Assignment 1 - Synopsis

I know from my personal experience that over the past 5 years the amount of technological devices that I own has significantly increased.  Before undertaking this course I had never given any thought as to what technological advances were occurring in the classroom.  My naive view was that students attended school to learn, teachers taught and grades were given.  After all that's what I did - my teachers never utilised ICTs.

This view was until I considered the technological changes that had occurred within the working environment:

• Communication was done by mail, not email;
• Reports were typed with typewriters, not computers and
• Calculations were computed manually, not with software programs.

The technology in the working environment has changed exponentially, which is why it is important that schools incorporate digital technologies in both teaching and learning to ensure they develop skills that will empower them in society.  This is referred to as e-learning.  The Australian Curriculum, (2014) supports this statement with the inclusion of ICT's as a General capability.  "The capability involves students in learning to make the most of digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment."

Working safely, legally and ethically online with students should always be a concern.  Teachers need to remain vigilant, as it only takes one instance to either put students at risk or their teaching profession.  However, limiting the use of ICTs because of what you think they might do is not a valid reason to deny them access. After all, students have access  to information online and they need to understand how their errors in judgement can impact on their lives, both now and in the future.  Teachers should guide them in their development of understanding the implications of not working safely, legally and ethically online while utilising ICTs.

With access to an abundance of information, the dynamics of the learning environment has changed.  Previously, teacher directed student learning - teachers spoke and students listened.  Now students are able to collaborate online (social constructivist learning theory) and expand their knowledge, with self directed learning based on their own level of interest and thirst for information on a topic (connectivism learning theory).  With these advancements it is important our teaching pedagogical content knowledge be changed to Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).



The TPACK framework encourages the incorporation of ICT's in our pedagogical approaches.  As Koehler (n.d) states TPACK "attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge."

For a teacher, it is critical that we carefully consider the underlying pedagogy when using e-learning.  If the pedagogy of an e-learning experience is not well thought out it will undermine the implementation and can result in learners becoming disengaged (Govindasamy, 2011).  The learning experience when incorporating ICTs, should engage learners into high order, critical thinking.  The Australian Curriculum (2014), reinforces this with their statement "the imparting of knowledge (content) and the development of thinking skills are accepted today as a primary purpose of education.  The explicitly teaching and embedding of critical and creative thinking throughout the learning areas encourages students to engage in high order thinking".

Each week I reviewed and analysed a selected ICT with the SAMR Model.  [Link]  I found that if I put time and effort into a lesson task I could easily scaffold an accounting lesson to incorporate and ICT that created high order thinking.  This also encouraged students to be creative.  The De Bono six thinking hats incorporating a wiki was an example of such an activity. [Link]

When utilising ICTs in the classroom there is a complex interaction of numerous variables that need to be considered when teaching.  Teaching is not a linear experience.  It is essential that I make critical judgements on those variables to enhance creative ability with the curriculum content.  Things to consider are:

• Required resources - are there enough iPads available for each students to participate in the activity;
• Are students going to adhere to the safe, legal and ethical policies when working online;
• Are students going to be cooperative, and
• Is the ICT new to you but outdated to the students - is it going to engage them if it's old technology?

Student use of ICTs differentiates them from previous generations of students and from their teachers, and that the differences are so significant that the nature of education itself must fundamentally change to accommodate the skills and interests of these 'digital'natives' (Prensky, 2001a as sited in Bennett, Maton, Kervin. 2008).  Teachers must catch up and embrace ICTs as I believe education is heading towards a 21st century version of 'school of the air', where students can log on anywhere and engage independently in their own time.  Do you?

Hope you have enjoyed my journey.

JRay.

References

Australian Curriculum. (2014).  Critical and creative thinking across the curriculum. Retrieved from  http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking/introduction/critical-and-creative-thinking-across-the-curriculum

Australian Curriculum. (2014). Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Capability.  Retrieved From  http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/information-and-communication-technology-capability/introduction/introduction

Bennett, S., Maton, K & Kervin, L. (2008). The 'digital natives' debate:  A critical review of the evidence.  British journal of educational technology, 39(5), 775-786.  Retrieved from  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j. 1467-8535.2007.00793.xf/full

Candice, M.  (2013, April 23).  TPACK in 2 Minutes. [video file]. Retrieved from https:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FagVSQlZELY
Gill, L., & Dalgarno, B. (2008).  Influences on pre-service tachers' preparedness to use ICTs in the classroom.  Proceedings Ascilite Melbourne 2008.  Retrieved from  http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/31070682/gill.pdf??AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1429665019&Signature=Jx%2BC7%2Fb3qqWH4J%2FLyNBb4xxOYlw%3D&response-content-disposition=inline

Govindasamy, T. (2011). Successful implementation of e-learning:  Pedagogical considerations.  The internet and Higher Education, 4(3), 287-299.  Retrieved from http://www.qou.edu/arabic/researchProgram/eLearningResearchs/successfulImplementation.pdf

Koehler, M. (n.d). TPACK explained.  Retrieved from www.tpack.org

Assignment 1 - Reflection 5 - Week 6

A little humour to start this week off.  I searched google images for an image of an excited accounting teacher to add to the start of the blog this week.  What do you think was there?  A bunch of boring photos of people like this....

