Assessment Task Two - Reflective Blog

Reflective Blog

This is a reflective synopsis on what I have learnt about ICT’s in the learning environment, their importance in contemporary classrooms, their safe and ethical use and the responsibilities and needs of the learners and learning manager who use ICT’s. In the following paragraphs I will discuss the required knowledge of both learner and learning manager and the required actions that supplement these knowledge requirements.

Students throughout the last few decades have become more and more immersed in ICT’s and technology, both in the learning environment and their day to day life. Technology today is developing at a more rapid pace than ever resulting in the learners of today’s ‘information society’ somewhat depending on some form of ICT to carry out their daily lives. It is for this reason that it is essential for learning managers and learners alike to embrace ICT’s in classrooms, understand how to use ICT in a positive educational manner and explore the huge, ever expanding, information hub that is the internet and ICT’s, which are so vastly different to the technologies of a few decades ago.

What the Learning Manager needs to know

ICT’s have virtually endless possibilities and variations, it is for this reason very important that the learning manager maintain and up to date knowledge of a wide range of educational ICT’s and how to best use them in the classroom environment. It is the responsibilities of the learning manager to take a proactive stance towards investigating educational ICT’s and to continually monitor new digital resources and ways to effectively use for students learning. They need to know what is out there and how to use it, which is a daunting task when you take into consideration the huge numbers of new educational ICT’s that are created every single day. Learning managers should know their students and make judgements on appropriate times for the learners to choose their own ICT’s and to take (learning manager guided) direction of their own learning. It is also important for the learning manager to be able to evaluate the success of the implementation of the ICT and to take appropriate steps to either continue use of the specific ICT strategy or to redesign the learning plan. The learning manager must also know the legal, safety and ethical information behind working in an online communication environment. They must remain current with information to keep the children, and the hardware ICT’s that they use safe from harmful external sources. Along with knowing the advantages of particular ICT’s it is important that the learning manager be aware of the disadvantages of each ICT and how to use them so that the advantages to learning outweigh the disadvantages. Contingency plans must also be made for the sometimes inevitable failure of technology.

What the Learning Manager Needs to Do

All of the ICT knowledge that the learning manager must acquire is meaningless without it being used. It is not enough for learning managers to simply know about ICT’s, they must also have the ability and skills to predict what learning situation each ICT would work best in, identify which students would benefit from the use of said ICT (including individuals, small groups, whole classes or even larger cohorts) and must be able to purposely design and explicitly explain the expected use of ICT’s and efficiently implement this learning design to incorporate the ICT in the learning of the class. To sum it up, learning managers must be able to embed the most suitable digital resource into their pedagogical design and structure lessons around ICT’s so that their use is safer and more easily functioning and therefore more conducive to learning. A learning manager must see themselves as a learner and be willing to accept the expertise of others (professionals and students) to maximise the benefit to all learners, the learning manager included.  The learning manager must actively seek a way to become confident with the tools that they will be using within the learning environment, whether it is to practise using the tool or to seek help from someone else. A learning manager cannot expect to teach learners about the safe and ethical use of a digital technology if they know little to nothing about it themselves or have low confidence with the technology. Learning managers also needs to build interactivity within the use of tools for example encourage the use of peer discussion and feed back within a wiki. And to allow guided independence in letting the students sometimes pick their own specific ICT, for example telling the student that they need a digital visual to go along with a speech but the specific digital tool they pick is up to them (PowerPoint, a video, a YouTube link, a slideshow etc). It is crucial for learning managers to be able to perform these tasks in order for a smooth integration of ICT’s in classroom learning.

What the Learners Need to Know

21^st century learners need to know and understand that ICT’s are something that will continually change and that they as learners will need to continue to be adaptable. Without this adaptability, the students run a very serious risk of being swept away by the proverbial ‘tidal wave’ that is the rapid change in digital technologies. Not being aware of current technologies decreases the opportunities available to the student and is therefore detrimental to their learning. It is also required that the learners know that they are expected to engage in ICT’s purposefully and in a safe and responsible manner. Without purpose and responsibility, ICT use becomes a big distraction to learning very quickly. When working in an online environment students need to be aware of the ‘netiquette’ or rules to follow , simple things like not typing in capitals unless they intend to come across as having an ALL CAPS RAGE! and yelling at the reader. Safety is a major component of working with ICT’s and must be addressed before the students even turn on their selected digital device. Most schools nowadays run off a system that can block undesirable or unsafe material from reaching learners, but it is important to teach learners how to be safe on their own, because it is more than likely that their home computers no not have this blocking network. Students will come across mountains of information in an online environment and as anyone can upload information, students need to be taught to filter out credible information and to disregard all of the online ‘junk’. Strategies such as using Google Scholar and journal databases and using school and university online libraries are all effective ways of ensuring that students can access scholarly, credible, correct information. The legal issues of being online are also something that must be explained, in detail to the students before the first use of ICT’s in a classroom. Everything that is not of their own creation (pictures they have taken, things they have written etc) is the property of the person that originally posted them online. Granted it may sometimes be virtually impossible to find the original poster of a picture, but students must be taught to correctly reference where they did find it. This will ensure a purposeful, smooth running, safe and legal use of ICT’s.

What the Learner Needs to Do

When using ICT’s the learner is expected to participate responsibly in activities, this will ensure further use of ICT’s within the classroom. The learner is also expected to collaborate with others using ICT’s to construct knowledge. Digital tools are just that, tools. They do not give you the knowledge; they simply provide the information for learners to take in and perceive to construct their own knowledge.  When provided with a choice of which specific digital tool to use, learners are expected to choose thoughtfully and with purpose applicable ICT’s that they feel will best aid their learning or the learning outcome of the audience. It is the responsibility of any learner capable of understanding the legal guidelines and restrictions to follow these in an ethical and just manner to ensure safe and continues use of ICT’s.

There might seem that there is a lot for learning managers and learners to know and do when using digital technologies, but it really comes down to being safe, being ethical and following legal guidelines, having a purpose to use ICT’s and to have sufficient knowledge and confidence with a wide range of ICT’s to allow you (learner and learning manager alike) to make an informed decision about which specific digital tool will best benefit the task at hand. A brief overview of some of the infinite numbers of digital tools is available here 1-4 Technologies

I perceive my classroom in the future to be ICT savvy and connected so that I can provide my students with the best opportunities to extend their learning and construct knowledge and higher-order thinking through the use of digital tools. As a pre-service learning manager I will endeavour to fulfil all of these knowledge and action categories that are required of me to effectively use ICT’s to benefit my students learning journeys. I will strive towards this by remaining proactive with research towards educational ICT’s and instructional design to ensure that my future learners have the best chance and are well equipped for the ever increasingly ICT based culture of today.