FINAL COURSE REFLECTION

eLearning and iLE@RN

The framework and papers developed by the Catholic Education Office really brings to light the importance of building an effective teaching and learning environment. It is important that we as educators remember that Technology is a tool to achieve this goal. I have always thought that the ‘e’ stood for electronic and the ‘I’ represented the internet. After further exploration words such as Engaging, Evolving, Examining and Emerging seem to stand out more significantly. We live in an information rich age where all of these ‘E’ words are important to ensure that we as teachers provide the best education for our students. As teachers we need to be aware of the vast amount of information that the students can access and this information allows them greater control over their learning. We need to encourage responsible learners to allow us to remove the walls of the classroom. In our students we need to instil ‘I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN LEARNING’ and I am involved in negotiating my own learning experiences. We as educators are responsible for developing the skills that the students require in order to work in this environment.

Blooms Taxonomy

The new model of Blooms that incorporates the use of technology has shown me in nut shell when each stage in technological development the children can be at. I know that the children I teach are in the use and remembering stages of this grid where as our year 6 students who are making voki’s, wiki’s, etc are up to the creating element of their learning. I think tools such as Flickr, mind mapping and second life fit between apply and create on the blooms grid.

Summary

Overall I feel as a teacher I have gained so much in terms of my own professional learning. I have been engaged in my learning through these tools and I have been able to gradually implement certain aspects of this course into my current year 2 classroom. I think it will be important for me to stay in touch with the growing changes in technology because by the time I am teaching upper primary who knows what technology will be around. I have found this very valuable to my professional development.