Wow, what a journey this has been. These past 6 weeks I have experienced an information overload, having said this I thoroughly enjoyed it and my eyes have been opened up to a whole new ICT world. ICT's are fundamental learning tools for the 21st century student. They provide a vast array of learning opportunities and tools that allow learners to make sense of the world.
I have learnt that there are vast amounts of pedagogical tools that can be very beneficial to engage learners. In 1999 Greg Kearsley and Ben Shneiderman released a paper that offered a formulaic approach to engaging learners of all ages. The learning engagement theory states that in order for meaningful learning to occur the students must relate, create and donate. The use of the pedagogical tools mentioned in this blog allow students to do this.
Depending on what class I was teaching would depend on the technologies I used. Most are appropiate for any class however some may be more usefull or more effective then others. Lets say I'm an english teacher I would opt for blogs, Podcasting, webquests, you tube and WIKIs.
As an education tool Blogs have many strong applications that include:
-student reflective journals
-class website for extra resources and sharing successes
-creative writing space
Webquest, although very time consuming, are a great tool to engage students. webquests allows students to truely engage as they are able relate create donate by using webquests. The ICT learning design suggests beginning by designing real world tasks that are messy and ill structured and webquests are perfect to use in this situation, and an example of this is Scot Aldred's webquests.
You tube allows teachers to upload their own videos and access videos that are already on there. The other advantage of using you-tube rather then, lets say a video, is that the students can access it at home and save time re-watching the video in class.
Through these past 6 weeks I have visited my peers blogs and commented on some of their postings. I enjoyed reading about how they would encorporate technology into their classrooms compared to how I would incorporate it, especially because a number of them are from a generation above myself. I found it interesting how many different ways each technology could be used. For example some people would use music as background music while others would use it as a means to write an essay about music. I have commented on the following blogs (but I couldn't remember them all)
-http://deb-myassessmentblog.blogspot.com/
-http://aliceslearningjourney.blogspot.com/
-http://bronteprofessionalblog.blogspot.com/
-http://katrina-bubbleon.blogspot.com/
I look forward to learning about other pedagogical tools which I can use and further enhancing my knowledge about the ones I have only recently discovered! Until next time, bye.
Voice thread
Voice thread allows you to make a range of comment types (text, drawing, voice, file upload, & video) on a video or image. I think voice thread would be a very useful ICT tool to incorporate into the classroom.
One way in which I think voice thread would be useful is for a History test. I remember when I was at school I studied modern history. We were studying WW1 and we had to do a stimulus test. The teacher supplied us with a number of different pictures which depicted different areas of WW1 which we had studied. For example one picture may have been of the enemies and another may have been a picture of people rallying in the street, and we had to write about the war in relation to the pictures. For example for the picture of the enemy we would write as much as we could about them and their involvement in the war.
So how would voice thread help? Well when I was doing the test I knew what I wanted to say but I didn't know how to put it into words sometimes. If the teacher was able to upload the images to voice thread then the students could do their test on-line and either write about the picture or speak about it. I have created a voice thread about some WW1 pictures. http://cdn.voicethread.com/?#u438692
One way in which I think voice thread would be useful is for a History test. I remember when I was at school I studied modern history. We were studying WW1 and we had to do a stimulus test. The teacher supplied us with a number of different pictures which depicted different areas of WW1 which we had studied. For example one picture may have been of the enemies and another may have been a picture of people rallying in the street, and we had to write about the war in relation to the pictures. For example for the picture of the enemy we would write as much as we could about them and their involvement in the war.
So how would voice thread help? Well when I was doing the test I knew what I wanted to say but I didn't know how to put it into words sometimes. If the teacher was able to upload the images to voice thread then the students could do their test on-line and either write about the picture or speak about it. I have created a voice thread about some WW1 pictures. http://cdn.voicethread.com/?#u438692
File Storage
Media file is a webiste which allows you to upload files from your computer so that they can accessed by anyone. Once the file is uploaded you can link to it from a Website (Blog or WIKI) and make it available for anyone to download. MediaFire allows you to store all your files online for easy secure access and enables you to distribute large files to hundreds or thousands of people without clogging inboxes or bogging down your website. (mediafire 2009)
I didn't have any documents that I could share therefore I uploaded my course material for one of my subjects to use as an example of how teachers can use media fire. The file is 142 pages long and in order to supply each student with the course material the teacher would have to print a lot of pages! To view and access the follow clink on the folowing URL. http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b64af9a04d5de5fa07258ee67c679e4ae04e75f6e8ebb871
reference
MediaFire 2009 accessed 18/08/09 from http://www.mediafire.com/about.php?type=1
I didn't have any documents that I could share therefore I uploaded my course material for one of my subjects to use as an example of how teachers can use media fire. The file is 142 pages long and in order to supply each student with the course material the teacher would have to print a lot of pages! To view and access the follow clink on the folowing URL. http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b64af9a04d5de5fa07258ee67c679e4ae04e75f6e8ebb871
reference
MediaFire 2009 accessed 18/08/09 from http://www.mediafire.com/about.php?type=1
Slideshare
SlideShare allows you to upload .ppt & .pps (PowerPoint), .pdf, .odp (OpenOffice) files to a publicly viewable space. In class a teacher may use a powerpoint and explain the powerpoint as it goes through. The teacher can then upload the powerpoint in slide share so the students can access it at home. The thing is the students might forget what the teacher said in class, but slideshare allows you to make a narration audio file and upload as well. Once the audio file is uploaded you can then sychronise the slides to your presentation. The presentation then becomes a video file that can be embedded in any online products. The opportunities this technology offers is significant as you can re-use presentations that you would normally deliver in class saving significant amounts of time and effort.
