of content that highlights important moments in the lead up to the Second World War. Students would then have the advantage of creating a corresponding map that would further their geographical understanding.

Another attractive aspect of the technology is that it allows students to collaborate. Let’s apply the SAMR model to the aforementioned interwar period timeline activity. In the early stages students could work individually or together to create a timeline for the interwar period. Students might then be asked to focus their attention to certain countries to add depth to the timeline. Other students may be asked to create a map and link a location to events. In the later stages of the SAMR structures students could compare and contrast their timelines. To acknowledge global perspectives they could research from the perspective of non-western powers.  They could go so far as to share the timeline in a safe internet forum and ask students from around the world how they view the series of events. With this open discussion students could then apply Bloom’s Taxonomy and evaluate the similarities and differences of opinion surrounding the content.

That is just one of many instances in which Dipity is a valuable online resource. Check it out for yourself: http://www.dipity.com/

Embedded Task 4 - Reflection on Presentation tools

Greetings,

This week we focused on the application of useful presentation technologies like PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster and Thinglink. Although all have interesting uses and merits I focused my attention to the use of PowerPoint, as in the past I viewed it as a tool predominantly created for and by teachers. Although in the past I have witnessed students regularly use PowerPoint, it is usually only as a tokenistic visual aid during oral presentations. This week’s content clearly demonstrated creative ways in which students can gain and dispense information through the program.

One idea that I found particularly interesting was the creation of a Virtual Museum through Powerpoint. This activity is highly visual and interactive and quite easy to create. In the context of a classroom I believe it could be used effectively by students to create and collaborate with their peers, whilst giving teachers a chance to assess the knowledge and understanding of students. If I were running the activity I would scaffold by providing students with a template of a Virtual Museum PowerPoint and demonstrate how to customize and use the program. Students could then be given a topic in which they had to create six displays on a given topic. Based on the time given and assessment goals students could be give specific details in what to include. Perhaps they would need to add images, audio, and video to the museum display. The students would then become curators and have to decide what was relevant and useful in their display. Once completed students would upload their creations to a wiki to allow other students the opportunity to interact with the virtual museum. If students had been given the same topic they could be asked to look at a few presentations and decide what information and topics were deemed most relevant. If students had different topics they could compare and contrast the similarities and differences in content. For example, their presentation could have been based around different prominent Indigenous groups. Students could then contrast and synthesize the commonalities and differences.

I believe this technology allows for the application of both SAMR and Bloom’s Taxonomy.  In terms of SAMR, it has taken a basic presentation tool and allowed students the opportunity to create valuable content that is informative to all students and allows for a variety of perspectives. It also encourages collaboration between students and activates higher order thinking skills. This resource can then be easily accessed by students as a source for information and collaboration. It is also a useful tool for teachers in terms of summative and formative assessment. PowerPoint is here to stay.

Week 4 Task

Greetings,

Technology has developed and will continue to develop at an unfathomable rate. In the past our learning, communication and expression within the classroom was dominated by text. In contemporary society we are bombarded with endless stimulation but the means of delivery has changed. We now have easy access to the means to both consume and create digital content. With these incredible resources ingrained in contemporary life it would be ignorant to expect text to have autonomy on communication. New technologies and resources being made available there are new options and frontiers to explore. The way in which we teach needs to be adapted to this environment.

This week we had the opportunity to explore the use of Images, Audio, video or digital story telling. I have selected to focus on the use of video within the classroom. Video is wonderful as it has the potential to be an instantly engaging resource.  I believe it is valuable in the classroom for distributing information and checking for knowledge and understanding. It is also a great way for students to interact with technology and creativity as content can be easily created and edited on many different devices.  If this content is then shared perhaps through a wiki or youtube students are enabled to access and contribute to the piece. This allows for students to collaborate and think critically about both outside and self-generated content.  

As an aspiring history teacher I am excited by this technology. It would be wonderful if to enable students to interact with content through the use of film technology. Imagine being able to allow students to create their own propaganda campaign or view footage of crucial moments in modern history. The wonderful thing about the internet is the ability to easily access quality resources. I particularly value the ‘Crash Course History’ segments created by author John Green. For an activity I may ask students to choose from a selection of videos. The students may then be given the option to select on theme that was covered and research it in depth. Perhaps then students could each create 1 minute videos summarizing their findings and uploading it to a wiki. Students would then be able to view and share these videos. Perhaps this activity could focus more on research and students are asked to view a source and create a short video critiquing the source. This could use a combination of footage, audio, text, images, etc.  Students would then watch each other’s videos and contrast the differences.  This applies the SAMR model as it takes the idea of Substitution and Augmentation by using the video and wiki content. Modification and redefinition is then enabled by interacting with content and creating new content whilst using higher order thinking skills highlighted in Bloom’s Taxonomy. This is just one example of the application of this exciting technology in the classroom.

In terms of my interaction with creating videos I have enjoyed being able to easily create content. As an example I would like to share this video that demonstrates my use a go-pro and iMovie.  

