(Wk7, T1, 2015) EDSE12024: Digital Pedagogies in Secondary Schools.

Embedded task 6 – Reflecting on participation and engagement in blogs

So far whilst participating in this course (edse12024) I have learned a great deal about not only digital tools but the practical application of them in 21^st century classrooms. In this post I will reflect on the positive and negative aspects of my participation in this blog.

Prior to this course, I had not ‘blogged’, EVER! I had even vetoed the idea of posting anything but a picture (usually of something other than myself) on any form of social network. This is largely due to my fear that others will notice my maladroit grammar abilities. Being thrown into the proverbial ‘deep end’ in this course, and being indirectly forced to come to terms with my aforementioned fears of linguistic inadequacy has allowed me to not only see the incredible opportunities of working in a digital space but the prospects for collaboration and the benefits which it brings with it. The casual format of the blogging has also allowed me to become more confident with sharing in an online space. Through the use of the comment function on blogger I have been able to interact with others by providing and receiving feedback on blog postings. Through the existence of the course wiki (showing fellow students subject specialist areas) I have also been able to find students who share my (elective) subjects of history and biology. This cross-campus interaction has also allowed me to view multiple perspectives and form a broader understanding of some of the uses of digital tools within educational contexts specific to me. 

One of the noticeable drawbacks of our online collaboration through blogging is the tendency of users (myself included) to make minimal or no comment as to the blogs content. This problem effectively takes the collaboration out of the blog, as it becomes a non-constructive one-way, one-many form of communication. Obviously this could be overcome with scaffolding if desired; however the idea in this situation was for learner-owned interaction. 

A successful aspect of this collaboration can be seen in the comments section under of my week 6 blog, where fellow students have highlighted the effectiveness of ‘thinglink’ across multiple subject areas. This can seen be to deepen my understanding of the functionality of 'thinglink' and its implications on my own practice and students. 

My experiences so far in this course have led me to place a higher emphasis on digital tools within educational settings. This course has also allowed me to explore the impact of these tools on my own practice and encouraged me to think about ways that I can implement them when designing learning for my students. This weeks readings have further highlighted to me the ways in which social software can be used in learning and its crucial role in enhancing learning for students.