Munich Interview

 

Hi classmates,
My group and I believed that the Munich film did not accurately portray the historical event. Please look at my video and tell me what you think. I'm open for new ideas!

Synopsis

My Journey

The rocky start…

Undoubtedly, in contemporary Australia it is vital that teachers embrace modern technology, as it becomes the key to effective education. Its value in education is evident through its inclusion in the Professional Standards, Melbourne Declaration and the Horizon Report and other policy documents across schools. Nevertheless, digital media now more than ever before has the power to shape and transform the way educators design and deliver their learning experiences. This continually has been highlighted to me over the last six weeks through my participation in tutorials, operating of digital tools and through my weekly reflection. I was sceptical at first of technology as a classroom tool and pondered on what would happen to “authentic teaching” and whether this digital progression could really offer “meaningful activity” and “real engagement”. However, after weeks of developing my own digital skills I began to see not only the usefulness of technology in the classroom, but also its unquestionable ability to advance learning and engagement.  

The Road Travelled…

Nevertheless, my learning experiences in the course highlight the purposeful use of a broad range of technologies to support and transform learning. After reviewing the frameworks, one of the key messages I received was that ICT should be seen as a transformative tool, instead of an enhancement or replacement for normal learning tasks. The SAMR model particularly justifies this and is used to describe the path technology adopters often take as they develop their strategies in teaching and learning with technology over time (Hogan, 2011). Furthermore, the technological development overtime allows learning to transform from something basic like note-taking on a computer, to something inconceivable like all students being able to work on a document at the same time together while also offering comments to one another (see reflection 5). Also, using ICT as a basic for De Bono’s hats also highlights how ICT transforms learning (see reflection 1). This was evident to me when I was completing the wiki activity and reflecting on mobile phones in the classroom. From looking from the Green Hat perspective I saw the transformation of learning; from disengaging to engaging.  This is because it explored the new possibilities this device creates and from this you see how much learning and education as whole will transform.
Also, ICT assists in building higher order thinking skills. The purpose of Bloom’s taxonomy is to promote higher order thinking in education, such as analysis and evaluating concepts, processes, procedures and principles instead of just remembering facts (Clark, 2015).  However, when you add the use of ICT when working towards these complex outcomes, learning outcomes improve (Clark, 2015). For example, when I was completing the blog reflection my evaluative thinking grew, as I could access and evaluate the thinking of others alongside my own, which developed my own understanding. Also, the reflections highlighted that by using digital pedagogy collaboration can improve. For example, the major benefit of the blog posts, Google Docs and wiki exercises was that we had opportunity to further own education through learning off our peers. This highlighted to me the value of collaboration in the classroom instead of cooperation which Morrison (2012) describes as a “divide and conquer” approach (see refection 6). 


The “Paperwork”…
So what remains is how I will make this implementation of technology legal, safe and ethical for my learners? Unsurprisingly, a key message I would stress to them that normal copyright guidelines for education apply in an online environment. Therefore, I would specifically focus on ensuring students are referencing material or ideas they gathered from others and stress that plagiarism is unacceptable and consequences will apply in the event of this occurring. I believe an effective way of ensuring students do not breach copyright would not only be informing the students of the consequences of such an offence, but also through me modelling accurate referencing in my own work. Furthermore, I will model and teach ethical and legal behaviours. Another important aspect of online learning is ensuring cyber safety. Students in an online environment can face exposure to material that is pornographic, sexually explicit, offensive, violent, and hateful or material that encourages risk-taking behaviours. In addition to this, students face physical danger, cyber bullying and privacy issues. Strategies I could employ to prevent these issues are:

-       Moderating the internet and technology use of the students.

-       Permanently/temporarily banning students who use abusive language and bully others online.

-       Design the technology in a way which blocks abusive and illegal use, and make sure the school’s Internet service providers support this with limitations on internet access.

-       Make the consequences for incorrect technology use clear.

