Reflection Task 1: Web Spaces
The Coronavirus Pandemic has made ICT
essential to the everyday lives of people. As a university student, I have spent
the majority of my course online, engaging with digital resources. Therefore,
as a pre-service teacher, I am particularly interested in the digital pedagogies
associated with education and how we can further our development in the new digital
era of the 21st century.
Technical aspects of web spaces
During this week the topic of web spaces was
tackled and what it means for education. The evolution of web spaces was dramatic
and now enables no filter or guarantee of reliability. We discussed three main types
of web spaces and the proposed functionality in a classroom. Firstly, websites can
be authored by individuals, companies, and governments which offer a wide variety
of purposes. The content is not modifiable by the public but may have
interactive functions. Within education contexts, it is best for students who
wish to view or present information rather than interact. Secondly, Wikis are
multi-user sites that enable full editing permission to the public which can be
problematic. Within education, unless it is a contained wiki the ethical and safety
issues for students outweigh the benefits. Lastly, blogs are a type of web space
that is usually individually run however, you can grant access to others for feedback,
comments, and modifications upon permission of the author/ authors. Blogs are commonly
displayed in reverse-chronological order and combine text, images, and links to
other blogs or web spaces. Overall, web spaces transform the role of learners
and teachers from a traditional sense as a teacher becomes a facilitator and
guide rather than sole authority and students can access more sources and resources
that expand beyond a single teacher's expertise.
Blogs; Blogger
After
looking into web spaces this week, I wanted to explore how blogs in particular can
be used by educators. Blogs can be set up my multiple sites however, I like the
site, Blogger. It is an American online management system that enables multi-user
blogs with time-stamped entries. The technical aspect for educators is very
easy. Blogs can be edited, amended, and updated at any time. You can manage the
settings for privacy so only the teacher can allow people to access the entries.
You can customize posts, comments, formatting, authors, and what type of media
can be shared.
The legal, safe, and ethical protocols when
students are working with technology
Teachers
need to support and facilitate legal and ethical practices online with the
materials that are created and owned by others as well as, address the Australian
Curriculum ICT general capabilities. One capability is students’ ability to recognize
intellectual property and security practices. This can be taught by making
students aware of plagiarism and copyright rules governed by law and teaching appropriate
referencing skills. Personal security protocols are easily put in place when
using blogger as students can be directed to only access sources embedded in
the blogger page, therefore, eliminating access to inappropriate, off-task
sources and other people across the globe.
Suggestions on how students would use this
online space reference to pedagogical benefits
As
a preservice teacher highly engaged with this topic and the web space of blogger,
I have multiple ideas of how students can use this site with pedagogical benefits
within the SAMR model. Low-level pedagogy is the substation and augmentation of
ICT. For example, using blogger, teachers can still be the facilitator of
knowledge by putting all sources for the unit of work in a blog. It is a
substitute for a traditional tool but provides no functional change to the
classroom or learning. Higher-level pedagogy is when teachers plan alongside
ICT to meet the learning outcomes of a unit of work through modification and redefinition.
This is successful through using blogger as a tool for students to be responsible
for their own learning. Students can have a blog for each subject and allow privacy
settings to allow peers in their classroom to have access. Learning is individualized
and mediated by the teacher to have evidence on how much students are applying themselves.
Students can also provide peer feedback and collaboration when instructed, allowing
opportunities to become critical readers of peers' work and creating a dialogue
between students. Teachers can allocate reflections based on in-class tasks
which require higher-order thinking skills in analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
Redefinition can be defined as the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable
in a traditional sense. Blogs can also be an assignment constriction tool as
students can brainstorm their ideas, link and retrieve information, organize and
categories, select and redefine information, analyse and evaluate the information
and finally present all on the one webspace.
Overall, the use of web spaces and particularly blogs can be revolutionary to the modern 21st-century classroom.
References
Great blog Ruby! All of your pictures are of high quality and relevance to the topics. I would suggest adding some colour to your blog theme for engagement and aesthetic purposes. You have included the legal, safe and ethical protocols in terms of using technology in schools well. All of your links work and are easily accessible. I would suggest embedding a resource for your next blog entry to show higher ICT skills. Your low level and high level pedagogy ideas are great and follow the SAMR model, however the video that is linked is quite long and similar information may be able to be included as an embedded video for an effective flow. I look forward to reading more blogs soon.
ReplyDeleteHey Ruby! Really enjoyed how simple and effective your content is. I can tell you have been exploring digital pedagogy and understand what your blog is about. One thing that could be beneficial is the inclusion of a reference list for your sources. Thanks.
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