MY FINAL CULMINATING STATEMENT

The semester has finally come to an end and everyone will be getting their well deserved break. Reflecting back on my first post on this new and strange blog, there have been many technologies, skills and issues that have challenged, changed and shaped the way I view technology. Experiences in my education and at home left me with a negative attitude towards technology. I found it very hard during high school where friends would be typing 50 words a minute while I struggled to type 15 words using 2 to 3 fingers. Friends would have personal laptops and smart phones while my financial circumstances couldn't afford it. So the digital divide is very real to me, it may cause students to see technology as overwhelming, scary or difficult to grasp. Today I still find some technologies challenging but through professional experience 3 I have discovered a network of resources such as youtube videos, articles and blogs to help me become more digitally confident.


Throughout this semester in professional experience 3, my knowledge of integrating learning technologies into the classroom has greatly developed. The first lesson taught me that technology was not just about computers and laptops or another substitute for books and worksheets. It is a tool that enhances and facilitates learning by providing an engaging environment for students. My practical experience has also exemplified this where I integrated the IWB into the classroom. I found that students were engaged with the learning content and were able to construct higher levels of cognition. Not only were the students able to process information, they could categorise it and translate it into their own work. 


Readings throughout the semester further shaped my views and skills as a future teacher. I found that learning technologies were fun and engaging. For example, in the reading by Koehler (2011), the TPACK  model presented technology as an interconnected part of teaching pedagogy and content. When used correctly, technology can become a rich learning and teaching tool by aiding research, presenting information in an engaging way and acting as a means of communication. Furthermore, I initially approached the tutorial on IWBs very sceptically because I had never had any prior experience with it and there were a few times when the IWB failed to do the job even though my tutor is an expert. To think that I had to do an assignment on making a notebook file totally threw me into panic. I quickly learned however that having an open mind, time and a little research would change all that. Beauchamp, Higgins and Miller (2007) argue that the IWB is an important and powerful tool that facilitates meaningful learning. Thus I believe that all teachers should try to deliver lessons that integrate this technology as it is fast playing a key role in many classrooms.  In my posts on prac, I decided to test out my new found skills with my practicum class. I believe the lessons to be a success and so did my prac teacher, however she was still close minded to the idea and did not change her mind to using it.

More important issues were raised during the tutorial on the Digital Divide and Gender Equity. These issues were of great significance to me both because of my own personal experiences and those I have seen on prac. The digital divide highlighted that there may be many differences within school, between schools, states and countries. Factors such as socio-economics, gender, funding, policies, internet access, technology access, learning and practical development impacted on the way equity. This may result in many students, schools or countries being disadvantaged. Implications for my teaching involve; making sure students have enough access to computers and internet at schools, providing materials that both sexes can relate and engage with and integrating and implementing technologies and skills required into my lessons.

Overall, Professional experience 3 has impacted on my role as a teacher and learner significantly. I am now more open minded to new educational technologies as it will always be an important part of this ever changing world and because I see it as an educational tool that can afford students opportunities to connect with the world, engage with content and develop life long skills.


Posts reacting to readings / commentary (Blue) – 6

Posts reacting to students’ posts, staff posts and responding to comments (Green) – 5

Posts reflecting on other stimulating experiences (Orange) – 5



Reference List



A school’s duty of care for students to whom it gives access to cyberspace: Data in (Content Regulation) and Data Out (Privacy).
Retrieved from: www.netsafe.org.nz/Doc…/netsafepapers_grahambassett_duty.pdf.

Davis, A., &McGrail, E. (2011). The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25 (4), 415-437.

Higgins, S., Beauchamp, G. & Miller, D. (2007). Reviewing the literature on interactive whiteboards. Learning, Media and Technology, 32(3), 213-225.

Koehler, M. (2011). TPACK. Technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. Retrieved from http://www.tpck.org/tpck/index.php?title=Main_Page

Reid, D. & Ostashewski, N. (2011). iPads in the Classroom – New technologies, old issues: Are they worth the effort?. in T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2011 (pp. 1689-1694). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/38089

Roblyer, M (2006). Teaching with instructional software. In M. Roblyer (Ed). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (4th ed.). Merrill. Prentice Hall. Columbus, Ohio. Chapter 3.

Green: comments reacting to staff and students

Here is a list of posts reacting to staff, responding to comments and commenting on other students' blogs:


1. http://yennguyenprimedu.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/equity-issues-in-education.html
2. http://yennguyenprimedu.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/gunning-fog-index.html
3. http://yennguyenprimedu.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/professional-experience-prac-3.html
4. http://yennguyenprimedu.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/iwb-art-lesson.html
5. http://simondiehm.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/yen-nguyen-gender-equity/

New Technologies - Old Issues

The week 10 reading was: New Technologies, Old Issues: Arethey worth the effort? by Reid and Ostashewski , 2011. It looked at a project where iPads were introduced in two different upper elementary schools in Canada.

The project specifically looked at digital story telling using ipads and describes the experiences of the two schools.  Reid and Ostashewski suggest that “upper elementary school students were beginning to be at risk for withdrawing or disengaging from the educational journey”. One school was located in an urban setting while the other was an aboriginal school, both however had the same level of access.  

The project found that the ipads were faster and easier to use compared to laptops. Students became engaged in digital story telling and school staff were given support by the research team. Overall the implementation of ipads proved to be a beneficial learning tool in an educational setting.

Advantages:

• the use of low cost or free apps
• user is able to develop fine motor skills by swiping, pinching and interacting with touch technology
• ipads do not have to load or be logged on like a laptop or computer
• the devices can be carried around without being plugged in
• small, handheld and convenient

Disadvantages:

• the study found that teachers had to dedicate more time when monitoring the device, apps and recharging
• computers can be connected and maintained as a unit
• ipads can be expensive

Reid, D. & Ostashewski, N. (2011). iPads in the Classroom – New technologies, old issues: Are they worth the effort?. in T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2011 (pp. 1689-1694). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/38089 

Week 8 tutorial: Duty of care and cyberspace

This week's reading was A school’s duty of care for students to whom it gives access to
cyberspace: Data in (Content Regulation) and Data Out (Privacy) by Graham Bassett. The discussion focused on ethical issues and the duty of care of teachers when it comes to using technology in the classroom.  Issues such as internet safety, duty of care and control were raised. 


The reading talked about a student who became a victim of cyber-bullying. Damaging content was posted on an outside server and could not be controlled in real time. The school removed the link on their own website, however the information posted on the outside server could not be removed straight away, leaving the student exposed to anyone in cyberspace. Thus it is important that schools, teachers and students are aware and cautious when it comes to interacting with cyberspace. 


Cyberspace connects people from all over the world through computers and telecommunication. Cyberspace is a web of visual, audio,written and programmed communication between almost anyone regardless of location and time. It can afford students great opportunities to interact with each other, other schools and educational correspondents with having the added benefit of being accessible any time and anywhere. Student work, homework and feedback can be placed on a class blog or wiki and students have the convenience of accessing these resources from home or in the class room.

In order to allow students to become safe users of cyberspace, it is imperative that teachers and schools are liable when it comes to blocking in appropriate websites, educating students on cyberspace behaviour and pre cautions and controlling and monitoring the content posted. Benefits of control include teachers being able to guide students to the intended resources and content, monitoring for potential cyber bullying and to control who can access and view classroom blogs or wikis. Class blogs and wikis can be programmed in a way that comments and posts must be approved before being published. This allows teachers to prevent any damaging content being released.

On the other hand, there are strong arguments for intellectual freedom. Without the control and surveillance of teachers, students can have freedom of thought, can explore and find information from sources other than the one the teacher has given. This promotes a sense of ownership.

A school’s duty of care for students to whom it gives access to cyberspace: Data in (Content Regulation) and Data Out (Privacy).
Retrieved from: www.netsafe.org.nz/Doc…/netsafepapers_grahambassett_duty.pdf.

IWB art lesson

From the previous post, you have read that I would do an art lesson using the IWB today. It was my first time using an IWB but thankfully the students helped me out a lot. I decided to use the smart board because   I would be able to visually present the work of an artist, ask students to come up and create drawings, cater for visual and aural learners and also the IWB session made a great use of time while the under painting dried. 


Firstly, students were asked to under paint their art paper blue or green as the theme for today's art lesson was the ocean. While the papers were left to dry, I asked the students to sit with a clipboard, A4 paper and a pencil ready for the IWB lesson. We started with learning about an artist and students were able to click on his website and explore his gallery of art works. While looking at the pieces, students were asked to note patterns, motifs and fish shapes. The IWB enabled me to show the students step by step drawings of a fish, I added my own motifs and students were asked to come up and fill the fish with motifs or symbols that represented the ocean. It was great to see all hands were up and willing to participate. The last slide of the Smart notebook had an interactive game where students had to match information of the artist and terms and definitions. Students helped each other out and read out the information together at the end. Students had to do draft versions of their final art work before proceeding to paint.


