My final culminating statement

This course was based on learning technologies in the primary school classroom. Rohaan, Taconis and Jochems (2008) state the importance of a teachers attitude and knowledge base in teaching technology to students. At the start of the course, I thought that I already knew a lot about e-learning and how hard could it be? I was so wrong and naive and didn’t realise that my attitude affected the students in such a profound way.

My week 2 blog clearly shows this naivety. I didn’t insert my own opinions into the blog because I didn’t have any on that topic at that point. Then the next week, week 3, you can see that my ideas are forming about the use of blogs in the classroom. I think that week was a turning point for me.

Blogging in the classroom is one of my biggest thoughts that have changed throughout the course. Initially, I didn’t really see the point. I thought that it would be a waste of time if not taken seriously. After doing the reading by McGrail & Davis (2011) and  Hashemi and Najafi (2011) I began to see the benefits of it including improving students writing and communicating skills and it being a journal where students can track their learning.

While on professional experience, the class I was assigned to were doing an assessment using web 2.0 tools such as prezi. I was able to see quite clearly that the students really enjoyed using the website, learning its features and in the end, were able to present really thoughtful and interesting presentations. It amazed me that the students were not afraid of the task, they didn’t have many questions, they just chose their own path and completed it. In this instance, I can quite clearly see the benefits of using web 2.0 tools in the classroom. This includes enhanced student participation and enjoyment as well as increasing student creativity and ICT skills.

The notion of equity within ICT and the classroom is something that I have learnt a lot about. Starting the course, I didn’t think about it. Save our Schools (2008) states that “Improving social equity in education outcomes can contribute to reducing social inequality and injustice.” I think this proves the importance of having equity in the classroom. Glynis Jones brought up many issues in relation to equity and my week 6 blog looks at some of these.

We also looked at duty of care in cyberspace in my week 8 blog and to me, this is a really important issue. Glynis Jones showed us a video on cyber safety, find it here, which was very eye opening. Butler (2010) states “[they], teachers, should always be providing examples of good use and explain why it is important”. He also says teachers should incorporate lessons on internet safety and security into their existing curicula. Prior to this, I didn’t even think about my duty of care online and now I realise how important it is.

In conclusion, through the required readings like Jonnasen, Peck and Wilson (1999) and my own research, along with comments made from my teaching staff and peers this course has opened me up to so many new technologies and teaching pedagogies that could be used in the classroom such as blogs, e-portfolios and Interactive Whiteboards and helped me form my own opinions in relation to technology in the classroom. It has also identified issues that I must be aware of when using technology such as equity and duty of care.

I am now feeling a lot more confident with e-learning and feeling like I could implement many of these strategies in my own teaching. I have discovered some passionate topics such as the use of ipads in the classroom and now have the tools and ideas to provide some technology inspired lessons.

References:

• Butler, K. (2010). Cybersafety in the Classroom.  District Administration. 46 (6), p53-57
• Ceop. (2009). Jigsaw: Assemble for 8 10 year olds . Retrieved June 14, 2012, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8auwnJtqE
• Ewa McGrail & Anne Davis (2011): The Influence of Classroom Blogging on Elementary Student Writing, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25 (4), p 415-437
• Hashemi, Masoud; Najafi, Vahid. (2011).Using Blogs in English Writing Classes. International Journal of Academic Research.  3 (4), p599-604
• Jonassen, D. H., Peck, K. L., & Wilson, B. G. (1999). Special Education. 16 (1),  Prentice Hall. Retrieved from http://www.mendeley.com/research/learning-with-technology-a-constructivist-perspective/
• Rohaan, Ellen; Taconis, Ruurd; Jochems, Wimm Exploring the underlying components of Primary School Teachers’Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Technology Education. International Journal of Technology & Design Education. 20 (1), p15-26. DOI: 10.1007/s10798-008-9055-7
• Save our Schools. (2008, April). A Vision for 2020: Achieve Equity in Education. A Contribution to Public Discussion of the 2020 Summit Ideas, Australia

