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IntroductionTechnology plays a significant role in Education within the 21st Century (Harper, D & Martinez, S, 2008). Therefore it is imperative that an educator designs and implements effective, ethical and authentic learning experiences that incorporate ICT when it is appropriate (Williams, 2014, ACARA, 2014 & AITSL 2011). Children are increasingly becoming more techno-savvy, as a result of the ever-growing advancements within the digital world (Science Daily, 2013). However current data gathered by the Australian Government Department of Health has recently identified that children from the ages of five to seventeen, have dangerously increased their screen time from the recommended two hours a day, to six or more. As an educator it is crucial to be aware of this health risk that children are being exposed to, when designing and implement learning experiences that incorporate ICT. Educators have the responsible to ensure that students are provided with ICT learning experiences that scaffolds their knowledge, understanding and capabilities of technology (ACCE, 2011 & AITSL, 2011 & ACARA 2014). Evidently it is essential for students to develop their knowledge, understanding and capabilities in respects to ICT, as it is a fundamental life skill that students need to acquire, in order to becoming successful lifelong learners and global citizens. This essay will demonstrate how ICT can be implemented effectively, ethically and authentically within five sequenced learning experiences. These learning experiences will align with ACARA and AITSL. Thus providing students with a learning environment that nurtures, supports and actively encourages students to display intrinsic motivation towards their education. These five sequenced learning experiences have been taken from the commencement of a Year Four English Unit that explores the environmental issue of a sustainable future (Refer to Appendix A for English Unit).ICT Learning Experience OneLearning Objective: To expose students to collaborative learning and communication through the use of ICTs.ICT Resource: Interactive book application, ‘The Lorax’, by Dr. Seuss – Created by Oceanhouse Media.ICT Resource Features: The interactive book application provides students the opportunity to jump into the reading of, ‘The Lorax’, to explore the environmental issue of a sustainable future. This application enables the reader to interact with the new vocabulary and the book’s illustrations, in order to develop a meaningful connection with the moral of the narrative. Moreover this application has an element that allows its’ reader to create a personalised narrative to go with the illustrations of the book that can be collaborated and shared with fellow peers. Implementation of ICT pedagogy: This application will be utilised within the initial class reading of the book, ‘The Lorax’. During the reading the students will have the opportunity to explore the features of this ICT, in order to encourage and engaged student development with content and concepts being taught. At the end of the reading the class will collaborate their thought and feelings about the book, ‘The Lorax’. It is through this discussion that will scaffold student development, specifically when students are provided the opportunity to write, edit and produce their own narrative to go with the illustrations of the book, ‘The Lorax’. Students will collaborate and share their final product with the fellow peers, thus allowing students to advance within the next cognitive phase in Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid. Moreover students will have the opportunity to critically reflect upon the ICT resource, as to how it impacted upon their learning experience. ICT Frameworks: The interactive book application is a valuable teaching and learning resource that embraces the Australian Council for Computer in Education (ACCE) and TPACK’s ICT Framework. This ICT informs student and provides students the ability to communicate their learning experiences collaboratively with others. It evidently aligns with the AITSL Standards 2.6, 3.4 and 4.5. Moreover this ICT explores and reinforces ACARA’s Curriculum Standards, specifically to:Year 3 -4 Digital Technology Curriculum Standard (ACTDIK007); andICT General Capability Level Three Descriptors, Identify the value and role of ICT use at home and school and use appropriate ICT tools safely to share and exchange information with appropriate known audiences. ICT Learning Experience TwoLearning Objective: To develop a knowledge and understanding of poetic language features embedded within the book, ‘The Lorax’.ICT Resource: Survey MonkeyICT Resource Features: Survey Monkey is an engaging and innovative ICT teacher and student resource. This ICT can be utilised in numerous ways in order to gather data on a specific subject matter or concept in an ethical, safe and supportive approach. Survey Monkey is a valuable teacher and student resource, which provides one with the opportunity to acquire an in-depth knowledge and understanding, as to one is progressively developing within a particular subject matter or concept. Implementation of ICT pedagogy: This ICT will be implemented at the end of three lessons of Literacy Circles that explores poetic language features embedded in the book, ‘The Lorax’. Students will confidentially complete a survey through Survey Monkey, to gather data on student development in relationship to the English Objective of examining poetic language features. By enabling students to undertake in the survey, strategically