An awareness exists in our schools that pedagogical change is necessary as digital technologies continue to pervade every aspect of our students lives. The educational arena is in a state of transition, there is a shift and it is “not optional” (Richardson, 2012). Practices with digital technologies are still inconsistent, some teachers are open to the possibilities, some teachers are still cautious of the possibilities and some are rarely using technologies.
Within the educational system I work, provision has been made for all students and staff to access Google accounts providing opportunity for collaborative and creative practices. It is all happening in a roundabout way but it is beginning to happen. One of the challenges is access to Professional Development is mainly given to those in leadership positions. Teachers who are not in leadership have played to learn and there are ‘gaps’ in their learning. There are still those teachers who haven’t had the opportunity for PD or choose not to participate in the opportunities offered because it is yet another chunk of time.
As a teacher librarian in a large primary school I interact with 550 students across the school for a 50 – 60 minute lesson once a week. There is no time for collaboration between teachers and myself, unless I catch teachers on the run throughout the day. We still need to overcome the challenge that learning happens only in classrooms. Some teachers still prefer to work in the context of their grade and not recognise a whole team of teachers within the school and beyond (Richardson, 2012).
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ekcWQxgk3k
The challenge is bringing value to what is presented to the students in our community. How do we take advantage of the ‘abundance’ of opportunities that are available to us as educators and to our students, to make our students learning authentic in this digital age? He also makes the point that it is the immeasurable that we should be putting our attention to – problem solving, creativity, critical thinking. We need to see our students not as “tool users” but rather collaborators, problem- solvers, critical thinkers (Haste, 2009).
Another of the challenges in this inconsistency in adopting the technologies available is that students are not acquiring the social practices and values needed to be participatory digital citizens. While teachers see the need for developing good digital citizenship practices they tend to only understand it as cyberbullying and netiquette issues.
The following clip below has challenged my thinking and is motivating my practice as I participate in the learning of this course. My aim this year is to expand my knowledge and practice in the use of digital technologies. I am taking more risks and partnering my learning with our students and throwing the need to be ‘expert’ to the wind. John Seely Brown (2012) I believe says it best, “the technology is the easy part, the hard part is what are the social practices around us and also the institutional structures, we gotta ask ourselves what are the institutions of schooling, universities, (research universities) going to look like in 5 – 10 years from now and if they look the same as they do now……we got problems.”
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGabUBQEnM&feature=youtu.be
Another goal is to try to be as paperless as possible with those classes where 1:1 iPads have started. It is still difficult to believe that we can be entirely paper free but it is a goal. The main challenge is my own fear and knowing and understanding the Web tools that are best to drive these lessons. This was also recognised in an article by Edudemic Staff (2014) along with the need to be choosing the most appropriate apps for learning. Having access to 9 computers with with some classes of 32 is another challenge to be overcome. I need to become creative in how to ensure each student has access to a computer during the learning time.
I want to continue to move my teaching forward and not get disheartened or frustrated and to persist when the learning happens in a roundabout way. By teaching forward I am teaching for not what our students need now but for what they need in the future.
Brown, J. S. (2012) “The Global One Room Schoolhouse” Retrieved from: http://youtu.be/fiGabUBQEnM
Edudemic Staff (2014) “Ultimate Guide to the Paperless Classroom” Retrieved from: http://www.edudemic.com/ultimate-guide-paperless-classroom/
Haste, H. (2009) “Technology and Youth: Problem Solver Vs. Tool User”, Retrieved from: http://youtu.be/YZRoS5QlJ44
Richardson, W. (2012) “Education Leadership” TEDxMelbourne Retrieved from; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ekcWQxgk3k