ICT for Meaningful Learning

Part A
What are some characteristics of digital natives? (What are they good at? What are they poor at?)

Digital natives are good at:

• Being creative
• Multitasking
• Improve thinking skills
• Fun

Digital natives are bad at:

• Technology-reliant
• Addictive

Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

I selected Olivia's portrait. I feel that Olivia's ase is quite similar to a number of singapore students. During my attachment last year, I came across a few students who had no access to the internet and computer at home. They either came from very poor or broken families. As Food and Nutrition requires constant use of the internet and computer, those students would come to school to do their work.

How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

Students nowadays are very it-savvy. I personally did not know what a blog was when I was in lower secondary. But my sister created her first blog when she was just 12! Black and white lectures and worksheets are the norm. Colours, videos, pictures and other interesting animations will interest current students.




Part B

As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?
Personally, I am really excited and can't wait to witness the changes in future. I especially liked the video "Singapore's iN 2015 vision ". However, I do not think what was showcased in the video will be available by then. I'm thinking maybe 2025 instead.

What might living, learning and working be like in the future?
Work may jolly well be home based. More meetings might even be held from home, involving people from all over the region and from different countries. There might also be more e learning sessions in future.

Part A

Definition of a Digital Native

Someone who is born when digital technologies are already in existence and live with the convenience of computers, internet, mobile phones and other technological devices.

Characteristics of Digital Natives

What are they good at?

1. Developing hypertext minds
2. Enhanced thinking skills
3. Interacting with others across the globe - teachers, parents, employers
4. Articulating well in the digital language of computers and other technologies
5. Dealing out visual and dynamic information through games
6. Discovery-based learning
7. Control over complicated technology skills
8. Taking risks
9. Being very creative

What are they bad at?

1. Including reflection and critical thinking in the learning process through gaming
2. Easily frustrated when things do not go their way
3. Too dependent on technology that they prefer being in an electornic environment with online friends

Comparison between both good and bad

1. They are good at multitasking and multiprocessing but bad in holding on to their concentration and cognitive overload.
2. They have longer attention span for games but shorter attention span for reading.
3. Thyey are good at practising something that is visually enhancing but bad at practising something that is boring.
4. They are good at being online for hours but bad in using that amount of time being online to do other things, e.g. practising piano.
5. They are good at sending lots of emails, smses, etc but interactions are a little shallow with little thinking and evaluation.
6. They are good at talking things out because they are not afraid to speak up but they are very self-centered and is careless of the feelings of others
7. They are good in creating multiple personalities by being someone they can never be in reality or someone that reflects their reality but bad in drawing the line between providing confidential information to strangers online

The portrait that I am going to review on is Sam, 13 years old. Through the clip, I realise that students nowadays learn through a very different yet interesting way compared to our precursors. One thing for sure is that students nowadays are not afraid to take risks and develop a method of learning which is through trial and error especially if it is through a game that contains different levels of accomplishment. And like what Sam quoted, “If something doesn’t work out, just go back and try something else.”



Sam is similar compared to a Singaporean student in the ways that she is also pretty much involved with school activities and outside school activities like the band but always have the time to surf online and do a lot of interactions with others. I am sure that students nowadays have a second life through digital media. The digital media allows them to explore many great things, engaging them to a discovery-learning based and also to speak up for themselves. Students do act much crazier in second life. Second life provides space for students to “fit in” with others. The popularity of expressing themselves through video blogging, like how Sam did, instead of writing them down on their blogs, is steadily increasing. (Slowly but surely) Students would also go into the expense of purchasing eBooks because it will help them learn something faster as the eBook will read to them what is written.

Teachers nowadays would have to keep up with digital native because these are the only things that would maximize learning for students. Rather than the traditional reading from the textbook or doing worksheets, make a video or a PowerPoint with interesting effects that could engage students out of the lesson. Any means of digital interaction would most likely be support effective learning. This distinctively different learning style would be a challenge but it would help mould our students’ learning at the end of the day.


