IWB's are the bright future of effective teaching

Interactive white boards (IWB) is a form of technology/apparatus which I only recently discovered after doing some research on these phenomenal teaching devices. Let me tell you what, these things are the future of teaching I believe. IWB’s incorporate the ongoing conflictions of old-school and new-school pedagogy. This is a white board on steroids. For those old horse teachers whom still believe in the good old chalk board instead of PowerPoints, this is a device you are encouraged to master.
 The IWB has the ability to save all work which you have written down which can be very advantageous when critically analysing lessons that you have conducted. It gives learners the opportunity to interact with the whiteboard while at the same, utilizing and mastering technology based devices which will be beneficial for the child’s future.
I firmly believe that the potential for IWB is massive, especially due to the fact that so many schools are starting to rely heavily on digital pedagogy. This large piece of apparatus allows for a mutual ground for both old and new school teachers whom are strict believers in the trusty old chalk board. I feel that IWB’s not only have huge potential in the educational sector but also I see major success with their use in the business industry.

The IWB allows teachers to be able to (without effort) get learners to interact with something new and something with which children nowadays are familiar with, being technology. Teachers can perform tasks similar to what a normal chalk board would with addition to so many more new and exciting functions (e.g. change fonts and sizes of text, share with computers, save work that was written/drawn on board etc.)
I really do like the whole idea of the IWB and after some research and information sourcing, I am very excited to possibly someday learn how to use one. This would be very supportive of my new-school teaching style. IWBs are the future of effective teaching.

I do not get it? Am i missing something?

If i am 100% honest, i did not catch the gist of any of the aims which were focused on in both the video and the article. The only real thing i understand from these sources is that one should find tricks or ways of getting learners to partake in an activity without them even knowing that they are learning anything from it. I thought it was very clever how Abby Wills managed to get control of her learners simply by giving them a small "pointless" activity to do. The feedback she got from her learners was even more remarkable. I really don't have anything more to add on this section of Pedagogy studies as i mentioned previously, i really did not grasp what point was trying to come across. I apologize for this poor entry but i really feel like i'm missing something. Have a great week people.

The potential of the "Independent Project" in education...

Firstly I would like to add that this is by far the most interesting topic we have covered thus far in this module. I am truly fascinated by this “Independent Project” which these students managed to start at their school. As mentioned in the video several times, I agree that this form or way of learning has the potential to really take off in schools across the world and be a huge success. I believe that it is very sad how learners are hating going to school and only learning because they are being forced to do so or they will fail as a result. Going to school and learning should be something which should be desired and learners should be hungry to learn more and expand on their knowledge. The Independent Project has the potential to change the mind-set of learners which are maybe struggling either as a result of inability to learn in normal schooling fashion or simply pure disinterest. Although this system or way of learning was a success at this school, I do however feel that learning in this way is dependent on a good group of learners. The potential for this system to fail is also very big as you can have students which will simply partake in this way of learning to escape a normal schooling system. I believe that this way of learning needs to be carefully monitored by a teacher or higher power because you could end up with learners teaching other students the incorrect things. I believe that teaching in this way can be guided by a teacher/bystander to ensure that progress is being made and that curriculum topics are being effectively covered and taught. Personally I would have loved to have learnt in this way at school as I too did not enjoy the classroom at all. I think that the greatest value that this system of learning has to offer is the desire/hunger which is instilled in learner to want to know more or learn more. This is effectively what an education is. This way of learning will definitely also give learners a much deeper understanding and love for the topics covered rather than trying to aimlessly memorise things from textbooks. 

Is there a place for social media in education?

With the major advances in technology in the last decade, as do the many online platforms and applications. There are a ridiculous amount of social platforms available on smart devices, many of which are similar when it comes to operating them and the purpose they hold. Social media has revolutionized the rate at which news is exposed. When anything happens whether it be catastrophic or minor, social media is the first to receive news. This is due to the fact that some many people have easy access to these social media platforms and post directly after or as this are happening. The massive debate however is whether or not these platforms should be used in the classroom as yet another teaching tool. In all honesty I completely disagree with “Provenzano, 2015” where he states that he uses some of the bigger platforms to teach (i.e. Twitter and Instagram). Due to the fact that half of the learners you teach probably are already active on these forms of media, I feel that to constructively educate learners via these platforms will be tricky. I feel that being a past learner myself not so long ago, I would definitely sit in class and use the social media platforms for my own personal use rather than participate in class time agenda. However, I do feel that as I said earlier there are plenty of online applications and sources of media that were specifically created for educational purposes. I do agree that as teachers we should use some sort of online social media to communicate and interact with learners as learners often enjoy and are comfortable using technology and online media. I do feel that there is a place for social media in classrooms due to the fact that it can be advantageous to see whether learners are keeping up to date with work and allows them to ask questions they might have been too scared to ask in class. This does however need to be carefully monitored as have said several times in my previous blog posts. Things like Cyberbullying is a reality in this dane age and it can be even worse due to the fact that almost everyone has access to posts online. 

