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