What does the last five weeks of exploration, and trying out these digital tools mean with respect to my teaching? For me how to adapt and use these tools in my teaching is still a work in progress. My placement starts this week. As a Pre-Service Teacher (PST) I need to ‘play’ more with these digital tools and reflect on how they can be adapted or adopted to support the learning of my students. I am planning to talk with my mentor teachers and the e-learning support staff at my allocated school this week to ascertain the technologies that are available for me to use during my prac and then work out how to embed some of the digital tools I explored over the last five weeks within the technological constraints of my allocated school. My personal philosophy would be to introduce one new technology at a time. I was overwhelmed in this course when having to learn 3 or more technologies every week so I assume my students would be overwhelmed by trying to learn multiple new tools in a short space of time too.
What have I learnt in the last five weeks with respect to learning theories and pedagogy? I have a much better understanding of my own learning style and how that influences my approach to teaching and what pedagogical strategies I will feel comfortable using in class. I also understand better how learning theory and pedagogy frame e-learning design. But again there is the caveat that I do not fully understand my teaching context at this point in time so I am sure that there going to be a steep learning curve in the next few weeks as I move from classroom observer to teaching my first lessons at a high school.
What I will be asking when I start preparing lessons for prac teaching is when should technology be used? The use of digital technologies is only suitable when there are clear learning benefits for my students. Learning activities that utilise digital tools need to be framed in a manner that supports and transforms the learning and is not merely an entertaining distraction. Ideally I should use digital technologies to support learning that is unable to occur in any other way. If done well, my students will be more engaged, far less likely to be disruptive and will achieve fantastic results in their studies.
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