REFLECTIVE SYNOPSIS

Introduction

The ICT tools taught in this e-Learning course play a vital part in educating future teachers by providing them with ideas and new ways to teach students. This synopsis will cover using ICT tools within Early Childhood, working legally, safely and ethically, and the importance of pedagogy.

Using ICT tools within Early Childhood

“Most of the literature on the integration of ICT in education is related to a secondary…level” (Campbell et al., 2013). Early Childhood educators have a disadvantage in comparison to Secondary teachers, when it comes to using ICT tools, as young learners will not always be able use the tools to their full potential.

(Google images)

As discussed in my Week 6 blog entry, early childhood teachers can still use the tools to educate their students, but the interaction might not be as significant as it is in upper primary or secondary teaching.

Young learners live in a world where, much to their enjoyment, they have access to devices such as iPads and computers. Educators would be silly not to encourage students to use these devices to further their learning in the classroom. 

(Google Images)

With teachers and students having a broad access to different ICT tools, the teachers need to ensure that they are working legally, safely and ethically at all times.

Working legally, safely and ethically

Education should be fun and exciting for both the teacher and students, however, teachers need to be very cautious when it comes to working legally, safely and ethically. What may not seem as a big deal or problem to a teacher, it might be a massive issue to the principal, colleagues, the student/s and parent/s.  

(Google Images)

I believe that teachers need to wear those five hats (teacher, colleague, parent, student and principal) when they assess a situation and make a risk assessment. If an issue arises within the classroom or outside the school, teachers will not have support from any of those bodies. The best thing for a teacher to do is protect themselves and avoid any issues from the beginning. 

Technology is developing as the days go by, raising the risk to the entire school body. Teachers need to ensure that everybody is protected, and most importantly themselves.

Importance of Pedagogy 

Although my pedagogy is different to the next teacher's, I believe that no matter what pedagogy you have it should always be positive and supportive to all students, at all times. When I was at school, teachers were the backbone of education and supported you all the way through school. 

(Google Images)

They helped you in any way they could with your school work and with any personal issues that effected your learning or your life in general. It was obvious which teachers didn't do anything and everything to help you succeed, they were the teachers that nobody seemed to enjoy their class. 

Conclusion 

For my future teaching, I believe that I will endeavour to incorporate ICT tools into my early childhood teaching as much as possible. Throughout the term, the ICT tools we have been taught could assist me to educate my future learners. 

References

Campbell, A., and Scotellaro, G., Early Childhood Australia, “Learning with technology for pre-service early childhood teachers,” http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/learning_with_technology_for_pre_service_early_childhood_teachers.html, published on July 18, 2013. Accessed on August 22, 2013.

WEEK SIX REFLECTION

REFLECTION
In class this week we spoke about Whiteboard Illuminate, Education Gateway, e-Learning ethics and our synopsis. 

READINGS

iPads in Education
iPads in the classroom can be very encouraging for young students to engage in learning. In today's society, many children either have their own iPad, have access to one or have used one before. 

(google images)

iPads are nothing new to young learners and with many common ICT tools being too advanced or suitable for higher education, using an iPad is more convenient and exciting. 

As a teacher, I would love to use iPads within my classroom. Apple has a lot of educational applications available for every learner, including early childhood.

iPods in Education
Like iPads, iPods encourage young students to learn. The only downside to an early learner using an iPod touch would be the size of the device. 

(google images)

The iPod touch is the same size as an iPhone 4, which is increasingly smaller than an iPad, and even the iPad Mini. However, they can still be very useful within the classroom.
 
Mobile Phones in Education
Although not all children aged five to eight own a mobile phone, most know how to use one. I do not believe that mobile phones within the classroom are a good idea.

(google images)

POSITIVE	MINUS	INTERESTING
·    the internet can be accessed wherever, whenever	·    added distractions such as text messaging, Facebook	·    wide range of applications available
·    schools do not necessarily need to pay for the device	·    children could use inappropriate sites as their phones would not have any blocks on sites	·    portability of a small device
	·    not all early learners would own a mobile phone or be allowed a mobile phone	·    multimedia capabilities – videos, voice recordings and photos
	·    photos being taken in class without consent

WEEK FIVE RELECTION

REFLECTION

This week we went into a lot of detail on our assignment tasks for the term. We also spent a great deal of time exploring other ICT tools such as Scribble Maps, Bubbl.us and Fakebook which appear to be quite effective tools for educating learners.
 