Blogs that I have commented on:

http://jessgeale.edublogs.org/2012/04/09/the-digital-divide/
http://jessgeale.edublogs.org/2012/05/08/practical-experience-technology/
http://katherineh19.edublogs.org/2012/05/29/using-the-iwb-on-prac/#comment-10
http://katherineh19.edublogs.org/2012/06/
http://katherineh19.edublogs.org/2012/03/18/mind-mapping-activity/#comment-11
http://willcarr.edublogs.org/2012/05/23/ethical-use-of-classroom-technology/#comment-23
http://willcarr.edublogs.org/2012/06/11/ipads-in-the-classroom-take-2/#comment-24
http://neilofarmorabi.edublogs.org/2012/06/04/week-9-turning-technologies/#comment-19

PE3 Prac Experience Week 2

PE3 Week 7

PE3 – Week 10

PE3 – Week 7

Bubbl.us take 2

In week 1 we we did a mindmap of k-6 learning technologies.

After completing the course i can sufficiently say that i did not know much back then. Yes there was alot there but there is SO much more still to be found.  Damian had asked me to comment on if i had learnt any more so here it is:

• IWB whiteboards and their associated softwares
• computer labs
• google maps
• connected classrooms
• augmented reality tools
• gesture based learning
• Ipad apps/mobile technology
• turning technologies
  

 

All of the above technologies could be used easily in primary classrooms and generally are user friendly. However on some occasions the technology would need a professional to set it up and give a training session on how to use it. This is not always a problem though. The major draw back from all these technologies is that they are costly however the positives of these seriously outweigh them. This is everything from virtual excursions to whole class using computers at the same time to learning through game consoles. It is just amazing.

 

week 10 – Ipad’s in the classroom

This is my favourite topic all course. I personally have an Ipad and i think that it is a fantastic thing. For me a student i can word process, use internet, email, social media, games, blog and much much more. the list goes on. Ipads are light and protable, they look amazing, they are fast and easy to operate. They can do anything that you want them to really.(now theres a wrap if you ever heard one)

I havnt yet been in a classroom with Ipads yet but i have seen and read about them.

http://www.schrockguide.net/ipads-in-the-classroom.html is a website i came across when researching Ipads. She has links for everything! It is very complete.

http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/ this is what apple say about it

http://www.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/. The Victorian Government has implmented this ipad for learning program. They have given ipads to some school who use it in a class every day. This is a pretty interesting read. I like that they are starting this, im sure if i search a bit more there are schools in NSW that use them, but im not sure yet.

Unfortunatly i missed this lesson using Ipads or mobile technology with QR codes and im really frustrated at this, i had been looking at peoples posts on this and it looks so interesting and fun.

the reading this week stated that “The teachers and students involved with the innovation indicated that having these devices in
their classrooms positively affected their learning as they constructed learning artifacts.” It also went on to suggest that ipads in the classroom are well worth their effort and cost however there is more research needed before it should be implemented in every class. I think i agree with this statement. People just arent used to them and they are still learning how to use them effectively in the classroom to get the most out of them and give the most benefits to the students.

Although i dont believe they should be implemented right away, when im out and have my own class and the opportunity presents itself – i will take it without thinking twice. More importantly, i will fight for this to happen because i believe so strongly in ipads.

Week 9 – technology in learning

This weeks reading focused on 6 different technologies that are currently used or to be used in classrooms.

1. Electronic books

Pro: They have a  strong interest and are increasingly available with publishers now producing print and digital versions

Con: Don’t get the feeling of holding a book, turning the pages collecting them

2. Mobiles

These enable complete access to learning and have such a large range of capabilities. It is also a users first choice for place of internet.

Con: They are very distracting and students could use them for the wrong purposes very easily. Also they cannot be controlled by the teacher as easily.

3. Augmented reality

Where reality is skewed for example; the addition of computer like overlay on a real image such as MIB glasses.

It is pointless leisure but does have the possibility to become a useful teaching tool. Through using this technology you can enhance excursion experiences or speed them up. You could look up into the night sky and see the distances or dimensions of the stars/planets.

4. Game Based Learning

This is learning through games and play. It is used extensivly in ES1 and S1 classrooms but should be brought up into S2+3 classes as well. Students learn mentally and physically the skills required for the game that would relate to skills in the real world. Games must be in line with the curriculum and overlap with content learnt.

