Reflection One - Web Spaces

 

Prior to enrolling in the Digital Pedagogies in Secondary Schools’ unit, in terms of pedagogy I would have considered myself to be accustomed to a more traditional approach to learning. Traditional consisting of basic and fundamental classrooms resources and pedagogical techniques. Alongside this approach, the idea that while technology within the classroom is advantageous at times, it is inevitably a distraction to a students learning. As this unit continues to unfold over the coming weeks, my viewpoint of digital pedagogies has already shifted. After only three weeks of this unit I have come to understand the importance and effectiveness of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources and content. As the world we live is an ever evolving digital world, it is essential that the classroom is not left behind. It is extremely important that classrooms and learning environments are integrating appropriate ICT resources and content into students learning, as ICT's are constantly improving learning outcomes (Sosa-Alonso, J. J.2016). Web spaces continues to become one of the most commonly utilised digital pedagogies that enhances students learning.

One of these web spaces that have stood out to me in-particular is a blog. Prior to this unit I was not overly familiar with blogs, however I have recently discovered an appreciation how advantageous they can be to students. A blog can be described as an online or digit diary. The purpose of a blog is to act as a journal, to record events and experiences but also a place to record notes, thoughts and more. A blog is often utilised as a way for one author to communicate to an audience or collective group. Blogs also include an element of collaboration, they provide the ability for other bloggers and blog consumers to share their opinion through a comment section. Accompanying this feature is the ability to alter the privacy of the blog depending on the viewers digression.  

For someone who has no experience at all blogging googles 'Blogger' introduced me to very simplistic and easy to navigate ICT. As seen below, Blogger is very easy to comprehend, balancing a basic yet informative layout as seen below.

As seen in the image below, once one of the main element tabs is selected on the left side on the screen, Blogger opens up a the selected element in more depth. 

 Blogger presents many customisable features for its users. As seen in the images above, the layout of the blog is easily accessible and altered. Blogger also allows users to put their own personal spin on their blogs with features which allow one to imbed videos, images, diagrams and links into their blog. adding to this Blogger gives users access to simple modifications such as; text size, text font and text colours, which as you could imagine creates limitless potential. Blogger also comes with a variety of customisable user settings. These settings range from privacy of a users blogs to users having the ability to customise their own URL link to share their blog. 

While ICT's in the classroom are extremely useful, it is essential to keep all legal, safe and ethical protocols regarding students interactions with ICT's at the forefront of our mind. It is the educators responsibility to uphold and abide by the Australian Curriculum practises and protocols in the classroom (Australian Curriculum, 2023). This includes ensuring students safety when utilising ICT's in the classroom. It is the educators responsibility to ensure that students do not publish or display private information openly across the web. Google's Blogger makes this responsibility effortless for the educator, with a variety of customisable and easily accessed security and privacy settings that can be turned on at the touch of a button.

After reflecting on and analysing the boundaries and protocols outlined in the Australian Curriculum, a blog created through Blogger is a very effective yet simple way to enhance a classroom experience through digit pedagogy. Blogger allows educators to improve the learning material and content that distributed to the students. Blogger is very simple for a novice like myself to gain and understanding of, therefore, I plan to utilise this ICT when given the opportunity through preservice teaching later on in life as a studied teacher. Furthermore, Blogger is an extremely flexible ICT, it is effortless to incorporate teaching models such as Blooms Taxonomy or the SAMR model into a blog format. An example of incorporating such learning models is displayed below:

Substitution: Instead of previously scribing notes into notebooks, students are now able to easily categorise notes into different blogs depending on topic. Expanding on this students are able to access previous notes which can be labeled titled and dated in order for easier access than a traditional note book.

Augmentation: Students are maybe to use the many features such as diagrams, images and videos to accompany their blog post to provide a visual understanding and further depth on the topic spoken about in the blog.

Modification: Bloggers variety of layouts provide endless opportunities for students and educators to modify and display their content and learning material in the most effective manner. 

Redefinition: Both students and educator's have the ability to publicly publish their blog. As a result students and other educators are able to provide feedback through a comments section, therefore, guiding a reflection for the publisher. 

Tribble, D. (2022) SAMR model: A practical guide for K-12 classroom technology integration.

Before being exposed to a variety of ICT's and effective web spaces, I was skeptical of the efficiency of ICT's in the classroom. After diving further into the topic I have come to understand the importance of having appropriate and effective ICT's within the classroom. When correctly supervised, ICT's present a refreshed digital approach to learning while valuing the core principles and protocols of the Australian Curriculum. When considering appropriate pedagogy, legal safe and ethical protocols and learning models such as Blooms Taxonomy and SAMR model, students can limitlessly benefit from the use of blogs in the classroom. Blogs are an effective form of engagment to students, therefore enhancing the students learning experience within the classroom.

References 

Sosa-Alonso, J. J. (2016). Modelos de integración didáctica de las TIC en el aula= Models of educational integration of ICTs in the classroom. Modelos de integración didáctica de las TIC en el aula= Models of educational integration of ICTs in the classroom, 79-87.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability. The Australian Curriculum (Version 8.4). (2023). from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/information-and-communication-technology-ict-capability/ 

Tribble, D. (2022) SAMR model: A practical guide for K-12 classroom technology integration, PowerSchool. Available at: https://www.powerschool.com/blog/samr-model-a-practical-guide-for-k-12-classroom-technology-integration/#:~:text=The%20SAMR%20model%20consists%20of,Redefinition%20are%20%E2%80%9CTransformation%E2%80%9D%20steps. (Accessed: March 29, 2023).