Reflective Synopsis
Even though I first bought a computer in 1996 and became familiar with the internet, I was really ‘green’ to all these technologies that we have explored in ICT for Learning Design up to the present date. I did not know what a Wiki was, never read or made a blog, did have contact with Google Doc’s but did not know much about them, and never made a presentation or knew all the presentation tools that I do now. It has been a steady learning curve for me in the IT world. I was also introduced for the first time to pedagogy and other concepts, but I expected that on this course. What I did not expect was to become part of the new breed of teachers offering ICT learning to students. I do not believe I have achieved that goal yet, but I have a taste of the knowledge I need.
An area of our course I did have difficulty with was Bloom. One should not blame what we were kindly provided with, but the provision of this verb wheel completely bamboozled me: -
Picture 1. Bloom’s taxonomy verb wheel. As shown in week two
learning materials. Source:
http://teachonline.asu.edu/2012/10/aligning-assessments-with-learning-objectives/
What would have helped more was the inverted pyramid that was shown
(almost out of the observable range) in the top right hand corner of the link
to Bloom’s taxonomy in week two’s learning materials.
Picture 2. Bloom’s taxonomy. Most important top to least important learning bottom. Source: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/id/bloom_taxonomy.jpg
I found Bloom’s taxonomy a very hard thing to get my head around at
first. I must have reached my “buffer” in retention because I did not get
the concept in week two and was bluffing in my reflective assessment for that
week. What really threw me was the other learning taxonomies also included
on the web-page linked from the learning materials -- it just confused and overwhelmed
me. Bloom’s importance became clear when another subject in our course
taught Bloom’s taxonomy and here I had a head start.
We are trying to escape the learning theory Behaviourism (aka
Objectivism) and move to the higher order thinking of being "Learning Managers" scaffolding what students learn. To reflect on my own personal journey, being
over the mid-life age mark, I am unable to recite almost all the mathematical
formulas I learned at school and could not even do this fifteen years ago, at
one occasion in my thirties, when asked if I knew the formula for the radius of
a circle -- as a joke that I could not do it. I am to be a biology teacher,
however, I cannot remember thirteen years back to when I last learned the
anatomy of the cell. Obviously we forget things and therefore there is
some merit in connectivism: like it or not, I am now a connectivist as I have
to look these things up. I do believe in Behaviourism for some aspects of
learning, like for the anatomy of the cell, but think that Vygotski’s theory of
social constructivist is the best for the majority of learning. The “More
Knowledgeable Other” and “Zone of Proximal Development” seem to make
so much sense to me. I would have had to change my attitudes when at
primary school because I think I would have felt embarrassed breaking into
groups and learning off my peers, as is the suggested way of constructivist
theory.
Figure
3. Movie: Piaget & Vygotsky in 90 seconds. Sourced from Youtube video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-SXM8f0gU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-SXM8f0gU
Having admitted to being constructivist, the use of the web 2.0 tools
would serve me well as a teacher. We have learned about Wiki and Google
Doc’s, which serve this purpose. I am yet to narrow down how I am going
to exactly use these tools in the teaching environment: biology seems to have
so much behaviourist learning. Geography, my other teaching area, would
make better use of these tools due to the more Social-Studies-nature of the
subject. I was not initially a fan of Wiki, as were my peers, but I am
seeing their value in ICT teaching.
Legally safely and ethically has been continually outlined in tutorials
as an important topic. This was first covered in week 2 of the ICT course.
I am not entirely sure if I have been working legally. For example,
the images I have copied from other web-pages are shown, even in this blog, open
to the public. I am of the understanding that if I use another’s clip art
or picture, for education purposes, the web-site I show it on should be
password protected to allow only the students to view it. Further
clarification will be needed. I intend to become a collector of images so
that I can use my own images for presentations. I knew a journalist who
took a photo of anything and everything she thought was interesting to have an
image library, I know now why.
Ensuring professional reputation was another legally, safely, and
ethically issue constantly brought up in class. I am generally fearful of
my teaching career lest an inappropriate image of me might be taken or my
facebook account, for example, is hacked. I am teaching secondary, so
this is a real possibility.
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All-in-all it has been an interesting journey and good learning for me. The learning curve has been steep, but not impossible. I will have to consolidate this learning with future practice.
