Twitter

This week I have been asked to watch a number of videos about how children learn technology and then post a reflection on my twitter account which looked like this

When I clicked on the link "#EDCU12039" I realised I wasn't the first to say this very post and that others were also very similar, if not identical. This made me feel good, that I had interpreted the videos and task correctly, but bad that my thoughts weren't very original. My post has not only been influenced by the videos I have watched but by working in the Early Childhood industry and having used EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) for so long, this is a very generic opinion, generated from the EYLF.
Some benefits of using sites such as Twitter for educational purposes would be that the students would relate well to it and be more interested in learning, because of it, that all the ideas are combined to one link, where you can view various ideas about one topic and compare your own to your peers. However this could be good or bad, if you can identify who has posted each post it could lead to online bullying or it could have a positive impact, and allow the more 'shyer' student the courage to speak online.

I think that I would not use 'twitter' as such, in a classroom however the benefits of it are good and the target audience would relate well to it, therefore if there was a more educational website, with similar benefits, I would definitely utilise it.

Concept mapping

I have spoken previously about the benefits of concept mapping in various posts: http://tessphilips.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/week-3-design-challenge.html  http://tessphilips.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/technology-design-cycle-concept-map.html   http://tessphilips.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/visual-literacy.html

All of which state that I am really enjoying learning about concept mapping and getting to experience them hands on. It has also been stated that I am not liking the site I am using 'coggle', the reason for this is only small and that I don't like the way the threads come from the main idea and how limited space there is from the way they come out. I used 'poppet' previously and really enjoyed it and its layout however when I went to sign up for that one, I would only get 5 free maps then I start to get charged, whilst the price was small, I was not willing to do that since I would have already reached my limit by now if I had signed up. Therefore I stayed with 'coggle' and any problems I am having is irrelevant since I do not have to pay to make maps on their site.
Mapping is a great resource for both Teachers and Students to use in a classroom as it allows ideas to flow and emerge, it is easily accessible to return to and add more ideas, move ideas around to make more sense of it and whilst typing it out, you are learning it, it is being engrossed into your brain. It is very useful in regards to brainstorming, planning, managing projects and so much more.
I will definitely be using this in my teaching pedagogy.

Week 3 Design Challenge

This week, I have moved to the next stage in the design cycle

Last week, as can be seen in previous blog posts, I worked on the investigation stages, this week I have worked on the planning stage. This required me to map out four different designs; Chicken burger with sweet potato fries, Chicken wraps, Spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread, and Steak, mashed potato and vegetables. After mapping out each design and including the ingredients, utensils and any other materials/components, I then wrote up a decision matrix, using a supplied template on excel. After completing the matrix it was evident that the Chicken wraps were the best option. I had been hoping that the Burger would be the best option, as it is the most nutritional and healthy and would be the most appealing to the target audience (in my opinion), however, for safety, cost efficiency and the amount of recyclable materials that would be able to be used, reasons, it was not feasible, unfortunately.
Again, I am liking the use of concept mapping, it made the decision process very easy and easy to read and go back to, also allowing ideas to flow. However, I do not like the program I use or how it is set up, with the way the threads leave the original idea, but looking at other sites, this is the easiest option, as other sites charge for their use.
I also like the use of the decision matrix, making the final decision very simple, and any necessary changes that need to be made can easily be changed on the template. However, I was a little confused with different examples given of design matrix's and how they got their final results but enlisted some help and managed to complete my own. It's also been quite some time since I've used excel and I was a little rusty and had to enlist some help to remember how to change little things around, but after some fiddling, I got there. It would be a brilliant resource that all students should learn about. All students should be learning in school, at a young age, basic technology such as ALL the word programs e.g. excel! They are resources, people come across all the time in their life and are utilised in so many ways, therefore it is a must in teaching programs.

Technology design cycle concept map

Reflection:
I have had a lot of issues embedding the above image. Clearly I talk to much! therefore making my map to big and needing a cursor that moves the image to allow you to read it. Originally when I embedded this, the appropriate cursor would only appear when in edit mode but not in a preview of this posting. So I reflected on this and posted a link to one that does work (in my wiki), hit post and then thought 'I should just check this out now that it is 'actually' posted', and viola it worked! Ok Tess, now go back through and take your linking out, edit the reflection to reflect this new milestone...IT WORKED!!! YAHOO!!