Is there no such thing as an excited accounting teacher?  No, it's not, as this week I am that excited accounting teacher, why you ask?  I have now found another ICT tool that I can use within my accounting classes.  Bubbl.us (no this is not me in the picture...it's actually my sister and yes she is an accountant - that makes one accountant and one accounting teacher who get excited.)

Bubbl.us is a tool that enables you to create a mind map or concept map. The main topic is entered as the first bubble, sub concepts are then linked to the main bubble.  Each layer of the mind map is then given a colour according hierarchy.  This mind map took me 5 minutes to make.  All the important features are right at your finger tips. This is one huge advantage of this tool - its just so SIMPLE and NO FUSS.

This is an online application and is flash based, as the teacher you need to consider if you have the latest version of flash installed.  With any ICT tool that is based online it is important to consider the safe, legal and ethical protocols of the school when working online.  Whilst online work can be an issue for some teachers, however, if you know your students, working online should not be an issue.   If you trust them to not disrespect you or the rules.  Although, don't ever become complacent when working online, it may only takes one instance for you to be fired for inappropriate use even if by a student.

While this tool might be simple to use, appear very basic and be considered boring to some, you need to look past this sometimes and see what learning benefits are able to be applied to the classroom activity.  Bubbl.us is an excellent tool for visual and kinesthetic learners.  Visual learners will benefit from linking ideas and concepts with pictures/images and kinesthetic learners will benefit by physically drawing their ideas out.  

This ICT tool if utilized in the classroom would be great way to engage students in group discussion..  Generally students will take more risks when answering with a few words rather than requiring to construct a coherent sentence verbally.   

"Because mind mapping is more flexible than outlining, it encourages creativity. Displaying all related topics on the same mind map, with emphasis and connections indicated by images, symbols, and colors, improves memory retention. The maps are also easier to understand, which saves time and increases productivity. Diane Murley “Mind Mapping Complex Information”

I remember when I was an accounting student, we did a lot of brainstorming activities and we used to use butchers paper taped to the backboard to visually map out the concepts of accounting - which is very hard to visualise in your mind.  This had great benefits - you were able to see the overall picture in how concepts are related and it got you up out of your chair and moving around.  But most of all you it was an excellent revision tool which you could quickly glance for a refresher.

If you want to save your work you will need to create an account - I see three down sides to this. Firstly, it is another user name and password you have to remember.  Secondly, its an online program - you would be required to print it out, enlarge it to have it displayed visually in the classroom for future reference.  Thirdly, when adding bubbles the program can be a bit 'touchy' and you end up creating sub bubbles when you don't really want them.


Within this weeks group 4 tools there no other options that appealed to me that I could use to present my PMI and SAMR Model.  I have therefore utilised an ICT tool from week 6 learning materials - QR codes.  

I have always wanted to create a QR code and today I have just found out how easy it is to create.  If you have an apple iPhone head over to the app store and search for a QR code scanner app to download if you don't have one on your phone already.  If you have an android phone -  please upgrade to an iPhone, or consult your manual on how to obtain the QR code scanner app.

Just quickly a comment on mobile devices in a classroom.  Yes, I do believe they have a place in the classroom.  BUT... only when used appropriately, monitored correctly and are used to create learning gains for the student.  

Wow, what a journey I have been on over the last 6 weeks.  From the beginning of this course I would have clearly said that ICT's were all gimmicky and had no substance especially within the accounting and legal studies classroom.  I can now confidently say this is not the case, and I am now no longer afraid of the word TECHNOLOGY.  

Be sure to visit my blog next week for the final wrap-up on ICT's within learning environment.  

JRay.

REFERENCES:

All Images:  Google Source

Murley, D. Mind Mapping Complex Information, (2013) Retrieved from:  papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=958633

Assignment 1 - Reflection 4 - Week 5

This week the student (me) had an insight into teaching.  

This week's assignment task was to present a reflection on either a:

• Creative way to use powerpoint
• Prezi - a zooming presentation tool
• Glogster - an online 'scrapbooking' tool

However, when I went to read the introduction and overview to topic 5, I found this in the moodle site:

Learning Resources

'As usual, there are readings for you to engage in to explore the purpose of the tools and their use in learning. These resources are less this week as you search for your own resources and readings to support your e-learning design.'

