Assessment task 2—Analysis of digital
technologies
“In
school, rather than being empowered to choose what they want and to see what
interests them, students must eat what they are served. And what they are being
served is, for the most part, stale, bland, and almost entirely stuff from the
past. Yesterday’s education for tomorrow’s kids. (Pensky.. 2005)”
Today’s students are growing up in a digital age, a time
where technology appears to play such an integral role in everyday life. Everything seems to be able to be done technologically,
electronic roller doors can raise or lower themselves at the press of a button,
cars can automatically turn on their lights when the sun has disappeared,
mobile phones can read back messages and follow the commands of your voice to
play any song or call anyone in your contacts list, mobile phones have turned
into pocket-sized computers with the ability to search the web and find the
nearest cafe to your location at the hit of a button, the list seems never
ending. In an age where people are
becoming so submersed in technology it is really no wonder that today’s
students need to be taught in a more digitally enhanced way. With this turn to using more information and
communication technologies (ICT’s) in learning the amazing capabilities of digital
technologies and all they have to offer can be explored. This new way of learning is referred to as
E-Learning.
Sergio Vitulano (2003. p.70.) states,
“In a broad sense, E-learning can be conceived as a complex, integrated
process, where the Internet enables social inclusion and social cohesion –
enabling us to involve and connect people, pedagogy, processes, content and
technology.” This is reinforced by
Garrison and Anderson (2003. p.7.) when they affirm, “E-learning does not
represent more of the same. Electronic
communications technologies, with their multiple media text, visual, voice and
their capacity to extend interaction over time and distance, are transforming teaching
and learning.” E-learning to me, basically translates into a new way of
teaching and engaging students through the use of ICT’s. “The fact is that even if you are the most
engaging old-style teacher in the world, you are not going to capture most of
our students’ attention the old way. (Pensky. 2005)”
The importance of E-learning is
undeniable. “Today’s digital kids think of ICT as something akin to oxygen:
they expect it, it’s what they breathe, and it’s how they live. They use ICT to
meet, play, date, and learn. It’s an integral part of their life. (Brown. NDF)”
If we want students of the current and future ages to learn then we, as
learning managers, need to engage them.
The focus definitely seems to be moving from chalk and blackboard type
teaching to interactive whiteboards. In
order to teach with more ICT’s we need to be just as techno-savvy as the
students are. Throughout the past five
weeks I have been introduced to a multitude of different digital tools, some
that I have been familiar with and others that I had never even heard of. It was through exploring each of these
digital tools that I glimpsed even just the slightest potential ICT’s could
have for students learning. Personally I
took to them straight away. They were so
engaging that I could spend half a day just playing with and manipulating each
tool. It didn’t take long at all to
convince me that the students would love this too.
The digital tools I experimented with
included, but were not limited to:
-
Digital images - Digital video
-
Podcasts -
PowerPoint
-
Prezi -
Weebly/Websites
-
Wiki -
Blog
-
Wix -
Mobile Learning
-
Ipod/Iphone - Glogster
From these I chose four digital tools to
elaborate on and further explore the potential and possibilities of. The four I chose were; Digital Images, Mobile
Learning through the use of an Ipod, Blogs and Prezi. My general consensus was that digital tools
are a brilliant way in which to engage students as they cover the different
learning styles students may be suited too.
The typical classroom contains a
multitude of students with different learning styles. Snowman (2009. p.123) states that, “teachers
need to use various learning and teaching methodologies to engage all styles of
learning at one time or another.” With the majority of today’s students being
kinaesthetic and visual learners (Snowman. 2009) technology proves itself to be
a key tool for learning. Kinaesthetic
learners learn by manipulating and by doing, for this reason technology is an
asset in the classroom as the majority of programs you can use are designed to
be interactive. They are also often made
for one person, allowing each student to work through the task at their own
pace. Visual learners on the other hand
learn by seeing. In this way technology
is also a constructive tool to use as it is right there for the students to
look at and to follow along. Often
digital tools include videos and/or pictures to illustrate tasks and desired
outcomes. Technology does not only
accommodate for these two learning styles.
It also covers auditory learners when it involves music, videos,
podcasts, vokis or any other auditory tool that reads out explanations and
tasks to the students. “Just as technology
can be used to strengthen different forms of intelligence, so it can target
different learning styles (Snowman. 2009. p.123).” Blooms Revised Taxonomy provides a framework
for teachers when scaffolding learning.
“With the dramatic changes in society over
the last five decades, the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy provides an even more
powerful tool to fit today's teachers' needs (Forehand. 2005).”
