TEEGAN TRIES CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGIES

This blog is dedicated to my journey in the subject ESC407 201990.

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WEEK THREE - WHAT ARE CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGIES?

Week Three - What are Classroom Technologies?

[ Posted Monday 2nd December 2019 ]

Software in the Classroom - MentiMeter

For my most recently placement, I was at an independent school in Wagga Wagga (that has links to over 100+ campuses globally!) that uses technology in an interesting way. This school had roughly 50 students from years 3 to 12 on this campus, with similar numbers on the neighbouring campuses of Albury and Leeton. Teachers at this school connect and teach students who may or may not be on their campus. Through technology, I was able to teach the students physically in the classroom with me and others on different campuses. The program Zoom was used to host Skype-like meetings where lessons would be delivered.

This was a completely different style of teaching for me and threw me out of my comfort zone completely! It made me rely on technology more as I couldn’t get my students to do hands on activities often. This school also allocated one hour of school time for professional development in which I was introduced to the website MentiMeter.

MentiMeter is a website that allows collaboration in real time. I used this website to gather information from students, often at the beginning or end of lessons, to gage knowledge, understanding and general opinions about the lessons. The website was simple to use and all students had to do was type in a short code and then answer the few questions. Their answers would then pop up on the presentation in real time. One feature I enjoyed of the site was the profanity filter – as real time answers pop up, any inappropriate comments are filtered out. This was very helpful when working with teenagers. MentiMeter was a highly valuable tool to use to connect with my online students.

Above: A collaborative brainstorm between the class about what they learnt in English during Term 2.

Above: Students identifying what they need to improve upon in English.

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WEEK 2 - TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS

Week 2 - Technology in Schools and Classrooms

[ Posted Sunday 17th November 2019 ]

As a learner myself, I find the use of technology very advantageous and engaging. In lectures at university, I enjoy being able to type my notes and keep up with what the lecturer is saying. However, in my experiences as a teacher, I have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of technology in the classroom and believe there is a balance that needs to be upheld. The integration of technology into lessons aids student engagement, and when students are actively engaged in the content, they are learning. But on the flip side, I have also observed students be distracted by the technology and not be engaged in the lesson. Technology needs to be used in moderation but also purposefully. Teachers need to remember that the content is what the students need to learn and that technology is a vehicle to aid learning. In my future classroom, I will definitely incorporate technology in as many purposeful ways as possible, but I will also incorporate hands-on activities and provide authentic learning experiences for my students.

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WEEK 2 - DIGITAL NATIVE VERSUS DIGITAL IMMIGRANT

Week 2 - Why Do We Include Technology in the Classroom?

[ Posted Saturday 16th November 2019 ]

Digital Native Versus Digital Immigrant

When I think back to my early years in primary school, I remember having at least one computer in every classroom since Kindergarten in 2004. I enjoy using technology and I love keeping up to date with the latest devices and software, thus I would definitely classify myself as a Digital Native. However, this stereotype of the technological divide between younger and older educators needs to be taken with a grain of salt. During my placements, I have observed many older educators use technology with ease and who have shown an eagerness to learn more about how they can adapt their teaching to incorporate technology. As a teacher myself, I would like to be constantly aware of allowing all students an opportunity to use technology in class and not make it a necessity to complete any out of school tasks. A need for technology to complete tasks outside of school can show a socio-economic divide between students and families. Technology use in schools need to be ethical, purposeful and mindful.

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WEEK ONE

Week One - Technology and Teaching Standards

[ Posted Monday 11th November 2019 ]

Issues Shaping Today’s Technology Uses in Education

1)    Accountability and the standards movement

2)    Funding for educational technology

3)    The Digital Divide

4)    Fears about technology misuses

5)    The role of distance education

6)    Privacy and safety

7)    Malware, viruses, spam and hacking

8)    Online plagiarism

9)    Racial and gender equality

10) 21st century technology skills

Activity 1: 21st Century Education

1)    Greg Whitby claims that the focus on technology is a "waste of time". He says, "If you focus on the technology, you ignore the central problem and the central issue."  What do you think he means by this, and to what extent do you agree? Why do you think we focus on the technology? I agree with Greg Whitby and his comments regarding a focus on educational technology to an extent. However, I thoroughly disagree with his sentiment that a focus on technology is a waste of time. Teachers and schools have shown that educational technology can be used in the classroom to their advantage. I agree that we often get caught up in the glamour and desire of having the latest devices and newest technologies and that this behaviour is often detrimental. Before adding new and improved technologies into the classroom, we need to ensure that all teachers are providing quality teaching. Teachers are, and should always be, the focus not the technologies. Teachers need to be trained in how to use these technologies rather than just throwing them into the deep end with new technologies. I think we tend to focus on the technology as a quick solution to the problems within our schools rather than addressing the teaching problems.

Further Comments and Responses:

I sincerely believe that to provide quality teaching and learning in the 21st century, teachers need to adapting with technology. The technologies available to us are here to help not hinder our abilities. In my opinion, a balanced approach to teaching is needed – we can’t use technology for 100% of our activities but we can’t not use technology at all. It’s a fine line that we need walk as educators. We also need to be weary of the technologies that we introduce. Teachers should make time to trial any software or devices themselves before introducing them to students. With so many apps and software readily available, we need to sort out what’s worth the time in the classroom and what isn’t. Technology will be able to further our teaching and learning opportunities in our 21st century classrooms.

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WHO AM I?

WHO AM I? [ Posted Thursday 7th November 2019 - trying to get ahead! ]

Who am I? What a daunting question. My name is Teegan. I am 21 years old. I live in Wagga Wagga. I love to read and I love to use technology (just like most people my age!). I use my phone and my laptop numerous times daily and you can catch me on almost every social media site. But surely there’s more to technology than just likes and retweets? Over the coming weeks of Session 3, this blog will be filled with my discoveries regarding how technology can be used in the classroom.

I’m currently in my third year of my Bachelor of Education (K-12) at Charles Sturt University. As part of my degree, I am taking the subject ESC407 - Classroom Technologies, which has required me to set up this blog for the duration of the subject.

During my degree, I’ve been on numerous placements. The one that stands out the most for me was my most recent as an independent religious school that relies heavily on technology. Whilst on this placement, I was using technology and teaching students from all over New South Wales whilst I was on the Wagga campus. This experience with new technology opened my eyes and made me realise that technology can be used in so many different ways for educational purposes. It was this experience that made me want to take this subject and expand my skillset and knowledge. 

I feel that I am quite competent with technology and I pick up new devices and software usually with ease. I am very familiar with the Apple range of software but I am very interested in learning more about how iPads, especially, can be used in the classroom and for education. I have had a lot of experience with students using laptops in the classroom but not so much with iPads. I would also love to learn more about software that is accessible from any device that could aid teaching and learning. As a future teacher, I strongly believe that we need to use technology to our advantage and keep up to date with updates to make our teaching practices of a higher quality. It is with this subject that I aim to do this.