Uploading a powerpoint to slide share is very quick and easy.
Wikipedia
WIKIPedia is a free online encyclopedia that allow anyone to contribute and/or edit. It has a tight set of guidelines/rules and moderators to keep the information accurate and avoid breaches of copyright. I has a vast amount of information which can be used as a resource for students. It is quick, exhaustive and easy to gather information and gain knowledge in subject areas. Wikipedia is often viewed as an unreliable source as it can be edited by anyone. However research has found that it is just as accurate as Encyclopaedia Britannica. Although Wikipedia contains a vast amount of informtation, it is important to push students to use a number of different sources.I am doing an assigment for another class on creative enterprises and I found Wikipedia to be a very useful website with a vast amount of information. When typing in searches the majority of the time the first result is wikipedia. Wikipedia is easily accessed and is a good resource for students.
refernces
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc (2009)Welcome to Wikipedia. accessed 18/08/09 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Webquests
WebQuests provide a rich opportunity for learning that encourages students to extend themselves and engage in higher level learning and problem solving. Bernie Dodge (1995) defined a WebQuest as an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet.
Tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires. The use of ICTs are are fundamental learning tool in the 21st century. Siemens (2004) offers an interesting elearning approach with what he calls "Connectivism: a learning theory for the Digital Age".
Siemens believes that :
-Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
-Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
-Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
-Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
(among other things)
So why would we want to use webquest? The answer is because they are engaging and enhance the learning abilities of students. I recently vistited two webquests created by Scot Aldred and Tom March. The presentation of both is well organised and easy to follow. Follow the links below to check out these webquests.
http://pbl.cqu.edu.au/web_quest/home.htm
http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/tmarch/freedom2/webquest.htm
After seeing these webquests I believe that using webquests is a much more appropiate approach for 21st learners. Using a webquest would mean that students are able to create relate and donate, which acoording to Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman means that the learning occur in a group context (i.e., collaborative teams) are project-based and have an outside (authentic) focus.
A good WebQuest has an authentic context and problem or task. The driving question and its problem task are messy and ill-structured with no single answer or solution. Good WebQuests require small teams of students to relate to the messy, ill-structured problem task, investigate the issues, share what individual team members have learned from their individual research and apply this new knowledge to problem and create an authentic product that can then be donated back into the real world for authentic feedback. (Dodge 2007)
When I was going through the webquests I was thinking "wow, that would take a lot of time and effort for a teacher to create" but I realised that the teachers would only have to create it once and use it again for years to come, updating it each year if need be. I thought that the teacher could incorporate a lot of the cirriculum into webquest but then I thought that the students wouldn't be getting a mixture of learning tools, which is important as students have different learning styles. Therefore it is important for a teacher to get the right balance of curriculum for their students.
During my research I came across a webquest for middle school language arts and social studies. The webquest concludes with both a short paper and a “dinner party” with students portraying chosen figures from the 1920s. http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/teach/lq/013/index.htm
references
March, Tom (2004) The Learning Power of WebQuests accessed 17/08/09 from http://tommarch.com/writings/wq_power.php
Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 17, 2009, from http://homesprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Siemens, George (2005) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age accessed 17/08/09 from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires. The use of ICTs are are fundamental learning tool in the 21st century. Siemens (2004) offers an interesting elearning approach with what he calls "Connectivism: a learning theory for the Digital Age".
Siemens believes that :
-Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
-Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
-Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
-Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
(among other things)
So why would we want to use webquest? The answer is because they are engaging and enhance the learning abilities of students. I recently vistited two webquests created by Scot Aldred and Tom March. The presentation of both is well organised and easy to follow. Follow the links below to check out these webquests.
http://pbl.cqu.edu.au/web_quest/home.htm
http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/tmarch/freedom2/webquest.htm
After seeing these webquests I believe that using webquests is a much more appropiate approach for 21st learners. Using a webquest would mean that students are able to create relate and donate, which acoording to Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman means that the learning occur in a group context (i.e., collaborative teams) are project-based and have an outside (authentic) focus.
