Identifying the pedagogical context of the digital artefact and how it supports the chosen curriculum outcomes within the Quality Teaching Model

The pedagogical context of the digital artefact is a focus on project based learning and authentic tasks. While some of the learning can be done in groups, the majority of the tasks allow for individual learning and student direction and reflection, which in turn helps students develop a sense of identity and self.

The project has also been made to include as many elements from the quality teaching model as possible with a focus on the three main dimensions. These dimensions include:

1 . Intellectual quality: refers to pedagogy focused on producing deep understanding of important, substantive concepts, skills and ideas. Such pedagogy treats knowledge as something that requires active construction and requires students to engage in higher-order thinking and to communicate substantively about what they are learning.

2. Quality learning environment: refers to pedagogy that creates classrooms where students and teachers workproductively in an environment clearly focused on learning.Such pedagogy sets high and explicit expectations and develops positive relationships between teachers andstudents and among students.

3. Significance: refers to pedagogy that helps make learning meaningful and important to students. Such pedagogy draws clear connections with students’ prior knowledge and identities, with contexts outside of the classroom, and with multiple ways of knowing or cultural perspectives.

The project has also been designed to comply with the Stage 4-5 English Syllabus and well as the Stage 4 and 5 PE Syllabus. The outcomes for this project are as follows:

English outcomes:

Students learn to: 1.1 respond to and compose a range of imaginative, factual and critical texts.  2.3 vary their use of processes of planning, drafting, rehearsing, editing and publishing to compose appropriately and effectively crafted and sustained texts in a range of modes and media. 10.2 identify, explain and challenge cultural values, purposes and assumptions including gender, ethnicity, religion, youth, age, disability, sexuality, cultural diversity, social class and work in texts.

Students learn about: 1.10 the use of variations within conventions of particular genres. Fiction and film and how these variations address the composer’s purpose. 1.11 their own emerging sense of style, personal preference and discernment in responding to and composing texts.  3.7 the ways in which modern technologies of communication are used to shape, adapt, and re-present past and present cultures, including popular culture and youth cultures, for particular audiences. 6.7 ways in which literary and non-literary composers transform ideas and experience into texts, including consideration of their insight, imaginative powers and verbal ingenuity.

PDHPE outcomes:

Strand 1: Self and relationships:  Objectives

 Students will: enhance their sense of self, improve their capacity to manage challenging circumstances and develop caring and respectful relationships.

Stage 5 outcomes

A student: 5.1 analyses how they can support their own and others’ sense of self. 5.2 evaluates their capacity to reflect on and respond positively to challenges.       5.3 analyses factors that contribute to positive, inclusive and satisfying relationships.

References :

Board of Studies(2003) English Syllabus Stage 4-5 Online accessed from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/pdf_doc/english_710_syllabus.pdf, Department of Education and Training, Sydney NSW.

Board of Studies (2010) PD/H/PE Syllabus Stage 4-5 Online accessed from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdhpe.html Department of Education and Training, Sydney NSW.

Department of Education and Training,(2003) Quality teaching in NSW public schools: discussion paper (Sydney, NSW: professional Support and Curriculum Directorate

Justifying the role of the digital artefact within a logically sequenced set of activities/resources with an explanation on how it facilitates quality teaching & learning

This project satisfies many elements of the Quality Teaching Framework, such as Deep Knowledge, Background Knowledge, Cultural Knowledge and Student Direction. These are all important components which allow students to  gain a deeper understanding of the world in which they live, and to give relevance and meaning to their learning. Students bring their background knowledge into the classroom in order to complete many of the tasks in the artefact, as every child in the classroom will come from a different family (unless of course they are siblings).  They all have their own understanding and culture in the way they have created their identity and these tasks are designed to bring out that knowledge.  Even the simple task of the mind map at the beginning of the aretefact allows students to use any knowledge they have gained, both inside and outside of the classroom. The task of creating the photo album allows students to direct their own learning and follow a path of self-discovery and reflection upon its completion.

Justifying the intellectual rigour and engagement behind the production of a digital aretefact in the context of the Quality Teaching Model.

Tasks in the digital artefact have been designed to gauge maximum engagement from the students in the classroom. The tasks afford learners the opportunity to examine the topic of identity and self from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives, rather than allowing a single perspective that learners must imitate to be successful in understanding the concept presented. This has been a deliberate choice in designing Authentic Learning activities (Reeves, 2002), as we come to realise that the idea of learning by rote may no longer be effective in modern learners. As technology rapidly changes, students have access to a wide range of information in a quick period of time, and therefore are coming to expect that they have access to information and the software required to use the information, at their fingertips.  These types of learners, known as “Digital Natives” are native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet.(Prensky,2000) Therefore it makes sense to design activities which utilise these skills, and therefore allow students a deeper conceptual understanding. This Generation is more accustomed to the use of technology, and video games and therefore the Games Generation now lives much more in an interactive world—with the emphasis on the active. (Prensky, 2000).
Students are provided with the opportunity to challenge themselves in a range of different ways, as each activity encourages students to think from different perspectives. They are encouraged to use their background knowledge and cultural knowledge in the majority of tasks in the artefact.  These components are part of the Quality Teaching Model, which focuses on giving students a deeper understanding of the task, and connecting that understanding to the world outside of the classroom. (Ladwig and King, 2003).
According to Amosa and Ladwig  (2004) the Cultural Knowledge component of tasks is often overlooked. “Cultural knowledge focuses on the extent to which non-dominant cultural knowledge is legitimised in classrooms. The use of the term “legitimised” is crucial here, noting that meaningful cultural knowledge requires more than acts of inclusion or assertions of appreciation.” They also believe that “understanding of Australia’s cultural diversity is imperative for Australia’s Future.”  Thus it is important to properly include these children in the classroom content and this artefact fulfils this task.

