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Sunday 12 June 2011
Healthy Lunchbox Menu
Saturday 9 April 2011
Assignment 2
I have chosen to analyse several digital technologies that I believe will be quite useful to myself and my students in our teaching and learning environment. I have tried to connect these tools to examples of where I assume they will be most beneficial.
Starting with Blogs, I believe these to be a wonderful reflective tool, that are yet to be fully administered in schools to their full capacity. They allow students the opportunity to analyze and give commentary to their own work in a digital environment. Unlike outside school users, students would not have access to blog accounts that I am using at present. As safety and security is paramount for each student with teachers always mindful of not breaching legal and ethical practices, blogs must be undertaken in a controlled environment that the teacher has set up.
Such an environment can exist as part of a virtual classroom for instance. Virtual Class Rooms, VCR's, are set up inside the Learning Place, which is a Department of Education and Training website. A platform called Blackboard is accessed through this website whereby teachers become administrators and create their own virtual classroom by adding resources they acquire from Education Queensland or any other websites that are acceptable and allowable to use.
Inside this digital classroom the teacher can add many different learning tools addressed age appropriately for students to not only access at school, but anywhere, anytime as long as they have the website address and their username and password.
Scrolling down the menu, students are able to choose from a range of topics the teacher has included such as Spelling, Maths, Announcements, Safe Internet Use, to name just a few possibilities, as well as access to a blog site.
For students to understand the workings and notions behind a blog it is important to first explain and give examples of exactly what is required. It is not merely an excuse to record what happened in the tuckshop line at big lunch, but a significanat learning tool whereby each student can contemplate the activities and work undertaken in the classroom and at home, with blogs entered and reflections added to support the work undertaken.
Once blogging has become a part of student's self learning, teachers can then have more insight into how they are learning and coping and where their questions lie.
Of course by setting up blogs there would be different expectations for different age groups. I could only see this form of reflective learning being implemented from year two and up, and then I expect the blogs to be minimal in content as students are still learning the QWERTY keyboard with typing being very slow. As the years progress to three and four and five, six and seven, blogs would gradually be expected to be more insightful as keyboarding would be faster and vocabulary higher.
Blogs are particularly useful to those students whose social ineptness doesn't allow them to
approach teachers or peers easily to vocalise their opinions or problems. However, on the other hand, some students would also feel apprehensive about leaving their reflections in a place where others can access and make comment for fear of ridicule. For this reason it would probably be a good idea to set rules and regulations regarding showing respect to all user's blogs. It should also be made clear that by students leaving their reflections they are giving their peers as well as the teacher the opportunity to extend their learning from what others have written. This can be seen as a great form of connectivism.
As an example, if class work is left in the VCR, each student can complete this work then access their blog to submit any problems, queries and even successes they had. This information can then be shared and discussed by the teacher as a class. I must admit this is not neccessarily the fastest way for students to have their problems addressed and anything pressing should be discussed straight away with the teacher.
Wikis are another space into which users are able to add content, however unlike blogs all users to a wiki are able to edit the content. This is also a form of connectivism as working as a community allows for the collaboration of information left to be learnt from. The learning then becomes a greater experience as more people's opinions and knowledge create a larger pool of information.
As a personal learning experience and something I could actually use in the classroom, I created a wiki for an art assessment in wiki spaces. This wiki is to be accessed by each student who have themselves created an artwork. The teacher,(myself) photographs each piece and adds content to the wiki. On the first page you can view the image and read a description and the criteria for the artwork. This then leads on to the critiques page where each student who accesses the page is able to answer the questions provided to form a personal critique of each artwork, even their own. Not only does this have a reflective purpose, but allows the teacher to evaluate students understandings of the requirements for the artwork.
To extend this wiki further I have given an example of how a voice recording can be used instead of leaving written feedback. This adds an interesting element to the wiki and perhaps another assessable dimension to the whole task. This wiki gives students the opportunity to be involved in giving constructive criticism to their fellow classmates and gives them an important lesson in accepting and drawing from it as well.
This particular use of a wiki, I feel, would work best in the hands of the higher primary grades as questions would have to be taken seriously with thought put into the use of artistic terminology. A wiki along these lines for lower grades has the potential to work, by perhaps using a one step process.
To set this and other wikis up for my class I would not be using a website such as wiki spaces, because of privacy and security reasons. I would however assess a wiki space through the Learning Place website.
Another way to use a wiki in my classroom would be to scaffold, with the aide of De Bonos 6 Thinking Hats (1970), to ask students to analyse a particular task. This form of self reflection is an apportune way for students in the upper primary grades (5,6 & 7) to delve into higher order thinking, gain more insight as they view other users content and perhaps change thought processes and perceptions.
A wiki that asks each student to work independently to add their ideas, thoughts and knowledge attached to a particular topic can end up in a great collaboration of personal information that then gets discussed as a class and collated into something that is interesting to the students as it is their work. This information can then be adapted to another digital tool in the form of an ebook which I have discussed in a blog entry.
One more example I'd like to give for the use of a wiki would be to network and connect students to another school, perhaps even further afield as another country. The learning experiences undertaking this procedure would be invaluable as students set about sharing knowledge of their geographical locations.
As part of exploring presentation tools I discovered Glogster, my new best friend! Experimenting and creating an online, interactive and informative poster has left me eager to use this tool with my students.
I have thought of a number of ways in which glogster would support presentations being made by my students, and include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Interactive book reports
Starting with Blogs, I believe these to be a wonderful reflective tool, that are yet to be fully administered in schools to their full capacity. They allow students the opportunity to analyze and give commentary to their own work in a digital environment. Unlike outside school users, students would not have access to blog accounts that I am using at present. As safety and security is paramount for each student with teachers always mindful of not breaching legal and ethical practices, blogs must be undertaken in a controlled environment that the teacher has set up.
Such an environment can exist as part of a virtual classroom for instance. Virtual Class Rooms, VCR's, are set up inside the Learning Place, which is a Department of Education and Training website. A platform called Blackboard is accessed through this website whereby teachers become administrators and create their own virtual classroom by adding resources they acquire from Education Queensland or any other websites that are acceptable and allowable to use.
Inside this digital classroom the teacher can add many different learning tools addressed age appropriately for students to not only access at school, but anywhere, anytime as long as they have the website address and their username and password.
Scrolling down the menu, students are able to choose from a range of topics the teacher has included such as Spelling, Maths, Announcements, Safe Internet Use, to name just a few possibilities, as well as access to a blog site.
For students to understand the workings and notions behind a blog it is important to first explain and give examples of exactly what is required. It is not merely an excuse to record what happened in the tuckshop line at big lunch, but a significanat learning tool whereby each student can contemplate the activities and work undertaken in the classroom and at home, with blogs entered and reflections added to support the work undertaken.
Once blogging has become a part of student's self learning, teachers can then have more insight into how they are learning and coping and where their questions lie.
Of course by setting up blogs there would be different expectations for different age groups. I could only see this form of reflective learning being implemented from year two and up, and then I expect the blogs to be minimal in content as students are still learning the QWERTY keyboard with typing being very slow. As the years progress to three and four and five, six and seven, blogs would gradually be expected to be more insightful as keyboarding would be faster and vocabulary higher.
Blogs are particularly useful to those students whose social ineptness doesn't allow them to
approach teachers or peers easily to vocalise their opinions or problems. However, on the other hand, some students would also feel apprehensive about leaving their reflections in a place where others can access and make comment for fear of ridicule. For this reason it would probably be a good idea to set rules and regulations regarding showing respect to all user's blogs. It should also be made clear that by students leaving their reflections they are giving their peers as well as the teacher the opportunity to extend their learning from what others have written. This can be seen as a great form of connectivism.
