EMPOWERED LEARNER
Students leverage technology to
take an active role in choosing,
achieving and demonstrating
competency in their learning goals,
informed by the learning sciences.
(ISTE, 2016)
take an active role in choosing,
achieving and demonstrating
competency in their learning goals,
informed by the learning sciences.
(ISTE, 2016)
When I am given the freedom to explore my own interests and passions, I feel most empowered as a learner. Providing students with the opportunity to make choices enables them to contextualise facts and information as tools for problem solving (Gee, 2003). Throughout the MET program, there were many chances for me to pursue topics of my choice and demonstrate my learning in a variety of formats. I explored emerging technologies by researching and presenting about topics that interest me and was given many opportunities to interact with my peers who often offered a different perspective or set of ideas on the topics studied throughout my courses. Course activities and assignments emphasised the importance of building, making, and designing as ways of knowing. Such a constructivist approach to learning corresponds with my own philosophy of teaching in which knowledge is "not simply transmitted from teacher to student, but actively constructed by the mind of the learner" (Brennan & Resnick, 2013).
I first felt empowered as a learner during teachers college when I established an education blog as a way to seek feedback and inform my practice. This blog provided me with an outlet to demonstrate my learning in a variety of mediums. Through the use of social media such as Twitter and Google+, I have further worked to customise my learning environment by growing my personal learning network. Presenting at workshops and educator events is another way I strive to consolidate my learning, share with others and extend my understanding of topics learned within the courses of the MET program. Since commencing the MET program, I have presented twelve workshops at eight different conferences in Asia as well as numerous informal presentation at TeachMeets and Speed Geeking events.
Most recently in March 2017, I presented a workshop called The Cold Hard Facts About Choice and Play in Learning at the 9th Annual 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong. This session was centred around the idea that teachers can empower students through the facilitation of play and choice in classroom instruction. This presentation in many ways is a synthesis of my learning throughout the MET program as I have grown past the simple utilisation of many technology tools in my instruction to have a deeper understanding of the theory and research of educational technology, specifically how to effectively design learning environments that inspire students to be self-directed.
This ePortfolio outlines key artefacts from throughout the MET program that demonstrate my understanding about the fundamental concepts of technology operations and my ability to transfer my knowledge to explore emerging technologies. It also, in essence, details the ways in which I am an empowered learner.
References
Brennan, K. & Resnick, M. (2013). Chapter 17: Imagining, creating, playing, sharing, reflecting: How online community supports young people as designers of interactive media. Emerging technologies for the classroom. Springer New York.
Gee, J.P. (2003). What video games can teach us about literacy and learning. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan.
ISTE (2016, June). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016#startstandards.
Mahoney, A. [Adri_Mahoney]. (2017, March 10). Intrinsically motivating our students can be the most effective reinforcement [Twitter moment]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Adri_Mahoney/status/840115843803435008.