Collaborative Online Planning

Collaborative Online planning

28th July, 2016

Alex shares some of his recent experiences in online shared planning

At my current placement each year level works together to collaboratively plan what they are going to teach for the term, from that they decide what to do each week. This is the usual method of schools in regards to planning and has a number of benefits; cohesion across the year level classrooms, discussion of ideas, and support for beginning teachers. However, many schools are also adopting the use of online methods to share their planning with each other. My placement school currently uses Google Drive, Google Docs and Dropbox to allow its teachers to share resources and collaborate on their planning. It works wonderfully; here are a few reasons why.

Everyone can contribute during planning. Gone are the days of one teacher hunched over a computer acting as the scribe, typing into a closed document while several other people squabble about ideas. With Google Docs everyone can be writing in the same document at the same time. It seems like a small thing but it balances out the power of group dynamics and allows people to quickly brainstorm ideas.

Resources are always shared. One of the main problems with sharing resources is finding the time to actually give them to other people; you need to scan them, send them and sometimes teachers feel they just don’t have time to do that. With Dropbox, you store your resources in one communal online location, which means that people can share resources quickly and ultimately it lightens the burden for everyone.

There’s cohesion as everyone can see what’s coming. My placement creates term planners which are available to be viewed and edited in Google Drive. This has been fantastic for me, and the other teachers, as we can all see what is coming up in the next few weeks and anyone can add in more information as we progress. It means that everyone is clear about what is happening and people have the freedom to plan ahead.

Although many schools have already taken to using some form of online planning tool, it is clear that not all of the teaching community has made the transition. I would recommend getting familiarised with the available online sharing platforms, as they provide numerous benefits when planning and will be of great help when you start teaching!

- Alex

The New Digital Technology Curriculum

The New Digital Technology Curriculum

11th May, 2016

Alex explores the new digital technology curriculum beginning in Victoria next year and some resources that may be of help

A curriculum is a dynamic and multifaceted concept that, while guiding the education profession, is prone to sway with the political agenda of the time. So it isn’t surprising that over my four year university degree I have explored three primary curriculums; AusVELS, the Australian Curriculum, and the soon to be introduced Victorian Curriculum. As of December 2016, the AusVELS website is to be archived (see the AusVELS homepage) and the Victorian Curriculum will become compulsory in government schools. A recently introduced aspect of the Victorian Curriculum, which is causing some concern, is the inclusion of digital technologies.

I have never completed a compulsory unit at university regarding the teaching of digital technologies, and I imagine many pre-service teachers would be in a similarly daunting situation. It also helps to bear in mind that many graduate and expert teachers will have little to no knowledge of what best practice teaching digital technologies looks like – putting pre-service teachers and qualified teachers on an unlikely level playing field. I thought this might be an opportune moment to explore the new digital technologies curriculum, unpack some its concepts, and suggest some resources and methods to go about teaching it.

What does the curriculum say?

The curriculum is split into three bands for primary education (F – 2, 3 – 4, 5 – 6) and there are three strands to the digital technology curriculum (VCAA, 2016);

Digital systems

“Focuses on the hardware, software and network components of digital systems”

Data and information

“Focuses on the properties of data, how they are collected and represented, and how they are interpreted in context to produce information”

Creating digital solutions

“Explores the interrelated processes and associated skills by which students create digital solutions”

A basic scan through the actual content of the curriculum reveals that the F – 2 band engages in mostly exploration of different digital concepts, hardware and ideas. As the curriculum progresses to the higher years, the content becomes more directed to action and the use of digital technologies to solve problems.

 How will I teach it?

After listening to various different talks regarding the teaching of digital technologies and how best to approach this challenging task, I thought it would be best to provide some resources that can be used to assist you in the process.

Little Bits

LittleBits are very simple programming blocks and digital tools that are designed to be used by children. They are colour coded and magnetically attach, allowing for independent exploration and play, without the need for constant supervision. The website offers packs for educators and overall I believe this resource could be used to explore the Digital Systems and Creating Digital Solutions strands.

Scratch

Scratch is a simple coding platform that many pre-service teachers would have heard of. It allows students to explore coding in a way that is accessible, while still providing the technology concepts needed. It will be useful in addressing all the digital technology standards.

VCAA

The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority has this specific advice for curriculum page regarding digital technologies, which is fantastic. It has resources on assessment, progression, external resources and links to sites such as the Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV) – which offers free membership to PSTs! Definitely check this site out.

I hope I have been able to provide a basic overview to both pre-service and qualified teachers about what the digital technologies curriculum is asking and some resources for how to meet the task of teaching it. I truly believe that the digital curriculum is going to be a focus point in the future and, if we can get on top of it, a fundamental part of primary education.

-Alex