Description of a key learning moment during your artefacts production and explanation of how at least two design decisions were made.

During the production of my most recent assignment, myself and two other classmates designed 480 minutes of lesson plans based on high school science, in particular the subject area of bacteria. The key learning moment for myself when completing this assignment was incorporating ICT and lesson plans. For me to be able to incorporate these two was extremely challenging, but once I became familiar with the benefits of incorporating ICT with lesson planning I could not believe I had not done this sooner.

There were two design decisions made within our group throughout the assignment. The first decision was to incorporate powerpoint into some of the lessons, this was decided because the use of powerpoint is an easy way to disperse theoretical information, whilst making the lesson interesting and engaging.

The second decision was regarding the 3-minute video, and the decision made was whether or not to make this video humorous or serious. As a group we decided to keep the video serious so the students will see the seriousness of the issue we were trying to convey, but we also added slight humour so the students can relate.

Discussion of the social impact of technology on teachers and students.

Technology impacts both students and teachers immensely, especially through the society you live.

You now have all students dependant on technology, if there not updating their facebook status’ their tweeting on what they had for lunch whilst texting their friend whom is sitting directly behind them in class.  

You cannot disrupt the balance by removing the technology, instead we need to grow with the times and accept technology, as it is definitely here to stay.

I remember back in 2003 when I was completing my HSC, there was no such thing as students using laptops in the classroom nor was it a familiar occurrence for students to even own mobile phones, facebook or twitter. Back then our society was not so engrossed on technology as it is today. As society grows so does our education, as our students are being born into a technology hungry world.

Due to the fact that students are born into technology, us, as teachers, need to keep up and understand how we can incorporate education and technology together. If you were to ask basically any teenager to go a day without any technology, including mobile phones, internet or computers, they could not do it, to them it would feel like we were asking them to not eat for a whole day.

So not only is technology a major impact on students, it also impacts teachers, and creates a new style and approach to learning.

Evaluation of the decision making process using a pedagogical lens.

I feel it is imperative to make decisions using a pedagogical lens.

Who is the one making these decisions? I am going to assume we are talking about a teacher making these decisions, in particular the decisions on teaching styles.

To be able to teach students, you need to first be able to distinguish the needs and wants of all of your students. And once you know what the students need, you then have to be able to guide them using the correct tools. This is where using a pedagogical lens comes into play.

If you can make a decision on your lesson plan based on the needs of your students, you must use a pedagogical approach to create the best possible outcome for all students in the class.

If you look through a pedagogical lens you then acknowledge that all students have different learning styles and learn in different ways, and knowing this you then must approach your lesson with all students learning styles in mind. Of course you physically cannot cater to every single student individually, as you simply don’t have the time, but you can take all students into consideration when planning your lessons.

Some students learn better through reading documents or textbooks, whilst other students are visual learners and learn best when watching demonstrations or videos, and then there are the students who learn best with hands on learning. Once you know which students fall under what category you then can start a strategy plan on the best possible lesson looking through a pedagogical lens.

Discussion of the relevance of multiliteracies

Before I start the discussion of the relevance of multiliteracies, I will give a brief description to help understand the concept of multiliteracy. Multiliteracies are a multi-form of knowledge, including printing, images, videos, websites etc.

So now we know what multiliteracy is, how is this relevant, especially when in a classroom?

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, students are digital natives, they thrive on technology, and only want more. They can multi task and do become extremely bored when they are not presented with any form of technology, especially when in a learning environment.

This is where introducing multiliteracies is relevant. Instead of presenting students with a textbook, show them a powerpoint presentation with educational videos. It is much more beneficial for teachers to interact with the students and gain their attention and excitement for learning, as the students tend to take more information in instead of going I through one ear, and out the other.

Incorporating multiliteracies into the classroom is not only beneficial for the “arty and visual” students, but also for the troubled and naughty students. Most of the time students will act up and misbehave because they are bored or have no idea how to process the content being presented to them. So offering a different and perhaps a more familiar style of learning will engage more interest from all students.

Incorporating multiliteracies in the classroom will only benefit all students outcomes, therefore to me, having multiliteracies is quiet relevant in education.

Explanation of how a depth of curriculum knowledge also supports the decision making process relating to ICT use in the classroom.

Having a deep understanding of curriculum knowledge is knowing the outcome you want for your students and being aware of what tools you need to use to get there.

Being a teacher, you need to be able to use as many resources as you can to help guide the path for your students. There are many resources out there available, but guess where you can easily access resources, mostly, for free? If you guessed the internet, you guessed right.

Having being in the 21^st century we already know how dependant we are on technology, let alone the students that I will be teaching are teenagers who are the digital natives.

Digital natives CAN and WILL multitask with various IT tools, whether they are surfing the net whilst listening to their Ipod, or texting, watching a movie whilst skyping. If you present anything less in your classroom, students will become bored quite easily.

In saying that most, if not all, students are digital natives, what does that make everyone else? Digital Immigrants? For teachers to be able to feel comfortable in incorporating ICT use in the classroom they need to be up to speed themselves on all assets of technology.

If you look at the different models of the curriculum, the one model that stands out to me particularly is the Emergent curriculum. This particular model works with student’s needs and wants, allowing the students to reach the outcomes through their own style of learning.

Knowing that students are digital natives, and that they are so dependant on technology, it only makes sense that ICT should be used in the classroom if you are wanting the best outcome for your students.

Discussion of how pedagogical lens can assist teachers in making choices relating to ICT use in the classroom.

A pedagogical lens can assist teachers significantly in making choices relating to ICT use in the classroom, and there are many different ways this can be done.

One AMAZING piece of technology available to most teachers in the 21^st century is a smartboard. A smartboard can be used in a number of ways, and in particular for me, is very handy when working as a science teacher, in or out of a lab. One particular attribute I found quite useful was the tool to create a virtual dissection, which is of a frog. To have to do an actual live dissection on a real frog can be quite daunting, smelly and messy, and to be honest I remember back when I was in high school many student’s would refuse to participate. So having the tool of being able to use the smartboard in this situation is extremely beneficial when demonstrating the outcomes of a frog dissection.

Another useful ICT tool are student’s laptops and software. These days having a student laptop is the norm, compared to 15 - 20 years ago when it was pen and paper. To not have the availability of laptops in classrooms in the 21^st century is basically a disadvantage to both the students and teachers with all the technology available throughout the syllabus, as all syllabus documents contain specific reference to the use of ICT’s.