Day 3 – St Aloysius Cronulla – David & Lauren.1

Day 3 – St Aloysius Cronulla – David & Lauren.1

Essential Question: The application range of ICT/digital devices in the learning spaces.

When we first entered St Aloysius and went to the staffroom you get the feeling there isn’t a big emphasis on technology. As the staffroom had no interactive board, no TV or large monitor and only has two computers.

However the application of technology in the classroom is a very different story. With each class having access to at least three different types of technological devices, and some with four. With the common desktop computer being the oldest type and by the feel of it will soon become obsolete. With laptops being close behind them. Each class has at least 7 iPads and 7 Chrome books. With their learning hub also having a supply of iPads and a variety of laptop computers from netbooks to older style MacBook’s.

However the most important aspect of this technology is their application and use with the school. Not only in classroom activities but in extension and support programs.

A good example is their system to record evidence of collaborative work between students. Children take time towards the end of the lesson to take photos and journal about their work. Some classes are directed with set questions to answer and they then support this with photographic evidence. For example a Year 2 maths groups had students working collaboratively to construct 3D shapes. At the end of the lesson they had to take images of their constructions and email it to the teacher so they could be printed and then glued into their journals in which they were to write about the lesson and their findings.

The Chrome books are a new acquisition for the school and the staff and students are loving the avenues for collaborative learning they bring to the school. With the devices being portals to the variety of Google applications a Google user has access to. They don’t have the possibility for any storage so all rely on a wireless connection and accessing the different applications in ones Google account. 

A Google application that the staff has access to in addition to their normal Google accounts is Teacher Dashboard. This is a great application that schools in our Diocese should look at or the CSO look into for our schools to access. In a nut shell it enables teachers to create easy to access folders for each subject area and with in these folders a file for every student. In which the teacher and students can share Google documents. You might say just make folders in your own Google Drive, however this application does away with the double handling and moving of files and creates a great way to manage students, have their work on hand at a few clicks. With written work diminishing in the contemporary classroom this way of sharing work through the digital form is a very forward way of thinking and an excellent practise that we should look into.

The use of technology during explicit teaching times is strong, and is carried out extremely well. This happens through two main aspects, the collaboration between the staff members in a particular subject as they come together as a stage core group. And through the use of technology and the interactive board. One program that a lot of schools in the area use is SMART Notebooks which is a more user friendly program than any interactive whiteboard software I have ever seen. So with a prepared lesson in a SMART Notebook the explicit teaching time in a lesson is quick direct and effective.

However the thing that has been most impressive is the ease in which the children use technology in a variety of ways to enhance their learning, through inquiry activities to consolidation of learning to recording and sharing their learning with each other and their respective teachers. How confidently and efficiently they use Google applications to store and share their work.

The use of apps to consolidate work and share collaboratively is very evident

Recording evidence of hands on maths work using book creator

Students proudly share with teachers

Technology and flexible learning spaces working together.