Wiki

The mobile phone wiki was a challenging tasks. Initially I thought I had only had delve into my deeper thoughts and comment on what De Bono hat colour I felt strongly about concerning the usage of mobile phones in the classroom easy right of course it should be allowed this generation is so technologically focused and involved they really do not need anything else in life to help get them by according to my neighbours Grade 8 daughter.  Upon further reading ha I discover I must put on all colours of the hat. 'I beg your pardon Wendy your wanting me to think outside the square" mmm yes well I am going to be a teacher and this I will need to get my students to do over the years to come.

Firstly who is De Bono and why hats? I remember this back in my early days of uni studying Marketing. Putting every different colour and having to decide which mind set I was going to portray. Its hard to be six different people at once. Really I did not look at it in colours the pessimist, the optimist, the devils advocate (we all like that one), the undecided, the advocate really is how I looked at them all. But to ensure I stayed on the right track I have included the meanings of the colurs and what they hope to represent in learning.

White Hat:

• Facts figures information and gaps
• List the facts
• What did you do
• What did you know
• What did you find ourt about
• Tell us and compare

Red Hat:

• How did you feel
• What would you feel
• Emotional feelings
• Intuition
• Logic

Black Hat:

• Judgement Hat
• Devils advocate
• Problems
• Confusion
• Negative aspects or concerns
• Disadvantages
• Blockages to obtaining desired result
• Dangers

Yellow Hat:

• Positive
• Logical
• It will work and why it will work
• Strategies implemented for success
• Benefits
• Sharing success

Green Hat:

• Creativity
• Alternatives
• Proposals
• Design
• Develop
• Predict
• Plan

Blue Hat:

• Thinking Hat
• Strategies used to solve
• Steps
• Providing information

So in wrapping the learning theory framework around the exercise its a form of constructivist learning working together in an active learning task that encourages collaborative thinking and sharing and allows the teacher to provide instruction and support to the students in their learning journey (Fasso 2013). Anyway I guess its all part of that critical thinking and delving into untapped feelings about a particular topic.The ability to utilise pedagogical scaffolding in this activity could be entirely beneficial so long as the desired outcome was instructed clearly.

 It was great reading everyone else's input however the one thing I did notice is that my posts disappeared among the chaos of everyone else adding their input. No matter how many times I tried to fix it eventually it got swallowed up by another colour. This was a threat really my response had disappeared into thin technological air never to be seen again reigniting my initial concern whether this type of activity would be beneficial to students. Yes it would promote self directed learning, it could encourage them to critically think about a topic rather than just an an emotional level and it also may provide them with an insight into others reflections on an activity (Fasso 2013). Furthermore though the teacher would really need to ensure they provide direction and support to the learners otherwise it may take away the value of the intended outcome (Deters, Cuthrell & Stapelton 2010).


So reflecting back on this exercise identified that while its strengths was it gave everyone the opportunity to have their say and allowed us all to mindfully agree or disagree with what others had written without hurting their feelings, it had the threat of becoming a pile of jumbled mess where no one could find their post then start stressing that they would fail this blog synopsis. The weaknesses I discovered was Wendy may never find our work and not know that my answers really meant something else as it was 2 or 3 paragraphs on how I felt and I wonder if I would feel different tomorrow was I just having a bad day/overtired/stressed with sick children.

So moving forward a week and some reflection I guess mobile phones in the class could have many benefits it would certainly engage the children into tech learning, it would excite their appetite to possibly design their own app and would enable them to communicate with other students in similar classes around the local and international market. My concerns are what about outside learning experiences, are we encouraging bad grammar, shorthand texting lol for example what is that lots of love or laugh out loud? Are we encouraging a lazy generation yes they are very technology smart but are we deteriorating the communication lines talk to any child with a device connected to ear phones and its almost an impossible task (Pewinternet 2010)

Like anything that bursts onto the market steps need to be taken to ensure there are plenty or rules and regulations regarding the usage and ethical boundaries of cultural, racial and sexual context whilst also considering bullying and possible isolation of those students who are unable to afford the latest and greatest piece of equipment. The positive reinforcement of social etiquette and communicating to the children that social morals and values also play an important role in life when they are adults will surely help guide them in the right direction. Additionally getting the students to identify the right and wrong way to use a phone in class and the punishment to be dished out if these rules are broken ensure it is a collaborative team effort.

