Over the course thus far I have learnt that it is important that students in 21st century classrooms are given the opportunity to develop ICT capabilities to keep up with the continuing advancements of technologies within today’s society. With allowing learners to engage in these technologies will increase their vital skills to become informed and active members of society. Schools and teachers firstly need to educate themselves of the importance and benefits ICT’s offer, then implement ICT’s into their classrooms to develop the students ICT capabilities. The 21st century has been identified as the digital age and as addressed in The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008), the young people will need to be highly skilled in ICT’s. Therefore teachers need the ability to increase students’ knowledge and effectiveness of ICT’s within classroom activities. Teachers will need a variety of different technologies within the classroom for this to be possible. The utilisation of strategies, pedagogies and frameworks such as the SAMR model will enable teachers to increase the students ICT capabilities within the classroom by implementing these technologies.
Learning experiences designed by incorporating pedagogical approaches can be used to guide teachers in implementing ICT’s into the classroom using productive pedagogies. Productive pedagogies are broken down into four key areas, these include: Connectedness, supportive classroom environment, recognition differences and intellectual quality. Teachers are able to use productive pedagogies which are able to be embedded into the learning environment of classroom activities that incorporate the use of ICT’s. Examples of this is in the week four reflection, week four required student to create video’s explaining the process that they undertook, investigating the benefits of using multimedia. This task questioned student’s abilities and engaged them in higher order thinking skills, interpreting and analyse data. By creating a video and presenting their work, it developed the student’s ICT capabilities.
This activity allows students to address the productive pedagogy of intellectual quality as well as incorporating ICT within the classroom. The productive pedagogy of connectedness can also be incorporated into ICT centred classroom activities. The use of wiki’s in week three saw the idea of students engaging in tasks of both associated electives (IT@D and Geography), being communicated. This activity provides students opportunities to develop connectedness by being able to communicate with their peers in an online setting, also creating opportunities for students to work as a team and learn from their peers. In order to effectively embed these pedagogies and ICT capabilities into classrooms, teachers can utilised frameworks such as SAMR to guide and assist in designing learning experiences. The four levels of the SAMR framework can assist to redefine learning experiences, ensuring that ICT can be effectively used within classrooms. The substitution level allows teachers to take tasks and conduct them using ICT. An example of this is teachers utilising Glogster or Wiki’s, designing worksheets that students can complete over the internet, as reflected in the past weeks. This changes the interaction to computer based activities rather than paper based activities. Substitution and augmentation are the bottom levels of the SAMR framework and allow for guided instruction from the teacher, keeping the control over learning in the teachers hands. With the use of technology, teaching and learning can transfer from teacher centred to student centred, with the support of the last two levels (modification and redefinition) of the SAMR framework allowing students to take control of their own learning. As in my reflection from week 4, students are given the opportunity to create and produce a video to present to their fellow class mates also allowing them to work collaboratively on a local, national and global level. This enable students to share ideas and perspectives which can enhance the students’ ability to gain a deeper understanding.
With teachers utilising the SAMR model to design their learning experiences, the effectiveness of ICT capabilities is increased through student centred learning. Important factors that must to be considered when using technology within the classroom, are the legal, safe and ethical practices, these must be adhered to when using ICT. Teachers need to educate and make students aware of the importance of these behaviours as it will have an impact on their learning within the classroom. Teachers are able to do this by modelling the legal, safe and ethical practices to the students as well as creating classroom activities that incorporate these behaviours.
In conclusion, teachers need to address the importance the growing uses of technology within society. Effective learning experiences that enhance the students ICT capabilities can be achieved if teachers incorporate ICT’s into classrooms, through the use of productive pedagogies and the SAMR framework. It is imperative in creating successful 21st century learners that these capabilities are addressed within classroom practices.
Reference:
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). (2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf, Dates accessed 07/05/2015
