EDCU12039 - DESIGN AND

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
Assessment Task 2

Abstract
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Jaiden Kidcaff
Student Number: s0287356
PORTFOLIO
INTRODUCTION:
INITIAL REFLECTION
31/5/2018

HEADING 1 – (YOUR EMOTIONS AND CONFIDENCE AS YOU ENGAGE

WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES)
While engaging with the digital technologies now present in this century, I have
always felt a sense of confidence when it comes to working within certain areas
of the digital world, even if it was completely new to me. However, I still remain
open minded to any new learning opportunities present within this area of
teaching, since I know that there is still a lot which I remain oblivious about.
With this in mind, I feel quite eager and excited about the possibility of
expanding my prior knowledge and skills even further. Therefore, in the future I
will be more capable of implementing the usage and understanding of the digital
world within my teachings more effectively, in order to better benefit my
students understanding and perception of the importance in being
technologically savvy; as well as adapting to the way society is ever changing in
this twenty-first century revolutionary world.

HEADING 2 – (YOUR PRIOR EXPERIENCE IN THIS AREA)

My prior experience of the digital area first began its evolution during my
primary school years in what was known as the computer lab, where as a class
we would engage in either pairs or individually when working on a required task
set by the teacher for us to accomplish during that learning session. These tasks
consisted of us visualising where each letter of the alphabet was set on the
keyboard, learning to use the spider hand technique on the keyboard while
typing, creating word documents, creating visuals on paint, solving maths
equations within online math’s games, etc. As the years went by, and I became

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more confident with incorporating my new founded knowledge and skills of the
digital technologies, I eventually progressed on to more challenging tasks such
as learning to create visual power point slides, typing up assignments in word
with different font sizing and styles, using google as a source for researching for
information, designing pamphlets and flyers, etc. My home environment also
was another important factor which played a role in this development, where
during my free times I would play letter/word matching games on my toy
laptop, playing the digital game version of sudoku, listening to bedtime mixed
taped maths songs, learning the meaning and pronunciation of words during
visual/audio kid interactive learning games, etc.

HEADING 3 – (AN INSIGHT INTO THE WAYS IN WHICH YOU WILL

ENGAGE WITH CHALLENGE IN THIS PART OF THE UNIT AND HOW YOU
WILL ESTABLISH YOUR OWN BENCHMARKS AND CHALLENGES
THROUGH WHICH TO LEARN)
Throughout my learning within this unit, I also had to learn how to adapt my
skills to help me engage with the challenges of implementing digital technology.
These challenges consisted of trying to navigate through different web
applications (paint, word, power point, excel), knowing how to save and retrieve
unsaved work, following instructions given, learning how to problem solve,
develop computational thinking, etc. I overcame each of these challenges by
learning to create and set out my own benchmarks/rules which could allow me
to properly function throughout each of these set tasks. These objectives ranged
from me asking questions when I felt confused, jotting down any important
steps/information said, practicing over the task multiple times during my free
time, working collaboratively in groups, etc.

HEADING 4 – (YOUR OBSERVATIONS, DRAWN FROM YOUR

PRACTICUM, OF THE WAY IN WHICH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES ARE
USED IN SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS, AND ANY DIFFERENCES YOU
HAVE NOTED BETWEEN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES (THE CURRICULUM)
AND ICT CAPABILITIES)
Drawing upon my gathered observations collected during the course of my
practicum, I noticed that students used the provided digital technologies (such
as laptops, the interactive whiteboard, Ipads) within the classroom to help them
handle certain set tasks in a more engaging manner. Such tasks were ones such
as setting and counting out numbers in their correct sequence, matching images
to their correct starting letter, etc. Some differences which I had also noticed

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between the use of digital technologies (the curriculum) and ICT capabilities
within the classroom, were the use of FM systems to better help volumise the
teacher’s voice for hearing impaired students, using IWB (interactive white
board) to play relaxing music for quiet time, etc.

HEADING 5 – (YOUR PERCEPTION OF THE WAY IN WHICH THIS AREA

OF THE CURRICULUM WILL PLAY OUT IN YOUR CLASSROOM)
Overall, my perception of the way in which I can see this area of the curriculum
playing out within my classroom in the future, will be through the use of
interactive white boards, computers, and Ipads/Tablets. Each of these gadgets
will help to encourage students’ independence and development of new skills,
engagement, excitement, focus and acceleration of learning, and also becoming
more proficient with digital technology during the various learning stages of their
digital technology journey. They will also help to foster a more collaborative
environment. Some of these learning areas coexist around teachers’ ability of
mastering technology use throughout their lessons in order to demonstrate
dynamic processes in real time, such as providing students with simulations of
how gases behave at different temperatures in science classes or showing
videos and movie clips of significant historical events during a history session
(Mundy, Kupczynski & Kee, 2012). All of these in the end allows teachers’ to be
capable of effectively provoking deeper creative and cognitive thought processes
to occur amongst their students in an engaging manner (Mundy, Kupczynski &
Kee, 2012)