Noticing as a part of reflection

Group 2: Noticing as a part of reflection

In order to reflect on something you have to have noticed it. Start to look beyond the obvious and take time to notice

 

 

Emma Hatton,Mary Bance, Alice Chambers, Sarah Pearson

2nd Campus Session (Module 1)

Summary of the 2nd Campus session for module 1

Looking at yourself through someone elses eyes
How do other people see you and your responsibility?
Seeing the familiar differently
We started off the day by looking at ourselves through someone elses eyes. Having gone in to pairs, we explored what we think the other did in terms of their job. It was very interesting to see in black and white, what someone else thinks you do. Aicha was my partner and she was very accruate in how she perceived my job as a teaching assistant but it was still a little odd to see all my duties and responsibilities in a long list. We then relflected on the fact that you can be very familiar with something (eg, your own job), but can also see it differently by listening to someone elses view of it.


Knowledge
Experience
Noticing

Next, we started to discuss 'knowledge'. What is knowledge? We decided that in order to have knowledge of something, you have to have experienced it in some way or another. Sometimes you could be experiencing something without realising that you have a knowledge of it. My own example of this was- I had been experiencing Web 2.0 for many years (through using Facebook etc), however because I had no knowledge of Web 2.0, I didn't know that I was experiencing it. We also realised that in order to have knowledge of something, you have to have noticed it. Continuing, we asked

At what point does an experience start to be something you notice?

The point being, if you don't take the time to notice an experience, you're not really gaining knowledge of it. If you don't notice an experience, the experience is meaningless.

We are being asked to start having ownership of our learning by starting to disect and reflect on the experiences we have. We can do this by starting to understand the way that we individually learn. (See reader re. Concrete, active, abstract and reflective ways of learning).

In conclusion, we were encouraged to frequently record our experiences in the form of our journals, observe our experiences by taking our time in quiet surroundings and listen to other people's point of view to help to develop our own thoughts.

Technology in the classroom

More thoughts about Web 2.0. Today I was thinking about how Web 2.0 effects education. Please feel free to comment.

Today I started thinking about communication technology and how it actually effects pupils in the classroom. As a special educational needs teaching assistant, I am always looking for new and positive ways I can engage the pupils. I became curious as to how much, the somewhat recent technological advances, have benefited today’s pupils. Does a new technology automatically create advanced learning possibilities?

            I can’t help but notice that there is a very obvious devision in teaching preferences and approaches at the moment. It seems to me that we are in a transitional phase of ‘old’ and ‘new’ teaching practices, with technology being the devision. Some teachers are using the technology being provided to them, while others still teach in the traditional way. The traditional can be compared to Web 1.0. A teacher stands at the front of a class and speaks, revealing his or hers knowledge, and the pupil listens. Many of these teachers use technology such as whiteboards, overhead projectors and photo-copiers, which assist teachers in ‘communicating and reproducing materials and in maintaining their authoritive position’, (Hodas, 1993).           

            Alternatively, a newer ‘breed’ of teacher are using a Web 2.0 type of teaching method. Lankshear and Knobel 2007, celebrate the idea of people ‘exploring new ways of doing things and new ways of being that are made possible by tools and technique’. Web 2.0 applications encourage pupils to have a certain control over their learning. By being encouraged by a teacher to perhaps blog and discuss a certain topic, rather than simply copy out an extract from a text book, the pupil will not just be ‘talked at’, but permitted to come to his own conclusions and voice them.

            From my personal knowledge, however experienced a teacher may be, a collective input from a classroom often comes up with more and sometimes newer ideas, than a teacher speaking alone. I read Maryam Moayeris’ (British Columbia University) ‘Classroom uses of social network sites: Traditional practises or new literacies’. In this, she points out ‘ the importance of moving away from the teacher as knowledge container and provider and shifting to a more collaborative and active learning mode’. I feel we can certainly achieve this with the use of Web 2.0 in a classroom situation.

            I think that it is a difficult time in education, as new ideas and technologies unfold. Teachers are expected to use new teaching methods, and it can sometimes be hard to adapt. Phil Carroll encouraged me to think about what the affects on education will be if teachers are not encouraged to use new technologies in the classroom. Having witnessed many lessons where teachers are lacking in knowledge and ability with technology, I feel that they let down their contemporaries. The world is very technology literate nowadays, and however knowledgable a teacher may be in a specific subject, I do not think they are fully equipped to teach this generation of pupils without a technological background. In the school I work in, we are given training days in order to better our knowledge and as newer teachers are employed, the over riding number of staff in the school, do have a good knowledge. I still think we are a long way away from even permitting the use of Web 2.0 in schools. In the school I work in, all versions of Web 2.0 are filtered and access is denied. I can understand that the school can not allow pupils to go on a site such as Facebook while they should be doing their school work, however I think it would be very beneficial to educate pupils about the existence of Web 2.0. Most pupils will already know how to use Twitter and Facebook, but may be unaware of the exciting possibilities of discussing, learning  and influencing others around the world. I am excited about my own future teaching practises, having now been introduced to a fair few new examples of communication technology since beginning this course.

