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
