Week 1 - Reflection and Readings

Today was the first day of Design and Digital Technologies. After the first day of this course I am finding it very different to what I was expecting. My initial thoughts of this class were that it would be almost completely on computers. Although, in the first tutorial I was presented with a hands on activity which I was not expecting. The activity focused on the analysis of a designed product. We were divided into groups and were each given a bra. We then had a dice which had different processes on which were aesthetics, function, manufacture and materials, target audience, ethics and sustainability cultural and environmental. This activity was a great way to get everybody involved and benefit my learning within this course as it added more understanding and related to the Australian Curriculum - Technologies.
Previously to my first tutorial I briefly went through this week's activities in Moodle including the Assessment Task Description for Assessment Task 1 and was exceptionally surprised as this is all new topics which I am unfamiliar with. During the class I had to stay focused to keep up with all the instructions of creating a blog and wiki spaces, as well as listening carefully about all the new concepts we are leaning.  This week we focused on the Australian Curriculum including the rational, aims and structure when comparing design and digital technology subjects. This approach will be very useful in my future classroom as I will help my learners identify themselves as innovators and creative designers. However after learning the first concepts I can see myself becoming even more interested and enjoying this course as the weeks go by.

Technology can be defined as any tool that can be used to help promote human learning, including calculators, tablets, video cameras, digital cameras and of course, the computer. These are all innovations that have helped countless people during regular daily activities, but they can also have a profound impact on classroom learning. By incorporating Wiki spaces for my assignment, I have the ability to share my thoughts and responses with my peers which results in useful feedback about our groups works chosen topic.

The Design Technologies curriculum focuses on five contexts: Engineering principles and systems, Food and fibre production, Food specialisations and Materials and technologies specialisations.

Overall, integrating technology into the classroom helps prepare our students for the elaborate world they will face going forward. There are specific benefits to using technology in the classroom such as:
- It can keep students focused for longer periods of time.
- It makes students more excited to learn.
- It enables students to learn at their own pace.
- It prepares students for the future.