As an example, if class work is left in the VCR, each student can complete this work then access their blog to submit any problems, queries and even successes they had. This information can then be shared and discussed by the teacher as a class. I must admit this is not neccessarily the fastest way for students to have their problems addressed and anything pressing should be discussed straight away with the teacher.
Wikis are another space into which users are able to add content, however unlike blogs all users to a wiki are able to edit the content. This is also a form of connectivism as working as a community allows for the collaboration of information left to be learnt from. The learning then becomes a greater experience as more people's opinions and knowledge create a larger pool of information.
As a personal learning experience and something I could actually use in the classroom, I created a wiki for an art assessment in wiki spaces. This wiki is to be accessed by each student who have themselves created an artwork. The teacher,(myself) photographs each piece and adds content to the wiki. On the first page you can view the image and read a description and the criteria for the artwork. This then leads on to the critiques page where each student who accesses the page is able to answer the questions provided to form a personal critique of each artwork, even their own. Not only does this have a reflective purpose, but allows the teacher to evaluate students understandings of the requirements for the artwork.
To extend this wiki further I have given an example of how a voice recording can be used instead of leaving written feedback. This adds an interesting element to the wiki and perhaps another assessable dimension to the whole task. This wiki gives students the opportunity to be involved in giving constructive criticism to their fellow classmates and gives them an important lesson in accepting and drawing from it as well.
This particular use of a wiki, I feel, would work best in the hands of the higher primary grades as questions would have to be taken seriously with thought put into the use of artistic terminology. A wiki along these lines for lower grades has the potential to work, by perhaps using a one step process.
To set this and other wikis up for my class I would not be using a website such as wiki spaces, because of privacy and security reasons. I would however assess a wiki space through the Learning Place website.
Another way to use a wiki in my classroom would be to scaffold, with the aide of De Bonos 6 Thinking Hats (1970), to ask students to analyse a particular task. This form of self reflection is an apportune way for students in the upper primary grades (5,6 & 7) to delve into higher order thinking, gain more insight as they view other users content and perhaps change thought processes and perceptions.
A wiki that asks each student to work independently to add their ideas, thoughts and knowledge attached to a particular topic can end up in a great collaboration of personal information that then gets discussed as a class and collated into something that is interesting to the students as it is their work. This information can then be adapted to another digital tool in the form of an ebook which I have discussed in a blog entry.
One more example I'd like to give for the use of a wiki would be to network and connect students to another school, perhaps even further afield as another country. The learning experiences undertaking this procedure would be invaluable as students set about sharing knowledge of their geographical locations.
WWW
Using websites are a constant in teachers endeavours to provide students with new and interesting information related to all the KLA's. Again regard has to be made to the use of legal, safe and ethical practices when downloading information, images or text. Certain websites are automatically restricted to enter from EQ set up computers inside schools. Sites such as Google Images are blocked by student users for obvious reasons pertaining to the legal, safe and ethical practices guidelines.
A website that I sometimes use to find directions on how to perform an action is youtube. This site can be an invaluable place to find resources for special interest items including podcasts, stories, songs and instructional videos for a multitude of procedures.
Two websites that I would use on a consistent basis are the Learning Place and Studyladder. I am already quite familiar with these educational sites as I have access to them in my employment as a Teacher's Aide. Both my children are users of either a Virtual Class Room through http://elearn.com/ or Studyladder http://www.studyladder.com/ .
Having access to homework in this way is an exciting and engaging experience for them as they compete against the clock in many different learning games and exercises. Because I can see the possibilities and rewards of a VCR as well as Studyladder I will undoubtebly myself be excited to implement these sites into my class using age appropriate resources.
As part of an ICT activity I created my own website http://wonderoftheweepingwillow.weebly.com/ which is an online Art Gallery connecting to the wiki space I designed. An online art gallery such as this could be very useful for students wanting to display their work. This could be set up as part of the actual school's website and created by students working on a collaborative art class project. Obviously images would be required to form this gallery.
The use of images in elearning can be vital to linking students own real life experiences to their learning environment. For instance if the class was assigned the task of say, creating a collaborative ebook on classroom rules, this would be a more believable and beneficial task if images were used of each child acting out the rules. Because they've set themselves as part of the task they would have a sense of contribution, confidence and pride in what was produced. This is just one example of the many ways personal photos can be used for learning, but of course consideration needs to be given to whether or not parents/guardians give permission for children's images to be published and accessed by others inside the VCR. Usually this is facilitated in the form of a permission slip at the time of enrolment.
Personal photos are also useful for imbedding into tools such as Moviemaker, Photostory, Powerpoint, Glogs, Blogs and Wikis. Gathering images from outer sources is another way to supplement creative and visual learning. Images that children relate to or find interesting and eye-catching can make the difference when presenting ideas or facts to the class. Visual stimuli such as images can re-awaken and re-invigorate a class that has started to drift off.
A useful place for teachers to store images for students access is in their Virtual Class Room. Students can choose from these appropriate images to add interest to their blogs, collaborative wikis or any project or task that requires visual aides.
Once students are in the upper classes they can begin to access their own pictures from different websites by copying and pasting or saving and resizing the image using Picture Manager. It is in this program that other editing tools can be used also. Picture Manager is the program I chose to embed personal photos into my wiki and web spaces.
The use of video is another way images can be exhibited. This can take the form of many images being added into a program called Moviemaker to create a moving story with sound, text and effects.
I can see older classes being really involved with this program, more so than Powerpoint, as they can create a small stills movie in its entirety themselves, including the photos, audio and text.
I have given examples of the potential of using Moviemaker for primary students in my blog reflection titled "Moviemaker", dated 2nd of April 2011. It is also here you will find an example of a short film I made using personal photos, titled "The Wrath of Yasi".
Of course video usage can also mean taking footage in the typical manner of filming with a video camera. This can greatly benefit students in a self assessment, reflective way. An example would be to film students as they present their show and tell for instance. In the younger grades especially it is extremely important for students to understand what is required when giving an oral presentation. Hopefully if this is instilled in the younger years it shouldn't be a huge problem later. Once students view how they presented their talk an opportunity can be given for them to reflect and offer any suggestions as to how they can better speak next time. Sometimes it takes children to view themsleves in action to see exactly where they are going wrong in procedures like this. This is similar to someone with speech difficulties having to look in a mirror to enunciate sounds properly. In the same way videoing is used in the classroom it can also be greatly beneficial in the HPE class to try and better students running style or to improve any performance of a track and field event.
The use of sound obviously becomes part of most video recordings, but not limited to this. Using recorded sound in the classroom can take on many different applications and be an effective learning tool.
After creating a podomatic account I went on to record my daughter singing Australia's National Anthem then downloaded a photo to put with the recording, thus creating a podcast for all to view.
I used audio in two other ways whilst experimenting with different options. I embedded a sound file into my art critique wiki space for an oral critique, as well as embedding dialogue into my glog that you will be linked to soon. Since then I have thought of a number of differnet uses for audio recording within my classroom. One would be to record children reading from a book for a form of self analysis. Student and teacher could then discuss where to improve reading techniques so comprehension is of a better standard. Developing good reading skills with the use of expression, punctuation, pausing and stopping are all attributes that need to be overcome when children are making their way towards unguided reading.
Another way to use audio effectively would be to download audio stories from websites such as storynory, which is a free audio stroies for kids website. These stories could be added straight to ipods for listening post activities to be undertaken. This could be either in the form of comprehension tests, cloze activities or directional tasks. Listening skills would develop further by using audio in this way.
