Month: April 2021

blogpost, ELT523

Integration and management of technology

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The management of digital technologies is complex and multi-faceted, as iterated by Younie (2006, p. 386). It is often difficult to ascertain if policy is, difficult to implement, especially as has been witnessed anecdotally, the frequency of robust policy and planning for technology integration is inconsistent across all levels of education.  Younie  (2006) addresses four key recurring issues regarding technology integration in education environments – obsolete technology, teacher training, school policy development, and curriculum application of digital technology (p. 386). These four points mirror the issues that are evident within my institute. Pre-covid literature reflects many credible insights into the need in vocational education for the rapid integration of technology, digital skill development and pedagogical development to meet the needs of fast-changing work landscape (Jones, 2018; Joyce, 2018; Seet, Jones, Spoehr, & Hordacre, 2018). It is anticipated that in our Covid and post-covid environments, this need for addressing and implementing technological change is undergoing unanticipated levels of acceleration. 

 

Younie (2006), highlights there is a need for coordinated leadership to liaise and develop cohesive plans for the integration of ICT (p. 389). It is also highlighted that senior leaders often do not possess a satisfactory proficiency with digital technology, which in turn impacts decision making and planning (Younie, 2006, p. 390). Petersen, (2014) also acknowledges the important role of leadership to understand and effectively organise the learning environment and providing opportunities for professional development (P. 302). I agree that for the successful integration of digital technologies requires a multidimensional, yet cohesive approach to understanding technology requirements, relationships, infrastructure, teacher training, and professional development, and the assessment and learning outcomes. The notions addressin in this blog post will be analysed in-depth in my environmental scan.

References

Jones, M., & McLean, K. (2018). ICT for Learning: Technology and Pedagogy. In Personalising Learning in Teacher Education (pp. 41-55). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7930-6_4

Joyce, S. (2019). Strengthening Skills. Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. © Commonwealth of Australia . https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv:82483

Petersen, A.-L. (2014). Teachers’ perceptions of principles ICT leadership. Contemporary Educational Technology, 5(4), 302-315. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6132

Seet, P.-S., Jones, J., Spoehr, J., & Hordacre, A.-L. (2018). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: the implications of technological disruption for Australian VET. Adelaide: NVCER. https://www.ncver.edu.au

Younie, S. (2006). Implementing government policy on ICT in education: Lessons learnt. Educ Inf Technol, 11, 385 – 400. DOI 10.1007/s10639-006-9017-1

 

blogpost, ELT523, reflection

Assessment 1 – Part C – Reflection

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When creating this web guide, it was my intention to build an information source that allowed an individual to build their digital citizenship and digital literacy for the vocational education workplace, whilst also establishing their own position on the digital literacy and citizenship continuum. This is significant as, Hämäläinen & Cattaneo (2015) argue, vocational educators will increasingly confront different and conflicting contexts, cultures, attitudes, and perspectives, where they will need to adapt activities according to learner need, the evolving digital technologies (p. 155). Low digital literacy levels in teachers have been highlighted as an issue relating to the development of innovative practice and digital technology integration at the institute and, building digital literacy and raising awareness of digital citizenship in the educator workforce will inevitably have a positive influence on learner outcomes.

It was a primary focus to ensure that the web guide was accessible for all users across the digital literacy continuum and, it is this premise that has governed my approach to the creation of my web guide – digital literacy and digital citizenship for the workplace. Ribble (2015) said ‘Technology should not get in the way of learning; it should enhance it’ (p. 2). It is this notion that allowed me to implement a navigation system that can accommodate those with high-level literacy or those with a more fundamental or basic skill level. As a visual communication educator, well versed in various digital applications, the challenge with the development of the web guide was simply working around the set limitations of the Thinkspace/WordPress platform in creating an accessible, user-friendly, and multi-device compatible site.  To enhance the limited functionality available on the Thinkspace platform, I utilised H5P, Canva, YouTube, Photoshop, Illustrator, premier pro, adobe spark to create the resources, infographics, artefact 1 and artefact 2, as well as the navigation within the web guide.

Having obtained feedback from my target audience, they have advised that the layout and information to be relevant, easy to navigate, and raises awareness as to their own digital development needs, which is, of course, very positive. The integration or at the very least an adapted version of the web guide – digital literacy and digital citizenship for the workplace – will assist in firstly, building digital awareness in teachers. Secondly, when utilised as a foundation for professional learning, the web guide will provide a platform to begin conversations with leadership teams to establish training models for the building of digital capability in the wider vocational teacher workforce. I look forward to implementing this webguide in my learning environment.

References

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