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About my thoughts and learning change during this topic: 

My learning curve during this topic

As illustrated in the area graph above (which represents the ‘ECG’ of my learning), after my first lecture and practical workshop, I was terribly worried that I might not be able to cope with the topic. I found the lecture itself very fast-paced and condensed with concepts. In fact, I was too embarrassed even to admit that I did not know most of the Web 2.0 tools the lecturer was talking about. This was mainly due to the fact that almost all the other students in the class seem to be well-versed with the tools as they were enthusiastically responding to the lecturer’s questions.  

But with the lecturer’s relentless zest and kind words in private helped me to persevere. The reading materials and the subsequent lectures enabled me to grasp the essential conceptual knowledge required for this topic. The inquiry-based group work on the Web 2.0 tools (the video sharing sites and the video downloaders) and the web page creation in the CEGSA website profoundly assisted to gain my confidence and realise my thinking and practical capabilities.  

Also, the mid-topic student evaluation made me stop to think where I am at achieving the desired learning outcomes as my confidence level started plummeting again when the lectures started focussing on the integrated lesson planning, especially on designing the assessment task and verifying against the Quality Teaching Framework. Due to some urgent work assignment, I had to go interstate on the very week when this was explained during the lecture. It took me a while to get back to gear as that particular lecture had served to foreground the subsequent lectures and some aspects of the practical workshops. Despite getting the notes from the lecturer later, it did take me a while to put it into context. Nevertheless, it was a valuable lesson by itself and it had enabled me to continue to persevere and regain my confidence. Most of all, it helped to achieve my desired learning outcomes from this topic.

About the most valuable aspect of this topic: 

To me, the most valuable aspect of this topic is the teacher educator, herself. I found the teacher educator as an exemplar to understanding how technology matters in today’s classroom but how good teaching matters more. I have learnt how I can infuse technology that will make it more relevant and engaging to students’ learning. In short, I have learnt that effective teaching is about ‘how to teach’ for optimal learning and learning is about ‘how it can be learnt’ for quality contextual understanding of the conceptual knowledge and for acquiring aptitudes and attitudes that are critical to succeed in present information age era.  

About how this topic can be improved: 

The only thing I would like is more time for this topic as a lot of the conceptual knowledge was sort of condensed and rushed in the 50-minute lecture time and the many of the workshops were presentations by the various groups. As mentioned in the beginning, I found it a bit daunting to follow, especially when I had no prior knowledge of the theories and/or the practical knowledge of the web 2.0 tools.  

About what new knowledge and skills I will try to incorporate into my teaching practice: 

There are several skills and understandings that I have developed from this topic which I not only consider them valuable but also extremely useful in my career venture in the teaching profession. The interactive lectures, though intensive and condensed with many concepts, have widened my conceptual understandings about ‘cutting edge curriculum planning’ for ‘21^st century learning’.  The delivery of the lectures itself has given me an insight as to how I can engage students even in direct instruction-oriented learning environments.  

On the other hand, the experiential learning from the practical workshops, particularly the inquiry group assignment and the ‘hands-on’ presentations on a range of Web 2.0 tools that can be used to enhance teaching and learning, was phenomenal. I have gained a better understanding of the educational potentials and practical applications of several Web 2.0 tools that I can confidently incorporate into my own teaching practice in future. Most of all, the personal learning experience gained from designing an integrated lesson plan using the ‘Backwards by Design’ approach  has enabled me to see the relevance of matching the intended learning outcomes to the subject matter. I understand the significance of construction of conceptual knowledge and contextual understandings through inquiry for quality intellectual learning and how a well-planned pragmatic culminating assessment prior to designing the unit plan will enable me to achieve this. I will definitely endeavour to embrace these new knowledge and skills in both my teaching philosophy and practice in future.

About my learning about planning and inquiry-learning unit : 

It was indeed an educationally different but an enriching experience. At first, I found the ‘Backwards by Design’ approach a bit hard to start with as I was used to designing the assessment tasks after outlining the learning activities. That is, I am used to start with SACSA Key Ideas and Learning Outcomes, which states the expected Essential Learnings, then the learning activities, followed by the tasks that will determine assessment for learning and as learning and finally the culminating assessment task that will establish the assessment as learning. In this integrated inquiry planning unit, it was unique to start with establishing the goals, then formulating the assessment tasks that will gather evidence for assessment for, as and of learning and then finally work out the learning activities. Even formulating the learning activities through a sequential stages of inquiry-based learning enabled me to stay focus on the desired results (outcomes and assessment tasks) and at the same time, to sequence the activities that scaffolds construction of knowledge that also corroborates to the students’ experiences and prior knowledge as well as that promotes higher-order and critical thinking skills. In many ways, this approach has enlightened me how I can continuously ensure that the learning activities match the desired outcomes and how I can ensure the outcomes are matched with the assessment tasks.   

