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

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

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

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/

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

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