Portfolio and Reflective Synopsis

I think I’m learning to juggle!    That’s what came to mind for me when I first looked at the colourful venn diagram portraying the TPACK model developed by Mishra and Koehler (2006).  Learning that focuses only on content is like juggling with one ball,  It goes up and down but doesn’t travel very far and the only one who actively engages with it is probably the person throwing the ball up.  Adding a second ball, pedagogy, requires more purpose and direction but still limited movement and engagement for an audience accustomed to the constant sound and colour and motion of modern media.   It’s when you add the third ball, the technology, that exciting new possibilities emerge.  It takes effort to develop the skills to position the learner in the sweet spot where all three overlap. 

Mishra and Koehler (2006) note that “Developing theory for educational technology is difficult because it requires a detailed understanding of complex relationships that are contextually bound”.  It requires teachers to be creative and responsive.  “Underlying truly meaningful and deeply skilled teaching with technology (Mishra  and Koehler, 2009).

My natural point of focus is content, so the shift to focusing on how to make learning transformational under the SAMR model is still a conscious one.  I’m developing a checklist of questions.  

    How can I incorporate activities that wouldn’t be possible if technology didn’t exist?   
    How can I incorporate elements of choice and flexibility into the learning activities, when in my workplace learners have limited autonomy  over the topics that will be taught?
    How can I include ensure that my choice of learning activity is consistent with a constructivist learning    environment?
    How can I include reflection in this activity?
What other 221st century skills, or which of the 15 key capablities of a professional will this activity target (?
    How can I include activities where the learners create information and learning artefacts using multimodeal tools?
    How can I authentically share the artefacts the learners create?

Maybe I’m not learning to juggle, maybe I’m learning to drive a car….  At the moment I’m focused on letting out the clutch, pushing in the accelerator and turning on the indicator… so focused on the mechanisms of moving forward that I can’t yet focus down the road to my destination.     

Which I hope will involve IMPACT…

When I read about this model on the blogs of the teachers its' simplicity resonated with me.

            Inspire, Model, Practise, Apply, Connect, Transform


As i seek to develop my technological knowledge and in particular by technological pedagogical knowledge,
 I find Allan Carrington's Pedagogy Wheel v3.0 a powerful visual tool to shape my thinking.  I  like that it has, at it's core the attributes of the learner, or in my context the 15 key capabilities of professionals (Carrington, 2013) and that it incorporates the motivation aspects of autonomy, mastery and  purpose.  From that stmes the activities and various technological applications and tools.
i found Wendy's illustration of the way you could tell the story of your activity design as you work your way to the outer rim, very helpful.

www.unitynet.au

As a starting point I'm going to focus on including reflection in my activities, and building ways to choose a way of collaboratively create and publish media as part of my program.  As I continue to build my pedagogical and technological knowledge I will broaden my scope of activities.

Birden, H., Glass, N., Wilson, I., Harrison, M., Usherwood, T. & Nass, D.  (2011).  Teaching professionalism in medical education: a best evidence in medical education (BEME) systematic review.  www.bernecollaroation.org/downloads/1387/birden-SR-web.pdf
Carrington, A.  (2013). If you exercise these capabilities you will be employed.  www.unitynet.au, March 13, 2013.

Professionalism – role modelling and reflections

 Mishrak, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00684.x.
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.