Previously this map would only embed, easily and happily into my wiki page, now I am thrilled after a week of trying, it has made it onto my blog! Amongst having the issue of embedding the map onto my blog I had originally had difficulty just finding the iframe code I needed to embed it. I had used this method previously with posting my word cloud (which I also had trouble understanding) and required some help to understand where to find iframe codes on different sites, then there was the actual embedding in onto the site issues. Which made me think that although I am a fan of concept mapping, as previously mentioned, I am not so enthusiastic with embedding, give me linking any day!

I do believe that concept mapping is wonderful strategy for learning, as seen above, it gave me the opportunity to learn the technology cycle better. For me if I am writing something into my own terms, it will help me understand it better, I can also always refer back to this map and see the cycle in terms I understand and can relate to, another strategy that is useful. Concept mapping doesn't have to only be done digitally either, I can start my students out, getting use to mapping, by drawing/writing their ideas up, then teach how to do it digitally and see their preferences.
This is a great learning tool for the classroom and definitely one I will be utilising.

Reflection on peer review process

24/03/15
Part of my design challenge for my Design and Digital Technologies course, is to partake in a peer review process, this includes receiving and giving critiquing. I found it hard on top of a long 'to-do' list to remember to also critique my peers work as well as critiquing my own, I also found that waiting for someone else to critique your work is time consuming, as it is part of a series of steps you need to take each week, therefore waiting on others can put the whole group behind (this includes my own memories skills). For example, I myself, forgot to completely critique my peers work and 2 days later, it hit me that, that was why he was messaging me telling me he had finalised his work, while I was thinking "good work mate, thanks for letting me know", there was a logical reason, he was letting me know, I had work to do! Luckily he was very understanding.
 In saying all that, it also works very well, in that we can all relate to each others busy lives and workload, we also know how each other possibly feel about the class and the challenges that we all have to undertake, therefore we can relate better to each other, then to teachers.
I love doing group work, when I have a good group of people, and this semester I have been fortunate enough to have a fantastic bunch of people, who are very involved, helpful and responsive, making the process very easy.
This would be a great teaching strategy, especially in a classroom, opposed to externally, like me and my peers (making it a little harder). It would also help socialisation skills, bringing students together and getting to know each other better, it has certainly helped me network and meet people, when working externally, makes it quite hard. Listening to your peers interpretations opposed to your own, teaches you new ideas and opens your mind more, it is very effective tool, however I am sure that this would not work for all people as some people do work academically better, alone, where as I am a social butterfly and have always loved working with people, to get a better understanding of things.

26/03/15
I would just liked to add to this, that now that I have looked and critiqued my peers work, it made me realise that my work requires more detail. This is another benefit of working in a group, getting to see other peoples ideas and interpretations of the set task, expands your knowledge base and therefore helping with your own assessment.

4-4-15
My design is now complete and a peer has provided feedback to my design process. She brought up a good point I had already thought of but clearly not enough and obviously needed to be documented if not utilised in my process. I am very grateful for her feedback and have enjoyed the feedback process as it gives me an idea how I am going with the course and allows me to compare my work to others to put my mind at ease even more, that I am actually on the right track. I have always found that I learn better in group work and that this is the best teaching strategy for my development, also allowing me to meet people and make new friends which is always a great positive.

14-04-15
I found this week that the feedback process is dwindling and less feedback is being given or taken by myself and my peers. This is most likely because our design process is at its end and we are all feeling that we only need to provide minimal feedback. However we are providing detailed feedback in other forms such as templates being provided e.g. design assessment and evaluation. Last week we did design evaluations for each other and found them very detailed and beneficial to our product. As always providing feedback is always helpful to me and makes me realise improvements for my own product.

Creativity - A framework for the Design/Problem Solving Discourse in Technology Education

This is another summary from my group, from this week, thankyou Kelvin Ware for allowing me to share your summary. Great work!

 

"Creativity - A framework for the Design/Problem Solving Discourse in Technology Education

The article stimulates conversations on the importance of creativity as a goal of technology education. It directs the attention to a subject that remains under-explored and a need for design and problem solving in technology education to allow opportunities for students to step outside the conventional reasoning processes imposed by the rest of the curriculum. 

