E-Learning is a pedagogy that will transform and enhance
learning in the classroom. It is when the use of technology or online tools are
scaffolded into lessons that facilitate engaging teaching methods, which links
student’s interests with the curriculum content. 21st century
children are referred to as ‘digital natives’ therefore it is essential for
teachers to incorporate technologies through out units of work; to create
quality learning experiences.
The Australian Curriculum recognises the use of ICT’s. It
has an expectation that students will inquire, create, communicate with ICT as
well as gain knowledge of ethics, issues to do with them and how to operate
different ICTs. When linking technology
with learning the use of the TPACK framework contains three different elements
that all link together in a learning journey. These elements are technological
knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge. The below picture is how all three elements
link in different ways.
Retrieved from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=146080
Teachers use the TPACK framework in conjunction with Bloom’s
Taxonomy to create learning experiences that engage students and assists greater
learning. This encourages students to make decisions and think more complex
about their own learning and the process involved instead of just remembering
facts and figures.
When using online tools it is important that the teachers
and students are aware of legal, safe and ethical practices. The teacher
educates their students about the Internet, what is appropriate use of the
technologies, and to monitor how their students are using the online
resources/tools. This website explains how teachers can educate their students
about their ‘Digital
Foot Print’. Teachers will need to
discuss with their students the following risks about the Internet and what is
expected of them:
•
Children safety (including exposure to pornographic, sexually
explicit, offensive, hateful, violent material or material that encourages
activities that are dangerous or illegal.
•
Stranger Danger
•
Cyber Bullying
•
Privacy
•
What/how images or information can legally be
used
The tools that I have chosen to explore further are Weebly,
Video, PowerPoint & Go!Animate. Below explains how I would specifically use
the tool in an Early Childhood setting in an engaging, legal, safe and ethical
practice that also transforms learning experiences.
Firstly, here is the link
to my blog about the use of Weebly. The
link lists what the technology can do, what learning outcomes or materials/activities,
and the drawbacks. There is also my idea
on how I would use Weebly in an Early Childhood setting. The Weebly is an example of how
I would this tool as a scaffolding tool for units of work that can be accessed
at school and home. This website would be set up so the children can navigate the
website themselves and have basic instructions for lessons (students can feel
in charge of their own learning), as well as a page to acknowledge different
students work (students can share with their family). When setting up the
Weebly I would need to have parental permission to put up students work or
pictures, change privacy setting where applicable, reference images or
information used.
The next technology I chose to evaluate is Video. Here is a
link to my
blog post; it lists what this technology can do, how I would use Video and
drawbacks/strengths. I would use Video to record the student’s baking/cooking
and as a class (with different levels of scaffolding & terminology depending on year level)
write out the recipe (Name, Ingredients & Procedure). As a
class I would give instruction and discuss with the group about Bullying and
supportive behaviour/comments. The recipe and video can be presented to the
families connecting school and home.
Here is the link to my
blog post about the use of PowerPoints. To see the ideas of how I would use
PowerPoint and the pros and cons; you will need to follow the link from my blog
into the Prezi. I would have the students create a recount in PowerPoint of an
excursion; they can add pictures, hyperlinks to Internet sites of different
activities they did or different places they went. We would collaboratively
complete one together as a class talking about structure and appropriate words
as well as different ways we could share this PowerPoint with others. During this discussion we would talk about
where we find pictures, what pictures are safe to use on our PowerPoint if it
is going to be shared online, what information we think is safe for other
strangers to know, also what websites would have accurate factual information.
Go!Animate is the final tool; my blog
post evaluates the pro’s and con’s of this online tool and suggests different
uses. I would have my students use Go!Animate to create an ‘About Me’ for an
animal that they had been researching. This can be a final assessment piece or
a tool to assess their prior knowledge of the animal. The teacher will need to talk to students
about internet safety, where to find factual information, and about giving
their peers positive feedback, no negative comments or jokes about one another.
By exploring multiple new technologies over the last 5
weeks, I have been able to discover new ways to implement lessons, assessment
options as well as engaging tools. This
has led me to develop ideas for future lessons; the only limit in the classroom
use of ICTs is my imagination on how to incorporate them in a meaningful way. I
have learnt that technology should only be used when it will enhance, transform
or provide extra support to the learning experience. There are multiple ICTs
available to teachers. It is a part of the teacher’s continuous commitment to learning
to keep exploring new technologies and online tools that can be used in their
classroom. In the future, I am going to
continue to explore different online tools and technologies to ensure that I am
providing my students with the best resources possible. This quote by Sir Ken
Robinson has stuck with me throughout the past weeks as I think it really sums
up what I hope to achieve as a teacher.
“And our task is to educate
their whole being, so they can face this future -- by the way, we may not see
this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.”
(Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY )
