Week Four: Education soundness in the digital age

Week 4 -Lecture: Education soundness in the digital age


The ‘Educational Soundness in the Digital Age’ lecture provided the class with valuable information regarding the evolution of technology and it’s constantly increasing presence, reliance and use in schools and society. The digital revolution has provided various learning opportunities for our current and future students. It enhances learning through allowing information to be accessed at the click of a button in a matter of seconds and also prepares students with various skills and knowledge challenges. Technological advances also allow students to question, investigate, analyse, synthesise, solve problems, make decisions and reflect on their individual learning (Powell, 2010).

The four learning principals of ‘Education Soundness in the Digital Age’ are:

• Learner focus- ensures the needs of all students within the classroom are addressed



• Content Integrity- is purposeful and authentic and is significant on the students learning providing deeper understandings of various concepts and skills



• Usability- the interaction that occurs between the students and the content providing an in depth meaning through the students learning.



• Accessibility- learning complies with standards for students with disabilities both in the rural and remote areas within Australia.

Through the four learning principals students enhance and further develop their individual knowledge, develop their skills and maximise their learning to enhance their academic performances (Powell, 2010).

Integrating ICT within the classroom provides optimal learning opportunities for all students, however, there are teachers who do not employ ICT on a daily basis and continually switch them off and have plastic coverings over them. Students can learn a number of various skills and develop their knowledge with ICT. Some of the benefits that ICT can provide to students and a classroom include(Tinio, 2000 – 2002:

• Creative and inventive thinking



• Higher order thinking is enhanced



• Fine motor skill development



• Fosters students problem solving and metacognition



• Students explore various technology programs and how they work



• Provides hands on learning for students



• Caters for a diverse range of student abilities

During our week four workshop, our lecturer Greg initially introduced the class to Aboriginal ‘Dream Time’ stories through providing a web link; www.abc.net.au/dustechoes. Greg assisted us navigating through the various links within dustechoes which were quite informative as they provide students and teachers with a range of diverse Aboriginal music, various images relating to Aboriginal culture, access to online Dream Time stores and also a study guide which can be downloaded by students which details a chosen Dreamtime story and which explains it in more depth. The study guides allow students the opportunity to clarify any unanswered questions they may have about their chosen Dream Time story and explains them in more depth, which can be accessed with ease at the student’s desire.

Through watching and listening to the stories students can take part in many follow up activities such as writing a story on what they have seen, participating in a sequencing task such as organising pictures in order form beginning to end or they can create a mind map using images to retell a story through a few key images. With dreamtime stories teachers need to be mindful as some stories go into great depth about deaths and some students may find the images and storyline confronting, scary and distressing. It is imperative that teachers ensure that each student’s chosen story is appropriate, informative and that it will not distress or upset a student.

As a class we watched the Dream Time story ‘Spear’ prior to discussing what we believed the meaning of the story was. As a class we collaborated ideas and concluded that a family mean was jealous of someone else’s spear, he attempts to steal it but is unsuccessful and is punished for his actions. After reviewing the Dream Time story, we then individually selected our own story to listen to and took part in a follow up task.

I chose the dreamtime story ‘Mermaid’ and initially studied it through analysing the key issues of the story. As I re-watched Mermaid for the second time, I took print screen shots of the main issues in the story prior to constructing a mind map in Inspiration that outlines the key ideas which re-tell the story. Below is my inspiration mind map of the Dream Time story Mermaid:

The second activity which we participated in was an M&M’s task. As pre-service teachers mostly all if not all of us have seen this utilised in classrooms, particularly when students undertake chance, data or other mathematical lessons. The class was encouraged to bring a packet of M&M’s to class and to divide them by colour in order to count how many of each colour there was. We used Microsoft Excel to collate our data and then we were encouraged to construct a bar, column, 3D or any other graph of our choice that would represent how many M&M’s we had within our packets. Below is my graph that represents the coloured M&M's within my chosen packet:

An activity using M&M’s allows for considerable group or whole class discussions, particularly centred about why certain colours are introduced, when they were introduced and why the company develops a range of colours rather than having a packet of chocolate with just one standard colour. It should also be discussed why certain colours within a pack are more dominant over others and student’s should be asked what their favourite colours are and for what reason. All of these issues can be discussed in class however; the students can research further information about M&M’s through accessing the following web links www.m-ms.com/us/about/mmshistory and www.m-ms.com.au/about/products/milkchocolates.html.

As teachers we need to be mindful about student allergies including anaphylaxis and as a result the aforementioned task can be modified to include vegetables, coloured confetti, coloured marbles, fruit or coloured elastics to cater to the diverse range of student needs in the classroom.

As teacher's we can also develop a worksheet that the students can collect their data on for the M&M's activity or for when the students are using other materials, as students may have allergies and the activity may need to be modified for the class. Below is an exampe of a worksheet that students can use to collect their data. This worksheet below was used within the M&M's activity:

The two activities explored within our workshop would provide students with hands on classroom learning, which may promote the engagement of and stimulate learning activities to scaffold individual student’s academic capabilities. Most importantly the activities explored can teach students valuable researching and mathematical lessons which can be applied to help them succeed and progress in their academic career and in their personal life.

References:

Lewis, T. (2007). Ancient Stories, New Voices, Retrieved 23rd August 2010 from, www.abc.net.au/dustechoes

MARS Nutrition. (2010). M&M's History, Retrieved 23rd August 2010 from, www.m-ms.com/us/about/mmshistory

Microsoft Office. (2007). Microsoft Excel 2007, Australia

Powell, G. (2010). Educational Soundness Learning Federation: Thinking Curriculum Tools and I.C.T- Week Four lecture notes, La Trobe Univeristy, Melbourne, Australia

Tinio. L, V. (2000 - 2002). ICT in Education: ICT for Development, United Nations Development Programme, Bureau for Development Policy, New York, pg 1- 34

Week Three: Protection of students schools, acceptable use policies (AUPs) Ethical Issues

Week Three Blog: Protection of Students Schools: Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs)Ethical Issues:


This week’s lecture taught us how to protect our current and future student’s online. As teachers we need to inform student’s to be aware of the many dangers that the internet can pose on our students. Students need to be made aware of how to behave responsibly online and how to behave safely online as this will protect our students from cyber bullying, paedophiles, strangers, physical threats and a myriad of other dangers that exist in cyber space.
Student’s need to be taught to protect their privacy such as keeping personal information to themselves, including never giving out security passwords, contact numbers and not providing information to anyone about yourself or immediate family. Explaining to students not to talk to strangers, as people may not be who they say they are and students should not meet in person with anyone from the internet, as they can pose a threat to our students and their familes (Nemours, 1995 - 2010).

When students use the internet within school grounds, teachers need to be aware of what websites students view and access by appropriately planning for example, making a list of the websites you want your students to use although, as a teacher you can’t stop your students from doing their own individual Google search so by providing support and constant observation this will help minimize inappropriate websites. However, if they do pop up or are accidentally clicked on students will require guidance and plenty of one on one interaction, as they may feel embarrassed or scared of what they have seen and done. During this time the student/s will need to be reassured by the teacher that everything will be all right. Students need to be taught that when an incident such as an inappropriate website opens up, they will need to immediately locate a teacher to handle the situation professionally and appropriately. For example, speaking to the school principal to make sure that inappropriate websites are blocked within school grounds therefore, not having a re-occurrence of the same issue down the track. The student’s parents will also need to be notified about the incident although need to be reassured that their child handled the matter appropriately and will receive a class award for their bravery and the way they handled the situation. Use of internet filters may also assist in minimising the access of restricted or inappropriate material (Powell, 2010).

At home parents need to also discuss and educate their child/ren about online protection and safety precautions. Each and every household should enforce computer and internet rules that both the parents and child/ren obey. Some rules that parents can set up within their homes are as follows (Hughes. R, D, 2001):

• Do not allow your child/ren to use chat rooms, as these are seen as a playground for sexual predators


• The computer needs to be placed in an open area where parents can frequently observe what their child/ren are doing on the internet


• Know your kids online friends and consistantly speak to our child/ren about their online friends


• Use internet filters to minimize exposure to inappropriate material


• Parents should also spend time along side their child/ren when they use the internet to observe what they take part in


• Monitor the amount of time your child/ren spend on the computer and internet and what time of day they use the computer


• Discuss with your child/ren to never meet face to face with someone who they may have met online and


• Do not permit your child to have an online chat or social space to meet people, as they may give out personal information putting themselves and their family in danger
  

Within our workshop we covered what design briefs are and what process is involved within a design brief. Below is an example of the steps:

• Investigate



• Design



• Produce



• Analyses/evaluate

Design briefs allow our students to develop their thinking processes and skills, which will allow them to become creative and unique individuals. A design brief is a process for skill development, getting students to collaborate with each other, allow you to share collated information with the whole school not just your class and most important assists in developing higher order thinking within all our students.

Our first task was to create a frog that jumped using only a piece of cardboard, a picture of a frog, a rubber band and a piece of sticky tape. This encouraged all groups to create their own frog toy that had its own unique jump. As each group demonstrated their frog jump, no groups jump was the same as other groups within the workshop. This made the task unique, creative and very engaging. Below is a picture of the design brief template used within our group task:

Our second task we took part in was creating our own unique online games that anyone world wide can view and play. The web link used to create your own online games is

www.quia.com/web

At first Greg took us through on how to set up an account with a free thirty day trial. We all firstly created a quiz on any chosen topic; mine was related to our Solar System (www.quia.com/quiz/2511806.html ). After all students had completed we walked around taking part in our peer’s online quizzes. This was another creative yet enjoyable task to undertake part in. For the last forty minutes we played on the quia website creating as many online games activities such as word searches, hangman, jumbled words and quizzes for ourselves and people world wide to view and use.

Below is a list of my online games created:

http://www.quia.com/hm/667929.html (Direct link to my online web games)

http://www.quia.com/jg/1991079.html

http://www.quia.com/jw/386837.html

http://www.quia.com/profiles/ckarouzakis

http://www.quia.com/profiles/ckarouzakis

http://www.quia.com/quiz/2513176.html

References:

Hughes. R, D. (2001). Rules 'N' Tools, Retrieved 5th August 2010 from, http://www.protectkids.com/parentsafety/rulesntools.htm

Nemours. (1995 - 2010). Internet Safety, Retrieved 5th August 2010 from, http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html

Powell, G. (2010). The Protection of Students Online- week Three lecture notes, La Trobe Univeristy, Melbourne, Australia

Quia. (1998 - 2010). Online Games, Retrieved 12th August 2010 from, http://www.quia.com/web

Week Two: E-Portfolio

Week Two Blog: E-Portfolios


During this lecture we were introduced to e-portfolios, which according to Roblyer (2003) and Barrett (2000) state that "a purposeful aggregation of digital items- ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback, data etc- which 'present' a selected audience with information about the subject of that e-portfolio" (Roblyer, 2003 Barrett, 2000, cited in Powell, 2010). We were informed by Greg that an e-portfolio is an important tool for meeting the needs of established and emerging pedagogy and approaches to learning.
Each individual’s e-portfolio allows them to present information in an electronic form, encouraging us to use and expand our knowledge on ICT, which allows for new learning opportunities. E-portfolios allow us as teachers to turn information into knowledge, assessment into an integral part of learning and turn failure into areas of successful learning. E-portfolios are modern and can easily be updated through just the click of a button. E-portfolios hold examples of students work, maintain rich content, allow both students and teachers to reflect and self-assess and most importantly allow teachers to make further improvements that will benefit our current and future students learning (Powell, 2010).

In the latter part of our workshop Greg went through some of the important aspects for when applying for teaching vacancies. Firstly, our curriculum vitae must be updated regularly and presented in a professional manner; including being printed on glossy paper and providing up to date contact details such as mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses which will allow a potential employer or individual to contact a candidate at a present or future date. We were informed that once your curriculum vitae is shortlisted you will be called back for an interview with that particular school. To be adequately prepared for an interview it was recommended that we research the school over the internet or from another source and familiarise ourselves with the schools philosophy and various programs they offer staff and students and to understand the schools expectations. Such background information may ensure that during an interview that as a candidate we do not talk about ourselves for the majority of the interview and rather to also discuss aspects of the school to indicate to the interviewer that you have done extensive research and preparation and that you are a hardworking and dedicated individual who is keen to be apart of their school community program.

On the actual interview day a candidate must demonstrate that they are punctual and reliable as this will show the school that you are keen to become a member of their school community and will also make a good impression towards the interview panel. If the school provides you with a set of criteria questions, in the short amount of time you have before the interview starts, you are encouraged to take down notes as it will slightly ease your nerves within the interview and you will also be encouraged to refer to the question sheet for guidance and support. If you hold a first aid or anaphylaxis certificates or have coached a netball team, proof of these achievements will display to the panel that you are responsible and always enjoy becoming involved in community events and can interact socially.

We were introduced to Microsoft Publisher which is one of the programs that we can utilise whilst developing our e-portfolio. Greg initially allowed us to play around with the various functions as we created our own brochure/pamphlet about our 'favourite all time destination'.

Below is my brochure about Greece and Australia:









Towards the end of our session we begun our own individual e-portfolios and created our links on what each individual student wants to include within their electronic portfolio. Within my e-portfolio it will include, my philosophy on education, my curriculum vitae, life achievements, practicum photos, practicum reports and most importantly referees that will provide future schools with beneficial information on my skills and attributes that I can bring into the school that I may potentially be working for.

References:

Roblyer, 2003 Barrett, 2000, cited in Powell. (2010). ePORTFOLIOS for Teachers and Students use in the Primary Classroom, Week Two lecture notes, La Trobe University,Melbourne, Australia

Powell, G. (2010). ePORTFOLIOS for Teachers and Students use in the Primary Classroom, Week Two lecture notes, La Trobe University,Melbourne, Australia