Avondale EDUC21600

There are a number of positive and negative aspects that need to be taken into account when discussing ICT in education. A major benefit, and one of the main aims of ICT integration, is using technology to facilitate or encourage a learning experience that is unattainable in non-ICT classrooms. Through ICT, students can engage in later phases of learning that include collaboration and independent thinking. This technology, when used appropriately, can allow students to interact educationally with a context that they are very familiar with. One of the major drawbacks is that many teachers are unfamiliar and unable to utilise ICT effectively which leads to avoidance or failure in classroom attempts.

  Criteria for effective, educational ICT enabled interaction includes:

Appropriate classroom setting

Effective resources

Strong capability of facilitator

Week 6 Answers

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p02LaDF5abc&feature=youtu.be

  "Do you think that engagement in these types of collaborative online activities would motivate students and if so how can this phenomena be harnessed to enhance education of students in your teaching area?"

  I think that these types of collaborative online activities definitely have the ability to motivate students. This has never been in question. The issue is harnessing the potential to reach a learning outcome. It seems as if it would be easier in my teaching area of music when compared to other KLA’s, with collaborative platforms used to analyse music in the key areas of performance, listening and composition. With an engaging and open platform, students would be able to use what they are passionate about in music as a teaching/learning tool within the class.

  "Are the motivators identified by Dan relevant to a school learning environment? Why or Why not?"

  Yes they are for sure. Students are so often looking for those three things:

Autonomy - to feel like they are in control of their schooling and not puppets of the teachers.

Mastery - students are very rarely interested or motivated in subject areas that they are not ‘good’ at

Purpose - how often do you hear in the classroom, “What’s the point of this?’ or “When will I ever use this in the real world”.

I feel like sometimes when forget that students are just young versions of adults, with very similar overall desires in life.

  In less that 50 words post five (5) strategies for improve motivation and engagement in online learning environments.  Indicate which of these are also applicable in F2F or Blended Learning situation.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

  Establishing clear expectations and guidelines at the beginning of an online learning experience. (F2F and Blended Learning applicable)

Relevance - making sure that students always feel that there is a point in what is being covered that is relevant to them. (F2F and Blended)

Being very active as the online educator will show that you place value on the activity.

Construct knowledge as a group and with input from all participants to create a sense of intellectual democracy. (Blended)

Have clear policy to deal with cyber bullying and any other issues so that they can be resolved quickly

  "How do we motivate students to participate in developing these skills?"

  http://lynross.wikispaces.com/file/view/Teaching+the+iGeneration.pdf

How to define effective blended learning?

  From the resources given this week, I would define effective blended learning as the combination of student centred learning, in the home and school context, with face to face contact in the classroom. The benefits of this model seem to far outweigh the negatives, with only the initial set-up of such a system looming as a large consumption of time. The flipped classroom aspect of blended learning, which encompasses students covering content online at home at their own pace through a variety of sources not only creates more time for application in the classroom but also allows for the teacher to help students where they are at. This includes students who excel as well as those who struggle with the content. The TPACK concept has strong ties with the word ‘blended’ in the model title. It is the point where technology, pedagogy and content knowledge meet. This is basically where the teacher would need to be if a flipped classroom were to be successful.

For a classroom to be an effective learning environment, teachers and students must utilise all of the available resources to the best of their abilities. One of these resources is the computer. Computer technology has been used in the classroom for many years now. However, the optimum use of computers in schools is a topic of much debate, with no apparent consensus on the best approach. There are a number of differing theories on the most effective way to use this technology in the 21st century classroom.

One very common way is schools having designated classrooms with 20-30 computers in them, known as computer labs. The teachers will then book the class into the computer lab when they need to use them. This approach means that the schools do not have to outlay the significant cost of purchasing a computer (or device) for each student. Although this is of financial benefit to the school, a computer lab system has other issues that need to be considered. Double booking of rooms and teachers organising lessons around computer rooms that turn out to be unavailable can be a large inconvenience and interruption to schedules. There are also the added constraints of getting students to the computer lab, which can prove to be a time-killer, even if the students are scheduled to meet the teacher there at the beginning of the lesson.

One other solution, which seems to be gaining popularity, is a 1:1 ratio of computers to students. This usually involves students having a personal laptop (or sometimes a tablet device e.g. an iPad) that is loaned to them from the school. This way, students bring their device to every lesson and teachers can integrate them into lessons smoothly. Obviously, either the school or parents will have to wear the extra cost of such a system. The parents may cover the cost in some areas of higher socio-economic status but in other areas parents may not be able to afford such a luxury. In this case the school would have to cover the cost of the computers, either from their own pocket or through government funding. The main concern with this system is devices getting damaged through student mistreatment. Broken laptops will cost money to fix and will mean that students won’t have them in class to use anyway. Another concern is the students simply forgetting to bring them, which in this system means that they cannot be fully apart of the lessons involving this technology.

