Week 8: Anna and Elsa game

This is a Frozen game from the Hour of Code website. I had looked at this game in week 6 when I researched binary code games for my classroom. I found this game to be a little difficult (embarrassingly) when first starting out learning code and understanding that she only turns left/right, not walks left/right. Once I understood this I quite enjoyed the game and could see the appeal to both genders of students especially at a young age. This theme is a wide spread one that all ages are thoroughly enjoying and a good tool for grasping students attention to education.

Image 1: CODE STUDIO, 2014. 

References

CODE STUDIO. (2014). Hour of Code: Frozen. Retrieved from http://studio.code.org/ 

Looking back at week one computational thinking

Once again looking back at week one, I found a wonderful resource that helps me to remember the differences between design and digital technology and to think about computational thinking more and hopefully understand it more in depth.


                        Design and Technologies                Digital Technologies

Thinking	Design Thinking	Computational Thinking
Focus	On the design and production process of creating solutions through the design process	On the use of digital systems, information and computational thinking to create solutions for identified needs and opportunities.
Nature	Design thinking is predominantly heuristic in nature. It includes using strategies in order to understand design problems, generating creative and innovative ideas, and analysing and evaluating those ideas to find the best solution.	Computational thinking is predominantly algorithmic in nature. This includes problem solving techniques and strategies, such as organising data logically, breaking down problems into components, and the design and use of algorithms, patterns and models
	Design and Technologies: Provides students with an opportunity to consider the environmental impact of decisions and re-design and re-engineer products, services and environments to support more sustainable patterns of living, for example, sustainable food supply. Students will reflect on the future impact of decisions from ethical, economic and social perspectives. They will apply futures thinking across a range of contexts, including food and fibre production, and evaluate designed solutions and traditional, contemporary and emerging technologies from the point of view of sustainability.	In Digital Technologies: students will assess the role of contemporary and emerging digital technologies in creating more sustainable patterns of living including technologies used to: manage and monitor natural, managed, constructed and digital environments; model data and identify trends; control conditions and machinery to enable systematic increases in productivity and significant reductions and efficiencies; and facilitate social interaction and the development of ethical forms of entertainment that develop world views.

Figure 1: Fasso, 2015

I also found this table to be useful to jog my memory of the two strands of technology and their differences and similarities.

Aims - Design and Technologies  In addition to the overarching aims for the Australian Curriculum: Technologies, Design and Technologies more specifically aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students: develop confidence as critical users of technologies and designers and producers of designed solutions investigate, generate and critique innovative and ethical designed solutions for sustainable futures use design and systems thinking to generate design ideas and communicate these to a range of audiences produce designed solutions suitable for a range of technologies contexts by selecting and manipulating a range of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment creatively, competently and safely; and managing processes evaluate processes and designed solutions and transfer knowledge and skills to new situations understand the roles and responsibilities of people in design and technologies occupations and how they contribute to society.

Aims - Digital Technologies In addition to the overarching aims for the Australian Curriculum: Technologies, Digital Technologies more specifically aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students: design, create, manage and evaluate sustainable and innovative digital solutions to meet and redefine current and future needs use computational thinking and the key concepts of abstraction; data collection, representation and interpretation; specification, algorithms and implementation to create digital solutions confidently use digital systems to efficiently and effectively automate the transformation of data into information and to creatively communicate ideas in a range of settings apply protocols and legal practices that support safe, ethical and respectful communications and collaboration with known and unknown audiences apply systems thinking to monitor, analyse, predict and shape the interactions within and between information systems and the impact of these systems on individuals, societies, economies and environments

Figure 2: Fasso, 2015

References

Figure 1 and 2: 

Fasso, W. (2015). Week 1 Materials: What are the differences between the Design and Technology, and Digital Technologies subjects?. Retrieved on April 4, 2015, from CQUniversity e-courses, EDCU12039 Design and Digital Technologies, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Looking back at week one curriculum focus

Looking back at week one and the curriculum links provided on moodle, I watched a video provided there

Video: Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2015

I found this video interesting and very educational. It broke down key ideas from the curriculum in language easier to understand and adapt rather than reading the Curriculum text.

Key ideas I gathered from this video are as follows:
Words such as: Systems thinking, Computational thinking, knowledge and understanding strand, Processes and Production Skills strand, Digital systems, representation of data, abstraction and data

• Every aspect of life is heading towards digitalisation
• It is important to learn digital technologies to keep up with society
• The curriculum is based on a framework of thinking
• Computational thinking is a problem solving methodology
• Teachers work holistically and the Digital Technologies Curriculum allows integration across all learning areas
• Every student in their future and present will require basic computer skills to survive the ever evolving technological world, environment, society and the job force.
• Transferable knowledge and skills across all areas to when they leave school 

References

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

Week 7: Digital pedagogy

I like how Wendy has explained algorithms with flow charts, making it easier to understand and relate to, having just designed these in the last few weeks.
"Algorithms, by definition, involve a process. Processes are best depicted in a flow chart. This may be branching or non-branching, iterative or linear" (Fasso, 2015).

When I looked up 'Flow chart for algorithms' I was swamped with charts full of information I could not understand which was a little daunting to be honest. Making me think 'huh should I know this?'



Figure: Avrams, Flowchart solution, 2008

I had a brief look at the website 'gliffy' mentioned by Wendy and as she had stated it has great ways to make and utilise flow charts and would be a fantastic digital resource for my journal.
I am finding this entire course very interesting, challenging and hugely resourceful for my career.

References
Avrams. (2008). Pseudocode/ Flowchart: Solving Problems - Algorithms Representation. Retrieved from http://www.avrams.ro/polynomial-2.html
Fasso, W. (2015). Week 7 Course Materials: Digital Pedagogy. Retrieved on May 4, 2015, from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Week 7: Algorithms- Abstraction activity

I was given a set of instructions to change my Microsoft word setting and write a sentence using the 'developer' tab in word. Once I completed these steps my sentence looked like this:

If is select the choose an item section in the sentence, a drop down menu appears, from which I can select from various responses. Once those options are selected the sentence looks like any other normal sentence, however I can still select the word that had been selected previously and change it to any other on the drop down menu. This is a great tool that could be used for a myriad of tasks either for the teacher or the student. It would be a great tool for gathering information or data.

Reflection on Process and Production example

Example:

Your tuckshop wishes to gain some information about student and teachers' preferences for their menu next term. Your task is to:

Create a survey to gather data about what is on offer, and what is suggested. Discuss these ideas with the Tuckshop convenor. Based upon the survey results and your discussion, create a Word input document with key information that you believe is important. Use your word input document to collect everyone's preferences. Analyse the information and present it in a suitable form, with justification and data displays and explanation to the tuckshop convenor and the school Principal. 

It will be done in groups of four

Curriculum links

F-2

Collect, explore and sort data, and use digital systems to present the data creatively (ACTDIP003)

YR3-4

Collect, access and present different types of data using simple software to create information and solve problems (ACTDIP009)

YR5-6

Acquire, store and validate different types of data and use a range of commonly available software to interpret and visualise data in context to create information (ACTDIP016)

YR 7-8



 Define and decompose real-world problems taking into account functional requirements and economic, environmental, social, technical and usability constraints (ACTDIP027)
Evaluate how well developed solutions and existing information systems meet needs, are innovative and take account of future risks and sustainability
Rationale of Digital Technologies
A deep knowledge and understanding of information systems enables students to be creative and discerning decision-makers when they select, use and manage data, information, processes and digital systems to meet needs and shape preferred futures. Helping them effectively use digital systems and resources.
 Aims of Digital Technologies
Design, create, manage and evaluate sustainable and innovative digital solutions to meet and redefine current and future needs
Content structure
Processes and Production skills
Collecting, managing and analysing data


Students will incorporate sustainability in their process and final decisions for the menu options for tuckshop. Students will use their systems thinking with this project by identifying and solving a problem using digital resources. By using this resource they will further understand digital technology and its capacity and usefulness.

Clearly every group will have different ideas and create different products for the tuckshop. Each student is an individual therefore each group will demonstrate individuality and have unique ideas. However they have still had the same criteria and rules structured by the tuckshop therefore some ideas will be similar to other groups and there will be overlapping occurring whilst still having fresh ideas to be added to the menu. Using something similar to the design matrix we used previously in the design challenge, would be a great way to ideate everyone's ideas and form some conclusions/solutions to the problem at hand.