Pro: they are fun, interesting and new

Con: Some kids may not take it seriously and just take it as bludge time so they dont reap the rewards of it.

 

5. Gesture based learning

This is where students use gestures and their body to manipulate objects or the computer

eg. Kinect for X-Box

This improves intuative development but has the same con as game based learning with the addition of that they might not feel comfortable doing it.

6. Learning analytics

This is not yet introduced in schools but has the potential to be a very time saving exercise.

This is where you would compile lots of data from different sources to produce a profile on a students. It would be able to predict behaviours and show learning achievements or disabilities.

 

All this sounds really good BUT, what are the advantages/disadvantages of all these technologies? How do teachers keep up with it all? Are we asking too much of the technology and thus, the teachers? What is the associated cost?

These are all questions that i have playing in my head while writing this blog and trying to decide if it is a good idea to have all this and/or more in the one class. Personally, i am leaning toward the positive side because i think about all the good they can do, the difference of it and the interesting and fun nature of technology.

Week 8

Our lit circle was a case study on duty of care in cyberspace : Who is responsible for what happens online?

Currently, there isn’t a set rule or view about who is responsible for online actions however there should most definatly be one as cyberspace is a rapidly growing domain. Questions of liability and harm come into the equation especially if teachers have asked students to use a certain site .

The class thought that there needs to be a policy on cyberspace as it is so important that teachers have some procedure to follow when situations arise and also a document to back up their own actions.

Some schools have very strict blocking rules for internet sites. This is good because you can control what the students look at during class time and have comfort in that they will not stumble upon anything however, it is also bad because it can restrict teaching methods and opportunities.

Schools should have a únit on cyberspace prior to commencing any classes using the internet. It doesn’t have to be long but will teach students how to behave safely and responsibly online. Doing this puts some of the responsibility back on the students and ensures that the students know and will follow the correct procedures,

If a teacher had a class wiki or blog they would have to go on almost everyday to just check that what is being posted is on topic and wont cause and kind of harm to anybody. The teacher should also have the power to remove any post that may be taken offensively. The student who posted that comment should however, be spoken to so that they understand why their post is removed and can hopefully prevent it happening again.

However, all this is a lot more time and work necessary for the teacher to put in to control, so is it really worth it? Do the benefits outweigh the draw backs and can any of these be controlled another way?

Well, i think that in terms of time necessary to control cyberspace with your students, it is always going to be asking for alot of it. Cyberspace is such a big place and the best way you keep your class from discovering inappropriate things is by testing it out yourself and giving the students very clear boundaries when using the computers.

A system that could be implemented with the class blog is by giving control of the site to a class member for a week at a time. This member has to read all comments and post only the appropriate and meaningful ones. Another system is a buddy system where you pair two students up, that would not necessarily be friends, and they must read each others posts. This was you have a fairly reliable source of information on the students blogging and cyberspace identities.

I think the biggest thing to be careful of when using cyberspace in classrooms is just knowing that you, the teacher, are responsible for whatever happens to that child during class time. This includes online. You cannot control everything and there is more than likely going to be a case of cyber bullying or students seeing something inappropriate for school but as long as the other staff, parents and principle are informed of the situation, there will be no cause for alarm.

Before taking any action follow these steps:

1. what are the facts (from a neutral source)?

2. what are the motivations?

3. How does the co0ntext contribute?

So What can be done about cyberspace?

1. SOPA and PIPA are two acts that are trying to be passed currently. Read about SOPA here and PIPA here.

SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA represents Protect Intellectual Property Act. These acts are currently being fought for to protect the information that is put online and prevent piracy. of information/identities/thoughts/ideas.

2.www.cybersmart.gov.au is a website created to help teach kids and adults about cyberspace and how to stay protected online.

3. www.cybersmart.gov.au/cyberquoll is a branch of this website that is directly relating to staying safe online.

What this means is that there are plenty of ways for your students to know the dangers of cyberspace and know how/where to get help. These sites are just 2 of many that relate to cyber safety.

Cyberspace is a big scary place of unknown and uncertainty but you should not let this scare you. There are so many wonderful things that come out of cyberspace and it has such a large role in the lives of students now that teaching how to use it seems important.

