He said it best…

Leaving from…

My students used to smile with sympathy when I told them I didn’t have email when I was in university, let alone a computer. Today they smile with sympathy if there is a glitch with the Smartboard or the internet is down. 😉

Luckily, I work in a school that pursues and supports the exploration and implementation of digital learning technologies. In my ten years at the school, we’ve gone wireless, equipped classrooms with Smartboards, implemented a one-to-one laptop program and developed IT facilitator positions in every division. Even still, I’d have to rate myself as a bit of novice, relative to the experience of the others’ here. My forays into different learning technologies have been mostly informal, including work within my classroom, collaboration through in-school development and my own experiences with online courses and programs. With ETEC565a, I hope to move away from sampling but to selectively build a foundation of purposeful and engaging learning tools to facilitate diverse, personalized learning experiences. As Einstein put it, I want to progress from knowing to understanding.

Boarding Pass

Considering the resources I feel are necessary for me to arrive at my destination, I feel there must be practical, relevant learning opportunities. I want to learn how different digital tools work, when to use them and how best to use them. I can already see that this course will model a variety of techniques: a great strategy for contextual applications and hands on experience. Opportunities for discussion, evaluation and sharing of notes will also be important, as will having a functional framework to juxtapose the myriad of possible digital strategies.

Going to…

This excerpt from the State of Digital Education Infographic (Knewton, 2013) highlights where the more formal learning environment is headed to, and where teachers need to be ready to navigate.

Ultimately, I hope to get to a place where I have improved digital literacy and that it allows me to better facilitate teaching and learning. Linked to the ISTE performance indicators, Resta and Miels (2009) expressed digital literacy as the abilities to:

• communicate digitally
• choose, apply, and keep up to date with digital tools
• search, process, and use information in a discriminating and responsible manner
• take responsibility for continuous personal learning, development, and employability

Today’s learner is a new entity; dubbed the Net generation, their skills and needs are unique to their predecessors (Barnes, et al., 2007). Subsequently, the role of the teacher is being molded to meet this demand. This is the environment that I work and learn in; if I hope to be effective, being digitally literate is one aspect within my control.

References

2013 Knewton, Inc. (2013) ‘The State of Digital Education Infographic.’ Retrieved from

http://www.knewton.com/digital-education/

Barnes, K., R. Marateo, and S. Ferris. (2007). ‘Teaching and Learning with the Net Generation.’ Innovate 3 (4). Retrieved from

http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue4/teaching_and_learning_with_the_net_generation.pdf

Resta, P. (2009). ‘Digitally Literate Teachers Needed.’ SEEN: Southeast Education Network. Knight Communications. 20 Nov., 2009. Retrieved from

http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/article-detail/articleid/227/digitally-literate-teachers-needed.aspx