Of course video usage can also mean taking footage in the typical manner of filming with a video camera. This can greatly benefit students in a self assessment, reflective way. An example would be to film students as they present their show and tell for instance. In the younger grades especially it is extremely important for students to understand what is required when giving an oral presentation. Hopefully if this is instilled in the younger years it shouldn't be a huge problem later. Once students view how they presented their talk an opportunity can be given for them to reflect and offer any suggestions as to how they can better speak next time. Sometimes it takes children to view themsleves in action to see exactly where they are going wrong in procedures like this. This is similar to someone with speech difficulties having to look in a mirror to enunciate sounds properly. In the same way videoing is used in the classroom it can also be greatly beneficial in the HPE class to try and better students running style or to improve any performance of a track and field event.
The use of sound obviously becomes part of most video recordings, but not limited to this. Using recorded sound in the classroom can take on many different applications and be an effective learning tool.
After creating a podomatic account I went on to record my daughter singing Australia's National Anthem then downloaded a photo to put with the recording, thus creating a podcast for all to view.
I used audio in two other ways whilst experimenting with different options. I embedded a sound file into my art critique wiki space for an oral critique, as well as embedding dialogue into my glog that you will be linked to soon. Since then I have thought of a number of differnet uses for audio recording within my classroom. One would be to record children reading from a book for a form of self analysis. Student and teacher could then discuss where to improve reading techniques so comprehension is of a better standard. Developing good reading skills with the use of expression, punctuation, pausing and stopping are all attributes that need to be overcome when children are making their way towards unguided reading.
Another way to use audio effectively would be to download audio stories from websites such as storynory, which is a free audio stroies for kids website. These stories could be added straight to ipods for listening post activities to be undertaken. This could be either in the form of comprehension tests, cloze activities or directional tasks. Listening skills would develop further by using audio in this way.
As part of exploring presentation tools I discovered Glogster, my new best friend! Experimenting and creating an online, interactive and informative poster has left me eager to use this tool with my students.
I have thought of a number of ways in which glogster would support presentations being made by my students, and include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Interactive book reports
- Research projects
- Informative posters
- Awareness posters
- Classroom rules
- Weekender journal
- Holiday journal
I have left more examples in a SWOT analysis of glogster in my blog titled "Glogster - inc. SWOT analysis of potential of glogs in the classroom", dated 3rd of April 2011.
Glogster wouldn't be an appropriate presentation tool for years P - 1, and even then the years 2 - 4 would use it in a more basic fashion. Given to the upper grades, 5, 6 & 7, as a tool to experiment with to deliver a project, I feel would be more worthwhile as they have a better understanding of adding links, audio, text and images as well as how to better position objects on the page and not overload it with too many graphics.
I spent limited time using the presentation tool Prezi as the more I tried to manipulate my text, the more I was starting to think that it would be a difficult task to use this tool as a primary school student. Because the effects aren't instant I could envision students losing track of what they were aiming for and becoming quite confused. As a tool for the teacher to use as a presentation method it could be quite effective, however in the process of viewing ready made Prezis I did have a feeling of motion sickness, which I don't deal with well.
I don't believe I'll be pursuing the use of this tool in my classroom, unless in the future I happen to venture into High Schools where it would be better used. I can see the great potential prezi has, however I think it's too abstract for primary school users.
I have previously used the lineal presentation making program Powerpoint at my workplace and encounter students using it for major units of work. I do feel though that students have a tendency to fill the pages with long-winded passages that could have been used more concisely and effectively in a glog or two. The glog could contain a mindmap to get important points across and even have a Moviemaker file embedded into it.
So it is that Glogster remains my presentation tool of choice.
Animations and Simulations
Two instant online tools that allow a fantastic geographical learning experience are Google Earth and Google Maps. These can be used to extend upon subject areas such as SOSE in particular. A fun way to use Google Earth would be to conduct virtual excursions. Without leaving the actual classroom, students can engage in an online field trip where the teacher maps out destinations with assigned questions tagged to each place visited. Virtual Field Trips can also be accessed through Collaborative Online Projects in the Learning Place.
An alternative to this example would be if the teacher or students knew of someone travelling overseas it could be arranged to follow that person, via Google Earth, on their journey. This makes the task more personal as the whole class might actually know the traveller, therefore giving the task further interest and excitement. Daily or weekly contact could be made via emails or iconnect with children taking turns to ask questions about the place the traveller is at that time.
Another idea that could be used as perhaps a reward would be to play 'spin the globe'. The student being rewarded would spin the globe, put one finger on to stop it and wherever the finger is pointing would be the place to look up on Google Earth and Maps. A great game of discovery!
In conclusion I feel confident that by incorporating the digital tools I have explored, into my classroom, my students will find great benefits. I choose to provide an elearning environment as most children today have grown with digital technologies and they are familiar and comfortable using these tools. I want my students to continue to be digital learners because I have seen first hand how ICT's engage them in their learning and believe this is how they can best respond effectively to attain certain learning outcomes positively.
Sunday 3 April 2011
Glogster- inc. SWOT analysis of potential of glogs in the classroom
My informative Glog is all about Coombe Island. What an engaging experience, creating this interactive poster. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute until I lost it all. Yep, all 2 hours worth! The second time around however was very quick and easy. I managed to make an informative and visually interesting page for would be campers of Coombe Island. I uploaded my own photos, my own audio, and links to National Parks Island information and bookings and maps to show exactly where Coombe is.
This tool takes the urban phenomenon of scrapbooking and drops it into an interactive online space where you can add images, text, audio and video, publish it and have it viewed by others.
I can see this presentation tool being a real winner with students, especially those who aren't successful with handwriting or drawing. Gone are the days of presentations being made on an A2 piece of card with the felt pen scrawled across it running from sweaty hands. This tool should be an option for every student who ever has a presentation to make. Students can take turns presenting their Glog to the class on an interactive whiteboard and choose viewers to come up and interact with the poster. I can see this being a creative, fun and exciting learning tool with the level of engagement being quite high when each child's poster is displayed to the whole class.
This is a learning tool that can be used to support all the KLA's with educational graphics ready to use. Glogster claims that Glogster edu is a secure and private platform which is monitered directly by the registering teacher with master account controls. The teacher registering for Glogster moniters the content of all students glogs. All students are given a password and they will only be able to communicate and see other glogs created within their classroom.
Their is a rating process for student glogs, however it is merely the clicking of stars on a five-star scale underneath each glog. This would probably only be used by myself as a form of encouragement with assessment being undertaken in the typical fashion as per the QCAR framework.
Strengths:
- gives students the opportunity to use digital technology for presentations.
- enables not so creative students to be very creative quite easily.
- when presentations are being made, viewers would be more engaged than if they were watching and listening to a more traditional presentation.
- very eye-catching and colourful.
- students can connect to other student's glogs in the classroom.
Weaknesses:
- to print out you would lose all interactive components of the glog, eg. links,audio and video.
- not a lot of space for text once images have been used.
- students would have to work on the glogs at school only as teachers need to sign students in and monitor work.
- can encounter technical difficulties.
Opportunities:
- At the start of the school year teachers could make an interactive classroom rules poster to dispaly on the interactive whiteboard. Students could take turns discovering links, audio and video.
- Teachers could make a weekly glog presentation poster of what the week will include for the class; what they learnt in the week prior; any new and interesting thing coming to the class, eg. Reader's Cup Challenge, Arts Council etc.
- Teachers could make a poster for the start of each term with snippets of what will be happening in that term for the class, eg. Yoga, Athletics Carnival, Cross Country, Mothers Day, etc.
- Students can design awareness posters for special school occassions, eg. Anti Bullying Day, Plant A Tree Day, Care For The Cassowary, etc.