This can be done as a class or per group. You could also use digital mind mapping to see everyone's ideas up close, demonstrate the overlapping of ideas and why they have similar ideas, see new ideas emerge, give more ideas and reach conclusions. This task supports cross-curricular study as it incorporates multiple topics such as, literacy, numeracy, socialising, digital media, design technologies, sustainability, social prejudice etc.

Week 7: Thinking Myself activity

Figure: Prottsman, Thinking Myself, 2011

I found this week, using the site 'Thinking Myself' a very useful game to illustrate the four categories of computational thinking: abstractions, patterns, decomposition, algorithms. It was an enjoyable learning experience I believe students from a variety of age groups would be able to understand and enjoy.

References
Prottsman, K. (2011). Thinking Myself. Retrieved from http://games.thinkingmyself.com/

Computational thinking

According to the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2015), "Computational Thinking is a problem-solving method that involves various techniques and strategies that can be implemented by digital systems. Techniques ans strategies may include organsing data logically, breaking down problems into parts, defining abstract concepts and designing and using algorithms, patterns and models". 

Figure 1: Barr & Stephenson, CORE COMPUTATIONAL THINKING CONCEPTS AND CAPABILITIES, 2011

I found this table very interesting and something I thought I should add to my online journal about learning about Digital Technology.

Video: CODE STUDIO, Computational Thinking, 2014

I enjoyed watching the video at the learn code website and found this video very helpful for explaining each category of computational thinking for Teachers to utilise. The activity that is used in this video is a fantastic way to also educate students about computational thinking and to get them thinking computationally. It could be used in conjunction with a variety of other lessons or topics, even for a rainy day activity or end of school year fun games. However to use it in the Digital Technologies classroom, I would introduce computational thinking and the four categories; decomposition, patterns, abstraction and algorithm, before asking them to participate in the game from this video. I would then ask what they have learnt and how they can relate it back to the previous discussion. From this I would ask (of older students) the students to design an activity using either the methods they have just used (unplugged) or a computer using Microsoft word (presuming here this has already been taught) and the 'choose an item' method to support computational thinking in their peers.

References
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2015). Glossary: Computational Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/glossary#C
Barr, V., Stephenson, C. (2011). Bringing Computational Thinking to K-12: What is Involved and What is the Role of the Computer Science Education Community?. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/docs/nets-refresh-toolkit/bringing-ct-to-k-12.pdf?sfvrsn=2
CODE STUDIO. (2014). Computational Thinking. Retrieved from http://studio.code.org/s/20-hour/stage/3/puzzle/1

Week 7: Visual literacy

Visual Literacy

Beaudry states that visual literacy is "The ability to view, understand, analyse and evaluate, design and create, and use visuals and visual representations for acquisition, consolidation and communication and transfer of knowledge"(2015, p.55). He believes that it is especially important to primary school aged students as they "make the transition from viewing and speaking to formal language acquisition" (Beaudry, 2015, p.56). Concept maps are once again a very effective tool for meaningful learning.

Whilst visual literacy is very important and can be utilised in a multitude of classrooms it is still very under recognised with a lot of educators believing it doesn't hold much value or the don't fully understand its potential and benefits. Some students are more visual learners then others, therefore we should always incorporate it into the classroom, with alterations and adaptions for students that it does not relate to. As it is evident that everyone learns differently and has different effective learning styles. Visual literacy will help develop multiple literacies through a balance of text and images (Beaurdry, 2015, p68).

Digital and Media Literacies

Digital literacies refers to skills that are needed to survive in an ever evolving digital world. Skills such as personal, intellectual and technological are skills that everyone needs in this digital central society. Where as media literacies refers to the engagement in ranges of media, including digital technology. Illustrating how digital and media literacies converge. Digital and Media Literacies complement and support each other, constantly evolving in new ways. The media smarts group state " media literacy generally focuses on teaching youth to be critically engaged consumers of media, while digital literacy is more about enabling youth to participate in digital media in wise, safe and ethical ways. "

Figure 1. From The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy. Media Smarts

 

References
Beaurdry, J. (2015). Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School: Visual literacy for all teachers and learners: essential knowledge and skills to create, use and assess concept maps and graphic organisers. Abingdon, Oxen, Routledge.

