1. Recall and Reproduction

2. Skills and Concepts

3. Strategic Thinking

4. Extended Thinking

One of my areas is Media Arts. Now, you could have students talk about the 12 principles of animation, but that's just recall and reproduction.

To get it to extended thinking, you could have them explore how those principles have bled into other domains. How it has influenced comics, video games, and movies.

1. Does the technology help minimize complexity?

2. Does it promote agency and connection with teachers and classmates?

3. Does it encourage the creation of content rather than just consumption?

4. Does it make learning more personal and human?

I resonate with question 1 and 4.

Firstly, adding new complex layers of technology could lead to technical issues that could waste valuable class time, complicate learning experiences, and distract both students and instructors. I’ve seen it many times myself as a student.

For the S & A stages, we shouldn’t just be adding tech for the sake of adding it. It should be used to enhance existing models suffering from problems, ensuring that the technology integrated is an appropriate tool to fix this problem. Digital tools should only enhance good pedagogy, and not replace it.

For question 4, I understand that while digital tools could help to make learning more personal and accessible, it also has the potential to hinder human connection if not used thoughtfully. Its really important that the digital tools we choose to use has a balanced blend of technology and human intervention.

One positive example would be AI-powered adaptive learning platforms can collect and analyse student data to provide us with personalized learning pathways for them (see AI-Driven Personalization in Education post)

Its the Australian government's framework for the use of generative AI in schools. It provides guidance on understanding, using, and responding to AI. It revolves around six principles, with each principle having further strands:

1. Teaching and Learning 

2. Human and Social Wellbeing

3. Transparency

4. Fairness

5. Accountability

6. Privacy, Security and Safety

1. We are situated in a global information society

2. The Australian workforce needs to be digitally prepared

3. Not everyone is a digital native

4. Using digital technologies in the classroom is engaging and motivating

I feel that the first and second points are the greatest. With the rise of AI, good digital pedagogy has become a must.

What's sad is that we as Australians are lagging behind in terms of digital literacy. Only <40% of Australians feel they can keep up with rapid changes in technology (see Digital Divide post). NAPICT results reveal that less than 50% of Year 10 students are able to perform basic tasks like copying and pasting text from a webpage to another application (see Digital competence crisis in Australian education post). We need to incorporate more technology into the classroom, and to do that we need great digital pedagogy.

Unfortunately, this article doesn't explicitly approach that problem, but it does address something that could help. The reason why students aren't motivated to engage with the flipped classroom is that they don't have the discipline.

Normally, for schoolwork outside the class, parents or guardians would help them focus and remain on track. However, parents and guardians may be unfamiliar with the flipped classroom model and lack the ability to properly monitor their work.

The articles says that to overcome this issue, we should provide resources and information to parents and guardians, explaining the benefits of the flipped classroom approach and offering guidance on how they can support their child’s learning at home.

Like everything, it comes down to good communication between teachers and parents.

But its not all negative. The study says that there is a missed opportunity with flipped classroom models, and that's to prep students for active in-class learning. That may sound obvious, isn't that the point of the flipped model?

'The chance to have students prepare, be exposed to a new language, understand what they already know and do not know, and then capitalize on these understandings and misunderstandings was the promise of flipped classes—but hardly seems to be realized in reality'

It seems like the cases used in the study were setup in a way to replace the role of a teacher as a provider of didactic instruction, whether intentional or not. This is something I should be diligent about if I am to try this method.

It seems like to fully benefit from the flipped classroom model, you cant substitute any traditional learning. That's not to say its pointless. They are still exposed to the new ideas, which helps start their learning for in-class activities.

'A major claim for pre-class is to familiarize students with the language, show them what they do and do not know, and prepare them to learn from subsequent instruction

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Research shows that students often fail to solve the problem correctly because they have not learned the concepts yet. However, to the extent they can generate and explore multiple solutions to the problem, even if they are suboptimal or incorrect, this failure prepares them to learn from subsequent instruction.'

• Motivates students.

• Prepares students for college, careers, and citizenship.

• Helps students meet standards and do well on tests that ask students to demonstrate in-depth knowledge and thinking skills.

• Allows teachers to teach in a more satisfying way.

• Provides schools and districts with new ways to communicate

So I have to make sure that I accomplish that when I use it in my mini unit.

I could do this by allowing my students to choose a youth-related issue that they are passionate about addressing. II could have the project simulate professional work environments by incorporating project management tools and practices.

I’ll make sure to provide opportunities for creativity and self-expression. Have my students research the complexities of their chosen youth issue in relation to the surrounding area, in hopes to foster some community involvement. I could facilitate student-centred learning by providing guidance and support rather than direct instruction. Also encourage students to share their final ARGs with the community through online platforms.