allows a student to critically reflects upon their learning experiences. Moreover prior to the students completing the survey, it is the responsible of an educator to discuss and emphasis the importance of ICT ethics. By doing this it will scaffold student development, in relation to how one depicts and uses ICTs in the future. ICT Frameworks: Survey Monkey aligns with the AITSL Standards 2.6, 3.4 and 4.5. Moreover it explores and reinforces ACARA’s Curriculum Standards, specifically to:Year 3 -4 Digital Technology Curriculum Standard (ACTDIK007); andICT General Capability Level Three Descriptor, use appropriate ICT tools safely to share and exchange information with appropriate known audiences.ICT Learning Experience ThreeLearning Objective: Explore and identify the language and visual features that Dr. Seuss has utilised, in order to portray the ‘Lorax’ and ‘Once-ler’. ICT Resource: iTunes application, Popplet.ICT Resource Features: Popplet is a brainstorming application that enables uses to express their ideas, through words and images. Implementation of ICT pedagogy: As a class students will be scaffolded to explore the language and visual features that Dr. Seuss has utilised, in order to depict the character the Lorax. This will be achieved through the use of the application, Popplet. The educator will scaffold student ICT knowledge, understanding and capabilities initially when brainstorming the language and visual features of the character the ‘Lorax’. By doing this it will then provide students with the essential ICT knowledge, understanding and capabilities to do the same independently in pairs for the character the ‘Once-ler’. This lesson strategically requires students to collaboratively with ICT and others, in order to produce a final product that can be shared with the rest of the class.ICT Frameworks: Popplet is a valuable teaching and learning resource that embraces the Australian Council for Computer in Education and TPACK’s ICT Framework. This ICT informs student and provides students the ability to communicate their learning experiences collaboratively with others in a safe and supportive environment. Popplet evidently aligns with the AITSL Standards 2.6, 3.4 and 4.5. Moreover this ICT explores and reinforces ACARA’s Curriculum Standards, specifically to:Year 3 -4 Digital Technology Curriculum Standard (ACTDIK007); andICT General Capability Level Three Descriptors, Identify the value and role of ICT use at home and school; use ICT to generate ideas and plan solutions and use appropriate ICT tools safely to share and exchange information with appropriate known audiences. ICT Learning Experience FourLearning Objective: To explore and develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the environmental issue of, ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. ICT Resource: Educational PowerPoint on ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ (Please refer to Appendix B for Resource).ICT Resource Features: The engaging Educational PowerPoint scaffolds students to critically reflect upon current environmental issue, through the use of questions, statements and short videos.Implementation of ICT pedagogy: The PowerPoint will be used at the commencement of the lesson, in order to gather data on student’s prior knowledge and understanding on the environmental issue of ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This data will be documented on a class KWL chart. Students will then engage in the PowerPoint, with a continuous class discussion that scaffolds students to critically reflect upon the importance of a sustainable future and how this can be achieved.ICT Frameworks: This PowerPoint is a valuable teaching resource that demonstrates how ICT can be utilised effectively, ethically and authentically, aligning with ACCE and TPAK’s ICT Framework. The PowerPoint informs student and provides students the ability to communicate their learning experiences collaboratively with others in a safe and supportive environment. For example the short videos embedded in the PowerPoint have been download and physically placed in a slide, to eliminate the usage of YouTube. The PowerPoint evidently aligns with the AITSL Standards 2.6, 3.4 and 4.5. Moreover this ICT explores and reinforces ACARA’s Curriculum Standards, specifically to:Year 3 -4 Digital Technology Curriculum Standard (ACTDIK007); andICT General Capability Level Three Descriptor, Identify the value and role of ICT use at home and school.ICT Learning Experience FiveLearning Objective: Provide students the opportunity to plan, proofread and publish a persuasive letter that informs family members on ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ and how they can make a difference for a sustainable future.ICT Resource: Students will need to have access to TextEdit or Open Notepad. ICT Resource Features: These ICTs provide students the ability to focus on writing a persuasive text, where they are required to proofread their own work. Moreover these ICTs enhance and engage student participation, as it is innovate way to get students to write.Implementation of ICT pedagogy: At the beginning of the lesson students will reflect upon the class KWL chart, in order to scaffold student thinking through the use of discussion. Students will then be informed that they will be required to write a persuasive text that informs family member on ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ and how they can make a difference for a sustainable future. Students will take control of their learning experiences, in order to apply their English, Science and