It was a successful first attempt at using the Smart board and my cooperating teacher commented on how engaged the students were and how organised the timing was of the painting and IWB lesson. I think that the students benefited from learning about the artist's intentions, motivation and techniques as well as viewing other student's work before attempting to create their own motif fish painting. If this was my first attempt at a smart board lesson and not being very tech savvy myself, more teachers should give it a try. There are endless templates and even pre made notebook tutorials and files online to choose from. The possibilities are endless and I am looking forward to incorporating the IWB into my future lessons.

Professional Experience Prac 3

During this semester, my prac is taking place in a Greater Western Sydney school. I chose it even though it would take me almost 2 hours to get there and 2 hours back because I wanted to see if there was a difference or 'divide' between schools. Monday was an observation day where I arrived at a staff meeting and discovered there were so many student teachers from different universities there. This school told me that they truly believed in giving back to the new generation and providing a supportive place for student teacher placements was a great way to do so. I think so anyway.

As I made my way to my year 3 classroom, there was a big difference to my previous placement. This room had no Interactive white board, not even a white board. Just one of those old black boards that I had when I was a primary school student myself. I asked the teacher if there was a Smart board and she replied that there was a communal one in the workspace just outside the stage 2 classrooms. It had to be booked if teachers wanted to use it but my cooperating teacher said  barely anyone uses it. This wasn't much of a surprise since we had been made aware of this in professional experience class. I hadn't previously taught on an IWB before so I decided to use it for art on Thursday. 

When I asked my teacher why she didn't use it she replied that she doesn't understand it and doesn't want to touch it. She'd taught using traditional methods for years and she hasn't needed to use the IWB. However she does tell me that her son is in his first year of permanent teaching and uses it for everything. I asked her why doesn't she learn from him how to use it. She replied saying that she thinks the IWB should be for the younger teachers. Unfortunately, this is the view that I'm sure many teachers hold about new technology as it can be daunting and may seem unnecessary. It is therefore a reminder that we as upcoming teachers should keep an open mind to new technologies as it is moving more rapidly than in the past. 

Person to person communication technologies

This week's discussion was about person to person communication. The class brainstormed examples of communications and categorised them into Asynchronous and Synchronous. 

Definitions:

Asynchronous: Not occuring in real time

Synchronous: Occuring in real time or at the same time 

We also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both categories.

Gender Equity

A variety of state, national and international data indicate that, on average: boys dominate early literacy re-mediation classes. Boys from year 3 on wards achieve lower scores than girls do in relation to national literacy benchmarks for reading and writing. There is a need to address these issues when they are younger. By the time students reach high school, boys tend to reading and write less than girls.


According to the Program of international student assessment (PISA), boys lag behind in reading ability. 


Focus of assessment: Mathematics, reading, scientific and problem solving.
- 41 participant countries
- 15 year old main target
- 276,000 students
- knowledge and skills


This raises issues for teachers to consider in order to help bridge the gap between genders. Glynis asked our class to discuss the following question in order for us to develop strategies that are inclusive of all students and encourage boys to enjoy reading.


Q: How can information and communication technologies applications impact positively on your student's writing and reading generally and for boys in particular? 


- develop strategies of comparing texts to one another
- students could realise that information and opinions depend on the author
- learn to enjoy reading and writing
- blogs, wikis, discussion boards
- participation in virtual worlds (gives a construct and purpose to write)
- creating websites
- digital resources with literacy as a focus
-digital story telling
- there is formal and informal reading, we need to use different constructs to promote equality. look at the diversity of the reading matter
- include subject matter that boys enjoy reading, such as game manuals and magazines. These texts are surprisingly technical and require a large amount of cross referencing and data storage. Boys just don't realise they are reading because these texts explain game rules, codes and cheats.

The Gunning Fog Index

The Gunning Fog Index is is such a useful tool which calculates the readability of texts. You simply copy and paste a section of any text from a website, book, magazine or newspaper into the box and it will calculate the readability of that text. I find that this is such a beneficial way to ensure the text that you will be using in class are age appropriate for your students. It determines how difficult a text is. It is estimated that a result of 8 is needed to be understood universally and a result of 12 can be understood be a wide audience and is about the difficulty level of high school texts. 


