Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age (EDC105) has taught me so much about the need for teachers to be armed and ready to take students on a digital journey, to prepare them for life beyond school.

We are fast becoming a “global information society’ (Howell, 2012) where we are no longer bound by the places we work and the people we meet face to face. Companies around the world are connected like never before and expect school leavers to have a reasonable level of understanding of technology. Parents, students themselves, the community and the government all drive this “digital expectancy” alongside employers (Howell, 2012). The Australian Curriculum now includes ICT Capability as one of the seven general outcomes by the end of stage 5 (F-10- Curriculum – Structure, n.d.). Students are born into this digital society, not all current teachers are (Howell, 2012), me included. With the amount of teaching available, there is no excuse for teachers not to put their life-long learning skills to the test and engage with digital technologies for the sake of the students. I know I will be.

I have been challenged to learn new skills and think creatively about how they can be used in a classroom setting. I chose to use WordPress which I found quite limited in designability. Powtoon was by far the most challenging. The many hours it took to create a two-minute video was frustrating. My clip often went blank and had to log out and back in often to see my presentation. My internet speeds at home are frustrating with drop outs every 5-10 minutes for a couple of minutes each time. It seems schools and employers are ready for digital learning but infrastructure is not.

I will be looking for ways to incorporate digital learning into my classroom. A class web page, youTube channel and digital assignments can really assist students to want to learn and engage with the curriculum. I’m up for the challenge.