Reflection Week 2, Digital Pedagogies in Schools

Within the Education Services Australia review of Digital Pedagogies and Digital Content in the Australian School Sector, the following research questions guided the development of this report:

• How have successive national policies taken account of rapid and continuing advances in technologies that are changing the way that people share, use, develop and process information?
• What learning theories or frameworks are most useful for understanding how students most effectively learn in online environments?
• Are there models of teaching and learning that effectively harness digital content and powerful online tools for information processing, communication and collaboration?
• What skills and capabilities will teachers need in order to access and use repositories of suitable, exciting, culturally appropriate, discoverable and affordable digital content?
• How can digital content be used to support collaboration, innovation and communication?
• What are the attributes of technology-rich learning environments that support innovation and collaboration?

 Recommendations include:

• Constructivist and situative theories of learning or perspectives are useful for online learning in that they are learner centred and take account of individual and group needs and interactions. 
• Connectivism and Cooperative Learning take account of a whole new set of learning requirements brought  about by the digital age, and can provide a theoretical basis for collaborative learning.
• Models of learning activity design should be developed or sourced that are relevant to teachers at all levels of schooling and in different learning areas. The interactive and digital curriculum content procured by TLF can be used to provide exemplary learning materials within such models.
• Twenty-first-century schools require 21st-century programs and educators capable of using 21st-century resources and strategies for learning (AICTEC 2009, p 3).
• Teachers require detailed pedagogy frameworks that integrate the varied uses of ICT for curriculum and assessment, pedagogy, organisation and administration, and professional learning.
• Professional learning should include an understanding of learning theories relevant to the new forms of learning, collaboration, innovation and communication made possible by the availability of accessible, high-quality digital content and technology-rich learning environments.
• Professional learning should allow teachers to gain confidence and expertise in the use of state-of-the-art tools that can be used for interaction and collaboration.
• Technology-rich learning environments can include the physical environment in which the learning occurs as well as online environments that incorporate state-of-the-art tools enabling new forms of learning, collaboration, innovation and communication.
• Technology-rich learning environments offer both challenges and opportunities for teachers. Teachers need clear advice and training regarding the most appropriate environment for their own and their students’ skills.

I take from this report the clear message that ICT can be extremely beneficial to students learning, and in favor of my sought teaching style of experiential teaching, provide rich interactions with both class peers and the wider global audience. However, to maximise the potential ICT can provide, educators require extensive professional development in pedagogical practice of ICT.

References

Baker, R. (n.d.). Pedagogies and Digital Content in the Australian School Sector. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDSE12024 Digital Pedagogies in Secondary Schools 
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au