The Practice of DEEEEEPP!!! Reflection

Who am I as a learner?

The categories in which is seem to align with are the auditory and kinaesthetic so more often than not strategies in instruction that engage me are discussions, physical activities and experiences that affect me in a visceral way.

What I have found that limits my engagement are repetitive, personally, long observations, written and reflective in nature. Not to say that I don’t value these experiences immensely it is just that it takes more effort on my part to find merit in them for myself, and usually I need to connect those activities with one of my strengths to be engaged.

I have found that this is evident in my teaching I enjoy class discussions, physical activities, intellectually varied and challenging experiences, and even some that did not engage the students in any way. So a question I have to ask myself is “am I teaching for them or my own enjoyment?”.

I believe that it should be both.

I have the ability to find interest in almost any subject because of my skills in adapting the conditions in order to appeal to my own interests but I have not shared this ability with my students, asking them questions in which they are offered chances to input their own experiences or understanding my students to the extent to which I can draw on their interests to allow them to be engaged with the experiences. This in conjunction with modelling a positive passion for learning and the subject matter can offer students a learning environment which rewards those positive attitudes.

That last point is one of my highest beliefs in teaching. Teaching may be a profession but learning is only done by choice. Now while this does mean we as teachers need to make the learning experience as attractive as we can to students it does not mean that we subtract those elements that are less attractive but are profoundly important to the growth of our students. So the task of a teacher is to create experiences which allow the students the best chance to engage while at the same time giving them the most successful experience to learn as possible. The only way that this is possible is through a rigorous reflective practice.

The important of reflection has only influenced me recently reflecting on my first prac. While I did set aside time to reflect on my experiences I found that the reflection was quite superficial and do not reconnect with my practice. I did have moments of effective reflection but these were only after intense experiences which if I did spend time in critical and productive reflection could have been avoided. This is the important reason for reflection; it gives us a chance to be aware of the causes and conditions which brought about a specific result. If in reflection we can identify those variables and analyse them for their success can we create better experiences for our students.

But those experiences are constantly changing. It is a fundamental fact in this universe that everything changes. We cannot plan for every eventuality, so why try. It is because we have the power to play with those causes and conditions to create better experiences for our students. Not every student will learn or even want to, all we can offer is the best opportunity for that learning to occur and using deep reflection can give us insight and maybe some tools in order to create and be innovative with those experiences for our students.

Because that is why we teach; so students can learn.

Reflective Synopsis

Introduction. 

Bruce & Hogan, 1998 talk about technology as a tool that until recently was "transparent" in the classroom by the relatively slow pace at which technologies used to develop. Its only relatively recently that the technology, especially digital technologies, have moved faster than the teachers can keep up Misha and Koehler. So it is more important now to be aware of the technologies so that they can be used more effectively by teachers in the coming years and even decades.

Not only is the technology moving fast but the adoption by students, or "digital natives", of these technologies from a relatively early age is increasing (Prenski). It is important for teachers to be aware of this in order engage the students in their studies.

Covered within the reflective synopsis there will be a overview of the class wiki contribution, and an overview of four e-learning tools that have been reviewed. Discussing the strengths and weaknesses and how to apply it to future teaching and the legal, ethical and safety implications for users.

Wiki Reflection

What I took from the mobile phone wiki exercise is that the learning design and structure are incredibly important to support good learning. The use of Debono’s hats is an effective supporting structure because it takes into account a wide variety of points of view and lets the students work at their zone of proximal development, making it more likely they will engage. This still depends on how comfortable and willing the student is to engage with the exercise. What I did find was that the choice of how to respond using one or a combination of Debono’s hats was more engaging then just having the question of “what do you think...” without an effective scaffold to assist in answering the question. I was, however, frustrated with how the creation and formatting tools can be less than intuitive. The ability to write is simple enough and making simple changes to the format of the text to make it individualised is straight forward. But as soon as contributions are made by more than ten people who add quite a bit of information each, with their own formatting the whole site becomes confusing and not enjoyable to contribute to. I would suggest another, simpler exercise in order to get the students accustomed to using the formatting and editing tools.

Tool 1. - Online Spaces

An online space is the scaffolding on which all information and resources are hung from on the internet or network, these resources can include text, video, images and various other types of multimedia where users can then be allowed to view the space, contribute using comment boxes and in some cases edit the base resources. While the other online tools such as wikis and websites have positive traits I chose the Blog online space because of the individual creation possibilities and also the opportunity of others to respond and give feed back. A blog gives the students the opportunity to have their own input and have the ability to create their own constructivist learning environment with the possibility of others being able to comment but the work still remains primarily the product of one student. One blog format was for storytelling whereby a student starts a story and other student contribute through the comments box below. This blog was created as a means to stray from traditional diary entry type blogs, with the idea to encourage students to be creative using each others feedback comments. There are some safety aspects to consider when using blogs in this way. The students need to understand that any ideas that are not their own need to be acknowledged with the use of hyper-linking and referencing. This becomes easier to implement depending on if the blog is on a protected intranet or open to the public this can affect the type of information that is added. For example photographs of students and information that should not be shared with the general public. Also safety is a concern with regards to comments which are not respectful and constructive these can be mediated by the teacher. Because of the variety of tools for example – multimedia, graphics representations and text format at the users disposal the blog can be used in many contexts.

