Reading+Two+-+G

By Amanda Bonnici, Amanda Malouf, Amy Elysee, Nicole Farrugia and Adriennne Farlow
 * The growth of enterprise pedagogy : how ICT policy is infected by Neo-liberalism (Brown)**

n ** How can schools improve ICT being taught in NSW? ** n Learning needs to be appealing to students’ real life situations n New pedagogical strategy that integrates both Australian and New Zealand policies – which outlines the type of professional support required to ensure that teachers develop their confidence and capability in ICT to create new learning experiences n Teachers being able to redesign the curriculum to feel more confident in what they are teaching relating to ICT n For teachers to be in serviced with up to date information, knowledge and skills relating to ICT n Teachers having interactive session with ICT, to build up hands on experiences and engagements n Teachers need to be aware of the understandings, benefits and the purpose of benefiting the children using ICT as an education resource tool

In many schools there has been a lot of money spent on investing in technology and providing teachers with new and exciting technological tools. However, in our experiences teaching, we have seen that many teachers are not confident in using the technology and therefore not willing to use the technology to its full potential.
 * Apply this reading to what you have seen or might see occurring currently in schools. **

The context in which ICT is used is equally important in ICT development for both students and teachers. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that what is learnt in professional development courses is then implemented in a realistic way in the classroom teaching and learning experiences. For students, ICT can not be taught in isolation, it needs to be followed up and critical thinking as well as skills must be practiced regularly.

The culture of schools and pedagogies must be modified to suit the needs of their learners in terms of ICT. We have seen this working best when it is implemented in the everyday context of the school from kindergarten.  Abby Fredericks Thoughts... ICT can be improved by Many schools have the technology but do not use it for various reasons, mainly becuse teachers do not know how to use it or use it confidently and because the older teachers do not believe it is necessary tool to use for teaching and learning. Many teachers talk about all the new technological tools they have but agian they do not use them or use them in a wat that will benefit the children. Policy needs to be made by teachers not politicans because they are not the ones that have to live with the policy, endure its effects or teach. So teachers should make policy and pedagogy but think in a new and modern way when devloping policy and pedagogy.
 * Teachres being more confident
 * ICT being used for higher order thinking and problem solving based activities
 * Teachers being giving lessons/learning days in how to use ICT effectively
 * The governemnt placing more emphasis on the use of ICT
 * The curriculum having neccessary ICT lessons intergrated into it

**My Thoughts…By Erin Britt** All this policy talk and advancing technology is making me think of the current global financial crisis and consumerism. Through technology we are becoming more and more Globalised and majority of our money is going into buying the bigger/better/most advanced technology available. What kind of a society will be be developing? Im not sure if I am making any sense, but I the main thing I got from Brown was the lack of understanding that many people have in the uses of technology. Policy is being made with not enough research and information into the repecussions of their actions. I think teachers should be responsible for teachin pedagogy and policy. Politicians can have their politics and we can have our pedagogy. you don’t see me trying to determine foreign policy, if i don’t tell them how to do their job when I know only a limited amount about it, they should give me the same courtesy!

Also I thought I should add something funny so.......I give you...Dancing Spiderman! My Thoughts....Charlene Pose i agree with many of the above thoughts about how ICT can be improved.. i believe teachers needs to be more confident when it comes to learning about ICT and actually using it in schools. using ICT can allow students to really use higher order thinking and help them to really exented themselves. the imporant thing to note this that ICT should be use as a teaching tool and not as a whole leg to stand on for a whole lesson. I also believe teachers should be given the opportunity to learn how to best impliment the ICT programs into the classroom. Teachers would also be able to warm up to the idea of ICT, i believe is through the curriculum. If the curriculum actually has more ICT lesson intergrated into lesson teachers will want to ue it more within the classroom. The last prac school i was at, didnt have the best technology but the technology that they did have, many teachers didnt use them because of lack of knowledge on how to use it. Mnay of the teachers were asking for staff development days, were someone could come in and teach how to use differednt types of technology. unfortuantly there wasnt enough funding to pay someone to come in. this could be an isssue related to the government and where they are placing funding, and how they have a lack of funding in some schools. Teachers talk about how great new technology is but find it hard to be able to relate it to the classroom situation. and make it relevent to the childrens learning. i strongly argee with Abby's final comment that policy need to be created by teachers and not by politicans. i believe this because teachers are the ones who are in the'front line'; within the classroom and dealing with how to make learning revelavent to the students learning. Teacher''s need to be able to piece together, how techology and learning can equal amazing learning fro stduents.