The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy. (2015). Retrieved April 30, 2015, from Media Smarts, http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/intersection-digital-media-literacy

Java script

Today I used Khan Academy site to create a colourful sunny day and the letter H out of rectangles. I enjoyed learning how to do this by using code and could see how students would really enjoy being able to see their creations come to life in front of them, by using codes. They can make whole, colourful drawings out of using numbers on a computer, demonstrating to them the usefulness of code and be able to relate back to when they played games with binary code to now visualising what the code does in the computer.
These are my creations

As you can see, the codes I put in on the left hand side are what created each segment of the pictures on the right.

This is a website students could use to learn how to use code in the computer and see what it creates. It is a great resource for students of multiple ages.

Week 7: Code monster

To begin this week I have been given a website to teach me how to manipulate code to draw objects. I found this a great resource to include in my journal so I can later access it for my students to use. This site appeals to an audience of older students or teachers, making it easy for teachers to learn how to create objects from code and in turn educate their students or for teachers to use as a resource to teach code to older students. It is easy to understand and fascinating to participate in.

Week 6: Binary code game

I was asked to design my own game about binary codes for children however I could not think of anything, so like anyone I turned to the internet. I found a game where students, that have already learnt the binary code for the alphabet, are able to make a 'beep' noise for '0' or a 'boop' for '1', making an encrypted code to speak to each other.

Figure 1. ASCII Code: Character to Binary. From Week 6 Binary Numbers, by K. Ware, 2015, Kelvin Ware - s0133106, http://kelvinwares0133106.blogspot.com.au/ 

This game is one students from a variety of age groups would enjoy however because it is about binary codes it may be more beneficial for students above grade 2. A lot of Teachers aren't as adapt with Technology therefore from learning about this now I will hopefully be able to help my peers with Technology.
I have found learning about binary codes a little confusing myself. I enjoyed playing the example game on the moodle site and games I found on the internet and understood that binary code uses numbers to base 2 instead of base 10 like decimals, however once it got into detail discussing bit and bytes etc. I got a little confused. I am not letting this deter me and am looking forward to continuing learning more about all these digital technologies.

References:
Roberts, L. (2013). Activities for Kids Using Binary Numbers. Retrieved from LIVESTRONG.COM, http://www.livestrong.com/article/562197-activities-for-kids-using-binary-numbers/ 
Ware, K. (2015, April 27). Re: Week 6 Binary Numbers. Retrieved from http://kelvinwares0133106.blogspot.com.au/

Digital Technology: Infographics

This week we have started focusing on Digital Technologies rather than Design. I have been asked to look at infographics and use a template to design my own. The templates were provided on a website called 'easelly', this made it very easy to design, as all that was required to was to change some words, colours, fonts or images, although if you wanted to you could design your own infographic from scratch. I am currently looking at buying a house therefore I chose this for my topic. It is a very simple and easy template and can easily become more visual with images etc. I chose this template simply because it is easy and simple for me to play with and get use to the new technology tool. I liked using it and can easily see how I could use it in the classroom both as a teaching instrument and as a tool the students could use themselves. The fact that it is easy and simple means students from a young age will be able to also use this wonderful visual aid. Other templates that were more involved and complex would suit older students and probably appeal more to all students from a teaching perspective. Infographics appear to be a wonderful resource to grasp the students attention, by being a beautiful visual aid incorporating colour and (in other templates) images, making it easier to understand and relate to. This is an easy tool to use to pack data into that will grab children's attention with its beautiful visuals.

Assessment Task 1A

Throughout participating in a design challenge, my thoughts have changed with every step I undertook which can be seen throughout my blog postings. From the beginning of starting this process I had my reservations about the need for technology in the school system however after participating in this challenge and learning so much about a variety of technology I can visualise it in a classroom and how important and interesting it would be for students. Although I did encompass a few challenges along the way such as the peer feedback process, embedding and iframe codes and the design matrix but with assistance from my peers and lecturer I managed to complete all tasks and learn some invaluable skills along the way.

I found working in a group a rewarding experience that I would utilise in my classroom by getting students to work in groups of four to design a solution to the problem I have provided them, that children need to be eating more healthy and nutritious meals. I found that communicating online can lead to misinterpretations of communication and by working in an online capacity due to time constraints, these constraints have to be considered when communicating and assisting each other. This would also need to be discussed in my classroom, how to appropriately communicate in an online capacity. Another issue we had in our group was a member unfortunately having to leave the course however we were lucky to find a replacement and continue our work. Since my class will be working in groups, they are easily able to continue working on their design while members away. However to help the students that are away, the remainder of the group could look at posting minutes of the lesson they have partaken in or concept maps of ideas the group came up with etc. to a blog or wiki for the group to be able to access. To ensure students better understand how to embed their concept map, than what I did, I will discuss the issues I had with it and allow for it when educating the students. The issues that arose for me with embedding have previously been linked to one of my blog posts.  All of these issues would be reflected upon by the students throughout the steps of their design cycle.

When reading about the design cycle I could visualise how you would use each step to create a solution to a problem however by actually completing a design by using the design cycle I was able to fully understand the importance and full potential of the cycle, a benefit my students will be able to experience in my classroom. When discussing with my grade 5-6 class, the challenge set for them, I will speak about what specific components the design is required to incorporate, as speculated by the Australian Curriculum, which can be seen in my wiki page that states, to name a few: sustainability, futures thinking, local, regional and global communities, digital technologies, healthy food guide lines, nutrition, food handling guidelines, safety guidelines, environmental impacts, good hygiene practices and safe disposal of waste. As I have incorporated in my own design, Chicken Wraps.

A benefit of teaching the year 5-6 age bracket is that it can be very learner centred, they are old enough to work more independently and therefore be able to be more involved in the practical cooking lessons of the challenge. To ensure the final meals each group decide on are safe for them to be able to participate in, we will as a class, look at each groups design matrix and make the final decision for each groups design as a class. When creating my meal I realised some ingredients were more expensive than others and that I needed to think about how I would allow for this in my classroom which has been discussed in my blog posting “Week 4: Creating my design: Chicken Wraps”.  My risk assessment on my wiki page, discusses how the cooking lesson will take place.

Throughout learning about design technology I have clearly learned a lot of invaluable knowledge that I can utilise in my classroom to educate students about the design cycle and its vital role in the curriculum and school. Technology is an instrument all students will be using in one form or another therefore teachers need to be able to adequately advance their already expanding knowledge and teach them about the importance of it towards our future.

 

Chicken wraps design cycle

In writing up my final reflection for my assessment, I decided that producing a design cycle for my chicken wraps, illustrating each step I went through, would be a good idea.

It is a bit rough, however it illustrates the steps I went through to create my design.

Final reflection

There are a lot of lessons I have learnt throughout participating in this design challenge that I can take and embed in my own classroom to educate students about technology. I found that design challenges are a great way to educate students about technology. It can incorporate multiple resources such as blogs, wikis, online concept mapping, screen shotting, embedding, linking etc. all of which are important resources that students need to learn about in the school system, therefore it is obvious that technology needs to be a subject that students are able to learn about. Incorporating these resources in a design challenge allows me to teach students a wide variety of tools in one unit.

When participating in the challenge I was provided with various templates that assisted me with my tasks, something that I would also provide to my students to assist them. It helped me learn and understand not just the tasks asked of me but of the technology I was required to use as well. Throughout my participation I have learnt so much about technology that I have always wondered about and would love to be able to educate young children on it and there is no better way then through a design challenge, allowing them to get creative whilst being educational. This challenge has made me realise that technology is a very creative course and allows students to be more free, independent and unique unlike other courses. It allows them a new more fun way of learning opposed to other course they undertake.

I also found that working in groups for the challenge allows ideas and creativity to flow more freely. It also allows students to interact more and better there social skills whilst learning from peers and adapting new ideas. Personally I found working in a group to be a very effective way to learn and more relaxed in that it is easier to relate to your peers then your teacher. There are positives and negatives of working within a group such as having to wait for others or everyone's schedules and time constraints are different, you can bounce ideas off of each other, help each other out, critique each other, provide feedback and ideas to assist one another etc.

Another very important lesson students are required to learn about in every subject is cultural awareness and sustainability, technology design challenges require students to anticipate any future implications of their design and therefore make any necessary changes for any foreseen implications e.g. implications to the environment. They also require students to contemplate cultural differences and sustainability when working in the initial stages of the design cycle, when articulating their design.

In conclusion all of the above are vital lessons I would utilise to educate students about technology through the use of a technology design challenge.