- A glog poster can be made to display on a library computer with book/author of the week/month. Children entering library can learn more about authors with links, audio and images.
Threats:
- Not 100% certain about how secure glogs are even though teachers are able to have an account with students signed in under them. These are online spaces where photos and personal information are added. Is Glogster eq endorsed? I'll have to find out!
- students can get carried away with adding too many graphics making it hard to decipher.
This tool takes the urban phenomenon of scrapbooking and drops it into an interactive online space where you can add images, text, audio and video, publish it and have it viewed by others.
I can see this presentation tool being a real winner with students, especially those who aren't successful with handwriting or drawing. Gone are the days of presentations being made on an A2 piece of card with the felt pen scrawled across it running from sweaty hands. This tool should be an option for every student who ever has a presentation to make. Students can take turns presenting their Glog to the class on an interactive whiteboard and choose viewers to come up and interact with the poster. I can see this being a creative, fun and exciting learning tool with the level of engagement being quite high when each child's poster is displayed to the whole class.
This is a learning tool that can be used to support all the KLA's with educational graphics ready to use. Glogster claims that Glogster edu is a secure and private platform which is monitered directly by the registering teacher with master account controls. The teacher registering for Glogster moniters the content of all students glogs. All students are given a password and they will only be able to communicate and see other glogs created within their classroom.
Their is a rating process for student glogs, however it is merely the clicking of stars on a five-star scale underneath each glog. This would probably only be used by myself as a form of encouragement with assessment being undertaken in the typical fashion as per the QCAR framework.
Strengths:
- gives students the opportunity to use digital technology for presentations.
- enables not so creative students to be very creative quite easily.
- when presentations are being made, viewers would be more engaged than if they were watching and listening to a more traditional presentation.
- very eye-catching and colourful.
- students can connect to other student's glogs in the classroom.
Weaknesses:
- to print out you would lose all interactive components of the glog, eg. links,audio and video.
- not a lot of space for text once images have been used.
- students would have to work on the glogs at school only as teachers need to sign students in and monitor work.
- can encounter technical difficulties.
Opportunities:
- At the start of the school year teachers could make an interactive classroom rules poster to dispaly on the interactive whiteboard. Students could take turns discovering links, audio and video.
- Teachers could make a weekly glog presentation poster of what the week will include for the class; what they learnt in the week prior; any new and interesting thing coming to the class, eg. Reader's Cup Challenge, Arts Council etc.
- Teachers could make a poster for the start of each term with snippets of what will be happening in that term for the class, eg. Yoga, Athletics Carnival, Cross Country, Mothers Day, etc.
- Students can design awareness posters for special school occassions, eg. Anti Bullying Day, Plant A Tree Day, Care For The Cassowary, etc.
- A glog poster can be made to display on a library computer with book/author of the week/month. Children entering library can learn more about authors with links, audio and images.
Threats:
- Not 100% certain about how secure glogs are even though teachers are able to have an account with students signed in under them. These are online spaces where photos and personal information are added. Is Glogster eq endorsed? I'll have to find out!
- students can get carried away with adding too many graphics making it hard to decipher.
Saturday 2 April 2011
Blog Reflections - Images and Ebooks
I must concede that Mobaphoto and I had a disagreeance in the downloading process and in the end I had no more time to spend on this task especially with the multitude of other activities waiting to be completed. Instead I chose to use Picture Manager to resize my own photos to embed into my wiki and webspace. This was an easy, effortless process that didn't require the one thing I'm lacking - time.
I'll be honest and admit I spent minimal time exploring Flickr, to which I added a personal photo which I was then able to link to my blog. Flickr is a website that houses images and videos that are uploaded by anyone to be shared and even embedded into personal blogs. Once photos are uploaded each photo should be tagged to enable viewers ease of access to a particular topic they may be searching for as photos would be grouped to different categories. The term 'folksonomy', created by Thomas Vander Wal is used to describe this action of collaborative tagging, which is extremely useful when searching for something specific, almost like a picture dictionary. The term 'picture dictionary' is what I will use to remember what Flickr is.
ebooks
ebooks can be made using a variety of programs, but I will talk about the free ones! One of these is called Flip Flash Album which allows users to add their own images, music and text as well as select from provided graphics. By creating an Ebook that allows you to upload your own images, students can make real life connections to a certain topic. This enables a more engaging experience as relations are formed through authenticity. Completed ebooks can be stored in students Virtual Class Room's for easy access.
Picture Book Maker is another ebook creating site, however it doesn't allow the addition of your own images, but has a small range of very cute images to choose from. It's simply a matter of clicking on the images you want for each page, then adding your text. This is a wonderful ebooking opportunity for Preps and the lower primary grades as it's very user friendly and quick to make.A Gorilla Called Gravy
I'll be honest and admit I spent minimal time exploring Flickr, to which I added a personal photo which I was then able to link to my blog. Flickr is a website that houses images and videos that are uploaded by anyone to be shared and even embedded into personal blogs. Once photos are uploaded each photo should be tagged to enable viewers ease of access to a particular topic they may be searching for as photos would be grouped to different categories. The term 'folksonomy', created by Thomas Vander Wal is used to describe this action of collaborative tagging, which is extremely useful when searching for something specific, almost like a picture dictionary. The term 'picture dictionary' is what I will use to remember what Flickr is.
ebooks
ebooks can be made using a variety of programs, but I will talk about the free ones! One of these is called Flip Flash Album which allows users to add their own images, music and text as well as select from provided graphics. By creating an Ebook that allows you to upload your own images, students can make real life connections to a certain topic. This enables a more engaging experience as relations are formed through authenticity. Completed ebooks can be stored in students Virtual Class Room's for easy access.
Picture Book Maker is another ebook creating site, however it doesn't allow the addition of your own images, but has a small range of very cute images to choose from. It's simply a matter of clicking on the images you want for each page, then adding your text. This is a wonderful ebooking opportunity for Preps and the lower primary grades as it's very user friendly and quick to make.A Gorilla Called Gravy
MovieMaker
Not only did I make a little flick using my photos taken after Cyclone Yasi destructively forced it's way through our lives, but you might also understand why I seem a bit feisty and somewhat scattered.
Each time I view this my heart races and the emotions flow in all directions. It has been an absolutely terrible start to my studying year and sometimes I just don't know if all this stress is worth it. Thank God, or whoever, for my supportive family. It is a daily struggle trying to stretch myself out to include work, family, business and home commitments, (or trying to get home back in order) not to mention endless phone calls to insurance companies who seem to be experts at dodging their job. Bring on normality!
On the positive, I really enjoyed making this little movie, boasting to my husband that I'm now a film maker. I could get really hooked on this program if, you guessed it, I had the time. MovieMaker is quite an easy program to use as all the steps are laid out for you. Unfortunately I didn't get to utilise all the tools, however for what I was doing I seemed to have told my story well without the use of too many fancy aides as the photos really said it all.
I can see this program being used for a major assessment piece where children take their own photos and add chosen audio or make it a collaborative effort between a few different classes. One group to take the photos and give direction, maybe a music class to write and produce the music to go with the photos and another group, perhaps an ICT class to bring it all together as one.
We have a local Show in Tully every year where each school in the area has a designated space to display some great work. Unfortunately space is very limited, therefore not everyone's work gets displayed. This would be a great way around that problem having images and music/audio/video displayed on a constant circuit.
I find that when viewing this flick it is better watched at the size it is on screen as it seems to lose its clarity when enlarged.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Podcast
My singing daughter.
This took me a week and a half of procrastination and about an hour to actually do. Next time I'll be much quicker. I can only hope because that week and a half was a nightmare!
