Reflective Entry #7
Explain how your application of a digital and collaborative innovation relates to national educational policies/guidelines and contemporary educational theory and compare it to existing delivery models and needs.
When implementing digital technologies the Ministry of Education has put together a plethora of resources that can help our teachers to develop digital programmes. Their MOE’s main goal is “supporting teachers, kaiako, ākonga and students to confidently and effectively use digital technologies to enhance teaching and learning outcomes.”(MOE 2015) So it is of utmost importance that as educators we use the right tools that will enhance our student’s digital literacy, principals and capabilities.
Digital fluency is of high importance to the Ministry of Education and its policymakers and this is shown in the current professional development opportunities on offer in the digital learning environment. Our Government wants educators to be users of digital tools that can enhance our students' learning and in turn raise their achievement in the classroom. Therefore, the policy and the legislation that governs all New Zealand schools supports the desired outcome within St Joseph’s, that “all teachers and kaiako can confidently and effectively use digital technologies, programmes and devices to enhance teaching and learning.” (MOE 2020)
The aim of Seesaw at St Joseph’s was to avail ourselves of a fully digital tool that was collaborative and engaged our student body, their whānau and the wider school community. We needed a safe space online where staff and students could share their teaching and learning programme. Siemen’s (2005) posits in his learning theory Connectivism, “when students are making connections with their learning they begin to develop a deeper understanding of why it is important to them”. With Seesaw our students can apply new understanding to their prior knowledge and accomplish this through an “authentic learning experience”.
Our school’s E-learning framework is still being developed by a working group that includes people from all areas of our school community. However, when we had a staff meeting on how to guide our students in becoming full Digital Citizens we discussed the framework from the MOE (see image 2).
We felt through implementing Seesaw that St Joseph’s was at the “Engaging” dimension.
“Our leaders of learning are trialling initiatives and using these within curriculum planning collaboratively throughout our school.”
“We are accessing Professional development for all staff around training and developing a curriculum that will benefit our students” using Seesaw.
“Our entire school has now got access to Seesaw and we collaboratively plan using this tool.”
“We are involving our Whanau and wider community which has had an instant impact.” Just this year we have initiated a process for lockdowns and home learning.
Image one
The Constructivism theory sits well within our digital learning plan for our tamariki. It states that “Constructivism is the philosophical and scientific position that knowledge arises through a process of active construction." (Mascolol & Fischer, 2005) In regards to St Joseph’s school, we want to develop learners who “actively construct” their knowledge through agentic learning experiences. This is where Seesaw is a great digital tool for our learning community. Our teachers can see our students work in realtime and utilises an ongoing process of feedback/feedforward. Peers can also ask questions and critically evaluate the work to encourage an active learning process,
Experiential learning theory also relates to our innovation. Kolb, elucidated it as "the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb 1984) Our students through the use of Seesaw are creating their knowledge and then transforming it through their experiences and the feedback they receive from their peer group and teachers, and whanau. This wider range of experiential learning helps students to not only feel that their learning experience is being appreciated in a real-world context but is helping others to improve in their learning journey. T. G Roberts extended this further discussing that in Experiential learning theory it is important to select the right learning experience and then if it is not giving the desired result that the educator needs to alter it so that the experience gives the best outcome. As I stated earlier Seesaw is a digital learning platform that has an ongoing feedback loop and it has a simple interface so that educator can tailor it to the experience that best fits their student.
In looking at our journey so far it has become increasingly obvious that the Connectivsm theory is the new way of Education as it takes the learner beyond themselves and uses Digital technology and social networks which make the learning experience more flexible. However, both the constructivist theory and the experiential learning theory are still valuable to the 21-century learning experience. With the use of Seesaw our school is “forming connections with Technology and people” and discovering that even though our Seesaw journey is not at empowering dimension on the E planning framework, our students are already benefiting from this new way of teaching and learning.
Our biggest achievement so far is the wider implications for our Whanau and community they are feeling more connected and thus more engaged in their tamariki and their learning. The use of Seesaw in our community aligns with the Ministry of Education’s goal “that our students will be equipped to be confident, connected, active, life long learners”.
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References
https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/uploads/Towards-Digital-Fluency.pdf
https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Digital-fluency
e-Learning Planning Framework updated January 2014, Te Toi Tupu Consortium, on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from
https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/e-Learning-Planning-Framework
Kolb, D. A. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall; 1984.
Roberts, T.G. (2003). An interpretation of Dewey’s Experiential Learning Theory.
MOE (2017) The New Zealand Curriculum. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum
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