Week 2- Learning Activities

Legal Safe and Ethical Practice- This reading was very informative and I will be able to take a lot from this. The 10% rule is great to know, although I have always believed referencing and acknowledging someone else orignal work was ethical and the safeway. After reading the scenario about scanning students work to blogs- I thought this would have copyright issues, however I found out that there would not be any copyright issues as it is students ‘original’ work.

E-Learning design- Learning through online presence to enhance teaching and learning for student is first an engaging tool and secondly highly education for students to keep up-to-date with the every changing digital world we live in. Learning online can connect students to a world of knowledge in which they can either collaboratively or independently research- this informs the connectivism theory learnt earlier. Students can learn through a variety of multi-modal resources which is a hot topic of the new curriculum.

TPACK Framework- How will what I have learnt about TPACK benefit me as a future Learning Manager?

Well first I did the reading that was provided to use on moodle and clicked on the link- did it sink in, NO! So I did my own independent research.

I found a website (http://www.tpck.org/) which clarified TPACK for me. TPACK is based on the learning construct of Professor Lee Shulman who believes that pedagogical and content knowledge should not be seen separately, rather used to design learning that is adapted and organised accordingly to the context to ensure that learning content and pedagogy is more suitable and accessible for  all students (Koehler, n.d.). Together it is represented as Pedogogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Technology provides an additional element to PCK that also works as an integrated component of the learning design process- Technologically Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

I believe technology, when integrated with interactive digital content, teacher training and community involvement, has a positive impact on student learning and performance. As a prac student, technology is a major learning tool used about 95% of a learning day- either students on computers or the teacher using the interactive whiteboard or PowerPoint. The students are always engaged and interested to participate in the lessons.

Bloom’s Taxonomy- I really enjoyed reading this article. It was interesting to find the 3 kinds of learning.

• Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
• Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude)
• Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)

This was particularly interesting because during my prac this week my mentor teacher approached me and asked if I had heard of Blooms Taxonomy. It just happened to be that I had just read about it. I knew and heard of its existence prior but this reading broadened my understanding. She explained that next week she will show me how she uses it in her classroom for her extension students as it helps deepen their understanding and improve their critical thinking skills- I am looking forward to adding to this post after next week’s prac visit after seeing Bloom’s Taxonomy used in the classroom.