Week4 Reflection

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

It's almost coming to the mid-semester! How time flies! During the lecture in week 4, I learned a lot of new and intriguing knowledge as well as theories.

Experiences and feelings in week 4

In the beginning, Dr. Lina asked us some questions and then revealed three crucial components of digitally competent educators (1. professional competent educators, 2. pedagogic competence, 3. empower learners). Then, she introduced the European framework for the digital competence of educators (DigCompEdu) in detail and specifically explained how educators utilize this framework to evaluate themselves as well as assist them. I felt overwhelmingly curious because I had never known this before and I used to think digitally competent educators should be educators who can make use of PPT, computers, and others. Afterward, she continued to explain the sub-contents (eg. 1. Professional engagement 2. Digital resources 3. Teaching and learning 4. Assessment 5. Empower learners 6. Facilitating learners' digital competence)of each component at great length. I was deeply attracted to and acquired new perspectives towards it. Following that, Dr. Lina asked one question about which sub-content we thought was the most important, and our group had a hot discussion on this. We thought the assessment was the most important while the answer was empowering learners. I felt shocked and confused because the answer was totally different from our thoughts. Nevertheless, I realized and understood its importance, after the explanation of Dr. Lina. She also introduced the application called DaVinci, an editing tool to enhance our editing skills as well as digital competence. At that time, I was completely excited and expected the coming tutorial because I used to wanna be a game YouTuber who requires editing skills as well (This idea could go back to my middle school period). 😂😂 At the end of the lecture, Dr. Lina assigned one person to be the technology leader from each group. Thanks to Nicholas, he always sacrificed a lot for our group. 😇

During the tutorial, we were taught how to use DaVinci step-by-step. I was interested in editing videos and expected to learn more. I started to create my own video with the assistance of Dr. Lina, and finally, I made it. Besides, this reminded me of the experience of the foundation year. Due to the pandemic, I had to make the presentation video. At that time, my spoken English was so poor that I could not continue to speak for the whole presentation. To get a higher score, I had to edit the videos by incorporating two videos into one video, and in that process learned a lot of editing skills. Personally speaking, I really enjoyed such courses because I could learn a lot and apply them in the future, or even write them in my personal CV. 😀

Digital Literacy

During both sessions, I found that our courses were designed based on digital literacy education (DLE) by incorporating digital literacy in the educational framework which aims to equip us with the ability of digital competence and fits the teaching objectives of this module as well (This can be seen through DigcompEdu framework, DaVinci teaching, blogs and so on). According to Jones-Kavalier & Flannigan (2008), digital literacy refers to the knowledge and skills of an individual in utilizing information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as the capacity to proficiently and effectively undertake diverse complex tasks within digital environments. Digital literacy is an essential skill in today's increasingly technology-driven world and it is deemed inseparable from the educational as well as social requirements of the community where we live (Brata et al., 2022). Besides, it encourages students' development in all aspects. Several research studies have demonstrated the benefits of digital literacy including positive learning outcomes (Brata et al., 2022), writing, reading, listening, speaking, and enhancing the frequency of digital technology utilization (Mudra, 2020) and information retrieval as well as critical thinking (Hargittai & Shafer, 2006). Hence, it is imperative to incorporate it when designing curriculums in the future because of its importance and positive influence.

(Source retrieved from: Western Sydney University)

DaVinci teaching and learning with DigcompEdu framework

During the DaVinci teaching session, Dr. Lina's personal scaffolding reminded me of the empowering learners part of DigcompEdu, which is also the most important part of the six components. There are three components of "empowering learners" and I will explain them step-by-step (accessibility and inclusion, differentiation and personalization, and actively engaging learners).

Accessibility and inclusion

To ensure accessibility for all learners, Dr. Lina provided us the procedures for how to download and utilize the DaVinci in detail, at the beginning of the class. Besides, Dr. Lina also demonstrated from downloading to editing videos. In the process, accessibility and inclusion are achieved, it also reminded me of the picture Dr. Lina explained in the lecture. Despite there being all kinds of differences between people, all of us (even the students with special needs) were provided with appropriate support (eg. live demonstration, written procedures) and accommodations (eg. to prevent some students from being lost in the classroom, Dr. Lina wrote the specific procedures in word document so that everyone could catch up) to have access to the DaVinci application. According to Lindsay's (2011) research, several effectiveness of inclusion were demonstrated including improved academic achievements, social and emotional development, and even long-term success. Therefore, when we teach in the future, it is important to make sure every student have access with the accommodations (tip: this is the concept of special educational needs, do not mix it up with differentiated instructions.💭 according to McGlynn & Kelly (2019), it refers to modifications made to the curriculum, instruction, or testing format/procedures without fundamental alterations of requirements) and help of us to accomplish inclusion education.

Differentiation and personalization (personalized scaffolding)

In the DaVinci learning session, it also was achieved through the design activities and personalized scaffolding. The differentiation refers to implementing a variety of digital learning activities (eg. DaVinci learning, Mentimeter......), and personalization (eg. editing our own videos, personalized scaffolding for us), from my perspective, refers to utilizing personalized scaffolding to address students' diverse learning needs. During the DaVinci learning session, I also me a few problems when editing my own video. However, I successfully finished editing my own video with the help of Dr. Lina (maybe it is more appropriate to say personalized scaffolding.💭) In the research of Ley et al. (2010), the experimental group that received personalized scaffolding significantly outperformed the control group, and self-directed learning was enhanced simultaneously (I guess the metacognition development is enhanced as well because in the self-directed learning, many components can relate to metacognition development such as monitor, self-regulation, life-long leanring💭💭). It is imperative to utilize personalized scaffolding to help students' overall development. Additionally, when we design the curriculum in the future, we are supposed to design various digital learning activities to provide opportunities for students' growth, while at the same time, providing accurate personalized scaffolding to enhance their digital competence.

