My Final Culminating Statement

(image thanks to this flickrer)

My understanding and appreciation towards integrating learning technologies in the classroom has developed and progressed immensely over this semester. As I look back on past blogs and remember the incredible things that were demonstrated and taught, I can honestly say that this subject has considerably changed how I view myself as a pre-service teacher.

I have amazed myself at what I have learnt and produced over this semester, such as making my own podcast, digital stories, and blogs. I will not waste what I have learnt this semester, as I will continue to immerse myself in learning teaching technologies and document it in the form of an e-portfolio. Mason et al (2004) define e-portfolios as ‘self-selected multimedia presentation of student work that offers a rich and textured view of a student's learning and development’. Not only will it be something to be shown to future employers, but it will be a great sense of pride and accomplishment for myself.

During my Prac at Botany Public School, I was fortunate enough to incorporate learning technologies in the classroom, in the form using the interactive whiteboard (see blog post ‘Time to Teach’ and 'Second Week at Botany Public') It was during this experience that I realized how important constructionist learning was (see blog post ‘Children Constructing their own Learning’). Papert and Harel (1991) describe constructionism in its’ simplest form as “the idea of learning-by-making”. I discovered that greater and more enriched learning took place when students actually constructed and built their own learning, rather than me simply trying to ‘instruct’ them through it using the interactive whiteboard.

In the last half of this semester during tutorials, we began looking at ethical issues, such as cyber-safety and cyber-bullying. This is such a serious issue, and we as pre-service teachers need to be aware of the negative implications of integrating technology into our classrooms. (see blogpost ‘Fighting a lost battle?’) Sharples et al (2008) state that schools have a role in educating children how to use the internet safely and responsibly, and I believe that as technology advances, this role is to become much more important. After all, what is the point in teaching using technology, when students are placed at risk?

This subject has both enlightened me, and inspired me to incorporate learning technologies in the classroom, in a constructivist approach. I aim for my classroom, no matter what the technological divide, to have a balance in using traditional and technological teaching methods, but more importantly, to engage students in a myriad of opportunities to create, construct and build their own learning.

References:

Mason, R., Pegler, C.,& Weller, M. (2004). E-portfolios: an assessment tool for online courses [electronic version]. British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol 35 No 6.

Sharples, M., Graber, R., Harrison, C., & Logan, K. (2008). E-Safety and Web 2.0. Retrieved on June 14, 2010 from the UTS Online Website: https://online.uts.edu.au/courses/1/012233/content/_584164_1/web2_esafety.pdf?bsession=39913759&bsession_str=session_id=39913759,user_id_pk1=244235,user_id_sos_id_pk2=1,one_time_token=
Papert, S., & Harel I. (1991). Situating Contructionism. Retrieved April 22, 2010 from the Papert Website: http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html.

fighting a lost battle?

image from this flickrer

Article: E-safety and Web 2.0 - Web 2.0 technologies for learning at Key Stages 3 and 4
Mike Sharples, Rebecca Graber, Colin Harrison and Kit Logan

Wow, just when you think teaching/learning technologies and Web2.0 tools are amazing, the darker side rears its ugly head. Cyber-safety and cyber-bullying are INCREDIBLY important topics, ones that ABSOLUTELY MUST be thoroughly explained to students. This excerpt from the article above highlights the role a teacher must play in keeping children away from danger:

Schools can have a role in educating children to use the new internet safely and responsibly. Teachers can help children to appreciate when they cross the line from normal and acceptable Web 2.0 activity, which may include posting some personal details online, to abnormal and risky behaviour. Currently, most children are prevented from engaging in any social activity on the web at school. While this may remove the immediate danger to children and protect the school or local authority against lawsuits, it may also store up further problems for society at large. Now that most children have home access, safe behaviours are essential, but a strongly protected online environment at school may not provide the opportunity to learn these.

While on prac, and during my work at a before/after school centre, I witness verbal and physical forms of bullying every day. It saddens me to think that once more and more technology is introduced into our schools, cyber-bullying will become much more apparent. I believe that it is absolutely vital to teach our children social skills and how to interact fairly in group work/play situations - THEN and only then, introduce technology into the picture. If our children grow up to be anti-social beings, ones that have no idea how to cooperate fairly in teams, then what is the point of adding another thing that teachers must fight against - tackle the underlying issue first.

But then again, are we really fighting a battle that has already been lost? Many children nowadays have severe anti-social qualities, and alot have computers in their bedrooms. If we do all we can as teachers to educate about online safety and cyber bullying, is that enough? I think parents more so than teachers need to first be educated about the risks of allowing their children to surf the net unsupervised.

Martine, in her blog, provides a checklist of information that parents/and additionally teachers can use when discussing and implementing internet safety:

- keep the computer in a family room, NOT in a bedroom
- understand parenting controls on your internet browser and how to block websites and emails - find softwares that can be used to help protect your child
- dont allow your child to submit personal information on line without your permission
- encourage them to show you and tell you about anything that makes them uncomfortable when surfing the internet
- familiarise yourself and talk to your child about who they contact on-line

For more information, the article linked above provides statistics and easy to read information about these issues. All in all, a very thought provoking issue!

the great divide.

this image, from leah, is slightly irrelevant at the moment.
but i thought her blog was awesome about giving thanks all the time. and also, sometimes i don't want to post a flickr picture of a computer.
so maybe, sometime soon, this image/text can become relevant.

Last Monday we had a great tutorial with Glynis Jones, discussing the 'Gender Divide'.
It was a really informative, theory based tutorial which actually was great and different from the usual hands-on activities that we are used to. I find it good to sometimes not look at a computer screen and just listen to someone speak.

We talked about ICT issues such as:
> the technology divide
> the international divide
> the economical divide
> the gender divide
> the teacher skill set divide
> the access and connectivity divide

In future tutorials we will be discussing topics such as:
> pedagody and inquiry-based learning
> games in education - are they educational?
> the anti-technology movement
> the standards movement (NSW Institute of Teaching)
> special needs and assistive technologies
> plagerism (All My Own Work)
> social networking

Not sure really what to comment on right now, it was a slight case of information overload, so maybe I will make some more insightful comments after next tutorial. I should get reading on some literature!