My overall thoughts...

The "Living and Learning with Technology" unit has developed my knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the numerous technology tools that are available to assist in our social lives, our learning, our researching and our teaching. Through the exploration and implication of technologies such as websites, social networking spaces, blog sites, referencing and screencasting tools I have become more aware of their role in supporting meaningful student learning.

The text book "Meaningful Learning with Technology" (Howland, Jonassen & Marra, 2012) has highlighted to me just how many technologies there are ranging from simple concept maps through to more complex tools such as Matlab (www.mathworks.com). One of my favourite quotes from the text book is, "When teachers offer students opportunities for inquiry, they create the potential for rich, meaningful learning experiences. Technology can provide the means for active, authentic learning through investigation both in the classroom and in the field" (21).

As an Education Assistant I have started implementing some of the new technologies, that I have recently acquired, into my teaching role. For instance, I work with a student in year 7 who has low literacy skills so to write up a science report is a daunting task for him. Instead I asked him to take pictures of the experiment, (using Photo Booth on his school Mac Book), then organized the pictures into a sequence of events, (using PowerPoint), and then he created a screencast video, (using QuickTime Player), referring to the slides from his PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate how he conducted his experiment. The activity provided the student with a meaningful learning experience because he was able to complete the same task as the other students by using the appropriate technology tools.

Photos taken using Photo Booth whilst conducting a science experiment.

Working at Tranby College as an Education assistant has made more aware of the relationship and relevance of this "Living and Learning with Technology" unit and teaching. Tranby College is a K-12 school where technology plays an important role in teaching and learning. Tranby College students have been issued with Mac Book laptops, (lower year levels have iPads), and the IT suite has grown significantly in the last couple of years in order to provide support and advise to both teachers and students. The students technology device enables them to access and send information to other students and teachers via the school e mail, read the schools daily notices, access the school wiki, use e books, create iMovies and Podcasts, research and much more...

I was sent this video clip from a teacher at Tranby College that is a fantastic resource that demonstrates how a teacher has designed his science class around a video game to promote meaningful and fun learning.The video highlights to me how the 9 elements of authentic learning have been incorporated within this video game resource.

Another great link that was sent to the teaching staff at Tranby College, (from the IT suite), is from a website called edudemic. There are lots of links to chose from in this website such as, "How Teachers Can Best Use Education Technology."

This unit, and the above websites, make it evident that as a future teacher I need to embrace technology and use it as a tool to enhance and improve my teaching pedagogy. I am also aware that by using technology tools both teachers and students are always learning from each other.

Reference:


Howland, J. L., Jonassen, D., & Marra, R. M . 2012. Meaningful Learning with Technology. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.