Take two! I tried again with the podcasting to see if I could do it any quicker and amazingly enough I could. This time I decided to make an audio recording of my daughter, the guinea pig, giving an oral critique of a portrait in my art critique wiki space. What a great idea if I do say so myself!
I have also dabbled with Audacity to create an audio recording. This is a freeware program that students can use fairly easily. Allowing students to record themselves speaking is a great way to improve their reading skills. This gives them the opportunity to hear how they read, for example, and pick up where they are going wrong and discuss ways to improve reading techniques, such as using expression and punctuation.
By the way, once you accidentally put a background colour into your posting, how on earth do you get rid of it???
This took me a week and a half of procrastination and about an hour to actually do. Next time I'll be much quicker. I can only hope because that week and a half was a nightmare!
Take two! I tried again with the podcasting to see if I could do it any quicker and amazingly enough I could. This time I decided to make an audio recording of my daughter, the guinea pig, giving an oral critique of a portrait in my art critique wiki space. What a great idea if I do say so myself!
I have also dabbled with Audacity to create an audio recording. This is a freeware program that students can use fairly easily. Allowing students to record themselves speaking is a great way to improve their reading skills. This gives them the opportunity to hear how they read, for example, and pick up where they are going wrong and discuss ways to improve reading techniques, such as using expression and punctuation.
By the way, once you accidentally put a background colour into your posting, how on earth do you get rid of it???
Monday 21 March 2011
The potential of Blogs in the teaching context
Strengths
- gives students the opportunity to reflect on their own work or collaborative work and perhaps see where to better their understanding.
- gain more knowledge from viewing different points of view.
- allows connections to be made between students.
- constructive comments can be left from teacher/students.
- allows for non-confident students to publish their thoughts without sharing verbally.
- not all students would feel comfortable about making public their thoughts.
- non-verbal students may not advance their speaking skills if only reflect via blog.
- links can be made to connect to other students work, eg. e-books, wikis etc.
- teacher could have a blog of their weeks reflections ("had a great week discovering ......") with links for students to access Learning Place activities or examples.
- can edit blog at a later date to change knowledge and information once more is gained or perception changed.
- students would have to remain on task with teacher constantly checking blogs as some students might abuse the tool and leave non-appropriate dialogue.
Saturday 19 March 2011
WIKI AND WEEBLY
My first step for week 3 was to create my own wiki and to give it a purpose in a learning context. I chose to set up a wiki to give students the opportunity to critique other student's artwork. My home page was used to give directions for adding to the wiki. These steps assume that the teacher is uploading all images leaving the students to fill in a description of the artwork, criteria and year level. Once this page is complete it's onto question time in the form of a scaffolded art critique on a separate page.
Enabling each student to comment on their peers work in this way would be a useful tool for teachers to gauge if students are actually engaging in the set task. Viewing the answers they leave could possibly indicate if the student has grasped an understanding of the art lessons. However it would be hard to know if they've actually just copied previous student's answers and haven't taken careful thought themselves.
This wiki allows students to make connections and has the potential to increase interactions with peers. Once all contributions are made group or class discussions can commence with the teacher quoting interesting observations and feedback.
The topic I chose, with the questions I left probably isn't suitable for younger year levels as they may not handle a critique that is not left in a positive way. This is where the wiki would be changed to suit.
I also created a website in conjunction with the wiki where the whole school can view student's artwork. This is the Art Gallery. There is a link in the Art Gallery that allows you, once you've finished viewing, to go to the Art Critiques page in wikispaces to get a better understanding of each artwork.
I find this to potentially be a very useful way to get student's artwork seen by the rest of the school as not all schools have the wall space to exhibit. Students would gain a sense of accomplishment and pride at having their work exhibited in a professional manner.
This website also allows other outside links to be made available, perhaps from other school's art departments, therefore allowing more connections and interactions to be made.
In an Education Queensland setting I'm not sure whether or not the implementation of such a website could be allowed. I believe blogs and wikis are able to be constructed in the Learning Place, and I know each school has there own general website that anyone can access, but for one to be set up for one specific KLA I really don't know. Maybe someone could answer that one for me?
Enabling each student to comment on their peers work in this way would be a useful tool for teachers to gauge if students are actually engaging in the set task. Viewing the answers they leave could possibly indicate if the student has grasped an understanding of the art lessons. However it would be hard to know if they've actually just copied previous student's answers and haven't taken careful thought themselves.
This wiki allows students to make connections and has the potential to increase interactions with peers. Once all contributions are made group or class discussions can commence with the teacher quoting interesting observations and feedback.
The topic I chose, with the questions I left probably isn't suitable for younger year levels as they may not handle a critique that is not left in a positive way. This is where the wiki would be changed to suit.
I also created a website in conjunction with the wiki where the whole school can view student's artwork. This is the Art Gallery. There is a link in the Art Gallery that allows you, once you've finished viewing, to go to the Art Critiques page in wikispaces to get a better understanding of each artwork.
I find this to potentially be a very useful way to get student's artwork seen by the rest of the school as not all schools have the wall space to exhibit. Students would gain a sense of accomplishment and pride at having their work exhibited in a professional manner.
This website also allows other outside links to be made available, perhaps from other school's art departments, therefore allowing more connections and interactions to be made.
In an Education Queensland setting I'm not sure whether or not the implementation of such a website could be allowed. I believe blogs and wikis are able to be constructed in the Learning Place, and I know each school has there own general website that anyone can access, but for one to be set up for one specific KLA I really don't know. Maybe someone could answer that one for me?
Wednesday 16 March 2011
In conclusion........
The past three weeks of this GDLT have seen me engage in learning theories and tools that I otherwise might not have contemplated or discussed. Overcoming the stumbling blocks of fulfilling a wiki activity has been enlightening and given me a sense of achievement.
The profile wiki activity was my beginners introduction to wikis. I found that having access to other's profiles very helpful for further activities thus allowing Connectivism (Siemens,2004), to play a relative role. This Connectivism theory has enabled a realisation of exactly how much I rely on gathering information from outer digital sources to supplement and advance my knowledge and learning practices. In today's digital age of learning, and speaking in the context of Connectivism, it is not so much the know-how or what that is priority, but where you are going to find the information. This is definitely, I feel, a key to teaching successfully in today's ICT enveloped era.
Only for a very small part I believe Behaviourism (Gredler, 2001) still exists in learning, however I only see this being effective in the P-3 years. For the years after this mentioned age group, I feel learners need more than praise to keep them engaged. An example of keeping myself engaged while learning was partaking in the Learning Theory Wiki. Undoubtedly if this task had not required collaboration and reporting digitally, I would have found it to be another long winded and lonely reading. Because this activity was conducted in a new and interesting format I was instantly connected, with the connectivity not stopping there. To be knowledgeable in other learners assigned readings, their wikis had to be accessed, therefore more connections were being made. I was able to relate this activity not only to Connectivism but also the Constructivist Learning Theory through (Modritscher, 2006,7), "The learner is to seek out the knowledge or solve the problem on their own....". Once my personal observations had taken place collaboration began.
The Mobile Phone wiki introduced another new learning tool in the way of De Bonos 6 Thinking Hats (1985). This was an enjoyable task adding to the communal opinion ladder and being able to view everyone's thoughts. Wiki's are definitely an instant way of breaking thinking patterns that have embedded over time. Thoughts and opinions of others suddenly transcended to either alter or amplify my own. Immediate learning occurred when reading other's ideas that hadn't entered my train of thought.
In conclusion I have found the three aforementioned exercises to be of great value to my personal learning. These activities have given me newly developed skills and knowledge to take to my own classroom and pass onto my learners and understand better how they learn. Digital learning relaxes the constraints of traditional methods allowing for creativity and connections to be made with a seemingly endless supply of knowledge to be acquired.