-       Educate students on protecting their online reputation.

In summary, as a teacher I have a responsibility to provide safe, legal and ethical online environments. 

The Destination…

So now that I have finished my weekly reflections and arrived at my destination what can I endeavour to take with me? One aspect I will keep as a souvenir is that I must be a teacher that enables, guides, personalises and embraces digital technology, as it can play a fundamental part in student learning in contemporary times. Lastly, the final image that I captured of my journey is one of a teacher ready and willing to progress with the technological world in an educational environment. 


References
Clark, D. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#cognitive

Hogan, L. (2011, Jan 13). SAMR - a model for instructional technology use [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=104&v=PRo9cfp2baA

Morrison, D. 2012. Online groups – Cooperative or Collaborative?. Retrieved from http://www.elcomcms.com/Resources/Elcom-Blog/Posts/The-Importance-of-Collaboration-in-Today-s-Workplace/blog.aspx

Reflection 6

After collaborating online for the last few weeks through blog posts the benefits, successes, failures and drawbacks of this type of online learning community have become evident to me. 

Benefits and successes:

-         Brings diversity: An online community like this allowed us to collaborate with people from different, towns, cultures, backgrounds and teaching disciplines. This broadened my own perspective on topics through seeing the different viewpoints and ideas other people from the course had on particular topics.

-         Increased flexibility: we were able to review other people’s blogs and comment and respond to comments at any time and in any place. This was very convenient, as with being a uni student and part-time worker it can difficult at times to be online at a particular time or meet people at a particular place to collaborate. This is also relevant to contemporary students who often are busy with extra-curricular activities.

-         Increased opinion: As a student who is more of a quiet voice in class it was easier to respond confidently to the content through having the ability to prepare and reread contributions before posting them. This would also reflect the personality of some students in contemporary schools.

-         Constructive feedback: It was easy to review and provide feedback. The feedback provided allowed students to develop and become more competent over the weeks. This would also be expected if this type of online learning community was run with contemporary school students. 

Drawbacks and failures:

-         TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!! : technology can often fail and is unreliable.

-         Communication challenges: tone of voice, facial expressions and body language cannot be deciphered in the online context.

-         It is open to plagiarism – anyone can look at your work

-         Cannot really have an in-depth conversation

-         Feedback depends on your peers -  may not be instant

-         It is easier for people to cyber bully, as they don’t have to face you in person.

-         Doesn’t suit auditory learning types 

Through partaking in this online learning community I have become aware of the significance of online collaboration. Furthermore, the major benefit of online collaboration is that people have the opportunity to further their education through learning off their peers. Therefore, it broadens students’ knowledge base and makes them more educated beings. This type of online collaboration will inform my own teaching after seeing how valuable it is in increasing students’ perspectives. For example, due to me being a pre-service English teacher I may get students to keep a blog on class content where students can reflect on their own learning and review and comment on their peers’ to further their own understanding. This type of collaborative work would especially be of benefit during character study, as students would be able to see different ways to view characters and challenge other peoples perspectives. 

After reading Morrison’s (2012) review of cooperative and collaborative learning I believe a collaborative approach is more beneficial for student learning. For example, Morrison (2012) when describing cooperative learning refers to it as a “divide and conquer” approach. However, I do not believe this to be an effective learning style. For example, students are not really working as team as they are just working individually on their own parts. Therefore, they are not broadening their perspective, as it is still their own input going into the task. They are also not receiving feedback from their peers which can advance their work. Furthermore, after participating in this online learning community and reviewing Morrison’s (2012) understanding of cooperative and collaborative learning I will now opt for a more collaborative approach in student learning than a cooperative approach. 

References

Morrison, D. 2012. Online groups – Cooperative or Collaborative?. Retrieved from http://www.elcomcms.com/Resources/Elcom-Blog/Posts/The-Importance-of-Collaboration-in-Today-s-Workplace/blog.aspx