Assessment Part B of Task 1

Technology, in one form or another, has always been part of the teaching and learning environment. Developing students’ knowledge and skills related to ICT in the school years provides an important grounding for later in life. It also provides equity of opportunity, regardless of background. After reviewing the past couple of weeks learning about the Digital technology challenges and pedagogies related to the Digital Technologies section of the Australian Curriculum, I have learnt various activities and skills that will effectively assist me in the area of learning and teaching the digital technology components to students in the 21st century.  

For many of the challenges I completed in the digital framework addressed the concept that technology is the tool rather than being associated with the pedagogy. It is clear that many of the resources, activities and sites support computational thinking skills and creation of digital solutions such as project planning, evaluating alternative designs, collaborating and managing, and making decisions. By defining, designing, implementing and evaluating a game solution, students will need an understanding of how data is represented in digital systems, how data will be input by the user and how they will be transmitted within the digital system. They draw on this knowledge when stating what is required for the solution of designing the game’s interface and instructions, implementing the solution using specific software functions and items of hardware, where appropriate, and then evaluating it against the stated needs (Refer to week 8). It is essential for students to acquire, interpret, manipulate and communicate information to meet a range of purposes that involves an understanding of the representation of data, the basis for creating solutions (knowledge and understanding). An example of this evident in my studies is using code to understand how drawings are represented and manipulated in digital systems (Refer to Week 7).

It is important for teachers to acknowledge the holistic aims of the curriculum, including confidently when using digital systems to efficiently automate the transformation of data into information and to creatively communicate ideas in a range of settings. When I become a teacher I will definitely engage students in learning project management skills as teachers cannot just hand the students a set of instructions before learning the knowledge behind what they are constructing. As a teacher I would engage the students in digital technologies by allowing them to explore the game prior to creating it and then draw from the key ideas to investigate and create their own game. I will encourage students to collaborate in a group exploration or problem solving, where students work together to discover and understand the topic and manage the design process of the game. I would use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and digital technologies.

In addition to the overarching aims for the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies, the activities I have completed throughout the past couple of weeks focusing on the Digital Technologies unit have exceptionally developed my computational thinking. As a pre-service teacher, after learning this component of the course I will take into consideration the importance of the computational thinking processes which are Abstraction, Patterns, Decomposition and Algorithms. I now understand how this curriculum area overlaps with others such as Maths, when learning about algorithms for example.

Overall, Digital Technologies provides students with authentic learning challenges that foster curiosity, confidence, persistence, innovation, creativity, respect and cooperation. These are all necessary when using and developing information systems to make sense of complex ideas and relationships in all areas of learning. Digital Technologies helps students to be regional and global citizens capable of actively and ethically communicating and collaborating.

 References:

ACARA. (2015). Technologies: Rationale - The Australian Curriculum v7.4. Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/rationale

Roblyer, M. D. (2006). Integrating educational technology into teaching (Vol. 2): Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

 

Week 8 Reflection

This week we continued our digital learning experiences which focused on simple algorithmic programming. Whilst all activities are computer-based, there are many coding activities that are not computer based (unplugged), useful to consider when you do not have regular computer access in your classroom. This week's learning challenges are to explore the Angry Birds Maze and a website called Scratch. The Angry Birds Maze game can be used effectively used in a classroom as this activity meets the Australian Curriculum learning outcomes as it confidently uses digital systems to efficiently and effectively to automate the transformation of data into information and to creatively communicate ideas in a range of settings

Scratch is a website where you can create games, animations and stories that you can share around the world. Scratch is designed with learning and education in mind. A wide variety of educators have been supporting Scratch creators since 2007, in both formal and informal learning environments – K-12 classroom teachers, educational and computer science researchers, librarians, museum educators, and parents. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively essential skills for life in the 21st century.

The ability to code computer programs is an important part of literacy in today’s society. When people learn to code in Scratch, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas. Students are learning with Scratch at all levels (from elementary school to college) and across disciplines (such as math, computer science, language arts, social studies).

Next I completed the Digital Learning Challenge which was creating a game on Scratch. I found this activity relatively simple as the instructions were straight forward. I enjoyed following the instructions to make the game where the Shark follows your mouse to eat the fish. The process of making this game would be a great activity for students in a classroom as they will use computational thinking and the key concepts of abstraction; data collection, representation and interpretation; specification, algorithms and implementation to create digital solutions.