The profile wiki activity was my beginners introduction to wikis. I found that having access to other's profiles very helpful for further activities thus allowing Connectivism (Siemens,2004), to play a relative role. This Connectivism theory has enabled a realisation of exactly how much I rely on gathering information from outer digital sources to supplement and advance my knowledge and learning practices. In today's digital age of learning, and speaking in the context of Connectivism, it is not so much the know-how or what that is priority, but where you are going to find the information. This is definitely, I feel, a key to teaching successfully in today's ICT enveloped era.
Only for a very small part I believe Behaviourism (Gredler, 2001) still exists in learning, however I only see this being effective in the P-3 years. For the years after this mentioned age group, I feel learners need more than praise to keep them engaged. An example of keeping myself engaged while learning was partaking in the Learning Theory Wiki. Undoubtedly if this task had not required collaboration and reporting digitally, I would have found it to be another long winded and lonely reading. Because this activity was conducted in a new and interesting format I was instantly connected, with the connectivity not stopping there. To be knowledgeable in other learners assigned readings, their wikis had to be accessed, therefore more connections were being made. I was able to relate this activity not only to Connectivism but also the Constructivist Learning Theory through (Modritscher, 2006,7), "The learner is to seek out the knowledge or solve the problem on their own....". Once my personal observations had taken place collaboration began.
The Mobile Phone wiki introduced another new learning tool in the way of De Bonos 6 Thinking Hats (1985). This was an enjoyable task adding to the communal opinion ladder and being able to view everyone's thoughts. Wiki's are definitely an instant way of breaking thinking patterns that have embedded over time. Thoughts and opinions of others suddenly transcended to either alter or amplify my own. Immediate learning occurred when reading other's ideas that hadn't entered my train of thought.
In conclusion I have found the three aforementioned exercises to be of great value to my personal learning. These activities have given me newly developed skills and knowledge to take to my own classroom and pass onto my learners and understand better how they learn. Digital learning relaxes the constraints of traditional methods allowing for creativity and connections to be made with a seemingly endless supply of knowledge to be acquired.
Monday 14 March 2011
Sunday 13 March 2011
BLOG REFLECTIONS SCAFFOLD
The purpose of a wiki - how does it support learning?
Wikis are a great ICT tool that I had no prior knowledge of, but now, I"M EXCITED!!
As a learner I must admit initially it scared the pants off me, because it was something so foreign. Now I can see the extraordinarily large potential to myself as a learner and to my learners. Wiki's are a way of quickly collaborating and sharing ideas and knowledge. They allow amazingly easy access to other's opinions, where comparisons can be made and even the opportunity to modify other's input.
My students will probably be excited at the prospect of this information sharing as it's done individually or, (can be done in pairs or small groups) to begin with, but becomes a collaborative whole class effort in the end, not to mention the most important factor, and that is a wiki being a digital tool.
With learners posting their own ideas and sharing their thoughts and what they believe, this leads me to think this is a constructivist and cognitivist activity. I can't find elements of Behaviourism in this activity. Connectively, yes, an excellent way to make connections with other people and their information.
I'm not sure about catering for a diversity of learners using this tool, but because using a wiki can be so much fun I think it would engage most learners. Wiki's are definately a great alternative learning process that is engaging and creative.
Wikis are a great ICT tool that I had no prior knowledge of, but now, I"M EXCITED!!
As a learner I must admit initially it scared the pants off me, because it was something so foreign. Now I can see the extraordinarily large potential to myself as a learner and to my learners. Wiki's are a way of quickly collaborating and sharing ideas and knowledge. They allow amazingly easy access to other's opinions, where comparisons can be made and even the opportunity to modify other's input.
My students will probably be excited at the prospect of this information sharing as it's done individually or, (can be done in pairs or small groups) to begin with, but becomes a collaborative whole class effort in the end, not to mention the most important factor, and that is a wiki being a digital tool.
With learners posting their own ideas and sharing their thoughts and what they believe, this leads me to think this is a constructivist and cognitivist activity. I can't find elements of Behaviourism in this activity. Connectively, yes, an excellent way to make connections with other people and their information.
I'm not sure about catering for a diversity of learners using this tool, but because using a wiki can be so much fun I think it would engage most learners. Wiki's are definately a great alternative learning process that is engaging and creative.
Friday 11 March 2011
BLOG REFLECTIONS SCAFFOLD
BLOG REFLECTIONS AS A JOURNAL
Well for starters I can say I now know how to blog! If it wasn't for studying this GDLT I probably never would have considered setting one up. This is a fantastic tool for reflecting on my learning. It has made me consider more and given me a sense of achievement. Having access to other people's reflections has also been highly beneficial as it allows deeper ponderings to occur when reading something I hadn't previously considered.
Using a blog to reflect can give learners the opportunity to self assess and critique. They can make their way up the Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) ladder into higher-order thinking and bring all of their creative ideas together.
Unless someone is giving personal feedback on my blog I can't see how Behaviourism is connected to this activity. If, however, we're talking about self appraising, then I can say that after comparing my own blog to others, I have beat myself up a bit and this did have an affect on my behaviour, but I can't tell you what I did and said because it's probably not appropriate.
Through posting my findings and thoughts to a blog it enabled me to have an active role in my own learning processes. By sharing analytical thoughts, making connections and comparing to others I can see that there are elements of the 3C's - that is Constructivism, Connectivism and Cognitivism.
Posting results, thoughts, findings, etc., to a blog enables students to reflect in a way which is definately more fun and exciting then paper and pencil. It gives them the opportunity to be metacognitive before branching out and viewing other's posts and learning even more.
Well for starters I can say I now know how to blog! If it wasn't for studying this GDLT I probably never would have considered setting one up. This is a fantastic tool for reflecting on my learning. It has made me consider more and given me a sense of achievement. Having access to other people's reflections has also been highly beneficial as it allows deeper ponderings to occur when reading something I hadn't previously considered.
Using a blog to reflect can give learners the opportunity to self assess and critique. They can make their way up the Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) ladder into higher-order thinking and bring all of their creative ideas together.
Unless someone is giving personal feedback on my blog I can't see how Behaviourism is connected to this activity. If, however, we're talking about self appraising, then I can say that after comparing my own blog to others, I have beat myself up a bit and this did have an affect on my behaviour, but I can't tell you what I did and said because it's probably not appropriate.
Through posting my findings and thoughts to a blog it enabled me to have an active role in my own learning processes. By sharing analytical thoughts, making connections and comparing to others I can see that there are elements of the 3C's - that is Constructivism, Connectivism and Cognitivism.
Posting results, thoughts, findings, etc., to a blog enables students to reflect in a way which is definately more fun and exciting then paper and pencil. It gives them the opportunity to be metacognitive before branching out and viewing other's posts and learning even more.
Thursday 10 March 2011
BLOG REFLECTIONS SCAFFOLD
Mobile Wiki
Firstly this activity asked questions that I normally wouldn't ask and answer. I didn't consider allowing mobile phones into schools for this purpose. De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats (1985) is a great method to use in a wiki for the purpose of evaluating a certain topic, asking questions and allowing the formation of opinions and perspectives.
Students, I feel would benefit well from using this method of debate. The 6 hats with their different perspectives seem to be a great method for students to have their input in a relatively easy way and if used effectively delves into higher order thinking. Once everyone's thoughts are submitted discussion and evaluation can take place.
This is a great connectivist form of learning and cognitively an opportunity to share ones thoughts and opinions. Constructively, questions posed can lead to deeper individual understanding when the evaluation process occurs.