At first I started to panic - I struggle with technology, especially ones I have never used before - but then I got thinking about something Dr Rickie Fisher had spoken about recently.  "If you are offered a position in a school that is outside your specialised teacher area - you take it." I then put everything into perspective. If I am teaching in an area I know nothing about, what am I going to do. Simple - teach! But first, I would research, research, research and then do more research, until I had a complete understanding and only then would I put 'pen to paper'.  So that's what I did for this week's topic.  

As I knew nothing about any of these topics I consulted YouTube for an overview of each. In past reflections I found it difficult to think about interesting and engaging ways to incorporate ICT's into the accounting and legal studies areas. But this week was different, I instantly knew which tool would best suit my students, now let me explain why.....

Firstly, I found that the creative ways to use powerpoint was not suitable for an older audience - great for primary school children though. As soon as I read that a Glogster was an online scrapbooking tool, I had memories of days gone past where scrapbooking was the 'in thing'. I ran away then and I am running away now, but not for only that reason - you are required to pay for the use of Glogster after seven days and there is no way I am paying that for it.

One of the major advantages of Prezi is that it is web-based. FINALLY, a software tool that does not require you or students to download to a computer. As a teacher you will not have the frustration of trying to use an ICT only to find that you do not have the administrator rights to install.   

A typical presentation is usually done in a linear style.  Prezi is not linear, you start with a 'black canvas' and you add and manipulate content anywhere on the page. You can really take your audience on a journey - if it is done in the correct way.

Prezi is appropriate for all ages and all presentations - just like the age old powerpoint presentation - any topic can be presented in a sophisticated and engaging way. Students can really have fun and let their creative flare shine.

Over on my wikispace is a page on the Positive, Minus and Interesting points on Prezi.

If you have time, a creative flair and a lot of ICT skill, this is what you can produce with Prezi - and yes, it is really the best Prezi presentation I found.

And now mine.

As I enjoyed making my first presentation with Prezi I have decided to present my SAMR model on Prezi in a Prezi.

After viewing the best Prezi presentation ever, you may think mine are a little sub-standard. But this is after all my first attempt and while restricted by time constraints this week, I really enjoyed working on the topic I came up with. But most of all, I enjoyed it because I could really see the pedagological benefits (higher order thinking) of students preparing and using Prezi as an aid in an oral presentation in my subject areas. I will continue to read and review material on Prezi's and hopefully one day I will be able to present the best Prezi presentation ever to my accounting and legal studies students - as this ICT tool really does have a place in these teaching areas.  

Giving students freedom to use a Prezi online may raise online legal, safe and ethical issues. Prezi presentations may be not private.  Presentations are available online for anyone to search and use, unless you pay for and upgrade. Therefore, as a teacher I would monitor what is being prepared to ensure that their presentations are adhering to the legal, safe and ethical policies of the school.  Although the site does offer educational licences for students and teachers which would negate the online issues allowing presentations to be private and not publicly accessed. However, as I did not set up my presentation with this licence as a teacher I would certainly trial it before I allowed students to use the ICT tool.

Although, with any ICT there are pitfalls and to present a balanced argument I will hesitantly critique Prezi's:

• Prezi can be considered a powerpoint presentation with the added effect of 'sea sickness' from the continual zooming in and out effect Prezi offers.
• Organising information spatially on a giant canvas is a major feature of Prezi - I found this frustrating. I was constantly reviewing my presentation to see how aesthetically pleasing the overall presentation was to the viewer. When compared to powerpoint, what you put in each slide is exactly what you are going to show the viewer.
• The audience is still required to read text to gain an understanding and at times the zooming feature grabs my attention more than the topic of the presentation.

By no means was this the end of my list, in actual fact my list was quite lengthy. So I stopped writing and started to think was I the only one thinking this, was I being over critical? So, I Googled "pitfalls of Prezi" and found this in depth, brilliantly written blog post by Phil Waknell.  

Phil is right when he quotes Guy Kawasaki, "If you need animation to make your presentation interesting, you must suck", he has a very valid point - as a teacher you need to be sincere in your delivery of knowledge to the students. After all Dr Rickie Fisher also said, "You need to know what you are doing...they are smart...they will see right through you if you don't."

So here is to being a teacher that does not....well....turn out like Guy Kawasaki says.

Finally on my learning journey I have an ICT tool to use.

JRay.

REFERENCES:

Learning Materials:  Accessed 1/04/2015:  Retrieved From: https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=15524

Phil Presents:  Accessed 1/04/2015:  Retrieved From:
https://philpresents.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/two-reasons-i-dont-recommend-prezi/

MetatronLTD:  The best Prezi presentation ever!  Accessed:  31/01/2015:  Retrieved From:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0k3giXi8eM