Reflective Synopsis

 

Introduction

 

As we begin or continue our learning journey, we want tools that can enable us to learn. Ones that help us to learn, that work side by side with our learning, and can enable us to do more than we ever could before in this new eLearning environment we find ourselves in. There are tools that will help us to do this – and these are what I will be analyzing. I have chosen a range of tools to analyze and review its learning potential, particularly in my context of adult learning.

The items I will be analyzing are:

Wikis

Blogs

YouTube

Mobile devices

I believe that these tools are powerful in their own way, and enable learning. To analyze these, I will be using my own personal framework, which contains and explores my own ideas of learning – located within my blog http://myedel20002.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/week-5.html . When creating my framework, I also considered an article shared in Stephanie’s Scoop.it! account. was a very interesting article, http://www.teachthought.com/technology/12-principles-of-mobile-learning/ which looks at the principles for mobile learning, learning in these new times. The ideas include that of transparency, being always on and connected, and having access to everything all the time, needs to keep us focused as educators, and embrace new technologies as they appear.

I will also be using the TPACK Framework, the sums of Technical Knowledge, Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Knowledge overlap, and combine to bring innovation in technology and new ideas. As Koehler states “Newer technologies often afford newer and more varied representations and greater flexibility in navigating across these representations. Teachers need to know not just the subject matter they teach, but also the manner in which the subject matter can be changed by the application of technology”.

I will also use the ideas of 21^st century pedagogies to explore these tools. Technology will keep changing, so we will need to do so as well. Whilst it is believed that our teaching methods and pedagogies are outdated, and we are scrambling to catch up, we must move our teaching forward, so as to embrace this change. If we want to teach students to be collaborative, innovative and creative, then we need to embrace this as teachers, and reflect this within our teachings. We need to help and enable students to learn in a fashion in which this is realized – to help them think for themselves and to learn for themselves… and keep pace and utilise technology to do this.

In my context of adult learning, I believe that two ideas are very important – adragogy and heutagogy. Adragogy is generally associated with adult learning. Adult learning is self-motivated, independent and have a sense of collaboration with the teacher. However, as we move forward with technologies, I believe a sense of collaboration with other students, and allowing students to have more direction in their studies is beneficial – which aligns with the idea of heutagogy – which is self determined and collaborative. I believe a mixture of the two is needed to move forward with new technologies.

In exploring the ideas of pedagogy, I was very impressed with the diversity within the forms. It encapsulates so many ideas – one of the most interesting views of this I found with Tracy’s Scoop.it! account http://www.scoop.it/t/e-learning-a-time-for-embracing-change  – The Pedagogy Wheel -https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3138780/padwheel/assets/fallback/index.html . To me, it expresses the many ideas, activities, actions and technology that can be used. There are so many different pieces to the pedagogy wheel, it keeps us mindful that there is always something new and interesting on the horizon, and to ensure that we challenge ourselves as teachers.

 

Wikis

 

I believe that Wikis, including both Wikipedia and personal wiki spaces, are an amazing tool to use, particularly for that of adult learning. From its most humble origins as an encyclopedia, to its current form today where knowledge is created, changed and updated every single day from all over the globe. My knowledge and work with Wikis has taken place over a range of time – I have used personal Wikis within my work environment, to document problems, supply fixes or possible fixes, and as a general knowledge sharing tool. I believe that within education, particularly that of adult education, it is a tool like no other to share and learn information.

An example of the diversity and innovative ways Wikis can be used can be found at http://www.scoop.it/t/wikipedia-in-the-classroom . It demonstrates the versatility of Wikis and the variety of uses they have.

 

Affordances Positive	Affordances Negative	Pedagogical Implications	Legal, Safety & Ethical Implications
Easy to use Free (wikipedia) Readily available (internet connection) Easy to search	Incorrect material May not be concise or well written Can be edited easily which can lead to false information	Promotes collaboration Constructivist learning Individual and/or group learning abilities	Unsafe practices can be available (car maintenance, electrical work) Illegal content or unsafe material may be able to be viewed

 

Blogs

 

My own personal skills with blogs have been rapidly developed in the last few months. I have never previously written a blog, or even investigated a blogging tool. Using Blogger, the tool I have used to set up and write my blogs, including this reflection has been an eye-opening experience. The ease with which to use it, the ability to have it look very professional, yet customized for my tasks have given me a far more positive opinion of blogs. Not only would I now use blogs in my life, I would encourage others to use it, and I can see that as a learning tool, it is very effective. It allow for collaboration, organization of ideas, a quick history of your ideas since you began blogging, and an outlet for your opinions. This lends itself to learning, and it is a great tool for adults to use to consolidate their learning ideas and to collaborate with others.

 

Affordances Positive	Affordances Negative	Pedagogical Implications	Legal, Safety & Ethical Implications
Easy to use Free Readily available Information on all topics are published Forum for ideas and opinions to be shared	Opinion based so material may not be correct Negative opinions or negative topics can be easily shared	Constructivist approach – learning is dictated by the writer, who directs the blog and their learning Allows for adragogy Collaboration between the writer and the readers	Allows for personal attacks on others Slanderous, hurtful or untrue material is easily published Forum for personal attacks

 

YouTube

 

A tool I have felt that should be included in a review of technology for learning is YouTube. Originally used for uploading videos and not serious learning, it has become a tool to enable learning. Not only can you view, watch and learn on a variety of topics from multitudes of users, but you can also partake in serious learning

One such example comes from a link taken from Ben’s blog, http://edel20001.blogspot.com.au/#!/2013/04/edel20001-assessment-task-one.html mentions Khan’s Academy. Khan’s academy is about using YouTube, and incorporating additional software, to create learning http://gigaom.com/2011/05/04/khan-academy-youtube-online-learning/ . It incorporates a popular tool that is well known and used on the web, to create a new idea, and create a new way of learning. It is important, as adults, to use technology that is new and interesting, but also important to make sure that we are comfortable and have the ability to learn.

I feel that YouTube exemplifies heutagogic learning – it can be self-paced, but largely self-determined. It allows for the learner to choose their path of learning, at their own rate. As such, it is a powerful technological tool for learning.

I feel that YouTube, as evidenced in Khan’s Academy, highlights technical content knowledge. It is defined in the TPACK framework as “best practice with technology is to consider the way it can be used alongside the content to enhance the way students learn. This is technological content knowledge.” It incorporates learning, but learning as developed and used with the technology itself.

 

Affordances Positive	Affordances Negative	Pedagogical Implications	Legal, Safety & Ethical Implciations
Can upload own musicial, theatrical or any other type of work Can create own videos from music, video, games, and anything besides Easy to use Fun and creative	Content can be taken from other sources and not credited Content can be inaccurate Content can be of poor quality – sound/video	Creative learning Allows for collaboration Constructivist learning Heutagogical learning	Beware of copyrighting – popular music in videos will breach copyright Videos of people doing dangerous activities could encourage this behavior in others

Mobile Devices

Mobile devices have changed the way we work. You are connected to the internet 24/7, so long as you have your device with you. Phones and Ipads have changed the way we learn. The apps that are available to download have enormous learning potential. The availability of these apps is amazing – a simple search will find apps that relate to the type of learning you wish to do – from simply downloading an ebook to an app that can hold, store and share a portfolio.

One such app I have previously explored is called Evernote. http://notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.org/2013/03/29/evernote-as-a-portfolio-promotes-lifelong-learning/ In this instance, Evernote is explored as a learning tool, by creating notebooks, which can be shared between learners. This collaborative approach to learning is one that I find very interesting in my context of adult learning, and one I believe to be of great value. A search of the Apple iTunes store reveals literally thousands of different apps available for learning. From quizzes, to poems, to apps teaching and testing geography or different language, mobile devices have a fantastic base for learning.

 

Affordances Positive	Affordances Negative	Pedagogical Implications	Legal, Safety & Ethical Implciations
Easy to use Allows access to the internet – being connected constantly A huge range of apps means the content for learning is great! Capability to use drawing, video creating, instant chats, video conferencing, all online and in real time	Expensive to buy Expensive to buy apps Requires charging or power frequently	Andragogical and heutagogical implications Self-constructed learning Individual or collaborative work Constructivist learning	Technology may not be affordable for all – leaving some behind if they or their parents cannot afford it If it is stolen, works may be lost or used unauthorized by others

Scoop.it!

 

After mentioning it here in so many other forms, I decided to add a brief review of Scoop.it! I feel it is a very powerful tool for eLearning and learning in general, particularly within my framework. It keeps people connected, and daily updates with documents, articles and other things that are of interest to the learner. It helps to keep the learner learning, without the hassle of searching all the time for the information that helps them to learn.

It also affords them an opportunity to collect, scoop, and curate information, so that they can keep track of topics of interest to them. I have used this software previously in EDEL20001: Learning theory in the digital age, and felt it a useful tool for my context of adult learners.

 

Affordances Positive	Affordances Negative	Pedagogical Implications	Legal, Safety & Ethical Implications
Captures information and presents it in an interesting way Topics can be linked Easily searched for Can add material to your own ideas easily Can show the source for the material	Material doesn’t always have a purpose A lot to search through	Constructivist approaches Collaboration in real time Creative learning Individual and/or group learning	Copyright – taking other people’s work and putting it under your own Collections could be on distressing topics Collections could be created for negative ideas and purposes

 

Collaboration

I feel that my own collaborative experience is one that I have not only sincerely enjoyed, but one that has helped me in a multitude of ways. I feel that the openness

My own practice has benefited from so many different points of view, coming from a range of contexts that are miles away from my own. Some of the contexts are to do with real world problems, training others or helping those in impoverished countries have a better future. It focuses my own practice, but also helps me to reflect and learn about other learner types I might not have thought of before.

The collaboration between students also helps me in my own work, besides a different point of view, to help me think of new ideas. Often I will be reading a blog entry from another of the learners in this course, and something I will read will bring a spark of light in my head – which leads me to a completely different idea that I was currently thinking of. It is not a copy of their idea, but a comment, a technology that they review, a link to an interesting article that they post, that gives me new and interesting ideas that I incorporate in to my own work.

I feel that while I may not have had as much time for collaboration as I would have liked, due to my own time constraints, it is a huge part of my own work, and my own research as I work through each week in this learning environment. It also helps me to stay focused and positive that I am not alone in this course, that others have feelings that I do, and that helps me to know that I have the ability to do it, and that I can! The collaboration in the course, whether through blog entries, Scoop.it! ideas, Wikis, and even speaking to them via voice or typing in blackboard has helped me greatly, and I hope to continue this and improve upon it, throughout the rest of this course and beyond.

 

Conclusion

 I have analyzed technologies for adult learning: Wikis, blogs, YouTube, mobile devices and Scoop.it! They are technologies that I believe are very useful to the teaching within my context of adult learners. While no technology is without negative affordances, the positives of these technologies has great implications for learning. Ethical, legal and safe practices need to be considered and observed when using these technologies, particularly in the areas of legality and copyright, but with mindfulness to these, the technologies can be used in a positive and collaborative way to aid learning.

 

References

Ben Gillson (2013) http://edel20001.blogspot.com.au/#!/2013/04/edel20001-assessment-task-one.html

Koehler, M. (2011). TPACK – Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge TPACK Framework - http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/tpack/pedagogical-content-knowledge-pck/

Lori (2011 – 2012) http://www.scoop.it/t/wikipedia-in-the-classroom

Not another history teacher (2013) - http://notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.org/2013/03/29/evernote-as-a-portfolio-promotes-lifelong-learning/

Ryan Kim (2011) http://gigaom.com/2011/05/04/khan-academy-youtube-online-learning/

Stephanie Mills (2013) http://www.scoop.it/t/e-learning-and-learning-theory-in-action

Teachthought staff (2012) http://www.teachthought.com/technology/12-principles-of-mobile-learning/

Tracy Keeton (2013) http://www.scoop.it/t/e-learning-a-time-for-embracing-change

Week 5

Here is an updated framework - it's more about everything being involved with one another, rather than a bit one sided as it was before. Everything is connected.

Week 4

I have created a chart below, with technologies I believe are important to my context, their current usefulness and what I can see may happen in the future with these learning technologies.

Technology	Potential usefulness to extend current teaching practice and learning activity	Potential usefulness to extend future teaching practice and learning activity
Wikis	Current learning is very useful – so many subjects to learn about at the touch of a button	As wikis develop, and as more wikis for personal use are evolved, this can be a very creative learning tool, allowing groups, year levels, language classes and so much more collaborate with one another
Blogs	Currently very useful for students to find their thoughts, reflect, and to see how their learning has developed	Blogs may be a tool we use for life – we start as children, and keep those blogs as we develop.. a lifelong portfolio, so we can reflect upon ourselves as a person and a learner
Youtube (video sharing)	To show evidence of ideas, subjects in an interactive way, to keep students interested and up to date with a variety of topics	I can see in the future, far more being shared, and using youtube for learning activities. Creating videos in classes, giving students ideas
Forums	Forums enable others to share on topics, and keep a good structure.. it helps students to have somewhere to look to for information and this can be easily moderated and changed by teachers	Forums will be far more useful in the future – more people embracing them, and being able to link and incorporate to new and interesting technologies

Week 3

Affordances

I like the idea of reviewing technologies and looking at the features of them. it makes me think and question the technologies I have been using, in some cases, for a long time, and truly think of its purpose and functions. I also like the idea of a framework with which to judge them - it gives an already unusual view further depth to it, and truly forces me to focus on them in a different way.

My framework is as such:

Tool

Feature

Affordances - Positive - Negative

Pedagogical Implications

Legal, Ethical, Safe Implications

To see how that measures up, here is my affordance framework when reviewing blogs.

Tool: Blogs

Features: Easy to setup and use, can be created by anyone (any age), in multiple languages, can share information about a range of topics

Affordances (Positive): Information is organised and searchable, it can be a reflection of an individual or collective, it is generally free (wikipedia), it is creative, and it allows for interaction and collaboration.

Affordances (Negative): Authenticity can be questionable, leading information located there to not be trusted. Users can contribute negatively, for example making changes to be silly, for fun, or to be destructive towards anothers' work.

Pedalogical Implications: Blogs create collaborative learning - with users all over the world, allowing them to share their ideas, collaborate with one another, and produce pages and information with far more than they could have done alone. It provides a platform to consolidate their learning and to share it and publish it.

Legal, Ethical, Safe Implications: May contain illegal or potentially hurtful information to individuals or companies. There may be incorrect information if it comes from unconfirmed sources. If information is incorrect, it may not always include information that is safe for younger readers, or safe instructions in how tos (for example, connecting car batteries, fixing electrics).

Week 2

Activity 2.2
My strengths in terms of subject-area knowledge in my teaching area (teaching IT) are teaching the concept behind why we might do something, and the procedures with which we do it. I am always happy to explain what we do, how we do and why we do so. It helps people to know what to do, but also understand why we do something a certain way. The theories behind technology are much harder for me... I don't know the theories that established the technology, and often neither the history of it.

My challenge is to be able to teach, and get the students to understand, with some knowledge of my target area, but not to know all. No one can know everything it IT - but another challenge for me is to learn more... as there is always more to learn.

There are plenty of IT organisations to learn from - Microsoft stands out as a main one. It teaches knowledge as it sees it, however, whilst they have their own "standard", I don't believe it is always the correct one, and can be out of date. It is something that needs to be looked at, interpreted by the individual, and then used as required, not always in the way that they recommend.


My strengths in teaching knowledge... need to be better. I have a base level understanding that can be communicated and I have a large pool of knowledge with which to teach, but as there is so much to know in ICT, it's very difficult to know everything, or even a lot!

My challenge is to form a clearer path of what I teach, and to think of ways to help the student learn, but to encourage more constructivist thinking and collaboration.


My strengths in learning and adapting to digital technologies are my ICT skills - my logical step-by-step approach to learning new things (or troubleshooting problems) and my existing ICT knowlege (how things work, or technology that is similar).

My challenges to learning and adapting is the fact that I don't always embrace change. Even though I work and learn in a technology environment every single day, I am often unsure in new technologies, and as such, don't get in to them right away, or put them off, as I feel uncomfortable about using something new and unknown. The challenge there is to recognise my behaviour, and adapt it accordingly.


Activity 2.1
We need to establish far more processes and put far more effort in to schools, VET, Universities and workplaces to allow workers to be more responsive, creative, critical thinking and entrepreneurial qualities. Our current system of teach with fact and listen, then parrot it back does not teach our students to think for themselves. We need to bring in learning methods to teach the students to think for themselves, and give them opportunities to do so.

Collaborative work, thinking outside the box exercises and helping the students to think from different perspectives in different ways needs to be established from an early age, and then fostered throughout schooling and then in to the workforce. This is the only way that students will be able to keep up with our digital world, and to be able to use the tools that we have available in the best creative way possible.

Week 1

The start of EDEDL20002 has been an interesting one for me - a lot of new ideas and things I need to be aware of as I work within the environment of elearning. Not only do I need to be aware of technology, how it works and the learning theories behind it, but I need to be aware that I am not stealing or inappropriately using someone else's work. In a collaborative online environment, it's something I need to truly think about.


I found the ideas of copyright and the web very interesting - there seems to be much more flexibility to work with copyright items or items I have previously believed to be copyrighted and would not touch. I have added to corkboard - https://corkboard.me/ZOTn7KrZbA - regarding an old music clip being used with a student... I found the idea of copyright only lasting 70 years (or a lifetime) very interesting!

I have included my pedalogical framework below. It incorporates Learning Environment, Collaboration, Assessment and Relevance as key topics. I believe that to have a good learning environment, you need to be positive, collaborative and constructivist, give students the opportunity to collaborate with one another, be relevant to their needs, and have appropriate assessment, that helps them with their goals, rather than hinders them.