Edutech Australia Takeaways Day 2

As I sit on the AirTrain pondering my reaction to Edutech I realise how blessed I am to be teaching in a wonderful school and supported by an incredible Professional Learning Network. Much of today confirmed for me that there is a groundswell of educators who are now looking for ways to pedagogically improve their application and integration of technology. They realise that they along with students can do "dumb things with smart devices" and we need to be empowering educators and students to move to creating solutions for real world problems.

I loved the quote that "a pencil is a technology but does it mean students can write?" The answer is no, obviously! Teachers need to be the guides in the learning process. We need to become less scared about what technology we are going to use and look more about the skill and process we are looking to teach. Then choose the technology appropriate for teaching the skill.

Another takeaway was student voice is more powerful that a lecture. I experienced this during my teach meet session. As soon as my Year 2 class came up on the screen using google Hangouts I instantly saw the audience move forward on their seats. They became increasingly engaged and interested in the concept because it became an authentic experience for them.

The final takeaway came when I saw the power of the four program structures - learning space, grouping, personalised learning and time. If we want to see learners excel we need to modify all of these to allow complete engagement with the content being taught.

Student's deserve the best so we need to become our best self.

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