Fellow student, Pete McCall had a post that I found interesting, where he discussed using ICT in a way to direct students learning towards sites, on issues that may be difficult to teach traditionally. I like this idea as it ties in with my previous post that highlighted the need for teachers to be there to guide students through the wealth on online information and help them develop skills to evaluate, interpret and organise the information.
He used examples of sites that can be used when taeaching sexual education in school -
www.itsmybody.com.au and www.kidshealth.org.
This is an example of giving students some independence and scope to learn at their own pace, particularly with issues that they might find uncomfortable to deal with amongst peers. In relation to my practice as a media teacher, I am not going to know everything and at VCE level in particular, there should be times where students should be directed to find their own way.
I liike the analogy of not trying to be the "Sage on the stage", but instead shifting to become the "guide on the side". In terms of teaching the softawre in Media Studies, I must do that in order for the students to make their own way at their own pace.Hopefully Pete doesn`t mind, but I`ve linked his blog here
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Hot Seat - Collaborative discussion group software
Software that enables students to have coollaborative discussion on a subject online. Not really applicable to a high school classroom but I like the idea of merging social media to become a tool for discourse surrounding a particular subject/issue.
IT VELS assignment 1 02 part 2
'Information and communications technology (ICT) encompasses the hardware and software that enable students to work more productively and creatively, collaborate more effectively, gather and evaluate information efficiently, and share their knowledge with others, locally and globally.'
This section taken from the VELS stood out to me as the idea of collaborative learning, within my teaching method of Media Studies is definately shaped by the ability to collaborate online and share knowledge with each other. My year 11 media class that I taught during my rounds has a group facebook page, which is used to submit work, put group ideas together and show examples of material that the students find inspiring.
Within the `Approaches to Information Communication and Technology` section, it states that;
Students use contemporary communications tools to:
This section taken from the VELS stood out to me as the idea of collaborative learning, within my teaching method of Media Studies is definately shaped by the ability to collaborate online and share knowledge with each other. My year 11 media class that I taught during my rounds has a group facebook page, which is used to submit work, put group ideas together and show examples of material that the students find inspiring.
Within the `Approaches to Information Communication and Technology` section, it states that;
Students use contemporary communications tools to:
- acquire information from online sources including experts
IT and the VELS - Assignment 1 part 02
"ICT supports knowledge-building among teams and enables team members to collaborate, inquire, interact and integrate prior knowledge with new understanding."
Given that my teaching methods are media studies and art, it is almost a given that there will be quite a lot of ICT to implement lessons. Technology is used broadly throughout the Media subject and the students are required and encouraged to create original works using video, web, animation and digital imaging/graphic design. Being able to connect with students and assess their progress through emailed rough drafts and then ammending them electronically is a very fast and effective way of interfacing with the literacy demands of students.
It is this high level of connectivity, both inside and outside the class environment that is most exciting for group work within the subject. the ability to share ideas and perpectives is very easy due to the access to web resources. Information can be shared through linking a wide variety of in depth resources that can take the form of either video, images, text or combinations of all three.
My Mentor from the first teaching block is also the head of ICT at his school and I asked him if ICT had changed the way he teaches his students;
"Yes. there is less emphasis on content and more on skills and concepts. Information is vastly accessable and rapidly changing, therefore students need to develop skills in how to find, read, analyse, evaluate, organise, summarise, and transform information, rather than memorise facts."
Perhaps that is the downside to the wealth of knowledge that is so freely avilable at the click of a button. Students now have to learn to be more discerning in the way they work with the information, extrapolating what they need and the teacher must now help guide them through these processes of editing and deciphering.
Given that my teaching methods are media studies and art, it is almost a given that there will be quite a lot of ICT to implement lessons. Technology is used broadly throughout the Media subject and the students are required and encouraged to create original works using video, web, animation and digital imaging/graphic design. Being able to connect with students and assess their progress through emailed rough drafts and then ammending them electronically is a very fast and effective way of interfacing with the literacy demands of students.
It is this high level of connectivity, both inside and outside the class environment that is most exciting for group work within the subject. the ability to share ideas and perpectives is very easy due to the access to web resources. Information can be shared through linking a wide variety of in depth resources that can take the form of either video, images, text or combinations of all three.
My Mentor from the first teaching block is also the head of ICT at his school and I asked him if ICT had changed the way he teaches his students;
"Yes. there is less emphasis on content and more on skills and concepts. Information is vastly accessable and rapidly changing, therefore students need to develop skills in how to find, read, analyse, evaluate, organise, summarise, and transform information, rather than memorise facts."
