Group T: Ongoing Professional Development

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers T: Blog post – 17 October

Teaching is not a profession that is for everyone. It not only takes knowledge and skill, but also patience and other qualities that not every individual possess. Being a teacher requires a passion that you are born with - a flame inside of you to be willing to learn AND to teach what you know.

From an objective perspective, the teaching profession entails teaching a student theory about a specific field of study - for example Accounting or Life Sciences, depending on the specialization of the teacher.

Individuals in the profession will agree with the statement that being a teacher is about more than just teaching knowledge. In some cases you are a role model, a parental-figure, a confidant, etc. Each learner is someone special, someone different and you should treat them accordingly. Thus, being a teacher is considered one of the most emotionally draining, but also enriching professions of all.

Teaching “in the old days” took place in any format. Under a tree, in a classroom or any location possible. A wiser person stood in front and taught the learners/pupils a lesson. Today teaching occurs a bit differently.

Due to the ever-expanding field of education in the 21st Century, we use technology to teach. Although in certain areas they still use “old school” methods, globally it has become an unwritten law to use modern ways to teach. Teachers make use of video’s, Microsoft Office (Powerpoint, Word and Excel), Computers and projectors, and many more. This is due to the fact that a lot of additional information can be acquired by the use of computers (i.e. the internet) to expand the content of the curriculum as well as makes it easier to present the subject content more successfully. 

New technology does create some challenges in education. Teachers and the school curricula will have to acquire and process the abundant information available in today's society. Technological recognition is needed for learners’ professional development as the new generations are more proficient in new technology than some of the teachers.

Schools have to redesign their methods of teaching by utilising new technology. The use of technology in the classroom will become extremely important as it will be required for shaping professional and ongoing development for future aspirations.

By either learning from each other or by means of development programs, there is a need for ongoing professional development. This is especially true in the case of education as no two classes are ever the same. The curriculum is constantly changing and now technology is also changing the way we approach teaching and learning. 

Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technological tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, changes in culture and more. The best professional development is therefore ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture.

Group S: Personal Learning Networks

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers S: Blog post – 16 October

A Personal Learning Network for the future:
A personal learning network as described by Wever (2016) is a map where you are at the centre. It is different places and people you connect with, to receive advice, ask questions, get ideas from, to receive guidance from and to help you when you face a problem or situation. “But now with the Internet, you also have access to more resources online. Your PLN then also becomes a resource” (Wever, 2016).

Personal:
Personal Learning Networks are about making connections and building personal contacts with educators, school administrators, universities, and professionals around the world. It is a way to create a resource on which you as the teacher can rely on and draw from.

Learning:
A PLN is about sharing ideas and resources, partnership, and education. In a PLN, learning, ideas and expertise are shared in different ways; using different media and tools.

Network:
The PLN is a global learning network, enabling people access to share diverse, global perspectives on teaching strategies, educational related issues, and technologies.

Why should you build a PLN?
Dryden's and Vos' (2005) book on learning networks said: "For the first time in history, we know now how to store virtually all humanity's most important information and make it available, almost instantly, in almost any form, to almost anyone on earth. We also know how to do that in great new ways so that people can interact with it, and learn from it."

There is a huge cultural shift among young people. Children and adults prefer social media to TV. Joe Dale said, “When we go through websites all the information comes back to us, so we need to organise our PLN”.

By integrating PLN learning strategies into our pedagogical approaches, teachers can create interactive spaces for their students. Further resources are shared, pooled and evaluated in a variety of spaces to which the development of the students and educators can only benefit.

How can a PLN assist you as the teacher?
A PLN can assist you to locate classroom resources and develop lesson ideas, find solutions for the challenges you face in the classroom and locate research and news for lessons. You can also learn from experts and colleagues, build your own digital literacy skills and learn how to integrate these skills in the classroom and establish collaborations to conduct research or set up professional development opportunities.

Some recommended sites:
www.tweetdeck.com to organise your PLN.
http://paper.li/MFLTimes a newspaper updated daily with a selection of articles, blog posts, videos and photos.
http://www.boxoftricks.net/on tried and tested Internet tools for classrooms.
You can also find tools and tutorials for digital storytelling on http://mfl-digitalstories.wikispaces.com/Tools+and+Tutorials
4 Fantastic and Free Professional Learning Networks for Teachers http://bit.ly/2yE8436

Group R: Becoming Digital Pedagogues

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Bloggers R: Blog post – 10 October

It may come as no surprise when we tell you that we all live in an ever increasing digital world. Some of you may even take it for granted, having grown up with smart phones and tablets. As time goes on and technology advances, it becomes more ubiquitous and accessible to the average learner. This presents a whole new world of potential digital pedagogical approaches to learning.