Part B

In the future, most of the things that are likely to be automated. Robots would replace humans that would help to eliminate human errors. In line with the movie I-robot, Human errors are potential hazards to inefficiency or the decrease of productivity. Human errors can prove costly to any industries. Automated mechanisms or technology can help reduce errors and are more reliable. Technology is a convenient tool and it reduces time for work to be done. Technology provides a no barrier communication. Therefore, the possibility of being somewhere else through digital means can happen just by inserting a disk and you are there, exploring the place in the convenience of being in your own room without going through the trouble of going to that place.

The only fear that I have is that we are going to be too dependent on technology that it removes critical thinking since technology is doing everything for us. Other than that, with the uprising and continuous improving technology, I fear that it can be too complicating for us to keep up with. NIE has allowed us to be prepared to teach lessons that would be more meaningful for the students through the means of ICT. For me to be prepared for my teaching in the future, I would need to keep up with the latest technology and find what are the things that students are into so that I could get more connected with my students. I would also explore the various ICT I could use in my lesson, not only to make works as relatively simple for my students in the shortest way possible but at the same time, getting them actively engaged in my lessons.


With that, I would like to end this reflection with a video. Do watch it and hopefully technology allows us to go far beyond than what we have in the future. And this is just so cool! Enjoy!

The Pomegranate Phone. The best phone you've never heard of.

I chose Olivia as the subject to my second e-learning as she reflected to one of my students whom I used to teach during my one year of contract teaching. There are a percentage of students who were financially unstable and they could not afford to have a computer at home. So during the e-learning week, they would come back to school to complete their assignments.
Although they do not have a computer at home, they are not behind track with the technology. In fact, they have a good digital background.

I believe that majority of the Singapore students are well equipped with the pre-requisite IT knowledge and therefore, computer lessons have been introduced as part of the module in their studies.

Some good characteristic of digital natives are :

• Multimedia oriented
• Web-based
• Less fear of failure
• Multitasker
• Active
  
• creative
• Expressive
• Egocentric
• Widening gap to information access
• Share a common language
• Feel a sense of entitlement
• Striving to be independent

And the poor characteristic of digital natives are:

• Impatient
• Less structured
• Preference for electronic environments - dependent
  
• Have electronic friends - cyberwellness
  
• Aren’t looking for the right answer
• Constant engagement- addiction

These are the pros and cons of the having digital natives. From my point of view, there are always the advantages and disadvantages so for engaging digital natives in Singapore, we should be aware of the both characteristic of the digital natives would develop.

Part A



I have selected the portrait of Virginia, who is 14 years old. I find that she is rather similar to a Singapore student as both are multimedia orientated and spent most of their time on the computer and depend a lot on technology. However, in the case of Virginia, she leads a rather active lifestyle and was able to balance up life with technology. She also managed to realize that she was getting too dependent or addicted to the computer. Singapore student is rather similar to Virginia. However, unlike Virginia, Singapore students are much more fortunate that her as technology is readily available for the student in Singapore.

I feel that students nowadays are much more ‘IT’ savvy than the teachers. Thus, teachers must be able to catch up with the trend in order to engage with the students. Teachers should also try to integrate the available ICT tools into their lesson to engage the students and at the same time making the student understand the topic or subject easier.

Characteristics of Digital Natives:

Good:
• Multimedia oriented
• Web-based
• Less fear of failure
• Instant gratification
• Multitasker
• Active involvement
• Very creative
• Expressive
• Share a common language
• Risk takers
• No cultural distinctions (global)

Bad
• Impatient
• Less structured
• Extremely social
• Need a sense of security that they are defining for and by themselves
• Egocentric
• Preference for electronic environments
• Have electronic friends
• Thrive with redefined structure
• Surface-oriented
• Information overload
• Widening gap to information access
• Technology is a need
• Aren’t looking for the right answer
• Feel a sense of entitlement
• All information is equal
• Striving to be independent

Part B

After viewing the video, I feel excited to be in that era. However, I feel that in future, we tend to be too dependent on technology. What if one day, it failed and not working, what will happen to us?
I feel that NIE had equipped us with the basic knowledge of integrating ICT into our teaching and at the same crafting it to make it a meaningful lesson. In order to prepare myself for the possible future, I would have to keep myself abreast of the latest technology and trend and trying out the latest technology or software whenever it is possible.

