Reflective Synopsis

This reflective synopsis will be focusing on that will be suitable for my teaching areas of Business & English. It will also show comments I have left on fellow class members’ blog posts. In such a technologically driven era that is the 21st Century, it is only natural that we as future educators learn the different ways we can deliver content to our students. Due to the ages students are now learning to use technology, it is important that we deliver to them using the same medium they are being brought up to use. That is why each week the course focused on different technologies in order to get a better understanding of how we as future educators can improve our lesson planning by incorporating these in to our delivery. We as teachers need “to take full advantage of the possibilities of ICT to enhance student learning, create efficiencies in delivering education and school administration, and advance lifelong learning.” (Department of Education & Training 2010)

Not only is it integral to my classmates and I as fellow educators, but it is integral that we support and encourage our students to become competent in information technologies. As the world becomes more and more technologically efficient, we need to make sure that our students are also staying current in the trends. “ICT literacy is not a once in a lifetime one shot injection but a lifelong continuum….and even students entering university with ICT competencies will require upskilling during the life of their university course.” (Watson, Proctor, Finger & Lang 2004) All teachers are required to incorporate the use of information technologies, because it is required by all teachers now.

One of the best tool as an educator I can utilize is Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint allows the most boring of lectures and speeches to be aesthetically pleasing if worked correctly. I can put the class notes onto the slide, instead of having to write it on the whiteboard. I can include all resources I plan to use in that lesson to the slide because I can add pictures, audio and video clips to the slides. This decreases the amount of time wasted by changing windows and opening all of these files, which will increase the amount of time I have in the class to focus on my students and help them as much as I possibly can. I can also minimise the amount of paper I’m using by printing handouts for each student, because I can archive all my slides on to the school network and students can browse through these at their own pace and time which is a green way of looking at it. Not only this, but if I make my slides interesting to look at, keep the information minimal and utilize all of the features that PowerPoint has, I can keep my students more focused in class which maximizes the amount they are learning.

A Learning Management System is also another technology which I could use to my advantage in a classroom. Due to the flexibility of the system, I can use it as a complete resource bank for all topics of work needed for one class. It also allows for students to access information at home, which will be easier than flipping through their books looking for notes. The forums that an LMS has can be accessed by students who can create forums about assessment and classwork, share their ideas, and even the teacher can add comments and direct messages to all students. Chatrooms are also another option, which can be a help for students who need instant answers. This also can be used for more than one class. A school can have multiple year eleven English classes, so why should one or two classes have a complete online resource bank, when each class can have access to this, and help each other out.

Digital Videos are also a great technology to use for students. We have website such as YouTube and MegaVideo which whilst they can have some pretty silly thing posted, also have amazing video resources for students. The amount of videos on these sites which could be amazing resources are huge, however are being wasted due to negative educational conations attached to these sites. As I previously posted, I found a video on writing a business plan, which can be used to my advantage as the school I am currently doing my Embedded Professional Learning at has a business planning unit for the grade nine students. Digital videos are also a great way for students to consolidate their previous learning, and apply their knowledge in a new situation. It also allows for students to have fun with their learning because it allows for creativity to run wild.

The use of images is also a great tool for students. We as the educators can use the images as stimulus material, gauging the learner’s knowledge of the content learnt and seeing what areas need to be focused on. It can also be used at the beginning of a unit to evoke emotion to get the learners involved in the unit, or gauge what they already know about the unit. Students can also create images in order to reflect on their learning, and once again it also allows for students to use their creativity in order to gain interest in their learner. Also getting students to find images about the topic can work in the same way as well.

By incorporating information technologies to all areas of teaching, whether it be Accounting, Physical Education to Agricultural Science to any other of the myriad of subjects currently taught in secondary schools, we are meeting the demands of our students. The 21st Century has brought children who are even more technologically advanced than the previous generation who were also thought to be technologically advanced. This in turn also shows what the many years of teaching are going to look like. As future educators we need to grasp the use of information technologies in all curriculum areas, because the next generation of learners are going to be even more technologically advanced than the generations now, and this is going to keep happening over and over again.

REFERENCES
Department of Education and Training QLD (2010) ICT/Smart Classrooms. Retrieved August 27, 2010, from http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=47912

Watson, G., Proctor, R., Finger, G., Lang, W. (2004) Education students’ views on the integration of ICT into their undergraduate learning experiences. Retrieved August 27, 2010, from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/10072/2520/1/30269_1.pdf


BLOG COMMENTS:
On the blog : Digital Tool 7- Images and Podcasts

Garrett =] said...
I loved imagery as a technology. It is just so simple, yet so versatile at the same time. I really like how you pointed out that "Teachers can incorporate images in order to engage their students, provoke emotion, create interesting effects, and create an interactive and exciting material."I think this is the exact reason why imagery is such an integral part of education and you've summarised it exceptionally well. I think it is amazing how a lot of teachers could be using such a simple technology in lessons every day, yet are not.
August 27, 2010 2:52 AM

On the blog: Wikis for Collaborative Learning

Garrett =] said...
Wikis are such a great learning tool, however I seriously think they need to be utilised more in a classroom. They are so versatile in the concepts of design and user input, which I think is great.I also think the easy access for users to edit information is not as good as it sounds. It opens a lot of windows to your information being jeapordised by stupid users who can add incorrect or stupid information, as well as delete it.I suppose you would have to trust the users of your wiki that they wouldn't ruin your work.
August 27, 2010 2:58 AM

On the blog: Powerpoint

Garrett =] said...
As a fellow business/accounting teacher, I applaud the fact that you've outlined how we can utilise this fantastic technology in our business subjects by making information that can be so bulky at times simplified and easier to read and absorb.I have also used Powerpoint to break down learning the nature of accounts, classifying accounts and showing students example postings to transaction tables and general journals at EPL. I do think you're right about the Accounting aspect also, however does this mean we should be looking further into the application of our information to this medium?
August 27, 2010 3:04 AM