Module 10 and Final Reflection

Well Bloom's is becoming technological - and I love it!

I remember learning about the taxonomy at university, and devising lesson plans that would coincide with these different understandings, so as to engage my future students with the ability to take control of their own learning.

Following a school wide programming approach of Understanding By Design (UBD), has allowed me to create meaningful learning sequences that enable me to critically assess my kids' ability to remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create! Now, I can use technology to engage my students, which can become incredibly difficult to do with Year 5 & 6 students!

And it has been fantastic to begin using these Web 2.0 tools in my programs. Wiki's have been a godsend! I've never seen my students so interested and motivated in researching and sharing their knowledge. They definitely look at Science in a new light - I can't wait to start using blogs, bubbl.us & podcasts next year across all Key Learning Areas!

So, what a great way to further our professional development. Being able to work through the modules at one's own pace, takes off the pressure. Friends and colleagues of mine made it our Thursday morning ritual, and were able to help each other become familiar with what seemed like such a daunting and sometimes overwhelming experience. Being members of an online sharing community has also aided in the improvement of teaching and learning experiences, and I am now much more confident using a wider range of tools to achieve student outcomes.

Module 9

"Scootle"

After conferencing with colleagues, I too feel that I don't yet use Scootle to the best of my ablility or use it to the best of it's ability. But....hopefully that will change!

Spending time downloading and exploring the Scootle Guide enabled me to become familiar with the abundance of resources it has to offer. The already established learning paths were sensational. I really like the idea of colleague sharing and peer teaching.

"Second Life"

Not yet convinced...I think it's great that we, as teachers, are learning the ways in which we can educate our "21st Century Technologically Savvy Students", but I worry that this sort of make-believe world may take away from living in the real world. We are already worried about the growing obesity epidemic and how children these days are spending too much time on computers - this is essentially adding to this problem. Whatever happened to taking the kids outside, lying them on the playground and allow them to reflect using all of their senses???

I do however recognise the advantages of learning through "Second Life". It allows the students to travel through time and to countries that would otherwise be unattainable. This gives students the opportunity to role play, as well as interact with each other on a different level. But I doubt this would be an achievable outcome for primary students, let alone infants - much more geared toward high school students.

"Social Networking"
As a frequent user of FaceBook, I can't really bag the phenomenon of social networking sites...but Twitter?????

C'mon - I really don't need to know what people are doing every second of their day (nor do I care) and I am in no way wanting to let others know what I'm up to every second of the day. Plus when do people find the time to be continuously updating their status?

And unlike what some people post and upload, I'd be very careful, as not everything can be completely private!