A good WebQuest has an authentic context and problem or task. The driving question and its problem task are messy and ill-structured with no single answer or solution. Good WebQuests require small teams of students to relate to the messy, ill-structured problem task, investigate the issues, share what individual team members have learned from their individual research and apply this new knowledge to problem and create an authentic product that can then be donated back into the real world for authentic feedback. (Dodge 2007)
When I was going through the webquests I was thinking "wow, that would take a lot of time and effort for a teacher to create" but I realised that the teachers would only have to create it once and use it again for years to come, updating it each year if need be. I thought that the teacher could incorporate a lot of the cirriculum into webquest but then I thought that the students wouldn't be getting a mixture of learning tools, which is important as students have different learning styles. Therefore it is important for a teacher to get the right balance of curriculum for their students.
During my research I came across a webquest for middle school language arts and social studies. The webquest concludes with both a short paper and a “dinner party” with students portraying chosen figures from the 1920s. http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/teach/lq/013/index.htm
references
March, Tom (2004) The Learning Power of WebQuests accessed 17/08/09 from http://tommarch.com/writings/wq_power.php
Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 17, 2009, from http://homesprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Siemens, George (2005) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age accessed 17/08/09 from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Podcasting
Rather then explain what podcasting is I have included a You-tube clip to show you what it is.
Okay so now we know what Podcasting is but how can this be incorporated into learning?
Recently I downloaded i-tunes and accessed the i-tunes store. I clicked on the podcast link and then searched for education podcasts. I found one called just vocabulary. This podcast contained a lot of free training lessons for vocabulary. I believe this podcast could be used in an english class, as it teachers basic vocabulary. The good things about podcasts is that they can be put onto students i-pods and therefore can be accessed when ever.
Prensky's (2005) article Engage or Enrage me states that there are 3 types of students. The first two groups are dealt with by schools, but the third group, the students that believe school is irrelevante are difficult to cater to. Students that are so use to their 'other life' can't stand school. I-pods are part of most students 'other life' and therefore would assist in engaging the third group in their learning.
Whilst the use of i-pods in schools is not wide spread there are a number of schools experimenting with the use of i-pods to record lessons, download and transfer files from school to home, create podcasts and send assignments and other material to teachers.
references
AAP (2006) Tas school first to use iPods in class; accessed 17/08/09 from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=98595
Prensky, Marc (2005) "Engage or Enrage me" what today's learners demand accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume40/EngageMeorEnrageMeWhatTodaysLe/158006
Okay so now we know what Podcasting is but how can this be incorporated into learning?
Recently I downloaded i-tunes and accessed the i-tunes store. I clicked on the podcast link and then searched for education podcasts. I found one called just vocabulary. This podcast contained a lot of free training lessons for vocabulary. I believe this podcast could be used in an english class, as it teachers basic vocabulary. The good things about podcasts is that they can be put onto students i-pods and therefore can be accessed when ever.
Prensky's (2005) article Engage or Enrage me states that there are 3 types of students. The first two groups are dealt with by schools, but the third group, the students that believe school is irrelevante are difficult to cater to. Students that are so use to their 'other life' can't stand school. I-pods are part of most students 'other life' and therefore would assist in engaging the third group in their learning.
Whilst the use of i-pods in schools is not wide spread there are a number of schools experimenting with the use of i-pods to record lessons, download and transfer files from school to home, create podcasts and send assignments and other material to teachers.
references
AAP (2006) Tas school first to use iPods in class; accessed 17/08/09 from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=98595
Prensky, Marc (2005) "Engage or Enrage me" what today's learners demand accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume40/EngageMeorEnrageMeWhatTodaysLe/158006
Animations and Simulations
The prospect of animations and simulations in the classroom is intersting. Animations are web based and therefore accessible to students at all times. Animations and simulations are useful in situatuons where complex interactions and abstract concepts are involved, or if the real life situaion is unaccessible.
An example of an animation can be found at the following webpage http://nhscience.lonestar.edu/biol/animatio.htm. Science is not one of my better subjects and i found this webiste to be very helpful. The use of animations allows the students to see examples of what the teacher may be explaining. Dales cone shows that demonstrations are a much more effective way of teaching then verbal teaching. (Dale 1960) The use of animations is not only engaging, they are web-based and this gives the students more of a chance to understand what they have learnt in class by accessing them at home.
A review of research literature published in 2004 by the British Educational and Communications Technology Agency (BECTA) found that the use of simulations and modeling in the natural sciences resulted in increased learning and retention by students. (Ascione 2006)
The use of ICT is also proven to enhance learning experiences. (Siemans 2004) I found the following article, Communication and information technology in medical education, about the use of ICT in medical schools and how it has enhanced the teaching abilities for the teachers and the learning experiences for the students. It is a good example of how ICT enhances learning experiences.
