Wiki and Weebly pages.

These are my Wiki and Weebly pages. :) I hope you enjoy.

I liked the Weebly site, I can use it but I prefer Blogger, so there isn't much on there just the proof that I did make one.

http://timetolearn2teach.weebly.com/

My Wiki site has been up for a while. I love it because it's easy to use and it's very interactive. Emma and I used it to create our PMI on Vygotsky's theory. It was 100% easier than email.

http://dreaminguni.wikispaces.com/Ideas+and+discussions+about+E-Learning.++

Audio and Don't Cross the Croc- Legal and Copyright safety

This is my Crocodile. Don't get him angry by breaking the copyright laws.

The text on his belly says "Do not use other peoples information without asking and referencing. Use the 10% rule"

I have spent a long time fixing my computer this week because I installed a bad audio program, it was not the best week.

However I did manage to get an Audio clip together using http://www.nch.com.au/software/soundrec.html?gclid=CMyRioDynaoCFcYZHAodSQ7X4g

I chose Wavepad and that was really fun.

I talk in the clip on legal safety. :)

Legal Safety Audio Clip On my Wiki Page.

Audio for me was really easy to do, being someone who juggles quite a few things I like to make everything perfect and Audio was quite simple and easy enough to upload on Wiki. Although it is disappointing that Blogger doesn't allow for audio to be uploaded, that however is fixed easily through linking (which is what I have done with my audio clip from wiki).

PMI on Audio.

Plus:

• It's easy to use and upload onto Wikispaces.
• It gives another level of interaction over the internet instead of just text.
• There is plenty of ways it can be used and incorporated into the classroom.

Minus:

• It still doesn't have any visual appeal.
• Not all children can learn efficiently by listening.
• There needs to be another level of interest.

Interesting:

• You could get your kids to use it to narrate a story or power point.
• It could accompany an animation so that there is an interesting visual point.
• You could use it to introduce a new topic.

I drew the croc, so he is my own picture.

Same with the rest of the drawings on my blog. :)

Blogging.

This is just a little drawing I did to show how I believe blogs can be used, I'll do real examples later on in the week.

I love how blogging can connect you with people you have never met before, you can learn how someone in another town is doing with the same University course or have a look at someone's art and/or literature work online.

I know I'm using a few pictures on here now, it's because I feel I can really show who I am and how I learn through them. It plays a large role in how I process the information I receive.

The words on the picture are - Education, Ideas, Literature, Video, News, Art, Audio, Projects.

I know there are a lot more uses for a blog this is just to name a few.

:)

Add a use for a blog if you like.

Putting in a quick reflection for the day, I have read over my activities for this week and I am constantly rereading everything so I fully understand it but that feeling I'm going to miss something never seems to fade. Although I am very happy with this weeks tasks, the audio, image and video. These things make me very excited to become a teacher; O what you could do with it all!

One thing I am not so certain about is the legal side of things, I've done two courses now and both have taken me through the rules and regulations but that doesn't stop me from scratching my head and going.. arghhh..

No matter, last week I had a plan mapped out in my head of a wonderful blog reflection I was going to post and it seems that this weeks activities had read my thoughts! So now I'm reading through our materials and developing an eye twitch because of prolonged brain usage.

I have to admit I have trouble containing everything that I read, mostly because images are my strong point. Even descriptive text is easier to remember then 10-30 pages of pure information. So I constantly find myself day dreaming halfway through a sentence.

One thing I found exceptionally interesting is when I read through a set of text on how the brain functions. This helped me tremendously when trying to understand Vygotsky theory and Blooms taxonomy (which I am still slightly confused about).

I will have to reread a few things about legal implications of songs, videos and images. I know the basics, it's like anything, you don't use someone else's things until you ask. I have to fully understand it before I can teach students if they can or can't use a piece of information in their blog, wiki, essay's or tumblr etc.

Does anyone have any advice? Or information they are willing to share?

Word Cloud

I tried the word cloud today and this is what I came up with. It would be a great thing to have in the classroom, for example you could use it to personalize the covers of books and shirts for the kids or turn it into encouragement stickers. There are plenty of ways and I think it is very fun program to play around with.

E-Learning.

I just wanted to write a quick review on how this ELearning course is working out for me.

I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of information offered to me in week one and the start of week two. I have only done one uni course previous to the two I'm doing this term, and I'm still enrolled in high school. So as you can imagine this was a major step into the unknown for me.

A lot of the readings so far have been on how you can incorporate technology and new ways of teaching to the classroom. This is hard for me because I haven't had much experience teaching kids, if anything I'm on the other end of the scale, I am the kid being taught. Other than the odd helping out to look after kids or tutoring a few children, I have close to no experience in this area.

Which frustrates me because I have to learn all these new ideas and techniques to teach and I haven't yet had the chance to go out and really work out how I would put them into practice.

This however has little to do with the course itself, I love how everything is laid out. It's easy to understand and there isn't a shortage of help if you get totally lost. What I love most is that everyone involved in the course is helping one another to get through and we are also learning off one another.

I have been going over idea's on how we can incorporate technology into a class room and how can we keep it safe and enjoyable for everyone?

Some of the sites I have been to that offer free programs could easily be added to the classroom experience. These programs offer things from mind maps to animated stick men and movie makers.

Teachers could make any subject an enjoyable hands on experience with these programs.

I also had an image in my head of how I see the future classroom, it's not at home with kids sitting in front of their computers but in a room with a large computer screen mounted up the front (and/or projector). Every child has a touch pad that directly links to that screen, so they can add and take away information while the teacher guides them through their learning experience.

With change also comes some boundaries and I think our major problem is child safety. How can we be sure that children wont jump on chat sites during class or see something inappropriate during school hours.? We need to have guild lines in place to insure that students know the regulations and are also willing to abide by them.

Mobile Wiki.

After reading over everyone's in put on the mobile wiki activity. (De Bonos 6 hats) I went away and pondered my stand on this topic.

I have first hand experience on how mobile phones can effect the classroom environment, they distract not just the person with the mobile phone but almost all the people around them as well. How can people judge some teachers for not teaching the kids properly when they have up to 20-30 kids in the classroom, all of them will have mobile phones and they all have their own individual needs and learning styles. It's just asking for failure.

However, If we learn how to interest the kids away from their mobile phones, such as incorporating another sort of technology into education and the school system. This will intrigue and excite the kids and they won't need to touch their mobile phones to have a taste of technology in the classroom.

How can mobile phones be introduced into schools and should they?

To be honest I was at a total loss for a better part of the week, I know they are a problem, I know they are used every way except for educational purposes but HOW do I put that into 6 different hats?

Negative (black hat)

Process (Blue hat)

Creative (green hat)

Intuitive (orange hat)

Positive (Yellow hat)

Objective (white hat.)

Unfortunately due to lack of room I couldn't write my opinion on the last two, so I will write it on here.

The positives to mobile phones in schools is you are incorporating technology into a digital natives learning journey. They would finally be taught in a way that they are comfortable with.

Teachers can also become less of an authority figure and more a person who will guide the students toward their ultimate learning abilities.

We need to do a trial to gain ideas and general observations on how mobile phones contribute to the classroom. Can we generate a different type of technology that will make the kids excited about learning?

Almost every child has a mobile phone, its there for safety and piece of mind for parents all over Australia. How would parent's feel if mobile phones were asked to be used in schools?

We need to draw up a game plan on how we can change the education system to best govern the needs of students today and how we can best teach them according to each individuals learning style. If we do this I think mobile phones will naturally be factored into it.

The information I've been reading about education taking a new turn is reflected in the mobile wiki's, many people still believe mobile phones have no place in the class room. In saying that though we still cannot see a different alternative, this is how we were raised, in the typical classroom. Now we are being asked to throw this "old information" and learn a whole new concept of teaching and learning.

Its hard but also an exciting prospect.

I loved doing the Mobile wiki and seeing everyone's in put and idea's on mobiles in schools.

:)

Week one Activities.

In week one activities we were asked to work with our fellow "classmates" in this course to create a PMI for a topic of our choice. I worked with Emma, and we did Vygotsky's theories of learning.

I had no trouble working with a partner in this activity, actually it was a great enjoyment to pass ideas back and forth. The PMI seemed to create itself as we added ideas, fixed up wording and shifted sentences.

Once we became familiar with Vygotsky's theories it was relatively easy to express how we felt on the topic, what we could see needed improving and how we would incorporate it into the classroom.

At first I didn't understand the objective of the PMI activity, and was slightly overwhelmed with the whole learning theories idea and wiki pages. However after talking to Wendy over the Elluminate tutorial, I understood how to work the Flex wiki page and where to post our activity result.

The wiki pages were a totally new experience for me, Emma and I did most of our modifying and drafting on her wiki page, it is an excellent tool for any learner. It helps to communicate without the need for a face to face connection, you can easily adjust your learning preference to accommodate for this program or blog.

Teachers now should really grasp this technology that is so readily available to them, students would embrace wikis and blogs because it's a way to do homework or collaborative assignments outside the same old school environment.

PMI on Vygotsky's theory on education.

