Task 4.1 Reflection #2

Where do I go from here?

Taking into consideration all that I have learned throughout this paper I can see, more than ever, that eLearning has the potential to transform the way teaching and learning occurs. And as I am the teacher it is my role to take advantage of the affordances that eLearning can offer. eLearning is about exploiting the affordances of digital technologies in ways that place the learner at the center through providing actively engaging learning experiences founded on solid theoretical understandings and evidence-based practices.

Although I am on study leave this year, I am looking forward to taking what I have learned and apply it in context. Being primary trained and previously working in a secondary environment I have been able to see more potential for eLearning than what I have been accustomed to. and I am looking forward to the challenge. This paper has also allowed me to see eLearning from a students’ perspective and experience a new way of learning.

The frameworks I have been introduced to such as the TEC-VARIETY (Bonk & Khoo, 2014) are invaluable. It really made me think about the activities provided and in addition to whether students were learning from or with technology (Howland, Jonassen, & Marra, 2012). As Gibbs & Poskitt (2010), so adeptly put it, as teachers we need to ensure that we keep our students engaged by providing “fun learning activities; making learning meaningful, and enabling students to learn better and helping them take responsibility for their learning”(Gibbs & Poskitt, 2010, p. 34).

I also accept there are challenges without the support of the vision of leadership as described by Zaka (2013), however, I am hoping that next year the school I teach at is willing to embrace eLearning because it is essential for teacher education to shift from the paradigm of “teaching about the use of ICT” and “direct teaching of ICT skills” to a pedagogy that fully embraces constructivism (Kirschner & Davis, 2003, cited in Yeung, Taylor, Hui, Lam-Chiang, & Low, 2012).

As I continue on my eLearning journey throughout the remainder of the year I know I will take the ideas from this course and develop them further and hopefully have a solid foundation for next year when I return to teaching and put all this learning into practice.



Bonk, C. J., & Khoo, E. (2014). Adding Some TEC-VARIETY: 100+ Activities for Motivating and Retaining Learners Online, 367. http://doi.org/978-1496162724

Gibbs, R., & Poskitt, J. (2010). Student engagement in the middle years of schooling (years 7-10): A literature review. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.

Howland, J. L., Jonassen, D., & Marra, R. M. (2012). Meaningful learning with technology (4th ed., pp. 1–19). Boston, MA: Person Education, Inc.


Yeung, A., Taylor, P. G., Hui, C., Lam-Chiang, A., & Low, E. (2012). Mandatory use of technology in teaching: Who cares and so what? British Journal Of Educational Technology, 43(6), 859-870.

Zaka, P. (2013). A case study of blended teaching and learning in a New Zealand secondary school, using an ecological framework. Journal of Open, Distance and Flexible Learning, 17(1), 24-40.