At the time of writing this final reflection, our school returns to virtual learning at a 2/3 capacity. I believe that one day I will look back on this time, the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and see it as a true factor in speeding up an already ever-changing technological and interconnected world (OECD, 2020). Something that stood out to me during this course, interacting with my fellow students, and during Assessment 2, was how lucky I am to be teaching in a context that is so well equipped with technology and has access to amazing subscriptions that are the foundation of our digital learning environment. I reflect on when I was teaching in Australia, in a public school located in an impoverished socio-economic area, and sadly the lack of resources was a factor in stunting my technological learning. The students were also not afforded the same opportunities due to a lack of resources. I learned that this was an example of the traditional “digital divide” (Schradie, 2013; Wheeler, 2015).

However, the Environmental Scan Report also helped me see that just because my school has the funding, abundant devices, and subscriptions does not automatically mean that they are being used authentically and to their greatest capabilities. This came known to me as the more recent “digital divide” where technology was being used, but only at a superficial level (Pahomov, 2014; Schradie, 2013).

I am excited to actually put the Environmental Scan Report to use within the school I teach at, I think this will impact our entire learning community and their families. It is my hope to use what I have learned in this course to engage other teachers in professional development around using social media to develop their own Personal Learning Networks.

In regards to digital citizenship, and a question I posed to myself from my original blog post “How can I best support myself and the teachers in my context to enhance their own digital tool curation and implementation authentically?” (Ries, 2021, para. 5), I would like to conduct some professional development workshops around Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook with the hope of enhancing my colleagues understanding of how these platforms can be beneficial to their own professional learning and by extension their students. I will use the dos and don’ts from Higgin (2017) to increase awareness about safe practices and enhance their confidence in leveraging these platforms.

This course has helped me to see a way more out of the box way in integrating this digital citizenship learning within the curriculum our teachers are already following. As the Elementary Technology Integration specialist within the school, I am a leader in this area. I will aspire to implement every recommendation from the Environmental Scan Report over the next school year. As we move toward the vertical alignment of our school’s STEAM program (Fisher, 2021), I hope to enhance our digital learning environment usage on a deeper level within the elementary school context. This will be a foundation for our students as they make their way up to Middle School and further on in the future to High School.

K-12 STEAM team meeting for vertical alignment. Seriously smart and passionate people planning amazing learning for our students! #BetterTogether @SJA_Jeju @mrsries_edu pic.twitter.com/s6cacp4AxC

— Michael Fisher (@MrMichaelFisher) March 31, 2021

Finally, for next school year, I am planning to integrate everything I have learned from this subject by leading an ongoing workshop for teachers in the format of a Book Club as put forward by Spencer (2020). The main method will be a hybrid format, with both in-person meetings and online asynchronous, so that teachers can also use Web 2.0 platforms to reflect on their thinking while reading. The first book I would like to use is Pahomov (2014) Authentic Learning in the Digital Age. It was through this course, and environmental scan, that I decided to go to our school library to see what professional development books we had to offer in the realm of digital; learning environments. I feel extremely confident in leading the way forward within my context, and know that what comes next will impact all of our learners and the community.

 

References

Fisher, M. [@MrMichaelFisher]. (2021, March 31). K-12 STEAM team meeting for vertical alignment. Seriously smart and passionate people planning amazing learning for our students! #BetterTogether. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/MrMichaelFisher/status/1377182323091730434

Higgin, T. (2017, March 28). Protecting student privacy on social media: Do’s and don’ts for teachers. Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/protecting-student-privacy-on-social-media-dos-and-donts-for-teachers

OECD. (2020), Digital Transformation in the Age of COVID-19: Building Resilience and Bridging Divides, Digital Economy Outlook 2020 Supplement, OECD. www.oecd.org/digital/digital-economy-outlook-covid.pdf

Pahomov, L. (2014). Authentic learning in the digital age: Engaging students through inquiry. ASCD.

Ries, K. [kirsten.ries4]. (2021, April 22). ETL523 Assessment 1- Part C: Reflective blog post. [Thinkspace blog]. Thinkspace CSU. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/grade1ries/2021/04/22/etl523-assessment-1-digital-citizenship-guide-reflection/

Schradie, J. (2013, April 26). 7 myths of the digital divide. The Society Pages. http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2013/04/26/7-myths-of-the-digital-divide/

Spencer, J. (2020, June 15). How to use book clubs for deeper professional learning. John Spencer. https://spencerauthor.com/book-clubs/

Wheeler, S. (2015). Learnins with ‘e’s: Educational theory and practice in the digital age. Crown House Pub Ltd. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1918927&ppg=92