Week 2 Comment
Hi Sydney,
Firstly, your style of writing was really easy to follow and appropriate for a blog/website context – a style of writing I am still in need of practicing, so well done there! I also really enjoyed the addition of videos and photos to demonstrate the use of this technology – allowed me to easily understand what this technology can offer for students.
In terms of your critique on ArtRage, I thought this was a very informative and indeed critical analysis of the pros and cons of using this technology in the classroom, and its degree of creativity enhancement.
After having a few days back on prac, I am starting to doubt my trust in using technology again with students, after there have been so many login issues, wifi crashes and glitches…however on the smooth running days, I do agree with you – that using technology definitely does foster student creativity. Parallel to your perspective, I believe this is due to technology’s ability to allow for more play of ideas provided by the ease and accessibility of countless tools within emerging programs such as ArtRage.
What a great idea of using ArtRage to develop visual literacy for a movie poster! The tools this program provides would be particularly advantageous for this type of activity along with other advertising/marketing tasks (eg. Promoting a new snack for the school canteen), designing your own book cover, or even depicting mathematical patterning and structures through designing jewellery. Is there a cloud option, allowing multiple students on devices to work collaboratively on the one project? This would be great to even further the fostering of creativity by incorporating different student perspectives!
Lastly, yes, the cost of ICT for schools is an inevitable dilemma. Especially so for schools with lower socioeconomic statuses, which I learnt more after listening to Sugata Mitra’s TED Talk with his ‘Hole in the wall’ project. This could be a useful reference for any future posts for you when discussing this ICT cost issue, as the research supporting this investigation showed that less affluent schools in India had a significant increase in academic results when incorporating educational technology into teachers’ pedagogy, compared to wealthier schools where there was only a slight increase in academia. This strongly suggests that educational technology should be introduced into remote areas first, where technology is less abundant but proves to be academically beneficial.
I look forward to reading more of your blogs in the future!
Best,
Helena
Week 3 Comment
Hi Zali,
I enjoyed reading your blog and especially about your journey with 3D printing – pretty amazing to think that something like your house can be made and particularly designed at a student’s age! Quite different to when I was in primary school when the closest I got to technology were those typing games on a clunky computer…
I found it interesting reading about your query with Simon’s (1996) definition of design, in regards to it being inapplicable in an educational setting. I believe that whilst the vast majority of revolutionary creations are designed beyond schooling careers, students are able to still design solutions to problems and improve situations that they themselves perceive as significant (for instance, how to conserve more water from the school bubblers – maybe designing a more sustainable spout?). As students get older, they can branch from these more local issues within their school or home life to utilizing their design thinking to benefit situations within the community, eventually national then global perhaps in high school.
Looking forward to reading more about your experiences within this unit and how you’re considering taking what you have learnt into your future classroom!
Best,
Helena
Week 3 Reply
https://teacherhel.home.blog/2019/03/17/design-based-thinking/
CARAWARBRICK says:31st Mar 2019 at 1:39 pm (Edit)
Hi Helena! I love your blog deisgn to and I feel like you have really deeply understood the content of the course. May I ask, how would you better implement teacher education on Design based thinking? I feel that current teachers in service would only have limited means of finding out about these technologies and just wondered if there was a way you think NSW schools could better address professional development in this area.
Liked by youReplyHELENABBAKER says:4th Apr 2019 at 6:54 am (Edit)
Hi Cara!
Thankyou for your feedback and question.
I have thought about this too – how current teachers (especially those who have been in the industry for numerous years and have not grown up to be as tech-savvy) can struggle to find and use suitable technologies that will foster students’ creativity and design thinking.
I think that NSW schools need to provide more inservice teacher training and development in this field, by regularly communicating not only the latest and useful technologies but providing guidance on exactly how to use them within the curriculum. Maybe this can be achieved through allocating funding to training courses for inservice teachers – as after all, this is to better the learning of students.
Also, I think that it should be the job of new pre-service teachers to share the technologies they have learnt when they join the industry. We all need to be collaborative with one another and open to trying new technologies – as daunting as they may seem.
Lastly, units like EDUC362 should be compulsory for all preservice teachers. I was very reluctant originally to enrol in this course as I believe I have the tech savviness of a 90 yr old, but only after a couple of weeks did I strikingly realise how vital it is for teachers to develop their ability to foster creative thinking and the use of technology into the classrooms – since they really are essential 21st century skills.
Best,
Helena
Week 4 Comment
Hi Cara,
I enjoyed reading your blog on Computational Thinking! During the tute, I wasn’t able to experiment with the Sphero, so it was great to read your comparison of this against Blockly, to understand the technology more.
I also thought your addition of Lee et al. (2011) ‘Use-Modify-Create’ approach was clever. It reminds us that students are incredibly more engaged with the task at hand when tools are tactile. And further, allowing students to have freedom when introduced to the tool, lets them to first feel comfortable with the technology– and like you say, allows them to learn from their mistakes. Whilst the teacher of course should guide students, solely modelling what to do, doesn’t foster creativity within the students at all.
Whilst the youtube video showed it’s possibilities, were you able to provide a specific example of where Sphero could be used to develop a syllabus outcome?
Best,
Helena
Week 5 Comment
Hi Elise!
I really enjoyed reading your blog on Robotics. I too was very sceptical about incorporating robotics into education initially…thinking “when is it considered too far?” – however the tute convinced me otherwise…to an extent!