PMI on Vygotsky's Theories of Learning

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Plus:

• Vygotsky theorises that society plays a large role in childhood development.
• He places a great importance on culture and its impact on the child.
• They learn and develop differently depending on what they were shown or taught.
• This theory then encourages collaborative learning, and/or group learning, where students are able to learn more by sharing knowledge with one another.
• In contrast to Piaget's theory of discovery learning, Vygotsky believes children need to be taught by teachers or peers who have more knowledge on a particular subject. Whereas Piaget theorises that children will learn in particular styles at particular ages, no matter how intelligent the child may appear and what cultural and social influences there are, they will not develop these skills until that age.
• Vygotsky's theory, The Zone of proximal development, has more potential to become the foundation for our education system than Piaget's theory.

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Minus:

• His theories are not modernised to suit all aspects of todays ever changing society.
• They do not support Piaget's discovery learning, which does have some foundation.
• Children also learn through making mistakes on their own and trying again, discovering cause and effect.
• Not all children learn by heeding advice, they learn through trying, making errors and adapting changes to find the outcome/knowledge that they seek.
• Vygotsky's theory doesn't provide for situations where there is an inability to access extended kinship connections or where there is cultural deprivation, for example, war, famine or dislocated families.

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Interesting:

• How we can change and develop his ideas for our 21st century schools.
• Adapting his idea's to accommodate every type of learner.
• Changing the roles of our teachers in schools to become more attentive towards the students.
• Bringing them closer as they pass information down to a new generation.
• A child who is immersed in different cultures and social settings learns to be more accepting of each other and our differences in beliefs, cultures, religions, race and gender. How could this then be utilised in to our teaching skills and practices?

Vygotsky

I have been reading up on Vygotsky for this weeks activities.

It was more complicated then I originally thought it would be, due to the fact that I had to try and find a PMI in this flood of information. I had to read a lot to try and get a general idea of his different theories and ideas. It was fascinating how he explained the learning development of a child.

It also made perfect sense, for example.

If a child just got the training wheels taken off their new bike, and they jumped on without help. I can safely tell you they will not be able to balance properly and will quickly end up on the ground. They might be able to master the bicycle after a lot of trial and error, but it would take time. That would be an example of Piaget's discovery learning.

Another way to learn how to master the bicycle would be with a little help. An adult will usually hold onto the bike while you learn to balance, they would tell you to pedal and you learn to ride a lot faster then you would if you had tried on your own. This way of learning would be Vygotsky's, the Zone of Proximal Development.

All in all I learnt that our culture, society, peers, parents and adults start our learning development. Language also plays a large role in Vygotsky's theories he believe's that by communicating and discussing idea's, subjects and information, we can learn a lot fast than if we were trying to learn alone.

In this weeks readings we were asked to look over a couple of mind mapping programs. https://bubbl.us/ and http://www.text2mindmap.com/ .

The mind map is an important learning concept and tool. It is used in every level of education to bring in new ideas and expand knowledge of a particular subject.

It begins at the center with one main idea and than related topics and ideas branch out from it.

A mind map can be used in all situations, to help the brain connect "old" information with "new" information, or in other words it helps to relate information you have just learnt to something you already previously knew.

As I worked through these sites I had the words of Tony Buzan (2007) at the front of my mind.

He gave a list of dot points to help anyone's mind map learning experience.

• Curved lines, To keep the brain interested.
• One word per line, so you are free to branch off from that word.
• Connect the words, relate them to one another.
• Use lots of colour.
• And key words and images.

Neither of the programs had all those dot points, and I feel it would have been a lot more enjoyable and interesting if they did.
However I found both the programs to be a little frustrating. Bubbl.us because of its complicated nature, and text2mindmap because it's a little dull.

I also found that they were a bit fiddly. I would rather sit down with a large piece of paper and crayons and get my ideas out as fast as possible without wasting time on bubbles and text.

I think it also has something to do with being a visual learner, I would rather have curved lines, lots of colour, maybe even pictures and automatically I'm interested and intrigued. This brings me a lot closer to memorizing and storing away the content I need to learn.

This is a brilliant and useful way to learn, and after having a go at these two programs I believe using mind maps will become a regular practice in my future learning.

Reference:

iMindMap. (2007, Jan 8). Maximize the power of your brain: Tony Buzan mind mapping [Video file]. Retreieved July 4, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ&feature=player_embedded

Wikispaces.

I just tackled Wikispaces for the first time.. It was a confusing experience. After a few temper tantrums, a cup of very strong coffee and a few hours I have persuaded it to work with me rather than against me. :)

Has anyone else had the same trouble learning how to navigate these new sites?