A Journey in Progress...
The Beginning
Blogging is not a practice I had previously engaged in prior
to participating in the course “Reflective-Reflexive Practices in Technology-Enabled
Environments”. As I read the assignment guidelines, there was a sense of trepidation
but, at the same time, I was very open to the possibilities of what the
activity would unearth. Throughout the semester, I had to keep my focus on what
I was learning in a particular module and how this influenced my thinking, how I felt about my practice and any adjustments I thought I needed to make to improve my practice. I was also encouraged to reflect on what was effective and how I could maintain consistency with each new group of students.My journey through the modules, the readings and
the various activities was truly enlightening as well as inspiring. I was exposed
to various reflective models but what was most significant was that I was using
a digital tool, the online blog, to record my learning every step of the way.
What I learned along the way
The lessons I learned throughout the thirteen weeks of my
engagement with this course are many and varied. As I delved into the literature,
I found the conclusions of several authors to be very relevant. For example,
Benade (2015) opined that classroom practice as well as how educators think
about pedagogy is heavily influenced by digital learning. This was reinforced
by Thomas, Briggs, Kerrigan and Hart (2017) who introduced me to the ways in
which Facebook, digital images and video can be used to promote self-reflection.
Additionally, research by Karunanayaka, Naidu, Rajendra and Ratnayake (2017) who
used open educational resources (OERs) to engage students in reflection yielded
very interesting findings. Students, in the study reported that online
discussion forums enhanced their ability to think critically and empowered them
to take ownership for their learning.
I was influenced by Karunanayaka et al.
as I planned my lesson, particularly the advice they gave that lessons must be
well structured and offer opportunities for appropriate guidance. In this
regard, I tried to apply my technological, pedagogical and content knowledge
(TPCK) in selecting the digital tools I used for both formative and summative
assessment. As a teacher who is more familiar with the face-to-face delivery mode, I learned to carefully align my objectives with a focus on incorporating engaging technology tools. Undergirding all of this engagement with the digital tools were the
various models of reflection/reflexion with which I became familiar, including
Borton’s, Gibbs’, Schon’s, the DIEP model, among others. These ways of thinking about reflection/reflexion played significant roles in my group's development of a new model (which formed the basis of our presentation) as well as my technology tool selections for the discussion forum.
Situating my learning
As I engaged in the lesson planning activity and the group
task, all the lessons I was learning came together. As a face-to-face teacher,
I had to carefully think about reflections which incorporate the use of
technological tools. As I worked through the parameters of my lesson, I used
the DIEP model to reflect on my lived experience while planning my lesson. This
process really opened my eyes to the experience of actually using a model of
reflection; also, to ways in which I would want my students to approach their
reflection while using the selected technological tools.
In preparing the group presentation I had to think carefully
about my contribution to the process and open my mind to learning from my group
members. We selected Borton’s (1970) “what, so what, now what” as well as Schon’s
(1983) “reflection-in-action; reflection-on-action” models. We improved on the
models by adding a pre-action stage and the process of negotiation,
clarification and refinement had us critically engaging in deep reflection/reflexion.
Why this learning matters
The experience of planning my lesson and working on the
other activities in the course, including my blog, revealed the elements of my
actions that I needed to critically evaluate. In the case of the lesson, using
the DIEP model to reflect on how I actually planned the lesson gave me new
insight into what I would be asking my students to do. The experience provided
me with a framework for guiding the students to reflect more effectively on
their own learning and to plan how they would apply what they learned in other
contexts. Using the blog to engage in my reflection also gave me an idea of how
I could incorporate this tool at a later date. I thought about the blog versus
the discussion forum for collaborative engagement and I selected the discussion
forum as I felt that it was more suited to the discussions I wanted them to
have. Additionally, since the discussion forum could be easily set up in our
learning management system (LMS), this made it much more convenient and
accessible for the students.