The following link http://www.froguts.com/is a link to the webpage of an example of a simulation in which you dissect a frog. This website would be every useful in the instance that a science teacer wouldlike to teach the class how to dissect an animal but cannot suppl 50 odd frogs. The other positive point is that the sudents who have a weak stomach get the chance to dissect a frog, without actually dissecting a real one. (if only this was the case for me at school) :)
E-learning is a source for students from grade 6-12 which offer simulations in math and science. These simulations are referred to as Gizmos. Gizmos help teachers bring research-proven instructional strategies to their classrooms. In conclusion each one of these animations and simulations are effective teaching tools that engage learners.
References
Meris Stansbury (2008) Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning; accessed 14/07/09 http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53243
Communication and information technology in medical educationThe Lancet, Volume 357, Issue 9258, Pages 792-796J. Ward, J. Gordon, M. Field, H. Lehmann accesssed 17/8/09 from http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673600041738
ExploreLearning (2009) accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm
George Siemens (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, accessed 17 June 2009; http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Ascione, Laura 2006 Study: Ed Tech has proven effective but more needs to be done for technology to reach its full potential in schools, accessed 19/08/09 from http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=41320&CFID=2844512&CFTOKEN=46694510
An example of an animation can be found at the following webpage http://nhscience.lonestar.edu/biol/animatio.htm. Science is not one of my better subjects and i found this webiste to be very helpful. The use of animations allows the students to see examples of what the teacher may be explaining. Dales cone shows that demonstrations are a much more effective way of teaching then verbal teaching. (Dale 1960) The use of animations is not only engaging, they are web-based and this gives the students more of a chance to understand what they have learnt in class by accessing them at home.
A review of research literature published in 2004 by the British Educational and Communications Technology Agency (BECTA) found that the use of simulations and modeling in the natural sciences resulted in increased learning and retention by students. (Ascione 2006)
The use of ICT is also proven to enhance learning experiences. (Siemans 2004) I found the following article, Communication and information technology in medical education, about the use of ICT in medical schools and how it has enhanced the teaching abilities for the teachers and the learning experiences for the students. It is a good example of how ICT enhances learning experiences.
The following link http://www.froguts.com/is a link to the webpage of an example of a simulation in which you dissect a frog. This website would be every useful in the instance that a science teacer wouldlike to teach the class how to dissect an animal but cannot suppl 50 odd frogs. The other positive point is that the sudents who have a weak stomach get the chance to dissect a frog, without actually dissecting a real one. (if only this was the case for me at school) :)
E-learning is a source for students from grade 6-12 which offer simulations in math and science. These simulations are referred to as Gizmos. Gizmos help teachers bring research-proven instructional strategies to their classrooms. In conclusion each one of these animations and simulations are effective teaching tools that engage learners.
References
Meris Stansbury (2008) Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning; accessed 14/07/09 http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53243
Communication and information technology in medical educationThe Lancet, Volume 357, Issue 9258, Pages 792-796J. Ward, J. Gordon, M. Field, H. Lehmann accesssed 17/8/09 from http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673600041738
ExploreLearning (2009) accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm
George Siemens (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, accessed 17 June 2009; http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Ascione, Laura 2006 Study: Ed Tech has proven effective but more needs to be done for technology to reach its full potential in schools, accessed 19/08/09 from http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=41320&CFID=2844512&CFTOKEN=46694510
Static websites
A Static Website is the term used for a Website that is developed in a Web editor package and then uploaded to a webserver to be available to use on the web. It a set of static pages linked together that has been created and saved locally on a computer or in a server as a html file. Every time a change is needed the html file needs to be re-open, edited and saved. (Smith 2009)
I researched a bit about Static websites and found out that they are quick and easy to put together, even by someone who doesn't have much experience, ideal for demonstrating how a site will look, cache friendly and one copy can be shown to many people. There are also disadvantages that if a website gets too large it is hard to maintain and keep up to date. But as I was researching I discovered that there are programmes that assist in managing a large number of pages, such as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editor. When you use static website, you can sit back and relax without worrying about the database management or code management of the web pages.
references
Smith, Allen (2009) Dynamic Websites versus Static Websites. Accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.articlemonkeys.com/Art/7495/79/Dynamic-Websites-versus-Static-Websites.html
Wikipedia (2009) Static Web Page, accessed 17/08/09 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_web_page
I researched a bit about Static websites and found out that they are quick and easy to put together, even by someone who doesn't have much experience, ideal for demonstrating how a site will look, cache friendly and one copy can be shown to many people. There are also disadvantages that if a website gets too large it is hard to maintain and keep up to date. But as I was researching I discovered that there are programmes that assist in managing a large number of pages, such as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editor. When you use static website, you can sit back and relax without worrying about the database management or code management of the web pages.
references
Smith, Allen (2009) Dynamic Websites versus Static Websites. Accessed 17/08/09 from http://www.articlemonkeys.com/Art/7495/79/Dynamic-Websites-versus-Static-Websites.html
Wikipedia (2009) Static Web Page, accessed 17/08/09 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_web_page
Video
Video, another visual tool which can assist with teaching. Video allows one to show demonstrations and such which cannot be shown or easily explained on a piece of paper. However there can be issues with videos; students may forget what they learnt therefore it is a good idea to post the video on the net so that students can access it when ever and where ever they need to. When I was at school I found long videos to be quite daunting and boring and often forgot a lot of what was in it. Having too much information on one video may cause an information overload and consequently the student loses interest. Therefore the content of the video has to be carefully choosen.
