image source: http://kaitlinstead.pbworks.com/w/page/29474977/TPACK%20page

TPACK, which stands for Technologies (ICTs), Pedagogical (the how and what of teaching), and Content Knowledge (subject, disipline knowledge) is a 21st Century oriented theory which caters for all learners.  This learning theory involves the use of tools that the students are familiar with and strategies that promote higher order thinking.  This theory was created in order to help teachers to integrate technology into their pedagogy.

Prensky defines today's learners as having being involved in technology most, if not all of their lives.  He calls these learners 'Digital Natives' and explains that these learners are generally more capable at multitasking and processing large quantities of information quicker compared to previous generations.  He also states that they prefer to use technology in their learning.  Prensky identifies that these 'Digital Natives' also have shorter attention spans and if not engaged quickly enough, they become bored and unengaged in the task.  In order to keep the learners on task, the learning manager needs to challenge the students thinking by engaging them in different ways.

 

I agree with Prensky that to engage todays learners they need to be taught in new and exciting ways.  Learning managers need to remember that 21st Century learners really are digital natives and have been surrounded by technology all their lives.  By incorporating this technology into their learning the students are more likely going to by engaged in the learning for longer and get the most out of the learning experience.

 

 

Researchers claim that our intelligence or ability to understand the things around us is extremely complex and that no two people are the same in the ways that they learn.  
I took the Birmingham Grid for Learning multiple intelligences test to find out the areas where I have a better ability to understand.

As you can see in the image above, my intelligence lays in several of the areas.  This is normal as everyone has multiple intelligences and can learn and excel in many areas.  According to the test, my highest intelligence lays in the 'number smart' area which means that I am good at maths, number activities and also at solving problems.  I personally agree with this as I have always enjoyed maths and activities involving numbers. However, I was slightly surprised at how low I got on the Visual/Spatial learning.

This activity was quite simple and would be easy to complete in a class setting.  Children can then print off their results and compare them with the other students.  This will help the children to understand that everyone learns differently and will also help the teacher prepare lessons and activities that all students enjoy and learns from.

This is the first blog I have ever made.  I found this experience to be farely simple however there were times when things did not work out or I did not know how to do something.

Below is an analysis on blogs and their potential use in a classroom.

Plus

• Collaborative learning
• High engagement
• Easy to upload and share work for others to comment on
• Suitable for most age groups. The blogs can be set up in many ways in order to suit everyone
• Motivates learners to participate in learning
• Builds reading and writing skills
• Can be propperly scaffolded to students learning experiences

  Minus

• Students must know how to use the technology to benefit
• Students must be able to stay safe while using the internet
• May not cater to all students prefered learning styles

Interesting

• Promotes creativity
• Can share and collaborate with students from around the world

Overall I found that blogs are quite powerful tools in todays classrooms.

I'm not a true believer that by just answering some questions in an online test, a program will be able to accurately calculate my learning style.
I took the Index of Learning Style Test to determine what my learning styles were.  The results I got can be seen below.

According to the results above, I have a moderate preferance to reflective learning, I am fairly balanced between sensory/intuitive and visual/verbal learning and I have a moderate preference to sequential learning. I find the form (the Felder-Silverman model) in which the results have been given to be quite confusing and I don't really understand what this really means for me as a learner.

Felder and Soloman have given descriptions on these learning style preferences to help give a better understanding on the results people get.  According to this document, I am a reflective learner.  This means that I retain and remember information by thinking through the topic or problem before attempting to use the information actively.  I was quite surprised by this as when I forst got the results, I thought it meant that I learnt better by soley thinking things through, however it is true that I do like to think things through and have a vauge idea about what I want to do before getting my hands dirty.
Being both a sensory and intuitive learner is good as it means that I am more likely to be able to learn facts and methods but also be creative and think on my feet.
I am also both a visual and a verbal learner which means that I am more likely to retain information if it is provided in various forms including pictures, diagrams, text and spoken word.
I also sequentially rather than globally which means that I would rather work things out taking one step at a time rather than taking big leaps and no seeing connections and the problem as a whole.

Flashback...
Reading through this information reminded me of when I was in grade 11 and had a teacher who did not seem to understand that all students learn in different ways.  This teacher seemed to think that the best way to teach us was to give us a text book, some sheets of paper with crosswords other activities related to the subject and that was it.  She would walk around making sure we read the text and filled in the sheets until the lesson was over.  Many of us asked her to go through things with us and explain it so we could understand. Her response was that she learnt this way when she was at school and she obviously learnt it well as she was now a teacher.  Nothing changed and many people ended up dropping out of the class so we ended up talking to the HOD (Head of Department) who then spoke to her... and then we had to cram a terms worth of information into one lesson with the HOD before our final exam.  I have to say, I've never been so stressed about an exam.

Hey everyone, this is my first ever blog and I am still trying to find my way around.  Anyway, my name is Gemma and I am in my second year at CQUniversity Noosa studying a Bachelor of Learning Management in Early Childhood.
There is so much to learn in this course and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Gemma.