According to the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), the NT has the highest number of students falling below the minimum standard across each year level in all areas of reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. A lecturer at Charles Darwin Uuniversity, Ruth Wallace said the e-learning software was proving to be an effective tool in the education of Aboriginal children.

In the article she states ‘it’s about bringing in content that’s relevant to the indigenous learner’s world and connecting them with other worlds that may be similar or of relevance to them’.

Here we have another example of the great opportunites that digital technologies bring to our students!

The article can be found at:

http://news.smh.com.au/national/elearning-key-to-indigenous-education-20081107-5jx1.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drawindave/3002335001/

Before I started this course, I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed by the thought of all the new digital technologies, especially blogging. However after a little bit of experience and a change in attitude, it’s not so daunting anymore!

A very interesting question was raised in a blog titled ‘time to think about technology and teaching pedagogies’. I too am a behaviourist style teacher, and after reading your blog discovered that I too made need to make some changes to my teaching practices.

The use of digital technologies in the classroom is strongly ‘student centred’ where students learn with the technology not from it. As Sophie suggests in her blog, digital technologies allows for student-centred learning, knowledge-centred learning and community-centred learning, all of which require the teacher to recognise and adapt to the student’s learning needs, which perhaps requires teachers to adapt their teaching practices and pedagogies.

So in response to the above question, I do think I need to change my teaching pedagogy to benefit the children and better incororate e-learning in my classroom. I hope that other teachers using digital technologies can also recognise this issue.

While I do agree that technologies in the classroom are a fantastic opportunity for students to learn in creative and meaningful ways, they are spending far too long in front of digital devices (such as the TV or computer) and not enough time outside engaging in physical activity. It is quite a contradiction that in the KLA of PDHPE we are trying to promote physical activity, while we are encouraged to engage learners in the virtual world. It seems that to me that it’s going to be a never ending fight with technology and trying to get kids off the couch and into more active lifestyles.  

It was an excellent example of technolongy being used in the classroom for the RIGHT reasons. I agree with Drew in that technology only needs to be applied where appropriate, just as certain other teaching strategies are only effective in certain environments.

Too often teachers use technology in their classrooms for the sake of it. As a result, students may not be engaged in the learning task, and the use of technology is not effective.

Digital learning activities, such as blogging, are powerful and effective teaching strategies, butr only when they are used in the right context.

In a teachertube clip titled, Why let our kids blog? kids who are regualr bloggers state reasons why they choose to blog online. Some of the comments were for communication, literacy, ownership, sharing, collaboration, discussion, empowerment, motivation, creativity and many more. However the one comment that caught my eye was that the concept of blogging ‘extends the walls of the classroom’. We live in a day and age where nothing is bounded by walls, so it only makes sense that in the classroom you open these walls to allow for learning beyond the classroom.

The fact that these kids have started blogging at such an early age, I think is a great advantage to them. These kids grow up with a new set of skills and attitudes that they will need for their digital futures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_biggs/215592586/

What I found interesting from this article is the use of information interpretation tools, such as visualization tools. Jonassen suggests that students take in more information through their visual senses, so by providing students with visual stimulus, we are engaging them in learning that has purpose and meaning to them.

In the KLA of PDHPE it can be tricky to teach concpets relating to components of blood, the cardiovasular system and the nervous system. Through the use of visualization tool, such as MacSpartan, these difficulities can be overcome as these tools provide visual representations in which students can rotate, measure and view different points of the concept they are learning ( such as the different elements in blood).

The use of Mindtools represents a constructivist view of technology. Jonassen states that constructivist appraoches to learning strive to create environments where learners activley participate in the environment in ways that are intended to help them construct their own knowledge, rather than having the teacher interpret the world for them. In contrsuctivist environments learners are activly engaged in interpreting the external world and reflecting on their interpretations. Having students construct their own knowledge and reflect on their learning outcomes; is what I aim for as a future teacher and I look forward to implenting these technologies in the classroom.

Although this all well and good, Oblinger and Oblinger (2003) state that as a result of this widespread visual media, the Net Gen have less developed text literacy than their previous cohorts. At a time when most year 12 students are in the midst of their higher school certificate, it concerns me that their ability to read and write in the form of print is underdeveloped. This raises several issues. Firstly, if the Net Gen are so confident and literate with digital technologies, should the HSC become digital as well? Or should students be learning more using the pen and paper, rather then digital technologies?

Both points raise their own concerns. However in a world when digital technologies are growing, it seems inevitable that one day the school exams such as the HSC will be in the form of digital media.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buca/737260710/

This article gave me a different perspective of new technologies in the classroom. If children are spending so much time, especially out-of-school time, using several digital technologies at once, then maybe it’s not such a bad thing that some teahcers don’t use digital technologies in the classroom. Students need to take a break from the virtual world and physically socialise with their peers. Classrooms in which the traditional ‘pen and paper’ are used may be one of the only opportunities children get to interact with their peers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luciens/81858710/ 

I agree with this statement; that teachers who are not ‘digital natives’ are anxious and nervous about new technologies, however I think that in order for teachers to learn about the new technologies, they first need to understand the generation of net users and how they respond and learn from the technologies. I think once teachers understand the net generation, they can then learn to use technologies in the classroom and learn from the students, ie have digital faith, rather than being in a ‘moral panic’. Several articles state that the net generation is not just about the hardware and the net, but about the relationships between the students and the net. I think that is a good perspective for teachers to have about the net generation in order to have ‘digital faith’ in them.