That was meant to be simple and straight forward right? Well by golly gosh I have got my work cut out for me this year. I have had drama after drama with my profile wiki. Another student, (won’t mention names) had managed to save their profile over the template. Incredible what you can achieve with a wiki, I must add. Now it’s complete, it’s time to think about the moments I have shared with digital technology so far this term.
With the profile wiki and the scaffolding that was provided I was able to describe myself and a few things about me. Now that I have gone back and read what I typed 4 weeks ago, much to my own amazement is shocking and now I’m learning from this.
I most certainly under estimated the usage of ICT’s in the classroom, at the start, thinking it was just about knowing how to find resources to print out for class lessons and also learning how to use an interactive whiteboard. Now I can see the bigger picture and why it’s important to me and the other students as teachers. Though I still believe this course requires more clear instructions as to what exactly they want from me each week.
So how will it help me in a constructivist’s way?
I can obviously work at my own pace, which sadly enough isn’t fast right now. The students all get the opportunity to have input on my learning journey and all of the GDLT students are heading in the same direction (hopefully) to understanding ICT’s in the classroom.
How will it help me in a connectivist’s way?
It’s pretty comparable to getting a new job, in the fact that it’s rarely based on merits these days but who you know in the business. It doesn’t matter exactly how much you know or what you know, but who you know that does have that information and how you can retrieve this information and learn from it. With the profile wiki, you are able to acknowledge the previous experiences and knowledge of other student’s, and figure out, how they may be able to assist you in your learning journey. A prime example, is that I now know thanks to the profile wiki that a couple of the student’s are currently teacher aids and have access to thousands of brilliant resources and a brief understanding of how supporting diversity in classroom’s work. So from this I hope that another student has learnt something about my past experiences and knowledge, which may one day assist them in the classroom. We are all in this together and should provide input whenever and wherever we can.
How does it support learners with diverse needs?
Hmm, this is a tough one. In some ways it does provide support and in other ways it does not. It does effectively provide a network of current students, who are able to share their opinions to allow a wider dispersion of understanding. In fact it also caters to individual and group work, visual, auditory and interactive resources, as well as colour and multiple formatting opportunities. At the same time though, it doesn’t take into consideration a learner with no computer literacy or lack thereof.
Does it provide structure for shy people to put themselves out there?
I’m stuck in the mud for this one. I’m far from being a shy person, so I can’t speak on a shy person’s behalf, though honestly I don’t think shy people would have the right personality to be great teachers. I believe the profile wiki provides structure but at the same time it’s open for public viewing. It may seem to be a common issue, but not for me. People should learn to accept you, for who you are, including your reflections on your learning so everyone can learn from my personal achievements and mistakes. So what could there possibly be to hide? In addition, the profile wiki template was left up to the individual’s discretion for how much information they post, so fairs fair.
Partnering
It was a great tool to find a compatible partner, another student who shares common interests and so forth. I think that maybe there could have been some more in depth questions in the profile wiki so that we got to know each other ‘really well’. However, unfortunately for me, I had a partner but ended up doing the weekly readings and activities all by myself as our work commitments never allowed us to work collaboratively together on uni. Though that doesn’t blind me to the goal the profile wiki was set up for in the first place which was meant to allow the student’s to share the workload which is a brilliant idea.
Groups
I honestly wasn’t a great fan of the groups. Therefore it obviously didn’t work out effectively for me. Considering all students had briefly got to know one another at the first residential, and some already picked partners (as I had) and then in the groups sorted by last name, my partner and I were not in the same group therefore we couldn’t view what each other was writing about. My group also only had 6 people = 3 partners = limited to only 3 topics being covered. In essence the idea was there, but not enough students knew how it physically worked before diving in too deep and getting lost.
Behaviourism
Put shortly, I behaved in accordance with the course profile as it is part of my assessment, so therefore it changes everything about how a student approaches the wiki reflections.
Overall, now that I can see the bigger picture and grasp a medium sized understanding of ICT's, I believe that the profile wiki was an excellent starting point for the class structure. It provides good scaffolding and explained many elements which can be used for future reference in a teacher's career.
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