The article addresses:
What is creativity?
Creative cognitive processes
Schooling and creativity
Creativity and technology education and
Implications for technology education.

What is creativity?
Creativity is not easily defined. Bruner (1962) defined "that creativity is an act that produces 'effective surprise". which according to Bruner for the creative person, the surprise "is the privilege only of prepared minds - minds with structured expectancies and interests" and identified 3 kinds of surprise - predictive, formal and metaphorical. Creative people are governed by internal factors, especially personality and tend to be creative within particular areas.

Creative cognitive processes
Is about discovering and examining the logic behind exceptionally creative people Cross (2002) did a study that fashioned a model suggesting that exceptional designers use a broad systems approach to design but also frame problems in a personal way. Csiksezentmihalyi (1996) believed that a creative process has flow. That when in the act of creating your things, are going well, subjects report that their behaviour is almost automatic and unconscious. cognitive process can be broken down into areas of thinking and creation such as, metaphorical thinking - which is a powerful tool that allows comparison and categorization of materially unlike entities. Analogical thinking - is taking a map of knowledge from a base to a target facilitating one to one correspondence. combinatorial creation - is a design process that takes two or more concepts or entities and combine to yield and entirely new product. Divergent thinking - is broken into two forms, divergent and convergent thinking however divergent thinking yields a variety of solutions to a given problem, and the last one is productive thinking - can be seen as thinking outside the box that allow for multiple uses and ideas.

Schooling and creativity
Schooling is an important asset to children as a creative outlet for learning. As the curriculum is in place to help support the learning and taking the children's interests and individual needs into account. Creativity enhancement entails six resources identified by Lubart and Sternberg (1995) as problem definition, knowledge, intellectual styles, creative personality, motivation to use intellectual processes and environmental context. Cropley(1997) states that creativity should be a normal goal of schooling, that the curriculum should entail with overlapping of Lubart and Sternberg's approach content knowledge, encourage risk taking, building intrinsic motivation, stimulating interests, building confidence and stimulating curiosity. Instead of only problem solving within the classroom as that stimulates a semi creative approach as you find one outcome, problem finding allows students creative portals to be opened to find multiple formulations, discoveries, solution options and reformulation of the problem.

Creativity and technology education and
technology education is seen as a creative portal for children to explore their inner imagination and ideas. early curriculum sought teaching technology and creative design as basics, tool use, the ins and outs how things are made. where curriculum now allows children more freedom of use of their own imagination and are given hurdles, and objects in which they must create something to help it, over come it or make it their own.the american standards for technology literacy has a focus to help enhance creativity, that there is no right or wrong answers and that there is multiple ways to achieve an outcome. Reeder (2001) sets forth how things run at his university explaining both traditional methods such as steps to follow to achieve the solution as well as conceptual ways with open ended thinking. Teacher of technology must support both analogical and metaphorical thinking, conceptual combination, productive thinking and divergent thinking, as these are the means in which humans come to novel products. failure is a positive thing as helps your creative imagination realise not all come to the right conclusion but the path you take lead to other interesting discoveries. there is a high need of technological design and the benefits that come with it for both the mind and the products and discoveries opened.

Implications for technology education.
The subject is still a work in progress. At this point it takes cues from science, but could also benefit from aligning with other subjects (art / music), where students are encouraged to use knowledge in support of creative expression.

5 problems were discussed on creativity and included :
a) implications for design/problem solving pedagogy 
b) implications for assessment 
c) implications for professional development 
d) implications for curriculum theorizing and 
e) implications for research 

Reference

Lewis, T. (2005). Creativity - A Framework for the Design/Problem Solving Discourse in Technology Education. Journal of Technology Education. Retrieved from:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v17n1/lewis.html

Reflection of article, “Beyond ‘The Design Process’: An Alternative Pedagogy for Technology Education.”

This week has been a very busy week for me and my peers in my group therefore we decided that we would split up the readings for this week and each summarise them to share amongst the group. The following summary has been done by my peer Rebekah Lewis-Smith and she has done a great job thankyou Rebekah!

 

This article was about the Design Process that is implemented throughout the schooling system and how when the Design and Technology Curriculum was first introduced in England, that they had a lineal approach which has proven to be problematic in our schooling system today.
“. . . teachers often undertook a linear process that emphasised the stages of planning and drawing, then construction and finally testing. These stages followed each other successively and were often discrete . . . (Moreland et al. 2000, p. 292). “
Emergence of the Design Process-
Johnsey (1995) identified that there were many different attempts to define the design process in England between 1971 and 1995. Although there were many different designs, he identified many common process skills. One common reoccurrence was the persistence of teachers in teaching a lineal design process.
Challenges-
Using a lineal model (end-on-end process orientated) approach has been problematic. Some of the issues are that students using a design-make-appraise model require students developing a design before the process begins.
Although the design process and the different components used are effective in the role of creating a two-dimensional drawing in creating the design, the literature indicates that this is not the preferred method for students. Children are known to design orally and by exploring materials available to them. Johnsey (1995) believes that the most important part of the design-making process for students is the “making” part and the “design” part does not naturally come first.
When faced with the requirement to follow pre-scribed, linear model students tend to subvert the design process by adopting their own strategies to get the job done, but ritualistically use the teachers approach to satisfy assessment requirements (Williams 2000).
Student Technological Practice-
Gustafson and Rowell (1998) identify five different types of initial problem solving strategies.
1. Guidance/direction
2. Modelling handling
3. Imaging
4. Social beginning
5. Reflecting beginning
Through their studies, they realised that the students initial course of action was influenced by the perception of where ideas to solve the problem might lie. Lewis (1998) suggests that the focus needs to shift from a problem solving approach to one that fosters problem-posing by the students.
Teaching approaches-
With our new understanding of technological practices, there are a number of current teaching practices that no longer fit.
Alternative approach-
Children should be able to explore the range of materials available to them during the exploration of general knowledge and relevant information to the particular context. There should be a scenario to introduce the topic that is authentic to their experience and environment. The scenario should allow for many solutions to be created by students which fit to their own learning styles. There should be open discussions about each student’s process in small groups and with the teacher to clarify the problem. Students should then be able to present their solutions to suit their learning styles.
The role of the teacher in this alternative approach is to manage the learning environment and model technological practices. They will also promote discussion, offer supportive and critical feedback and model strategies so that students have a clear outline of the problem and challenges.
According to a study done by Video Campus (2001) says that some challenges that have presented themselves in this approach is that some students did not achieve their potential outcome because some groups were held up due to the high demand of materials and equipment needed that weren’t originally available. But with this alternative approach, studies have shown that students had a great deal of enthusiasm and involvement in creating solutions. There is a noticeable amount of collaboration between students and their peers as well as their teachers.
Discussion-
This section of the article was summarising about how New Zealand is still trying to make Technology a compulsory subject. Although the design-process has been useful to teachers, it is time for teachers to have a wider understanding of technological processes and the implementation of class room pedagogy using these processes.
The attention of the design process should be down played and more attention given to design skills and technological practices. This enables students to have an approach that suits their individual learning styles.

Reference-
Mawson, B. (2003). BeyondThe Design Process': An alternative pedagogy for technology education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 13(2), 117-128.

Challenge: Creating a healthy, nutritional, appetising meal

This week we have started our 'real' design challenge, therefore I got to choose what the problem was and the solution. To begin with, I was provided with a list of possible design challenges to inspire me. I chose to 'stick with what I know' and what I am passionate about and that is food. I believe that children need to be having more nutritious, healthy foods, and that a lot of the 'processed' foods they eat, can be really bad for them. My solution to this problem is to educate children from a young age, on nutritious, healthy foods and their value so they can take this with them throughout their lives, thus creating a healthier society.

The task I have set for my hypothetical classroom, of years 5-6, is to design a meal that is nutritious, healthy and appetising, using local ingredients and utensils from recycled materials. Also that any waste generated from this meal, be utilised in a compost bin, thus promoting sustainability.

The students will be required to fill out a needs assessment for why we need to design this meal, a design specification, to clarify exactly what is required during the design process e.g. costs, utensils, safety etc., and a risk assessment of their design. I have trialled this by filling out these templates, generally, to get an idea of what is required of the students.

