Assignment 1; Reflection 1; Week 2 24/07/15

Element	Description
Design Aspects	This reflection is based the mobile phone Wikispaces activity that was completed in the second week of the course, Managing E-Learning. The online activity was well crafted to ensure Bloom’s higher order thinking skills were utilised by all students. De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats was used as a scaffolding framework to promote higher order thinking. The critical and creative thinking tool provides a framework to help people think clearly and thoroughly by directing their thinking attention in one direction at a time (Curtin, 2015). The Six Thinking Hats encouraged the participants to think in more complex ways, furthermore practicing the skills; synthesising, analysing, and evaluating. It was an ideal situation to incorporate the Wikispaces, as it allowed all participants to view their peers thought processes, ideas, and reasoning. Hence, reading the postings from peers altered some of my beliefs on the topic of mobile phones in education as it allowed me to analysis my previous ideas. The activity was designed to ensure participants were present to a range of perspectives on a contentious issue. The platform for the task was well suited as it welcomed a collaboration of ideas and opinions to form.
The Theory	The learning theories that were heavily practiced in the activity were cognitive and social constructivism. The task provided many opportunities for both theories to be utilised. Cognitive constructivism was used as the lecturer set the task and a learning platform was provided for the mere reason for participants to present their ideas and to also view their peers’ perceptions on the identical subject matter. All participants upheld existing knowledge due to the reason that all are presently engaged in an education system (University) and it is also safe to assume that all participants are owners of mobile phones or have witnessed the behaviours of mobile phone owners. Cognitive constructivism was also utilised as knowledge structures were modified when new information was exposed. This occurred in the activity when participants were posting their responses on the Wikispaces. I first handedly witnessed the modification of the learning process, as my personal views were altered after receiving new information. This process is labeled assimilation and accommodation as the structures accommodate new knowledge. I firmly believe that the learning theory social constructivism was used to promote motivation, as all participants were generally intrinsically motivated as this is a University course and most desire the feeling of achievement and satisfaction. To further this, extrinsic motivation is also a key factor as all participants are rewarded with a mark and are also provided the opportunity to view their peers’ responses. The learning design mirrors the theory of social constructivism as the digital activity takes the participants past what they are already capable of, which further enables them participate at a higher level, using higher order thinking skills. The scaffolding of the task allows students to take responsibility for their own learning. The activity utilised the SAMR and TPAK model systematically. In regard to the SAMR model, all levels were incorporated in the activity, but it is perceived that the ‘Augmentation’ level was practiced frequently. Instead of hand writing responses on a piece of paper and sharing it with peers, computer technology was used to perform the task. It is understood that this process advocates engagement. The activity is well suited to the topic of brain development and coincides with Judy Willis’ argument that practicing higher order thinking increases intelligence. Food for thought, if students are not encouraged to think beyond what they are presently capable of, how will they improve, grow, develop and achieve?
Value of Scaffolding and Learning Outcomes	Due to the fact that I have encountered De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats multiple times, I felt at ease responding to the set questions. The scaffolding was precise, clear and very manageable. Using graphic organisers provides participants with a simple platform to share their ideas. Instead of asking the cohort of students an open-ended question about the use of mobile phones in education, the framework identified six key point of views that the participants were informed to take a stand from. This enabled me to think perceptively and creatively. It is easy to have one opinion of a subject and not broaden your horizon; fortunately this task did not allow me the choice of thinking outside of the ‘norm’. Examining and evaluating peers responses was a very worthwhile exercise (social constructivism), as it changed my perception and attitudes towards the use of mobile phones in education, which I personally believe is a positive outcome as sometimes I can tend to have a narrow point of view. Overall the Wiki was engaging and very inviting. It was ‘exciting’ to be welcomed into our peer’s inner thoughts and share ideologies. The Wiki was colour dynamic, allowed images to be inserted and also promoted collaboration. It was found to be difficult when more than one person was editing their work; however there was a solution set in place if an error occurred. I will definitely incorporate the use of Wikis in my classroom in the future, as it is essential that ICT is systematically practiced in all schools and must become part of everyday life as the children of today are digital savvy and this is how they learn best. References:   Curtin, L. (2015). Six Thinking Hats: A Tool to Strengthen Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity Skills. Retrieved July 24, 2015, from De Bono for Schools: http://www.debonoforschools.com/asp/six_hats.asp