Great Website!

Working backwards...

I was given the link of storybird.com to look at. It is a fantastic website to help students become inspired when writing narratives. With this tool (and teachers can sign up a class!), students start with the pictures, provided by the website, and create their own storybook. I had a go: read my story "The Lost Fairy". You can even read stories created by others. Great site to visit!

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In other news...

My uni lecturer places numerous resources and readings on our class forum. The reading "UNESCO evaluation shows student achievement increases by combining professional learning, compelling interactive digital content and technology in the classroom" by Dell (the computing company) identifies a study in Brazil that demonstrated how technology assisted student performance in schools. It is a short reading that has some valuable points. 

Food for thought:

The funny thing is that this video is probably already outdated!

One student from my uni course brought The Horizon Report to our attention. This is a great eye-opener for K-12 teachers. It basically lists the future of education in terms of technology. Some future directions for the classroom include:

• Cloud computing: this is basically (in as simple terms as possible) a virtual environment for storing files. Most cloud applications allow the manipulation of data in some way, such as editing. It is a cost effective solution for data storage for schools. (Some cloud applications are listed and I might have a look at them later...)
• Mobiles: what potential do mobile phones have in the classroom? Imagine a classroom where every student comes to school with a mobile device of some description (iPad, SMARTphone, Notebook) and uses that device to access the school network and Internet. The school would not need to purchase the latest state-of-the-art computing equipment for students to use and students would probably respect an item that is their own than an item belonging to the school. Something to ponder...
• Game-based learning: why can't we use computer games to teach a concept. Why not use role playing games to teach students what conditions were like for a convict on the First Fleet, or how to manage a small business using a virtual business program?

There are a lot more, but these are the ones that 'jumped' out at me. Enjoy the read!

Hello strangers!

I haven't posted on this blog in two years - not since I finished the Web 2.0 course.

This year I am completing a Graduate Diploma in ICT Education by correspondence with Charles Sturt University. I have completed the computing background subject, and now I am getting into the education and teaching side of things. I have two subjects this semester, and have received some FANTASTIC readings about ICT and education. One of my subjects has also suggested that we start a learning journal, so I am going to use this blog as my learning journal.

My two little 'daughters' also help me with my study. This is Chewy (Chewbacca) helping me 'find' my pen and sitting on my readings. My other girl is Yoda (my Star Wars fanatic husband named them!)


The first excellent reading was called Computer Technology in Schools: What teachers should know and be able to do" by Scheffler & Logan (1999). It was interesting, and true, that often money is spent on putting the technology into classrooms but no money is spent on training the teachers who need to use it. Training needs to be an ongoing process to help raise the confidence of teachers who, more often than not, have less IT knowledge than the students they are teaching. Scheffler & Logan also points out that the knowledge in training programs needs to be knowledge that is used and not knowledge that one just has. It is interesting to note that, when computers first started making their way into the classroom in the 1980's, it was intended that teachers will develop knowledge in programming language to create their own educational programs for students!!!!! I have studied programming language and I am glad that the plan did not go ahead!

Scheffler & Logan highlight a training process that needs to be put into place for educators so that they can effectively integrate technology into their classroom. It should be:

1. AWARENESS
2. OPERATIONAL SKILL
3. INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING
4. INTEGRATION

Following these steps should ensure that educators can use technology is a beneficial way for their students.

The second reading I read was "Making your own road: The emergence of school-based staff developers" by Richard (2003). This reading discussed the need for dedicated trainers to train teachers in technology. It raises 6 questions about whether they are necessary. In my opinion - yes!

On the same topic of training, the following reading was "Mentoring in the new millennium" by Hargreaves & Fullan (2000). It discusses the evolution of mentoring and beginning teachers from the beginning teacher watching the mentor to learn their craft and then they were thrown into the classroom with little support. It also discussed how in the past, there was little collaboration, and many teachers were isolated in their own classrooms. Collaboration, the reading points out, increases the effectiveness of the teacher. It is also important that teachers are also supported emotionally. There was also discussion on how principals need to value the contributions of experienced and beginning teachers, so that experienced teachers do not feel undervalued and threatened when confronted with the IT knowledge of beginning teachers. The underlying message of the article is that mentoring is an integral part of schools.

The first topic for one subject is all about peer coaching. "Professional development: Outside the workshop box" by Beaver (2001) discusses how most of the time, professional development (PD) for teachers is rarely carried over to the classroom. The most valuable PD is viewing other teachers actively using IT in the classroom, followed by a debrief session to discuss what had occurred and to solve any problems or questions that arose.

Technology integration in classrooms is something that many teachers struggle with. "Integrated technology: some things you should know" by Dias (1999) is a great reading to help teachers evaluate IT resources to find what is effective. Dias lists the stages of technology integration as:

ENTRY: text-based use
ADOPTION: increased integration
ADAPTION: introducing IT into classroom practice
APPROPRIATION: the teacher sees technology as useful
INVENTION: the teacher begins to experiment and reflect on practice

In conclusion, I am going to answer the questions for my journal, set for me by my lecturer:

Have you heard of peer coaching? Maybe by another name?
I see peer coaching as the same thing as mentoring. The process is similar to the hubs that we have the the Early Learning program.

In my particular learning educational environment, how could peer coaching add value?
Peer coaching is invaluable for beginning teachers to learn from more experienced teachers. On the flip side, teachers who possess unique skills can teach those who wish to learn through the use of peer coaching.

The following readings are also fantastic, and they are from my other subject.
"Children, Wired: For Better and for Worse" by Bavelier, Green & Dye (2010) discusses whether or not this generation of children are 'wired' or 'switched on' to technology. It discusses how technology effects cognitive development. An interesting point was that educational resources aimed at increasing cognitive development had no or a negative effect on cognitive development, whereas those deemed 'mindless' actually had value when it came to child development. Television shows that encourage active participation of children was important. The concerns though are the portrayal of violence in video games, IT addiction and decreased attention span. This reading is valuable for teachers as it assists teachers in evaluating resources for classroom use. It certainly changed my thinking about what I perceived as 'a valuable resource for students'.

Another fantastic reading discusses why mobile education is the future. "Why mobile is a must" by McCaffrey (2011) provide a great example of how mobile technologies can assist student learning. Mobile technologies empower students to own their learning and personalise their learning. It also introduces the terms "digital natives" and "digital immigrants". Digital natives being those under 30 who were born into the digital world, and digital immigrants being those who need to 'learn' the language of technology.

The terms digital natives and digital immigrants was introduced by Prensky (2001) in his article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". Digital immigrants often retain behaviours of their past 'language'. I thought of my mother when I read this. She wanted to print an image from a webpage but didn't know how - so she took a photo of the screen using her digital camera! Teachers must change their methodology and content of their teaching in order to cater for the digital native students in their classrooms.

Other readings that I had the option to read about this topic (but didn't as I only needed to read one) were "The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence" (Bennett, Maton & Kervin, 2008), and "Latour meets the Digital Natives: What do we really know" (Sheely, 2008).