Reflective Synopsis

At the start of this course I was oblivious to the uses ICT’s in the classroom and I considered myself fairly fresh out of the schooling system after graduating in 2003. Since graduating, ICT’s in the classroom have come a long way driven by modern day learners from all different cultural backgrounds highly skilled in interpreting and applying visual information. The keyword from that last sentence is ‘visual’ and I say that because many of the digital pedagogies I have seen have been visually focused (Craven, 1999, p.207). For example YouTube clips, PowerPoint presentations (slideshare), Flikr and Picnik. What I want to reflect on is how digital pedagogy relates to pedagogical frameworks and how I would implement what I have learnt about ICT’s in my classroom.


ICT’s and Pedagogical Framework

It is a prime responsibility of educators to convert theories and research into practical applications (Abraham, 2006, p.4). Modern-day learners need to relate declarative and procedural knowledge to real life situations. So how do we as teachers do this? We do this by incorporating sound pedagogical frameworks such as active learning, problem based learning, to an extent student centred learning and learning engagement as well as applying effective ICT's.

Incorporating ICT’s into your lesson plans and pedagogy engages with pedagogical frameworks put forward by Dale's Cone and the learning pyramid. Teachers also need to encourage active learning strategies. Active learning provided by digital pedagogies incorporates teaching of knowledge through stimulation of multiple senses such as hearing, seeing and feeling. It can also stimulate higher order thinking through processes such as discussion with other individuals and interactions with different programs. The active learning process activates related schema in the brain and incorporates it into the new knowledge learnt. After input and processing has occurred we have output that requires students to produce a response or a solution. These solutions come about through higher order thinking involving analyses, evaluation, discussion and synthesis of declarative information.

Good pedagogy incorporates a number of different types of frameworks such as active learning, problem based learning, to an extent student centred learning and learning engagement. Using digital pedagogies such as blogs, wiki’s, video, Mahara and flickr engages all of these frameworks and helps develop emotionally intelligent and life-long learners.


Incorporating ICT’s into my classroom

So how do we incorporate what we have learnt about into a real life classroom? With technology developing learners want to access information when they need it quickly and effectively. Establishing a classroom blog similar to what Clay Burell did, expands your students ability to learn outside of the classroom and school hours. This leads me to my first step of initiating ICT’s in to my classroom which is setting up a ‘classroom blog’:

BLOG
Establishing both a classroom blog helps my students access content and keep in contact with the teacher at all times. I recently made a post on my blog saying I was going to show my class a YouTube video on bird beaks. Establishing a classroom blog would mean that my students are able to access this information outside of school. Setting up individual student blogs also helps them discuss, evaluate, analyse and create with other students promoting higher order thinking.
Previous posts on blogs link: http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-eye-opening-week-for-me-in-regards.html

VIDEO
As outlined before I have already implemented video through YouTube in my EPL. I have also included video from TeacherTube demonstrating how to manipulate a protractor when measuring angles in a post (http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/04/probably-most-used-piece-of-digital.html). Video caters for all different learning styles by incorporating video, audio and text and can be posted on the classroom blog to be accessed by students whenever needed.

VOKI’s
I have already outlined through other posts in my blog (http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-vokis.html) that Voki’s are a great tool for students that may have reading difficulties and can be used in classroom blogs to communicate small pieces of text. They are also a great hook to capture the attention of students at the start of a lesson.

POWERPOINT
PowerPoint has become a very popular tool when it comes to presentations. It incorporates a number of different learning styles through the use of text, audio, visual, animations and charts. It is also important to educate students on the aspects of an effective PowerPoint presentation. Using programs such as slideshare also helps you as teacher provide PowerPoint presentations presented on the classroom blog. Previous posts on PowerPoint: http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-in-action-powerpoint.html.

e.Portfolio
An e.Portfolio like Mahara can be used by both teachers and students to help develop life-long learners and can be used in a number of different ways. Teachers are able to keep documents such as lesson plans, worksheets, resume’s and blogs all in the one spot. As stated in a previous post (http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/04/mahara-much-more-than-digital-filling.html)Mahara is also a good program for students to store work and assessment as well as record their academic goals.

WIKI’s
The use of wiki’s in the classroom can make group work between students much easier. With the use of a class blog, a wiki could be used by students when they are coordinating a text book on a topic or KLA or handing in work that they would like assessed. Developing a textbook through the use of a Wiki can promote higher order thinking as well as sense of satisfaction with the end product. As stated in a previous post (http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-eye-opening-week-for-me-in-regards.html) a wiki can also be a great tool for a teacher planning and coordinating events and highlighting key dates for the year to parents.

IMAGES
I have witnessed firsthand children engaging in the process of developing an image, from capturing it with a camera to editing it in the classroom. Current learners are becoming more adept at processing visual information and therefore it is important to incorporate it in your pedagogy. Using programs such as flickr, Picnik and iPhoto can help develop a better quality image and engages students kinaesthetically as well, as outlined in a previous post (http://ljmrocky.blogspot.com/2010/04/flickr.html).

Summary
It is important that the ICT’s that you use are relevant to KLA’s, essential learning’s and your unit of work, it is important to not go off on a tangent and be to ICT’s orientated. As teachers we must understand individual learning styles and what our students respond to, this is the most important point when it comes to producing effective teaching with ICT’s. Teachers must also understand that the modern day learner wants outcomes that they can relate to and apply in the real world. Creating digital pedagogies that involves analysis, evaluation, discussion and synthesis of information not only develops higher order thinking but broadens our emotional intelligence. Engaging students and incorporating effective pedagogical frameworks leads to the teacher’s ultimate goal of creating life-long learners.

References

Abraham, A (2006), 'The need for integration of emotional intelligence skills', The Business Renaissance, vol. 1, no, 3.

Craven, R (1999), ‘Teaching aboriginal studies’, Allen & Unwin, Melbourne.


Comments on peer blogs:

http://learningjourneycaro.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-reasons-to-use-blogs-in.html#comments

http://chloetowns.blogspot.com/2010/03/hello-all-i-hope-you-will-take-pleasure.html#comments

http://hillsnick116.blogspot.com/2010/03/week-1-what-is-learning-management-why.html

http://e-learning-engagement.blogspot.com/2010/03/authentic-learning-revisited.html

Comments on forums:

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