I also experimented with Dash and Dot, and found that they could be used in a variety of KLAs ONLY ONCE I checked out the booklet ‘Dash and Dot curriculum ideas’ (https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/pluginfile.php/5601099/mod_resource/content/1/Dash%20and%20Dot%20Curriculum%20ideas.pdf) – maybe worth a squiz.
I do agree with you – whilst incorporating technologies assists in the development of creativity and computational thinking, poorly organised activities can become overly complex and make you consider whether there was much point in bringing out the robotic. I found for instance that the ‘Cubelets’ were so hard to become well incorporated into KLAs and tasks would be far too complex and the link to the respective KLA ‘far fetched’.
Looking forward to your upcoming posts!
Best, Helena
Week 6 Comment
I enjoyed reading this blog about your AR experiences and learning – I find AR super cool too! Your section regarding pedagogy really resonated with me. I too think AR apps like Google Translate are amazing, allowing for an immediate answer to language barriers – however, these kinds of apps hinder one’s creativity, as they spoon feed the answers. With that being said, I don’t disagree with the use of these kind of AR uses, I just agree that if AR is going to be used in the classroom, the choice of technology is crucial to select tools which will foster creativity the most.
I like how you included lots of examples and details regarding your experiences with Quiver. I wasn’t able to try out the volcano Quiver sheets so it’s awesome to see the realism and degree of interaction they allow! Did you happen to try the Quiver sheets showing the makeup of animal and plant cells? Think you might be interested if not!
It’s pretty wild to think what the future entails for our classrooms… you’ve inspired me to think of just how soon technology will take over student learning – good thing we enrolled in this unit to provide us with the tools then, hey?
All the best,
Helena
Week 7 Comment
Hi Ceyda!
I think this was a great blog about the uses of Virtual Reality (VR) within classrooms.
I agree that VR is an excellent tool to not only allow students to grasp a more authentic and deeper understanding of what it was like during certain Historical times and events, but also to engage students’ emotional capacities. Whilst I had studied WWII through the eyes of Anne Frank in Year 7, when reading ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ it was sometimes hard to completely understand just what exactly was happening around her. It wasn’t until I visited Amsterdam last year and visited her annex that I had shivers sent down my spine – the reality of it all had kicked in. I believe that the Oculus Rift adaptation of her story can have the same effect on students, surpassing the confines of the classroom.
It was great to be able to see your experience with CoSpaces. I also agree that it is both a great tool to use to develop digital literacies and novel environments, and also for students to share their creations through Immersive Virtual Reality mode. I believe that by allowing students to share their creations, this can foster creativity even more so, through the constructive feedback of other students and the inspiration of others work. I remember growing up with the similar program of ‘The World of Sims’ and voluntarily wanting to play around with its VR applications – I can imagine students becoming hooked with CoSpaces in the same way.
Lastly, Southgate’s (2018) warning of confusing younger students with reality and fantasy VR is super important. However, I still think that Primary School students can use VR, as long as the teacher is strategic with its use. For example, a teacher should not use ‘Google Cardboard SBS VR Games Gameplay: Artic Fox’ to teach younger students about “the characteristics, needs and use of living things” (Ste-3LW-ST) – since within this program, reality is significantly skewed by it’s graphic composition. Instead, using a technology with real footage (such as Discovery VR) would be a more ethical way to encourage a more accurate cognitive development of reality (Makransky, Terkildsen & Mayer 2017).
All the best,
Helena
Week 8 Comment
Hi Maxwell!
Great blog to read about the use of Games as learning!
I agree with you – whilst games can provide academic development, (almost equally as important) they assist in the fostering of integral 21st Century skills and cognitive benefits.
In my latest practicum and from working at a school, I have found the sheer necessity for schools to strongly foster the notion of Resilience quite alarming. Of course, I expect schools to be developing this skill with students, but I was not expecting the lack of resilience as I have witnessed – perhaps from the increased prevalence of Anxiety disorders? From what I have experienced, resilience seems to scope on a continuum of extremity, from students who are so stressed about continually succeed that they are too afraid to take risks, to students who once they are confronted with a challenge – immediately throw the towel in from a lack of self-efficacy. From what I have learnt during Week 11, gaming is an incredible way for students to inadvertently strengthen their resilience, and to develop an awareness of it. As you say in your blog, this can be achieved by encouraging students to think creatively and strategically when overcoming challenges, to find efficient pathways to success and to seek collaboration when faced with a difficulty. The word alone can sound very foreign to students, so by disguising their learning of this skill along with integral cognitive abilities – students are more likely to gain more comprehendible perceptions.
All the best,
Helena
Week 9 Comment
Hi Kenneth,
I enjoyed reading your blog about the role of Constructionism in the classroom and the development of The Maker Movement! I think you explain Papert’s (1986) intentions of the teaching module well – as it intends makers to construct meaning through learning about worldly needs and issues, and the physicality of designing and constructing a solution to such.
As you explain, core aspect of the Maker Movement is definitely the social setting. I think it’s essential for students to feel supported by their teachers and peers, by working in a collaborative, positive atmosphere aided by constructive feedback and sharing of one another’s designs and creations. By creating such an aura in the classroom, students can feel more motivated to think even wilder, and allow their imaginations to truly shape their design thinking and problem solving to real issues.
Lastly, I’m glad that you suggested that ‘Little Bits’ could also be used in stages younger than Stage 3, as I often find that technologies are assumed to be only suited to the older stages of Primary Education.
All the best,
Helena
Digital Creativity and Learning 