Broadening My Horizons

So my first week of university is down. How did my attempted to utilise ICTs for my study work? Well…this picture is a visual representation of my feelings after day one.

I started off the week by installing an application called AnnotDoc, so I could digitally make notes to my lecture slides. I found this very frustrating. I did not know how to write notes on each individual slide, I could not make the textbox bigger, etc. By Wednesday I have reverted to my faithful pen and paper method. However, on Friday when writing on my printed out lecture slides I was thinking, I am making this harder than it has to be. This week while challenging and overwhelming has opened my eyes to some of the benefits of ICTs ,such as having all documents stored in one place which is accessible on multiple devices or being able to keyword search to find relevant documents (tell that to my four boxes of old lecture notes and handouts I find myself shifting through to find that useful bit of information I read once in what course and what week). Ultimately I realised utilising ICTs could save time. I repeat SAVE ME TIME! Whilst initially ICTs will require you to invest a lot of time, I can see how it will enhance my learning and teaching.

 

Preconceptions and Misconceptions

This week’s learning path exposed me to the concept of schema. Piaget’s (1952) schema theory believes each individual has a collection of preconceived ideas which have arisen from past experiences, serving to influence and limit our perceptions and actions. The learning path activity required students to fill in the blanks below:

The questions that p________ face as they raise ch________ from in_________ to adult are not easy to an _________. Both f______ and m________ can become concerned when health problems such as co_________ arise anytime after the e____ stage to later life. Experts recommend that young ch____ should have plenty of s________ and nutritious food for healthy growth. B___ and g____ should not share the same b______ or even be in the same r______. They may be afraid of the d_____.

As I aspire to become a teacher and have an interest and passion for working with children I filled in the blanks with parenting and children associations. I thought my response was the obvious one; however I was surprised to discover this paragraph was about poultry! This activity got me thinking about my preconceived ideas about the role of ICTs in education. As a learner I prefer the old fashioned pen and paper method. It was what I utilised in school and have been using for over two years of my university degree, it works for me so why would I change… However, William Pollard (1996) once said “learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow”. Similarly, Jaime makes an interesting point in her blog. She highlights the importance of incorporating relevant ICT strategies to equip students for the future. She warns that utilising and teaching students the tools of yesterday, stops society from moving forward. I was unconsciously biased in my practical placements as I have always taught the way I preferred to learn. I have limited myself due to my preconceived ideas about the role of the teacher and learner, which were influenced by my schooling experiences. I have not allowed myself to step outside my comfort zone and incorporate ICT strategies to cater for the diverse learning needs of students or to make learning more effective for myself. In order to step outside my comfort zone I have set myself a goal of utilising technology instead of pen and paper for my first week of university. Wish me luck, I will keep you posted on know how I go.