Week 5: Peer assessment/feedback

This week I have provided a peer with a completed assessment template, containing my feedback of their completed design.

This assessment template was very detailed and included a range of requirements which I found very interesting to complete and get ideas from to know what was required of my own product, allowing me to make minor adjustments to my product prior to it being assessed by a peer. Using this template is similar to what was discussed in a previous post about the use of online assessment and peer feedback and the benefits it can have on both the assessor and assessee. Included in this post was the thoughts of whether the assesse or the assessor benefit more from the experience and as previously often mentioned, I believe that I personally benefit more from being the assessor.

I enjoy being able to respond to feedback I have been given and it allows me a chance to further educate my assessor on any misinterpretations of my product, thus allowing a good communication been myself (assessee) and my peer (assessor). Group work for assessing each others work, is a tremendous idea for many reasons, one being that it allows good social interactions.

Week 4: Peer evaluation process

This week I have been given an evaluation template and I am required to use it to evaluate my design as well as evaluate one of my peers designs. I have used it to evaluate a peer and found the template very useful and detailed. Whenever I am providing online feedback, I find myself forever worrying about how others will interpret what I am writing, as you cannot see the emotion in words and therefore it can quite often be misinterpreted. Another problem with peer feedback is that you have to rely on other people to provide you with feedback which is a draw back if the other person has a busier schedule then your own. In my group, we have been lucky to have some excellent people that are very happy to help each other out, therefore when others are to busy to help out, others will hold the fort and lend a helping hand. As my design has not yet been evaluated I cannot comment on the assessee process however I know that the assessor process was quite beneficial and that whilst evaluating my peers work I realised there were minor improvements I could make to my own design before another peer evaluates my work.

Week 5 Reading Reflection: Online peer assessment

Peer grading vs Peer feedback

Peer grading hasn't been researched enough in high schools however it is known that it is very effective with university students. Studies showing that peer grading enhances student learning, have been produced. It is believed that students benefit from using marking-rubrics when grading peers work and when evaluating their own work.

Peer feedback, on the other hand, doesn't provide a grade for work but comments on the product.  It allows a more social side to learning and for the work being evaluated, to understand in more detail the reasons for either constructive criticism or for praise and for improvement on their work.

The benefit form both forms of peer evaluation, allow students to receive feedback from their peers, which they may find less intimidating then from their teacher. However this also made me think about the negative side of it, we need to remember that sometimes children can make unsavoury remarks to/about their peers work and that not all students would feel comfortable allowing their peers to see their work let alone report on it. It could have the opposite effect and  open bullying up and students to feel more vulnerable etc.

 Effects of peer feedback on assessors and assessees
Once again, studies have been preformed on college students and there needs to be more research done on primary and secondary school students to form good knowledge on these topics. Research has, however, indicated that peer feedback is more beneficial to the assessor then assessee. This is because of the answers provided by the college students, some believing that evaluating work should only be done by teachers, whilst others found, getting advice from peers rather helpful towards their final marks, others when on to say that they didn't trust their peers judgement compared to their teachers and that every student interprets tasks differently. I agree with all these remarks and as a university student myself, I can relate well to this debate, I am very fond of group work and asking my peers for help when need be. I enjoy getting feedback from peers prior to submitting work and observing other peoples interpretations of not only my work but the task asked of me.

Online peer assessment study
It was concluded that high school students also benefit more from being the assessor to the assessee, this is because as they identified any problems in the assessees work and solutions for these problems they were then able to apply this to their own work.
When utilising peer feedback or grading in a classroom, you need to know that it works differently for everyone involved (assessor or assessee), you should also teach students how to effectively give grades/feedback, as it is not an easy process, you also need to scaffold the assessment process as every student is different and learn differently and lastly ensure that students try to keep comments positive, even when providing constructive criticism, include positive remarks to boost motivation of all involved and ensure good relationships still intact.
Further studies on the effects on the assessees' need to be conducted, this could be allowing the assessees' to respond to their feedback and evaluating what changes were made due to that feedback.


