The use of the IWB in practical

Before going to my old primary school Bonnyrigg Heights Primary school I was really nervous as I had year 4 this year which was a big step from kindergarten last year. Another factor which had also contributed to my fear was the use of the IWB and Technology beacuse I had never really took the time to understand how to use or create a lesson absed on IWB on my own, or really incorporated different types of technologies into a lesson.

What I had done to overcome this issue was youtubed several tutorial videos and this helped me familairise myself with the basics of the smart notebook program. The smart notebook program being the resource to create an IWB file.

On the first day of practical I had asked my tertiary adviser to teach me and a peer about the basic tools of the smart notebook program. This was very useful because as the teacher had demonstrated how to use a certain tool she allowed my peer and I to replicate what she had done. I had also asked my co-operating teacher actually being my year 6 teacher in the past about the IWB, and he had introduced me to 'smart exchange' which is an effective tool which provides an extensive list of learning game that vary across the curriculum.

All in all, as I slowly familiarised my self with the smartnote book program I then became comfortable with it as a utilised it daily incorporated into my lessons. I also think that that the lesson we had in Professional Experience about the IWB with Maria going through some key aspects of the IWB. 

Commenting about Kim's blog

Hi all, Kim, Lily, Quynh and I were all placed at the same school Bonnyrigg Heights Public School this year. I was very interested to contrast and compare Kim's experiences with the use of technology in her classroom with mine.

In reading her post about her experiences during prac with how technology was used it was very similar in a lot of ways with the experiences I encountered. I've also commented on her post regarding the similarities on her blog.

Find her engaging blog at http://whatevzkimee.blogspot.com.au/

WEEK 7 Connected Learning!

This weeks tutorial was run by Maria and was based upon Connected Learning in an Australian Technology Program. In this lesson we had looked at the wide range of different technologies that were available in classrooms for teachers to use. Also, the benefits they have as well as the possible negative effects they might pose.

In my own experience during high school in year 12 my English classroom had the camera set as well as the Television for video conferencing. There was no use of this technology in terms of learning the content we needed in regards to school content. However, I do remember vaguely using the video conference once where my whole class as well as fellow year 12 English classes sat in the room and talked to another school.

But for video conferencing to be implemented in a primary setting I cannot see the relevance as to what students could be possibly discussing with other schools as they are too young. However, I came up with an idea that there might be a possibility for debating through video conferencing but other than that I wasn't too sure as to how primary aged students could use this form of 'Connected Learning'.

Other forms of connected learning could be achieved through Skyping where students now can communicate with anyone from anywhere just by having a webcam and the program Skype.

References
Hunter, J. L. (2012). Connected Learning in an Australian Technology Program: A case study. In I. Management Association. USA (Ed), Organisational Learning and Knowledge: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications (pp. 1623-1632).

Creating our resource for assignment

Hi all!

Would just like to share a YouTube video that Kyle and myself had made for assignment one analysing two websites that we thought were very useful for teachers and upcoming student-teachers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Hdg-nfZ1w

Discussing Achieving Equity in Education with Glynis

Today, was the week in which i had to present the reading with my fellow peers Kyle and Ariel in which today's tutorial would be run by Glenyce for the first time.

The reading was 'A Vision for 2020: Achieve Equity in Education. A Contribution to Public Discussion of the 2020 Summit Idea by Save our Schools.' The article discusses the need for an improvement and increase in equity within education. It focuses on the need to improve education to support low SES and Indigenous families to achieve equity across the nation.

I had specifically focused on the National Goals for schooling and the issues that arose with it. One of the main issues was that Australia has not made any actions since 1999 in addressing the National goals. One of the goals that I had focused on was increasing the number of students finishing schooling to year 12. The question that I had formed was how can the government and society help increase the numbers of students completing school to year 12. A lot of discussion was provoked which i was very happy to discuss as a whole.

Suggestions that were made included making year 12 compulsory for all students instead of giving students the option to drop out in year 10.  However, Glynis had provoked the discussion in relation to this issue that would it be wrong to make schooling to year 12 compulsory because of the fact that some students are just not made for school and would much prefer be a hands on person like a tradesman. But on the other hand I believe that there are that portion of students who are dropping it out as they see it as an easy way out. I also thought that the extra two years of schooling will help students mature and give them enough time to develop a better idea as to what career prospect they want to pursue in the future.

Throughout the tutorial run by Glynis we talked about the digital divide and equity. A digital divide can range from socioeconomic status, gender divide and economic divide to name a few. I think that the discussion we had in this lesson was very beneficial for upcoming student teachers to develop the understanding of different equity issues that are present in the school environment.

References

A Vision for 2020: Achieve Equity in Education. A Contribution to Public Discussion of the 2020 Summit Idea by Save our Schools - the national independent advocacy group. April 2008. Retrieved from www.valuesineducation.org.au/pdf/sos0804.pdf.