There are arguments for and against both systems that have merit. In response to such arguments, Alan Bain and Mark Weston bring up a very valid point to remember. They state that, ‘though we claim to focus on student achievement with our technology initiatives, that focus is more often on the “stuff” rather than on what we have students and teachers do or achieve with that “stuff.”’ Their point is that student to computer ratios are not the key issue regarding using technology in the classroom. If technology is used only to automate the teaching practices that already exist, then its potential is being wasted. They argue that the focus should be utilizing technology to revolutionize the way that teachers facilitate learning in the classroom.

  So whether it is 1:1 student to computer ratios or using computer labs, the focus should always be on pushing the boundaries into creative and engaging teaching. With this as the focus, the smaller aspects of how and why will reveal themselves in time.

References

http://the21stcenturyprincipal.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/computer-to-student-ratio-stats-are-not.html (quote from this source)

The recent advances in technology and the Internet have opened countless new doors of opportunity for people in the 21st century. From gathering and generating information to the ability to communicate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the rapid expansion of this technology has been astronomical. Once a person has engaged life on this technological level, they become a digital citizen. Obviously this has brought innumerable benefits to the realm of education that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago. However, there are also a number of issues that need to be addressed if the Internet is to be utilized safely in the schooling system and if teachers are wanting to train students into positive digital citizens.

  The core issue of safe internet usage in schools is being able to block and filter inappropriate use of the web including bullying, pornographic material and even just activities that are unnecessary during school hours (such as online gaming), without limiting the students usage to the point that there is barely any point in trying integrate the Internet into classroom activities.

  First and foremost if a school wants to use the Internet successfully it needs a sophisticated web filtering system and one that the I.T. department knows inside and out. Students tend to push the boundaries when it comes to Internet filtering so the people monitoring this system need to be on the ball. As previously stated, it must be a system that allows students enough freedom to reap the benefits of the Internet as a resource as well as filter content according to the school’s code of conduct.

  Secondly, schools should be very overt about the risks and consequences of activities like sexting (sending sexually explicit pictures or messages, normally via mobile phones), cyber bullying and harassment. Education in this area will go along way to students being more aware of the repercussions of their decisions.

  Between a good filtering system and strong education, schools need to be strong with their discipline policy with these issues. School’s cannot afford to sweep digital issues under the carpet and, if need be, may need to add sections to discipline policies to address cyber issues.

21st century technology has opened up countless creative doors in the 21st century classroom.  New innovations have brought life to pedagogical techniques that had survived in tact for multiple decades without change. One of these technological advances is known as a podcast. Wikipedia defines a podcast as “a digital medium consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device”. Although this sounds complicated it is anything but and can be used in a number of different ways to enhance a high school classroom.

  One interactive way that podcasts can be used in classrooms is through cooperative learning. In a senior Ancient History class, for example, the students must do a topic concerning ancient civilizations. For a summation activity the students could split up into groups and create a podcast on the different aspects that are within the topic. One group could do the role of women in that society and economy while others could cover religion and recreation etc. until all of the areas are covered. Then the students would upload all of the podcasts onto a school webpage where they can access them as a study resource.

  Podcasts could also be used as an audio diary for a section of an assignment. For example, a history essay could have a minimum of five 2-3 minute podcasts that outline the major points that were discovered in the research phase of the assignment. This also provides more holistic way of marking the process of the essay, rather then just the final product.

Blogging, website and wiki platforms are modern Internet technologies that can be utilised in the 21st century classroom. They are all under a banner known as Web 2.0. Until recently, the Internet was utilised as a ‘read-only’ resource, meaning that it was used to access information that had been previously uploaded. Web 2.0 was the introduction of ‘read/write web’, which allowed users to upload, collaborate and share information on the Internet with others. Popular examples of this include Facebook and Wikipedia. This type of technology can be a powerful tool in the modern classroom.

In a senior classroom setting, I would use the creation of a blog as a form of both assessment and for student benefit. One application for this would be for a composition task. As composition tasks are often assessed on the process as well as the final product, a running blog with sections due every week would mean the students could upload their processes online. Examples of weekly work could be general song ideas (Week 1), Song structure/Form (Week 2), Chords (Week 3) etc. This also gives the teachers access to the work without students having to hand in hard copy work every week.

Another way Web 2.0 technology could be used in the classroom would be the creation of websites or wikis by students as a way of peer teaching for a topic. For example, if the students in a year 9 class were learning about jazz music, the class could be split up into groups to study different sub-genres of jazz e.g. cool jazz, bebop, and fusion. After the groups have studied the chosen topic, they will create a website or wiki based on a teacher given criteria. When all of the information has been placed on the Internet, the students in the class could do a research task on the other topics of jazz uploaded by classmates. This is a far more engaging process for the students in gathering, uploading and researching information on class topics.

A class website could also be a creative way to create subject related interaction with teachers and students. This could be a place where assignments are discussed, where interesting Internet links about a topic can be posted by either teachers or students and a place where students work can be uploaded for marking. Creating the website at the beginning of the term/year could also be a very effective icebreaker activity for the teacher to conduct.

All of these examples are a very small scope of what can be done with Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. The options and opportunities are almost endless. The amount of success experienced by integrating this into the daily classroom will depend on how much effort the educator is willing to go to. I am certain that the rewards will be reaped if the teacher is prepared to sow.