What I learned as I posted regularly in my blog was that
practice requires deliberate decisions that need to be taken as I consider the
learning needs of my students. I also learned that I will not always get it
right and it was reinforced that as a teacher I am, in essence, a life-long learner. This is a
valuable insight as it signals to me that my students and I are partners in
learning; partnership requires openness and an element of vulnerability which,
as teachers, we do not like to openly admit. One thing that was reinforced is my own
observation that while students rely on teachers for content and teaching them
certain skills, they like to feel worthwhile and that they also bring
something to the metaphorical classroom “table”. When I tell my students how
much I learn from them I see changes in their attitude and motivation. Klopfer,
Osterneil, Groff and Haas (2009) indicated that students are already using some
technology tools such as social networking; therefore, it is a good idea to use
what they are familiar with in the classroom. For me, this is a good starting
point; they can teach me what they know about the technology tools and I can
teach them content and skills. While we learn together, this can be used to
inspire reflective/reflexive engagement using appropriate tasks and tools.
Going forward
In light of this learning, Cornelius’ (2016) comment that “quality
reflection occurs when rich learning tasks lead to rich learning” and Dewey’s
quote, in the image at the beginning of this post, come into sharp focus. Evidently,
if my students are going to produce quality reflections then I must engage them
in rich learning tasks and provide them with opportunities to reflect on their
experiences. In the context of a technologically infused education space, it
goes without saying that I must select appropriate tools to facilitate
reflection. This means that I must continue build my arsenal of digital resources
for reflective/reflexive engagement and interaction. So far, my resources
include:
- Google Docs
- Discussion forums
- Wikis
I am also planning to include digital tools mentioned by
Cornelius at the following link:
I will also be using some ideas from the following video which explains the SELFIE tool:
Conclusion
The global COVID 19 pandemic has forced changes in the ways in which teaching and learning are taking place. At very short notice, those of us who normally teach in a face-to-face delivery mode have had to make the transition to online teaching and students have had to adjust to online learning. Will this be our new "normal"; only time will tell. In a very interesting twist, for me, I have been engaged in the process of identifying and amassing digital tools for teaching and learning since the beginning of the TLET programme and, specifically for reflective/reflexive practice since the beginning of this semester, so I do not feel as "lost" as several of my colleagues who are unfamiliar with and have never used digital tools for learning in their classroom. As I close, I acknowledge that the process of blogging has impacted me and my own learning and interaction with my students in significant ways. As I reflect, I also have to critically acknowledge that the journey I am on is far from its conclusion; in fact, as long as I engage in the teaching and learning process it will be a journey in progress.
References
Benade, L.
(2015).Teachers' critical reflective practice in the context of twenty-first
century learning. Open Review of Educational Research, 2(1), 42-54,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23265507.2014.998159
Cornelius, K.
(2016, August 11). 15 digital tools for student reflection on learning on
learning. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@teachrsolutions/15-digital-tools-for-student-reflection-on-learning-65ef12141fb8
Dewey Quote.
Image. Retrieved from http://dorakurimay.com/blog/everything-starts-self-reflection-part-2/
EU Science Hub:
Joint Research Centre. (2018). Digital technologies for better learning and
teaching: Self-reflection tool for schools (SELFIE). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Ma0-2f_1w
Karunanayaka, S.
P., Naidu, S., Rajendra, J. C. N & Ratnayake, H. U. W. (2017). Designing
reflective practice in the context of OER-based e-learning. Journal of
Learning for Development, 4(2), 143-160
Klopfer, E.,
Ostermeil, S., Groff, J. & Haas, J. (2009). Using the technology of today
in the classroom today. The Education Arcade, 1, 20. Retrieved from
http://education.mit.edu/wp-context/uploads/
2018/10/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf
Thomas, L.,
Briggs, P., Kerrigan, F. & Hart, A. (2017). Exploring digital remediation
in support of personal reflection. International Journal of
Human-Computer Studies, 110, 53-62.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.10.002
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