APC Activity 2 - the last 24 weeks of study have been.....

A reflection of the last 24 weeks of study. 

During the last 24 weeks of study, I have learned three key aspects about myself as a learner:

• My first learning point as a learner is that I learn in a divergent manner, and that I struggle to converge my ideas at the appropriate time, especially during assignments. I captured a lot of ideas about Positive Behavior for Learning (PB4L) in the digital and collaborative assignment but initially struggled to find a solution within my LEAN canvas. There was magnitude of information needed to be shared with my collaborators and so a blog was an excellent way to converge all our ideas in one place. An example of this convergence is the app currently in development as shown by PB4L app blog. 



Kapp. 2013

• The second aspect is that I have realized is that I learn far quicker when learning is gamified and challenging more than recall or rote based learning. Gamification is not necessarily learning by playing games but specific facets of gaming which enhances learning and allows greater adaptation to challenges and problems solving.

• Lastly,I learn the most when I am engaged with the learning, either visual or tactile learning activities . An example of this was when I took my students to the Mindlab, so that we could learn how to programme and make robots. Along with my students I learnt programming fairly quickly using a graphic user interface.

Three changes that I have made within my practice in the last 24 weeks of study. 

• One of the key changes is that I have started to unpack the learning that I am doing not just from a Teaching as inquiry point of view but also as student in the course. Rolfe's model of reflection in the practice of blogging is a clear application of this new change that I have made in my practice. 
  

• The second point of change in practice is that I can now include digital and collaborative practice in the application of devices. An example of this change can be seen by the use of the PB4L application that I am currently developing, which seeks to effectively manage behavioral incentives via a digital and gamified manner. In the recent months I have seen a distinction from merely using digital devices (phones, laptops) for procedural tasks to actively engage learners as stated by Gouseti (2014) and Kapp (2013)
• Lastly I have become more aware and able to adapt to the changes that are about to occur in regards to digital learning in schools. I feel as though I am more confident to problem solve using google, youtube or search blogs for ways around problems regarding digital technical issues. I recall that during the DCL assignments, I worked out how to edit my videos for my assignments. Ultimately this awareness has led to increased self efficacy as a learner by working with new applications, software and user interfaces like blogs. 

References

Hudson's Divergent learning theory.( 21 June 2015). retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/converge.ht
Gouseti, A. (2014). Digital Technologies for School Collaboration. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Karl Kapp." 2013. The Gamification of learning and instruction. 21 Jun. 2015 retrieved from <http://karlkapp.com/category/gamification/>
Ministry of Education. 2015. Teaching as Inquiry. Retrieved from http://assessment.tki.org.nz/Assessment-in-the-classroom/Teaching-as-inquiry