Computational Thinking Skills - Algorithms ( from the Australian Curriculum):

·         Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems.

·         Experimenting with very simple, step-by-step procedures to explore programmable devices, for example providing instructions to physical or virtual objects or robotic devices to move in an intended manner, such as following a path around the classroom.

Week 7 Reflection

This week we started with an overview of computational thinking which involves a set of problem-solving skills and techniques that software engineers use to write programs that underlie the computer applications you use such as search, email, and maps. The digital learning challenges this week were to construct ideas to use generic software such as Word to teach abstraction, study ideas to teach coding at the Learn Code website and to interactive activities to learn about the components of a computer, and a network.

Next we went on to the Digital Learning Challenge: Algorithms - Abstraction and completed the interactive activity on Abstraction at the Thinking Myself site. The curriculum links for this activity relate to what sort of a learner the student is they may be Sociological, Auditory, Visual or Tactile learners. It is well know that people have different leaning styles that work best for them. The best approach for an instructor to take is to address a variety of learning styles with their teaching plan. In my opinion, for the younger grades this activity would work more effectively if the game was played in groups of four. In this way, all of the students could contribute their own ideas and knowledge. To successfully use Computational Thinking within a Digital Technologies classroom, I would introduce the four categories that computational thinking comprises of; decomposition, patterns, abstractions and algorithm before participating in the 'Thinking Myself' Activity.

Digital learning resources support information processing by helping students to develop mental representations through the mix of media elements presented to them. They combine multimedia elements including text, image, video and audio to present information. Research on multimedia learning have demonstrated more positive outcomes for students who learn from resources that effectively combine words and pictures, rather than those that include words alone (Mayer, 2008).

In summary, this week has exposed various aspects to take into consideration teaching within the Digital Technology classroom and interpret the fundamental skills for teaching in the 21st century.

Reference - Mayer, R. E. (2008). Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American Psychologist, 63(8), 760–9.

Week 6 Reflection

This week we have moved into the Digital Technologies area of the Technologies curriculum. The focus in this course will be on the following computational thinking processes which are Abstraction, Patterns, Decomposition and Algorithms.

In week six I learnt about Binary numbers which I had never heard of before. At first it was rather confusing to understand, although after a few practice rounds on the binary number tables that Wendy gave to us I got the hang of it. We also learnt about Infographics, after doing some research to help me understand the complexity of the underpinning skills of an infographic. First being the target audience, when coming up with the concept, do your research and find out what your audience likes, so that you can create an infographic that they will just have to share because it's so on-point with their thoughts. Secondly, a compelling theme. The theme is essentially the story and it needs to correlate with your brand, as your infographic will become another footprint in your content marketing journey. Next being actionable data, for people to want to share it, it needs to feature stats that will back up your case. The key here is to find stats that will help prove to your audience that your product or service is the solution that they need in their life. Your headline needs to be strong so that people will be compelled to share it. Keep it simple, concise and relevant to the theme. Quite like blog posts, a great way to grab attention and invite people to check out your infographic is to create a 'how-to' headline or one that asks a question.

All computer language is based in binary code. It is the back end of all computer functioning. Binary means that there is a code of either 0 or 1 for a computer to toggle between. This is how computers have come to assist humans in tasks that would take so much longer to complete. The human brain functions holistically at much more rapid speeds than a computer in doing other types of very complicated tasks, such as reasoning and analytical thought processes.

The Cisco Binary Game is designed to provide for leaning in a fun, engaging format. The goal is to master the ability to convert decimal numbers to binary numbers and back again. The game claims that unlike most other learning games that test your knowledge, this game teachers you while you play. It is a score based game as you achieve higher scores and advance levels, patterns and conversation strategies begin to emerge. Before you know it, you'll be mastering the conversation of eight-digit binary numbers to decimals in your head.

Reference - Retrieved from http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/what-makes-great-infographic-1
Photo credit - http://www.activatedesign.co.nz/blog/2013/12/what-are-infographics-and-how-are-they-used/#sthash.XwmDLChw.dpuf

Definition of Digital technologies

Any technologies controlled using digital instructions, including computer hardware and software, digital media and media devices, digital toys and accessories, and contemporary and emerging communication technologies. These technologies are based on instructions given using binary (0 or 1) code that invariably mean one or more processors are present to respond to these instructions. Computers, smartphones, digital cameras, printers and robots are all examples of digital technologies.