READINGS

Creative Ways to use PowerPoint

There are many creative ways to use PowerPoint, some include:

• a presentation tool;
• students can create narrated presentations (record, listen, edit);
• allows embedding of texts, audio, video, images and hyperlinks;
• manipulation of images; and 
• most importantly they help the class interact with each other.

(Google Images)

 It is my belief that PowerPoint is a great tool to use in the classroom, especially for lower primary learners. I love that you don't need a lot of skill to use PowerPoint, but the more advanced you are with it the more effective your presentation will be. 

I found the tutorial "PowerPoint in the Classroom" (http://www.actden.com/pp/index.htm) very informative and it gave me quite a few tips on how to improve my PowerPoint skills.

(Google Images)

Prezi





Glogster

Glogster is a great tool for online scrapbooking. It is a fun learning experience and improves the relationships between teachers and students. One of my favourite things about Glogster is that it has unlimited shelf life and can be accessed whenever, wherever you like! 

WEEK FOUR REFLECTION

TUTORIAL
This week in the tutorial we spoke about keeping safe, legal and ethical in the classroom, mainly regarding media permission slips from parents. 

Without permission from parents for their child to be photographed, you cannot take a photo of a student especially for media use. To avoid hear say, all teachers should go directly to the office for a class list of who has and who hasn't obtained media consent from their parents. This is extremely important for students and families who are in "hiding" from another person or in the foster system etc. 

In regards to other ICT tools we discussed the "green screen" method, claymation with MovieMaker or iMovie along with podcasting and other forms of digital audio. I have included an example of podcasting in my blog.

READINGS

Multimodal Learning
From reading chapter three of Pedagogic Potentials of Multimodal Literacy (Maureen Walsh) it is evident that combining audio and images with text enhances learning significantly.  

(www.youtube.com)

Article - Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning
I found this article very interesting, particularly the following:

"...a few tips for educators on how to teach students using multimedia:
 
(1) Know the importance of the attention and motivation of the learner. The “scaffolding” of learning–the act of providing learners with assistance or support to perform a task beyond their own reach–by reducing extraneous diversions and focusing the learner’s attention on appropriate elements aligned to the topic has proven effective.

(2) Know the importance of separating the media from the instructional approach. A recent meta-analysis in which more than 650 empirical studies compared media-enabled distance learning to conventional learning found pedagogy to be more strongly correlated to achievement than media. The media and pedagogy must be defined separately." 

(http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/03/26/analysis-how-multimedia-can-improve-learning/3/) 

Podcast
I found a great podcast that would suit the level of my early childhood learners. 

WEEK THREE REFLECTION

REFLECTION

WOW! We are in week three already. This week we discovered how to create various ICT tools such as wordle, wikis, blogs and vokis, and how educators and learners can benefit from using them.

READINGS

Three Vignettes - What does e-Learning look like?
I am going to discuss the Prep/Year 1 class as it relates to my course (Early Childhood Education).

 (http://www.animalnational.com/africa/)

The Prep/Year 1 class did an amazing job with their animal studies! This goes to show that using technology in the classroom can influence the children to do bigger and better things. For example, they developed their own ideas from a set activity. They showed great initiative in building huts, creating videos in MovieMaker and collating photos into podcasts to share with their African buddies. They used a range of learning materials to complete their animal studies.

Group 1 Tools Introduction

Digital Tool 1: Blogs for Learning

WEEK TWO REFLECTION

REFLECTION

This week we spoke mainly about mobile phones within the classroom. We also spoke about turtles breathing out of their bums, which was a little weird but it worked for Gary's students.



(Google Images)


As I am studying to be an early childhood educator, I don't think that mobile phones will be a problem in my classroom. Despite that, I believe that mobile phones are an added distraction within the classroom regardless of the main purpose.


READINGS

Teaching in Digital Environments

I think that teaching in digital environments enhances both teaching and learning. As a teacher, I would like to incorporate blended learning with my students. I believe that children are more willing to get involved and learn if there is a presence of technology. In saying that, it is as equally as important to have the same or more face to face contact with the students to assess their learning from a shorter distance.


Younger students would definitely benefit from ICT tools such as vokis, as they incorporate an animated avatar communicating with the children, either giving them instructions or information.

(www.voki.com)


What is Pedagogy?

According to Moodle, Pedagogy is simply the art of teaching. The interaction between the teacher and the learner forms the pedagogy. Productive pedagogy involves positive teaching reflecting the student learning outcomes.



The strategies within the productive pedagogies include:


1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking

2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important

3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best

4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in
real life contexts

5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge

6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves

7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges

8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity.



(Google Images)


The productive pedagogy strategies take me back to my learning as a child. Everything I learnt in primary school could be related back to real life contexts. Although, most of my senior teachers did try to implement this in our learning and I found that to be extremely helpful when I was learning something new.

I believe that the listed productive strategies are exactly what is needed within education. I found that when teachers did not connect with us on the above levels, students didn't want to go to class or fell behind the rest of the class. Especially in lower primary the students need to be able to connect their learnings to real life contexts.

Also, knowing how the student learns is essential to learning. I imagine it would be difficult to teach a child new things without knowing the right way to engage with them.

Digital Pedagogy

Digital pedagogy is a new way of teaching and learning in the classroom with the help of ICT. This new pedagogy is moving alongside the 21st century way of learning. I think it is very important for today's learners that ICT is implemented into their learning as it enhances their willingness to learn.



(www.fodey.com)

The following are positive examples of what ICT offers learners:
Students use ICT to access, integrate, manage and evaluate information. 

They use ICT to develop new understandings, and to participate as global citizens through collaboration across local, national and international borders. 

Digital Pedagogy has been shown to transform learning. It enables students to develop deep knowledge through inquiry, connecting to sources of information, both primary and secondary across the world. 

ICT supports thinking, organizing ideas, planning solutions, modelling, and visualizing the invisible. 

ICT allows learners to build solutions and products through highly creative, expressive and reflective processes.

ICT is a very positive learning tool within classrooms around the world. I believe it is essential for all teachers to use ICT tools to educate their learners. 

Bloom's Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy explores three ways of learning:

• Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
• Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude or self)
• Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)

(http://teachonline.asu.edu/2012/10/aligning-assessments-with-learning-objectives/)

Link to Mobile Phones Wiki as a model

DeBonos Thinking Hats are useful, however, the image below would be very daunting to a early childhood student. Although, this image could be very helpful for the educator. 

(Moodle)

As you can see from the below post I made, I am strongly against mobile phones in the classroom.


(http://debonoshats.wikispaces.com/home) 

WEEK ONE REFLECTION

TUTORIAL 
 
I was part of the class on Wednesday night, which was quite crowded. In saying that, it is my first term at university and everything could just appear to be very overwhelming. However, I thought that Gary, our tutor, did very well to interact and keep everybody on task given the size of the class.

We went through a power point which explained what we could expect from the course over the next 12 weeks, which was helpful as I had no clue what the course would be about. Throughout the lesson we had a constant discussion about our beliefs and what we believe teaching is all about. Although the class had many different beliefs on the matter, they were all positive and beneficial.

Gary spoke about the constant evolution of teaching. He made a few statements which I couldn't agree more with. Education is forever changing, and so it should. Every child learns differently to the next, therefore, as educators we need to be constantly thinking of new ideas, strategies and ways to teach our students. Teachers who aren't interested in accommodating or tailoring their lessons to suit their student's learning abilities dampen or potentially halt the development of the student's education.

Technology has a huge impact on education. Fortunately schools are continuously developing alongside today's technological society with new programs and new devices to enhance their teaching and communication with students.

READINGS

This weeks readings were:

a) Know Your Learner
b) A Brief Overview of Learning Theory

These readings were very helpful and extremely eye opening to the expectations we will have teaching different types of learners.

Know your Learner
Know your learner portrays the different learning styles brilliantly. It is safe to say that I am both an Auditory and Kinesthetic Learner. I learn from people speaking and doing hands on things myself.

After completing the Learning Style Questionnaire, I discovered that I am a reflective, sensing, verbal and sequential learner. I have pasted my results below for your reference. This test was fairly accurate as I already believed that I learn in that manner.

 Results for: Katy Birse


      ACT                          X                        REF
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      SEN      X                                            INT
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      VIS                          X                        VRB
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      SEQ                  X                                GLO
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- --> 

I completed the Multiple Intelligence Test, and my results are below:

As expected I have no musical smarts whatsoever. Although, I am surprised that so many other smarts are above the level of 15.