In the 21st century, learners are becoming more
and more immersed in the digital revolution that began in the late 1990’s.
Traditional teaching methods of pen, paper, board and recorder are next to
obsolete. Prensky (2001, p. 1) calls the learners of today, those who are part
of the first generation to grow up with technology as integral part of their
lives, ‘Digital Natives’. I am a digital native: I speak the language of the
digital world; my life is ingrained in it. This, I believe gives me a good
place to begin to implement eLearning into my educational experiences. This
reflective synopsis maps out the journey of learning I took in this course
introducing me to eLearning and its many applications.
Learning Theory and eLearning Framework
Now that we realise that the digital world is essential to
21st century learning, it is essential to structure what eLearning
is. The Open and Distance Learning Quality Council of the UK (n.d., as cited in
Mason & Rennie, 2006, p. xiv) provide a very clear definition of what
eLearning should be: “E-Learning is the effective learning process created by a
combining digitally delivered content with (learning) support and services”.
The important part here I believe, is that eLearning is not the one heaven sent
tool that will make learning design easier, but with appropriate design and
implementation of traditional learning theories such as Constructivism,
Cognitivism and Behaviourism, eLearning can make learning more effective. (My reflections on these learning models can be found here). This is where the
Technology, Pedagogy and Content Framework (TPACK) must be exploited by
educators. Upon reflection on the TPACK theory, I concluded that
technology and eLearning should not detract from effective pedagogy and
essential content, only enhance it.
Siemens (2004) stated, “Learning is a process that occurs
within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the
control of the individual.” To this end, he added to the traditional learning
theories by creating a hybrid learning theory called Connectivism, my blogpost on Connectivism describes the principles and process of the theory and my opinions on it. Connectivism will empower my learners to take control of
their development and begin the process of online learning. I put my faith in
eLearning making learning more effective, not easier.
Wiki Activity - Intro to Scaffolding
The first activity we took part in was a scaffolded wiki
activity discussing mobile phones in the classroom. Having never used a wiki
before in an educational setting, I found it a very engaging tool, if not a
confusing and poorly designed one to start. I identified the activity as being
based in a social constructivist learning theory and this demonstrated how
learning theory could be exploited in eLearning. The scaffolding used, De
Bono’s thinking hats, helped structure our responses to what was a very open
question. Upon reflection in my blog, it made me realise a very
important facet of eLearning: structured and scaffolded learning experiences
will always be more effective than non-structured experiences. I can see myself
creating scaffolding collaborative learning experiences for students in my
learning area, perhaps by creating a repository of music for students to
discuss and add to in homework activities.
ICT Tools
We then proceeded to look at four groups of tools, namely,
online spaces, multimedia, presentations and simulations/applications. For each
group of tools, we have been asked to extrapolate our reflections for
assessment. These tools form part of effective eLearning pedagogies that are based in sound learning theory.
Group 1 - Blogs
Blogs are one of the online spaces we covered in Group 1. I
have found blogs to be very engaging personally, and I have thoroughly enjoyed
working on my blog for this assessment. The more I have added to my blog,
looked around at others and drawn understanding from them, as well as rereading
my own posts to reinforce knowledge demonstrates how effective a blog can be. My blog posting on blogging goes into depth on my findings from exploring
blogs and included a scaffolded analysis tool (SWOT Analysis) to structure my
reflection.
Blogs have a place in effective pedagogies and structured
learning experiences, but as with all digital tools, need to be scaffolded to
ensure maximum benefit is gained from them. For example, asking student to post
in a blog weekly will not suffice as an effective learning experience. Asking
students to post in a blog weekly using a structured reflection tool (De Bono’s
Hats, SWOT, PMI, KWL amongst others) to frame their reflection on specific
topics will be much more productive and produce more higher order thinking. (This
has been the practical part of this assessment). Not only can I use blogs as a
repository of information or as a one-stop shop for a specific class, but
students can use them to post assessment to, reflect with, engage in wide
ranging discussion and take control of their own learning through the theories
of Connectivism and Constructivism. I have also found through working with
websites and wikis that blogs can become part of these online spaces as well,
also providing a space for other digital tools to work in.
