Zac's Blog

Blogs are an exciting educational tool that gives students the freedom to create and publish content online. This text will unpack various aspects of blogging to help teachers make informed choices about incorporating blogging into their teaching practices.  Image source:  https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/08/27/08/11/blogging-428955_1280.jpg   The inclusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) in both teaching and learning is an effective method for increasing student motivation, engagement and learning success (Ainley & Enger, 2007). One ICT subgroup that teachers can include is web spaces. As there are many web space platforms available for teachers to choose from, a short summary of a few selected web spaces is provided to develop our understanding of which web space platform may be best suited for our desired application.  Wiki's A wiki is an online location in which multiple users can add, edit and remove information. As wiki’s are designed ...

  Pedagogical Principles What are the Pedagogical Principles (defined in the Learning Materials)? 1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking  2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important  3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best  4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in real life contexts  5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge  6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves  7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges  8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity.  What do the Pedagogocial Principles mean to you in common language? In common language, the pedagogical principles, specifically productive pedagogies, to me mean that teachers need create supportive learning environments through integrat...

  A challenge to your beliefs   You as a Contemporary Teacher? To what extent is it reasonable to conclude that if you are not experiencing positive or negative emotions about the materials and activities in any learning experience, that you are potentially disinterested or not motivated? DIscuss in relation to your first emotional response to the nature of this unit. It is highly reasonable and expected that if you are disinterested and not motivated by the learning materials and activities, you have no emotions towards the work. This could be because the learning is not relevant, not interesting and delivered in a way that is not interesting or engaging. Elaborate on your emotions on engaging further with this unit? Positive, negative. Indifferent? I have positive emotions towards engaging further with this unit as I recognise that incorporating ICT into my teaching is an area for improvement to benefit both my teaching and student learning.  To what extent do you have ...

Hi team, I'm Zac and as you might guess from my photo I enjoy fishing and being out on the ocean. I have limited experience with technology so I am looking forward to learning ways in which I can effectively incorporate technology into my teaching. Hope everyone has a good semester and can see the finish line in sight! Cheers Zac