Week 8 and so where to from here?

Helping Jason get onto Prezi for one of the presentations made me aware that just because I can’t get technology to work doesn’t make me a technological retard because anyone can have difficulties with it. A lot of the focus for this week’s lecture was about how education will change and how we currently see those changes as relating to connectivity. Connectivity is provided through the internet and this will change the face of education as the traditional classroom is institutionalised but the classroom of the future will have no walls. Speaking of connectivity, this is the 3rd week that we have had no internet at home. I would never have believed that this would be such a disabling experience.! I feel cut off from the world and will go to great lengths to get Wi Fi access. It is an actual temporary disability. I imagine that this is how this digital generation feel going to school every day in a traditional learning environment. Well not in my classroom!

This learning adventure has been like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Everything that I have included in this blog has acted like a piece in the puzzle that is the answer to my personal driving question. Every reading, lecture, personal and formal professional development I’ve attended, every personal learning network I’ve engaged with, our group work as we put together our PD video as well as the initial planning for teaching on Prac has all added together like pieces in a puzzle to contribute to my understanding of the Professional Knowledge statement, “I understand that ICT can be used to benefit teaching and learning and is most effective when used in the context of learning and not as an end itself” (The State of Queensland - Department of Education and Training, 2011) and helped clarify my comprehension of the TPACK model (Harris, & Hofer, 2009).

So, where to from here you may ask? Well the next step lies in how I will implement the use of technology in my classroom on Prac. My planning to integrate ICT’s in my classroom has radically changed from the ideas that I initially held at the beginning of this course and although I thought that I understood the concept behind the Professional Knowledge statement I must admit to having being a little technocentric (Papert, as cited in Harris, & Hofer, 2009) in my enthusiasm to use technology in the classroom.  Thank you Koehler & Mishra (2009) for explaining TPACK to me even though I was a slow learner and thank you to Harris & Hofer (2009) for showing me how to implement TPACK and answered my personal driving question from Week 1: Where does technology fit into learning in the classroom? Thank you Jason for making me work for the answer instead of just handing it to me. I believe that the outcomes of my personal growth will be reflected in my planning for teaching and learning during PX3 and will be evidenced in the webpage that I put together in order to meet the ICT Certificate requirements.

Check out our Professional Development Video. Completing this learning assessment helped my understanding of the TPACK Model. 

References:

Harris, J., & Hofer, M. (2009). Instructional planning activity types as vehicles for curriculum-based TPACK development. Retrieved from, http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/file/view/HarrisHofer- TPACKActivityTypes.pdf

Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?  Contempary issues in technology and teacher education, 9(1), 60-70. Retrieved from http://www.zagami.info/4001EPS/Readings/Entries/2011/3/7_Week_2.html

The State of Queensland - Department of Education and Training. (2011). Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework. Retrieved from     http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdframework/