Assessment Task #1

REFLECTION 1 WEEK 2 – Mobile Phone Wiki Activity
Zteven Whitty


In the context of this statement from MCEETYA (please see appendix 1) and in relation to SAMR modelling, scaffold design and application, and, learning theory I came to regard the mobile phones wiki activity as an augmented brainstorming-cross-PMI charting, hat-wearing, educative digital product of social constructivism.

Social Constructivism learning theory was most resonant with the learning experience context of the wiki activity. However, in my opinion, elements of learning theory from Behaviourism, Cognitivism, and, Connectivism were also locatable. I found; that from a behaviourist learning view one would have identified with – in addition to the rote oriented parametres of the activity such as repetition and routine - an approval mechanism operating within any perceivable consensus thought line, response method or medium, or, even, response size; that from a congnitivist learning view one would have identified with the recurring themes of the activity and highlighted an awareness to the positions from which they felt most prepared to critically respond to the stimulus and might proceed to employ the dexterous capabilities of a graphic-making and academic-organizing tool such as Docear for further topic clarity purposes; and, finally, that from a connectivist learning view one would have identified with the provision and interactivity of many opinions, data and research hyper-links, texts, graphics and miscellaneous linkages.

Away from these learning theories I also saw a mercurial nature of the wiki in its ability to move between being that of a platform for lodging individualized responses to that of a platform for reviewing, collaborating and examining peer instruction. I noted this last observation as being pertinent to my photo response medium and method of the wiki whereby I needed reassurance that it was okay to address a reduced amount of questions to the separate hat sections.

The participant of the wiki activity was asked to respond from ones prior opinions, assumptions, knowledge, ideas, feelings, aspirations, through to responding from new-found, expanded knowledge to a problem as an individual inside a smaller faction of a larger managed group body. Statements were filled in an entry field along with any accompanying supportive material to the response stimulus -mobile phone use in classrooms. Basing the problem inside this widely accessible stimulus coupled with the method of responding in an open platform context involved multiple participants. One could assume by doing this the confidence of a participant is potentially fortified with a sense of safety, acceptance, or, equality inside the social group identity – a very important element of effective pedagogy and having experienced the surge with which my peers engaged this activity I can see how Twenge & Campbell, (2008) found individual academic confidence levels to be increasing amongst contemporary high-school students.

The learning involved in this activity beneficially compounded upon itself – several learning gain areas were variegated and built upon across realms of both practical and holistic functionality objectives.

Value in notable practical functionality of scaffolding de Bono’s Thinking Hats into the activity can be found in how – in a participatory sense – the subdividing of thinking areas served as a substantial digital enhancement (augmentation) and provided guidance and methodology to the brainstorming
element of the task. Outcomes of the activity could be used to source further applications like that of ongoing data pulling. To illustrate this idea we could take the instance where a participant may be interested in the organizational benefits of having access to a particular subset of relevant opinion or data e.g. the presumptuous comments found in the Black Hat entry field might be used to garner a strong argument for an affirmative defence on a school debate such as: “Students should not be allowed to use nor possess mobile phones during class time”.

Value in notable holistic functionality of scaffolding de Bono’s Thinking Hats into the activity can be found in how – in a participatory sense – the responder was allegorically richened by the opportunity to form a clear, imagistic awareness of critical thinking. The activity achieves this by successfully climbing all the way up the three domains of Bloom’s taxonomy; successfully iterates that scaffolding is reciprocal – in that the Communication and Social Software/Web 2 .0 scaffolding element of this activity was as significant as any other scaffolding element; successfully demonstrates the essence of Vygotskian constructivism theory (Vygotsky, 1978) – in how ones social engagement influences cognitive development; effectively exposes the participant to the practicalities of an ICT learning experience; and successfully performs all of this whilst garnering in the participant an appreciation for the design of TPACK. In retrospect… quite a task!

In this final reflective chunk I will summate my mobile phones wiki activity experience with points on TPACK efficacy and engagement. Being mindful of how one resonates with learning is an important characteristic of effective pedagogical content knowledge and definitely pertains to effective technological pedagogical content knowledge. Digital learning is most effective when a teacher also experiences positivity in the preparations of ICT learning design for it has been found that the learning gains of students parallel that of the interest, understanding and implementation level of an effective ICT digital learning designer – the teacher. In figure 5 (please see appendix 2) one can see why teacher preparedness in this area is important for a modern classroom setting. Extending and closing these thoughts, Higgins found that “greater gains in achievement in students are seen when the teacher uses ICT in a planned, structured way that is integrated effectively into their lessons” (Higgins, 2003). A statement in which I would  represent with this wiki activity.






Appendix

1)

The 2008 Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008: 6) affirmed the importance of ICT literacy within the classroom, stating that: rapid and continuing advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the ways people share, use, develop and process information and technology. In this digital age, young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT. While schools already employ these technologies in learning, there is a need to increase their effectiveness significantly over the next decade.

2)

Figure 5 is sourced from “School Connections: Using ICT to engage students in learning - New South Wales Connected Learning Schools Project” - a collaborative research by Microsoft, the Department of Education and Training (NSW), the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and consultant group dk2.




References

· Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay Company.
· Higgins, S. (2003). Does ICT improve learning and teaching in schools? A Professional User Review of UK Research: British Educational Research Association
· Twenge J.M. & Campbell W.K. (2008) Increases in positive self-views among high school students: birth-cohort changes in anticipated performance, self-satisfaction, self-liking, and self-competence. Psychological Science 19, 1082–1086
· Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). "Chapter 6: Interaction between learning and development". Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 79–91.
· MCEETYA (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.mceetya.edu.au/mceetya/melbourne_declaration,25979.htm




Thank you for reading my reflection.


Good Energy !!
Zteven Whitty
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------