About the connection between newly acquired knowledge and prior knowledge: 

As mentioned above, the reverse approach to starting with outcomes and matching them with assessment and then devising the learning activities had enabled me to see the relevance for enhancing teaching and learning. Also, by listing the assessment tasks in three distinct categories, namely: assessment for, of and as learning, it was easier for me to see how the assessment tasks will enable to gather evidence from the beginning to the end of the unit. Particularly, the self-assessment of the culminating assessment task against the coding sheet from the NSW Quality Teaching Framework was an extremely useful learning experience for me as it enabled me to critically think as well as formulate the task that will promote quality learning. 

About the self-rating of my culminating assessment task and my understanding of using the Quality Teaching Framework: 

From the self-rating of the culminating assessment task using the Quality Teaching Framework, I realised the areas that I need to rethink and restructure the task to ensure providing quality learning on all three dimensions, that is, pedagogy that promotes intellectual quality, quality learning environment and that emphasizes to learners the significance of their work. At the same time, the self-analysis enabled me to reflect on my own basic tenets and how I can enhance my teaching for quality learning now and for future. In short, the benefits from self-rating exercise are two-fold: one, it will enable me to design assessment tasks that focus on all three dimensions of quality learning and two, it will enable me to restructure the assessment tasks that ensure quality teaching.   

About my learning from the designing stages and the two lesson plans: 

The designing stages of the inquiry-based planning model had, in fact, assisted me to align the learning activities in accordance to the desired learning outcomes, knowledge and skills and at the same time, that scaffolds students’ learning. In fact, the designing stages of the learning activities made the devising the two lesson plans much easier. In many ways, the structured inquiry stages and the already outlined assessment tasks facilitated me to critically think about what I wanted to achieve in the lessons and that in turn facilitated me to rethink about how I can go about achieving them.  It was indeed a great learning experience as I have gained a better insight about how the inquiry planning model that not only enhance my teaching practice but also can promote a more authentic learning environment and quality student learning.

About the allocated tool for my inquiry group work:

During the workshop in the second, I was assigned to work with Tegan and Michael to explore the video sharing websites, particularly the YouTube, TeacherTube and the edublogs.TV as a range of video downloaders such as the ConvertTube, Zamzar, ClibNabber and Splandoo for the first assignment of this topic. The assignment had two parts:

• Part 1 comprised a presentation about the web 2.0 tools we had explored and our learning experience; and a facilitation of a ‘hand-on’ session to the fellow workshop mates.
• Part 2 comprised creation of a web page in the CEGSA website under the Web 2.0 tools.  Click here to view our web page creation. 

About the value of this tool in my teaching practice:

The learning experience and knowledge gained in this inquiry group assignment was two folds for me:

 Video sharing websites

To a great extent, it was an eye-opener for me. I have realised the wealth of online resources freely available in the Internet at just a click of the mouse, especially from the video sharing websites such as the YouTube, TeacherTube and edublogs.TV. It was amazing to see the range of video clips that can be used from these online sharing sites for teaching across the full spectrum of the Key Learning areas. It was also great to know the alternative websites that are specifically designed for educational purposes.

Video downloaders

This was indeed the best aspect of my learning in the exploratory group work. I have learnt how I can overcome technical problems such as software compatibility, time and cost involved in downloading and how I can ensure duty of care issues such as avoiding exposure to inappropriate materials using the freely available online video downloading softwares such as the ConvertTube, ClipNabber, TEchCrunch, VideoDL, Zamzar and the Splandoo It has provided alternate ways to using the online resources in a cheaper, child-safe way. Most importantly, it has enlightened me how these tools can enable me to bring the rich multi-modal information into the classroom.  

About the collaborative learning experience: 

Unsurprisingly, the members within our group had different levels of interest and priority for the topic itself and different level of knowledge and expertise to doing the assignment components. Nevertheless, the group contract sort of helped us to ascertain our strengths and weaknesses as well as our interests in the web 2.0 tools assigned to us. It also helped us to distribute our roles for the assignment as well as to stay focus on our tasks. 

Unanimously, all three of us were intrigued by the functional features of the video grabbers and the wide variety of short video clips that are readily available as teaching resources. We learnt to identify the benefits and shortcomings of the video sharing websites and the video grabbers that we had specifically worked on. In the process, we had also learnt various tips and tricks and how to convert file formats for better compatibility when using.  But most of all, the group work enriched our experiences as collaborative learners; reinforced our strengths; and at the same time improved our weaknesses through the sharing and inquiry processes.