ICT knowledge, understanding and capabilities, to produce a persuasive letter. ICT Frameworks: TextEdit or Open Notepad is a valuable student resource that demonstrates, how one can effectively and ethically communicate, through the use of ICTs. This resource aligns with the Framework of ACCE and TPAK, as students are required to utilised ICT in a collaborative and informative manner. These ICTs evidently align with the AITSL Standards 2.6, 3.4 and 4.5. Moreover this ICT explores and reinforces ACARA’s Curriculum Standards, specifically to:Year 3 -4 Digital Technology Curriculum Standard (ACTDIK007); andICT General Capability Level Three Descriptors, Independently apply standard guidelines and techniques for particular digital systems to secure digital information, Identify the value and role of ICT use at home and school, use ICT to generate ideas and plan solutions and Create and modify simple digital solutions, creative outputs or data representation/transformation for particular purposes.Reflection of ICTs and Guided Questions:When designing the five sequenced learning experiences, it was imperative that the guided questions were applied to enhance the incorporation of ICTs effectively, ethically and authentically (Refer to Appendix C for Guided Questions). These pedagogy-guided questions provide an educator the opportunity to critically analyse and evaluate the use of ICTs, thus aligning with ACARA, ACCE and AITSL. For instance when designing the Educational PowerPoint on ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’, it was pedagogically more ethical to embed the short videos in the PowerPoint, rather then inserting hyperlinks to the direct YouTube videos. These came about upon the implementation of question four of the guided questions, which requires an educator to reflect upon how one can establish and maintain a safe and supportive ICT learning environment. YouTube’s ethical standpoint on their choice of advertisements that are played prior to a selected video can unmistakeably be deemed as inappropriate and unsafe for children to be exposed to. In addition with developing the PowerPoint it was essential to critically ensure that the content within the videos and images, were of age appropriate for year four. Moreover these guided questions ensure that ICTs are utilised to progressively develop student’s ICT knowledge, understanding and capabilities, in a creative and engaging manner, that nurtures, shapes and support each child, within their zone of proximal development. Therefore during each learning experience it is crucial that an educator professionally reflects upon student development continuously, in order to make necessary modifications to improve and enhance future teaching opportunities in a sustainable manner.ConclusionIn conclusion ICTs can be implemented in learning experiences, to enhance and engage students within their education. ICTs are a significant influence within the 21st Century. Therefore an educator has the sole responsibility to provide students with effective, ethical and authentic learning experiences that build upon their ICT knowledge, understanding and capabilities. It is through these learning opportunities that will shape, nurture and encourage students to active take control of their learning, as lifelong learns and active global citizens.ReferencesACARA, 2014, Digital Technologies Curriculum, ACARA, Retrieved from australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Pdf/ICT on 9 September 2014;ACARA, 2014, Information Communication Technology Capability, ACARA, Retrieved from australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Pdf/ICT on 9 September 2014;Australian Council for Computer in Education (ACCE), April 2011, ACCE Position Paper on ICT in the Australian Curriculum, ACCE, retrieved from acce.edu.au/sites/acce.edu.au/files/ACCE_Position_final.pdf on 9 September 2014;Harper, D & Martinez, S, 2008, Working with Tech-Savvy Kids, ASCD, retrieved from publications/educational_leadership/nov08/vol66/num03/Working_with_Tech-Savvy_Kids.aspx on 20 August 2014;Raising Children Australia, 2014, Screen Time and Children, RCNAL, Retrieved from .au/articles/screen_time.html on 9 September 2014;Science Daily, March 2013, Is technology really too fast for society?, retrieved from releases/2013/03/130314124320.htm on 9 September 2014;The Department of Health, 2014, Research and Statistics, Australian Government, Retrieved from .au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-active-evidence.htm on 9 September 2014;Williams, P, 2014, Sustainable Teaching Practices: Information and Communication Technologies (PowerPoint Slides), retrieved from online.usc.edu.au on 9 September 2014;Appendix A Appendix B Appendix CGuided Questions, Developed in Task TwoAre my students engaged within their ICT learning experiences? (Links to teaching standard one)Do my lessons with ICT cater for the individual needs of my students? (Links to teaching standard one)Are my students provided with a learning environment that enables them to create, explore and share, collaboratively? (Links to teaching standard two & three)Are my students provided with a safe and supportive learning environment that develops their ICT capabilities? (Links to teaching standard four)Are my ICT lessons effective and authentic? (Links to standard four)How have I assed student learning and provided formal or informal feedback? (Links to teaching standard five)How could I improve my ICT lessons in the future and why? (Links to teaching standard three) ................
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