Practice - Trends Influencing NZ or Internationally

Activity 6: Contemporary trends in New Zealand or internationally 

Create a reflective entry where first you analyse a trend that is influencing or shaping NZ or international education that is relevant to your practice. Then, critique and evaluate your practice in the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives. Your reflection should be based on a reflective model of your choice.

• What trend captivates your attention? Why?
• What relevance does the trend have to your practice?

1. Impact of digital learning

The impact of digital learning and subsequent explanation is something that piques my interest as a teacher and a parent. I am aware of the access children have as my own children seem to be able to find things that, while asinine to me, engage, entertain and educate them. 

With the amount of time spent on devices by the majority of children in my class I feel strongly that they are digital natives (Dagget, B. 2014) This is never more evident than when students are given the opportunity to use new tools and quickly find success. The children engage more readily and output is increased. 

With new innovations come new challenges. Planning and implementing using these tools creates the need for time of self exploration. As a facilitator I need to be aware of what the capabilities of the tool are and balance this with the skills of my class. The use of video and gaming creates heated discussion in the class as the children seem unaware that this is what is engaging them despite evidence (conversations, debates) showing this to be the case. They have a perception of school and home being different and fully expect to be writing and drawing at school and on devices at home.

Step 2 (So What): 

• What does the statistical data or resource reveal about the identified trend?
• What do you see as the key challenges and/or opportunities this trend poses to your practice or context?
• How might this trend impact your teaching context and others across New Zealand?

Statistics internationally show that texting has grown to 63% in my middle school class. Anecdotal evidence supports this with the majority of children being able to express and explain what this is and showing an awareness that they have and will use this communication tool now and in the future.

While a minority of my class post videos, (3 have youtube accounts) all watch and engage with videos. When sharing footage with the class I need to be aware of the comment thread as the children are quick to point out what has been said. The game fortnight is the latest craze showing the engagement with online games where they can communicate with fellow players. This can become obsessive with those playing talking about little else.  

Ensuring students have skills to keep themselves safe becomes of primary importance when these trends are taken into consideration. Cybersafety programmes need to be implemented and focused on before any online participation happens. This is generally overlooked at home so is very important at school

Children need to also realise that a balance is important and must build relationship skills in a face to face context. Understanding that these skills are transferable and online relationships and traditional relationships need the same care is essential as they have more and more opportunities to build online connections.

Step 3 (Now What):

implications for my practice really focus on the needs of my children as they grow up in this new digital world. They need to have skills that will keep them safe in this environment. This will only come through explicit teaching of these skills. With the involvement of the manaia Killarney outreach program at New Brighton Catholic this gives us many tools to do this. This is a problem that has been identified across the country and the world.

The program an explicit teaching of cyber safety also needs to include opportunities for the children to interact and view interactions. They need to be aware that their engagement with their peers online is  real and needs to be treated as if it were a face-to-face interaction. They need to consider when they post things if it is something that they would post or say in real life.

In saying this the children need opportunities to grow in this world. It is a balancing act to make sure that they are involved in a digital world but are safe in a digital world.

Daggett, B. (2014). Addressing Current and Future Challenges in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014 MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutureChallenges.pdf

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_ edu-2016-en Daggett, B. (2014). Addressing Current and Future Challenges in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/2014MSC_AddressingCurrentandFutu reChallenges.pdf

Rolfe et al.’s (2001) Reflective Model. Retrieved fromhttps://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf