Bibliography

Donovan, M. (2009), Quality Teaching and Aboriginal Students, a NSW model in the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, edited by Andrew Gunstone, Monash University, Churchill, Victoria. 12 (1-4), 104-115. 

New South Wales Board of Studies (2003a) English 7-10 Syllabus.

New South Wales Board of Studies (2003b) Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Years 7–10 Syllabus.

 

NSW Department on Education and Training (2006). Quality Teaching in NSW public Schools: A classroom Practice guide (2^nd ed.) Ryde NSW: Professional Learning and Leadership Development Directorate. 

Prensky, M (2001) ‘The Games Generations: How Learners Have Changed’ From Digital Game-Based Learning (McGraw-Hill, 2001)

Source: New London Group(1996), ‘A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures,’ Harvard Educational Review, Volume 66, No. 1

Blog 7: Anne Glynn

Two social impacts of this project can be seen in the content of the film and the process of group work. The message of the film is a social one, commenting on an issue which comes up regularly in high school students. The general issue is a student is isolating his/herself from her friends, becoming someone they are not to try be friends with one person. They are neglecting their relationships with their friends, becoming increasingly unhappy and missing out on fun times. The moral of the story is everything in moderation and don’t be someone who you are not. This may allow students to recognise if they are in this situation, if a friend is in this situation, letting them know they are not alone and some ideas on how to resolve the issue. In addition, it creates empathy and understanding for those who are not in the situation and judging. When students are participating in group work it allows them to practice necessary social skills. In addition, it gives them experiences of real world situations and issues they will come across and gives them the necessary coping and problem solving skills.  It asks them to consider how they would feel if they were the other team members, what their role is and what is expected of them. It creates an understanding of things such as obligation, motivation, effort and not only how it impacts on themselves but others.

Blog 6: Anne Glynn

Our group project helped me understand multiliteracies through incorporation of ICT and new learning experiences. As literacy is rapidly changing in the world, new technologies and visual texts are creating multiple types of literacy which include multi-media kinds of communication (New London Group, 1996). These new types of literacy such as computer literacy, visual and cultural literacy are moving education and pedagogy into a digital sphere. It is necessary for students to become multiliterate today not only for jobs but to become an informed and effective citizen (New London Group 1996). Before experiencing this type of learning I believed much of the ICT activities and learning at school were just teaching students skills like word processing. This has taught me that there are more than functional literacy, that in today’s ‘digital’ society students have to be able to understand and interpret more that the words on a page. This is reflected in the messages conveyed in our film as well as the experience of the process. Not only did we gain experience working in a group but valuable ICT skills which we will use in our future workplace. Most importantly ICT can assist barriers in which functional literacy could never provide for in areas such as ESL, reading and writing delays. It allows the students to gain other important forms of critical thinking, communication and understandings.

Using ICT in learning, process and produce of learning activities has significant implications for pedagogy, content and knowledge. This means instead of being seen as individual elements they should be combined in teaching practices. This project gave me an insight into how this can be implemented effectively. I have interacted with learning ICT for content, implementing knowledge, considering ICT for pedagogy.

Blog 5: Anne Glynn

From PBL in a group environment I have learnt decision making is full of compromise, and when working in a group there are more variables to organisation. This required me to consider other people’s perspectives and why they think in particular ways. This is an important skill as a teacher because part of Quality Teaching and inclusiveness is to treat all knowledge as problematic. It gave me a realistic hands on opportunity to question my own knowledge and gain a deep understanding of the project from what others brought with them and what we found as a group. In addition, it meant we really had to think about the task, in difference when working as an individual critical choices are only made through one perspective. Ultimately, we realised, which is reflected in PBL that there is not one solution to anything. Other than decision making the biggest difficulty was making time to work outside of class. This is realistic to expect university students to do this, as these skills will be beneficial for staffroom collaboration. We overcame this by putting together all of the times we couldn’t work then finding gaps in between rather than someone cancelling each time.  Throughout the project we had opportunities to interact with many technologies that will be beneficial to classroom teaching and learning. These included, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook, Adobe Premiere, Illustrator and Photoshop, Video cameras and Nero Burning Rom. As a group we had varied knowledge of these technologies therefore the end result of the film reflects our developed knowledge. When we had technology issues we would research or ask people with expertise how to use something. If there was an issue with decision making, we would decide through whoever could show the most evidence to support their point, or others within the group would help explain.

Blog 4: Anne Glynn

Key learning I gained surrounded motivation within a group dynamic especially relating to technology. Although, I thoroughly got on with my fellow group members, I found some were more motivated to learn technology than others. This was not reflective of the digital generations as we had both a digital natives and digital immigrants in our group. This meant that group members who had the knowledge or motivation to learn were required to work out the technology and explain it to the members who were less motivated. As a teacher in the classroom situation, depending on the previous group work of the students I may organise the groups for motivation and coherence. Where as in this particular experience it was up to the students to organise the groups. In addition, as this task would be conducted only in compulsory class time I would monitor students throughout their work to make sure all are contributing to the best of their individual abilities. For students who are particularly unmotivated assigning peer group marking of each other may be an extrinsic motivation.