Teaching+Tips+and+Support+Groups

=Teaching Tips and Support Groups=

This is a collection of groups of IT teachers and websites which provide tips on ICT education as well as providing content and news to give to students.

Throughout the development of my teaching before, during and after placement, I have begun to understand many various pedagogical beliefs and understoof many ways in which students (and teachers) learn. I believe it is important to have your beliefs before you start using tips and it is important you gain support from people who are aiming to teach in the same way that you are when starting off. I have begun to believe in Cognitive and Social Cognitive teaching, as well as various frameworks in which to employ a cognitive expression of pedagogy. My understanding of the process of pedagogy has grown and changed over a very quick time. The following links and groups are related to my change. I believe it is very important to develop and understand various pedagogical approaches. I found that certain sites, discussion and coursework have helped develop pedagogical theories, as well as conversations with teachers helped develop the amalgamated beliefs that I have now and although this may change over time, I feel this wiki is a perfect place to chronicle my evolving understanding of this.
 * Pedagogical Beliefs**

//While doing the second term of placement, I found myself looking at the concepts of an open classroom learning scenario. Student centred learning I found was a great way to discuss ideas, and I found the environment of a democratic classroom to be very effective in establishing an environment of trust to exemplify this. A constructivist approach to allow students to be in control of the learning and as the teacher to act as a facilitator of knowledge is a great environment for a I.T. classroom, as they have to be trusted to use the computers properly also. By establishing this early on, students can relate to the teacher and finish off work not out of fear for it being not handed in, but to reciprocate the trust to the teacher.//

//[]// //A really good article on the topic of constructivism and ICT in the classroom//

http://bloomstheory.wikispaces.com/ICT+Links+for+the+classroom This community of practice is a wikispace that employs Blooms taxonomy and this space is explicitly for ICT teachers, and ways in which teachers can use Bloom's theories in word processing, websites, etc. Although a little old, it is an interesting collection of Blooms theory's and its relation to ICT teaching. [] I have developed an interest in Vygotsky's Scaffolding techniques, in terms of the development of a student's understanding.

Still important to understand other beliefs and keep them in mind when teaching also - as this wiki grows, so does an understanding, and therefore change of the person using the content.

//I stand by the above statement that I have developed on and will continue to develop on for my ideas of teaching and educating. This semester has seen me change my outlook and pedagogical beliefs slightly to focus on the student as learner and teacher as learner. The idea that a student should be trusted and not lectured at has opened my eyes to focusing on the concept of trust and developing that environment too.//

=**Support Groups / Tips**= http://e-language.wikispaces.com A large number of links on this site are quite useful and relate to teaching IT and e-learning concepts are covered through this wiki. This is a massive collaborative and helpful site aimed at teaching e-learning, using various resources in major areas and understanding the importance of e-learning as a major move in teaching.

//[] and []// //This is a great site regarding Visual Basic training and both forums contain a large amount of people in the field who trade tips and are happy to help new people in the field of Visual Basic 2010//

//[]// //This site is made and managed by Mark Kelly, the head of I.T. at McKinnon Secondary. He has a plethora of content and is happy to explain content within his site. He de constructs all exams and approaches each answer and explanation to it rather carefully, and is careful to use easy to understand dialogue also.//

//[|http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0]// //This is an excellent website for students to understand the basics of coding without having to work with the programs of Visual basic and worry about all the external parts of coding. This is a great introduction to some students who want to experience coding but on a basic level (specialises in Java and C++ and Ruby)//

[] Another site dedicated to elearning. This is a collection of blogs and rss's that constantly feed. Very interesting selection and many links from there lead to interesting websites. regarding ICT education

[] Interesting bit about future technologies that could be employed in the classroom.

=**Useful links relating to education system and testing**=

**VCE**
[] Victorias VCE helpful curicculum and assessment information about VCE IT Applications. Comes with many reports and ideas, glossaries and outcomes that can be used to further your experience as a teacher of VCE ICT, Unit 3. [] Victorias VCE helpful curicculum and assessment information about VCE IT Software Development. Comes with many reports and ideas, glossaries and outcomes that can be used to further your experience as a teacher of VCE ICT, Unit 4.

Very useful PDF regarding VCE Study design. This particular outline was very useful to me when understanding what I would be teaching in Unit 3, Outcome 2. Covers all VCE ICT related content, and gives a good understanding of the outlines of assessments to give, understandings to for the educator to create and what to expect from the students.
 * VCE STUDY DESIGN**

//[]// //Socrative is a site dedicated to creating small reflective tests that teachers can create and students can log onto almost immediately after,. The results are quickly posted back to the teacher. It is a good way of doing a reflection on a topic rather quickly. It takes a small time to set up and all of the results are shown with all of the data represented on charts etc.// //This I found is a great way to reflect on the understanding of the students on some topics.//

[] Useful design structure of the entirety of what you will need on a basic level for educating ICT's in the pre-VCE levels. [] Standards and Learning Focus of the discipline of ICT [] Though not specifically related to ICT, intersting and helpful links for use in education. Covers basic concepts on what VELS is for and how it can be used.
 * VELS ICT Domains**
 * VELS ICT Standards**
 * VELS Support**

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