The first digital tool I chose to
explore was from the Digital Technologies 1catergory. In this section the digital tools were Blogs
and Wikis. I spent a fair amount of time
playing with both of these tools as I had to engage in a Wiki for both my maths
assignment and for learning experiences within this course as well. I had not used a blog before I was introduced
to E-learning, but I had read many others on the web before. It astounds me that two digital tools as simple
to use as these can prove to be such a powerful and engaging way to enhance
students learning. “Blogs are best known
as chronologically organised personal journal entries” while Wikis are commonly
described as “collaborative virtual spaces that invite users to upload and edit
documents (Snowman. 2009. p.414).” Both
tools have an unbelievable amount of potential to contribute to classroom
teaching and learning. I decided to
concentrate on blogs as I had to work with these the most throughout this
course. I like the blogs because they
are a space where everyone can share their own thoughts and opinions, very
similar to a public diary. Please click here to go to my blog posting about DigitalTechnologies 1 to learn about their potential in the classroom and what Ilearnt from them (please access the links within this blog).
The second digital tool that I
decided to further explore was Digital Images.
It came from the catergory Digital Technologies 2 where I
explored the benefits and limitations of podcasting, digital videos and images.
Once again all of the tools
proved to be very engaging, but as an arts student I was particularly taken by
the Digital Images, in which we used a program called Piknik to manipulate an image. My experimentation with the
program Piknik can be seen here (Digital Images BlogPosting). During my senior years of high school we
did a lot of work on being visual learners and developed the ability to “read”
images. To some a picture may simply
seem that, a picture, but when you really look at it you can learn so much
more. What life was like at the time,
what emotions are going on, how we have been positioned to feel and what effect
colours and lines can also have on the viewer.
Images are truly amazing and I find that they provide a brilliant way to
learn without having to do a lot of reading.
Please click here to go to my blogposting about Digital Technologies 2 to learn about their potential in theclassroom and what I learnt from them (please access the links within thisblog).
The
third digital tool I chose came from the group Digital Technologies 3,
this group included, PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster. Out of these three the only digital tool I
was familiar with was PowerPoint, a tool that I had been using since the early
days of primary school. As I was already
very aware of the potential PowerPoint’s had within the classroom I decided
instead to focus on the benefits of Prezi.
I was first introduced to Prezi when a peer used it to present one of
her assignments; I was automatically taken by the animation and visual appeal
of it. It looked fun and the only thing
I wanted to do when I walked out of that classroom was to go and have a play
with this program myself! Please click here to go to my blog posting about Digital Technologies3 to learn about their potential in the classroom and what I learnt from them(please access the links within this blog).
The
fourth tool that I looked at was the iPod and the benefits of mobile learning. “Mobile learning is a new way of learning. Mobile devices including handheld computers,
mobile phones and smartphones make
learning portable, spontaneous, personal and exciting (Kukulska-Hulme. &
Traxler. 2005).” Pleaseclick here to go to my blog posting about Digital Technologies 4 to learn abouttheir potential in the classroom and what I learnt from them (please access thelinks within this blog). The iPod, and
technology similar, have so much potential within a classroom. They can be used to help students study for
exams or tests, to help young children learn literacy and English skills, to
develop students competence in mathematics and capture science experiments, to
name a few. The students would thrive if
they had technology such as this to use in their classroom. Please click here to access the Wiki I was apart of to see our discussion on mobile learning.
Personally, looking at the
technologies that are available, I can not even imagine not making use of ICT’s
when teaching. They seem truly
invaluable! I look forward to teaching
with them and to exploring them more.
Reference
Brown,
J. S. (NDF) Learning in the digital age. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/FFPIU015.pdf
Forehand,
M. (2005). Bloom's taxonomy: Original and
revised.. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and
technology. Retrieved from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Garrison,
D.R., & Anderson, T. 2003. E-learning in the 21st century: A
framework for research and practice. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=iJnabU6908wC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=definition+of+e+learning&ots=ec98y_QZ-k&sig=ItLRHbe8jl83u9vKTOuOHRclGBM#v=onepage&q=definition%20of%20e%20learning&f=false
Kukulska-Hulme, A., & Traxler. J. (2005). Mobile learnings: A handbook for educators
and trainers. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g50i6p7Ox2wC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=mobile+learning&ots=JsXgN-GpPG&sig=E0hxUR3X-448KIhxrfeyGkAU76I#v=onepage&q=mobile%20learning&f=false
Pensky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: what
today's learners demand. Retrieved from:
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf
Snowman., Dobozy., Scevak., Bryer., Bartlett.,
& Beighler. (2009). Psychology
applied to teaching. 1st australian edition. Milton., Qld: John
Wiley & Sons Australia.
Vitulano,
S. (2003) Image: E-learning, understanding, information retrieval and
medical. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=EbcA6aZM47oC&pg=PA70&dq=what+is+elearning?&hl=en&ei=CDnpTrKmJ4bJmAW9tMSlCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20elearning%3F&f=false
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