WEEK 2: Digital Pedagogy

Before discussing the main topic of week 2's class, students were provided with a brief understanding of the intention of the education process. It was stated that the goal intended in teaching students was

"To enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners who are socially responsible, resilient and active citizens of the world. Education is about teaching students, not subjects. Education is about providing students with opportunities to be challenged and still succeed." (Teaching in Digital Environments, CQU Australia (2013))

Personally I consider this statement to be both wise and accurate as certain members of the society consider teachers to be people who fill students with knowledge (as demonstrated in the photograph above) which they may never again use in life; however that is not true.

Week 2: Digital Pedagogy

What is digital pedagogy? At first I asked myself the same thing.....
Digital Pedagogy is defined as the use of electronic elements or devices to enhance and/or alter the experience of education. This could be associated with any sort of technology usage for example; whether it be the use of a PowerPoint presentation or using certain internet programs such as a wiki on the iPad.

The Education of Queensland identifies digital pedagogy a being:

"A new way of working and learning with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to facilitate quality learning experiences for the 21st century learners. Digital Pedagogy moves the focus from ICT tools and skills, to a way of working in the digital world." (p.3)

Using technology devices and/or programs within the classroom have proven to be effective in improving the students ability to obtain further knowledge through enquiry and connecting to sources of information (both primary and secondary across the world).

Why should technology be used within the classroom?

Some reasons being:
1. To connect students to a variety of multi-modal resources.
2. For assessment activities; for example: quizzes, small group collaboration, assignment upload.
3. Helps blend internal and external students.
4. Learning with ICT is beneficial only when appropriate learning approaches are taken.

Who is considered to be an expert teacher?
In the 20th century an expert teacher was considered to be an educator who could bring together their thorough knowledge of a subject/topic with a profound understanding of what is good for learning and the learner. However; as we are currently living the 21st century an expert teacher is an individual who can bring together knowledge that is good for learning, and technology (ICT).
This is now known as the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK).

TPACK:
Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge attempts to identify the nature of knowledge required by teachers for technology integration in their teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted and situated nature of teacher knowledge (Matthew Koehler, May 13 (2011)).

The TPACK is sometimes referred to as the 'three legged stool' as the stool is unable to remain standing if one of the legs are missing (the legs, referred to as Technology, Pedagogy and Content).

Basically to become a good teacher a person is required to demonstrate adequate knowledge in...
1. Technology - A person must understand how to use technology to teach the students
2. Pedagogy - A person must know how to deliver the information in various ways that both interest and teachers the students
3. Content - A person must understand the topic in which they delivering to the student
Without all of these requirements, the stool will fall, implying that the class with fall with it.

Speaking from a personal experience on this topic, for the last two years of my high schooling career although this one teacher in particular was genuinely nice, she was unable to adequately teach the class anything as she did not appear overly confident about the content that she was delivering and wasn't well adapted to the use of technology in the classroom.
Blooms Taxonomy:
Blooms Taxonomy is considered to be a process which supports the understanding of the types of thinking, the ways of questioning and designing learning to support the presentation of knowledge.
The Government of South Australia quotes that blooms taxonomy "provides a structured questioning method that allows for students to engage in higher order thinking processes."
This process can be divided into six sections: (as shown in the figure below)
1. Creating
2. Evaluating
3. Analysing
4. Applying
5. Understanding
6. Remembering

It is said that effective teaching does not always revolve around the content that is being displayed, but is a process of introducing student-held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge and creating as the culmination of learning.

As I was still a little confused on this process myself, I have attached a link which displays key words relating to each topic which may assist anyone who is struggling to grasp the concept of what each section is indicating, I hope this helps :)
Blooms Taxonomy Key Assistance

Finally, before I bore you all into a deep sleep, the last discussion raised was de Bono's thinking hats.

De Bono's thinking hats provides a framework to help students think clearly and thoroughly by directing their thinking attention to one aspect of the topic at a time.
This is achieved through the sections of: white hat facts, green hat creativity, yellow hat benefits, black cautions, red hat feelings, and blue hat process.

The class was presented with an activity based on the use of mobile phones within the classrooms and asked to illustrate our response on the wiki so here is the link to my response.....
NO! to using mobile phones in class
In short, my response indicated that mobile phones should not be used within the classroom as they are too much of a distraction among students and they are not focusing on the task that the teacher is trying to teach!

Now I know the text in the picture won't apply directly to the topics that children discuss in class (as the students of this generation may not be aware of who Jerry Springer is); however this is an example of how easily students can get distracted in class when they are not focusing on the topic at hand! Allowing students to use mobile phones within the classroom would be a mistake as it would affect their learning and concentration abilities.

Thankyou for listening, I hope that I didn't make too many of you fall asleep :)
Talk again soon,
Breanna