Our Philosophy 

Digital technology within the contemporary classroom is a tool that enhances both teacher delivery of content, and student engagement.  It continues to transform teachers’ pedagogical practices as well as assists students in meeting syllabus learning outcomes; however, more importantly it equips students for navigating a future beyond the school setting.

Learning is making sense of knowledge and information; technology only amplifies how we attain that knowledge and simplifies it for users and more specifically students. Alan Rogers (2003) expressed that learning is an ongoing process, that is likely to change, and continuously it has. As with contemporary society’s dependency on technology (Sewlyn, N. 2011). Technology has transformed the educational sector and how teachers deliver content, ultimately making it a far more engaging experience for diverse learners. However, I do not believe technology will ever replace teachers. Yes, digital platforms have made learning accessible and inclusive however, technology doesn’t know how to register students’ emotions therefore it is a powerful tool that should be used in accordance to explicit teaching and modelled using a range of teaching strategies. A robot can provide information; however, a teacher can adapt and manipulate that information to suit a wide range of learners to ensure they make meaning of the content (Finger, G. Russel, G. Jamieson-Proctor, R. Russel, N. 2007).

As a Technology and Applied Studies educator ensuring that the following outcome: TE4-DIG-01 demonstrates technological literacy to safely interact in digital environments is explicitly taught in stage 4 is a positive starting point to build upon (NESA, 2023). It makes sense that the implementation of digital literacy is incorporated into the daily teaching and learning cycle through the use of platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom. Online learning can enhance traditional teaching delivery methods and is excellent in storing content and tracking completion of learning tasks remotely. This delivery method became mainstream during Covid and lockdowns and provided educators the opportunity to incorporate and learn how to harness digitised teaching to our benefit. Technology more broadly has enabled flexibility in assisting how we plan and program; how we choose to deliver content and provides opportunity to pace learning in a differentiated format (Cher, Ping L. Yong, Z. Jo, T. Ching, Sing, C. Tsai, C. 2013). As a result, having significant improvements in students’ engagement, understanding and achievement.

Technology has decreased the pressures of students needing to rote learn content and information for many subject areas, as technology offers many benefits to how we implement teaching strategies. Now more than ever we can offer a range of resources to assistant in retention of information and provide quality learning through the delivery of multimodal activities that provide students the opportunity to learn visually, orally and written. The evolution of technology has made learning progressive as it provides students with instantaneous feedback and also allows for positive reinforcement when used wisely, which should also be a key learning point in contemporary classrooms (Haran, M 2015). A broad range of perspectives can be explored when technology isn’t taken advantage of. As responsible users we should be reminded that we are the users and often need to switch off to gain our own standpoint on curriculum.