Assessment 1: Reflection 6. (For week 7).

Introduction
This post is about reflecting on the importance of online learning communities both for me as professional teacher and for students. I will also reflect on my collaboration with other students on this course.
On this blog I have tried to use something different, in this case I have used Prezi (though did use this on week 1, i think this time it is a little better and I did a audio for the prezi, because I had not done an audio yet and have discovered that I like this way of communicating).

ReflectIon

Unfortunately I was not very good at this, the reasons are not really very good. I struggled to say anything constructive or think that I had anything to say. I think I struggled with constructive’s because the blogs I read all taught me something, although it might have been different to what I might do it helped provide me with another perspective and learn other techniques and see them in action.

I also did not dedicate enough time to this task.

However I began to rectify this I did comment a few times in the later weeks of assessment. 
I tried to do this because I believe feedback is a gift and hopefully it is always taken in a manner that allows for personal growth. This depends on the quality and delivery of the feedback and also how it is received, as a teacher this is important to consider when feedback especially to students.

Below identifies some of the other blogs I commented on.

• JessSag. Digital Pedagogies in Secondary Schools. - I commented a few times on jess blog, it engaged me through the use of diagrams, colour and interaction. We had a small collaboration on week 5, task 4. See the link -  jessSag

On reflection the dialog with jessSag was a good thing to experience, I feel that maybe I could offer something to others a different perspective from a different teaching subject. It also provides a process of really thinking about your work and theres and what to say, how much value will my comment make to that person, is the value positive or constructive and the impact this may have.

• I also commented on JessSag on April 24th regarding week 6, task 5. See the link - JessSag

• Leachip79. Digital Pedagogies. I commented on 19th April regarding the post on 'Enhancing learning through 'Prezi'. See the link - Leachip79

• Johnny lost, wait. What? - I commented on 27th March regarding the post phone debate - six thinking hats. See the link - Johnny lost, wait. What?

These are the blogs that I have on my dashboard so I can see when they are updated and would read through. I dod look at a few others and tried to read blogs that covered tools I had not used so I could learn the advantages and disadvantages of them.

When I did it read other blogs and comment it was good because I learnt other methods, and perspectives on what to do how others used the tools and I pushed myself to try looking and replying on blogs that didn’t necessarily jump out at me straight away. It really made me think about my own work, what it means and how it might be interpreted.

I also learnt that sometimes less is more, to much of technology at once can be disengaging and overwhelming and distract from the learning. For example the work on blog http://christocqustudent4567.blogspot.com.au/

On 8^th April  the blog on power points (wednesday 8th April) was simple yet the right amount of input. It is enough to be something a little different and meet the needs of the lesson in mind. This made me think about the SAMR level of redefinition and do we have to always use technologies at the transformational level? or is it using what will get the best outcomes of the lesson for the students.

I think it is important for us as teachers to realise what is the most appropriate form of technology to use and not just use it because we want to, it needs to come from the perspective of the students engagement and their learning.

As we are all going to graduate at around the same time, it is interesting to see how others present there work and what type of teaching they might present. This lead me to think about my pedagogy, I think at the start of this course I did not really have a clear pedagogy, see post on 19th March 2015 titled pedagogies in practice.
I think the investigation into technology and the movement of how to teach and students in the 21^st century has helped my pedagogy evolve.

The diagram below shows my more concrete thoughts on my pedagogy after reflection.

Respond to comments on your own blog.

I didn’t seem to receive many comments. I checked to see know and then and when nothing written there a little disappointed, then I would think that if I don’t comment on others I can’t expect it on mine. Plus if I ddint comment on others blogs or wikis then Im not advertising myself and so people would not be aware of my site.

Although I did find it hard to comment with something worthwhile and a little reserved in wanting to write online. I realize that it is the way forward; it will enhance my professional development and thus my ability to create worthwhile lessons for students.

For me I think the level of collaboration and acknowledging the learning advantages for students and myself as professional is an area i will need to work on for it to work and have impact. I hope to implement at my current job a wikispace for students who are enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh award, a space to ask questions and help answer others queries. I will need to closely monitor this and that it stays a safe environment for all.

For students there are many advantages to experiencing learning online, as a teacher I will need to provide the platform and motivation for students to use this. Some advantages I think really stand out for students.

• Generally students are more engaged with online methods than traditional methods, as Baker (2013) states especially in using social media.

• For students it gives them awareness of others and greater collaboration.

• For some it may provide a social outlet that is secure, it is private and opens to a trusting environment, identify with a group and develop social relationships.

Below is a simple prezi with an embedded audio I created, I did a prezi as this was one of the first tools I used and wanted to revisit and see if I had improved at all, I think i improved by adding an audio (circle 5) and trying to enhance it. 

The prezi is about my reflection on the value of online learning communities for teachers.