As technology grows, the need for e-learning becomes even more vital, to cater to these 21st century students. Using ICT's in the classroom has many challenges, but has the opportunity to prepare all students for the future and the forever changing of technology. Over the past 6 weeks, I have been engaged with different web tools. The learning done on my behalf has opened my eyes to what is available to myself and my future students, the benefits and also the negatives, how these tools can be incorporated into the classroom, the safe and ethical practices to ensure the learning environment is safe, and how online learning can enhance through collaboration of other students in the classroom and also the world.
The first week I engaged in wiki activity, which you can find
here.
One of my peers began her reflection with this statement "George Siemens proposed connectivism and he stated that it is important to identify how and where to find knowledge than it is to know"
(Eloise's E-learning Blog)
This was the first time I had been engaged with a wiki and found it fascinating the sharing of knowledge, building ideas and realising how you felt on the topic. This type of online, collaborative learning I could have benefited from in my school years. This process can help learners from seeing other student's points of view and then self-reflect themselves, which in turn the students are at the analysing and evaluating stage in Bloom's Taxonomy.
The 1st group of tools explored in the second week were blogs, wikis and weebly. I was fortunate enough to have had feedback from one of my peers
here, which lead me to the idea of exploring more on the idea of Edublog, which seemed to be a safer environment, as Edublog is only accessible to the creator (teacher), students and parents. Creating a weebly made me realise just how easy it is to make your own website, which in turn meant the students could do the same. The implications with all 3 of these tools is how safe are they? These tools can be accessed by anyone, which leads me to believe the teacher needs to research on an online tool that is of similar structure, like Edublog. There can be other difficulties also using these tools, it can be a matter of students being patience with technology, as it does not always work out well. Greener (2009 p.4 of 8) explains that for teachers to be supportive in student's online learning, they need to be willing to role model how to deal with effectively using technology in the classroom, this can be a factor in developing student efficacy.
The second group of tools were resizing images, audio and video. From my reflection on my blog
here, it clearly shows I had a lot of trouble with the audio, trying to embed the voki on my blog. It seems this week I learnt the most, realising that these online tools, although can be very effective in the classroom, it does not always work out the way you want. I had put a lot of time trying to make the tools work, I felt as though I could not possibly teach this to my future students. However, I came to the conclusion that the students could benefit from my experience. It is not that I have to be completely competent in online tools, it is the guidance and opportunity I can give, to create planned learning experiences that are more student centred. Singh, O'Donahue and Worton (2005 p.4 of 14) states "e-learning is construed in a variety of contexts such as distant learning, online learning and networked learning" (Wilson 2001). All of which can benefit students using the learning theory social constructivism and connectivism.
Shulman (1986) first sparked the idea that teachers need to possess two types of knowledge, content of a particular subject and knowledge of the curricular development. This framework is the basis for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). TPACK is the knowledge on how to use technology in a pedagogically sound manner for the learning of a specific content (Moodle). In the web tools 3 and 4 it seemed the learning on my behalf was more on how you could use these types of tools in the classroom. Prezi, PowerPoint and Glogster all have similarities in how to present information to the students. For future practice the students can be engaged in visual representations, using any of the three tools mentioned. Using PowerPoint for flash cards, Glogster to record homework updates each week, and Prezi to show a student's family tree which relates to the Foundation, History in accordance with the Australian Curriculum.
The last group of tools I explored was Google Earth, however I found the reading of other student's blogs much more fascinating than my own findings. Another of my peers used Dipity and just based on the
reflection I was able to process how I could incorporate it into my classroom. Dipity could be used in a Year 1 History class in accordance with ACARA (2013 p.2 of 23):
How the present, past and future are signified by
terms indicating time such as ‘a long time ago’, ‘then
and now’, ‘now and then’, ‘old and new’, and ‘tomorrow’ as well as by dates and
changes that may have personal significance, such as birthdays,
celebrations and seasons ACHHK029.
This would make a great project for helping students to determine
the difference between the past, present and future, based on the timeline that
was created here.
In conclusion, e-learning has its challenges which the teacher and students can learn together. Creating learning experiences that cater to each individual and are more student centred can enhance the learning of all students. The significance of my learning throughout the 6 weeks has helped me realise how I can incorporate the web tools in the classroom, the safe and ethical practices that need to be in place and the higher order thinking that all students can engage in if given the opportunity to explore each of the online tools.
Reference List
Alicia's Learning Blog - Retrieved from:
http://aliciaslearningblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/group-four-technologies-dipity.html
Australian Curriculum, Assessment, Reporting and Authority (ACARA) History (2013). Retrieved from:
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/History/Curriculum/F-10
