The End of the Blog Journey ……or is it?

When beginning this course I will be the first to admit I was daunted by the idea of ITD in the classroom. I was quite confident with the use of PowerPoint and knowing my way around Microsoft office, I could barely add my own pictures to my computer to use and of course Google was my friend. So as you can imagine when I looked at the different ITD that we would be working through I was quite overwhelmed. I certainly wasn’t ready for the crash of ideas that began cascading through my mind on just how I was going to be able to use this technology each week as we learnt about all the different applications available. One personal obstacle I had to overcome was making my work public for my peers to read. It is one thing to write something and have your teacher give you feedback on it, but quite another to put your work out there for everyone to read. Thinking about that now as a teacher this would have to be a consideration when asking students to do the same.  

Image by Swanson

The world is changing and fast, the use of ITD in the classroom is becoming a tool that teachers can use to provide effective learning experiences for their students. Through this course I have been able to gain a deeper understanding and thought process regarding different ITD and their use in the classroom. At first the idea of using the SAMR model and Blooms taxonomy in conjunction with ITD didn’t make sense, as you can see from my earlier posts. It wasn’t until my last blog post that I was actually able to combine the process in my mind and link my ITD platform with these frameworks. Being able to create ITD practices, that link with critical thinking and redefine work that was previously impossible without the use of ITD, will have positive benefits for all students in the classroom. The ability to critically reflect on the multitude of ITD was one of the most powerful tools I have obtained through this course. These skills presented themselves as quite a useful tools, making sure that the experience I would provide with ITD was giving the students the ‘Higher order thinking Skills of Blooms taxonomy’. Also bringing into focus the SAMR model as a tool to discern whether the ITD I had chosen to use did in fact provide students with a platform to modify or redefine a task rather than just a substitution of other forms of resources. It is important also at the planning stage to consider the Dimensions of Learning (DoL), Written by Marzano, the DoL plans out a framework for teachers to ensure that students have the right attitude towards learning, that they are capable, that they not only acquire knowledge but use it critically, just like the SAMR model and Blooms taxonomy, teaching students to take the knowledge and skills we provide them and use them in context. The DoL cover a range of pedagogical practices that used in conjunction with SAMR, Bloom’s and ITD can create engaging learning environments in the classroom for all students. How would think look in a classroom? As a home economics teacher an example of redefinition of ITD in the classroom and higher order thinking could look like this. An assignment where students need to choose a culture from around the world, engage via ITD with a student from that area and design an essay about the different style of food, preparation and so on. Then have them design a menu or eating plan from information about that culture. This is a process that before ITD would have been unable to happen.

I think at this stage it is imperative to remember that there is a broad range of technology and it is rapidly changing therefore as an educator in the 21^st century we need to stay in touch with what is available. The best ways for teachers to keep up to date with ITD in the classroom is, I believe a combination of personal development, collaboration with peers (particularly is your chosen subject) and educational research on digital literacy

Whilst ITD in the classroom can bring many positives it is also important to ensure that all students are safe while online and are taught through explicit instruction that there are legal, safe and ethical behaviours they should use whenever they use technology. Schools now follow procedure about photography of students with a legal need due to the far reaching abilities of the internet. The Government have set up the ‘Cyber smart’ website which is made for students, parents, teachers and schools and can be found here . Educators in Canada have created a website full of ideas and tools for teachers to use in the classroom concerning our ‘digital footprint’ which has a range of videos and activities for all to watch and can be found here This is important and relevant information for all students in regards to their own personal safety and the legal and ethical behaviour they need to use whilst online. 

Crowd-Sourced Cybersafety Wordle

My defining moment throughout this course however was a personal one. I shared this information on my thinglink blog posted 11 April 2015 where I discussed working on an ITD project with one of my peers and how I really benefited from it. I began reflecting on this and realised that not only did that experience change my view on collaboration but reading the weekly blogs of others in this course (yes I didn’t reply to all) really helped me to understand some of the ideas and concepts that I either had wrong in my mind or just gave me a wider view of. This in itself was something that I have struggled with for many years, but I have found an appreciation for collaboration as well as the wide range of uses ITD have provided. So is this indeed the end of my Blog journey? I think not!