Week 4 - Images, Video and Audio Tools

Week 4 - Images, Video and Audio Tools

This week the course materials focused on the use of images, video and audio tools in the classroom. For the purpose of understanding how we could use these tools in the classroom we were asked to create and upload to our blog a sound file, re-sized images, a podcast, our own podcast and a movie created in movie maker. 

The Voki at the top of the page is the audio file I have chosen to upload this week.Check out the Podcast I found on iTunes that i think fits in quite well with this weeks topic!

Sourced from: Google Images

I also had a blast creating my own podcast using Podomatic! Super fun and super easy to use....it's a big thumbs up from me! I've posted  My Podcast here for you to check out. In my podcast I talk about how pod casting can be beneficial for both teacher's and students. Its a really great way for teachers to keep their students engaged, collect work/assessment samples and convey a message that is more interactive and less chalk and talk.For students, its a great way to work as an individual but have the added bonus of being able to keep up with your classmates thoughts on topics as well. 

We also created a Flikr account this week, here are two photos I found in Creative Commons that I thought reflected some of this weeks ideas. It was a really easy account to set up and would be a really handy site for students to use as the privacy settings are great and the content is safe. It would also be a great way for a teacher to store a heap of picture prompts that they want to use during class activities. 

We also had to create a movie this week so check out mine below! It was actually much easier than I was expecting. Admittedly I stuck to basic photos and music and I can imagine if you wanted voice over and other special effects it could get a bit tricky but overall I found it pretty good. This movie just summarizes a few things we have looked at over the past few weeks. Creating movies in the classroom would be a really fun and interactive assessment piece. Teachers could also use videos to enhance the ideas that they want to convey to the class in a more interactive way. 

Below I have included an image that I have re-sized and think fits in well with education. 

I will also add a picture or two as a separate post from my Flikr account. It automatically posts them for you! While it's handy having your accounts linked it means that you cant add to a current post but need to post it separately. This can be handy if you want to convey a message with just a single post but is a tad annoying when you want the information to flow with other posts. For this reason I will post them first so that they will appear below my blog post this week.

 While images are a really handy tool in the classroom it is also important to keep in mind at all times that we as teachers need to ensure that we are working safely, ethically and responsibly with images.

This week felt like a whirlwind of different sites that we engaged in but it was a very informative week. I now have a clearer thought pattern on how I can actually use and embed images, audio and video into my classroom. All of these tools would be highly useful in an early childhood classroom and make for a fun change from the teacher at the front of the class scenario. Until next week

Tarina 

Children and Technology

Children and Technology, a photo by macyblomeley on Flickr.

Another Flikr photo....very interesting statistics!

Flikr Creative Common Photo

We need to understand and teach to the world our students will have to survive in., a photo by Ken Whytock on Flickr.

The first of two photos I found in creative commons this week!

Week 3 – The Roles of ICT in Education

This week we take a look at the different roles ICT’s can play in the classroom. As we transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 a shift in the way ICT’s are used in 21^st century classrooms has been quite prominent in Australia. Smith, Lynch and Knight (2007) argue that this shift is important as students need to be provided with opportunities that are relevant to their everyday encounters with ICT.

Sourced from: Google images

To understand this shift we must first understand the terms Web 1.0 and 2.0. Web 1.0 is content on the web that is added by a webmaster and changed by the same person. It is usually in a ‘read only’ format meaning other people cannot contribute to the ideas on that webpage. Web 2.0 on the other hand is a highly interactive web experience that allows groups or individuals to add their own content in a ‘read-write’ format. This is usually done through tools like wiki’s, blogs, youtube and social media that have been pre-fabricated for you.

So what is the difference between a Blog, Wiki and Website?

Websites are usually just read only sites that provide information about a topic. Wiki’s and blogs however are owned by individuals meaning they have the ability to add their own content and ideas. Blogs usually have a single author and Wiki’s are known for their multi author capabilities.

An Early Childhood Context

While blogs and wiki’s initially bring to mind copious amounts of text with some interesting pictures and a brain just busting to share its knowledge with the rest of the world, I can’t help but get excited about the prospects for this kind of tool in an early childhood classroom. I think younger children would absolutely love the opportunity to have a go at something that was already set up for them. I can picture a year two student writing about their weekend and picking out pictures that go with those activities. How much more exciting than writing in the notepad every day! While it’s a great tool that I’d love to play with I also think that achieving the right balance of the use of ICT’s in the classroom will be another factor I will have to keep in mind.

Check out the link to my PMI below, it shows my interpretation of the usefulness of blogs in general. The one I’ve used comes from a website called pmitool.com

Blog PMI

The Wiki Project

Sourced from: Google images

This week we were also asked to create our own Wiki. Thank goodness for the technical manual we were given to assist with creating one….it was tricky! While I’m sure I would have worked my way through it I can definitely see why some digital immigrants are so resistant to using ICT in their classroom. It’s definitely an area that professional developments can help with. Once created, I spent some time navigating my way around my Wiki and exploring the capabilities and functions of the space. I must say I was impressed! It was easy to navigate and allowed me to create groups (of my selection or by random). I can see it having so much value in an upper primary class but really had to think outside the box for an early childhood class. This is what I came up with….literacy groups. It would be a really handy tool for literacy rotations, especially something like a cloze activity or spelling groups. Obviously they might need a teacher’s aide to assist them but I think it would keep them really engaged.