Perhaps that is the downside to the wealth of knowledge that is so freely avilable at the click of a button. Students now have to learn to be more discerning in the way they work with the information, extrapolating what they need and the teacher must now help guide them through these processes of editing and deciphering.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Doing and Seeing
I see the two fundamental aspects of using ICT in a classroom that make it effective, as the ability to "Do", participate and make things. I also think it is the ability to teach with visuals. These two things are what helps me learn and what will make me an effective teacher/communicator.
NUMBER 9
I have and always will continue to learn most effectively with visuals. I like the way the guy prods the hiding mouse so that they can count to 9.
Ken Robinson - In their element
"Education should be one of the main processes that takes us to our element, but all too often, it does the opposite."
Creativity is seen as something that you use to pursue a hobby, academia does not view creativity as being very relevant in modern society. This is a feeling that I have noticed within school and universities over the past few years. Creativity is often viewed as being impractical and not of any significant value.
I come from the perspective of a jaded artist, who when studying fine arts was asked when I was going to get a real job and stop pursuing a hobby. I found the most interesting people at art school were those that have decided to chuck in their careers late in life and decided to study painting. That seems crazy to most people. Why? Because it`s an impractical decision.
What is intelligence? What forms of intelligence are there? Can intelligence be measured?
The concept that he discusses of "recovering from one`s education", is something that rings very true to me. "How intelligent are you?", and "How are you intelligent?", are interesting questions that are ignored in modern education because they are impossible to answer.
Creativity is seen as something that you use to pursue a hobby, academia does not view creativity as being very relevant in modern society. This is a feeling that I have noticed within school and universities over the past few years. Creativity is often viewed as being impractical and not of any significant value.
I come from the perspective of a jaded artist, who when studying fine arts was asked when I was going to get a real job and stop pursuing a hobby. I found the most interesting people at art school were those that have decided to chuck in their careers late in life and decided to study painting. That seems crazy to most people. Why? Because it`s an impractical decision.
What is intelligence? What forms of intelligence are there? Can intelligence be measured?
The concept that he discusses of "recovering from one`s education", is something that rings very true to me. "How intelligent are you?", and "How are you intelligent?", are interesting questions that are ignored in modern education because they are impossible to answer.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Sunday, 4 September 2011
BTW
Oh, Just remembered. One thing that really sticks out as a beneficial part of ICT in a classroom, is the ability to quickly show other students work on the big screen. In my Art class, I was able to ask who had finished and then get then to put their work up so that they could talk about it and other students could give comments.
In a big sized classroom this is a real benefit, without stopping kids doing their work, part of the way through a lesson.
In a big sized classroom this is a real benefit, without stopping kids doing their work, part of the way through a lesson.
ICT reflection on finishing teaching rounds
Just finished the second lot of teaching rounds.....just! Found the whole experience interesting and humbling. One thing is clear to me (which I already presumed), teaching is a hard job. You have to be a lot of things for a lot of different personalities. You have to be organised and plan ahead and you have to be calm and approachable.
I found that I only wrote on the whiteboard once, during the three week stint, and that I relied solely on, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Acrobat, Word and Youtube as my teaching devices. My whiteboard markers seemed so cold and lonely in my bag.
Prepping for a lesson with a laptop and a thumbdrive is an efficient and immediate way to teach. It did present problems however. My svhool was good in that all the technology was in working order and co-operated with me when I needed it to. I did fall into the trap of conducting classes like a lecturerer, which is not really anything to do with the technology, just the way I "drove it."
When I consciously changed my tact, and tried to implement some different teaching strategies, I found myself going back to more "traditional" worksheets and such.
I enjoyed the lecture this morning and will try to read as much as I can. When teaching software I found the terminology of choosing to be a "Sage on the Stage", and then to be a "guide on the side" particularly relevant to my Media and Digital Art based subjects.
I found that I only wrote on the whiteboard once, during the three week stint, and that I relied solely on, Powerpoint, Photoshop, Acrobat, Word and Youtube as my teaching devices. My whiteboard markers seemed so cold and lonely in my bag.
Prepping for a lesson with a laptop and a thumbdrive is an efficient and immediate way to teach. It did present problems however. My svhool was good in that all the technology was in working order and co-operated with me when I needed it to. I did fall into the trap of conducting classes like a lecturerer, which is not really anything to do with the technology, just the way I "drove it."
When I consciously changed my tact, and tried to implement some different teaching strategies, I found myself going back to more "traditional" worksheets and such.
I enjoyed the lecture this morning and will try to read as much as I can. When teaching software I found the terminology of choosing to be a "Sage on the Stage", and then to be a "guide on the side" particularly relevant to my Media and Digital Art based subjects.
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