Hi, my name is Tony. I'm a teacher of English, Film and Philosophy at West Island School here in Hong Kong. Before becoming a teacher I worked in the news media in Australia - but wanted a change of pace and lifestyle. I was going to move into university lecturing and was doing my PhD but I took at job teaching secondary school and decided that I really wanted to stay in the secondary, not the tertiary, system - at least for the moment! So I dropped the PhD and now, six years later, have decided that I'm ready to move on and do some further study.
I hope to get a broad appreciation of how to use technology effectively and with innovation through this course. I'm a bit of an early adopter of new technology and I hope I'm pretty good in my use generally, but can always learn more! I'm looking forward to crystalising what I know and adding new perspectives. Looking through the course overview, I think this we be a good fit for me - especially in the early staged of my MScITE.
Hello, I'm Diana, and I'm from Holland and Malaysia. I've lived in many different places, both while growing up and as an adult (Thailand, Germany and New York among others), and have been in Hong Kong for the past four years. I love travelling, sea kayaking, snorkeling, exploring cities and food, photography, reading and writing. I live with my boyfriend and my dog and travel frequently to see my various family members spread out around the world. My previous job was as a teacher of young children (4-5 year olds) at an IB (International Baccalaureate) school. I also have taught at an international school in Italy, taught English to adults, worked with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and worked in media. I'm now a full-time student in the Msc in IT in Education programme, specialism Learning Technology Design. My tertiary educational background is in psychology and education, with a first degree in comparative literature and film (all in the UK).
When I was teaching, I realized I particularly enjoyed designing learning experiences and learning environments for the children, taking into account their learning styles and motivations, as well as educational theories and psychology. I used some technology with the children and saw how excited and motivated they became, and how self-driven and exploratory their learning was. There were some great programmes out there, but there were also some huge gaps in what was available. These experiences motivated me to look into learning design and learning technology design on the internet, and I came across the Msc in IT in Education at HKU. I decided I would love to learn more about learning technology and designing it, and would love to work in the field of developing and designing new and useful educational technology products. I feel that the field to some extent brings together the fields of teaching, psychology and media, and I like that it is a very global, transnational field as well.
Last year, I had a few students in my class who were falling behind in their phonics and/or number recognition knowledge, despite our regular phonics and number recognition sessions that were resulting in good outcomes for all the other students. I had organized various ways to give them extra attention in these areas during the week, but it was clear they needed more practice and that I did not have the time to give it to them, as I had twenty other children who needed my attention as well. One solution was to set up additional phonics and/or number recognition activities they could do independently during free choice time. However, it became clear they needed more guidance and someone to keep them on task, and during this time I often had other activities I needed to supervise and/or facilitate. Finally, the solution turned out to be to let them play phonics and number recognition games on the class computers during free choice time. The games were motivating (fun!) because of the high level of interactivity, the characters, the stories, the colours, and the sounds, and they also provided guidance (e.g., some games adjusted according to the children's ability). The children's phonics and number recognition skills developed significantly. I have always believed there is an irreplaceable value in real life, hands-on, face-to-face learning experiences for this age group, and still believe so, but this experience made me understand the power of a well-designed educational technology product. I realized that technology is a very powerful tool for educators and learners when the programmes/products are well-designed and when the educators understand when and how to use them. This is an example of successful drill-based/practice-based learning through technology. I would also like to find out more about how technology can facilitate inquiry-based learning for this age group and other age groups.
Who we are & descriptions of our experiences with successful technology use. Please see this post's COMMENTS for our contributions.
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ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Tony. I'm a teacher of English, Film and Philosophy at West Island School here in Hong Kong. Before becoming a teacher I worked in the news media in Australia - but wanted a change of pace and lifestyle. I was going to move into university lecturing and was doing my PhD but I took at job teaching secondary school and decided that I really wanted to stay in the secondary, not the tertiary, system - at least for the moment! So I dropped the PhD and now, six years later, have decided that I'm ready to move on and do some further study.
ReplyDeleteI hope to get a broad appreciation of how to use technology effectively and with innovation through this course. I'm a bit of an early adopter of new technology and I hope I'm pretty good in my use generally, but can always learn more! I'm looking forward to crystalising what I know and adding new perspectives. Looking through the course overview, I think this we be a good fit for me - especially in the early staged of my MScITE.
Bio and Professional Interests
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm Diana, and I'm from Holland and Malaysia. I've lived in many different places, both while growing up and as an adult (Thailand, Germany and New York among others), and have been in Hong Kong for the past four years. I love travelling, sea kayaking, snorkeling, exploring cities and food, photography, reading and writing. I live with my boyfriend and my dog and travel frequently to see my various family members spread out around the world.
My previous job was as a teacher of young children (4-5 year olds) at an IB (International Baccalaureate) school. I also have taught at an international school in Italy, taught English to adults, worked with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and worked in media. I'm now a full-time student in the Msc in IT in Education programme, specialism Learning Technology Design. My tertiary educational background is in psychology and education, with a first degree in comparative literature and film (all in the UK).
When I was teaching, I realized I particularly enjoyed designing learning experiences and learning environments for the children, taking into account their learning styles and motivations, as well as educational theories and psychology. I used some technology with the children and saw how excited and motivated they became, and how self-driven and exploratory their learning was. There were some great programmes out there, but there were also some huge gaps in what was available. These experiences motivated me to look into learning design and learning technology design on the internet, and I came across the Msc in IT in Education at HKU. I decided I would love to learn more about learning technology and designing it, and would love to work in the field of developing and designing new and useful educational technology products. I feel that the field to some extent brings together the fields of teaching, psychology and media, and I like that it is a very global, transnational field as well.
An Example of Successful Technology Use
ReplyDeleteLast year, I had a few students in my class who were falling behind in their phonics and/or number recognition knowledge, despite our regular phonics and number recognition sessions that were resulting in good outcomes for all the other students. I had organized various ways to give them extra attention in these areas during the week, but it was clear they needed more practice and that I did not have the time to give it to them, as I had twenty other children who needed my attention as well. One solution was to set up additional phonics and/or number recognition activities they could do independently during free choice time.
However, it became clear they needed more guidance and someone to keep them on task, and during this time I often had other activities I needed to supervise and/or facilitate. Finally, the solution turned out to be to let them play phonics and number recognition games on the class computers during free choice time. The games were motivating (fun!) because of the high level of interactivity, the characters, the stories, the colours, and the sounds, and they also provided guidance (e.g., some games adjusted according to the children's ability). The children's phonics and number recognition skills developed significantly.
I have always believed there is an irreplaceable value in real life, hands-on, face-to-face learning experiences for this age group, and still believe so, but this experience made me understand the power of a well-designed educational technology product. I realized that technology is a very powerful tool for educators and learners when the programmes/products are well-designed and when the educators understand when and how to use them. This is an example of successful drill-based/practice-based learning through technology. I would also like to find out more about how technology can facilitate inquiry-based learning for this age group and other age groups.