Websites

As part of our engagement tasks this week we were also asked to create our own website! Weebly was the weapon of choice and wow…it was simple! I was really surprised at just how easy it was to create. What a great tool to use in the classroom. You can add to the site as an ‘outsider’ and have the class interact daily or weekly with whatever tasks this outsider has set. It’s fun, it’s interactive, it’s colourful…basically it’s just a fantastic ICT.

I’ve included a SWOT analysis below. I found this tool online at http://i-swot.com/tool/

It’s really handy and easily exported.

Created through www.fodey.com

So this week we’ve looked at blogs, wiki’s and websites. The stand out factor that all of them have when it comes to the classroom is that they are all student centred. This is a really important factor that needs to be considered when planning how students will engage with ICT’s. We also got the opportunity to try out fodey, wordle and voki in class. I have included a Voki at the top of the page and my Fodey is below. They are both really handy tools that take ICT use in the classroom to the next level!

The use of these three types of ICT has me thinking back to the last few weeks and how learning theories have interconnected with our engagement activities. Connectivism has played a large role in our learning this week I think. A large part of connectivism is the use of sensemaking (Downes, 2012). This week we have done almost nothing else as we understand these new technologies and really think about how they apply to our own pedagogy and teaching context.  

I look forward to seeing what exciting things next week brings.

Tarina

References

Downes, S. (2012) Connectivism: Downes on Connectivism and Connective Knowledge.

            Retrieved from: http://www.connectivism.ca/

Managing E-Learning (2013). Week 3: Digital Technologies. Retrieved from

         CQUniversity courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning,

         http://www.e-courses.cqu.edu.au

Smith, R., Lynch, D., Knight, B.A. (2007).  Learning Management - Transitioning Teachers

For National And International Change. Frenchs Forrest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia Incorporated.

Week 2 - Digital Pedagogy

This week we spent some time looking into digital environments and how a learning manager’s personal pedagogy can make or break e-Learning in the classroom. This week I really tried to focus on how I would use digital pedagogy in an early childhood context. There were two main points that stood out to me as goals learning managers must have if they want to achieve a successful digital environment. They are:

-          Connecting students to a variety of multi-modal resources like multimedia and video

-          It is only beneficial when appropriate learning approaches are taken

Digital pedagogy was also a major focus this week. Digital pedagogy can be defined as ‘the use of electronic elements to enhance or to change the experience of education’. There are many benefits to using digital pedagogy and ICT in an early childhood classroom…here are a few I came up with:

         Sourced from: Google images

-          There are many great IWB programs that allow for whole class interaction with ICT 

-          Youtube is a great tool for breaking up lessons so students remain engaged

-          It allows for ‘experts’ on a topic to share their ideas with students                                                                                                                                                

-          Students gain new skills in the area of technology that will assist     them in higher grades

-          They are ‘digital natives’ meaning that technology has been a part of their life from day one, they crave the interaction with different ICT’s

-          It can be a great tool for maths or literacy rotations

-          It allows students to express their ideas in more than one format

Check out the link to this poster that shows the different elements that Education Queensland believes make  a student a contemporary effective learner: https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Documents/2012/september/engaging-and-challenging-students.pdf

We also looked at productive pedagogies this week. Put simply, productive pedagogy is the art of teaching that is productive in the realisation of student learning outcomes. Check out the picture below that shows the breakdown of productive pedagogies.

  

 Picture sourced from: Google images

TPACK Framework – Unpacked!

The term TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. Essentially it is a framework that focuses on the culmination of a learning managers content knowledge, ability to use technology effectively and also their understanding of different pedagogical strategies. According to this week’s notes learning managers must have the following to be able to say they are working within the TPACK framework:

-          They must have technical skills

-          They must know their content

-          They must know how to deliver the content so that their students learn effectively         

                                                                                 Picture sourced from: http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/tpack/ using-the-tpack-image/

Check out this youtube clip that explains TPACK in a bit more detail:

Blooms Taxonomy

 

Another framework we looked into this week is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s is based on the idea that the cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. There are six categories that made up the initial framework, they are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. It was originally thought that you must master the first category before you were able to 

understand the next.

                                                                                                                      Sourced from: Google images

 The revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy by Lorin Anderson reflects a more active form of thinking. Anderson’s changes involved the names of the categories and also their arrangement. The revised categories are: remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating.

Sourced from: Google images

While at first glance Bloom’s taxonomy appears to be a linear process it is important to note that it is not. The diagram below shows a better reflection of the intention of Bloom’s taxonomy.

                                                  Sourced from: Google images

The Mobile Phone Wiki

The learning that occurred through the use of the Wiki this week seemed to me to use a little bit of the connectivism theory and also a little of the cognitivism. While using the Wiki I had to think back at times to my own personal experiences therefore using the cognitivism theory of long term memory. I also found I was looking at the different learning opportunities if students had the use of mobile phones in the classroom. This reflects the connectivism theory where ‘it identifies the networked nature of learning with computers and the internet.

The benefits of participating in a Wiki like activity is that it gives each person the opportunity to have their say as well as look at how other people view the situation. Issues that may arise when using Wiki’s could be: lack of participation by all members, negative responses to someone’s opinion and inappropriate use of the Wiki. While there aren't many drawbacks that I can think of one might be the access people have to the internet. These days most people have access to the internet but it is naive to think they everyone does or that they understand how to use it.

 Picture sourced from: Google images

The use of a Wiki in the classroom could contribute to student learning in many ways. It could be used as means for a debate, where students that aren’t confident standing in front of the class to demonstrate their point of view have the option to type it instead. It could be used as a peer teaching and feedback tool also.

The scaffolding of the Wiki activity helped to support the range of perspectives by allowing each person to choose which group they wanted to contribute to, by letting each person read all other comments and by allowing the integration of pictures, video and colour to be added to each person’s reflection of their learning.

While e-Learning is a great way of engaging students in the classroom it isn’t without its complexities. Working legally, safely and ethically online is a major fear factor for many teachers. Here are a few ways you can minimise the fear of e-Learning:

-          Know your copyright laws

-          Know child safety laws, beware personal images being uploaded online

-          Ensure students understand stranger danger

-          Insist on a zero tolerance for cyber bullying

-          Ensure students understand the importance of and impacts of your online reputation whether it be as a student, teacher or the school.                                                                                                  Picture sourced from: Google images

This week we have looked at Digital Pedagogy. While it appears simple on the surface, it can be quite a complex topic. Hopefully my breakdown of the course materials has helped you gain a better understanding of the topic….I know it has for me J

Tarina Scoleri

References

A Digital Pedagogy Unconference (2013). Digital Pedagogy, Retrieved from: 

           http://www.briancroxall.net/digitalpedagogy/what-is-digital-pedagogy/

Big Dog & Little Dog (2013). Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Retrieved from:  

          http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#cognitive

Managing E-Learning (2013). Week 2: e-Learning design principles. Retrieved from 

         CQUniversity courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning, 

         http://www.e-courses.cqu.edu.au

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (2011). Using the TPACK Image.

         Retrieved from: http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/tpack/using-the-tpack-image/

Week One

Wow! Week one already? Where did that come from? I’m exactly halfway through my degree now….. and what a great feeling that is.

In our week one tutorial we discussed the use and integration of some fantastic online software that was available to teachers for FREE!!! We focused on one particular software called Padlet (I've attached a link below to the website and a picture of my own attempt at using it). I felt that it was a really valuable tool for classroom use. It allows students to have an opinion on a topic anonymously through the use of a virtual wall. This kind of technology gives students that would normally be self-conscious or embarrassed of their spelling the option to respond to teacher questioning without the worry of peer ridicule.

(http://padlet.com/)

The course materials focused on two topics this week… learning theories and learning styles. While I have looked at both of these topics briefly in other subjects it was great to see them pop up again in this course. Sometimes I find that theory doesn't really ‘click’ with me until I've had enough practical experience to see how it all slots into place. Now that I've been on prac, I can really see the value in choosing what theories you want to incorporate into your own pedagogy and understanding the impact of knowing your students learning styles.

After reading through the different learning theories, it was interesting to see which theories really resounded with my beliefs about teaching. While behaviourism, cognitivism and social constructivism were all familiar theories to me, I hadn't really had anything to do with connectivism. I really related to George Siemens idea that the content of a pipeline isn't nearly as important as the pipeline and connections themselves. In other words, what’s in our brains at this very minute is not nearly as important as our capacity to make connections and learn new content. Without the ability to learn, the brain is simply just an empty pipeline.

While quite a few of my other courses have covered learning styles, I had never completed Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence's test. All of my previous VAK style tests have always showed me to be a mostly visual learner with kinaesthetic tendencies as well. The Gardner test however showed something quite different.  Out of the 8 different intelligence sectors, my two most prominent areas were Linguistic and Intrapersonal. When I really think about it these sectors reflect my learning in a much more accurate way. I really liked Gardner’s theory and would definitely use it in the future. I've included a picture of my results below.

(http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm)

Understanding the needs of our students is absolutely vital with the education expectations of today. A teacher cannot adequately cater for every student in their class without first spending some time analysing their learning needs, strengths and weaknesses. I also believe that knowing yourself is just as important, if not more so than knowing your students. Through understanding your own learning style, strengths and weaknesses you can ensure that you can diversify your teaching to suit the needs of all students, whether their learning style matches yours or not. 

At the end of the day the onus is on us as teachers to provide our students with the very best version of ourselves. Here's a little quote you might like :) Happy Blogging!

(http://pinterest.com)

Tarina Scoleri