Reflective blog

The CYBERSAFETY issue in schools  

"Young people are increasingly exposed to an open and collaborative online culture, which allows them to access information, maintain friendships and relationships with family, and engage in creative content production" (Collin, Rahilly, Richardson, & Third, 2011).

However a report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (2013) discusses that the risk of using computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices to access the Internet or other social media is that breaches of privacy may lead to fraud, identity theft and unauthorised access to personal information. Further risks for children include cyberbullying, stalking, or exposure to illicit materials. Criminal offenders can be highly skilled at exploiting communication to gain access to children, and children can easily access adults-only materials if there are no protective mechanisms in place.  

Schools approach to cybersafety should take place along 2 main paths 

1.  Ensuring the school has a rigid cybersafety policies and practices in place within the school,  significantly reducing the chances of gaining all members of the school community gaining access to inappropriate material, having their privacy breached or being subject or being subject of cyberbullying, amonsgst other things, within the school environment. School Management need to ensure that filtering systems, firewalls etc and the like complement clear policies regarding the use of the internet within the school.   

2.  The second path I believe is more important than the first.  It is Teaching the Digital Citizen approach (www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/) to improve the cybersafety of students.  Because of the prevalence of technology in all aspects of life, both students and parents need to be taught the risks of cybersafety and the actions which can take place if "things go wrong".  

"With little notice or fanfare, the digital world is fundamentally changing. What once was an anonymous medium where anyone could be anyone, is now a tool for soliciting and analysing our personal data." Parisher (2011)

"The privacy issue is an area in which we have to balance the need for public knowledge with the privacy rights of the individual"  (Wilson, p. 58).  

Students, teachers and parents need to work together using a digital citizenship approach in order for students to learn to safe, positive and responsible online.

References - 

Australian Communications and Media Authority. (no date). Internet content complaints. Retrieved from <www.acma.gov.au/Citizen/Take-action/Complaints/Internet-content-complaints>.

Collin, P., Rahilly, K., Richardson, I., & Third, A. (2011). The benefits of social networking services: A literature review. Melbourne: Cooperative Research Centre for Young People, Technology and Wellbeing.

Parisher, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the internet is hiding from you. London, UK: Viking.

Eggen and Kauchak (1999) suggest that constructivism is a view of learning and development that emphasises the active role of the learner in making sense of the world.  They go on to suggest that the influence of constructivism in teaching and learning has increased. The shift toward literature-based approaches to reading for example and process approaches to writing are both grounded in constructivism.  

The progressive education movement led by Jean Piaget and John Dewey eventually moulded into constructivism theory. Piaget concluded that people learn through the mental building of logical structures throughout life. Dewey believed that children learn through engagement and not from listening to instruction. Vygotsky was another important contributor to theories of constructivism.  

My summary of the support for Constructivist Teaching Techniques - 

* Engagement - Students enjoy the learning process if they are engaged in the activity rather than listening to the instruction.  

* Learning skills for life - Proponents argue that children carry on this learning style throughout life.  

*  Greater use of Higher order thinking.  

*  Sense of ownership - The child feels like they are in control of their learning.  

My summary of the arguments against Constructivist Teaching Techniques - 

*  Lack of teacher accountability - Opponents believe the teacher may not take responsibility for poor learning in the classroom, believing it is in a fact the child's responsibility.  

*  Leaning on others - Opponents believe students in a group setting my lean on group thinking and go with the majority rather than their own ideas.   

*  Demographics - Opponents believe students from poorer demographics may not possess the same self-motivation and hands-on learning styles compared to students from wealthier families.  

When it all boils down.......

I believe that, like anything, we need to maintain balance.  While I fully support and engage in teaching students via a constructivist environment, firm guidelines need to be set around that environment.  

Allowing too much 'doing' and especially free-choice can, at times, mean that children lack direction in their learning. 

I can refer to the specific example of my own daughter's pre-school education.  My daughter attends to schools for 2 days a week each.  Both follow constructivist teaching techniques.  However, it is plainly obvious that the maximum learning benefit to my daughter is coming from the pre-school which places guidelines around the constructivist learning.  

We need to meet the students where they are at and this can begin using a constructivist approach.  However the teacher needs to firmly, rather than loosely, guide the students in the 21st century classroom.   

Allowing students to only learn via osmosis has the potential to be even less effective than traditional teaching.  Learning needs to be GUIDED by the teacher.  

Where does technology fit in?  

In short - everywhere.  Discovery based learning and technology go hand in hand together - providing the teacher guides the students along a pathway.  

References - 

Blended Learning in Plain English

The basics of Blended Learning

Blended learning comes from the point of view that not all learners learn the same way.  It focuses on moving away from traditional classroom models of learning and providing pathways for students to use higher order thinking skills via the medium of technology.  

"A carpenter can use all the tools of carpentry but at any one moment uses the tool that seems appropriate for the situation"  (De Bono, p. 158).  

 A key to blended learning is the learner properly understanding the expectations.  

"Content Management Systems" are a platform for blended learning to take place.  