References:

Amosa.W and Ladwig. J.G (2004) Examining Non Dominant Cultural Perspectives in Pedagogical Practise. Newcastle NSW: The University of Newcastle.

Ladwig, J. G., & King, M. (2003). Quality teaching in NSW public schools: An annotated bibliography. Sydney, NSW: professional Support and Curriculum Directorate.

Prensky . M (2000)  Digital Game-Based Learning ,Mcgraw Hill

Reeves. Thomas. (2002). Authentic activities and online learning.  HERDSA 2002. P.564.

A key learning moment that informs learning and teaching

A key learning moment when working in groups to create a digital artefact came when it was realized that group work is not always as hard as it seems when placed with the right type of group for your learning style. We were blessed to be in a group of three headstrong individuals, which would quite commonly be a negative experience, however, having two individuals with the same Key Learning Area allowed ideas to be incorporated on many different levels with another Key Learning Area. This increased content knowledge for all three members, and allowed  many learning styles to be incorporated into the one project. The end result therefore, was an artefact which incorporated many different learning styles for students in the classroom. Also by having motivated individuals in the group, when the content knowledge on a particular topic was not so strong, other individuals were able to help teach new knowledge.

In a classroom situation, depending on the ages and maturity of the students, this is an aspect which might need to be monitored, especially if the task is to be assessed. While in this case it is a positive experience, there will be some cases where students will see this as an outlet to not participate in the activity and let stronger learners take over. Therefore, the experience gained in the Project by our group, highlighted a need to know your students and their strengths and weaknesses when participating in group work. By ensuring that you do this, classroom management will also be more effective.

Identification of conceptual and technical learning insights and the problematic nature of learning

When working with new technology, designing lessons that engage students is always challenging, as limited knowledge means lessons are not always designed to their full potential. However, with the use of the Smart Notebook 10 software, lessons that were created as part of the project based learning digital artefact were easily planned to co-exist with the software provided on the DET laptops. As most students in school currently possess these laptops, group work through project based learning in the University, mirrored the challenges that group work in the classroom might face.
When issues where presented with the software, different levels of technological knowledge by an individual was utilised at different points of the project design process.  And if the problem faced could not be solved by an individual, then the classroom teacher was consulted. Therefore it was found that knowing the software when you are in the role of classroom teacher, is integral to making group work a success, and that if group work is used in the classroom, the problem solving skills of students can be utilized to create a more social and knowledgeable classroom environment.

Critical Evaluation of Multiliteracies and ICT related activities in TPCK

As English and PE teachers, our group is aware that literacy is more than just the written or spoken word. This task reinforced our views, by encouraging us to create lessons which reflect the changing world, and step outside of the traditional teaching methods such as essay writing and note-taking.  These methods are outdated, and we must cater for the changing learning needs of students, based on  approach which includes Multiliteracies.  Multiliteracies can be defined as modes of representation much broader than language alone, but which differ, depending on culture and context, and have specific cognitive cultural and social effects. For example, the video clip which defines identity, and is presented in the digital artefact may be more beneficial to an indigenous student, who is a kinaesthetic learner.  Multiliteracies create a different kind of pedagogy, one in which language and other modes of meaning are representational resources, constantly being remade by users, to achieve various cultural uses. (Cazden, Cope, Fairclough, Norman, 1996)

Multilitercies must also co-exist with pedagogical techniques that utilize technologies in constructive ways to teach content (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge)(Parkes, 2011), if students are to understand new concepts via the use of technology. Without these two concepts students are missing out on vital deeper understanding of concepts, and therefore significance in the knowledge we are trying to present in the classroom.  When technology is combined with pedagogy and content knowledge, learning experiences are greatly enriched.

References:

Cazden. C, Cope. B, Fairclough.N, Gee. Jim (1996) A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures, Harvard Educational Review; Spring 1996; 66, 1; Academic Research Library pg. 60

Parkes. R (2011) Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge , EDUC1751 Lecture, University of Newcastle, Callaghan.

 

Social Impacts on Students Learning

According to James Paul Gee, “Social Languages are distinctive, in that they are used to enact, recognise and negotiate different socially situated identities and to carry out different socially situated activities”(Gee, 2000). Therefore our group found it fitting that we should create smart board lessons based on the idea of Identity and Self. These lessons were created to integrate the English and PE stage 4 and5 Syllabi.
It is important to recognise that there are many different social impacts on student learning.  Social and cultural identities are just two factors which impact on student learning, but there are many others that can be explored, both in and outside the classroom. Our group believed that it is also important to recognise that classroom activity has an impact on the outside world of students, and affects those students’ social and cultural identities.  By making students more aware of who they are, or what they could become, students are more socially aware of the world in which they live.

Authentic activities, such as those in the smart board lessons created by our group, are an important vessel, which guides students to a better understanding of content knowledge and self-awareness, and serve a larger purpose than teaching the curriculum. “Authentic activities have real-world relevance” (Reeves, 2002).  An example of this in the digital artefact we have created includes the activity in which students must identify the type of family that is being shown.  Through this activity, students are not only made aware of the type of families that exists, but can also begin to accept and expand on the knowledge that the dominant view in society is only one representation of identity and self.  As these activities can be worked on in groups, students also have the opportunity to support other students which may not have made clear links to the task via individual learning.

References:

Gee, J. P. (2000). Teenagers in new times: A new literacy studies perspective. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 43(5), 412-420.

Reeves. Thomas. (2002). Authentic activities and online learning.  HERDSA 2002. P.564.