Reflective Synopsis

At the start of this course I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I attended a high school that had a very traditional approach to teaching and I believed I was computer and technology illiterate. It's nearly two months on from the commencement of the course and I'm feeling much more at ease with all the new technologies and the course work. I am having so much fun with my Blog and the Avatars/Vokis's in particular. Long gone are the days of the chalk and talk approach to teaching which is great as I can tell you first hand that it is not an engaging teaching strategy. I have loved finding out about all the different learning styles, finding out more about myself and opening my eyes to the array of different learners and how to incorporate particular teaching strategies into the classroom to cater for the different learning styles of the students to ensure all students are given the opportunity to learn.


I have established the strong need for authentic tasks and assessments in the classroom in order to engage the students and help them to see what is being taught is relevant to them. Once a student can relate their learning to real experiences in their lives, they are more likely to be interested. As technology is ever expanding in today's day and age, as a teacher I think it's a must to keep up to date with these ever changing technologies and incorporate them into the classroom where possible to engage students. Think about it, students love computers, face book, i-pods etc and I'm guessing they see classes of copying down notes and listening to a teacher talk for long periods of time boring. Now think how much more students will be engaged and interested if told they had to make up a Blog or Mahara 'page' to document their findings and showcase their assessment. As sited in Dimension 1 by Marzano and Pickering (1997), students need tasks that have real life relevance, are intellectually challenging and give them choices. I think a Blog or e.portfolio like Mahara incorporated into their learning journey/task/assessment would provide real life relevance to the students by utilising a new technology and 'styling' the layout and profile as they choose.


I really enjoyed the 'Mazlows Hierarchy of Needs' (Kunc, 1992) reading. This reading explained how students need to feel that they belong regardless of their attractiveness, academic level, athletics's or diverse status/level. Belonging is a human right and should not be dished out only when a student s excels in sports or academically. A lot of students that feel they don't belong either at school or at home may be disruptive in class or have behaviour issues. Therefore many teachers segregate them from the class, but this may not very well be the solution. We must remember that "as we take away a students sense of belonging, we completely undermine their capacity to learn the skills that enable them to belong (Kunc, N, 1992). See paragraph 3 of this blog posting http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/03/icts-week-2-learning-activities.html for more details.

I now see how relevant technology is in teaching students in this day and age. The Internet can be used for researching almost any topic/subject. Blogs are a great way for students to showcase their work, receive comments and constructive criticism from others and view their peers work. Blogs can also be used for teacher's to monitor their students learning journey and a way for teacher's to leave positive feedback. I think blogs are a fun alternative to keeping notes and assignments in book or on paper. They are also a great way for students to get in touch with technology. If a student had a blog they could work on it and access information outside of school hours and work collaboratively with others peers. Here is a link to my blog http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/



I think Wiki's are a great way to find out more about a subject or topic, or to post a question if unsure of the answer, and see what kind of feedback/answers come back. They are also a great way for the student to get in touch with technology and work collaboratively with others. I personally think Blogs, Wiki's and Mahara sites link with Kearsley and Schneidemans (1997) Relate, Create, Donate theory as they provide and put emphasis on collaborative learning, authentic projects and gives the students flexibility with the creation of tasks/projects (no two peoples Blogs are the same, even if they are about the same topic). This is a link to my wiki, it's called 'Vegorama' http://vegorama.wetpaint.com/


I personally think Avatars are so great! I had so much fun creating them for my Blog, I now have two. Depending on the age range and class at school I think the Avatars would be a hit! I think they will engage students as they are fun and different, but also informative and instructional. Students may like taking instruction from an Avatar as it's a change from the teachers direction. I really think Avatars would be a great student engager in primary school. They could also be great in high school if tailored right and used in the appropriate context. Avatars are great for auditory and visual learners, although if students could create their own that would incorporate the kinesthetic learners also. I created a friendly classroom avatar named 'Chippo'. Chippo was great fun making and I recorded my own voice for it as I wanted Chippo to say more than typing would allow me. Therefore I used a microphone to record my voice onto my computer then uploaded my voice file onto Chippo, my avatar second creation. My first avatar creation is an avatar creation of me introducing my blog. To view my avatars please visit http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-5-learning-activities.html

Through this learning journey of ICT's to date I have learnt so much about technology and become familiar with so many programs that I'm sure will engage students in the classroom when incorporated in a relevant way. On this journey so far I have commented/had conversations with a few peers about the new and ever changing technologies. Here is a link of a courteous comment I made to my peer Alicia about her post on Avatars
http://talkintoleesha.blogspot.com/2010/04/voki-avatars.html#comments. Also I made a comment on Leah's blog for her post about PowerPoint presentations, here is the link for that
http://ltictjourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/powerpoint-presentations.html Also here is a link to a conversation myself and a fellow peer Jus had about PowerPoint presentations and Interactive Whiteboards
http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-6.html

References:

Kunc, N. (1992). Mazlows Hierachy of Needs. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-course, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://e-course.cqu.edu.au

Kearsley,G & Scheiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory - A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Marzano, R. J. & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning Teacher's Manual (2nd ed). Alexandra, VA: ASCD