Video is a very useful tool if used correctly, like most teaching tools. Students need a range of learning opportunities. Students have different levels of motivation, different attitudes
about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices. Students have different learning styles and personalitites therefore it is important to cater for all the different needs.
references
Felder, Richard.M & Brent, Rebecca. Understanding student differences. (2005) accessed 16/08/09 from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf
Video is a very useful tool if used correctly, like most teaching tools. Students need a range of learning opportunities. Students have different levels of motivation, different attitudes
about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom environments and instructional practices. Students have different learning styles and personalitites therefore it is important to cater for all the different needs.
references
Felder, Richard.M & Brent, Rebecca. Understanding student differences. (2005) accessed 16/08/09 from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf
Interactive whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards are used for the same purpose as a traditional whiteboard; to teach a class. However there is considerable differences between the two. There are far and wide uses for intereactive whiteboards in the classroom and the following points are only a few of the many uses:
-Save lessons to present to students who were absent
-Create video files to teach a software application, a lesson, or as a review to be posted to the server or web.
-Use the built in maps to teach continents, oceans, countries, or states and capitals.
-Present presentations created by student or teacher
-Teach whole group computer or keyboarding skills
-Brainstorming
-Reinforce skills by using on-line interactive web sites
-Teach editing skills using editing marks
-Use highlighter tool to highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
-Teaching students how to navigate the Internet
-Illustrate and write a book as a class. Use the record feature to narrate the text.
-Diagramming activities
-Teaching steps to a math problem.
Using traditional whiteboard a teacher would not be able to do a lot of the points above, such as saving work for students that were absent or teaching computer skills. There have been numerous researches that show that using interactive whiteboards are much more effective and engaging.
refernces:
DCSF and Becta (2007)Evaluation of the DCSF Primary Schools Whiteboard Expansion Project, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_whiteboard accessed 16/08/09
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/tutorials/whiteboards.html accesssed 16/08/09
Wichita Punblic schools (2009) accessed 16/08/08 from http://technology.usd259.org/resources/whiteboards/interwrite.htm
Learnng Management systems (LMS)
LMS' are generally used by education institutions, such as universitities, as they allow easy access to course material all in one place. Students are able to log in, using username and password, as most LMS' are password protected, and access their course content and communicate with their teacher and peers. The great thing about LMS is that everything is in the one spot. LMS' can be catagorized into two sorces; proporiety or open. Blackboard, which is used in many circumstances, including university, is an example of a proporiety source. Moodle, which I am using for E-learning management, is an example of an open source. Each source has its positive and negative attributes. During this term I have encounted and used both Blackboard and Moodle and I find that Moodle is more intereactive. the following clip is a good example of what moodle is and what it is capable of.
I have only recently been introduced to Blackboard and Moodle, and already I find that they are very effective for educational institutions and I look foward to continuing using Moodle in my future studies.
references
GNU Public Licence accessed 18/08/09 from http://moodle.org/about/
I have only recently been introduced to Blackboard and Moodle, and already I find that they are very effective for educational institutions and I look foward to continuing using Moodle in my future studies.
references
GNU Public Licence accessed 18/08/09 from http://moodle.org/about/
Google Earth
Google earth is amazing! I have never used it before now and I think it is very convient. I have learnt that Google Earth allows you to do a number of useful things including:
-locating a place
-getting directions
-viewing the Earth, sky, moon and Mars
These are just a few things Google Earth allows us to do. Google Earth would be a very useful education tool, especially in a Geography class. An example of this would be for the teacher to write out a set of geographical questions, which the students could then answer using google earth. This would be less time consuming and more engaging for the students, then looking through an atlas. It may be advised to have a lesson on the tools and capabilites of Google earth before prepearing a lesson as the students may easily get side tracked exploring google earth. Google Earth is a perfect example of engagement, according to Kearsley and Schneiderman (1998), through interaction.
reference
Kearsley.G & Shneiderman.B (1998).Engagement Theory:A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. accessed 17August, 2009, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Powerpoint
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Powerpoint has an endless array of features that you may include in your presesentation. Such features include animations, sound, colour, images, tables, charts and speaker notes.Recently I created a powerpoint presesntation on how to use the features of powerpoint. I am very familiar with powerpoint and its features, therefore I didn't come across too many problems. I think the main issue I had was not how to use the features but how to use them to make an effective powerepoint that is easy to follow and not cluttered, ie the overall effect of the powerpoint.
Powerpoint can be used in a classroom environment a numer of different. Teachers could create presentations explainging a new project, rather then reading it from a piece of paper. Teachers could also use it to create tests that involve images, text and animations. for example if a test included a written part about animations and a multiple choice part the teacher would be able to include it all on powerepoint instead of giving the student a test paper and use the computer program fro the animation section.
Overall there are multiple uses for PowerPoint presentations and the use of ICT has been proven to enhance learning and engage the students. Multimodal learning, which is the use of many different modes and strategies, cater to individual learners' needs and capacities, is more effective than traditional learning. Therefore I believe there is room in the classroom for powerpoint as it offers visuals and written elements.
References
Meris Stansbury (2008) Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning; accessed 14/07/09 http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53243
You-tube
What a phenomenom you-tube has turned out to be! YouTube is now being used by corporate, political, scientific and everyday users. So should you-tube be used by teachers as well?? In my opinion yes. Why you might ask.
Let's pretend i'm a grade 10 english teacher and I want my class to write an essay about text and how they persuade readers to feel a particular way. They have to comment on who's opinion is included and who's is omitted, the type of language used and the visuals included. I have choosen the Cronulla riots news report as the focus of the essay. I would download the the news report from you tube, rather then using the taped version that I have. The students would watch the news report and take notes as it goes. By using you-tube it allows the students to watch it as many times as they need in order to get all the information they need for their essays. Rather then watching it numerous times in class the students can access it at home. This gives extra time for writting the essay in class and getting teacher feedback. The following you-tube clip is an example of the clip I would have the students watch. You-tube is not accessible in schools therefore the teacher would have to download the news report and project it on the board using a over head projector and give the students the url so they can access it at home.
Let's pretend i'm a grade 10 english teacher and I want my class to write an essay about text and how they persuade readers to feel a particular way. They have to comment on who's opinion is included and who's is omitted, the type of language used and the visuals included. I have choosen the Cronulla riots news report as the focus of the essay. I would download the the news report from you tube, rather then using the taped version that I have. The students would watch the news report and take notes as it goes. By using you-tube it allows the students to watch it as many times as they need in order to get all the information they need for their essays. Rather then watching it numerous times in class the students can access it at home. This gives extra time for writting the essay in class and getting teacher feedback. The following you-tube clip is an example of the clip I would have the students watch. You-tube is not accessible in schools therefore the teacher would have to download the news report and project it on the board using a over head projector and give the students the url so they can access it at home.
Class maker
Class maker is a very easy to follow site that allows you to create on-line test. You have a choice from a variety of different tests including:
MC - Multiple choice (single correct answer)
MR - Multiple response (multiple correct answers)
True/False - Standard true false
Free text - Learners must type correct answer
Punctuation - Correct sentence punctuation
Class maker also allows you to choose whether you want to grade the students results, the amount of times they can attempt the test and the amount of time required to do the test.
After navigating throught the options on class maker I created a multiple choice quiz about Australia. Unfortunately I do not have a class to give the test to therefore I cannot trial the quiz. The quix is designed for students in middle primary. Feel free to try the quiz, although I believe most will find it very easy. http://www.classmarker.com/quiz/intro.php?test_id=58588.
Using Music on Web
Recently I visited the website Incomepete and searched through the royality free music section and choose a song that could be used in the classroom. I choose to download Feelin Good. It has an up-beat tempo that is uplifting and feel good. By adding this to a website or to a class it would attract students attentions and make their research more up lifting and less boring, however it's not so over powering that the students will lose their concentration.
Say the students came from a history lesson that required them to read and take notes from a text book, to a sport lesson requiring energy. The sport teacher could play this song at the beginning of the lesson to get the students in an energetic mood. It could also be used in the sense of ciriculum. For example students could include music in thier oral presesntations, powerpoint presesntations and/or as a basis for a written assignment that relates to human bahaviour and music. These are just a few ideas of how music can be used in a classroom or on the net.
Say the students came from a history lesson that required them to read and take notes from a text book, to a sport lesson requiring energy. The sport teacher could play this song at the beginning of the lesson to get the students in an energetic mood. It could also be used in the sense of ciriculum. For example students could include music in thier oral presesntations, powerpoint presesntations and/or as a basis for a written assignment that relates to human bahaviour and music. These are just a few ideas of how music can be used in a classroom or on the net.
Blogs and aggregrators
Setting up a blog and an RSS is quite easy.