Tool 2. – Multi-Media

Multi-media alludes to comunication through images, audio and the combination of both in video. It is important to be aware of these tools because of the expanding literacies in the 21st century.

Because of its nature multimedia is incredibly versatile which includes the ease in which different media can be embedded into digital frameworks and how they target the different ways students learn.

It is because of this versatility that I’ve chosen to experiment with all of them. With all the advances of modern technology it is easier to not only manipulate but also record multi-media. Almost every phone and touch device has the ability to record and edit images, sound and video. These recordings can be shared through a number of different formats (wifi, Bluetooth, and online through email, file sharing services and the cloud) and again manipulated with different programs to achieve almost any result imaginable. It is not hard to use all these tools in schools. Because of the mandated use of technologies set by the Queensland Studies Authority and ACARA through the Australian National Curriculum who state that technologies must be used by students. This means that all school have access to different forms of technologies including different recording devices. What this can mean for the students though is if the use of these recording devices is not overseen the students may be putting themselves in danger by uploading images and recordings of themselves, other students, the schools itself and teachers, that if not uploaded to a secure server can be used by others without permission and/or unethical purposes.

Tool 3. – Presentation

Because of the advancement of technology, the presentation of ideas and information has become more engaging and easier to implement. The different ways for presenting information such as Powerpoint, Presi and Glogster give the user the opportunity to present what they want in whichever medium and in whatever style and aesthetic that they choose.

Out of these tools I chose Real Time Board which is a Presi type program, but offers more in terms of versatile content eg: embedding of google documents that can be edited, and a presentation system, while also being collaborative with the ability to have multiple users contributing. The versatility of this tool means you can begin to use it even from the early planning stage because it allows you to bring in all materials in an almost infinite empty space to arrange and manipulate into a finished product. For some students this open format will be beneficial, but for others they will need scaffolding to support thier learning. For example giving students topic headings for each section of a project and requirements of a minimum amount of text, image and sound per section. This will ensure that the students who are not as comfortable have a structure to work from, while allowing any other students who feel more capable to expand their knowledge, understanding and creativity. With Real Time Board's open and collaborative nature there is also a risk that if parameters aren't set properly anyone can edit and tamper with students work and because it doesn't have the same editing protocols as a wiki some work can even be deleted. It is therefore important to ensure that the students understand the risks and take appropriate steps to save their work and ensure its security, but in saying that, at the presentation stage the options of how to share the presentation gives control to the students on how the work is viewed.

Tool 4. – Annimations and Simulations

These quirky tools while seemingly simple offer unique ways to maniqulate and present infromation through visualisations and simulations. There is a wide variety of these tools, but looking at one in particluar I chose digital concept mapping. These tools are used to create visualisations of brainstorms, timelines, tables and graphics using a wide varitety of asthetics that go beyond the two dimensional limits of pen and paper. I have chosen to use these tools because of my experience of visual art as stated in my blog, and relates to the ability to create deep multi-literary concept maps. The advantage of these tools is that they offer a short cut to creating visually spectacular concept maps, without the need for skills in artistry. Users still require an understanding of design but have a wider range of aesthetics to draw from in these tools. Students can use concept mapping tools as a way of supporting their own learning or in group collaborations. Users can create a visual representation of a KWL that can be manipulated and edited during the learning process to enhance the organisation of knowledge. There are certain limitations to consider and these are that some of the tools only give a small range of abilities to edit and manipulate the data and visualisations. These tools would be better used as quick starting points and a way to organise information rather than as a final outcome for assessments.

Conclusion

I find that the time I have spent using ICT’s over the past month both incredibly exciting and at the same overwhelmingly infuriating. The time and effort that I has gone into exploring the different tools has given me pause to think about how some students feel when they encounter these technologies, and are asked to use them in an articulate manner and how much time they will need to spend on them.

It will be important that when students are exposed to these tools that the teacher does so in a way that doesn't overwhelm them, as well as making them feel that they can use them successfully. One way that they could be implemented into my teaching methods would be to create experiences that use the tools in a design setting outlined by (Tpack). What I feel is that the context and, maybe more appropriately, the structure in which students are exposed to these tools will influence their feeling toward them and how confident they become in using them. I hope that my experiences in using these tools and the structures that I may use to implement them in teaching may be beneficial to the students I teach.

Resources

Mishra, P. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teaching,

Teachers College Record, 108, 1023, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00684.x

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, On the Horizon, 9, 1,

doi: 10.1108/10748120110424816

Six Hats Thinking. (n.d.). Retrieved from

                http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm.

Culatta, R., (2013), Social Development Theory (L. Vygotsky), Retrieved from

http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html

Cheek, B., (2011), Multiple intelligences, Retrieved from

                http://www.gp-training.net/training/educational_theory/multint/multint.htm

Education Queensland. (n.d.). Queensland Studies Authorities, Retrieved from

                http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/7300.html

Fasso, W., (2013). ICTs for Learning Design: A Brief Overview of Learning Theory - Social, Retrieved

from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491: ICTs for Learning Design

http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115326

Australian Curriculum Assessment and reporting Authority (ACARA). (n.d.).  Information

Communication Technology (ICT) Capability, Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Information-and Communication-Technology-capability/Introduction/Introduction

Realtime Board. (2013). Retrieved from http://realtimeboard.com/app/

Brains in Space (Online Concept Mapping)

I've been interested in this one for a while so when it came up in the group 4 tools I was just a bit eager to share my findings.

Personally I have a hard time creating aesthetically pleasing concept maps with pen and paper. In my mind I see flowing colours and pleasing shapes connecting concise ideas and concepts in a coherent pattern. But honestly they turn out to be chicken scratch so illegible that it would be better used as the map for some long lost treasure, so I've usually asked others to write for me.

But technology has set me free.

With the use of online and software powered tools my lack of drawing talent is not an issue. The system lets me manipulate it in ways which I like and are fun while giving me the ability to create the visual style that suites me.

Some tools that I have grown to utilise frequently are Bubbl.us and Text2mindmap. It is simple and easy to organise concepts in aesthetically pleasing ways which I have used for this and other courses:

An unexpected benifit is that it has given me more confidence to try and create similar styles in the real world with me mediocre drawing skills

(Pretty ain't it)

Because of technology we are not limited to the traditional concept map and can use a number of different sites and software to create interesting and creatively diverse concept mapping.

View things Australian in a larger map


With more complex systems you can take a traditional concept map and add depth and scope to open it into a full presentation of ideas



But it is important that with each of these tools it is important that the context of learning be acknowledged. each tool is useless if not used effectivly in conjuction with the content being taught and the pedagogy used.

So ask the questions

• Is this a tool I use to convey information or for the students to use in conveing their understanding, analytical and or creating skills?
• Does the contect fit this context?

It is still important that the whole experience be created and not just the tool investigated.

Literacy Resource Assignment

I just had a thought

I've already handed this in but I was wondering what other people think of my resource for literacy and numeracy.

Overwhelming Creative Potential

I'm freaking our with how much potential these multi-modal tools have. It's the same reaction I have when any open ended task is handed to me. I have no grasp on the overall picture and panic!!!

BUT for now I'm not going to worry about the overall picture and just play around and be messy for a bit.

Ok so have a look at some stuff I've been up to



http://realtimeboard.com/app/2243091/Physical-theatre

So this is a site like Prezi but a bit different. It uses many of the same tools but goes a little further. It's more like an online interactive whiteboard. Meaning that anyone can add change and contribute. It also has a cool link with Google drive/docs so you can view and edit documents on the site.

Wiki's are definitely more flexible with the things you can embed but you can link wikis to this page as well.

For students it gives them an exciting and versitile interactive place on the web to freely create and in the end all the areas created on the Board can be linked in a slideshow.

My only problem with this and other online programs is that they are less flexible and require an internet connection in order to use it. This can be a major problem with some students not having regular access to high end internet and computer hardware at home in order to run these programs.

Music Teaching With Sound and Image

The Visual Side

Although not exclusively. While in music the aural experience is the most prominent it is use for learning to have visual cues.

one way that this is used is in games like Guitar hero where the visual cue tells you when to play certain keys at a certain time and pattern. (which can produce some amazing results)

using this same technique in teaching to read music it could be helpful for the learner to have a visual cues connected to the sound and notes that play where a video can show a visual cue to play along with the music.

The Sound of it

It is almost a necessity in music to use sound because that is musics realm, so I thought I might become complacent in how to use the sound tools to teach music.

I started with a simple wiki, creating a resource page on definitions of musical elements. I can create the structure and students can contribute their ideas and examples from the internet that they can embed in the wiki and expand on the question "what is music?".

Having the resource of the internet is amazing with the amount of content in the form of music that can be used in examples for teaching. It's also useful for the students because they can draw on their interests and find streams samples and podcast of the music that they are interested in and use those to contribute to their learning, which would not only be limited to genre but could be useful in techniques in playing, theory on style and how the history of music contributes to their interests.

What I am interested in though is how students create their own works and how they can be created collaboratively outside the classroom. Sites like Google Drive and Dropbox have the ability to let people share files with each other instantly. Students could use these file sharing sites to swap recordings that they  have made in order to create Group compositions, and the ability of the teacher to monitor the sharing increases their ability to check who is contributing the ideas and help shape the process.

they can then use any music composition or audio editing program like Sibelius to create their pieces.

How to be a great teacher...

So this is a wiki set up by Angela Jensen.

It's a great idea. It's a place where you can talk about those things that inspire us to be great teachers. It's got a page on who are your favorite teachers and one on tools and ideas that are useful.

Have a look 

How to be a great teacher. . .

Look through the site and add some of your own experiences and ideas to these pages


Great Teachers I've Know
Great Teaching Ideas

from some of the comments below I have to reiterate this is not my creation, I am not taking credit for it.