            Technology, and subsequently education, are changing direction, and I am pleased to be heading the same way.

Further thoughts on Web 2.0

Having written my task on professional communications technology, I started thinking a little deeper in to my last paragraph, about how far we, as a civilisation have come. I am really interested in British History, especially around the Tudor period and this task got me thinking about how lucky we are in comparison. Back in the early Tudor reign, England was a Catholic country and only priests or those lucky enough to have been permitted an education, were allowed to read the Bible. During this period, the Bible was the most important piece of writing as it was a political text, as well as religious. Religion was politics. With only the priests being able to read to the peasants, they had no choice but to have to take everything being told to them as the truth, with no possibility of questioning or analysing the information. Today things are so different. To start with, we live in a country which allows freedom of speech. Not only that, but we also now have the technology to have open debates and discussions with people from all over the world about any topic on offer. I can not imagine living in a society which was controlled to the point of not being able to make my own mind up about a topic and express my views as I desired. I feel so empowered and privileged to be able to use Web 2.0 to be able to get these points across and have people respond back to me, (especially without the fear of being beheaded for my views!!)

Task 1.b Professional Communication Technologies

I have so many thoughts related to this topic but have tried to keep it on the shorter, rather than longer side.  I would really appreciate people's comments on this task, as it is the one I am most unsure about.
Thank you

Task 1b.

Professional communication technologies

Having read through the Course Reader on Professional Communications Technologies, I found it very interesting to realise how much I already understood about Web 2.0. I have always described myself as only very basically computer literate - I can  use WordArt, email, Facebook and Twitter. I was therefore quite amazed that I was already a Web 2.0 user. I had certainly never thought of Web 2.0 as a ‘tool’. To me, using Facebook was just for fun and a way of communicating with friends and family for free.

            Having now read through the course Reader, I have started to think about the impact Web 2.0 has had on me. The way I socially interact is very different to how it was only four years ago. I use my Facebook account on a daily basis. I started thinking about whether or not I communicate with my friends more or less than I did prior to Facebook, and recognised that I do. I am now in contact with people that I would not necessarily  contact if a site such as Facebook were not available and I certainly write  comments on my friend’s ‘wall’ more often than I would feel the need to phone them. Then I questioned myself, “is this a good thing?”,  and came to the conclusion that there are, in my opinion, positives and negatives for Web.02. For example, I rarely phone my friends anymore; partly because I can contact them for free by using technology such as email and social networking sites, but also because I find it to be much quicker and straight to the point. A message via Facebook or Twitter is direct, for example

Hi James,

Please can you let me know what time we are meeting on Saturday?

Thank you,

Sarah

In contrast, without sounding rather rude, a phone call is unlikely to be as short. I would at least expect the caller to ask how the receiver is!

On the other hand, I also no longer feel the need to ‘talk’ to my friends, which I can’t help but feel a little troubled by. Hearing some-one's voice seems to me, to still possess a familiarity that words on a screen just can not express. There is a lack of personalisation.

In a professional environment I think this is a very beneficial tool. In my professional practice, all of our internal correspondence is via email and all of our student information is accessible via computers, rather than paper. Trying to track down a particular member of staff is sometimes like trying to find a needle in a hay stack, and so long as everyone ensures they read their emails daily, the system runs very smoothly.

During my dance and drama classes that I teach, I have found Web 2.0 to be one of the most useful technological advances available. We have computer access in every room, and with just a click of the mouse, I can search for thousands of songs, dance steps, tutorials, documentaries inspiration and more on Youtube. This saves me time, as I no longer have to change CDs or carry around CD players, and having everything accessible under one website, I find invaluable.

I have now created my own blog, for the purpose of this course, and have found that I am finding blogging both fun and useful. Unlike emailing, being able to comment on so many different discussions and receive comments in return, is so thought provoking. It has just made me realise how far human communication has developed and how excited I am to be a part of it.

Kisses

I have just read over some of my blogs and realised that I have ended some of them with a kiss 'x'. This is something of a habit for me as I always end texts and facebook messages with a kiss, regardless of who it is I am messaging. I think I do this because I want to appear likable and it is difficult to get that accross without using facial expessions or 'tone of voice' as you would from a telephone conversation. To me, simple finishing a sentence with a full stop, somehow seems abrupt and unpersonal. However, on reflection, I don't think putting a kiss or a smily face on the end of a professional or academic blog is appropriate. This is something that I think I will have to accept and although I will feel uncomfortable leaving the end of a blog so 'stark' and 'naked', I will be doing so from now on.