Blogs are online journals that have certain aspects that would be valuable as an educational tool. These aspects including the ability to use it as a creative writing space, reflective journal and a resource for sharing information. Say the students are asked to do a class project together. Blogs allows the students to create their own blogs to leave posts about the project and also connect to other students pages and leave comments. Blogging fits in with Kearsley and Schneiderman (1998) theory that for learners to be truely engaged in their learning they need to relate, create and Donate.
RSS, which is Realy Simple Syndication, is another useful tool which allows you to keep track of postings or updates. There are numerous RSS aggregators which can be used to track each others blogs. After watching the tutorial on RSS aggregrators I found it very easy to set up. The RSS makes it easier for me to keep track of my peers posts and updates and leave comments on each new post. I use Google reader as my RSS. An RSS would assist students in time saving and would make it easier to comment on new post, therefore collborating with other students posts.
references
Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999), Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning, viewed 30 July 2009
Blogs are online journals that have certain aspects that would be valuable as an educational tool. These aspects including the ability to use it as a creative writing space, reflective journal and a resource for sharing information. Say the students are asked to do a class project together. Blogs allows the students to create their own blogs to leave posts about the project and also connect to other students pages and leave comments. Blogging fits in with Kearsley and Schneiderman (1998) theory that for learners to be truely engaged in their learning they need to relate, create and Donate.
RSS, which is Realy Simple Syndication, is another useful tool which allows you to keep track of postings or updates. There are numerous RSS aggregators which can be used to track each others blogs. After watching the tutorial on RSS aggregrators I found it very easy to set up. The RSS makes it easier for me to keep track of my peers posts and updates and leave comments on each new post. I use Google reader as my RSS. An RSS would assist students in time saving and would make it easier to comment on new post, therefore collborating with other students posts.
references
Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999), Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning, viewed 30 July 2009
E-portfolio
E-portfolios are electronic portfolios, hence the name, which may include inputted text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios, like traditional portfolios, can facilitate students' reflection on their own learning, leading to more awareness of learning strategies and needs.(Moon) Results of a comparative research between paper based portfolios and electronic portfolios in the same setting, suggest use of an electronic portfolio leads to better learning outcomes.(M. van Wesel & A. Prop, 2008)
I recently signed up for Mahara, which is an e-portfolio and at first I found it very confusing. I'm still not sure on a lot of things but each time I access Mahara I learn a little more. Like a lot of other technologies mentioned in my blog Mahara would be useful to upload files so that the class can access them.
References
Moon, Jenny. "Guide for Busy Academics No. 4: Learning through reflection" (MSWord). The Higher Education Academy accessed 18/08/09 from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id69_guide_for_busy_academics_no4.doc.
M. van Wesel & A. Prop (2008) The influence of Portfolio media on student perceptions and learning outcomes. Paper to be presented at the Student Mobility and ICT: Can E-LEARNING overcome barriers of Life-Long learning Conference, Maastricht accessed 18/08/09 from(http://www.fdewb.unimaas.nl/EDUC/MASTER/Documents/Proceedings_S_ICT2008_Final.pdf#page=73)
WIKIs
WIKIs are quite new to me at this point in time. I am now familiar with wet paint. My wetpaint site can be access at the folling URL http://caseysimpson.wetpaint.com/
Wikis are very accessible and easy to create. They can be open for contributions or closed to the individual who created the wiki. They can be a very useful tool in engaging students in their learning.
Eg: Teachers design a task where the students are put into teams of 10 to plan an upcoming community event. Due to the large number of people, a wiki site would make it easier for the group to collaborate all their ideas into one site and discuss issues that may arise and problems that need to be seen to. It allows each student to make their own contributions and then come up with a final plan as a group, using each students ideas. By using a wiki to plan an upcoming event it egages the students and uses the three stages of the engagement theory:
References:
Kearsley G & Shneiderman B 1999, Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based learning and teaching, viewed 30 July 2009, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Accesses August 20, 2009 from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sR1Asxd0JcAC&pg=PA63&dq=wikis+in+education#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Wikis are very accessible and easy to create. They can be open for contributions or closed to the individual who created the wiki. They can be a very useful tool in engaging students in their learning.
Eg: Teachers design a task where the students are put into teams of 10 to plan an upcoming community event. Due to the large number of people, a wiki site would make it easier for the group to collaborate all their ideas into one site and discuss issues that may arise and problems that need to be seen to. It allows each student to make their own contributions and then come up with a final plan as a group, using each students ideas. By using a wiki to plan an upcoming event it egages the students and uses the three stages of the engagement theory:
- Relate
- Create
- Donate
Relate:Students can relate to the project as they live in the community and will be involved in the upcoming event.
Create: Students are creating a plan of which involves creating a schedule for the event including the times, locations and resources needed.
Donate: Their finished plan will be put foward to the event committee and used for the upcoming event.
