Activity 3 (Week 27)
Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different
audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives;
Teaching and learning today goes
beyond passive receipt of knowledge and towards actively seeking knowledge. The
trend I have chosen to investigate is; Technological
Innovation Accelerates Progress but Leads to Discontinuities. ICT are
poised to transform a widening array of work practices and the way people live
and communicate (KPMG international, 2014). This is happening in education,
particularly in the way children are working and communicating together. The reason the education
system needs to face this trend and its potential challenges is to address the
risk of decreasing social interactions. Laal et al.,
(2012) state that the need in society to think and work together on issues of
critical concern has increased, shifting the emphasis from individual efforts
to group work, from independence to community. If students are being educated
in structures that decrease social interactions, they will be losing out on an
essential skill vital in a future workplace; collaboration is an essential
skill for students in school as well as in their future careers in the
workplace (ITL, 2012).
In secondary and tertiary education around the world, virtual
platforms allow for professors and students to interact, yet be in different
physical environments. For
example, students and teachers in New Zealand and Singapore are using platforms
such as WhatsApp to establish an online partnership to bring forth a greater
understanding and perspective of the importance of each culture to one another
(Adams Becker et al., 2016).
However,
collaborative approaches are social in nature and tend to highlight extroverted
qualities while placing a strain on inward thinking individuals (Adams Becker
et al., 2016). In my own class of 24 year 1 students, the key
competency of participating and contributing became a problem when implementing
digital and collaborative activities. I would find that the outcome presented
by these groups was usually led by one student (the one most capable with
technologies) and other members of the group were left out and had no input
whatsoever. Throughout the year, I have come to realise that student learning is
optimized when experiencing a blend of cooperative and individual work, and I
have worked hard on achieving this. One of the key ways I have achieved this is
by making my students aware of the NZ curriculum key competencies and using
these as a guide to assessing whether our collaborative activities have reached
these standards or not.
To combat issues surrounding that of technology in the classroom,
our school integrates small snippets of IT related PD during staff meetings.
The five of us attending mindlab are also asked to share our knowledge. In Europe, a €14 billion
effort from the European Commission known as Erasmus+ will provide
opportunities for over four million people to acquire new knowledge and
experiences abroad (Adams Becker et al., 2016). Hopefully New Zealand will be
in a position to offer something like this in the future. Leaders at University
Park Campus School have embraced a strategy to cultivate a positive philosophy
of collaboration within teachers and administration, which is seen by students
and modelled in their work in the classroom. This holistic cultural shift has
been identified as the first step in building a collaborative culture committed
to address various school challenges (Adams Becker et al., 2016). This would be
a great way to begin making educators aware of the importance of collaboration
and perhaps even intrinsically motivate them to seek more knowledge in this
area and attend professional development sessions independently of the school
itself.
References;
Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A.,
Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M.,and Yuhnke, B. (2016). NMC/CoSN
Horizon Report: 2016 K-12Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media
Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf
ITL Research.
(2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved
KPMG International. (2014). Future
state 2030: the global megatrends shaping governments”. KPMG International
Cooperative: USA. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/Global/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/future-state-government/Documents/future-state-2030-v3.pdfNational Intelligence Council. (2017). Global
trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved
from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf
Laal, Marjan, Laal, Mozhgan, & Kermanshahi, Zhina
Khattami. (2012). 21st Century Learning; Learning in Collaboration. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 1696-1701.
I really like the way you picked up on innovative technology having the potential to make learning for children more individualistic. I think this could pose a major problem in the future too as digital technologies become more prevalent in the classroom. Unless we continue to focus on teaching those 21st century learning skills such as participation and collaboration there is a very real danger that the rise of technologies such as virtual reality programmes in learning could further dilute the interactions that the kids have with each other. I have seen your classroom in action Cace and think you have created an amazing learning environment using digital technologies and integrating them into your daily programme. Awesome to see. Great read!
ReplyDeleteThis is really though provoking Cacey. We all know that the 21st Century skills are what are needed for our learners to be, somewhat, prepared for the future. You are right in that a blend of cooperative and individual learning opportunities are the way forward. The approach you took to develop more collaboration by implementing the NZ Curriculum Key Competencies as guide was a good one. Interestingly, I too feel that the NZ Curriculum Key competencies are very much the cement that holds all teaching and learning together. They are what our children need to have developed as they move forward into unknown (digital) times ahead. Schools are gone as a place to learn ‘facts’, it’s all about application and interactions.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting blog Cace. It opens up a discussion around governmental investment in future focused education. I think the government is going to have to come to terms with the fact that A LOT of money is going to be need to be invested in people, PD, infrastructure and resources to keep pace with the rest of the world in ICT. Of course, we hear this a lot, but having such a small population on a relatively small set of islands has it's downfalls in terms of lack of income from oil, minerals and even taxes. It's lucky we are so awesome and creative and innovative. It's a pity the government hasn't thought of a way of bribing foreign investors into funding our education system - like a gigantic charter school!
ReplyDelete