 References

This reflection is based on the use of technology in the classroom as proposed by Clebourne Maddux (1986). He breaks up the usage of technology in the classroom into 2 categories: Type 1 and Type 2. The former of these two is the focus of this reflection. Type 1 describes using technology as an aide for things that have always been done as part of the normal curriculum. It is based on the same pedagogy, but it uses technology to make activities easier and quicker. Examples of this include word processing and drills. There are a number of uses for this in my KLA's: Music and History. 

In the music classroom, one of the best type 1 uses of computers involves scoring software. Gone are the days of scoring and typesetting needing to be done by hand on pieces of manuscript paper. Programs like Finale Notepad are free and can be used for exercises as simple as scales and note value activities but they can also be used for bigger tasks like harmonisation of a melody and composition assignments. This also has the added bonus of being able to edit easily and students being able to hear what the notes sound like. There are also higher quality programs including Sibelius depending on the schools budget for such things. These have greater capabilities but are not essential for students, especially in younger years. This kind of program not only makes these exercises far quicker and more efficient, it also saves on resources like paper and pencils. 

  In the history classroom there are numerous ways that type 1 technology can be used. Firstly there is the word processing aspect, where typing can (with numerous students, not all) be quicker and is definitely neater. This can be used for assignments as well as homework tasks. Another way is utilising the Internet as a resource for research. This is a quick way of finding information and sources for assignments to go along with more tedious (although often more reliable) sources like books and journal articles. This gives students more options for sources, especially if the school itself does not have a great deal of resources. As is true for all type 1 uses of technology, this has not changed the pedagogy of either of these classrooms. It has, however, made the same processes quicker and more effective. Not only that, using technology tends to be more appealing to students of the 21st century in any classroom setting.

  Type 1 use of computers has made a big difference to education in both music and history classrooms. The use of music software particularly has revolutionised the speed and quality of activities that can be done with students.

References

Any educator worth their salt will tell you that good pedagogy is vital for a classroom to be successful. The Quality Teaching model, as outlined by the NSW Department of Education and Training, consists of 3 points that define what high quality pedagogy should look like. They are:

Pedagogy that is fundamentally based on promoting high levels of intellectual quality.

Pedagogy that is soundly based on promoting a quality learning environment.

Pedagogy that develops and makes explicit to students the significance of their work.

(image taken from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/areas/qt/qt.htm)

The first point is looking at basing classroom teaching on, as the model states, 'deep understanding of important, substantive concepts, skills and ideas.' This means moving beyond surface level rote learning of syllabus content into higher levels of thinking. Pedagogy that is centred around higher levels of intellectual quality must engage students in higher order thinking as laid out in Blooms Taxonomy and it must understand that every student learns differently based on Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. As is shown in the image above, intellectual quality is the overlapping factor and the glue that holds this model together. As such teachers need to focus on this when they are choosing which teaching strategies to use in the classroom.

The second point speaks of learning environment. This is mainly based on two things. One is the expectations of both teachers and students. The level of this expectation can automatically set you up for failure or success. Although it is impossible to fully control student expectation, teachers should always have high and explicitly detailed expectations for learning in the classroom. This will help students in gaining the expectation that a quality learning experience will take place in the classroom.  The other is the balance of relationship within this environment. The relationships between teachers and students, as well as between students themselves, is a key component of having successful learning outcomes. Building good rapport with students and having clear and effective behaviour management should aid this. 

The third point is based around a word so often heard by students in the 21st century: relevance. Showing students that content is relevant to everyday life is a key to success in a time where students are questioning the value of education more than ever. If a teacher can make a lesson meaningful through tying content into the lives of the students, it will help engage the students and lead to successful learning outcomes. 

This model is effective in creating an onus on teachers to engage in high quality teaching that will be the most beneficial to the 21st century student.

References

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences - http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html

Blooms Taxonomy - http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/assessment/pages/assessmentstrategies/taxonomy/?reFlag=1

This video by Ken Robinson and his questioning of the way education systems are run is very confronting for teachers in training like myself. It points out quite archaic ways in which schools are run based on paradigms from over 200 years ago that I had never even thought about. Some of these include the factory way that schools are set up with subject areas separated and students always processed by age groups. I believe the role of schools has not changed. I believe that any school's role is to prepare its students for life. The problem is that the way to successfully achieve that has changed so much in the 21st century and school's are still trying to do what they have always done.

This is a fascinating topic to think about but I think making actual change to such an engrained system would prove more difficult and some of these would be more difficult than others. There are two ways that we can begin to get there without making drastic changes. One is to have/train teachers who understand that students are not just buckets to be filled with a standard set of knowledge that we have to give them. Every student is different and while some may flourish in this environment, many who have different forms of intelligence will struggle. This is where teachers need to be learners as well, getting to know their students and what they have to offer before they even enter our classrooms. The other is engaging students in the classroom. Robinson points out in his video that students are growing up in the most stimulating environment that the world has ever known. This has meant that teachers have faced more challenges in the classroom based on student boredom. I believe that this technological stimulation can be used as a learning tool instead of fought against as a distraction. Any way that technology can be integrated into a students learning environment will be an asset 21st century education.