Reflective Synopsis

A reflection on what we have completed so far??  Umm where do I start....Ok so my digital clock still flashes '12.00' at me since I bought it, but I was up to the ICT challenge, how hard could it be? that's what I thought......

Wendy in her moodle lesson this week writes " Did you think four weeks ago that you would be here, on top of the mountain, now???"
This does not apply to me at all, I am still struggling up the ICT mountain. I am spending for example 6 1/2 hours today trying to put YouTube clips on my glogster, failing to do so and am feeling physical angst and anxiety. I think the statement is too premature. 

ICT though is part of my new career as a teacher and I have to become ICT proficient. I have certainly learnt a lot so far but will be so much more skilled by the courses end. I am certainly no luddite as I will take up any technology if it improves my life.

Certainly the support the class has given each other has really helped. Everyone seems to be open to help and offer support. I'm not sure if it is because we are post graduates and older/more experienced or if its because we are all heading towards the same teaching vocation. 

I have a number of high school teacher friends and this year have discussed in depth with them about ICT in the classroom. They all would welcome more technology into their classrooms, but they are unanimous from their experiences that technology is not good enough yet. Too many times technology has let them down and so wasting theirs and students time. One example was the teacher had ipads for all students but it took the whole classtime to log everyone in. It was a problem with wifi. Prior setting up and practise does not always find every problem that can crop up. All of the teachers also discussed that when students had a screen in front of them, then the teacher could not monitor what was appropriate on the screen. Many of the children did not keep to the allocated task. Although I know of another high school where all of the students are provided with laptops and there is not the same problem there.

Safe and ethical practise with ICT is always paramount in a teachers workplace. Gary and current teachers have given me many examples of what is not acceptable and what to be aware of.  It is interesting to note that quite often what I may see as innocent such as student photographs on a computer or leaving my phone unattended is open to misbehaviour by students. Also bullying and inappropriate use of digital media by students is to be not taken lightly.

From the exploration of the digital tools over the last 6 weeks, designing pedagogy to include ICT is not only a great way to involve learning theories, but also to keep students motivated and stimulated in the classroom. A wiki lends itself to the social constructivist theory of learning from others opinions and critique. The digital tools and internet exploration allows the connectivism theory of knowing how to search and find information to be utilised fully. The use of all digital tools really makes the student think and be challenged and use complex thinking making the cognitivist learning theory come to life.

I believe when a student is presented with a task using ICT, the student starts using complex thinking to decipher the ICT. If the teacher then scaffolds using Bonos hats, PMI, Swot analysis etc then as teachers we are achieving our main objective, which is inducing complex thinking in our students. 
 
 http://kanemcguire.edu.glogster.com/kane-mcguire/
This is just proof that I have achieved some ICT skills. I'm going to now go and set my digital clock.