"A CMS is a software tool that allows you to create, edit, and publish content. While early CMS software was used to manage documents and local computer files, most CMS systems are now designed exclusively to manage content on the Web."  (http://www.techterms.com/definition/cms)

Examples of Content Management Systems in education are -

*  Ingeniux

*  Campus Suite

*  Omni Update

*  Jadu

*  SEQTA - The content management system being implemented in Adventist Schools (as previously mentioned on my blog) is SEQTA.  While SEQTA integrates many areas of teaching and is a fantastic system, in my opinion it still requires development from a point of view of connecting learners, as opposed to teaching systems and information as well as parent and student connection with teachers.    

*  Moodle - It is important to note that the platform for our assignments for this specific course related to this blog - "Moodle" is an open source learning platform.

Within my particular context (a Primary School) a number of models of blended learning have limitations due to supervision and duty of care expectations.  Nevertheless, moving the school in a strategic direction where technology is more freely available is something I can have impact upon.  Additionally,  altering traditional homework procedures and moving to a blended learning approach for homework has significant merit. Content Management systems for primary school learning exist - for example Syndeocms (http://www.syndeocms.org/).  As content management systems develop for edcuation, I will keenly monitor further development within the Primary sector.  

Conclusion - Education is heading towards a greater emphasis on blended learning.  Careful selection of an appropriate content management system for the specific educational setting is a key to its success.   

References - 

SEQTA - Summary

SEQTA Teaching and Learning Management System - Parent and Student Portal

How can ICT in the classroom be used to -

Increase collaboration and cooperation - ICT may be used to support learning experiences that involve more cooperation among learners within and beyond school and a more interactive relationship between students and teachers.  In so doing richer learning communities are developed.

An example of this is the SEQTA rollout being implemented across the majority of Adventist Schools within Australia.  In particular there is the portal which allows teachers to perform functions such as set assignments , give feedback and hand out assessment results to students. Parents are highly involved in this also.  Greater interaction and transparency should, in turn, produce better outcomes.  

Tailor learning to the learner - ICT may be used to support more individualised learning programmes through the use of intelligent tutoring systems and/or computer managed learning systems.  Students can be provided with computer support for learning activities tailored to their individual needs, particularly in the case of students with special needs.

Let's face it: It is a very difficult task to give 25-30 students consistent attention in order to wholly cater for needs of all the students, even for the most experienced teacher.  By enabling support to be provided to individuals or groups via the medium of ICT, students can be remain active learners even while the teacher spends time with other groups. For students with special needs, this is especially important if the student does not have access to a teacher aide.  

Overcome physical disabilities - The variety of input and output devices available provide the opportunity for students who are physically handicapped to be involved in similar learning activities as other students.

There are many hardware and software ICT solutions to support those students with special needs.   Depending on whether the learner experiences limitations in mobility, communication difficulties or reduced control over their environment - many adaptions can be made using ICT.  

Examples of hardware include - speech input devices, expanded qwerty keyboards, touch screens and optical pointing devices,  

How Mathletics works.  

Mathletics is the next generation in online math learning platform, helping students enjoy math and improve their results. Mathletics covers Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum math.

How can ICT in the classroom be used to - 

Engage students by motivation and challenge - The interactive, multimedia, and communication characteristics of ICT may be used to provide more motivating and challenging learning experiences that encourage students to be more engaged with their learning.

Educators been aware for decades now that students are far more likely to respond to learning which is relevant to them.  We now have opportunities where the key to motivating our students is at our fingertips - ICT.  In a world where many of our students weren't even alive when email became prevalent, let alone the significant advances in technology since then, we need to meet our students where they are at and treat them as "digital natives" in order to motivate them.  Point 3 will describe how ICT can be used to challenge them.  

Provide tools to increase student productivity - ICT tools may be used to increase student productivity, particularly with repetitive, low-level tasks involving writing, drawing and computation.  While it may be necessary for students to develop these skills at some time on most occasions they are pre-requisite to some higher-level task.

Using ICT as a basis for learning rather then traditional pencil and paper methods is far more time efficient. In my classes in the past, I have also taught students to type very early on in the year so that more time can be spent on higher order skills using ICT as a medium on less time on the lower level tasks.  

Provide scaffolding to support higher level thinking - Software tools can be used to support the development of higher level thinking skills such as application, analysis and synthesis. 

"Differentiation" and the concept of "Every child matters" are ideas which I became passionate about during my teaching in the UK from 2004-2006. Not only does a classroom that has been differentiated correctly significantly enhance the learning of all students, it also promotes positive behaviours and feelings of self-worth amongst all students. 

I am have applied for funding for a project at my current school through the SIAS (School Improvement in Adventist Schools funding), to overhaul what we do in terms of differentiation.  A large part of the application's emphasis is the focus on the use of ICT to work towards an environment where indeed "Every child matters."  Allowing students to be challenged using the interactive components of ICT makes perfect educational sense.   

Increase learner independence - ICT may be used to provide learning experiences when and where they are needed and allow students to progress at their own pace.