Reflective Synopsis

This E-Learning course has shown me that through trial and error we can begin to grow and understand our own learning journey. So far in the last five weeks of this course I have panicked, stressed out, yelled in triumph, beamed in pride and felt self satisfaction in things I have achieved while being outside my comfort zone. This course forces you into situations which you would normally avoid. Such as writing in a blog, many people didn’t know what a blog was and how to use it to its full potential, since starting this course we have grown and developed the confidence to express ourselves without knowing who our audience is.

The ELearning course is based on how to incorporate technology in the classroom, future Learning managers have the freedom to introduce technology into the classroom, we have the ability to become Learning Managers that fully utilise the World Wide Web and all of its possibilities.

We can use ICT to fully cater for the “digital natives” of the 21^st century; we don’t need to teach students the basics of technology all we need to do is introduce them to the educational and informative side of the digital world. Our students don’t need to be pushed into learning, as learning managers we have to guide them toward the path of higher order thinking and this will bring them closer to becoming lifelong learners.

The Queensland government’s Learning Place Affiliate program is an example of how technology is starting to become a regular tool in the classroom. Technology can be efficiently used to cater for the 21^st century students learning styles and by bringing the digital world into the classroom we are providing a sufficient and up to date teaching technique.

The four technologies I will be focusing on are:

· Blogs

· Wiki’s

· Prezi

· And Audio.

Blogs-

Blogs are an online journal that can be used to convey personal thoughts, art work, literature, news or information. Teachers are using blogs to present their students’ progress, work or just to give out assignments and study material.

Blogs are a great way for students to express themselves and their work without feeling the pressure of peers or failure. Blogs can be used as a whole classroom project or just as an individual assignment presentation page. As this ELearning course has already demonstrated, each individual who created a blog has found their own way of expression and begun to evaluate their own work and information.

I found that writing and maintaining a blog did take up a large portion of my study time. On occasion I didn’t quite get what I wanted across through my blog; the message always seemed to get blurred. Now that I’ve seen how I cope in these situations and how well I write without being checked, I can now go over, review my work and distinguish specific areas I need to improve and expand on.

As a future learning manager I can see the potential in a blog, it can be used in many classroom situations, however I don’t think classes should revolve around technology or the latest gadget, we need to incorporating technology into the classroom without disrupting or skipping students education.

Wiki’s-

My wiki page was created in my first week, I was excited to get started, I had already created my blog and explored the WikiSpaces website. I believe Wiki’s hold the key to collaborative learning outside schools and the classroom. They can be used by a group of students who have to work together on an assignment, or by a teacher who is helping and guiding a group of students in their study materials.

There was an example of the uses for a wiki earlier on in our Course (ELearning) and it involved collaborating with another person/s to create a PMI on learning theories. I did a PMI on Vygotsky’s theory of learning (The Zone of Proximal development) with Emma, using her Wiki page to create and edit our PMI. Email didn’t quite cut the mark and with wiki’s you can see the changes being made and no information gets “lost in translation”.

Prezi-

Prezi is a program resembling a blank canvas in which you can express ideas and move freely. It includes a zooming tool that makes presentations come alive. There are a number of tools available when creating your Prezi, you can include photos, videos, text, highlight important text or add shapes. Students can use it to create a presentation, use it together on a collaborative assignment (it has a multiple editors tool, 10 editors on the Prezi page at one time) or the teacher can use it at the front of the class to introduce a new subject.

I found Prezi to be an enjoyable program; it has a huge range of possibilities as I show you in one of my blog postings (it is listed below). I think Prezi has the potential to inspire students to step outside their comfort zone, to use it and other programs that are outside the usual school parameters.

Audio-

Audio is a recording or play back of a pre-recorded clip, it can be used to narrate stories, introduce a web page or topic, and it can also be used to narrate PowerPoint presentations. Voki is another example of Audio. It uses a pre-recorded voice (or you have the option of making your own recording) and a character of your choice will act it out and voice the recording (as shown in my elected blog readings at the end of this assessment).

People from different locations hoping to share their profession can use video, audio or a blog to convey their message to students, an Audio clip uploaded to a Wiki page that has another visual element (eg. Image or text) can be used to fully convey their information and show students what the person/s do within their careers.

