Reflective Synopsis

E-Learning is learning that is facilitated by the use of digital tools or content. The range of ICT tools available to the learning manager today are numerous and are not limited to the use of the computer, as commonly perceived. Appendix B is a table of the ICT skills that can be used by the 21st century learning manager. (adapted from Education Origami)

As an early childhood educator, my primary concern is how to manage the e-learning journey for my young cohort of learners, often referred to as the Generation Z. This cohort of learners has been defined by Prensky (2001) as digital natives- children who have grown up immersed in technology and are as Prensky(2001) described,” native speakers of the digital language for computers, video games and the Internet.” In fact, he states the biggest teaching dilemma of the 21st century is that our digital immigrant learning managers who speak an out-dated language (one that is pre-digital age) are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.” I am privileged enough to be able to witness for myself such a cohort of learners in my work experience and am given a reality jerk as I see for myself how diverse this generation of classrooms can be. The range of learning abilities is wide (some children can be a year behind another) and there is an assortment of special needs, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This gives me the perfect opportunity to harness the use of digital tools.

In early childhood education, the most disturbing question about exposing young children to technology is that it will replace the sensory manipulation of concrete objects like sand and water play. Therefore, as stated by the NAEYC (2008), computers should not replace highly valued early childhood activities such as art, blocks, sand, water-play, dramatic and social play. Learning managers will use professional judgement in evaluating and using the learning tool appropriately.
The students today have a high visual orientation, especially with special needs like autism where one of their characteristics is their marked visual preference. Children with ADHD have difficulty retaining focus and therefore the use of game-based learning like Federation Objects with its immediate responsive interactive mode served to continue drawing them back to the learning. As mentioned, this cohort of learners have varying levels of skills and thus using multi-tiered levels of maths and literacy skill-based practice from websites ensured that each individual level was catered for. One particular boy had poor motor skills and thus found it a daunting task to write, yet had a wide vocabulary and strong expressive skills and therefore, instead of writing, he did his project by typing.

I have selected the following four tools (PowerPoint, video, wiki and learning objects) for the learning purposes of completing a SOSE/Literacy project titled Famous Australians and a Science/Literacy unit titled Water. The tools selected were because of availability of resources and usability in context and effectiveness.

Digital tool 1: The use of PowerPoint as an instructional and learning tool
Today’s young children are bombarded with fast flickering images from young and thus the average attention span is now much shorter and sensory engagement is more demanding as before. The use of the power point allows emphasis of main points, hyperlinks to allow targeted navigation and use of bullets and transitions to pinpoint information. Having in mind the young cohort of students, PowerPoint also facilitates the manipulation of animation, visuals and sound that will intensify the learning experience.

Using the Learning Engagement theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1998), this PowerPoint serves as a starting point for the students to relate to each other about famous Australians. By having it pasted on the desktop of the computers in the classroom and allowing students to access it, they widen their knowledge of the diverse achievements Australians are famous for through social discussions. The PowerPoint arises out of the need to challenge existing misconceptions. Responses given by the students in a brainstorming session revealed the famous people the students knew were Hollywood stars like Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson because of popular American culture. They were also only aware of a limited range of achievements like sports and movie stars. With the use of PowerPoint, we were able to pepper the slides with many images that would depict the time, genre, social and cultural context of the famous Australian and one-liners that sum up their achievements. Students’ existing knowledge was extended with a visual array of the diverse achievements of famous Australians. This PowerPoint challenged their present level of thinking- a habit of mind that is to think creatively as stated in the Dimensions of Learning. (Marzano et al., 1997, p. 285).

Digital Tool 2: Wiki Children in Today’s World
While collaboration among students is vital to learning, collaboration among teachers will greatly enhance learning and allow the infusion of ideas. This wiki website I have set up is to challenge the outdated “paradigm closet” of the present digital immigrant generation of teachers and to embrace technology as a learning tool to effectively harness their usefulness for engaging students and saving time- a component that every teacher never finds enough of.

The archive of websites allows teachers to share a resource of learning objects, websites, wikis, blogs, games, videos, etc. The list is endless. With comments, the teacher can quickly evaluate the usefulness of the tool or if it is applicable to her/his individual situation.

This is a demonstration of connectivism, coined by George Siemens (2005) as the learning theory for the present digital age. It states that for learning managers in the 21st century, with the networked nature of learning with computers and the internet, it is more crucial to know ‘where to find’ and ‘how to use’ the information rather than ‘knowing the information’.

