ICT administers a fundamental tool for education, creating a rich and student-centred learning environment with an advantage for teacher professional development (Firmin, Genesi, 2012, pg. 1604). Digital technologies are a vital component that increases access to learning and sets to achieve quality research in the classroom (Jyoti and Kumar, 2017, pg. 112). By implementing ICT in my practice, an increase in class engagement and active participation is evident through various teaching strategies (Olivares & Castillo, 2018, pg. 2313). In particular, the use of Google Slides allowed for effective group work and teacher feedback with an activity conducted in class. This activity with Year 10 religion incorporated group work where students were to research a specific religious ritual as a group and present their findings to the class. It is evident that students are likely to engage more proficiently in group work where ICT is involved due to high access to wider resources and learning styles suitable to each individual (Ellis, 2016). To ensure differentiation for each student, modifications of ICT can be made to assist students in engaging with a range of technologies, thus exhibiting their learning in the classroom. In one of my classes, I use a microphone to assist hearing impaired students hear my voice more clearly which is evident to prevent any barriers these students may experience such as classroom noise, rapid rate of discussion/topics and large conversations with high engagement (Rekkedal, 2012). Thus, when groups are to presented their findings to the class, the speaker wore the microphone to support others in comprehending and processing this information. Teachers are expected to understand the use of these technologies and how to implement them into pedagogy to promote learning growth, as stated in AITSL standard 2.6 (AITSL, 2018). The SAMR Model presents “a continual re-examination of practice to make the best possible use of technology”, as stated by SAMR creator Puentedura (McGinnis, 2019, pg. 1). The application of new teaching strategies is evident in the first step of the SAMR model, redefinition, that contributes to the creation of new tasks with the use of ICT and is shown in this activity by using Google Slides in sharing and editing work as a group. By using the SAMR model to redefine and modify my class groupwork activity, students were able to “…narrate and share their work with authentic audiences.” (McGinnis, 2019, pg.1). Although, an implication that I encountered with this activity was the unreliable websites and sources students used as primary information. For example, Wikipedia was used as the main source of information, some students presented false/plagiarised information that I had to correct. As shown in figure 1, a student’s presentation has been copied and pasted from an unreliable website, providing students with difficult vocabulary and information to interpret. As a solution, I took the first 20 minutes of the next class to explain the correct ICT use for information and how to correctly use Wikipedia as “…research has shown that young children…encounter difficulties when searching for information on the Web.” (Walraven, 2009). AITSL standard 4.5 has been addressed in this activity by ensuring ethical and responsible learning whilst using ICT (AITSL, 2018). As a result, I received feedback from the class that students felt more confident in using ICT for research in now knowing how to correctly use resources and integrate them into their work. In my future practice, I will be taking on this strategy to ensure ICT is correctly used as it is a vital part of education today.
References
Firmin, M. W., & Genesi, D. J. (2013). History and Implementation of Classroom Technology.
Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 1603–1617.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.089
Tikoria, J., & Agariya, A. K. (2017). ICT enabled classroom effectiveness scale development and validation: A case of multi-campus university. Knowledge Management & E-Learning, 9(1), 111. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/ict-enabled-classroom-effectiveness-scale/docview/1955086179/se-2?accountid=8194
Olivares, D. D., & Castillo, R. R. (2018). ICT in the classroom: Primary education student teachers’ perceptions of the interactive whiteboard during the teaching practicum. Education and Information Technologies, 23(6), 2309-2321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-018-9716-4
Ann Mette Rekkedal, Assistive Hearing Technologies Among Students With Hearing Impairment: Factors That Promote Satisfaction, The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Volume 17, Issue 4, Fall 2012, Pages 499–517, https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/ens023
AITSL. (2018). Australian professional standards for teachers. Australian Institute for Teaching
and School Leadership.
https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards
McGinnis. (2019). Moving up the SAMR model. Science Scope (Washington, D.C.), 43(4), 1–1.
Ellis, R. A. (2016). Students’ approaches to groupwork in a blended course, associations with perceptions of the online environment and academic achievement – when is learning engaged? Education and Information Technologies, 21(5), 1095-1112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-014-9370-4
Walraven, A., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2009). How students evaluate
information and sources when searching the World Wide Web for information. Computers &
Education, 52(1), 234–246.
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