Prac week 2

I will focus this on technology based teaching only, to save time and becuase well, that it what you want for this assessment.

I am trying to use the IWB as much as possible in my lessons to get practise on it and am succeeding in it. I have even prepared lessons using the notebook file  and i feel that they are good lessons now that i have done the assignment I feel that i can do this effectively. The kids seemed to enjoy my lessons and they learnt alot from it. Besides this i used youtube videos, computers and internet. The technology worked every time and the kids enjoyed it. sometimes it was hard to control the kids on the computer because there is so much that they can do on it but i think i did well in the end.

We had a connected classroom in the school but i didnt get to see it in action. i wish i could of done this becasue i am yet to see it work so i dont yet see its benefits.

To conclude, on prac i have used and improved my skills in using technology and also my management of the technology in the classroom.  Im so lucky that i had such a open and technology based classroom where i was encouraged to do whatever i wanted in the teaching of technology and other lessons. So just wanted to say a big thankyou to my coop teacher and the class of 5T.

Prac week 1

Here we go again. On prac.

To be completely honest i was not looking foward to it all that much, i just wasn’t excited to go and was having a feeling of whether this is the career that i wanted. Anyway i went and met my teacher before the prac began. She was lovely and told me that the class was a fantastic, well behaved one with no major behaviour problems. My class was a graded year 5 class, this means that the brightest students in English and Maths were put into one class that would be pushed to be able to go to OC opportunities classes and even prepare for selective schools.

Upon starting prac i felt comfortable in the class and saw how the class ran. I liked its laid back nature and very heavily discussion based learning. I was also told that i would get to do the whole unit of the stolen generations. I was so excited to be able to do a full unit although a little bit afraid of writing it and ensuring everything would be covered. Anyway, i did this and my co-op teacher said that i had done a good job of it.

Going through the next few days i got more comfortbale with the class, i spent the mornings setting up and then the breaks doing evaluations of the lessons. On wednesday my co-op told me i could take the whole day on thursday and friday. This was pretty cool, even though thursday was only 4 hours and friday was 2 hours due to RFF and PSSA.I was able to take the class in, do the roll, teach, send them out etc etc. This gave me a real view of what teaching would be like and although i felt comfortable, not nervous, confident and my co op said i did well, i just didnt feel like it was what i wanted to do. Hopefully that feeling will go away next week.

My class uses technology all the time, the IWB is the main board in the class and they have 4 other computers in the room. These arent used though because most of the time they dont work or are too slow to operate. The kids can use the IWB proficiently and they have a computer lab which they use use frequently for different tasks.

The class uses technology frequently. Their task for the term is to create a timeline of Australian history. The timeline must be accurate, to scale and include influential events only. They must do research for this and time is given in class for this aswell as home time. My coop allowed the students to email her at any point on her work email as well, so another use of technology that this class has. Another assessment they had was technology based to. They had to create a food web of an ecosystem. They did this using prezi or similar web tool. As you can see, technology is frequently used and it all works very well in the class, the kids can use and understand it and importantly, enjoy it.

Thats it for just now, i have lesson plans to prepare!

Week 7 – connected classrooms

I held the lit review with Jess Geale and Kate Brandon this week.

The reading was about connected classrooms. Here is our summary and a reference of the reading.

Hunter, J. L. (2012). Connected Learning in an Australian Technology Program: A Case Study. In I.
Management Association, USA (Ed.), Organizational Learning and Knowledge: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools and Applications (pp. 1623-1632).

Connected classrooms use video conferencing, interactive whiteboard and web tools to connect classrooms from all over the state. The government is putting over 158million into infrastructure and training over the next 4years so that over 2000 primary classrooms will be connected.
It is the intention of this program that teachers, students and parents will have support, resources and information to create a large collaborative learning community
The NSW BOS is also trialling and implementing various computer skills assessment regimes to ensure that students are receiving a comprehensive technology education and are able to communicate in our technologically advancing society.
The Connected Classrooms Program has the objective of providing staff and students with new opportunities to connect with each other through enhanced facilities to both share and collaborate, this is done by interactive classrooms, network enhancement and learning tools. $66 million will equip every school with an interactive or connected classroom, which includes an interactive whiteboard, video conference facility and desktop sharing software.
The NSW Institute of Teachers also values computer skills as necessary and in order to be deemed a professionally competent teacher. Seven professional learning platforms form ICT support which is designed to weave the “large connected and collaborative learning community.

