Thinking back to the beginning of my Learning Journey, I can already see a vast improvement and understanding in my capabilities relating to ICTs. After being actively involved with my peers through discussion boards and by keeping up with my fellow peers’ Blogs, I have learnt a considerable amount and it is great to hear other student's experiences in implementing their respective ICTs.
A particular video that was on the Moodle Course Website for Week 2-ICT for Learning Design was the speech by Sir Ken Robinson. This video really brought things into perspective for me. It made me think about my pedagogy and how to make it even more effective through creativity. As Ken Robinson said:
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Robinson. K, 2006)
This means taking a risk and not being afraid to fail. This is one of my classroom rules for my Year 8 drama and dance class.
“Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganised how we live, how we communicate and how we learn.” (Siemens, G 2004)
Technology is advancing rapidly and with school aged students being at the forefront of this change, it is important that we as teachers use these advances in technology to enhance their learning experiences. By using these new technologies, the students will be able to relate more readily to the subject matter. As the video first sited by Scot Aldred in Week 2-ICT for Learning Design states:
“If you are not using technology to teach, you should be!” (Transforming Teaching Through Technology, 2007)
As a teacher of very practical based subjects (dance and drama) it is up to me to use this to my advantage by making each lesson “direct, purposeful experiences” (Dale’s cone- learning effectiveness). This means making every lesson very hands on and full of real life experiences. These practises include a very student-centred approach to the classroom.
My teaching area Dance covers three learning aspects: performance, choreography and appreciation. Appreciation is dance analysis which can be through the form of live performances and/or the student’s own work but is mainly executed through video and clip excerpts from many different resources. I have had many conversations with my Mentor Teacher about this and how the students relate well to seeing visual examples. This is because they have been taught to analyse visual examples for assessment purposes so it then becomes natural to them for exercises undertaken within class time. Implementing ICTs within the classroom has proved very beneficial for my Mentor Meacher and this is apparent through my observations of these classes. On the pupil free day at my pre-service teaching school, it was discovered after a study conducted earlier this year that the preferred learning style of the year 8 students were: visual (61), followed by kinaesthetic (42) and then auditory (18). This discovery reinforces the importance of ICTs as a visual example for the students as auditory is proving not to be enough to enhance their learning experience.
The other day I was conducting a lesson for year 8’s about cannon within dance and I found a excerpt from So You Think You Can Dance finale. I showed this to them as an example and I found by using something that relates more directly to them, the students displayed a better understanding of what was being taught.
As a result of the different learning styles observed within a classroom, it is important that as teachers we cater for every learning style whether it is active or reflective, visual or verbal.
Through my experience with ICTs for Learning Design, I have learnt many different methods to engage my students. Before starting this course, I thought that ICTs were just videos but my thoughts on this have changed as my learning has expanded.
Now I have successfully learnt how to:
Create an Avatar through Voki, I think this activity is fantastic and as you can see on my blog, you can customise these to look however you wish. The possibilities are endless with these avatars and they would be a fantastic hook to get your students engaged! I can see these avatars being implemented for instructional use for primary school. For high school, I think the students would be capable to create their own and they could post homework tasks through these avatars to make homework more interesting.
PowerPoint: Although I already had experience in using PowerPoint, I now see more uses for this software (see my blog posting regarding: ICTs at my pre service school). Each room at the school has a data projector so instead of writing excessive amounts on the white board; the teachers create a PowerPoint slide for the students to observe. By including pictures, activities and videos within these PowerPoint slides also makes it more exciting for the students.
Blogs and Wikis: After creating my own Blog and Wiki, I have seen the uses for these in the classroom. Student’s can create their own collaborative website through a Wiki and can create a learning journey (similar to what we have as GDLT students) on a blog.
YouTube and TeacherTube: I was familiar with this broadcasting site, but not so much with use of TeacherTube. There are an excessive amount of educational videos that I was not aware of and some would be fantastic to implement within my lessons. Students can also create educational videos and upload them onto YouTube for assessment purposes. This relates to the donate phase of the Engagement Theory created by Greg Kearsley and Ben Scheiderman.
The engagement theory has three components: Relate-Create-Donate. The engagement theory is a creative, collaborative way for students to share and learn and because it has an outside authentic focus, it gives the students an extrinsic motivation. Students need to be engaged in active learning which consists of problem based learning. This can be without technology however Kearsley and Scheiderman strongly believe that “technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise.” (Kearsley and Scheiderman, 1999)
Within the strategising phase of Lynch’s 8 Learning Management Questions, it consists of questions:
4. what resources do I have at my disposal?
5. What will constitute the learning journey? and
6. Who will do that?
Through the strategising phase is where we as teachers need to implement the use of ICTs. Question 5 of the Learning Management Question draws parallels with the Dimensions of Learning Strategies 2 (Acquire and Integrate Knowledge), 3 (Extend and refine knowledge) and 4 (Use knowledge meaningfully).
ICTs can be very complex however teachers need to try to implement even the simplest methods regardless of the school's facilities. This refers to question 4 of Lynch’s 8 learning management questions: What resources do I have at my disposal?
ICT usage will vary from school to school but through using technology, students will benefit in their experiences. This could be as simple as including videos, PowerPoint’s and Online Quizzes.
Memories from my schooling consist of a lot of chalk and talk experiences (teacher-centric). With this is mind, it is important to me that each lesson has a student-centric approach with inclusive ICTs.
From my learning journey, I now have a better understanding of the importance of ICTs and incorporating a visual and hands on pedagogy. Some of the things that I have learnt in the weekly activities I will continue to incorporate into my lessons. These include ICTs such as: Wikis, Blogs, Avatars, Picnik, online quizzes or activities and e.Portfolio programs such as Mahara.
References:
Active Learning Centre (2000) Dale’s Cone. Retrieved 11 March, 2010, from
http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/focus_images/dalecone.gif
Aldred, S. (2010) Learning Management Questions (Adapted from Lynch 2003). Retrieved 20 March, 2010, from
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/file.php/9976/8lmq_s.pdf
Differentiation, One Size Does Not Fit All. Handout distributed to all teachers at my Pre- Service Teaching School, 13 of April, 2010.
Kearsley, G, Schneiderman, B, (1999). Engagement Theory: A Framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved 9 March, 2010, from
http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Lynch, D. (2003) The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) and Education Capability. Retrieved 3 March, 2010, from
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=44465
Robinson, K. (2006) Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? [Video] Retrieved 14 March, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
Siemens, G (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for a Digital Age. Retrieved 15 March, 2010, from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Transforming Teaching Through Technology (2007) Pay Attention [Video]. Retrieved 15 March, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw
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