Reflective Synopsis

     These last few weeks we have discussed digital learning in quite some detail. This is sometime referred to as E learning. Connectivism, the knowledge of where to go look up facts without necessarily having all the facts in hand (Siemens, 2005 retrieved on 20-04-15 from : http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm), has become an everyday part of life for young learners. E learning takes advantage of this abundance of information. It is no longer possible for students to know everything in there chosen field. They do however have a super computer in there pocket or on there desk that will allow them to retrieve the answer with almost no lag time.
     Connectivism is the art of teaching students how to develop higher order thinking that will allow them to solve there own problems through the use of these specialized and varied digital data sets, and through networking with others. Why ask me when you can Google it?
     The TPACK (TPACK.ORG) identifies the knowledge teachers will need to effectively teach in the digital environment. This frame work can help guide any new teacher to understand what will be expected of them as they attempt to navigate this new landscape. This is necessary to support student learning mostly because this is how students are already learning. Using Bloom's Taxonomy (course web site at :  https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=15617) we can clearly see that there is a difference between simple knowledge and understanding, and high order thinking. By using Connectivism in a digital environment we can support the student in developing there higher order thinking skills. In the digital interactive environment the students can be challenged to first decide what information they need and then figure out the data sets they need to use to find the answers they decided they needed.
   Many of the digital tools we have seen in this blog are very good at allowing the interaction that students need to work on all sides of an issue. Helping them understand its various aspects. General interactive spaces, like Wiki’s and blogs, are great for giving information and then encouraging a conversation that can be as important as, or more important than, the original text.
   Just making information digital does not necessarily add anything to student engagement. To help us understand how to make the best use of digital media we have the SAMR model (Dr. Ruben Puentedura retrieved on 20-04-15 from : https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model). This model offers a way of understanding how digital media will impact student engagement. See my earlier post for a definition of SAMR. I intend to use this model to help me teach content in my chemistry class.
    Digital media is particularly important in chemistry. Chemistry molecular models (physical) are hard to find and are expensive to buy. You need several models to make any usable size structure. Enter Chemsketch. CHemsketch is freeware brought to us by ACD/labs (retrieved 10-04-15 from :  http://www.acdlabs.com/resources/freeware/chemsketch/). It allows you to draw and model complex chemistry models digitally without the need for a teacher to spend lots of money. It also allows all the students to create and manipulate those models. Its user friendly and requires minimal system resources. In the SAMR model this is the redefinition of the task. Imagine students creating their own models and sharing them not just with one another, but with people all over the world. This allows students to create 3 dimensional models themselves or import other people’s files. You can now have students create molecules from scratch to demonstrate understanding. Students could share files with other students in other countries to check there understanding.
In biology, it is now possible to step away from plastic replica models by use of interactive white boards and digital programs that can be manipulated in real time by the students during the learning process. All of this functionality is only part of the process. The digital format allows a more multi modal pedagogy that is a more collaborative learning It is more owned, controlled, and managed by the students themselves. This is the goal of current pedagogy theory (course web site retrieved on 20-04-15 from:  https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=15618).
In my future secondary school teaching career I will attempt to use many of the new technologies and digital pedagogical teaching tools that are available. This will be something of a constant learning curve as you will have to stay up to date with the new media as it develops.