Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons - Create An Image Just Like This
Teaching and learning in the 21st century requires a different approach due to the digitalised world we now live in. We are now teaching what are known as digital natives, our students are coming to school with an increased knowledge about technology, and thrive with its use in the classroom. We do however need to remember that not each and every one of our students comes to school with the same knowledge of technology; some are still coming with limited access to technology prior to their schooling years. It is important now, more then ever to ensure all students are leaving school with a sound knowledge of technology as it is now in nearly every workforce. The learning of technology helps to set our children up for their future.
Working Safely Legally and Ethically
Perhaps the most important part of E-learning is working in a safe, legal and ethical manner online. It is essential as teachers that we are teaching our students how to work in this manner online, and that we too are working in this way.All schools have their own stance on ICTs in the classroom and their safe, legal and ethical use. Schools should also be analyzing the risk that can be associated with posting information online. It is essential that these school policies are in line with State and National Legislation and Policies. (Education Queensland, 2012) It is really important that parents are also aware of the rules that you have at school regarding working online. In my Week 2 blog post I researched exactly how we can ensure our students and ourselves are working safely, legally and ethically.
SAMR Model and Pedagogy
There are many reasons to incorporate ICTs into classroom practice, some of these include needing to equip students with the skills to participate and thrive in an information society, and the need to create highly skilled and knowledgeable workforces. Also simply that the students are expecting the use of ICTs in the classroom, as they have them in many other aspects of life. (Gill & Dalgarno, 2008) How exactly do we as teachers ensure that we are incorporating ICTs in a useful and meaningful way? How can we be sure that we are using the ICTs correctly and to their full potential?The SAMR model was designed to help teachers and educators to integrate technology into their current teaching practices. The model aims to enable teachers to design, develop, and integrate digital learning experiences that utilise technology to transform learning experiences to lead to higher order thinking and high levels of achievement. (DEWA, 2012) The model describes four levels of technology integration each increasing in complexity. The model begins at substitution and ends with redefinition.
Connectivism
The use of ICT's in the classroom closely relates to the connectivism theory. The connectivism theory is a framework for understanding learning. It demonstrates that learning occurs when knowledge is activated through a process of a student connecting to and feeding information into a learning community. With the addition of ICT's in the classroom learners are in the centre of the learning experience, rather then the teacher. An example of where connectivism is at work in the classroom is with the use of a wiki. While students are using wikis, they are at the centre of the learning experience. They are in fact learning from each other. It can be seen now that it is much more important to be able to find the information, then to recall the information.Catering for all students
The use of ICT's in the classroom also greatly helps to cater for all different learner types. Howard Gardner, a Theorist for Multiple Intelligences suggests that software, materials, and other ICT resources can be used to present material in many differing ways. This ensures that students will find the material interesting and will appear to their intelligence. This allows teachers to incorporate ICT's to develop learning experiences that appeal to each and every student individually, making instruction relevant and interesting for students.Coming back from this, without making individual plans for students, it is much easier to incorporate more then one learning style into a lesson when ICT's are used. More examples of this can be found in Week 2, 3, 4, and 5.
In conclusion it is seen that ICT's can be a very valued addition to any school setting. It is essential however to ensure that through their use, both students and teachers are using them in a safe, ethical and legal manner. It is also essential to have rules surrounding their use in the classroom to ensure that students are using them safely and ethically. When used in the classroom students have shown an increase in attention and understanding of given topics. As we know nearly every ascpect of life now incorporates the use of technology, therefore to ensure that our students are getting the most out of their educations it is paramount that technology and ICTs are incorporated into classroom practice.
References
Department of Education Western Australia. (2014) Literacy and Numeracy focus. Retreived from http://det.wa.edu.au/ipadsforeducation/detcms/navigation/literacy-and-numeracy-focus/?page=all#internalSection3http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html
http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/documents/strategy/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf
https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx
L, Gill., B, Dalgarno. (2008) Influences of Pre-service Teachers prepardness to use ICTs in the classroom. Retrieved form http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/gill.pdf
Kop, R., Hill, A. (2008) Connectivism: Learning Theory of the future or vestige of the past. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/523/1103
ICT's in Education. (n.d.). Explanation: Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from http://www.tcd.ie/Education/ICT/unit02/explanation05.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment