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This entire VIT project has been a wonderful journey. I first started my VIT project in 2019, however, due to issues with classroom management, I was unable to complete it. I started again in 2020, only to be foiled by the first lock down. I then tried again in 2021, but the second extended lockdown derailed those plans as well. I finally finished the VIT project in 2022.

In retrospect, this year was the perfect time to complete the project. 2019 was too soon, being from Singapore, the new teaching environment in Melbourne was completely different and I needed time to settle in and improve my classroom management before I can start on the VIT project. Lock downs hindered the project in 2020 and 2021, but it gave me more time to hone my technology skills and I used the time to try out various digital learning strategies. The experience garnered over the past three years have actually set the platform for me to successfully complete this VIT project now in 2022.

With the advice from my mentor, leveraging my passion in technology has been the driving force of this VIT inquiry. I have relished the whole experience, simply because my VIT project involved something I love and enjoy - technology. Using the 3-2-1 Reflection strategy (3 new facts that I have learned, 2 a-ha moments and 1 challenge I set for myself), this is my reflection with regards to my VIT project.

3 - New Facts

1. Technology is my passion.
I have a keen interest in technology and want to leverage my interest to help me with my teaching. That passion drives me to find new, innovative strategies and resources online that I know can help my students grasp concepts taught in class better. I managed to find the "Mr Woodman" online Science resource that helps students to visualize the concept of Friction and also the Cube app that allows students to make and see figures in 3D, making it easier for them to grasp the concept of volume.

2. Our students are Digital Natives
Our students are born in a time where technology is a way of life. They are Digital Natives and with technology already part of their lives, it is only fair that we use technology to engage them in the classroom. The ease of how they were able to use some of the new technology that was introduced to them in class was amazing. They were able to grasp its use within minutes and therefore, we should not underestimate their ability when it comes to interacting with technology. We also should not underestimate the potential of using effective technology in the classroom.

3. Rules and Routines are essential
When new technology or a new digital activity is introduced in class, there will always be some issues that arise. Conflicts and some undesired behaviours may arise. Therefore, routines and rules are essential to ensure behaviours are managed during such activities. In the beginning, I have had noise complaints when I use Kahoot in the classroom. Students are always excited and tend to get rowdy when Kahoot is on. To overcome that problem, I have set up rules for students to manage the rowdiness and noise. I also introduced to students "silent celebrations" where students can display exaggerated acts of celebrations for their victory without the noise. All the students were aware of the expectations and Kahoot is now not as rowdy or noisy as it was before. Rules and routines help manage behaviour when exciting new technology is introduced in class.

2 - A-ha Moments

1. Why teachers refrain from using Technology
This A-ha moment arose when I was using Kahoot. Kahoot is a wonderful technological tool as an Assessment for Learning (AFL) which is fun and engaging. But with it comes other problems such as trash talking and partner disagreements. These problems make using the tool more difficult because now the teacher has a new set of problems to manage in the class. I think this is the reason why some teachers do not want to use digital technology. They are not ready to cope with the possible problems that may arise and they avoid it by rejecting digital learning altogether. Teachers need to understand that these problems are part and parcel of the classroom experience and can be overcome with structured rules and routines. This would be the ideal solution, rather than avoiding digital technology altogether. With the Digital Natives, technology is part of their lives and it would be a huge disservice to our students if we do not incorporate digital technology in the classroom.

2. Students become thinkers, independent learners and transmitters of education
This was one of the end-goals of my project - to get students engaged and become independent learners. I was thankful to see this in my classroom together with my mentor. I was introducing the Cube App to the students as part of the topic for volume. They were engaged in the lesson and my mentor suggested to the students to use the app and make a design of their names using the cube. The students accepted the challenge (became thinkers) and started on the project and were thoroughly focused on the challenge. Each student was glued to the iPad and was determined to design their name. In that instance, they also became independent learners. I merely taught them how to make 3D figures, this activity demanded something extra from them. I could see the students being creative with their designs - you can see their designs here. Some of them encountered problems with their task where they couldn't seperate the letters of their names and some of the students got frustrated with it. However, there were other students who found a solution on their own (independent learning) and found a way to delete the blocks so the letters look separated. I told the frustrated students to go and speak to their friends (now those students have become transmitters of education) and learn from them. I was very thankful to see all that in happen in one lesson and it shows how digital technology successfully caters to the Digital Native and produces positive results.

1 - Challenge I Set for Myself

I have set the challenge to encourage my Grade 4 team to use more digital learning in the classroom. I have faced many successes in this VIT project. The feedback from students have been very positive and they have shared that digital learning has really helped them learn in the classroom. Now I want to share those successes with the team and help them incorporate digital learning in their classes. In Term 2, the Grade 4 team will be using Padlet as a reflection tool of what they have learnt for the week. I have also incorporated Virtual Reality, combining Science with Google Earth, as students will visit the 12 Apostles and the Mushroom Rocks via Google Earth, to learn more about water and wind erosion. I look forward to share and incorporate more digital learning strategies to help the Grade 4 students with their learning.

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Things to do
1. Post Test Survey
2. Mentor Feedback
3. Future Plans

2. Mentor Feedback
I had my mentor attend my class for a second observation. We were working on Volume and I introduced the cube online app to help students with understanding volume. Volume involves 3D shapes and what better way to illustrate it than by using a cube that can be viewed in 3D. https://toytheater.com/cube/

Students were engaged throughout the session and were on task with the activities that were assigned. As they were progressing well, students were given an extra challenge in finding the volume of their names. Students were challenged to design their names using the app and they were focused in completing that task.

Upon discussing with my mentor, she noticed that the students were on task and were very comfortable with digital technology and may look to recommend students individual iPads and exploring alternative digital technology that can further help students learn.

3. Future Plans
Looking at the ease of uploading student reflections onto Padlet, the Grade 4 team will be looking at how we can get an account to trial for all Grade 4 students to upload their weekly reflections onto Padlet. I will be discussing the possibility of getting the account with the Digital Learning Team.

Looking at the high engagement rate and the responsible use of iPads in the classroom, it would be wonderful to be able to get personal issued iPads for my class. Students have been responsible in handling the iPad and when asked to complete the task, all students were engaged and focused on the task. They deserve to be issued individual iPads in class for regular use in class. I will also be discussing this with the Digital Learning Team.

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Cube Block Sculpture Activity | Art & Design Games for Kids | Toy Theater

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Use the 3D interactive cube builder to create anything you’d like! Perfect for improving spatial awareness and problem-solving skills, try it today!

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Things to do
1. Kahoot survey
2. Use of Educational Apps in Science & Math

1. Kahoot survey
Conducted a survey on Kahoot and had many positive responses from students. Here are some examples

"You work with a friend to do Kahoot. It takes away stress"
"It helps me learn and helps my friends and I learnt and my mistakes get better"
"Because we Vs other students and makes me learn" (gamification)

It is very heartening to see these positive responses from the students. I know my methods are successful, but to have evidence and feedback from the students themselves about how much they are enjoying Kahoot, makes it even sweeter.

In addition, this week we worked on angles and I have three weak students struggling initially with the concept. They were slower than the rest to grasp the concepts of acute, obtuse and right angles (this is a recap as they have already covered this in Grade 3) but I managed to work with them and eventually they mastered the concept. After teaching, the class had a Kahoot challenge on angles to reinforce their learning and the get an assessment for learning as well. The three students teamed up together and I am really proud to say that they eventually ended up on the Top of the Podium. They were working together and got 89% of the questions correct (refer to photo) and ended up in first place. They were very proud of their achievement and I was very proud of them as well.

2. Use of Educational Apps in Science and Math
I used the PHET website to show Friction. Students learned about friction and the website gives a clear and visual presentation to assist students with friction.

To record M, N and Z on how they use the website and how they can demonstrate their understanding of the friction using the website.

I also used virtual manipulatives to illustrate volume. I used https://toytheater.com/cube/ to show students volume. They can use the virtual manipulative and make 3-dimensional shapes to show their understanding of volume.

To record M, N and Z on how they use the website and demonstrate their understanding of volume.

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Things to do
1. Parent involvement - You vs Parent Challenge
2. Exploring Kahoot and Gamification
3. Team Feedback
4. Padlet Feedback

1. Parent Involvement
Upon looking at the template for referencing the standards, one of the requirements was to look at the need to involve parents in their children's learning. I decided to implement the You vs Parent Challenge.

This activity is to get the students to challenge their parents to a Math game on my website. It is a great opportunity for students to practice their math concepts and at the same time engage with their parents. Students are to challenge their parent to a math game for three rounds. The winner will be whoever wins two out of the three rounds. Students will record the score and upload it onto Showbie.

Spoke to a few students and they mentioned that they were thoroughly defeated by their mothers. Two boys told me that their mothers did not hold back and they said their mothers were so good at the game. They also mentioned that they enjoyed the challenge and will do it again and the next time, they will attempt to beat their parents.

2. Kahoot and Gamification
The good and the bad. There are so many benefits for Kahoot. However, if not managed well, there can be many problems. I think this is the reason why some forms of digital learning die off far too quickly in the classroom. A problem arises when a new technology is introduced and the teacher decides immediately to stop it because of the inconvenience (disagreements among students, high noise levels). This is disadvantageous for the students because they will be deprived of a technology just because it causes an inconvenience in the classroom

I faced one of those inconveniences. The problem I had with kahoot this week is that students ended up taunting and trash talking each other. They kept saying the other team "sucks" and just because they are higher up on the podium, they think they are better than the rest. This led to a lot of displeasure in the class. I could have taken the easy approach and stop Kahoot indefinitely. However, that does not address the problem. The problem is with the children and I needed to teach them about sportsmanship - playing fair and playing nice. We had a discussion about it and asked the students to switch roles and see how they felt if they were on the end of the trash talking instead. The students eventually understood and the problem was addressed and we could go on using Kahoot again.

I had the same issue in 2019. I introduced it in the classroom and naturally students were excited. It lead to my classroom being very noisy and rowdy and I had complaints from other teachers. However, I knew that my students were enjoying it and at times, they were learning as well. I could call it all off and stop using Kahoot, however, I decided to introduce "silent celebrations". If students were on the podium, they can come to the front to celebrate, but it must be done in "mute" and they can gesture all they like but no sound is allowed. This worked and I have applied it ever since to manage the noise levels every time I use Kahoot in the class.

3. Team Feedback
A fellow team member has decided to adopt the idea of a website as well. Upon sharing with her my class website, she has decided to make one herself.

She decided to make one for herself because she thought the idea was cool and that it helps with students accessing files. For our technology lessons, students need to access files via website links. Initially, the plan was to use iPads to complete the technology lessons. Students would access the QR code to access the link. But teachers and students ended up preferring to use desktops for the assignment instead. In order for students to access the link on the desktops, she has been sharing links and air dropping them to different computers. This was such a hassle and ended up adopting the website as a place where students can access the files. Her website - https://tinyurl.com/mssarahsclass1

It is important to note that the teacher is a frequent user of digital technology and is comfortable using the latest digital technology. With her prior knowledge and expertise, she is able to make her own website and has decided to make one similar to my own website www.mradam.rocks

4. Padlet Feedback
This week was African Day celebration for the school. After doing comprehensive research and projects on Africa for our Humanities, the African Day celebrations were the culmination of all our efforts.

It was also an opportunity to showcase their projects and because I used Padlet for my project, it was very easy to export the project into an image file and print it out. I helped students make a few edits and I was able to easily print out the padlets of my students and was able to display their work during the African Day celebrations. Attached is an example of their project printed out and put up on display.

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Things to do
1. Discuss with 3 students M, N and Z
2. Exploring Google Slides and tables
3. Survey and feedback for Google Earth

1. Discuss with 3 students M, N and Z
Pulled aside the three students and conducted a interview with them regarding their experience with digital technology so far. Had some positive feedback from the students and I am very encouraged that N and Z usually takes time to access the resources at home whenever they can to either play the games and for Z to get the family involved as well.

2. Exploring Google Slides and tables
Conducted a lesson on Google Slides and students had to make tables as part of their Technology lessons. It was a great success as everyone was able to make a table. The better students inspired some other students to add colours and change fonts to make their table more exciting.

Last week, students used an iPad to complete their Google Slides activity. That was not very successful due to the limitations of the iPad for Google Slides. After the feedback from students and looking at their frustrations when they were trying to edit the slides, we completed this week's Google Slides activity using the desktops instead. It was a major success and students were able to complete wonderful pieces of work.

3. Survey and feedback for Google Earth
Conducted another virtual reality lesson via Google Earth. This time, students were transported to nearby Uluru. Students were shown Uluru and explored virtually the terrain and the history of Uluru. After the lesson, I recapped with students the other two Google Earth sessions (Antarctica and schools all over the world) and conducted a survey to see how they felt about the virtual reality lessons.

Here are some of the answers from the three students M, N and Z
M - (she missed answering this part)
N - There’s a school legit on a mountain and can’t climb Uluru
Z - That Uluru is a big natural rock and no one can climb it

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Things to complete
1. Discussion on the use of the class website
2. Research on Africa and Padlet
3. Exploring Google Earth
4. Professional Discussion with Teachers

1. Class Website
Uploaded more content on my class website with online games as well as relevant resources. Used my website as a webpage for them to access their Africa project. So far the students had about two weeks experience of using the class website. We discussed about the use of the class website and the students then completed a survey on the class website.

For the past year, I have used tinyurl as a weblink for my class website. My address is www.tinyurl.com/mradamrocks However, I realised that it was quite a handful for my students to type out the entire link. I then decided to purchase a shorter webpage name - www.mradam.rocks That made it easier for students to remember and they can easily log in from home. However, the following day students couldn't use that name in school because it was an unrecognised weblink and was blocked by IT. I reused the old link for students until I can sort out the link with the IT department.

2. Africa Research Project
Students had to complete an Africa project and needed to do research on one African country of their choice. They had a list of information to collect as part of the project and needed to do research in other to fill in what is required.

I taught students how to research and introduced to them www.safesearchkids.com as a search tool for their research. I decided to introduce this search tool as undesirable searches and ads would not appear should students type something inappropriate by mistake. But after trying it out with the children, the search page has its limitations. It had limited search results and in the end I chose 2 other specific websites to help them with their research for African countries - natgeokids and Britannica and used Google in the end (as that was also the webpage preferred by the students due to the limited returns from searching on safesearchkids.com).

I also saw this as an opportunity to use Padlet for their project. Students were given a padlet each for the project and they used it to compile the information and add relevant pictures to their project. The students enjoy it so far and we are still working on it in Week 7. https://sites.google.com/view/mradamrocks/home/science?authuser=0

3. Exploring Google Earth
As a form of brain break, I allowed students to travel with me around the world using Google Earth. This virtual reality application allows students to immerse themselves in locations that they would not have otherwise been exposed to. On the Google Earth app, I chose a Trip to Antartica and another tour on Schools All Over the World.

The Trip to Antartica allowed students to travel to the South Pole and look at what life is like. It was also an opportunity to tell students that Australia has a colony in Antartica where there are Australians living there and conducting research. It was a chance to expose students and tell them that in the future if they are interested, they can apply for jobs to work in Antartica.

For the tour on Schools All Over the World, I brought students around the world to look at the various schools. The tour featured a small Indian school that had no chairs and tables, as well as a school on the Himalayas where students had to walk a fair distance in order to attend school. This allowed students to see how schools are similar and how they are different and at times allow them to be thankful with the great facilities they have in Al Siraat College.

4. Professional Discussion with Teachers
This week, I introduced Google Slides with the teachers in order to teach the students how use Google Slides. Teachers were expected to get students to take a picture of themselves on the Google Slides and upload it and then write a short caption (of three sentences) about themselves. This was one of the ACARA codes for technology where students need to understand that data can represented in form of a picture or text. I worked with the teachers on how to navigate around with Google Slides. It also sparked discussion among the teachers if we can get them to use Google Slides for their Science and Humanities project. I mentioned that it would be possible but requires some thinking and that we could possibly implement that in Term 2.

I also had a discussion with my mentor regarding the use of Padlet. I showed her how I use it get students to record down what they have learnt and that it was useful as a form of record about what they learned for the week. We also got to discussing how I also used Padlet last year with the Grade 2 students. They were able to post and add content, however, they still lacked the capacity to do it on their own as compared to the Grade 4 students. My mentor was present when I first introduced Padlet and most of them were able to complete what was expected of them in a short time. This was different when I used it with the Grade 2s and hence I feel that Grade 4 is an appropriate age to learn how they can use digital technology for their learning.

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Things to complete
1. Kahoot in the classroom (gamification)
2. Discussion on digital learning
3. Class website (gamification)
4. Educational App

1. Conducted Kahoot in the class on the topic of rounding off. Kahoot served as a form of assessment for learning (AFL) in the classroom and the data was useful to show how much the students understood. The data has been recorded and show that 80% of the students understood the topic. The use of gamification (getting students to compete among themselves) made it interesting and engaging for the students because some of them were determined to get onto the podium at the end of the lesson.

I also need to note that based on experience, if I let students do a difficult Kahoot quiz, the weaker students would be disengaged and would just go through the motions and just randomly click their answers. In order for it be fully effective, the questions have to be direct (some students cannot read or decode fast enough) and give them a fair chance to compete. For this quiz, it was straightforward and I could see my weaker students being engaged because they know the topic and believe they have a chance to compete and get onto the podium.

2. Class Discussion on Digital Learning
When I made the students do the pre-test survey, the students were not aware of many things - like what is digital learning and two students were frustrated that they were unable to answer many of the questions on the pre-test survey. I took the opportunity to discuss with the students and explain some of the digital technology that they are using at home and in the classroom. I also explained to students about digital learning and how technology can help you learn better.

3. Class Website
I also introduced the class website. I have created a website where I find and compile online games for students to play and help them reinforce their learning. Students are able to log onto my webpage and access the games. For Literacy, I have an online spelling training website where students key in their spelling words and they can play online games that are testing them on the spelling words they keyed in. For Math, I have included games like Odd/Even Ninja (a game like Fruit Ninja but now involves odd or even numbers) to help them reinforce their basic Math concepts like odd and even and rounding off.

4. Educational Apps
Those online games are the educational apps that I use to engage the students. Thus far we are working on odd and even and rounding off and those games have helped students to reinforce those concepts that were done in class earlier.

Students were also given a survey to review the ease of these educational apps and if they were useful to them.

I also followed up with students and allowed them to log onto their padlet to record what they have learnt for the week. Students were all able to record what they have learnt on the padlet. https://padlet.com/adam_org/3pwf6fyz3kth31f0

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Unfortunately I was tested positive for Covid-19 and unable to attend school during Week 4. Nothing was done or recorded for Week 4.

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Things completed
1. Reworked the Inquiry Question
2. Completed QR code lessons
3. Pre-test survey
4. Introduced Padlet to students

1. Reworked the Inquiry Question
I was  planning lessons for technology and thought this was a good opportunity to focus on Google Earth for the students. I did some research and looked at how we could incorporate Google Earth in Humanities and how we can document and show their learning. I focused on students being able to show knowledge and understanding by stating facts and information. I also wanted to focus on skills in Humanities, something that Is not being taught or explained as explicitly as it should be in the college. I focused on the skill of communicating and how they can communicate their learning via a Google Earth presentation.

After looking at my question and some discussion, it was suggested by my mentor that we not make the VIT question too specific. It will limit the scope and findings and make it a little challenging for my reporting.

In addition, my mentor mentioned that I am doing more than just Google Earth in the classroom and that there are other instances where I incorporate technology in the classroom and that should also be highlighted in the project. Based on my own experience throughout my time in the college, I have used several forms of digital learning (Kahoot games, my personal website) and these should be included in the project as these are things that I am already doing in the classroom.

I then reworked the inquiry to "How Digital Learning can enhance student engagement in the classroom."

2. Completed QR code lessons
As students already learned about QR codes in Grade 3, this seemed a good opportunity to recap on QR codes for technology lessons.

Planned several QR codes lessons for the students and discovered its usefulness. It helps students a lot in terms of accessing websites without the complication of wrong urls.

3. Pre-test survey
Drafted a pre-test survey. The questions covered definitions of Digital technology and how students would use digital technology at home and the classroom.

I explained to the students to try to complete it to the best of their abilities. If they cannot answer the questions, they may leave it blank. As students were completing the survey, I can hear some of the frustrations from the pupils as they were unsure of what digital technology is and find it extremely hard to answer the questions in the survey.

That immediate visual and verbal feedback allowed me also plan for lessons to help them understand what digital technology and have discussions with them in the next few weeks on how we can use digital technology at home and in the classroom.

4. Introduced Padlet
Worked together with students on Padlet with the intention of allowing them space to record their learning. Conducted a lesson on Padlet and compared it to Instagram (something most students were aware). Asked students what they think Instagram is mainly used for and they came up with interesting replies that included "showing off". I managed to guide them into saying that Instagram are for memories where they take photos so that they can refer to them again in the future. Using that same idea, I mentioned to students that the Padlet serves the same function. It is for all the students to store a record of what they learned and let it become a resource and reference for them should they forget what they had learned about earlier.

After the lesson, I concluded the week with an opportunity for my students to record down they have learnt for the week. I created a Padlet page with headings of subjects and they were free to type in what they had learnt for the week. They were more than happy to list them down.