Week 4

This week we discussed constructivism and constructionism. We also discussed cooperative vs collaborative.

Cooperative vs Collaborative
I liked the example that was given for this today.
Cooperative - going to a pot luck dinner and everyone taking food, none learns anything new.
Collaborative - going to a dinner and cooking new dishes together, everyone has the chance to learn to cook something new.
I got excited about the Makey Makey as they are something new that I hadn't seen before and was the first one to grab one. This was probably helped as I was the only one in our group with prior experience of the programme, 'Scratch' that we were using. Once I had set it up on my laptop others came to try it. They did not seem to want to try it on their laptops and were happy to use it from mine.

I was then not very focused and did not participate well, possibly as the actual task was musical which is not a strength or interest of mine. I felt guilty for not using a higher level of collaboration. My contributions to the task mostly revolved around making slides look pretty and referencing. This is the complete opposite to my approach to working collaboratively in my teaching practice and when working on our current collaborative assignment. Often we slip into the roles that we feel comfortable in and this makes sense as I felt guilty and lazy when I stepped into another role and disregarded my usual approach. 

Week 3

This week we explored lots of Apps and discussed how we could use these in the classroom.

I focused on my reflection from last week and stepped back and did not lead by taking over. This worked well as I only helped out once, when help was asked for. However as I had already had a play with all of the apps at home I found that I was less engaged in the session. This makes me think about my students and how easy it is to be disengaged, even when digital tools are involved.

We also discussed TPACK and SAMR. I was already familiar with the SAMR model and have been working on moving from enhancement to transformation throughout this year. I believe that I have definitely moved beyond substitution but dip in and out of the other stages depending on the learning and the students. I have found that my students are capable in playing games with devices but have needed scaffolding and lessons on how to login and use devices to support or enhance their learning. Through reflection of the TPACK model (which is new to me) the three main areas of focus content, pedagogy and technology need to be simultaneously to have the best outcome and experiences for learners. This made me think about our school culture and how it is evolving as teachers develop their pedagogy for 21st learners.

Reference
Koehler, M. J. (2017). TPACK explained. Retrieved from http://matt-koehler.com/tpack2/tpack-explained/

Week 2

This week we discussed knowledge as a noun and a verb. We also discussed the Key Competencies, He Tikanga Whakaaro and 21st Century skills.

Learning reflection and thoughts

Thinking forward to the assignments I think we self and the two teachers from my school) need to have a chat with the principal to discuss our ideas and to see if we have his support for implementing some of our ideas.

I was interested in the connection between key competencies the He Tkanga Whakaaro and how these work alongside 21st century learning.

The group I was working in was focusing on collaboration and it was fascinating to see how when discussing this we automatically started discussing big collaboration of swapping classes and offering different sub topics for an inquiry for students to choose what they wanted to investigate etc. when I read the article Voogt and Roblin (2010) it made me think more of the collaboration within the classroom of working in a group to work towards a concept, design, product. It made me think that the focus of the process is the key for effective collaboration rather than the outcome. Is that the focus for our video tasks each week if so I need to stop stressing about the finished product and focus on supporting others through developing their technology skills through the collaborative process.

Reflection on the task

We completed a collaborative video task focusing on 21st century learning - collaboration. It was interesting to see everyone in the group fall into specific roles such as script writer, creative ideas and digital construction. I was the digital person again like last week. However form last weeks reflection I was conscious of not doing it all and not letting others learn. Therefore tonight I ensured I didn’t do all of the camera work but I did end up doing all of the editing again. I think the pressure of the time constraint made me feel pressure to try and get it done. I think if we are doing more video tasks I need to try and do a different role and support if needed. I know I always jump to the tech role as that is where I feel comfortable. I am not confident with my creative ideas and I REALLY do not like being on camera.

Voogt, J. & Roblin, N. (2010). 21st Century Skills Discussion paper. University of Twente. Retrieved from http://opite.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61995295/White%20Paper%2021stCS_Final_ENG_def2.pdf