Week 29 / Activity 5 - Using Social Networks to Improve Practice

Activity 5: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development

We are tasked to: Create a reflective entry where you critically discuss the use of social media in YOUR teaching OR professional development. Your reflection should be based on a reflective model of your choice.

I chose to look at the social media I use for professional development. 
Again, I have chosen to use a slide to present my information in a way that is more engaging for me. (Sorry there is a lot of writing this week!)

What types of social media do you use for professional development? Does the way you like to learn have an impact on the way you engage online? 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts... 

Enjoy! 

- Kelsey 

What is the relationship between blogging for learning and engagement of learners?

Kia ora team, 

As part of our research assignment we had to complete a literature review on a topic relevant to us. The question I chose to research was: 

"What is the relationship between blogging for learning and engagement of learners?"

I am really proud of the work that I completed for this and feel that it gave me a good understanding of the current research on blogging for learning. Throughout the research I became really interested in how an authentic audience impacted on student engagement. I also found that there seems to be a gap in the literature on the impact of commenting on cognitive engagement.

Here is my introduction:

Education researchers over the last two decades have been focusing on the integration of ‘21st Century Skills’ and their effect on engagement and student achievement. It is clear that technology is rapidly transforming the design of teaching and learning. When peered with effective teacher pedagogy the affordances of technology create ubiquitous, connected, visible and empowered learning opportunities (Burt, 2007). A new understanding in 21st Century Education is that learning occurs not only during the hours of a school day but also at home, on the marae, on-line, off-line and with a diverse range of people from any age bracket (Gleeson, 2010; Ministry of Education, 2015). Blogging is a ‘social software’ that provides users (known as ‘bloggers’) with the ability to become writers, readers and commenters by simply logging on. It has the potential to connect individuals though visible portals across time and space in addition to allowing for personalised thought and reflection. The use of blogs encourages reflective thinking through knowledge creation, transformation and sharing, allowing the opportunity for users to express emotional experience and exchange social and cognitive support with peers (Sun 2010; Robertson, 2011). Current education research provides insight into the potential of blogging to impact on student engagement. 

Click here to read more...

Week 28 / Activity 4 - Ethical Issue's in a Digital Age

Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

We are tasked to: create a reflective entry where you first identify an ethical dilemma that you either have faced or might face in the future, in your own practice that is linked to digital or online access or activity. Critique the ethical issues that arise from the dilemma and then discuss either: How you would address such a dilemma if it occurred in your own practice OR an actual situation that you have knowledge of, and how it was resolved.

For this assignment I chose to create a slide show within my blog - I was finding just writing not inspiring! Feel free to comment if you have any advice, ultimately I would like to know if displaying the information this way is better for you my reader! 

What actions would you have taken if the student was aware that what he was doing was illegal? 

Enjoy! 

Mindlab - Assignment 2 - Teacher Inquiry

Heya,

Here is what I have been working on for my Teacher as Inquiry thus far.
Feel free to leave any comments / ideas / improvements.
Enjoy!

Video that was handed in can be found at this link. 

Mindlab - Assignment 2 - Digital and Leadership

Assignment #2 was a combination of Digital and Leadership.
"Document and critique the leadership and implementation of a digital and collaborative learning innovation (change initiative) applied to a specific area of practice."

Here is my work... for anyone that may be interested.

This is the video assignment that was submitted.

And the slide deck that supported the video...