About the presentation and practical session:

We were glad that the presentation went as planned. We thought that our fellow workshop mates found our presentation and the practical session useful, mainly because of the positive feedback we got from them. Like us, some of them were amazed with the richness of the video sharing websites that can be used for effective teaching and for interactive learning experiences. But many of them found the video downloaders very useful tools not only for overcoming possible technical and ethical concerns but also for easy access for future reference and resource. Some of them shared with the rest of us of other alternate free video downloading softwares available in the Internet. One of them had added comments in our web page in the CEGSA website too.

 About other tools that I have learnt in this topic: 

Some of the other tools that I had the opportunity to have some hands-on experience to try out some of the functional features include: Voicethread, Voki, Survey Monkey, Google Earth, Interactive Whiteboards, Scratch, and Blog. Though these experiences are very much limited to less half hour each (except for blog), they were great educational experiences for me. Not only have I known the great educational potentials of these tools but also the practical use of them in the classroom. Further, these experiences in addition to my personal learning experience in group work have given me the confidence to exploring other web 2.0 tools and to effectively using them to enhance learning and teaching. 

Please click here for my comments in David Steele’s personal blogging site

About my level of skills and expertise in using Web 2.0 tools:  

I must admit that I am one of those ‘digital immigrants’, as Marc Prensky describes, when it comes to using computers and the wide range of emerging digital technologies. Though I am aware of the educational potentials of Web 2.0 tools, and that these tools encourage interactive and collaborative authorship and ownership of the information as opposed to the first generation of tools that mostly involved readership of other people’s work in the World Wide Web, my knowledge or confidence in using them is extremely limited. Some of the tools that I have heard of are: podcasting, wiki, blogging, and video sharing websites such as YouTube and TeacherTube. However, I have hardly used them not to mention created them for both my personal and professional purposes. Therefore, I consider that my level of skills, expertise and confidence in administering the web 2.0 tools very low at this point in time. In fact, after today’s workshop, I realised how ignorant I have been and still am about the emerging interactive tools. Honestly, I was totally flabbergasted with the range of tools classified as Web 2.0 tools when we were asked to indicate our level of interest and expertise in using the tools in the ‘Group Formation’ form during the workshop today. 

About my knowledge of enhancing learning and teaching with these tools: 

As most of today’s children are exposed to multi-modal digital technologies all their lives, they definitely come to schools with different orientations to learning and with differentiated skills and literacies.  From the extant literature on the new emerging theories and views about human learning, especially the techno-savvy generation, and from my learning as a student teacher over the last four years, I know that the traditional, curriculum-based, pen, paper and print modes of teaching will not successfully engage the computing generation of today in active learning processes. Besides, teaching for quality learning in today’s context is no longer about transmission of factual knowledge or instruction by coercion. Teaching today’s generation is about transformation of factual understanding to practical use in real lives and is about establishing a relation with students through negotiation. Hence, I strongly believe that teachers should infuse the Web 2.0 tools and other digital technologies across all the learning areas within the curriculum to engage these students and to promote active learning.  It is a challenging endeavour but effective teaching itself is a challenging life-long learning process. And these tools act as catalysts for effective teaching and for personal and professional development as teachers.    

About the frameworks and approaches I use for quality student learning: 

My knowledge about theoretical frameworks and approaches for quality student learning is limited at this juncture as my exposure to practical teaching was very much restricted to my work integrated learning experiences at the school placements. In these practical teaching experiences, I have had mostly used Vygotsky’s social constructivist approach and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences as fundamental basis in my unit and individual lesson planning. To me, catering to socio-cultural differences is equally important as catering to their different orientations to learning when they come to school. In this way, I believe I can  provide a more meaningful and an authentic learning environment that will in turn promote quality learning experiences for the students. 

As to the actual unit planning, I started with a thematic topic and devised the essential question as to what I want the students to learn/know at the end of the topic. Then, based on the South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability  framework, I organised the lessons that matches the Key Ideas, Outcomes, Essential Learnings and Key Competencies and that integrates across most of the Key Learning Areas. Assessment tasks and rubrics were then formulated based on the lessons, mostly formative and a couple summative.    

About what I would like to find out or learn in this topic: 

I would like to learn how to know more about the features of a range of Web 2.0 tools, the practical uses and most importantly how to use them confidently in the learning environments. I would also like to strengthen my networking abilities through the collaborative and directed learning activities in the topic. 

 Teaching Matters for Quality Learning and Technology Matters for Quality Teaching

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