So in summary it was not my favourite piece so far. and as a teacher I would definitely need to figure out a way to control a wiki that would not cause angst between the students

References.

Multiple Intelligences

The multiple intelligence test indicated that my highest scores were in Linguistic (Word Smart) followed by Intrapersonal (Myself Smart) I scored fairly evenly across Kinaesthetic (Body Smart) Naturalistic (Nature Smart), Logical (number Smart) and visual /Spatial (Picture Smart) my lowest scores where in Interpersonal and Musical (Birmingham City Council 2013). Admittedly I agree I have strong tendencies to learn better when I only have to worry about myself which is funny considering I was in the Defence Force for 15 years and it is necessary to work as a team looking after your mate. However moving forward I think my personality is one that prefers to work alone.
(Birmingham City Council 2013)

After these results I conducted a SWOT on myself and focused on how I could ensure that I did not only utilise the things I was good at but also incorporate the other types of learning styles to ensure that I did not exclude any child who was under my teaching direction (Winch et al. 2011)

 Strengths

• Good with words
• Enjoy writing and reading stories
• Comfortable in public speaking
• Love to debate a topic when I believe the outcome will benefit the majority
• I use facts, theories and true life experiences and knowledge to put forward my argument
• Will admit defeat if proven wrong (unless it involves my husband lol)
• Enjoy the outdoors
• Love drama, plays, theatre, music
• Enjoy using technology to gather information. Love FB, Pinterest and Twitter

Weaknesses

• Find it difficult to picture something in my head without having some knowledge of it first
• Terrible at reading maps
• Not overly good at playing musical instruments
• Dislike relying on others to help me get results
• Maths
• Wiki & Blog beginner

Opportunities

• Create and learn more on blogs & wikis
• Understand how use of digital technology can promote and enhance learning in all learning styles of children
• Tap into the wealth of knowledge that the children have in regards to technology
• Identify what excites the children about technology
• Combine my skills and knowledge with ICT to improve my individual knowledge to ensure I am teaching the correct strategies

Threats

• Lack of time and resources
• slow connection, outdated software & hardware
• constant changing of the technology and knowledge to keep up with it.

Behaviourism:

• Learning through positive reinforcement
• Step by step process with an pre defined end result
• Re inventing what is already known

Cognitivsm:

• A sensory register that mentally processes information that is relevant to the learner
• Working Memory: short term, stores for long term, graphs, charts ad images help with learning
• Working Memory: long term, learning knowledge and skills that will constantly be at disposal

Social Constructivism:

• Learning via social circles including family, friends, sport, culture, race, values, beliefs, community rules and regulations

Connectivism:

• Learning for the digital age
• Actions that are defined, linked and makes regular connections to what is being taught to increase the knowledge bank.

In evaluating myself I identified that I could use my strengths to design teaching lessons around what I could convey to the students but I must be mindful that I include all types of learning styles and gain a better understanding of how others learn. I could achieve this by further investigating my children and set up different types of learning activities including building, writing, reading, talking, role plays and then evaluate the children's strengths and identify what weaknesses they may have then organise activities that would build upon their learning knowledge in a way that would improve confidence and allow them opportunities to discover new ways of learning that they may have never thought of before (Marzono et.al 1997). The next step in the process would be to move to ICT resources and allow the children to further investigate what they had learnt utilising digital technology this would expand their declarative knowledge and enable their procedural knowledge to be an advantage form the classroom activities they had previously completed (Marzono et. al 1997). Additionally I would also need to consider if any threats may impact on the result I was trying to achieve time constraints, resources and possible resistance from the children due to uncertainty. I could reduce the risk of uncertainty and resistance by ensuring that the learning environment was fun, safe and secure where the children would be encouraged to participate without fear of failure (Winch et al. 2011)

All children deserve the right to stimulate all senses and as a future teacher I am excited and passionate about being able to contribute to their life skills.