Education in the 21st century.

 Reflection #8:  An evaluation of outcomes and future decisions regarding my digital and collaborative innovation. I was curious and looked forward to the outcomes regarding my year one students’ behaviour, when I use iPads for the implementation of place-based projects. I observed that my students explored using iPads after some careful user-instructions. They have only used iPads for online reading and some parents and students confirmed through the questionnaires that their children are not yet competent with iPads. Thus, it would be easier for me to ask only competent students to get involved in video-recording. However, all students need to develop agency for their learning (Parsons & MacCallum, 2019). We went outside with 10 Ipads so students could connect with nature (Lloyd and Gray, 2014). I supported students but they also supported each other, while sharing devices. Later, our librarian shared place-based project information, and I observed my early adopters, early majori

Reflection #7: A reflection on how digital and collaborative innovations can relate to national guidelines and contemporary educational theories. Clear guidelines in our national curriculum show that relevant relationships as a foundation, should be formed with our students, parents and whanau in order to structure our technology curriculum (MoE, n.d.) which has been well established during the previous lock-down period during student’s online learning. Our reviewed New Zealand Curriculum as well as Te Marautanga o Aotearoa include the revised technology learning area (MoE, n.d.) stipulates that students should have equal, authentic and cultural learning opportunities to become digitally literate while learning (MoE, n.d.). And this is what I offered my students during my digital and collaborative innovation. Another guideline points out that my students have to make progress through new learning (MoE, n.d.) even when using an iPad. With new information regarding sustainability they be

Reflection #6: Looking at digital technology through the lenses of law, policies and regulations. The policy in education is currently filled with information regarding 21st century learning and the importance thereof (Ward & Parr, 2011). Therefore law, policies and regulations need to be considered. As we know, since the beginning of 2020, all schools and kura now refer to the revised learning area regarding expanded learning opportunities for students using technology (MoE, n.d.). Therefore, our national educational policy is implemented at three different levels; the first one which is a strategic ICT (digital technology) policy where goals and purposes are being discussed for schools (Ward & Parr, 2011) and the second is an operational policy where funding is rolled out in order to support schools. The third level is for policy implementation which depends on the involvement of schools. The implementation of these ICT policies is strongly influenced by the values and belief

Reflection #5: Digital technology: the impact thereof on our cultures, professional environments, society and ethics. Education is continuously changing especially with the inclusion of digital technology (Ministry of Education (2015) which has an impact on our society, professional environments, ethics and culture. Not just anxieties regarding continuous digital technological developments occur (Floridi, 2019) but also daily digital challenges exist such as cyber safety which involves behavioural issues like sexting and cyberbullying (MoE, 2015). Another issue is cybercrime, which comprises of illegal activities and also cybersecurity, which involves unauthorised attacks or even access to computer structures (MoE, 2015). It is uncertain whether students are aware of ethics regarding cyber safety and their responsibilities around that (Mark & Nguyen 2017). Therefore, adults first need to familiarise themselves with Internet safety and the growing existence of Internet dangers and

Reflection #3: The impact of Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness on place-based learning. Have you ever thought about the deeper meaning of cultural responsiveness? Imagine yourself in different classrooms each day, with teachers’ different expectations of what you should learn, how you should behave and it’s completely different from that what you have learnt at home. Hammond, (2014) explains that cultural responsiveness allows me to update my practice so that I can develop every student’s intellectual ability through an engaging and motivating effort. The pedagogy of culturally responsive teaching identifies and includes different cultural groups of students in all areas of learning (Getting Smart, 2017). Today, many students around the globe, do not hear or read anything in their classrooms about their histories or people from their cultures (Nakashima, 2010). This is due to educators who might only use traditional means of teaching, using one curriculum and belie

Reflection #4. When implementing place-based education, what effect will the use of iPads have on the general behaviour of my year 1 students? My year one students are mainly expected to settle in and abide by formal education expectations and I am expected to follow the mainstream curriculum. However, I have various students (whom I had to refer) who display rather challenging behaviours such as leaving the classroom, using offensive language and being disruptive. My students have been allowed to use iPads for mainly online reading. Therefore, I am curious to find out how my students will behave when given the opportunity to work with iPads while engaging in place-based projects, - a new innovation I would like to pursue. Besides behaviour, the formal curriculum might also play a role in behavioural issues. Research confirms that high numbers of referrals regarding disciplinary issues take place in schools globally (Hershfeldt et al., 2009). Johansen et al., (2011) argue that ho

Reflection #2: Place-based learning: perspectives on different audiences. When you look through the lens of a kaleidoscope, what do you see? Those beautiful images of patterns that keep changing as you focus the lens on different objects, bring a sense of magic to mind, doesn’t it? That is what I see, when I look through the lens of place-based education: so many opportunities, beautiful places and ideas to explore… Place-based education has quite an important strength as it can adapt to a specific place due to its unique features (Smith, 2002). Thus, a variety of audiences would have an opinion and hopefully a growth mindset about this type of education. With the current theme of sustainability for Inquiry in mind, I am reminded of the mountains around our school property in the south of Auckland. Questions come to mind such as ‘What is the historical significance? Who lived here?’ I believe that my students and their whanau - local audiences, - and myself can answer this when