The students will be in groups of 4 when they make their design, to ensure safety at all times when in a kitchen. Other students will be continuing with other work with another staff member whilst I am in the kitchen with the four students cooking. Before we get to that stage, the children will have to complete the whole design challenge set out in the design cycle.

By the end of this unit, the students will learn about various nutritional values of foods, the importance of using local ingredients and supporting their community, importance of using recycled material and the impact it has on society as a whole and the use and benefits of a compost bin, whilst getting to eat a delicious meal, they have learnt to prepare themselves (a benefit, their parents are sure to like) and learning about the technology design cycle and its many benefits. Teaching children how to safely use equipment in the kitchen, is another life long skill they will learn and require throughout their journey.

Reflection of plastic bottle jewellery challenge

This week it was asked of my peers and I, to create jewellery from plastic bottles. We were provided with the method and some of the materials required upon which we were to create the jewellery and then fill out the required templates of our challenge.

I enjoyed learning how to make a pair of earrings out of my plastic bottles and getting the opportunity to recycle the plastic in another way rather then just the recycle bin. I first had to cut out my desired shape of earrings from the bottle and then colour the plastic cut outs in with permanent marker, I chose pink and purple. Afterwards I lit a candle and used needle nose pliers to hold my cut out plastic over the flame, wielding it however I liked into nice, creative curves, whilst sealing the rough edges, watching that I didn't burn or melt the plastic. I then used the pliers to hold a needle and heat it up in the flame, then pierced a hole at the top of both plastic cut outs, to put the earring ring through it and closing it with the pliers. Viola earrings!!

They are so pretty and I am very proud of them. I brought them to my friends children aged 2-3 years, to play with under my close supervision and all children involved, handed them to me saying "earrings", as if I should know this and asking, 'why are you wanting me to play with earrings?'. I encouraged them to wear my beautiful creation to which the girls were very happy to oblige, they were also proud of their pretty new adornment.

After watching this weeks tutorial and the Teacher telling us that she was also very proud of her creation but that her colleagues all agreed they thought they looked beautiful but would never wear them, I am sad to say I agree. I love my earrings and they are beautiful but I would never be seen wearing them. I had the same reaction from my friends, they were all enthralled by the photos of gorgeous earrings I sent them until I told them where they came from. This makes me realise that this creation is better for a younger audience who are more 'innocent' to the world and don't worry as much about wearing recycled materials as us older more 'experienced' people are.

Id also like to note that the only issues I had with my creation was that the colouring in I did on them, got scratched off very easily by the children and that if I am ever to create them again, I would use already coloured bottles.

Reflection of article:

"Creativity in technology education: providing children with glimpses of their inventive potential"

This article discusses the importance of creativity in schools, linking to various theorists and other sources to justify their argument. He has discussed how Design and Technology allow for creativity without being touched by other subjects such as maths and science is continual battle. When referring to the decline in creativity for ages between 9-10 and onto adolescence, Lewis (2008) offered the theory that this was because of  "insufficient opportunity for open-ended pursuits that are joyful, that draw on endowments not otherwise tapped, and where teachers do not always have the answers".

Focus on Design

This section of the article discusses the merits of  'problem solving' and 'challenges', mentioning the positives and negativities of Design Technologies, using it as a basis for Education. Some negatives points included that Students do not learn in a linear way as 'problem solving' suggests. Another belief was that the subject allows students to create what doesn't exist yet and therefore helps them further develop their higher order thinking. Whilst, Atkinson's study on the relationship between the creativity of student projects and their overall performance on the GSCE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examination found that a lot of students that didn't perform well on the exam can design very creative projects. I found this interesting, as I did an assignment previously about this topic and found myself agreeing that students need more creativity allowance in Schools and that although some children aren't good at maths for example, they could be very creative and do extremely well in other subjects. We cant focus all our emphasis on 'main stream' subjects.

Emergent classroom practice
Lewis discusses how classrooms shouldn't be as strict, that students need to be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them and to be playful and humorous without getting in trouble for it. He also discusses the design process including a few examples with a wide variety of subject matter,  going into much detail about each step. Many children enjoy technology education as it allows them the freedom to create without restrictions, which is a worry if other subjects begin to influence technology education to much it may not be as enjoyable for children anymore. There is theories about how children may not be interested in both phases of education technology (idea generation and evaluation) and how Teachers can further enhance their enthusiasm for both. He goes on to discuss how children that might be poor academic achievers might improve with more creativity incorporated in the curriculum including technology education.

