Activity 2 - Reflection on learning and practice

Me as a learner...

A big change in my perspective as a learner is to take into account the way that I learn. Reflecting on how (and why) I learnt new knowledge, what process I follow, and deciding on what is important... and not so much.

The MindLAB sessions that I got the most our of where the sessions where were given a brief, some tools, and left to figure out the process for ourselves. It created a 'space' where I was encouraged to work collaboratively with group members, ask questions that were specifically about what I was stuck on and had the opportunity to be creative!

I found it useful (when I had time!) to flip the learning process - watching video/reading content prior to the sessions together. I would change the way I record my notes next time; using tools such as Trello, Google Keep, or a good old Google Doc. Paper was hard to track down afterwards... and even harder to keep in one place!

Taking into account 'how I learn' has helped me to ask critical questions about 'how my students learn' in the real world. How do they learn about Minecraft, Arduino, Modding, and making the ultimate  'spud-cannon'? How relevant is my teaching to students when I haven't even asked them how they learn in their own time!?!

Changes in my practice as a result of the last 24 weeks of study:

• Student agency is essential for the development of 21st Century learning skills. How can we expect kids to be prepared, adaptable, and resilient in an uncertain future, if we still teach the same way we always have? I have started to change the way I think kids learn, by actually focussing on students making links with how they learn.
• Assessment needs to be more creative. Reflective blogs, 'check-points', and screencasting is more relevant than meaningless 'summative data' that creates no gain for students. Assessment in my classroom needs to be used for and as learning - which is a challenge with the way our organisation is set up presently.
• Conciously thinking about how I can encourage connections of learning in the classroom to make sure that my students are using, learning, and developing 21st Century learning skills in a context that is relevant and interesting.