The past 3 ICT lessons have been an eye-opener. It was my first ever time getting to play games in class.. The 1st of the 3 weeks, I got to play Wii Sports as well as update Gee's theories. I hardly play games at home as I do not have any other consoles or mediums besides my laptop. Wii Sports can definitely help one lose weight, in a fun way. Schools could probably introduce it to their Holistic Health Programme.

3-2-1 Strategy

3 things I learned:

1) Writing a good and detailed SIO using the ABCD model.
2) The verb wheel based on Bloom's Taxonomy.
3) The different procedures for lesson planning.

2 things applied:

1) My group and I have applied what we know in writing a good SIO using the verb wheel based on Bloom's Taxonomy.
2) Also, we have incorporated ICT-based activities meaningfully in our lesson plan to match our choosen learning outcome from the subject syllabus.

1 thing you want to know more:

1) I would like to know more about analysing learners and identifying which goal that suits them the best.

(Sorry for the wordy post!)

It is definitely easier for me to see the possibilities of using different teaching approaches in the classroom when they are categories into:

Case-based learning
Inquiry-based learning
Project-based leaning
Resource-based learning
Game-based learning

Have you come across any of the pedagogical approaches as a student? What was your experience like?
We are constantly relying on some of these pedagogical approaches unknowingly to exchange information and learn from each other. From my past experience either as a student or as a teacher, project-based, inquiry-based, cased-based and resource-based learning was most commonly used in the classroom. Whereas game-based learning was not as popular. I am anticipating session 6 of our ICT course as I have yet to try any game-based teaching and learning.

Like what Atika has mentioned, most of us are tied down with project-based learning most of the time. I figured it may be deemed as the most beneficial and efficient approach to be carried out during lessons. It is a good way of ensuring that every student is participating if the project is to be completed in groups. It also allows us to understand how our classmates think when tackling certain question, in another words, know more about each other.


What do you think is the relationship of these approaches?
I feel that all of the approaches requires students to explore and pursue information and knowledge. Students have a better chance of remembering what they have learned through their own experience of pursuing information.


Case-based learning, similar to problem-based learning, requires students to imagine themselves in the narrative and looks at the problem from different perspectives. This process of imagination compels students to think and search for a solution by using supporting studies/research.

The definition of inquiry-based learning as seen from the ICT manage class page (Amanda's group), is to 'gather information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling'. Evidently, teachers do not give direct instructions while students are encouraged to utilize their senses and various ICT tools to acquire answers.

I feel that it is most effective to encourage group work for project-based learning. It allows a group of students to progress together, interacting and experiencing the problems, questions and knowledge enquiry. Students will commonly search for the required information through the Internet or through books. PBL also promotes collaborative learning.

Resource-based learning is present in most of the other approaches. It is the resource component of student's learning process where students exanimate the appropriate information from media, printed/reading materials, websites as well as human resources like interviews, shadowing artist or teachers.

Game-based learning motivates students to learn important knowledge while they play or provides a form of training for certain skills or techniques. Through playing games, students are able to enjoy themselves while learning from their mistakes (when they have lost in the game).


Note that there is only little participation of the teacher role in these approaches.

Another aspect is that they are all alternatives to a 'chalk and talk' approach, which is less interactive and not as interesting. As what Atika have said, they are student centered as compared to traditional teacher led lessons.


What roles do the various ICT tools play in these approaches?
ICT allows learners to acquire information in a very short time as compared to books. It will minimize the time constraint that students normally face during the learning progress. ICT tools are also a vital part of fast and efficient communication (between student and student or teacher and student) as it can be access anytime anywhere. By 'anywhere', I refer to the wireless network connection that is available at many areas of Singapore now. I was surprised to find that even one of the coffee shop (those that are affectionately called 'kopitiam') in Clementi is equipped with WIFI. Lastly, ICT tools can be utilized for managing any of the learning approaches and also managing student's reflective processes in a systematic manner.