New Technology New Pedagogies
New technologies are an important component of any pedagogy that prepares students for living in the 21st Century. New technologies are obviously essential in teaching students how to be literate with the tools that they will need for their futures.
New technologies are an important ingredient in the challenge of individual differences:
· To support individual differences in learning to recognize the world; provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation
· To support individual differences in learning strategies for action; provide multiple flexible methods of expression.
· To support individual differences in what is motivating and engaging; provide multiple flexible options for engagement. (Rose& Meyer 2002)
Education technology has played a major part in improving the learning outcomes of individuals by personalizing the learning experience. E-learning refers to the specific kind of learning experienced within the domain of educational technology, which can be used in or out of the classroom. Distance learning, computer-based training and social networking tools are just a few examples of E-learning.
Using mobile technologies to develop new ways of teaching and learning are being introduced. New pedagogies for mobile technologies that promote their use not for simple one to one communication or delivery of information, but to focus on their use as cognitive tools in authentic learning environments.
Authentic learning situates students in learning context where they encounter activities that involve problems and investigations reflective of those they are likely to face in their real world professional contexts. ( Brown, Collins & 1989, Lave& Wenger 1991) Harrington and Oliver have identified nine characteristics of authentic learning:
1. Authentic contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be used in real life.
2. Authentic activities that are complex, ill- defined problems and investigation.
3. Access to expert performances enabling modeling of processes.
4. Multiple roles and perspectives providing alternative solution.
5. Collaboration all owing for the social construction of knowledge.
6. Opportunities for reflection involving met cognation.
7. Opportunities for articulation to enable knowledge to be made explicit.
8. Coaching by the teacher at critical times.
9. Authentic assessment that reflects the way knowledge is asses in real life.
These characteristics formed the basis for teachers to plan and design learning environments where mobile technologies could be used in their different subject areas and specializations.
However individual teachers were free to use alternative theoretical perspectives for the design of the pedagogies if appropriate.
The tool I personally chose for my students was blogging. Weighed against all the latest innovations, it might seem a bit outdated to some, but I want to introduce my students gradually to learning technologies. Firstly I had introduced the delivery of lectures using presentations software in my school, secondly, I started keeping the whole class student-centered, and now as a third step I introduced blogging. Since the commencement of my PGCTHE course in september2011, I have been implementing all these steps and it has not only brought a great and pleasant change in my teaching, but has also helped to increase the interest of students and the competition among them to do better.
Discussion on Moodle was good and informative for me. It helped me a lot to understand the purpose and how we can implement technology in our education.
Surprisingly the main problem I got during the implementation was from parents’ side. Many parents are unwilling to get internet connection as they fear their children will waste heaps of valuable time. Also, some of them think that since the information on the internet is not always reliable it is unwise to give children access to it. For example, some religious content on the internet can be contrary to their beliefs and they think that their children will be left confused in matters of religion. What I think is that this is the point where the teacher comes into play. Teachers should have the capability to facilitate and guide the students. But then again, isn’t it difficult to find so many capable teachers? Also, will the teachers be able to totally eradicate the confusion in their minds?
These are some of the questions that remain unclear to me. Anyone with answers that can lay the confusions in my mind to rest is welcome.
One support that I want is time. All this stuff is quite new to me and I am trying to understand and implement in my teaching. Therefore, I am always the last one to submit the work. My example is like that of an athlete who is the last participant in a marathon but has his eyes on the finishing line.