My Thoughts By Steve Pryde

Yeah I'm with you guys on the improvements for ICT. One idea would be to implement Smartboards in all classrooms but goodluck getting that past Kevin Rudd! Ofcourse teachers need to making the policies and not politicans who dont have first hand experience in a classroom. Yes teavhers need to be more confident when it comes to learning and using ICT but as a whole teachers need to be educated in how to use such programs. This is the problem!!! Some teachers dont have the opportunity or resources in their school. K Rudd is giving out handouts so start giving them out to schools, instead or your laptop for each student policy make it a Smartboard for every classroom instead! Technology is here to stay and students need to be well equipped in using it so bring it on for teachers! The fear of students knowing more than us is a reality and we need to accept it and use it to our advantage!!

To me digital literacy means gaining information and knowledge through information and technology (ICT) in Australian education system. There are many issues influencing digital literacy in Australian education. Few of them are <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;">1. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) 2. FOSS is a big and positive shift in Australian education as documented by UNESCO. Linux and OSS programmes have also been used in Australian education system. Research shows that FOSS significantly improved ICT standards in Australian educational system and enhanced students learning and teachers understanding. 3. Content centric modules such as networked learning, connect ivism (elearning 2), elearning, LMS (Learning Management System) model has been regarded ineffective in Australian education system because it did not facilitate student and teacher elearning (centralized model). In my opinion shift is from centralized ICT learning models to decentralized networked models, which may increase digital literacy among teachers and students. As a student teacher, I realize that the importance of digital media and connectivity is increasing day by day in the field of education. To mitigate ICT induction in the field of education, educational organizations need to be more flexible to adopt changes occuring in the field of ICT. This is the only way that we can increase digital literacy and reduce the gap between Digital Natives and Digital Immi. as reported by Prensky (2001). ICT should be intensively used in the classroom. For this purpose teachers must be trained to use Smart Borads. I have personally seen in the DET schools thst most of the teachers do not know how to use Smart Boards. = My Thoughts on the Brown Reading By Rebecca Casey =
 * My Thoughts By Ghulam Mustafa **

**__ How can ICT be improved? __** There are a number of different ways that ICT can be improved in classrooms. I agree with what everyone else has said, which is not a surprise. I also think that ICT can be improved by: <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Allowing students to teach their teachers how to use different ICT programs <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· The school can encourage students to be using ICT in assignments and at home <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Giving teachers and students time to play with different ICT programs and activities and get them confident in using them in different situations <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Funding can be directed at improving ICT facilities Bring it back to the article ICT can be improved by educating teachers about the policies sounding ICT and become aware of the politics around teaching and learning. Teachers also need to see ICT as a teaching pedagogy before changes can occur. **__Where Have I seen ICT used?__** In my two practicum’s ICT has not been used. The first prac it was not used because my teacher did not want the students to use it as she did not think they would understand it. In my second prac ICT could not be used because the school did not allow the younger students to have access to the school computers or smart boards. I am hopping this year that I am able to use and see more use of ICT in the classroom. I am really loving the pictures guys so here is another. Becs :)


 * __Sabrina Crouche' thoughts on the reading...__**

<span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Through the incorporation of more ICT directed lessons in the classroom <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Tasks that allow students to work from home e.g. blogs <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Students teaching each other and their teacher about different ways of doing things on the computer <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">More teacher training in the area of ICT <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: #ffc000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Funding for schools (not all schools have smartboard) I have seen smart boards in the last school I was on prac at. Every class had one, so it was a part of every lesson. I found that the incorporation of smartboard technology in the classroom is an effective learning tool. It was interactive and students love being able to learn in a new way.
 * How can ICT be improved? **
 * Where have you seen ICT used? **

My thoughts...

I thought I would touch on the idea that neo-liberalism is infecting the push for ICT integration. I was fascinated by the reading's suggestions of a political agenda behind the push for ICT to be a primary tool in teaching children. There is currently such a big push, especially during a our unicourse, that you don't really think of the reasoning behind it...well apart from the fact that our world is immersed in and increasingly dependent on ICT and people need to get skilled up. I'm not against ICT in general and think it can bring a wealth of good to the teaching profession; with access to information that you would never have seen before. However it's important to know who is funding these programs and resources because they always have their own agenda...is this agenda compatible with teaching pedagogy?? It also makes me questions the reasons behind why we are teaching...the reading compared the traditional goals of teaching with the goals of the current economic/consumer based society it states that current ICT online curriculums are promoting //innovation, enterprise, and creativty.// This doesn't sound bad in and of itself, though when it is comined with //decentralisation, marketisation, privatisation and the subordination of education to economic objectives// you wonder whether this is what you signed up for. I quite prefer the idea that I will be teaching students about stewardship and moral responsibility than entrepreneurial flair. I'm with Brown on his idea that teachers need to be aware of what the integration of ICT really means (with it's support from outside forces :)) that we should encourage research, and critique, in this way we will be able really harness technology to educate our students in the best way. Rather than in a haphazard way which serves the puposes of political parties which may not be in line with tru teacher pedagogy.

Katarina