I decided to paste my previous blog-post into the box. The results showed 11 punctuation marks, 265 words and 35 words with 3 or more syllables. The gunning fog index has calculated my blog post to be 14.61, which indicates a level appropriate for university. I would recommend teachers to use this as it easily allows you to distinguish what is suitable for your class without guessing. levels one to six are appropriate for primary school aged students.

Equity issues in education

Today's professional experience class was delivered by Glynis Jones. We spent time talking about various equity issues in education. Not only were there issues within one classroom, but between classrooms, between schools and between different countries. There are a multitude of issues that include, the digital divide, socio-economic status, skill set of teachers,  access to government funding, generations X, Y, Z, attitude towards technology, international divide and gender equity. 


Glynis shared with us, stories of her experience in other countries. An interesting experience was that some classrooms, be it in a primary, secondary or tertiary setting, may have access to new technology such as laptops, lighting, smart boards and overheads, but the infrastructure does not support the functioning of these equipment. That is, these places may have the resources but lack the connection such as a constant and stable supply of electricity or internet connectivity.
The digital divide is an issue that affects primary classrooms today. I have realised that the teacher must plan for students that do not have access to the internet or the computer at home. Even children who have both of these resources at home may not be given permission or priority when accessing the computer. Thus, teachers should provide students with sufficient time to complete assignments, allow them to use a variety of resources such as books, magazines and newspapers or provide students with alternative times to access the school computers such as during lunch or library time. 


Our class discussed the gap in equity between classes and we all have had experiences of these. I remember in year 12, I was very fortunate to have  amazing teachers that were supportive, hard working and provided constant feedback to improve our work towards the HSC. However, I knew this wasn't the case for every student, some of my year group felt they were missing out or were disadvantaged by the way their class or teacher functioned. Students can feel disadvantaged when there wasn't equity between classes. It is also important to consider the workload of the teacher, whether he or she has time to give feedback. This is where email policies apply and teacher should aim to collaborate or agree on certain methods of ensuring classrooms are as fair as possible without hindering the personal decisions and teaching styles of individuals.

Blogging in the primary classroom

Our reading was called ‘The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing’. We found that the article was about an investigation conducted over a period of one year on a year 5 class focusing on the effects of classroom blogging on writing skills. Prior to that, there had been little research on primary school blogging with the majority of case studies based on secondary and tertiary students. The study aimed to introduce students to using technology as a means of improving their writing skills. The subjects of the study were 5^th graders in an American classroom with some limitations to the research. These were the lack of diversity in ethnicity and numbers of students within the classroom.

Initially in the early stages of blogging, the students displayed a number of difficulties in their writing. These included disjointed sentences, lack of complex language and sentence structure, lack of expression like figurative language, self centred ways of writing and thinking and the inability to hold multiple readers’ perspectives when writing.

The study found that as the school year progressed, the students became more confident in their writing ability, as well as improving their writing skills they also improved their communication and social skills through commenting and feedback provided by both the teacher and peers in the blogging world. They also developed empathy and the ability to hold multiple reader perspectives by reading other blogs and reflecting on comments. This in turn provided students with motivation and encouragement to continue writing and editing their work, resulting in a feeling of empowerment, confidence and writing with a purpose.

Davis, A., &McGrail, E. (2011). The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing.Journal of Research in Childhood Education,25 (4), 415-437.

Interactive whiteboards (IWB)

Reviewing the literature on interactive whiteboards (Beauchamp, Higgins and Miller, 2007) was this week's reading. Not only did it raise an interesting discussion in class but this reading also got me thinking too. I remember last year on prac, the only interaction I had with the Interactive white board was for playing games or marking the roll. the reading raises the issue that some teachers use the IWB for everything such as lessons, videos and interactive games whereas some uses them as a normal white board or don't use it very much at all. Why is this? Why is there such a difference from classroom to classroom? could it be that some teacher's find it difficult to integrate the IWB into lessons, has the technology been difficult to use or has there not been enough training? I guess the answer is subjective and I will find out with more experience using it. Beauchamp et al., argue that the IWB needs ongoing support and training (p. 218)

Students in my class argued that they were unsure whether children had equal time and use of the technology. Most of the attention were usually focused the one child who would get picked to answer a question, write something or click on the correct answer. The question is whether the rest of the children were still engaged while this was happening. How can teachers allow for whole class learning?

In my own experience, teachers' attitude towards the IWB and new technologies varied. Some were unwilling to incorporate new methods of teaching because they argued that the technology often failed, required maintenance or changed the way teaching used to be. Others were more open, used the IWB to engage and motivate students with the content and didn't just use it as a normal whiteboard or a device to show information. I wonder when all teachers will come to view the IWB in a more positive light. It is after all, a very powerful tool that facilitates and supports meaningful learning with the ability to engage and motivate students when used correctly and purposefully. 

For a start, let's all keep an open mind because inevitably technology is and will continue to impact on and challenge our teaching.

Higgins, S., Beauchamp, G. & Miller, D. (2007). Reviewing the literature on interactive whiteboards. Learning, Media and Technology, 32(3), 213-225.

TPACK

Although TPACK may sound like a hip hop artist or rap artist's name, I am in fact talking about an important model of teaching in the 21st century. TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Here is a link to a youtube video we watched in professional experience class Thinking creatively part 1. 

As you can see in the image of TPACK, it is a complex interplay of three important strands of knowledge. Content Knowledge (CK) refers to the content in which teachers need to know before teaching a subject or lesson e.g. research, social studies or math knowledge. CK alone does not mean that you will be able to teach what you know. Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) contains the knowledge or know how to teach, convey and transfer information onto your students.

The third strand is Technological Knowledge (TK), which is increasingly playing a bigger role in the classroom. This strand includes the knowing how to use technologies relevant to the classroom. 

The TPACK model shows that all three elements of knowledge should come together in order to support and give a balanced learning experience. Teachers need to understand the content, understand how to teach the content and use technologies as a means of interacting with information and support your teaching or research.

I believe that this model is significant and relevant in teaching today. It also takes into consideration that each classroom is a unique context, hence the dotted circle around the model.


Koehler, M. (2011). TPACK. Technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. Retrieved from http://www.tpck.org/tpck/index.php?title=Main_Page

Technologies Mindmap

This mind map was made using a creative tool Bubbl.us. It makes concept mapping/ mind mapping fun, easy and visually appealing. I find that mind mapping is a useful way to link and draw out ideas from students whether it is done on a piece of paper, on the board or online. It can give educators insight into student's prior knowledge and any gaps in their learning. By working as a group or in a pair, students have the opportunity to collaborate ideas and expand on their knowledge.

Technology, an educational tool

Well, I guess you could say that coming back to uni from almost 4 months of break doing the odd charity work and working part time can be pretty overwhelming. I mean first day back and we students have already been swamped with looming assessments, groups have been made and not to mention the weight of books that will eventually cause me to have back pain early in life. But enough ranting and on to more productive things...


Professional experience 3 - Integrating learning technologies: one of my assignments is jump on the social media bandwagon and create my own blog, something I've never done before.  The aim is to blog about the experiences and observations you've made in class, reflect on your own learning and to really just embrace the era of technology that we have so rapidly been moving in. I can't help but wonder what new technologies will greet me tomorrow?


In my experiences from Pracs 1 and 2, I am not the only one struggling to keep up with the fast paced world out there. Many teachers argue that going to computer labs is time consuming, seeing as kindergarten do take a good 15 to 20 minutes logging in and then the next 10 minutes are spent on opening a folder. Smart boards have failed to turn on and smart board pens have run out of batteries which is when the ICT man/woman is in big demand to quickly fix the problem.


I realise that technology is no longer 'out there' but right here and right now. Almost every school and/or classroom has internet access, computers, Smart boards, some school even have tablet rooms, not to mention various other technologies such as beebots, projectors, digital cameras and laptops. These are all examples of the current technologies replacing the ones I used to encounter when I was a primary school student. In the 90's, we had over head projectors, VHS players, floppy disks, tapes and box like computers.


Class and this week's reading has taught me that technology should not be overwhelming, it should not be complicated and it should not replace good teaching and pedagogy. Instead it should be used as a tool to enhance teaching and learning, a space for creativity and endless possibilities. I do believe that technology does play an important role in any classroom. Therefore it is important that teachers are up to date with the latest concepts and ideas, are open to new technological experiences and most importantly; they should be prepared. Well planned and prepared lessons should aim to incorporate new learning experiences that could include videos, interactive games and problems or surfing the net for research, keeping in mind that technology does fail sometimes, things do go wrong but you always have to be equipped with charging on with the lesson until things are fixed. It is important that technologies are tools for helping students learn and experience things in new ways.



Roblyer, M (2006). Teaching with instructional software. In M. Roblyer (Ed). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (4th ed.). Merrill. Prentice Hall. Columbus, Ohio. Chapter 3.