The Power of Pedagogy

I thoroughly enjoyed reading both “Decoding Digital Pedagogy” parts as it sparked ideas and foresight in my mind. I was left last night pondering over a glass of whiskey whether or not effective pedagogy techniques actually exist in schools today? It is made obvious in the articles that Sean Morris believes that digital pedagogy over rules and dominates the LMS (Learning Management System). I agree with Morris in saying that the LMSs are “limiting structures” as he describes. Kids and young learners nowadays are accustomed to the use of technology and using the internet, so why not give these learners the opportunity to utilize this comfort they have with technology in order to advance learning both in and outside the classroom. If one simply looks at the issues our fellow students at other Universities are facing, I believe that online courses and online teaching would greatly benefit learners at times like these when students are being prevented from attending class and as a result will suffer academically. I think that online teaching is a topic which should be highly considered in Educational establishments worldwide. This is also a realistic proposition due to the fact technology and media is advancing at an unbelievable rate and will facilitate online teaching often making it effortless. I dream of a future where a student will be able to attend and participate in a lecture by simply signing in or live streaming it in the comfort of his own home. This will give students an opportunity to catch up on lectures which they may have missed for any given reason and benefit from the available online content which can be made available. Another advantage of online teaching which is briefly touched on in the article is that the material provided to learners can be used over and over again which will not only give the course consistency but also continuous quality. Material can as a result also be adapted or changed over time. After wondering for a long time over whether or not digital learning would poison or better learning experiences, I truly believe that digital pedagogy is the way forward and upwards in education. At first I was very against it however I do feel that it is a practice which needs to be carefully controlled. The internet is a dark place and the worst thing that could happen is to have learners lose the plot when it comes to learning outside of the school premises.  

Digital Pedagogy, the good, the bad and the ugly. What will its future hold for us?

The Bad apple of Digital pedagogy 

 

If we were asked what the perfect classroom would have been like 10 years ago, what would our answers have been? We might have said wooden chairs, desks that could open and store textbooks and pencil cases in, a chalkboard of course and maybe a computer. Now today however, we think of classrooms based on smartboards, textbooks electronically stored on Ipad’s and Laptops and Libraries that no longer contain encyclopaedias but rather computers with google search engines. The world is rapidly changing as technology advances and so too is the education system. The debate however is whether technology-based teaching is advantageous or whether the touch of a button might be detrimental to children’s learning. I am not going to lie but I did not really understand much from the Paul Fyfe; 2011 article “Digital Pedagogy Unplugged” but I did however draw my own conclusions based on what I did understand from the text.

Technology is creating an environment for students to learn while ideally having fun in class. For many children, the advancement of technology is as fascinating in the classroom as it is outside. With the advancement of technology, students are able to access more information from a number of different sources during a shorter period of time, whereas in the past much learning was centred on a single textbook. Specialised internet devices also allow students to advance and learn at a pace subjective to their own abilities. Online learning games also provide an environment with which children can interact in a whole new way inside the classroom while at the same time assisting teachers in new and innovative ways of educating learners. Studies have shown that a lot of learners absorb information a lot better when engaging in activities rather than just listening or watching. 

The counter to this particular argument however is that with information at the touch of a finger, comes responsibility. With unlimited access to information, comes the obligation of teachers to ensure that children are not exposed to material they are not mature enough to handle. And how exactly are teachers supposed to protect children from some of the unruly more taboo things on the internet? Some of these disruptive aspects include cyber bullying. Children are now even more exposed to the social world where manipulation and victimisation can be extremely harmful. I also strongly believe that social media, through technology greatly damages person to person interaction. Society today is often so caught up on what is present on the web, or social dating sites that they can’t hold a conversation with living beings in front of them.

I believe that the world outside the classroom is developing at a rapid rate and that in order for children to cope outside the classroom, or after school, the necessary digital skills need to be taught as a foundation. However technology in education needs to be strictly and very carefully monitored as the potential risk causing damage to a child’s psych is far greater than the risks of bad textbooks. The human mind is an extraordinaire, an entity that I believe has never fully been tapped into by anyone yet, and that as technology develops, it can either create the opportunity to push our minds to their limits or create beings that cannot think for ourselves but rely on computers. I agree with the use of technology in education so long as its advancement parallels with our own developments.