I found creating an audio clip to be a huge challenge. I came into that week all ready to go; I was willing to do all three technologies (Video, Audio and Images) but then I realized the one mistake I made, do not bite off more than you can chew. The Audio took me 2 days to create and then my computer started playing up because I downloaded a faulty recording program (I did however find a good program after this and I shared it on my blog). My recording was about legal safety, and I found it to be relatively easy to work the recording program I acquired for free.

Legal safety and child safety-

When working in an online environment teachers need to be aware of the constant risks of the internet. Stranger danger is very real in cyber space, so teachers need to be constantly checking their students when they are surfing the World Wide Web.

The legal guidelines that apply to adults also apply to students, they cannot copy and paste someone else’s work, they have to use the 10% rule and they have to ask permission to post someone else’s picture or a video containing someone else onto a blog, any published freely accessed book or article and website.

The legal guidelines are there to protect us and others when it comes to published works. Students should be guided by their Learning Managers in the importance of these guidelines and to respect other people’s property.

In conclusion-

This ELearning program has giving me an insight into how the education system is lacking in certain areas. As a future Learning Manager I see how technology can play a major role in how we teach. Students of the 21^st century or digital natives need ICT’s and technology to be integrated into the usual classroom experience for them to learn to their full potential. The technologies written about and spread throughout my blog postings are but a small section of what is available over the internet. To be fully prepared to teach lifelong learners, we need to become lifelong learners and this requires knowing how to use and teach with technology.

Examples of my four technologies are within these blog postings, along with other reflections and technologies.

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/08/technology-in-schools.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/08/prezi.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/wiki-and-weebly-pages.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/this-is-my-crocodile.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogging.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/word-cloud.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/e-learning.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/mobile-wiki.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/week-one-activities.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/vygotsky.html

http://dreaminguni.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-this-weeks-readings-we-were-asked-to.html

References:

Department of education and training (2011) Learning Place Affiliate program. The Learning Place. Retrieved August 19, 2011 from http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/affiliates/index.html

Prensky. M (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, MCB University Press, Vol 9. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE 11001 Managing E-Learning, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=186311

Vygotsky. L (1962) Social Development Theory. Retrieved August 19, 2011 from,

http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html

Learning websites.

Hi.

I was reading through an interesting article about how you could use IPods in the classroom and it gave me a few websites to look over and I thought Id post them because its interesting all the different sites out there that can help teachers in the classroom.

Affiliate program - Learning Place

How To Videos on Howcast | The best how to videos on the web (do not let children on here unsupervised. It has some great how to videos but some are unsuitable.)

I Education Apps Review - I Education Apps Review

Education Apps review does exactly what it name states

HUNTEDWEB.com

It hunts down technology for the classroom so teachers don't have too!

Prezi.

A Prezi can be used to add a new dimension to assignments and presentations. I chose Prezi as my technology for week five because it had a creative appeal. I had never used a program like it before and was very excited to get started.

My Prezi - The benefits of Prezi!

I decided to do the week 5 activity as a Prezi, I wasn't too keen about the PowerPoint or even the Glogster (although I did have a fiddle on it).

I like Prezi because you can create your own design, and it isn't limited by slides (such as PowerPoint). You can create limitless possibilities with Prezi. I created an example of a short quiz for students to complete alone or in groups.

Examples in Prezi.

Something teachers have to be aware of when working with Prezi is that it can get a bit dizzy if your zooming in to much. So instead of zooming in on each individual word try paragraphs so whoever is watching has a chance to read it before being taken to the next lot of words.

Another fault in Prezi is no spell check, and I know this may seem trivial to some people, but I tend to have to check my words a lot because I was never a top student in spelling. So when kids are wanting to make a Prezi it might be a good idea to get them to proof read each others work. If a teacher or student is making a Prezi it might help if they wrote their paragraphs in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste it across.

Prezi also has the option of transferring pictures and videos. As you can tell from my example I took advantage of the inserting picture tool. It was relatively easy to create that little quiz but it also takes a little bit of working out, so if your willing to sit down for an hour and a half to suss Prezi out completely than you will have a ball with it.

However when creating the "path" (what order the presentation goes in) it can get confusing with dots everywhere, but the best bet is to just zoom out and take a look at the whole picture and how you would like it presented. Sometimes it takes a few try's to get it right (I have the draft's and bad copies on my profile in Prezi)

I hope I have covered everything, I found it to be a pleasant experience and one I wont mind repeating. I did get annoyed and frustrated on occasion when working it out (however it does have a tutorial). I think Prezi would be a fun tool for students to use when creating little quizzes or assignments. It is also a great way for teachers to add a new dimension to a usually flat subject or topic.

Technology in Schools

Technology in schools.

There are many different types of programs and apps that you can use in the classroom, different aspects of technology that replace the usual assumptions about schools (teachers standing in the front of the classroom giving the students information to memorize.)

A few examples of technology are

· Facebook

· Blogs, wiki’s.

· ITunes.

· IPods, IPads and IPhones.

· Mobiles

· Video

· Audio

· Powerpoints

· Animation

· Glogster

· Twitter

· Weebly

· Video Conferencing

· Windows movie maker- other movie making programs.

· Alias Sketchbook Pro.

· Adobe Photoshop.

· Interactive Whiteboards.

I will be using the SWOT analysis today on these examples of technology.

Facebook- is a social networking site that can be used to interconnect and share a classrooms progress.

Strengths-

· It’s easy to use and most students in High School would own a facebook account.

· It’s an easy way to communicate on different subjects.

· You can create a Facebook page for a classroom, however only children over 13 can create an account so if it’s for a younger class they should be supervised when using it.

· Parents can easily view their child’s progress and projects via the classes facebook account.

Weaknesses-

· It isn’t an ideal way of showing of a classroom’s progress.

· Many parents won’t have or feel the need for a facebook account.

· Younger students probably won’t fully understand it.

Opportunities-

· Can create an online community.

· Can engage with other teachers, parents and older students.

Threats-

· Have to be careful when creating a classroom account for younger students because of internet safety.

· Must have it constantly supervised.

· Cannot post anything without students/parent’s permission.

· Stranger danger over the internet.

I like Facebook as a social networking website, I can connect with friends, show off my art work and photos. However I don’t know if it has a permanent place in our classrooms it can be a very distracting and it might not be the best program to use when mapping out what the students have achieved.

I wanted to add it in my list of technologies because it does play a large role in our society today. People have their own little communities on facebook, they can pick and choose who they wish to add and write whatever they wish. It is a world revolving around that one person, millions of people have facebook accounts and each account revolves around that person. It is slightly daunting, and exciting to think about all the different ways our technology can be used. Whether it’s for education, science or social networking, there are endless possibilities.

Blogs – Are a personal writing page/website for one person. It can be used for a classroom to post ideas, stories, homework or progress.

Strengths-

· Easy layouts.

· Personalise.

· Has a nice way for presenting work.

· Can be used to express thoughts, ideas or information.

· Can be used to show of projects, pictures or video’s of the classroom.

· Parents can look over the blog to see the child’s progress.

· Students can access the blog for homework assignments and so forth.

· Can be made private just for student and parents viewing.

Weaknesses-

· You cannot post Audio.

· Only short videos can be uploaded (depending on the blog site).

· It is hard to add friends or find blogs of equal relevance without having the URL.

· Students may get bored with constant writing, so you must add lots of different aspects.

Opportunities-

· An online site for other teachers to draw information from.

· An example of the progress and development of the students for them to draw back on.

· A place to develop project ideas for the students to try at home.

Threats-

· Have to constantly be aware of the copyright laws and child safety regulations.

· Cannot post material that hasn’t been consented to being on an online blog.

· It doesn’t have the same freedom as a wiki, interactive white board or virtual classroom.

I had fun creating a maintaining my blog over the past couple of weeks, it was easy and simple to understand. Although it didn’t (as stated in the threats section of my SWOT) have that certain freedom that a wiki page does. The wiki page made my life so much easier when creating the PMI on learning theories with a partner.

Blogging isn’t hard to do but for me personally it was difficult to maintain, I like lots of colour and pictures, so for me to do constant writing and reflections was a real push. I do however need to be pushed outside my comfort zone from time to time and this is exactly what this course has done so far.

I would use a blog in a classroom situation because however much that I struggle to motivate myself to write on a blog I don’t doubt that there would be mountains of material to post when you’re working in a class of 30.

Wiki- A collaborative website that can be used by students to brainstorm with one another outside the classroom

Strengths-

· Children can easily work together to create an answer or piece of writing for an assignment or homework.

· It is easy to understand.

· If something gets deleted the teacher can easily retrieve it.

· All the students can participate on the one Wiki page.

· All students have a chance to express their ideas without one or two students dominating.

