The final week is the presentation of Assignment 3: The Development of Instructional Materials. Our group’s topic is Endangered Species for Year 6 and we have chosen blog as the platform of learning.
After the presentation, we were required to reflect on few questions related to the use of blog in Science teaching.
1) What is your opinion about the use of the platform in science class?
Integrating blog in the teaching of science is a great way to combine both the pedagogy and technology in education. Take our topic for example. The domain of the topic is knowledge. Therefore, young learners cannot only depend on the learning process in the classroom which is only limited to discussion with limited time. In order to acquire the knowledge and truly understand the topic, they are required to do lots of reading. Reading about endangered species is a great starting point for teaching children about endangered species (Kivi, 2010). However, it might be impractical to simply ask the pupils to go home and do their reading on their own. Instead, by using a blog as a platform for learning, teachers can monitor and encourage the learning by exposing them to reading. For example, the teacher can post a note for the lesson in the classroom that comes with some tasks. The pupils would be required to read the note and look for extra reading materials to do the tasks. Then, the pupils can show the teacher their work via email and she can reply the email as feedback. The teacher can also post an entry to display some good examples of the pupils’ work. As a result, the learning process would go beyond the classroom.
Based on our experience in developing a blog for Science teaching, I found that it is very flexible since some other tools can be integrated. It can support multi teaching platform such as chat room and video podcasting. Moreover, some Science subjects are vast, and therefore, the facts and figures are constantly changing. In order to ensure that the information you present to your pupils is current and correct, reliable websites are necessary. These websites can be linked through blogging. The blog can be a platform or portal for the pupils to explore and learn. For instance, teachers can keep the pupils posted and updated with various source in the Internet by creating useful links to reliable websites. Thus, there would be no shortage of information that teachers and students can use to explore this classroom topic.
2) How did the before and after the introduction to ADDIE model help in developing the instructional material?
In completing Assignment 2, before the introduction of the ADDIE model, we develop the blog without specific guidance and considerations. Therefore, the planning and developing were quite difficult. Everything is all over the place. For Assignment 3, the ADDIE helps us in a way that our previous planning could not. Basically, the model serves as a guide for us from the beginning to the end.
The earliest phase of the ADDIE model required us to analyze and come out with a concept map. The phase of analyzing the topic would assist teachers to analyze the content ideas, limitation and the focus of the materials. The second phase which is Design phase did help us in designing and visualizing how we want the material be represented as an instructional material. The Development phase gave us as insight into developing the materials and finally producing a solid product. In the end, we found that our product for Assignment 3 is way better that our previous blog.
3) Would you choose this platform? If yes, how would you use it?
One day, I would definitely use the platform in my teaching. Some people would argue about the possibility and practicality due to the lack of computers facility and internet connections especially in rural Malaysian schools. However, I believe this technology will be part of our teaching and learning process as we develop to achieve our vision 2020.
My ideal blog in education would be a platform for learning beyond the classroom. It would be a place for the pupils to explore and learn. The blog would be used to post latest information in order to ensure that the information I present to my pupils is current and correct. They should also be allowed to share their knowledge and ideas with others to widen their knowledge and increase critical thinking skill. Plus, I would use it as a form of formative assessment in which I could see the progress of my pupils and they themselves can reflect and self-assess on their work and thus working on improving their own weaknesses.
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