My pedagogy
In my classroom I would prefer to enlist peer feedback over peer grading, as I agree that grading can be seen to negatively and allow more room for school bullying. Opposed to peer feedback that can include in every assessment, the positive and negative, so it is fair across all students. I work well as the assessee when being provided with feedback opposed to grading and am a firm believer that it betters my work, allowing me to further understand my marks or what I need to improve on or focus more on opposed to what I do well and no longer need to focus as much energy on. This allows students a better understanding of themselves and their work. I also see why the assessor would benefit more from the experience then the assessee, for instance with our current online group work, I personally benefit more from providing my peers with feedback then when I receive their feedback. Although upon receiving fresh ideas for improvement in my work helps and getting praised for my good work, boosts my moral, I enjoy seeing their work and being able to adapt new ideas to my work from theirs and seeing new techniques, ideas, styles, formats and interpretations, it truly helps me with my work immensely. Therefore peer feedback is a vital tool in my future classroom.

Reference
Lu, J., Law, N. (2011). Online peer assessment: effects of cognitive and affective feedback. Springer Science & Business Media B.V. Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c62a6531-8289-459a-b4ff-98ef53a082c0%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=117

week 5 Reflection: Multimodal and co-constructed learning

Children should be able to have a say in what they learn- co-constructed learning.
Co-constructed learning, allows teachers to 'guide' students rather then preach to them. This would make the classroom more enjoyable for students to partake in and therefore have more involved learners. This is an effective strategy as it allows students to be independent, develop and think about what it is they find interesting and want to learn more about.

Using enquiry based learning within design technologies is a must and co-constructed learning allows students the room to make their technology designs more unique. With the resources we have at hand these days, such as Skype, twitter, internet, email etc. it is very easy for students to weigh in on their development and share it with others. The benefits of co-constructed learning is limitless for both teacher and student, however here is some benefits:

• Individualisation
• Self- paced learning (learning themselves what level of learning they are at)
• student motivation
• Independence
• Community of online learners
• more time for teachers to focus on individual students
• being more self-sufficient
• a continual online learning base

Using multimodal sources such as, images, videos, slides, audio etc. as resources for co-constructed learning will further enhance the students learning capabilities and further engage their motivation in the subject. Children are very interested in technology and learning new skills from it, therefore utilising it as a resource for the classroom is a must.

Reflection: Futures approach to Design Technologies

Week 5

This week, 'Futures thinking' has been introduced. In relation to Design technologies in the classroom, I believe that thinking and planning ahead, with the future impacts in mind, is a vital step in the design cycle. In order to design a good product we always need to think about the impact it will have on ALL other stakeholders, past, present and future, this could be "their immediate self, family, friends, calss, school, local, national and eventually global communities". If we don't consider the future in the design process, the design could have unimaginable repercussions on society, the environment and the world as a whole, an example of this from the week 4 course materials is Leyla Acaroglu's talk about sustainability.


She discus's the negative impacts of the electric kettle and how in the investigating/planning stages of the design cycle, the designer had not allowed for the ramifications the Kettle could have on the environment.

Sustainability is a big example of an issue that needs to be catered for both in the present and especially for the future. It is a consideration every person needs to think about for their future in a design.

When educating students about 'futures thinking' I would use examples such as those stated above, as they are passionate examples students would be able to relate to when designing their own technology design.

I related well to the five dot points that Wendy Fasso mentioned in the readings for this week, I believe them to be very accurate and important with various lessons for students.

Week 4: Creating my design: Chicken Wraps

This week I had to finish the design process of my design, which included me actually making my design (chicken wraps), taking photos of the process (on my own, one handed, equals very hard), and posting to my wiki page for my peers to provide feedback on.

I found making the wraps very easy and I can understand why they 'won' out of all four designs I had chosen. It would be very easy for students to make whilst it is also nutritious, healthy and a meal I believe children would want to eat. It is also a safer meal for children to be making then other designs which is the most important factor. I found taking photos for documentation of the making of my design very hard as I was on my own when making them and as you can imagine, taking a photo of yourself, slicing a tomato up is very hard.

Best I could do.

 

I also found that some ingredients are more expensive than others and provide more than others such as a cook chook or a block of cheese. In my own classroom this could be allowed for by splitting up the responsibilities of who would bring in the ingredients e.g. one person each brings in one ingredient. However each ingredient will differ in costs and is something we would need to discuss with parents as to what everyone could afford, remind parents the students will get to eat their meal and that any left overs of the ingredient brought in will of course be sent home with the student or if for instance it was a block of cheese they could of course only bring in the required amount .



