The meaningful involvement of learners in the classroom.

A learners well-being, teaching practices and school environment all play an important role to teach the child as a whole. It is important to take all factors into consideration to help each learner with regard to their specific situation to flourish in his or her academics. This can also be referred to as a holistic approach since a learner’s success cannot be pinned down to one factor.

Foley recommends that teachers should always be available and accessible to create an environment of open communication. An understanding from the teacher’s side is needed especially when things like bullying and harassment take place, not only on school grounds but also at learners’ homes.

The reason all these factors are so important, is that it influences the learners behaviour in the class. Teachers should want their learners to have the best possible attitude in class to ensure that an effective communication structure is set in each classroom. This will in return lead to increased academic outcomes. Incorporating resources such as multimedia, books, posters and stationary can help teachers to prosper in effective learning.

Wills assigned learners to particular desks which lead to greater participation but found that the noise levels were still an issue. She then tried whispering to set a quiet tone and even arrived early to move furniture. It was at this point where she realised she was taking full responsibility and not trusting her students to bring their side. She asked students what their ideal classroom would be like. They envisioned rooms surrounded by waterfalls, equipped with fibre-optic lightning and aromatherapy misters. It is clear that learners too have a need for a calm environment to learn in but sometimes forget what is needed to reach their full potential.

It is important for teachers to have an honest approach to their teaching methods. Realising from the start what is and what is not working which will lead each teacher in the right direction to enhance each learner’s potential and cause a form of self-realisation for students to reflect on and give their own input or opinion in the classroom. When we involve learners in a classroom they feel valued and confident in their approach to learning and asking questions.

Since school learners are the future of this country, we need to teach them from a young age that working together is the key to success.

The potential of technology-mediated selfdirected learning.

Every student is different, or more specific every student is an individual. It is clearly obvious that they do not learn or think in the same way and the biggest hinder with the current education system is that they are trying to fit all of these students into one box. I do see why this has worked over the past few decades but I think the fact that technology is evolving so quickly in today’s world it has become more of a problem or rather the problem is only now more visible than ever due to all the different types of media.

The education system limits the students’ creativity and the Independent Project breaks this barrier where students get the opportunity to decide which project they want to undertake in a semester for example like building a boat or recording an album. They also have a good supporting system which improves each student’s confidence and gives them a sense of purpose and reason to learn.

I think a lot of people will agree that the current education system is limited. It is not providing to a learners specific needs and aspirations. Maha Bali and Shyam Sharma stated that the complexities and challenges don’t change the fact that though “full inclusion may be an impossible goal; educators can and should strive for genuine attempts toward inclusion”. In my opinion this is the best way to sum it up. It will never be possible to keep everyone happy, but we can at least make a good effort towards this goal. There will always be room for improvement.

The biggest challenge is that we are not starting from a new point since technology has been around for quite a while. The problem is the mind shift that has to be made to adapt to the new era and incorporate technology into the education system to reap the fruits of the many benefits available to us when we use technology as a tool to enhance learning.

The potential in self-directed learning is that it will provide in each student as an individual’s needs. Each student will be able to work on his/her own pace and there will be room for creativity. Students will also not be intimidated by other learners and the idea that maths and science is only for the ‘smarter’ kids will be broken down. It will recognize each learners own intelligence and promote a better learning environment.

My reaction to Davis' and Provenzo's articles

In the article by Davis she asks if social media is relevant in the classroom.  There is a myth about Social Media that if used, learners will not pay attention in class and rather be on Facebook, Snapchat or Tweeting while you are trying to teach. The article suggests to not mistake social media for socializing and that there exists a definite extinction between these two. Recommending to not even use real social media by introducing Fakebook and FakeTweet to use writing techniques and other competencies to enhance learning through social media.

Davis suggests there are 12 ways teachers are using social media in the classroom right now.

1. Tweet as a class for parents to read.
2. Writing blog posts about what students are learning.
3. Students can write for the world.
4. Connecting to other classrooms using social media,
5. Using Facebook to get feedback for online projects.
6. Using YouTube to host a show or podcast.
7. Twitter accounts for special interest projects.
8. Using social media to ask questions and engage students in authentic learning.
9. Communicate with other classrooms.
10. Create projects with other teachers.
11. Share learning with the world.
12. Furthering a cause that the students care about e.g. saving the rhinos.

It is clear that social media cannot be ignored in the classroom as it has become such a big part of everyday life that it would be ignorant to ignore the technological changes that are happening around us.

Provenzo argues that social media is about alternative ways to communicate and that there are so many great tools that allow us to connect. He has used some medias as a teacher to connect with his students when the school day is over: Remind, Twitter, Instagram and blogging.

Remind allows teachers to create a group that students can join on their mobile devices. The teacher can then send text messages to groups of students without anyone having access to other students’ numbers. It’s one-way communication. This is ideal since groups can become quite annoying when everyone replies and asks unnecessary questions regarding to the reader.

Twitter is used by Provenzo to announce the day’s homework and sharing random thoughts and ideas. Students can even use Twitter to share something they came across after school and enhance learning through engagement with other students.

Using Instagram for teaching is much more relaxing and activities such as scavenger hunts where students post photos of their findings and use a certain hashtag.

Davis and Provenzo proved that when one thinks initiatively and critically one can engage social media to ensure that learners are educated on a fun and holistic manner that brings into account the all so fast changing technological environment.