Emergent on children designing
This heading discusses the difficulty in grading creativity and through various examples, discusses how each person is an individual and views things differently, how everyone is creative in their own ways but always different. Through observation of children developing challenges, it helps us to further develop technology education which allows students to "draw upon their creative urges" (Lewis, 2008). Allowing us to better understand how children think when posed with technological challenges.

Inventiveness and the curriculum
Discusses how inventiveness and design work hand-in-hand and more needs to be done across countries to make others more aware of the potential of this subject. It also provides examples of techniques used to include inventiveness in the classroom such as getting students to reinvent old inventions such as household appliances or mouse traps etc. There are three types of cognitive strategies used when inventing: mental models, mechanical representations and heuristics. Lewis (2008) states that:

"Mental models are constructions that can be animated in the mind of the inventor. Mechanical representations link thought with devices. Inventors have a set of stock solutions that are part of their cognitive resources. Heuristics are strategies including rules of thumb that inventors use to manipulate models and representations."
Dasgupta's framework "suggests that the act of inventing is (a) purposive (goal oriented), (b) opportunistic (relying on sub-goals), (c) gradualistic—large insights being composed of a network of small steps, (d) a reasoning processes involving application of rules, (e) knowledge intensive (science, theory heuristics, and (f) involves searching freely and associatively for knowledge" (Lewis, 2008).
For invention to become a stronger feature in technology education it is important for Teachers to become more familiar with its terms and modes of thought.

Coming to grips with creativity and invention
Following processes are more likely to occur in technology education then in other areas of the curriculum: "problem solving, divergent thinking, combination, metaphorical thinking, and analogical thinking" (Lewis, 2008).
Problem solving
It is discussed how their are many steps involved with problem solving, beginning with a problem or goal that cannot be reached. That problem solving is a manifestation of intelligence and there is metacomponents of intelligence: "problem solving, selection of a solution strategy, allocation of mental and other resources (such as time) to the problem, solution monitoring, and sensitivity to feedback" (Lewis, 2008).
It is also suggested that children's prior knowledge of how things work prevent the considerations of new possibilities, which I find interesting and could agree with.

Divergent thinking
Meaning more then one solution to a problem is possible. Guildford states four categories: "fluency (ability to produce a number of ideas), originality (ability to produce unusual ideas), flexibility (production of a variety of ideas), and elaboration (ability to embellish ideas)" (Lewis, 2008). These categories are useful in divergent thinking studies. Problem solving requires being open minded about possible solutions and other problems that may arise etc., divergent thinking plays a large roll in the beginning of the problem solving stages.

Combination thinking
Combination thinking involves the merging of two ideas into a third idea. It is believed that creative people will find this easier then people that are less creative e.g. " An engineer may find it necessary to marry electrical and mechanical systems" (Lewis, 2008).

Metaphorical thinking
Metaphorical thinking is described by Lewis (2008) as allowing "one to make conceptual leaps across domains from a source to a target, such that a new situation can be characterized and understood by reference to a familiar one".
It is believed that metaphors help us bring realism to a problem space. Teachers should demonstrate the use of metaphorical thinking in technology classes which will encourage students to arrive at their own. Using metaphorical prompts will help push students towards their solution.

Analogical thinking
"Analogies are special types of metaphors, where a structural feature from a base domain is mapped onto a new domain" (Lewis, 2008).
It is possible to solve a problem in one area by using an analogical problem from another area. Children should be engaging in solving real world problems, in keeping with the aims and practices of the education of technology.


Reference
Springer Science+Business Media B.V.: Theodore Lewis. (2008). Creativity in technology education: providing children with glimpses of their inventive potential. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3922a349-01ef-40db-adfe-4df213d42855%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4209

Screen Shotting

Just started week two in Design and Digital Technologies and already I have learnt how to screenshot on my computer, FINALLY! I have been wondering how to do this for so long and it was so simple :)
Here is my very first screen shot

Pretty happy with myself :)

Design thinking vs computational thinking

From reading about the two distinct types of technologies incorporated in the Australian Curriculum Technology, I have realised that there are a variety of differences and similarities between the two. For instance, design thinking focuses more on the design and production process of creating a solution compared to computational thinking that focuses on the use of digital systems and information to create solutions. Design thinking is predominantly heuristic in nature where as computational thinking is predominantly algorithmic in nature, but both forms of thinking are after the same results or solutions and both types work towards a more sustainable living. When using design thinking, you consider the environmental impact of decisions and then re-design or re-engineer the product, or service to support a more sustainable pattern of living, however when using computational thinking you are assessing the role of contemporary and emerging digital technologies in creating a more sustainable pattern of living.
Basically, computational thinking is developing a solution where as design thinking is designing a solution e.g. developing solutions is exploring, analysing and developing ideas based on data, inputs and human interactions" (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2015) but designing solutions is considering "how users will be presented with data, the degree of interaction with that data and the various types of computational processing" (ACARA, 2015), but both types of thinking work hand in hand to create solutions. 

References
Week 1 Materials: Introduction to the Technologies Curriculum. What are the differences between the Design and Technology, and Digital Technologies subjects?. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from CQUniversity e-courses, ECU12039 Design and Digital Technologies, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au


Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2015). Technologies. Key ideas in the Technologies curriculum. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/content-structure

Word cloud

My Technology Word Cloud

 

 

 

 

Reflection on the value of word clouds in technology education

I believe that word clouds would be useful in a variety of classroom settings, although (embarrassingly) I found it difficult to understand how to get the iframe snippet from the tagxedo site to embed in this blog, with some help, I got there in the end. Once embedded and for the use of students accessing the word cloud, I discovered that the gadget would be a useful instrument in teaching. Students would be able to easily find words that they'd be using in their studies and when having difficulty with those words easily refer to their word cloud and find definitions for them at the touch of a button. Students learning how to make and embed a word cloud would also enjoy being able to change colours, themes, shapes etc. to make their desired word cloud and then learn a more in depth knowledge of technology when learning how to embed their word cloud into something. I found this skill interesting and would definitely incorporate them into my classroom.

Aims and Rationale of Australian Curriculum Technologies

My notes:

• "Technologies can play an important role in transforming, restoring and sustaining societies and natural, managed, and constructed environments". (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2015) 
• Two distinct but related subjects:
• Design and Technologies (Design thinking)
• Digital Technologies (computational thinking)
• Ensures all students benefit from learning/working with traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies
• The technologies learning area allows critical and creative thinking
• Students should be able to develop a critical appreciation of the processes that technologies are developed and how technologies contribute to society 
• Allows students the opportunity to engage with technology that will in turn, demonstrate the impact technological solutions have on equity, ethics and personal and social values. 
• Demonstrates a desirable sustainable future for students 
• The aims and rationale set out in ACARA Technologies aid in the development, knowledge, understanding and skills of technology in the 21st century

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2015). Technologies. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ 

Visual Literacy

• Visual literacy stems from pictures, photographs, graphics, drawings, videos, concept maps and multimedia. 
• "...operational definition of visual literacy: The ability to view, understand, analyze and evaluate, design and create, and use visuals and visual representations for acquisition, consolidation and communication and transfer of knowledge". (Younie, Leask, & Burden, 2015, p.55)
• Important to establish what students relate better to e.g. not all students will relate to visual aids. Also how myself (as the Teacher) prefers to learn and teach in regards to visual literacy. 
• Concept maps work very effectively, allowing students to write their ideas together will help the Teacher to identify any issues with language, writing, social skills etc. Then by taking it further and using technology (type up students concept map, without changing any spelling etc.) it allows students to learn information in the 21st century and notice any differences they may not have in their own writing opposed to typed out. 
• Concept mapping is a form of visual literacy that allows students to scaffold their own ideas and knowledge in a way that is enjoyable and gives teachers an efficient way to review and give feedback to students 
• It allows information to be more accessible, easier to use, develops multiple literacy's, allows for creativity 
• In an ever growing world, technology is a must to be learned in the classroom. Visual literacy is a part of that necessity. 

References

Younie, S., Leask, M., & Burden, K. (2015). Teachers and Learning with ICT in the Primary School. Oxen: Routledge