This reflection entitled ‘Analysis of digital technologies’ is an assessment piece to analyse four digital technologies; Wiki’s, Podcasts, PowerPoint and Google Earth. The use of digital technologies in an education setting, including formal and informal settings is an important aspect of learning and teaching. Accordingly, the acquisition of the skills, tools and literacies related to digital technologies is integral for the learning manager and the student alike. The Queensland College of Teachers (2006, p. 9) require teachers to ‘know and understand’ “teaching and learning strategies that incorporate the purposeful use of ICT by teacher and student to promote deeper and more focused engagement with the content”. Furthermore, inauthentic and or insufficient use of digital technologies can reduce “student interest and teacher enthusiasm” (Hiliton, G., & Hilton, A., 2010, p. 243). Subsequently, as Ralph Olliges (2009, p. 14) advocates, the training of “pre-service teachers to effectively use technology” can diminish the risk of inauthentic and or insufficient use. So as a result, of engaging in the learning activities from week three to five I will critically Analyse and reflect upon the four digital technologies to demonstrate how I would use them to enhance, support and transform student learning.
Wikis:
Wikis are fluid and flexible digital learning spaces. The flexible and fluid natures of wikis make it an ideal learning space for students to write, compose and collaborate in their own work. It also allows students to add edit and collaborate on other students’ wikis. This feature clearly defines wikis as an excellent open and freely expressive space for ”facilitating online authoring” (Brown, 2010, p. 225). Thus, students have “a sense of empowerment” to facilitate a reciprocal learning and teaching “environment” with “each new reader”/student becoming a “writer”, collaborator, and teacher in “sharing their knowledge” (Olliges, 2009, pp. 14-15) with others. The advantages of wikis is that they can facilitate “Joint Construction of Texts”, therefore creating opportunities for students to
- “actively participate in constructing meaningful text.
- share power and responsibility in composing text.
- explore how text is constructed.
- experience demonstrations of written conventions.
- talk, write and read about topics of interest.” (Swan, 2009, p. 47).
With this in mind, when I engage in constructing my own wiki I based it upon the notion of it facilitating a learning environment that looks at visual literacies. It is therefore, in my opinion that wikis are a valuable and accessible digital technology for facilitating different learning experiences.
Podcast what are they and what are the benefits?:
To put is simply podcasts are flexible audio and visual digital resources. The content pertaining to podcasts “include audio, video and image materials” (Hew, 2009, p. 333) that may be constructed adapted and published with a particular audience in mind. In this way, podcasting is able to facilitate different learning styles, learning and teaching experiences for both the authors and audience. Consequently, it is pertinent to suggest that all students can engage in, and create in online environments (Prensky, 2005, p. 62) like podcasts. Subsequently they can, contribute towards meaningful learning experiences. So when it came to designing and constructing my podcast entitled Wordsworth a use of digital technology and poetry, I selected a learning context, “Understanding Poetry” within the English KLA to demonstrate how video, audio and text can be combined to give an interpretive reading. As a result, of designing and constructing this simple podcast I became aware of its potential use by students who can publish their ideas and thoughts through a versatile and flexible technology.
Having established this, a critical question may be asked; as to what are the benefits that podcasts have for students, and those who use and view them? When it comes to learning managers who embed podcasts within their learning experience, will most certainly design and construct a few of their own; however, they will also notice a huge volume of content already available for them to use. In this way students can benefit from cross-curriculum and/or curriculum specific content that is relevant and has real life applications for the students, that promotes inclusivity and accommodates different learning styles and learning needs of all students (Queensland, Department of Education, 2005, pp. 20-21). Now when we consider the students use of podcasts through a constructivist perspective (Westwood, 2004, p. 22) we truly appreciate the significance of this digital resource; when students plan, design, download, construct, write and publish their knowledge. Furthermore, as Westwood indicates this moves the focus away from “teacher-directed” mode of learning to one that is “student centred, active learning” (Westwood, 2004, p. 22), thus providing stimulating eLearning experiences for the individual, and other students, peers and/or student cohort by scaffolding their podcasts in such a manner to engage and create authentic discussion.
Yet having said all this, there is a risk that inadequate use and abuse of this technology can lead to student disengagement. I am now referring to podcasts that reside within the constraints of dare I say it ‘chalk and talk’. This perhaps is the downside of podcasts. Therefore, it should not be a pedagogy surrogate for direct teaching, and/or baby-sitting. The severity becomes apparent when we understand that ICT’s are “liberating, productive, and creative resources to support the curriculum… students” (Ljungdahl, 2010, p. 415) and the learning manager to construct new knowledge. So, I have found that podcasting does present some risks or pitfalls for the learning manager, however it is undeniably valuable, in facilitating learning and teaching.
PowerPoint: A student eLearning space.
As I had mentioned in a previous blog post PowerPoint is an eLearning space and/or presentation tool that has been utilized for some time now; some may argue it is an over-utilized tool. However, it is when students use the technology that the benefits and outcomes are similar to wikis and podcasts; but mostly podcasts. PowerPoint is said to be worthy for “classroom use” as it is not limited in its application” (Hiliton, G., & Hilton, A., 2010, p. 335) furthermore as Westwood (2006, p. 33) indicates, students “learn from their own active and creative processing of information using a range of authentic resources”. Another key feature with PowerPoint is that students may use it to facilitate assessment or the presentation of assessment pieces. The versatility of this technology is that students not only can use it for “self-directed learning” but also for “self-assessment” by constructing ePortfolios of their work to demonstrate their active progress (Wyatt-Smith, C.M., Cumming, J.J., Elkins, J., & Colbert, P., 2010, p. 335). Likewise learning managers can use ePortfolios as a mode of review and/or reflecting on the learning journey and progress of her/his students. Yet when it came to my construction of a PowerPoint I first saw it as a mere presentation tool to illustrate its use within a direct learning context of considering picture books as a vehicle to demonstrate the importance of cover analyses. By doing this exercise in an all be it a limited way, I became overtly aware of the potential students have when they use this digital technology to facilitate their own learning journey. Thus, I now view PowerPoint as a versatile and limitless resource for classroom use.
Google Earth: An informative website.
Google Earth is a reference website that has a vast array of geographical information for students to access, perhaps, somewhat like a three dimensional atlas or encyclopaedia. The benefits of this technology are that students may gain access (Ljungdahl, 2010, p. 406) to and/or travel to places and spaces that they may otherwise be restricted; due to their own location or isolation. Consequently, students are empowered by this resource to discover, analyse, and interpret different geographical regions. Most certainly, I would agree that the greatest strength of this resource is its ability for global connectivity. When accessing websites of this nature it is easy to assess its abundant capabilities; yet, “using it successfully in the classroom”, summons captious discernment (Ljungdahl, 2010, p. 404) thus, caution must prevail. By this, I mean Google Earth is not a stand-alone eLearning space that allows students to contribute to or collaborate on, in the same manner as the previous technologies. Nevertheless, this technology can be authentically embedded in a learning experience related to a KLA, where by students can gather contextual information to enhance a reading of narratives, political cartoons, maps and any other text that is being viewed or read. Therefore, I believe the capabilities of this technology be fully utilized and explored across all curriculums.
Summation: A reflective analysis of my learning journey with these digital technologies.
In my participation and subsequent review and analysis of these four digital technologies, it is pertinent for me to consider the varying types of literacies needed for successful engagement. It is in my view that regardless of the mode and/or type of digital technology students and the learning manager need to have literacies that match the individual eLearning spaces to allow access and active engagement. Therefore, it is wise to consider Luke and Freebody’s (2009, as cited in Bull, G., & Anstey, M., 2010, p. 1) definition of literacy in the light of digital technologies,
Literacy is the flexible and sustainable mastery of repertoire of practices with the texts of traditional and new communications technologies via spoken, print and multimedia.
Therefore, when embedding these technologies in a learning experience the learning manager should consider not only teaching the students how to use them, but go one-step further, evaluate and assess the level of literacy proficiency needed, then teach any new literacy required. It was not until I actively engaged in learning how to use these four digital technologies and others for developing my pedagogical repertoire to facilitate authentic learning, that I became acutely aware of the different literacies required. In reflecting upon these four digital literacies, I have learnt how to use them to facilitate authentic learning experiences for the students, including self-directed learning. Initially I had embarked on this learning journey with an agenda towards facilitating the content specific knowledge that I have in English and Modern History. However, I have learnt much more than this, I have learnt a valuable lesson; for the curriculum to be authentic and relevant, I need to provide opportunities for students to learn through active engagement with digital technologies. Therefore, it is in my view that these four digital technologies are fluid and flexible eLearning spaces for students and learning managers to engage in.
Bibliography
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