Learning in a digital world

One thing that is critical in teaching is to gain student interest and motivated them to learn on their own. I firmly believe that being a guide is one of the best things teachers can do for students. We are in an age of ever changing knowledge and new information is at everyone’s fingertips. As a teacher we need to teach our students how to navigate this new digital world and find the knowledge they need. Connectivism supports this way of teaching and learning and provides a foundation for navigating the networks we are creating.

One non-negotiable thing is the ability to provide technology to my students. They have smart phones and computers at home. Being able to use technology and media in the classroom brings their interests and skills with networks into their learning experiences. By letting them bring this technology into the classroom we are letting them have freedom from just textbook learning. As a teacher my goal is to provide a technologically advanced classroom for students to expand their knowledge with. 

New Technologies

One new technology we had problems with in the workplace was Pinnacle Grade. The staff at the school was against having a second grade book for standards based grading and did not see the need for it to be purchased. Using the ARCS model we created a grading team that used the grade book for a year. We helped it gain attention, showed that it could be relevant with the additional student reports it printed, and proved we were confident in using it (Driscoll, 2005). The problem arose the second year we were using it when more teachers came on board the pilot standards based grading program.

The grade book was miscalculating grades and we as a district determined using a trend calculation for a grade was not better than an average of standard linked grades with possible retakes. This led to many teachers being dissatisfied with the product and we switched back to points and percentages from the four point scale we had started the year using. This change at semester break has shown us that the initial reaction to the grade book was not accurate and as more users started using it the confidence and relevance turned the attention into a negative perspective. Currently we are investigating using the SIS grade book, our original one, with the standards attached to the assignments. Our teachers are comfortable with that grade book as we have had the software for years and have been satisfied with the product.

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.).Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing knowledge.