We then posed these questions to the class:

1) One of the elements of technology learning states “teachers must use a range of teaching and learning strategies and resources including ICT and other technolo­gies to foster interest and support learning”. Based on your prac experience, to what extent is this the case?

2) The benefits of this program obviously are thought to out weigh the limitations through the government spending so much money on it and it being such a large scale program. What do you think are some limitations of having a connected classroom?

3) Do you think having a connected classroom is more beneficial to teachers, students and parents in a rural area or a populated area? Why?

The class struggled getting started, perhaps it was the way the question was worded or perhaps they didn’t know anything about it (likely cause) as they didn’t do the reading.

I have only ever been involved in 1 connected classroom and it did not work, the other class did not respond to the call. so technically i have never seen it actually happen. This was at uni. I also had a connected classroom on prac but did not see it operate either.

I find it interesting that this can happen and it can be very beneficial to schools that don’t have resources or money to go on trips or certain places, they can just look at it through the whiteboard instead. I think it is a good substitute. To schools that have money, i don’t see it benefiting them in any way just yet.

Synchronous and Asynchronous technologies

With Glennis, we discussed the difference in synchronous and asynchronous technologies. For those that don’t know, synchronous is live, in real time and asynchronous is not. Here Is a mind map that I have done on the topic including both technologies.

This was just a quick list done in class, and if thought through im sure i would be able to add a lot more, however, Glennis just wanted a start, an overview, so here it is:

I also am fairly sure i have used all of these technologies one way or another, wither through personally owning the device/software or using it on prac or at uni.

Equity in the classroom

This is in relation to the use of technology in the classroom.

I think when i go into the classroom i will need to be very mindful of wether students have the access to technology or not at home. This will mean i will need to think about how i word questions in tasks i set for homework and the resources i require students to use to get the answers. I noticed that on my previous prac experiences that not all students had this access and so some did the tasks with a buddy while others did it in their lunch beak.

Some families do not have any access to any form of technology, some may have access but it is limited, and others may have abundant access. No matter what classroom i go into, this will be the case and so i will really need to make sure that i take this into consideration when i go into the classroom. This also goes into whether the school has access to technology and whether it is used. 2 out of 3 classes may use a computer on a daily basis and those teachers may want their students to email them with questions whereas the 3rd may not. This forms an equity issue within the classroom – are the students in the 3rd class disadvantaged? I think most definatly. How is it fair that 2 classes get to use technology and have the access of a teacher on call 24/7 and the 3rd does not?

I think this flows into weather teachers want to use it – their attitude towards it. This may have to do with their skill set, their resources, their access or culture. This will most definatly have an impact on the equity of students. My last prac teacher did not like technology advances so she did not allow students to email her personally and often did not use the technologies in her classroom adequately.
Glennis brought up some interesting issues regarding generational devide. They are as follows:

Generational divide then comes into play – younger students are more likely to embrace new technologies than older. They may be set in their ways or have their own ideas whereas younger teachers may not and so are likely to welcome new and interesting technologies. So therefore – is there then an equality issue between younger and older teachers? Glennis got us thinking about whether this is actually an issue in our minds as we go into schools and whether the younger and mature aged students had different views.

Glennis then mentioned International divide as another point to consider. How is it fair that students in Australia get all these resources and students in Fiji for example don’t have electricity in their school? is it fair that this happens and what should be done about it?

I went to a school while i was in Fiji once and this school had loved big grounds but had 5 buildings for all classes, office and library. the last 2 were combined. their library was one shelf, not filled, of books and they had no computers or electricity for that matter!

Here is something that has been done about it:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/index.shtml

Also check out Sugata Mitre’s hole in the wall video. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

 

Having equity in the classroom is important but is this putting an necessary amount of work on the teachers shoulders. They are then expected to do so much more with the same amount of time. The demand may seem higher on us as teachers but is it really?