Reflection: Web 2.0 and classrooms

"Web 2.0 is an umbrella term used to describe the new generation of web-based communications and hosted services, such as social networking, wikis, blogs and podcasts".
There are 3 beneficial factors to Web 2.0, termed 'Es' of Web 2.0, as follows:
Enjoyable and exciting
Students enjoy being able to show off their work to others and give and receive feedback with others.
Energises learning
When working together with IT, exchanging ideas etc. students learn from each other and the computer in a fun environment adding a buzz to their work.
Emancipatory
Using technology, students will find information not readily available in the classroom.
Student teachers need to keep an open mind and try new things, not just with technology but all aspects of education. They also need to appreciate the potential of various technology resources.

However the good always has to come with the bad, internet safety. Internet safety is a growing concern in society these days, with cyber bullying, fraud, hacking etc., but most schools filter Web 2.0 to protect pupils. Education on internet safety should be mandatory in every technology classroom and a cross curriculum priority for other courses as well, since technology is utilised in every subject at school. In order to teach children about internet safety, you first need to teach them about respect, not only for communication but for everything e.g. environment, classroom, friends, peers, staff, families, communities, belongings etc., this can be done through multiple activities.

Another down fall with technology in the education system is that there is not always enough resources for every student therefore students are usually put into groups to share a laptop or other resource, however this could be beneficial in other ways such as social awareness. There is also the reliability of the equipment e.g. the internet, this could be hard for teachers to use for lesson plans or for them to allow students to use for their lessons. It could be seen as creating more work for teachers, as they would need to have a back up plan in case the equipment did let them down, however over time and getting use to technology in the classroom, teachers will find it second nature and rely on it quite regularly.

Web 2.0 opens up a whole other dimension to communicating which is the 'heart of the education process'. Education still hasn't fully embraced the Web 2.0's resources such as wikis, which are fantastic reources that can be easily used for educative purposes.

We (as teachers) need to ensure we are teaching students using new knowledge we have acquired rather then utilising how we were taught in school. The biggest thing affecting pedagogical thoughts is the personal experiences teachers have, therefore we need to push past our past experiences and focus more on our new knowledge about the education system.

I like this quote from the chapter " Given the integration of technologies into our daily lives, experiential learning through and with technology from the early years needs to be part of the provision for pupils in our schools". I agree with this enormously, I previously thought that more inclusion of technology in the curriculum would therefore mean that students would be spending more time indoors and with technology rather then playing in the playground and interacting with friends in 'the real world' rather than virtually. I now realise that as technology is so rapidly advancing there is a lot of children out there that know a lot more about technology than I do and would be able to teach me a lot about it therefore I need to learn as much as I can about it to use in my classroom and keep up to date with my students. Technology in the classroom both for teaching about and with, is essential!

References:
Younie, S., Leask, M., & Burden, K. (2015). Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon & New York, NY: Routledge.

Reflection: The way in which I anticipate sustainability can be embedded in the way I teach Design Technology

When thinking about how I can embed sustainability in teaching Design Technology I think about this course and how sustainability is embedded in the curriculum that defines what is taught in the classroom. Technology is a good resource for teaching sustainability as it helps promote a more sustainable future. I would teach the students the same as we have been taught in this course, about the design cycle and getting the students to design a project based on a problem and discover a solution. This is a great way for students to understand the design cycle, as most students comprehend learning better, with a hands on approach.
I would educate students to factor in sustainability to any design they undertake and that it should be incorporated in any project, as we all need to think about the future impacts of our decisions and how we can leave a better environment for future generations.
I would remind the students about the importance of the last phase of the design cycle, reflection! About how, reflecting on the final design and the process they undertook, can make you realise how effective the design actually is and how sustainable it is. Sustainability needs to be a top priority in the design process of their design.
Getting the students to look at design life cycles like those found on the CQU Moodle site would be very beneficial to the students and their design processes. Ensuring that students have factored in what happens to their design at the end of its life cycle, all things come to an end, therefore need to think of the life expectancy of the design.
This is just one activity to do with the students to learn Design Technology incorporating Sustainability however there are so many more ways e.g. the challenges we are partaking in at the moment could be activities to do with the children, for example sustainable gardens, using technology to design the garden.