Week 29 reflection

Step 1: Briefly define your audiences

Locally my audiences are possibly the digital circus which are providing PD to our school to support the implementation of the digital curriculum. Looking at audiences from a national perspective my audiences could be the Ministry of Education as their current focus is on developing and enacting the digital curriculum in schools. My inquiry focuses on what computational thinking and collaboration looks like in the junior classroom. What I learn from my inquiry about what works and what doesn't could be useful and interesting to both the national and local audience as it relates to the digital curriculum area, computational thinking. 

Step 2: Analyse the audiences’ perspectives

According to 'Supporting future Orientated learning and teaching - a New Zealand perspective' is that investing in digital tools does not lead to a revolutionized learning environment. Therefore they are looking at the strategies that do work, rather than just simply introducing digital tools. For this reason looking at unplugged ways to teach computational thinking addresses the needs of this audience as it asks the teacher to look at how to teach the needed skills just as we would with all other curriculum areas, rather than assuming giving a device to a child will lead to improved capability and learning in computational thinking etc. 

Digital Circus is a local company that operates out of Hastings. For them their view point would be that focusing on teaching the digital curriculum is a positive thing. From looking at their website it shows that their company has had a growth in staff, this perhaps as demand is growing for teachers to receive PD in order for them to be ready for the digital curriculum. The International Federation of Robotics has found that " Emphasis on STEM-focused educational programmes has risen internationally...changes in teachers education and training were already underway to support teaching in these fields". Therefore it is a priority for Digital Circus to be developing new ways to teach the digital curriculum. However, they may not be happy if teachers are following their own inquiry and therefore teaching themselves how to enact the digital curriculum in their classroom as I am as it reduces the need for their support in schools. 

Step 3: Discuss how you are addressing the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives while you are taking action.

While taking action I am considering the national audience of the MOE because I am enhancing the capability of my learners by teaching them computational thinking skills and I am trying to 'provide inspiring ideas and opportunities to connect ideas' to the team I teach with by always having an open classroom and sharing my progress and reflections on what I could do better. In the future I need to look at how I can better share what is happening in my classroom with others  who can share their ideas with me also so that I can learn, reflect and grow with them. As time goes on I would like to focus on the other strategy the MOE suggests 'providing enabling tools and infrastructure' how could we use what we have available at our school to best meet student needs? Could we pool our resources? 

When considering the local perspective I need to think about how I could make the most of the interaction with a company like Digital Circus. While I have spent plenty of time doing my own research into Computational Thinking I need to think about the wider digital area and how I can implement this effectively at a junior level. 

References 

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

OECD. (2018).Trends shaping education 2018 spotlight. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/Spotlight-15-A-Brave-New-World-Technology-and-Education.pdf