MindLab Activity 2

Activity 2: Changing my Practice

Changing my practice towards future oriented teaching and learning.

Realising that I was the learner who used the knowledge I had learnt to change my teaching practice for the better.

In the reading Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective, they talk about the emerging principles for a 21st century education system, and as I was reading through each of the different principles, one struck a chord with me, as a learner in this MindLab course. Theme 3: Curriculum that uses knowledge to develop learning capacity, I thought I could easily relate back to what we have been doing in MindLab thus far, which is essentially using what we have been learning and trying it out in or classrooms, using new techniques and knowledge and using it to change the way that we have been teaching our students, trying out new and innovative strategies. "conception of knowledge is associated with the Knowledge Age/“21st century” literature. In this view, knowledge is seen as something that does things, as being more energy-like than matter-like, more like a verb than a noun. Knowledge, in the Knowledge Age, involves creating and using new knowledge to solve problems and find solutions to challenges as they arise" (Educationcounts.govt.nz, 2017).

For ma as a learner we have been doing exactly what this theme has stated in their second explanation of knowledge and what it is in the 21st century and how it can then be used to advise and/or restructure the way that we have been doing this in the classroom.  This course also gave us the opportunities to connect with others in similar situations and discuss and even team up in some instances and collaborate to implement a new idea, concept or technology within our classes and as a team we have had some great successes in this, we were working with what we had learnt to better equip our students for a future focused environment, by implementing new strategies to promote engagement and interest in what they where learning.

  The most notable change initiative that I was involved in was the implementation of coding into my weekly maths program. I along with the other teachers in my syndicate identified the area of need to be engagement in mathematics and I realised that I wanted my students to succeed at a higher level and to do that I along with the rest of my syndicate needed to change our perspectives, that of the schools and certainly that of the students. It became apparent that our intended outcome for change was to implement ways to change student attitudes and enhance their learning in mathematics with the use of specific ICT skills, in this case coding. “Due to the rapid change and technological advancement, the demands and opportunities placed on our students are greater than ever. Constantly changing networks (personal, social, and work) challenge students to process, learn, and respond to torrents of new information and new technologies. Learning is no longer framed by restrictions of time and place. Knowledge is now available everywhere, 24 hours a day so new models of education need to recognise learning as a constant with delivery modes and learning times as the variables.” (App.themindlab.com, 2017). 

I have observed that my students feedback on coding and using this as a platform to use in maths, and it has been very encouraging. I have a teacher account in  the platform code.org which was the programme I decided to use, and this allows me to track how my students are doing, to keep a record of where they are at and what we need to work on in class. I can confidently say that student engagement is increased especially when they are doing a task or activity either online or in class rather than a worksheet or listening to the teacher. 

This was one of the strategies that I learnt about and put into practice with some colleagues and in turn it became a success in our students engagement and results.

References:

App.themindlab.com. (2017). Mindlab. [online] Available at: https://app.themindlab.com/course/release/1305-week-8-digital-networked-learning [Accessed 24 Oct. 2017].

Educationcounts.govt.nz. (2017). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching: A New Zealand perspective | Education Counts. [online] Available at: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306 [Accessed 18 Dec. 2017].