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ism9l_gad-2015-tour_school

Week 3 Reflection

Greetings,

So this week I was given the opportunity to discuss wikis, blogs or websites. As wikis is the medium I have used the least in the past I thought it would be beneficial to examine its potential for engagement in the classroom.  Being part of generation Y, I was gifted the opportunity from a young age to access blogs and or websites at  whim. Though these platforms are cherished, collaboration was quite passive. Other than the access to content, the best feature was the opportunity to comment or correspond with peers. It is here where I feel the wiki is gaining popularity as it is a means not only to transmit and share content but also to actively collaborate. It is also evident that the wiki can activate learning highlighted through the SAMR Model and Bloom’s taxonomy.

The wiki  has many merits in terms of its customisation. It is possible to have security settings to keep the wiki private so that only the intended pupils can access and contribute to the wiki. The essential scaffolding for the wiki is ensuring students understand how to use the wiki and also the etiquette and environment that must be sustained. As it is a controlled environment teachers can create activities within the wiki for students to engage with. The use of the wiki can be taught through tutorials, online research and self-exploration. It is also imperative to instil in students how to use the wiki responsibly and set the tone for how students interact with each other. One of the great advantages of the wiki is equity between students as they can control their online identity and anonymity. It is important that students do not abuse this privilege. As all students can edit and organise content equally it is essential that they respect the work and intellectual property that students share.

Another advantage of the wiki is how it can be a great tool for formative assessment. On a basic level it is possible for students to be linked to quizzes and test to check their knowledge and understanding. On a deeper level it is possible to observe students in their response to content and interactions with others. It is through the collaboration and analysis of content that students are able to activate higher order thinking skills referenced in Blooms Taxonomy. Teachers are able to continuously contribute to the wiki to guide and enhance the activity.

To put the wiki technology into a class context it is useful not only for the distribution of content but also the interaction. If I was taking a history class on perspectives on the Second World War, I could give students different sources showcasing perspectives. Students could then comment and analyse why these views were held by different parties. Another element that could then be added is to ask students to contribute a piece of media or content each that showcased a viewpoint. This could range from a blog post, YouTube video, online news article, etc. Students are then able to critique other students contributions and constantly edit and add content. As a formative assessment students could then choose two of the vast resources and contrast and analyse the viewpoints. This activity conforms to the SAMR model as the beginning of the activity demonstrates the application of substitution and augmentation. When the activity is open to students to engage with and evaluate content the modification and redefinition stages are activated.  The wiki also feeds into quality ICT pedagogy of enabling higher order thinking, collaboration, controlled learning and a strong group identity.

Other than my course readings, I gained most of my knowledge of wikis by simply looking up tutorials and playing with my own Wikispaces account. A resource I found particularly helpful was a PowerPoint on how teachers can best use wikis. :
https://jenniferbarnett.wikispaces.com/file/view/Help.Wikispaces.Teacher_Presentation.ppt.

Week 2 Reflection

Greetings,

In this week’s  EDSE12024 course students were required to participate in a wiki-based ‘de Bono’s Hats’ activity. The topic surrounded the polarizing issue of mobile phones and if they should be allowed in a contemporary classroom. The wiki allowed for students to provide short responses to the topic from the viewpoint of some or all of the thinking hats. I feel that both Bloom’s Taxonomy and  the SAMR Model were influential in the creation and execution of this activity. Both paradigms enable higher order thinking skills and work towards complex outcomes.  In general there was some noticeable scaffolding to the activity as we were given clear instructions as to how to use the wiki.  The wiki itself was a wonderful resource as it enabled participation from all students. The best thing about the activity is that it was not static. Students could contribute and view the forum on a whim. Instead of merely posting an opinion it was possible to collaborate and respond to students in a large forum. Students were able to edit and add as their opinions and perceptions of the topic changed. By the activity having open ended questions it was possible for students from diverse backgrounds and beliefs to contribute. This was far more enlightening than an in class group discussion as it enabled people to give and alter their opinions in their own time. It was also an easy and effective way to get a sample of opinions from individuals that we do not interact with on campus.

I believe this activity can be linked to the SAMR Model as it embodied the framework. Students could have simply written down their ideas in groups. Instead, students were able to substitute this for a table on the wiki. The wiki further augmented what could have been a basic activity but enhancing its functionality. The wiki could be edited and saved with ease. The wiki also allowed for the modification principle to be enacted. By allowing students to continuously contribute and change the wiki it was possible for students to collaborate and synthesise ideas. This instant and constant feedback is highly valuable. Students were able to connect so easily without geographical distance affecting the collaboration. The redefinition aspect was fulfilled by this collaboration and also the task of reflecting on the activity. It is here that students can use the higher order thinking skills highlighted in Bloom’s Taxonomy to critically analyse and evaluate the relevance and value of this entire activity. It can then be linked to what was discussed in class.

In conclusion, this was a great activity to bring consciousness to the great potential ICTs hold in education and how to effectively scaffold for higher order thinking to be induced.