I believe the design of this activity does support a diverse range of learners as it contains elements of all styles of learning. This digital learning technique has brought what could possibly be a mundane excercise into the 21st century and would be well accepted by our "digital natives".
Firstly this activity asked questions that I normally wouldn't ask and answer. I didn't consider allowing mobile phones into schools for this purpose. De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats (1985) is a great method to use in a wiki for the purpose of evaluating a certain topic, asking questions and allowing the formation of opinions and perspectives.
Students, I feel would benefit well from using this method of debate. The 6 hats with their different perspectives seem to be a great method for students to have their input in a relatively easy way and if used effectively delves into higher order thinking. Once everyone's thoughts are submitted discussion and evaluation can take place.
This is a great connectivist form of learning and cognitively an opportunity to share ones thoughts and opinions. Constructively, questions posed can lead to deeper individual understanding when the evaluation process occurs.
I believe the design of this activity does support a diverse range of learners as it contains elements of all styles of learning. This digital learning technique has brought what could possibly be a mundane excercise into the 21st century and would be well accepted by our "digital natives".
Tuesday 8 March 2011
BLOG REFLECTIONS SCAFFOLD
Learning Theories Wiki
This activity stepped me out of my comfort zone, but in saying that I felt somewhat relieved to be sharing thoughts and perceptions with a partner. Because of this collaborative style of learning I was able to compare my sometimes uncertain interpretations with that of my chosen partner. We decided on a lengthy phone call to discuss each others opinions, however my partner did get the ball rolling with her PMI's already on the wiki. Once we'd spoken we altered or added to the wiki my interpretations as well.
A PMI wiki could be a great digital tool for students to delve more deeply into a better understanding of whatever it is they are trying to decipher. With these wikis being able to be accessed by other students it then allows for group discussion once all wikis are read.
This activity did have elements of constructivism, as opinions were formed. A definite yes to connectivism as connections were made and cognitivism showed as my partner and myself had differing thoughts and attitudes.
I'm not sure that this activity did support a diverse range of learners. I, for one, hate the sound of my own voice, whether it be out loud or in my head. Therefore, the extensive reading element wasn't good for me. Short and to the point would be good. The PMI however required that everything be read to get a good enough understanding to supply the wiki with PMI information.
Because it was asked that we choose a partner, the profile wiki had to be accessed. I specifically chose my partner from the profile wiki as it gave me a good indication of compatibilty. Then a reading was chosen, web sites accessed, a variety of readings took place with a PMI capping it off. With this being a collaborative effort it was always in the back of my mind not to let my partner down, therefore giving me more motivation. I believe we were part of a "Learning Engagement Theory" in that we worked collaboratively to plan and manage our own project in order to create a technology based summary, which was the wiki.
This activity stepped me out of my comfort zone, but in saying that I felt somewhat relieved to be sharing thoughts and perceptions with a partner. Because of this collaborative style of learning I was able to compare my sometimes uncertain interpretations with that of my chosen partner. We decided on a lengthy phone call to discuss each others opinions, however my partner did get the ball rolling with her PMI's already on the wiki. Once we'd spoken we altered or added to the wiki my interpretations as well.
A PMI wiki could be a great digital tool for students to delve more deeply into a better understanding of whatever it is they are trying to decipher. With these wikis being able to be accessed by other students it then allows for group discussion once all wikis are read.
This activity did have elements of constructivism, as opinions were formed. A definite yes to connectivism as connections were made and cognitivism showed as my partner and myself had differing thoughts and attitudes.
I'm not sure that this activity did support a diverse range of learners. I, for one, hate the sound of my own voice, whether it be out loud or in my head. Therefore, the extensive reading element wasn't good for me. Short and to the point would be good. The PMI however required that everything be read to get a good enough understanding to supply the wiki with PMI information.
Because it was asked that we choose a partner, the profile wiki had to be accessed. I specifically chose my partner from the profile wiki as it gave me a good indication of compatibilty. Then a reading was chosen, web sites accessed, a variety of readings took place with a PMI capping it off. With this being a collaborative effort it was always in the back of my mind not to let my partner down, therefore giving me more motivation. I believe we were part of a "Learning Engagement Theory" in that we worked collaboratively to plan and manage our own project in order to create a technology based summary, which was the wiki.
Monday 7 March 2011
BLOG REFLECTIONS SCAFFOLD
Profile Wiki
Navigating my path to the actual activity was a bit of a challenge as I have trust issues with ICT tools I have never used before. Call me a "Digital Immigrant". Once I surrendered myself to the Wiki and opened my mind I found it incredibly useful in terms of discovering my weaknesses and strengths, knowing the same of others and finding compatible learners to make conatact with, therefore this activity had visible elements of constructivism, cognitivism and connectivism.
This could be a useful strategy to support learning of students. Answering profile questions that are accessible by other students allows each child to have a better understanding of their own learnings and personal characteristics as well as others. This enables connections to be made not just with similar students, but with students who may be of assistance. The process therefore gives the teacher an indication of the learners abilities and where they might struggle.
Students who have no confidence or experience in ICT may have struggeld with this task slightly. On the other hand, once the profile wiki was accessed it was just a matter of filling in the answers. Initially, because I didn't know what a wiki was, I thought I was never going to understand or sucseed with this activity.
Navigating my path to the actual activity was a bit of a challenge as I have trust issues with ICT tools I have never used before. Call me a "Digital Immigrant". Once I surrendered myself to the Wiki and opened my mind I found it incredibly useful in terms of discovering my weaknesses and strengths, knowing the same of others and finding compatible learners to make conatact with, therefore this activity had visible elements of constructivism, cognitivism and connectivism.
This could be a useful strategy to support learning of students. Answering profile questions that are accessible by other students allows each child to have a better understanding of their own learnings and personal characteristics as well as others. This enables connections to be made not just with similar students, but with students who may be of assistance. The process therefore gives the teacher an indication of the learners abilities and where they might struggle.
Students who have no confidence or experience in ICT may have struggeld with this task slightly. On the other hand, once the profile wiki was accessed it was just a matter of filling in the answers. Initially, because I didn't know what a wiki was, I thought I was never going to understand or sucseed with this activity.
Thursday 3 March 2011
Multiple Intelligence Test
Well it seems I'm body smart, and looking down at my muffin top, I don't know about that. Seriously though, I can agree to a certain extent that I'm a pretty hands on type of person. (hands on the Chocolate Muffin and into the mouth)
No surprises here that I flunked in the Number Smart Dept. My brain and numbers have a long and tumultuous relationship.
Everything else seems to be okay I guess. I'm puzzled though as to why, when musically I look to be up there, that I'm not a Karaoke Rock Star!!
Finally......Learning Styles Results
I'm an active learner - that's right, I absolutely cannot sit for long periods just listening. I like to think that I do find a balance between being active and reflective, however the test shows I'm strongly on the active side. I can sometimes charge into things like a bull at a gate without proper thought first.
In regards to sensory and intuitive learning I'm on a pretty even keel which is great because that's telling me I don't have to work too hard to compensate for one or the other. It does help, however, to know how these learnings operate.
It's surprising to find that I'm only just on the visual side of the visual/verbal scale, as I thought I was a big visual learner. I do know that I definately struggle when trying to learn in a mainly spoken situation. I have a tendency to switch off even when the words are spoken in my own head while reading.
On the Sequential/Global scale, I'm leaning slightly towards being a global learner. I do jump to the end sometimes to find a solution and then find myself having to go back later to fill in the steps and justify my answers. The big picture is important to me and I need this before going ahead. My head can't deal well with short bursts of learning on many different subjects. I work much better in large bursts concentrating on one thing.
