Exploring Digital Technologies in Secondary Education

Hi and welcome you to my learning and reflection space. My name is Kassandra Morrison and I am an older, wiser, more mature 43 year old student with an educational background not uncommon in Australia. Throughout my primary years, my Dad was a stockman/Farm hand and we moved around a lot. I attended 6 different Queensland primary schools and was left with large gaps in my skill and content knowledge because of the differing curriculum delivery.

Entering high school was a challenge. University was my goal from very early in grade 8 and I quickly realised if I didn't independently fill the gaps in my education I would not achieve that goal.

An old Chinese Proverb says "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". More than ever as teachers today I believe our Proverb should be: Tell a student what they need to know and they will succeed at school, show a student how to learn what they need to know and and they will succeed in life.

Entering education in the 21st Century as a teacher, I don't assume that I am the only person my students will be learning from. I don't mean here they will be learning different subjects but that even the content within my own class can be learned from a different source. I also know that all my students won't be interested in independent learning but it is my task to intrigue them enough to want to.

For a number of years I have been a teacher aide in a high school working alongside students with disabilities. ICT was integral in this area and is no less integral in the subject areas I will be teaching in at the end of my degree. Home Economics/Hospitality, Geography and Accounting have a large amount of ICT requirements within their curriculum and ICT is the best way to show a student what you are trying to teach them about rather than tell them about it.


While writing this blog and investigating other web-based digital technologies are a required component of my Digital Pedagogies course, two aspects have guided decisions about how I would present my course assessment online. Firstly, a questionnaire completed in the introduction of our Digital Pedagogy course got me thinking about how I reflect on my learning, during and following each university course. Before this, if it has been in an assessment, it is in writing otherwise there is no structured reflection of any course work. Secondly, previous Home Economics courses have required an element of digital design, I think it is important to have one place to collect all my information and creations so that they are usable and not lost on the world wide web. My memory is definitely what it used to be and with the large amount of tools available it makes more sense to have a space where it is all together for future me to access.


I am very excited to be completing my Digital Pedagogy course this semester, I truly believe I will be introduced to web tools and platforms that will help me in my long term goal of conducting my lessons using Flipped Classrooms and other Active Learning Strategies. I am also looking forward to sharing my learning and reflections with a wider audience in the hope of encouraging and inspiring others to incorporate digital technologies into their everyday learning.

Image by Christopher Allen at Flickr


The quote above reminds me that traditional teaching practices have a place but it is important to remember that true learning happens when students "do" the work and get involved in their learning too. Teaching and learning in high school is a joint effort of both the teacher and the student. Using ICT's in the classroom opens up the world to the student, in Geography we can visualise places using Google Earth or other mapping platforms, in Home Economics we can watch a chef prepare a meal or a sheep get shorn, even if we are in the city. The options for teachers are endless and limited only by their ability to find and utilise what is available.

While every teacher understands that incorporating ICT's in a 21st Century classroom is imperative, Niall McNulty (2017), concisely identifies other benefits to incorporating ICT's in the classroom. To read the article for yourself click on the picture below.





Niall McNulty (2017), What are the benefits of digital education?