Group 2 - Audio Media and Podcasts
The next group of tools we investigated included multimedia,
including images, audio and video. For my field of education, music, the audio
tools we looked at are the most essential ICT’s I will come across in my
teaching experience. While audio is naturally relevant for my field, the idea
of multimodal literacies that is, being able to use, comprehend and interpret
literacies across many mediums (audio, visual, linguistic, spatial and
gestural) is essential for learning in the 21st century: information
can be found in several very different forms (Henderson & Exley, 2012, p.
22). Fasso (2013) goes on to suggest, that aural literacy (audio mediums),
together with visual literacy, are becoming essential in the 21st Century
literacy set. I investigated many uses of audio as an ICT tool, including audio
recording, downloading podcasts for educational purposes and creating podcasts.
My reflection and investigation results were added to this blog posting.
Audio recording can produce higher order thinking skills (HOTS)
in students by making them create their own music recordings. Students could
create their own original material by manipulating musical elements in ways
that benefit their score demonstrate a higher level of synthesis as well as
analysis. They could then upload this all to a blog for class discussion and
teacher feedback, integrated several ICT tools at once and implementing social
constructivism.
Group 3 - Presentations
The third group of tools we considered were presentations.
Building on what we had already discovered about ICT tools such as online
spaces and multimedia, the presentation tools we learnt about grew on me as a
nice way to connect multimedia and online spaces in a seamless way. In some
aspects presentations are spaces to display information (online or not) and in
others they became multimedia (especially Prezis). The main aspect of this tool
though is that it is a way of interacting with data/information presentation.
From personal reflection on my many experiences with
PowerPoint presentations, I’ve seen that poorly designed PowerPoint’s do more
to hinder a presentation rather than help it. A streamlined presentation that
is not extroverted or full of extraneous media is often the best approach. This
design aspect is something I will need to always consider when creating
presentations, and indeed for all ICT tools: this relates back to an effective
pedagogy through clarity and concision. Prezis are much more of an exciting,
flash animation based version of presentation, which can be so much more
engaging, not necessarily more interactive than a PowerPoint. I created a Prezi and posted it to a blog posting reflecting on my experience with presentation tools.
Group 4 - Soundation
For our Group 4 tool, we were given freedom to explore our
own digital tools. I came across a application called Soundation, an online
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to record music on, at a very entry level
industry standard manner. Once I had explored the app and created my own track,
I posted a reflection that explains how I will use the app and how I can
implement it in effective pedagogy and content. As a entry level DAW, I
recognise that this is a good place for learners to start in the recording
industry, before moving onto standard software such as ProTools and Logic. I
can honestly say I was surprised at how powerful this amazingly free online app
was and how easy it was to use. This makes it an incredibly helpful tool for my
learners.
Online Safety, Legal Concerns and Ethical Considerations
As an overarching consideration, the safety of learners
online, the legal ramifications of their actions and the ethics they employ
should be an underlying focus of all learning designs using ICT’s, particularly
online. In learning about online safety, ethics and legalities, I realised that
it has become a massive issue today and that teachers are directly responsible
for the implementation of safe, ethical and legal learning environments, both
online and in the real world through explicit teaching. I discussed this in my blog posting found here and included some resources I have found helpful to guide me in this area.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this Assessment task, discovering
new and rediscovering old digital tools and how to implement them in my
learning experiences. I believe that I now have the personal tools to adapt and
create learning experiences that will integrate the digital world of the 21st
century into a rapidly changing classroom, whatever that ‘classroom’ may be.
References
Fasso, W. (2013). Digital
Tool 5: Podcasting. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-Courses EDED20491 ICT’s
for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115359
Henderson, R., & Exley, B. (2012). Planning for Literacy.
In Henderson, R. (Eds.), Teaching
literacies in the middle years: Pedagogies and diversity. (1st
ed., pp. 18–56). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
Mason, R., & Rennie, F. (2006). Elearning : The Key
Concepts. Routledge.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism:
A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