· Video and Audio can be easily uploaded.

Weaknesses-

· Work can be easily deleted.

· Can’t be as personalized as a blog.

· Doesn’t have that same neat layout as a blog.

Opportunities-

· Students can create brilliant essays or collaborative assignments without having to arrange meetings.

· The teacher can correct and change their ideas as they post them, so they get direct feedback.

· Students can bounce ideas off one another without feeling that same pressure to not write or speak the same ideas as others.

Threats-

· Once again, Copy Right and child safe laws come into play.

· Teachers must constantly check the wiki page for any indecent communication or put downs.

· Wiki’s are harder to get around (jump from one page to another) then a blog or facebook page.

I really like wiki’s, they are easy to use when working in groups on collaborative projects. Also you have more options with a wiki then with a blog. You can upload more, and create more on a wiki. However being a visual person it isn’t to colourful, and it doesn’t have the same range to make it your own. This I believe will have an impact on how children will react to it, to make it all a bit more special you would have to make sure each student has their own colour for text, ask them to upload pictures relevant to the topic and the teacher would have to upload videos and audio for them to watch and analysis.

ITunes- Almost everyone knows ITunes, it is one of the biggest and most used music library. It can be connected to a number of devices such as the IPod, IPad, and IPhone to name a few.

ITunes has a number of items available for education purposes, I found these when I was trolling through the internet for technology uses in the classroom.

Apple - Education - Apps

Storynory - Stories For Kids - Download free podcast episodes by Wizzard Media on iTunes.

The Story Home™ Children's Audio Stories - Download free podcast episodes by Alan Scofield on iTunes.

There is also ITunes-U which offers a large amount of educational material for older students to download.

Strengths-

· It is fun, interesting and educational.

· Have many different uses in the classroom.

· Can help kids expand their skills in all subjects.

· Is easy to understand and download.

· The teacher can control the games and such downloaded.

· Students can learn to share and interact as a group.

· Can be a useful tool for children who are reluctant to work in the usual classroom environment.

· It can also help kids who have trouble learning or have disabilities.

· It can help students learn in their own time, they can go back to stories or readings from their last session. Begin a new game or problem and work it through at their own pace.

Weaknesses-

· Some games are 1:1 and in a class of 30 this can prove problematic if you have limited devices.

· They can be a bit expensive and are constantly being upgraded.

· They may be misused or mistreated.

Opportunities-

· It can be used in many situations in the classroom.

· Such as: Teaching kids how to read, Learning maths problems, language skills, creating puzzles for one another and so forth.

Threats:

· Children may be spending too much time on devices rather than getting one on one time with the teacher and other students.

· Other apps may find their way onto the devices.

I love the Idea of using an IPad in a class; it is a great way to get kids excited about learning.

Setting up and using an IPad or other Apple products is fairly easy and it comes with a range of uses and apps for the classroom.

PowerPoint- A Windows program that can be used to create slide shows, stop motion videos and interesting assignment tasks.

Strengths-

· It is an interesting alternative to the humble essay.

· It is easy and has simple instructions if you get lost.

· You can create a slide show to your liking.

· You can add pictures and audio easily.

· You can add a recording to accompany the powerpoint.

Weaknesses-

· Finding the right mix of information per slide is crucial because you don’t want your viewers to become bored or overwhelmed.

· It can become confusing when trying to figure out what order you want your information or project presented.

· It can also become a tedious task creating a PowerPoint.

Opportunities-

· You can attach links to your PowerPoint.

· Video.

· Pictures and photos.

Threats-

· It doesn’t always convey the message you wanted.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of many dot points for PowerPoint, maybe it’s because I don’t like to use it unless I really have too. I do like it, but I find it very tedious to use.

The other technologies stated will be added later on in my assignment 2, I will pick 4 that I really like and work on those.

Thank you for reading this, I know its long and I hope I didn’t bore you. J

My Voki!

MY Voki.

I had so much fun making this, its easy, fast and you can annoy your family by playing the funny voices over and over again :)

The voki can be used to introduce a topic, be a narrator for a story or separate video. It also has the potential for teaching language skills. You can choose between quite a few characters, you can record your own voice or use a prerecorded voice. It gives students the opportunity to portray their own learning styles and individual characteristics.

It has that cute and interesting appeal, one that will captivate kids and students curiosity.

A great addition to any classroom.