Digital tool 3: The use of digital video as a tool for learning
The digital tools available to making and editing a video include Movie maker, iMovie, Pinnacle studio, Pinnacle Videospin, Final Cut, Adobe premier, to name a few. In my e-learning journey, I have used Movie Maker to turn my PowerPoint of famous Australians into a video. Adding music and animation, I realise that it brings the presentation to another new level and the learning becomes more emotive and even for myself, I find myself more engrossed in watching now as compared to when it was a PowerPoint. This video can be used as a hook to capture students’ attention and as diagnostic tool to elicit prior knowledge in the beginning of the unit- “What does my learner already know?”- Learning Management Question 1 (Lynch, Smith & Knight, 2007) by asking them to identify as many Australians they know from the video. It can also be used as an assessment tool towards the end of the project to ascertain the progression of knowledge in the course of the unit. Group games like:” Who can write the most number of names? Who can identify the writers?” while playing the videos can add an extended challenging twist to the activity.

To embed a real-life context to the project, a video of Thomas Andy in his first space shuttle launch is shown to the students. Videos such as these can transport the classroom out of its walls and give students opportunities to link their learning to their social and cultural context as defined in the productive pedagogies as connectedness to the world. (Education Queensland, 2002)

Making a video can be used in the” creating” process in Bloom’s Taxonomy of cognitive processes (as cited in Brady, 2006, p. 24-25) or “donating” process in the Learning Engagement theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1998) where the students create a video in the process of putting together and synthesising ideas, concepts or elements to develop/construct an original idea or engage/stimulate in creative thinking. This will be especially applicable to the high primary classes where students are well versed with computer literacy and are ready to participate in projects with high independence and creative levels.

Digital tool 4: Learning objects
As stated by Marc Prensky (2003) in the article “Digital Game-based learning” (pg 2), “On the surface, game players learn to do things- to fly airplanes, drive fast cars, to be theme park operators, war fighters, ..... but on deeper levels, they definitely learn more; to take information from many sources and make decisions quickly; to deduce a game’s rules from playing than by being told; to create strategies for overcoming obstacles; to understand complex systems though experimentation.” As such, students find that “the curriculum they are fed in school often feels to them like a depressant.” The traditional instruction of teaching with the control of one teacher and a pace dragged down by waiting for the rest of the class, the lack of visuals and animation and the slowness in response all contributes to the disengagement of the learners.

Learning objects are an aspect of game-based learning where individual students can add creativity and control over their learning journey. I personally have seen the transformation on the students’ faces as I used this digital tool from Learning Federation “Where does tap water come from?” in a science unit on water. I hope that the availability of computers will be a common sight in the near future classrooms and I look forward to that.

Conclusion
We live in a “data drenched society... (Yelland, 2007, p17) which suggests it is hard to negotiate meaning in the face of such massive quantities of information.” As knowledge workers, we have to ensure that we use the technologies available to us to effectively source for the appropriate knowledge, distil its essence, decide its relevance and then select the most effective delivery and learning mode for the children.

The present generation of children have different information processing ways from us. They think in hyperlinks, they multi-task, value speed over accuracy and they absorb information from multiple sources. Therefore, coming from a position of a digital immigrant, I feel that I am in an era where I can see the transformation of education and learning from a world without technology to one that is greatly enhanced and dependent on it. That puts me in an advantageous position to retain good teaching methodologies of the past- tried and proven and use them in new ways, making effective use of technology. As such, early childhood educators in the 21st century will always have to juggle this balancing act, constantly searching for ways that will enable children to develop to their fullest potential in this ever-changing world we live in.

Appendix A documents specific instances of professional communication I have contributed during my e-learning journey.

Appendix B documents the list of ICT tools available and serves as a archive of resources I can use in my teaching journey.

References
Australian Government.(n.d.). The learning federation. Retrieved from http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/default.asp

Brady, L. (2006). Collaborative learning in action. French Forests, NSW: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Education Queensland. (2002). A guide to productive pedagogies. Retrieved from
http://education.qld.gov.au/public_media/reports curriculum-framework/productive-pedagogies/

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1998). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE 11001 Managing E-Learning, http://courses.cqu.edu.au

Marzano, R., Pickering, D., Arredondo, D., Blackburn, G., Brandt, R., Moffett, C.,…Whisler, J. (1997). Dimensions of learning manual (2nd ed.). Aurora, CO: ASCD publications.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1998). Technology and Young Children- Ages 3-8. Retrieved from,
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/pstech98.asp

Prensky, Marc. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Prensky, Marc. (2003). Digital game-based learning. Retrieved from http://210.240.189.212/dctelearning/type_resources/01_papers/9612_digital_papers/2_english/BIT095103/digital%20game-based%20learning.pdf

Simens, George. (2005). Connectivsm: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE 11001 Managing E-Learning, http://courses.cqu.edu.au

Space Shuttle Launch. (2010). Australian astronaut takes his first mission into space. (Video file). Retrieved from, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thomas+andy+first+space+shuttle&aq=f

Smith, R., Lynch, D., & Knight, B. A. (2007). Learning management: Transiting teachers for national and international change. French Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education.

Wikispaces (n.d). Educational Origami. Retrieved from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's+and+ICT+tools

Yelland, N. (2007) Shift to the future. New York, USA: Routledge