Activity Six: Contemporary Issues or Trends in New Zealand

Activity Six: Contemporary Trends in New Zealand

Learner Agency. Derek Wenmoth's quote clearly defines what agency is, and the essence, I think, is the words
'the power to act'. Students having the power to act on their own behalf. 

         One way of thinking of learner agency is when learners have “the power to act”. When learners move from being passive recipients to being much more active in the learning process, actively involved in the decisions about the learning, then they have greater agency.   Derek Wenmoth (2014) 

Derek Wenmoth (2014) of Core Education, talks about the three main features of Learner Agency being self regulation, interdependence and awareness of responsibility. Self Regulation being when the student truly believes that their behaviour and approach to learning will make a difference for them and their learning in a given situation. Interdependence whereby students aren't working away on their own but take into account the social context of the classroom and are aware of the consequences on others of their decisions and actions. Awareness of Responsibility being the awareness that every decision or action a learner takes will impact on those around them and their environment.

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Having had Year 5 and 6 students for many years now, I recognise how much at 9 and 10 years old, students want to have responsibilities, challenges, problems to solve and personal autonomy. They thrive on it and relish in the chances they are given to develop their independence. Knowing this I have strived to feed into my programme over many years situations and times when students could work to 'the beat of their own drum' so to speak.  I also run the Student Leadership group and manage the opportunities and responsibilities Year 5 and 6 students have within the school: jump jam leaders, librarians, backtrack duty monitors, peer mediators and wet-day monitors.

Moving into the future of ILP's and digital devices has suddenly thrust this trend into the limelight. Looking at what I have done and the level of Learner Agency Wenmoth is speaking of I can see I need to develop a deeper layer of agency than I currently adopt. Learners need to be more actively involved in developing systems for themselves and I need more intentionality around students being aware of the learning levels in each area of the curriculum, so their decisions are even more informed. While we have student voice in our school and have gathered ideas and opinions through surveys and mini panels, this is usually limited to particular areas of review within the school. Bringing this into the classroom on a regular basis is an area to develop further. 

Within the Ten Trends that were listed by Core Education in 2014 and 2015 was Global Connectedness. The descriptor in 2014 states that most of us now have more opportunities to connect with others than ever before. Social networks, global branding and economic advancement, ease of travel and global communications - all accessed through a handheld device - characterise the world in which we live. Karen Melhuish Spencer ( 2014) talks about the reasons or drivers behind global connectedness being technology, changing demographics and economic competition. Technology has enabled us to link into a vast number of other countries, allowing people to connect with, contribute to and learn from those people. Changing demographics is the shift and growth in workforces as well as ageing populations and growth of skilled workers. Economic Competition sees countries competing for advantage globally, in terms of supply and demand. All these elements filter down to families buying or selling online, skypeing relatives overseas, watching in horror situations unfold on news channels and/or connecting with others through games. This myriad of ways to connect also brings problems or challenges for me as an educator. Being global citizens with integrity online is as important to learn as having integrity when face to face with people. Recognising how to be cybersmart, especially when connecting independently, is paramount. 

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Having moved into a digital classroom I have suddenly been thrust into acknowledging, recognising and looking for the vast number of ways in which we use digital devices and systems as a society, and how I will keep up with and incorporate these into my teaching. I am aware I need to prepare my students for their future and not my past, as stated by Derek Wenmoth (2014) when he was talking about student agency. The opportunities to link and share in both information and practical terms is huge, but having the digital literacy to navigate this environment is vital if my students are going to take advantage of the opportunities successfully, as well as question and critically evaluate what they see. We have used LEARNZ virtual field trips, satellite phones to the Auckland Islands and skype to other schools so far. In the future we are connecting with an overseas school as email pals, using our class blog and class site to stay connected when I am overseas for five weeks and using google hangouts to directly share experiences. Greater student understanding of the people they share communities with, is important to build culturally rich and empowered societies.  

References

Melhuish Spencer, K. (2014). Ten Trends 2014: Global Connectedness Retrieved from 

http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2014/global-connectedness 

Wenmoth, D. (2014, February 13). Ten Trends 2014: Agency | EDtalks. Retrieved from
http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2014/02/ten-trends-2014-learner-agency.html