Actively engaging learners ( Guided project-based learning)

During the DaVinci learning, Dr. Lina utilized guided project-based learning (eg. requiring us to create one video as the project without constraints on the content ) to foster students' active and creative engagement. Additionally, there are no limitations on the content of our video, which allows students to actively engage with editing the videos because students can edit videos according to their interest, and in the process, the point of actively engaging learners was successfully achieved through activate students' interest as well as curiosity. (I am also interested in such lessons😊) What's more, the PBL used in DaVinci learning sessions helps students to actively participate in complex or real-world projects to develop and apply the knowledge they learned, which further enhances their deeper comprehension and information retention. According to Thomas (2000), the effectiveness of PBL was demonstrated through his experiments such as increased engagement, deeper comprehension, and retention of knowledge.

As a consequence, when we teach in the future, it is also imperative to design projects based on real-world examples and try to incorporate the DigcompEdu framework into them to equip students with digital competence as well.

Conclusion

To sum up, I gained a lot of valuable skills and knowledge from these two sessions. I will try to incorporate digital literacy when designing the curriculum and the utilization of technology (eg. teaching editing skills like Dr. Lina, educational apps, interactive whiteboards, and blogs💭...) when teaching to arouse students' interest to search and learn more. To equip students with the competence to be digitally competent learners, I will also teach them approaches to evaluate information and adapt to rapidly developing technologies. In addition, I will provide more opportunities for students to explore technologies and combine education and technology to better enhance their learning and overall development.

Personal thought

To be honest, I want to incorporate my reflection into the video and present it like videos on TikTok like conveying the main points of the reflections through a short video. As we all know, the circumstance of watching short videos is prevalent around the world, and we could utilize it to convey our ideas, thoughts, knowledge, and others through short videos. Will it be better compared with long paragraphs right? I have been too busy recently to edit such a full video. Sorry. If I have enough time, I will try. hhhh😇

Thank you for seeing until here!😉

Your reply would be the best reward for me!

May every day be a good day!

Reference List:

Brata, W., Padang, R., Suriani, C., Prasetya, E., & Pratuwu, N. (2022). Student's digital literacy based on students' interest in digital technology, internet costs, gender, and learning outcomes. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning. 17(3),138-151.

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v17i03.27151

Hargittai, E., & Shafer, S. (2006). Differences in actual and perceived online skills: The role of gender. Social Science Quarterly, 87(2), 432-448.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00389.x

Jones-Kavalier, B. R., & Flannigan, S. L. (2008). Connecting the digital dots: Literacy of the 21st century. Educause Quarterly, 31(2), 8-10.

Lindsay, G. (2011). Educational psychology and the effectiveness of inclusive education/mainstreaming. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(1), 1-24.

https://doi.org/10.1348/000709906X156881

Ley, T., Kump, B., & Gerdenitsch, C. (2010). Scaffolding Self-directed Learning with Personalized Learning Goal Recommendations. International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization. 6075, 75-86.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13470-8_9

Mudra, H. (2020). DIGITAL LITERACY AMONG YOUNG LEARNERS: HOW DO EFL TEACHERS AND LEARNERS VIEW ITS BENEFITS AND BARRIER? Teaching English with Technology,20(3), 3-24.

http://www.tewtjournal.org/

McGlynn, K., & Kelly, J. (2019). Adaptations, modifications, and accommodations. Science Scope, 43(3), 36-41.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26899082

Thomas, J. W. (2000). A Review of Research on Project-Based Learning. The Autodesk Foundation.

http://www.bobpearlman.org/BestPractices/PBL_Research.pdf

{ 4 comments... read them below or Comment }

Suhanna Kaur (susu x)November 5, 2023 at 5:57 AM
It's great to hear about your engaging and informative sessions with Dr. Lina!! The exploration of digital competencies and the DigcompEdu framework is truly eye-opening, and it's fantastic to see how you're applying these concepts to real-world scenarios like video editing. Your idea of incorporating your reflections into short videos for platforms like TikTok sounds innovative and fun! Please do keep me updated if you plan to do that hahaha, sounds exciting! Keep up the excellent work, Shi Wei!!! :)
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lina's blogNovember 26, 2023 at 8:38 AM
Dear Suhanna, thanks for being so inspirational to your friends and peers.
nice to see you here again

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lina's blogNovember 26, 2023 at 8:42 AM
Dear Shiwei
I wish we could have read your blog earlier. Your reflection and learning made all my efforts worthy. Such a rewarding moment.
Like what Suhanna said: Your idea of incorporating your reflections into short videos for platforms like TikTok sounds innovative and fun! Please do keep me updated if you plan to do that hahaha, sounds exciting! Keep up the excellent work, Shi Wei!!! :)"
I am looking forward it too and I believe you can make it.

Marked, rubric checked.

Best

Lina
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