On the converse, mostly I feel I'm a pretty regimental, organised person and I do require a mapped out day. Now I'm getting confused!!
Wednesday 2 March 2011
21st Century Learners
digital natives or digital immigrants Prensky (2001)
I'm a digital immigrant and I agree that their could be a problem with people like myself trying to teach digital natives. Hopefully, though, after completing this GDLT I will be speaking with another accent.
Because children today are born into this digital age they are not struggling (like someone I know) to understand the concepts and workings as they have not yet been moulded in any one way.
Digital immigrants have to try and re-program while facing many challenges. A tendency to overanalyse as well as trust issues are just a couple that I personally face.
engage or enrage - prensky (2005)
Good old Prensky! He quotes a professor as saying, "Their short attention spans are only for the old ways of learning". Prensky's right when he says children "don't have short attention spans for their games, movies, music or Internet surfing".
I've been in many classromms where children are fidgeting, talking, yawning, rocking and then suddenly the IWB lights up displaying something eyecatchingly vibrant, which moves and talks, and hey presto!......
......we have an engaged class.
I'm a digital immigrant and I agree that their could be a problem with people like myself trying to teach digital natives. Hopefully, though, after completing this GDLT I will be speaking with another accent.
Because children today are born into this digital age they are not struggling (like someone I know) to understand the concepts and workings as they have not yet been moulded in any one way.
Digital immigrants have to try and re-program while facing many challenges. A tendency to overanalyse as well as trust issues are just a couple that I personally face.
engage or enrage - prensky (2005)
Good old Prensky! He quotes a professor as saying, "Their short attention spans are only for the old ways of learning". Prensky's right when he says children "don't have short attention spans for their games, movies, music or Internet surfing".
I've been in many classromms where children are fidgeting, talking, yawning, rocking and then suddenly the IWB lights up displaying something eyecatchingly vibrant, which moves and talks, and hey presto!......
......we have an engaged class.
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Felder and Soloman Messing With My Learning!
Well I've taken the test, twice! I seem to have misplaced the results for the first one and didn't remember to copy and save. Would be interesting to compare them both.
So I've taken the test, but Felder and Soloman are temporarily unavailable to decipher what this all means to me. Until I can get some understanding I just have to give you what I believe is my Learning Style and later we'll see if I was right or not.
I believe I'm typically a visual learner, but also like to be quite hands on. I was that child at school who while the teacher was reading to the class The Chronicles of Narnia, I was thinking about the plaits I was going to put in my Barbies hair that afternoon. Then when it came time for a book report I would cry because I didn't have a clue about what I was supposed to be listening to. Maybe the book was just boring. Actually it was probably the teachers voice putting me to sleep.
I definately can't sit and listen to long winded instructions or information without my mind transporting to another place. Give me some pictures with colour, sound and music and definately movement.
In a traditional classroom of 25 students, how would you support the range of learning styles each lesson?
Firstly I would try and identify the children with learning dificulites that need extra support and students who may be very disruptive to the class. If I can retain the focus of these children, chances are I'll have the whole class engaged. A powerful tool for doing this is ICT, as we can either work collectively with the aide of an Interactive White Board, with children taking turns to manipulate and change what they see; or working independently or in pairs with a laptop.
ICT supports many varied learning styles because of the visual, kinaesthetic and auditory processes involved.
Watching what can typically be a boring delivery of a maths lesson using traditional means, can be extremely engaging when utilising ICT tools. Interacting with colour, sound and movement, I feel, is highly beneficial to todays learner.
With you current knowledge of ICT, how could your design and digital pedagogy support your learners better?
- I would definately have the use of an IWB in my classroom to implement class lessons.
- Using the internet to find resources/ideas to better supplement my program.
- Using school based websites such as Learning Place.
- Allowing students access to laptops and the internet, Ipods, and technologies such as BeeBots, (programable electronic bugs).
What sorts of profiling questions would you be asking about your learners to ensure you cater for everyone's preferences?
- Do you prefer to work in a class situation, being instructed through the task as a whole or independently at your own pace?
- Would you feel more comfortable working with like learners in small group situations at your groups level?
- Would you feel comfortable leaving your desk to use the IWB in front of the class?
- Do you like to have instructions explained visually/verbally or both?
- Do you feel more comfortable writing or typing?
How does ICT support differences in learning styles?
Children who struggle learning using traditional means can have access to a huge array of ICT tools to make their learning easier and more enjoyable.
Individually they can use laptops and Ipods, or as a whole class, collaboratively using the IWB.
Either of these methods of delivery is hugely effective as they both have a seemingly endless supply of learning applications available.
Programs like Spelling Machine and Wordle are great for non-confident spellers and readers as it makes learning fun and interactive.
Makaton/Auslan - signing for hearing impaired. Visual aides can be loaded onto personal Ipods with children learning that at the press of a button they can access a voice.
Can you answer this?
Why do State School's have to struggle to have enough laptops for each classroom?
So I've taken the test, but Felder and Soloman are temporarily unavailable to decipher what this all means to me. Until I can get some understanding I just have to give you what I believe is my Learning Style and later we'll see if I was right or not.
I believe I'm typically a visual learner, but also like to be quite hands on. I was that child at school who while the teacher was reading to the class The Chronicles of Narnia, I was thinking about the plaits I was going to put in my Barbies hair that afternoon. Then when it came time for a book report I would cry because I didn't have a clue about what I was supposed to be listening to. Maybe the book was just boring. Actually it was probably the teachers voice putting me to sleep.
I definately can't sit and listen to long winded instructions or information without my mind transporting to another place. Give me some pictures with colour, sound and music and definately movement.
In a traditional classroom of 25 students, how would you support the range of learning styles each lesson?
Firstly I would try and identify the children with learning dificulites that need extra support and students who may be very disruptive to the class. If I can retain the focus of these children, chances are I'll have the whole class engaged. A powerful tool for doing this is ICT, as we can either work collectively with the aide of an Interactive White Board, with children taking turns to manipulate and change what they see; or working independently or in pairs with a laptop.
ICT supports many varied learning styles because of the visual, kinaesthetic and auditory processes involved.
Watching what can typically be a boring delivery of a maths lesson using traditional means, can be extremely engaging when utilising ICT tools. Interacting with colour, sound and movement, I feel, is highly beneficial to todays learner.
With you current knowledge of ICT, how could your design and digital pedagogy support your learners better?
- I would definately have the use of an IWB in my classroom to implement class lessons.
- Using the internet to find resources/ideas to better supplement my program.
- Using school based websites such as Learning Place.
- Allowing students access to laptops and the internet, Ipods, and technologies such as BeeBots, (programable electronic bugs).
What sorts of profiling questions would you be asking about your learners to ensure you cater for everyone's preferences?
- Do you prefer to work in a class situation, being instructed through the task as a whole or independently at your own pace?
- Would you feel more comfortable working with like learners in small group situations at your groups level?
- Would you feel comfortable leaving your desk to use the IWB in front of the class?
- Do you like to have instructions explained visually/verbally or both?
- Do you feel more comfortable writing or typing?
How does ICT support differences in learning styles?
Children who struggle learning using traditional means can have access to a huge array of ICT tools to make their learning easier and more enjoyable.
Individually they can use laptops and Ipods, or as a whole class, collaboratively using the IWB.
Either of these methods of delivery is hugely effective as they both have a seemingly endless supply of learning applications available.
Programs like Spelling Machine and Wordle are great for non-confident spellers and readers as it makes learning fun and interactive.
Makaton/Auslan - signing for hearing impaired. Visual aides can be loaded onto personal Ipods with children learning that at the press of a button they can access a voice.
Can you answer this?
Why do State School's have to struggle to have enough laptops for each classroom?
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