Technology occupies an important place within students' lives. In class, as experienced, we can see how teaching and learning by use of technology has become fun for both the learners and the teacher. It seems as though learners enjoy being in touch with the information itself: give them a tablet or computer with internet access and you will be amazed by how much you as a teacher can learn from THEM. When learners get the opportunity to work with technology, they seem to connect more with the content. This is also a way to get the learners to actively do work and research. It also makes it easier for the learners to learn and remember the content better. By providing students with the correct tools, we can take them into the 21st century and prepare them for the future, as it is becoming inevitable that technology will become part of the school syllabus.



Digital technology however, in the greater scheme of things, is relatively new and one may even consider it as being in an experimental phase, since not enough time has gone by to really assess the positive impact that it can have in the classroom. Is it actually helping learners or is it merely a distraction?



We must ask ourselves, in what ways can digital pedagogy be enabling, while at the same time we must consider its potential pitfalls. Give a child a tablet and they may spend their time looking up pictures of cats, rather than doing the work that is expected in a lesson. Technology give us the freedom to explore and learn but for a learner, such freedom can be inhibiting. How does one moderate the use of technology in the classroom? There is no easy answer to this question but it is something that we must keep in the back of our minds.


One can also consider the advantages technology can bring to the classroom. Technology can personalise a lesson in the way it can potentially support the topics that are being discussed and it often provides different teaching styles to every individual’s personal needs. A device like a tablet gives learners access to world of information. This is very useful in classrooms as some textbooks are often outdated: as teachers we can use this to our advantage and teach learners how to assess collected information. This is beneficial for the learner him- or herself as it is a useful skill to have for future use in the working environment.


As with anything, the key to quality classroom management is to have a plan, a Plan B, and to ensure that technology integration is consistent, clear, and supports the learning objectives and goals. It is important to ensure that your class time includes an active learning and creative piece that will yield student engagement. We, as teachers, will never be able to control it all, but we can put steps in place to limit the uncontrollable.

Group Q: Critical consideration of the School Visit (2)

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers Q: Blog post – 09 October

During teaching practice, students were faced with various challenges that theory could not have prepared them for. The module has aided the students on their nine-week journey in many different ways.


The main purpose of computer use was to prepare us for the classroom and its technological aspect, due to the new day and age many schools are leaning towards a completely technology friendly school environment. Moving away from ‘traditional’ schooling. As seen with the wealthy private school, they had a myriad of resources and everything was computerized and iPad focused. Thus the student was able to use the knowledge gained from the module to create new innovative lessons where learners were stimulated and challenged using the resources they had access to. 


Majority of students were placed in underprivileged, low-income schools in which majority of them lacked resources. This allowed the students who came in for their teaching practice to be creative in the way they conducted their lessons and transferred their knowledge onto the learners. Those who were placed in higher income or private schools were surprised to find that they had a drastic lack of resources for both learners and teachers.


Where there were resources available, including technology as well as textbooks, it was few and far between. Thus not all teachers and learners had access to the resources that were available to them. Therefore, teachers needed to adjust their lessons to allow for effective teaching and learning to take place regardless of the availability of resources.


In the underprivileged schools that were well-resourced teachers were one of the main problems. The faculty did a bad job at managing the resources that were available to them. Although resources were available it was not well taken care of or the teachers themselves did not have the training to be able to adequately work with them. Thus leading to instances where they resign themselves to ‘older’ ways of teaching, not being innovative in their lessons sticking to a teacher-centric, rote learning and lecture style of teaching.


The module helped students to be able to navigate the environment, be it a technology-free or friendly zone. The students were able to bring in alternate ways of teaching in order to thrive in both situations. Finding a balance between blended and traditional learning, where they were able to integrate various methods of teaching leading to the enhancement of the teaching and learning experience.

Group P: Critical consideration of the School Visit

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers P: Blog post – 09 October

Walking through the doors of different schools on the first day of our teaching practice, various expectations and prior knowledge filled our being. We were excited to explore the newest technology and e-learning methods within class-context.

The reality, however, quickly sank in: most schools, particularly public schools, are not making use of e-learning methods, besides PowerPoint presentations. Some schools are privileged to have interactive whiteboards, for example an ebeam, which enables the educator to have an interactive lesson. Unfortunately, very few schools have the financial capacity to provide these boards for every classroom, resulting in many teachers conducting lessons in a teacher-centred manner, using textbooks and a board. Many learners find this unsatisfying.

Too many educators are comfortable using passive methods - is it truly the best way for a learner to explore the content being taught? Are learners truly exploring content in this manner, or are they just receiving information? Reflecting on our teaching practice, we realise that the majority of educators have to work around the available resources and are resorting to teacher-centred methods that they feel comfortable with. This is done at the expense of the learners as there is little consideration for the optimum method to introduce and explore the content. Educators stick to the traditional method when one sees it from the vantage point of adhering and complying with a CAPS curriculum and rarely consider venturing into new methods of presentation. This raises the question: Should educators simply stick to their comfort zones and use what has ‘worked’ up until now and deprive learners from the opportunity of being exposed to new methods of learning?

Apart from this, numerous educators are also not trained to use e-learning methods. This however should not be an excuse to not incorporate new age teaching methods into the classroom. Classrooms have e-learning resources, but are used, because educators lack the training to fully incorporate the system. The potential of various e-learning methods have to be discovered and fully explored in the South-African schooling system.

It should be noted that the South African context is a unique and often challenging milieu to incorporate e-learning. The vast majority of schools lack the resources to equip classrooms with the basics let alone advanced technological equipment. Private schools that have adopted the new world of e-learning have done so with the luxury of resources at their disposal that is out of reach for the majority of underprivileged communities.

Through the teaching experience it became apparent that educators have become exhausted by everything that they are required to do. The least of these are shockingly teaching and doing thorough planning. Living in a digital age, learners are extremely visual and often learn through means of technology. For teachers to use technology as a way to facilitate learning; will require of them to put a lot more thought and planning into each lesson.

Group O: Revisiting blog topics F through J

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers O: Blog post – 10 May

Upon considering blog posts F through J, there appears to be a consensus that digital pedagogies, although challenging, are the future of teaching and learning. However, one of the primary challenges of implementing these structures successfully is the necessity for teachers to receive proper training based on their subject fields.

Digital pedagogies have often been criticised for poor implementation, as the effects are often disruptive for both learner and teacher development. It is therefore vital that digital pedagogies are implemented only if it enhances the learning environment and facilitates critical engagement with knowledge.

Learners can greatly benefit from effective digital pedagogies, although they require training to successfully engage with such pedagogies. Technologically “advanced” learners need to be taught how to distinguish between the reliable and unreliable information that is available online.  By the incorporation of digital pedagogies and technology in the classroom, learners can be provided with the information needed via the aforementioned skill.

Likewise, when integrating ICT in a schooling context, it is important to note that its application would differ within every subject. Each subject has specific needs and requirements with regards to the integration of electronic media, as well as how the subject-specific content is presented. Some subjects require more visual aids, whilst others are more focused on auditory features. One of the challenges that is obstructing the integration of ICT in schools is the lack of software development aimed towards subject-specific content.

While electronic media may be future, one must ask if this future is sustainable within the South African context. The main issue when integrating such strategies is that not all learners will have the resources to benefit from this type of learning. As this country's situation stands currently, the educational system cannot afford to fund a third of the government schools. ICT learning requires multiple resources, including electricity, online programmes, and the training of both the teachers and the learners, thus the majority of schools will be unable to fund such learning.

To recapitulate, the use of digital pedagogies in combination with ICT should ideally train the learners to utilise independent learning in the long run. It is important that every learner, based on subject and school context, is able to access what electronic media can offer, despite its swift changes. Consequently, teachers must be able to adapt their lessons as is necessary, hence the training of digital pedagogies in the classroom context must be extended to teachers, which may prove problematic within the South African context.

Group N: Revisiting blog topics F through J

Computer Use 774:
Bloggers N: Blog post – 10 May

ICT integration in an Edu. Context

The topic discussed in blogger's F post looks at the effectiveness of implementation and integration of Internet, Communications and Technology (ICT) in the classrooms. The post highlights the problems prevalent in the integration process; the necessary steps for better teacher training, and lastly; how ICT implementation equips learners for their future success. Making use of ICT can be a useful tool for learning, however; according to Krause 2010, there is a disconnection between teachers and technology. Thus, it is important for the teacher to gain the relevant and appropriate ICT knowledge and skills in order to integrate it into teaching and learning.

Digital Pedagogy

Since Blog G discusses how digital pedagogy can change/enhance the experience of teaching, (Stommel, 2013) one could infer that teachers should not only use technology to make their job easier, but to use it as a tool to make lessons more interactive by encouraging learner participation. Digital pedagogy is not as difficult as people make it seem. For it to function well, it will essentially require educators and learners to work together towards a common goal (Stommel, 2013).

Blended Learning

With reference to Blog H, blended learning can be an efficient approach in keeping the learners attention in the classroom. This is done by integrating technology, however; not all learners have the same learning styles. For example, some may rely on a teacher to enhance their conceptual skills first before they are able to grasp the use of technology in the classroom.

Guidelines for ICT integration with NCS subjects in Grades 10-12

According to Blog I's research though, we are becoming more technologically dependent. By using technology in the classroom, we allow interactive learning to take place and are preparing learners for the real world. The blog discusses how the integration of ICT can be beneficial in different subjects. Every subject has its own software needed for successful teaching and learning to take place, however; the content should suit the outcomes of the curriculum.

What does the future of learning look like?
In Blog J they discuss the future of learning by looking at statements such as the topic question, and “how do we align new educational models with the support to help it succeed?” They answer these questions by looking at the work of Sugate Mitra who uses SOLE or Self Organized Learning Environments. Mitra believes that by focusing on the interests of the child, it will optimise their learning. Ideally, teachers should not only embrace the use of technology to enhance their pedagogies in the classroom, but they should focus on a learner centred approach - where learners should be encouraged to improve their learning and be successful after school.