Classroom Technologies

Chai & Tan (2010) define collaborative learning as social interactions that are aimed at gaining deeper knowledge and understanding.  Sing, Wei-Ying, Hyo-Jeong & Mun (2011) extend this definition to include students learning to see from their peers’ perspective, extend group and communication skills as well as awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses as collaborators with the assistance of teacher prompted reflection.  Given that technology is itself an interactive tool, then it is clear to see the connection between using technology as a collaborative tool within classrooms.  Collaborative technologies allow for a range of ways to support learning by providing a medium by which students can share and exchange their ideas as well as their creations (Laurillard, 2010). Collaborative learning technologies encourage active learning as well as peer learning....

The series of posts within this blog have discussed the many benefits of technology introduced into education in terms of enhancing student engagement and learning. However, mobile phones and other digital devices do allow students constant access to social media, gaming and other applications that aren't relevant to lessons and may cause distraction within the classroom. Based on my research, I've found that distractions and misbehaviour due to technology can be avoided with effective classroom management and so do not believe they should be banned within schools.  Mobile phones are so becoming  ubiquitous among students that their regulation is challenging, let alone attempting to completely ban them within schools (Yan, Chen, & Yu, 2013). Secondly, they are an effective learning and teaching tool, which has been extensively shown in research (Chen, Chang, & Wang, 2008; Chu, Hwang, Tsai, ...

As I've stated in previous blog posts, I haven't had any experience in a classroom as a teacher and this is my first session studying teaching. I have done some tutoring but this hasn't required me to design a formal lesson plan and so I don't have any experience in constructing or executing lesson planning.  A concern I would have in writing a lesson plan would be catering for a diverse classroom. I'm unsure to what degree a teacher can predict the learning needs of each student in such a class and so I assume lesson plans would need to be quite flexible in terms of their content and timing. I have found research that suggests that effective teaching in terms of lesson plans were characterized by more opportunistic and flexible in teaching, being able to adjust to task demands (Wolff, van den Bogert, Jarodzka, & Boshuizen, 2015) as well as being able to improvise (Sorensen, 2016). I'm unsure when constructing a lesson plan how to predict...

The Technology. Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is used to enable teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching effectively. There a three primary elements or forms of knowledge within the framework; these are Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogy Knowledge (PK) and Technology Knowledge (TK). There are then four additional forms of knowledge corresponding to the overlap of the three primary knowledges. Effective technology integration requires a dynamic relationship between all components of the model depending on unique teaching contexts (i.e. subject area, grade and demographics) (Koehler, 2017).  Given I haven't taught in a classroom before and that this is my first session studying teaching, I'd say my pedagogical knowledge isn't terribly strong. I currently work in a mathematical field, which is the area I intend to teach, and I also tutor high school students in mathematics, so I feel my content knowledge is probably the most highly develope...