Reflective Synopsis

The last 7 weeks have been a very interesting journey for me in my learning of all things digital.  I have always struggled with ICT so to say that it has been an easy 7 weeks for me would be an understatement. However I have thoroughly enjoyed the new learning that this course has brought to my understanding of how exactly technology can be used and integrated into every class and not only support student learning but improve it. This is especially important with teaching Generation Z and the huge impact and requirement that this new generation rely on technology in their life both at home and at school. This makes digital technologies paramount in my teaching and my pedagogy.

Whilst discovering and investigating the different genres of technologies that have been presents to me over the last 2 months of this course, I have come to the conclusion that students’ knowledge and ability is far beyond that of teachers in reference to all things technological. In fact many teachers are perhaps apprehensive and overwhelmed with the thought of using technologies in their classrooms; me being one of them (however a lot less after this course). This obviously needs to change as technology is the only way forward and it will continue to grow and become even more pertinent in today’s classroom.

We are moving away from the traditional classroom and traditional teaching methods. Once upon a time technology was occasionally used whereas now every lesson involves some form of technology. This forward movement will ultimately result in all teachers adapting their pedagogy to include ICT in their classroom in every lesson. As a teacher, it is our job to scaffold our students learning and therefore paramount that we too move with the times and ensure technology plays a vital role in every classroom.

Something that has surprised me is how user friendly ICT really is. Until now I have always thought of ICT as being something that I would never be able to accomplish using myself. Throughout my weekly reflections I was surprised at how often I was able to make comment about the use of ease of each digital tool that I chose to investigate further. Not being technologically literate at all, I was pleasantly surprised to find the ease of creating and using the different tools. This was comforting and built my confidence in my ability to be able to actually use this ICT regularly and not just a once off in this course.

The SAMR model was a valuable tool for me and one which I will endeavour to refer back to in my teaching.  I initially found it quite difficult to understand the concept of the last two stages. On reflection whenever I had thought about using ICT in a classroom it would have fallen into the ‘Substitution’ or ‘Augmentation’ stage of this model. Therefore it would not have enhanced my students learning but just replaced. This was a valuable insight that I gained and how that using technology needs to go above and beyond that of just replacing a traditional method.

When completing my SAMR table each week I was intrigued to see how I could make it work in a Manual Arts classroom. I had never really thought of Manual Arts being a discipline subject that ICT would be very well used in. My only thoughts would be when students would use computer programs such as CAD etc but not necessarily seeing the difference between students using ICT in learning rather than for learning. Certainly when I was at school, Manual Arts was indeed that – Manual. Whereas now ICT plays a very important role in any classroom, Manual Arts included. Using the SAMR model really opened my eyes into the implementation of each digital tool in my classroom.

An aspect of my learning journey that I was very unaware of was the Legal, safe and ethical issues surrounding technology. It was not something that I had considered that much before now, especially the use of images and YouTube videos and the copyright laws that surround them. This is definitely an area that I will need to investigate further and ensure that I follow these laws and issues at all times. This will also need to be explained in detail to any students as well.   

        

I am very much looking forward to next term and completing my second prac and being able to implement what I have learnt into my teaching practice. Seeing how my students respond and engage will be very rewarding. Although there are still massive gaps in my learning and understanding, I now feel that I am more prepared and willing to explore ICT and use it at every opportunity I have and see how my students benefit from this.