References:
Kearsley G & Shneiderman B 1999, Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based learning and teaching, viewed 30 July 2009, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Accesses August 20, 2009 from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sR1Asxd0JcAC&pg=PA63&dq=wikis+in+education#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Flickr
Flickr is like an online photo album. It is a popular website for people to share their photographs with the rest of the world. When I was browsing through other people's photos I began thinking how flickr could be incorporated into the classroom. The advantage of useing flickr is that the students can access it anywhere there is an internet connection. Having said this it would allow teachers to post homework related photos to share with the class.
How to incorporate it into the classroom??
An example could be that an art class may be doing an assignment on digital images. Their assignment is to take photos which incorporate the different elements of art; colour, line, texture etc. Rather then just printing their digital images and handing them into the teacher the students can upload their digital images and share them with their peers. By doing this they can get feedback from their peers, teacher and others. The other advantage of doing this is that the students can search other peoples images and use them as examples of the elements of art. This shows that they can recognise the elements of art in photos as well as in reality. The students can be assessed on how well their photos relate to the elements of art and whether they can recognise the elements in other artworks (pictures).
I found the following image on flickr. It is Adrien Ruan's photo of Russell Falls. I choose this picture as it reminds me a lot of home.
I enjoyed searching through other peoples photos. I also like the fact that they were catagorized, making it easier to find what I was looking for. Flickr may be a good source for students to use instead of picsearch, which can sometimes contain explicit photos. In 2007 Flickr introduced mandatory filtering of all photos and a process of central review of photos by staff to set levels of appropriateness therefore there is no chance that students stumble across inappropiate photos.
I enjoyed searching through other peoples photos. I also like the fact that they were catagorized, making it easier to find what I was looking for. Flickr may be a good source for students to use instead of picsearch, which can sometimes contain explicit photos. In 2007 Flickr introduced mandatory filtering of all photos and a process of central review of photos by staff to set levels of appropriateness therefore there is no chance that students stumble across inappropiate photos.refernces
Wikipedia 2009 Flickr accessed 17/8/09 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr#Filtering
Picnik
Ah.. the joys of editing photos. This is exactly what picnik allows you to do. Ever take a photo which had really bad lighting? or just wasn't what you wanted? I know I have, but what I didnt know was that there were websites such as picnik which allows you to to manipulate them.
I have never heard of this Picnik before, but after experimenting with it I found it very useful. It is good for editing the size of images that may be too large. One thing I hate is when webpages taken a long time to download because of large images. Therefore by reducing the size of an image the website page can download quicker, subsequently saving a lot of time. This is useful because when a student is researching it can be very time consuming when webpages take a long time to upload and quicker downloads means students will not lose interest.
Using Picnik I was able to manipulate this image. Originally this picsture was 768 by 1024 and by using the resizing and crop tool I was able to reduce it to 98 by 116.I also experimented with the colour tool and changed the colour photo to greyscale. Picnik is a quick and easy way of editing images, and its FREE!
I enjoyed creating my VOKI and I'm sure most students would enjoy creating their own. VOKI avatars could be used as an educational tool; they could be used by students who are not strong public speakers and also for students who learn more effectively listening. It involves creativity and it engages students in their school work. VOKI avatars could be used for examples of written text, therefore allowing students to have a face to face experience. This type of tool is much more engagng then just reading text. Technology such as this enables students to meaningfully engaged in learning.
A report by Cisco Systems states that adding visuals to verbal instruction can result in significant gain in basic or higher order learning, if applied appropiately. A VOKI would do just this as it includes visual and verbal
To see more of my Voki plase visit
http://www.voki.com/mywebsite.php
References
Shneiderman, 1994,1998; Shneiderman et al, 1995; Kearsley, 1997.
Active learning
Engagement Theory
According to Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) to truly enagage learners in ICT learning they need to Relate, Create and Donate. RELATE to a real-world problem scenario that is messy and ill-structured. CREATE, in small teams, solutions to this problem and then DONATE the solution back into the real world.
Dales cone and the Learning pyramid
Dales cone (Edger Dale 1960's) shows the learning styles which are least effective to the most effective. The more effective styles involve engagement, which according to Siemans is essential for learning in the 21st century. My only formal learning experiences has been high school and after calculating my scores according to the learning pyramid I found that I had a very average learning, which is what i expected.
Mazlow's Hiearachy of Needs
I strongly agree with Mazlows theory that in order to learning to happen certain needs must be satisfied. I found it very interesting when Mazlow commented on the need for "standards," "achievement," and "curriculum." to return in order for dropout rates and low IQ to reduce. I believe it is important that the hiearchy of needs are met before this can be successfully achieved.
References.
Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B 1999, Learning Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.http://homesprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Norman KuncAxis Consultation and Training Ltd. The Need to Belong:Rediscovering Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; accessed July 18 2009: http://www.normemma.com/armaslow.htm
Patterson, J., Purkey, S., & Parker. J. (1986). Productive school systems for a nonrational world. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
George Siemens (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, accessed 20 June 2009; http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
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