Powerpoint Activity

Fairies powerpoint

View more presentations from biancanolan
Yep it's pretty crude, but I gave it a shot.

Not in love with this type of tool, prefer prezi. There seemed a lot of mucking about before you saw anything concrete. However, I think it is still very useful it's just that I've just finished playing with glogster and prezi and they kind of wooed me with the bright shiny things that you can do with it. Putting it in the classroom context, I think students would gravitate towards glogster over powerpoint because I think glogster has targetted their marketing to that demographic. Where as powerpoint doesn't seem that exciting, even though you can do a lot of the same things as glogster. Also putting you powerpoint on slideshare then posting to your blog seems clumsy in comparison to just embedding it straight to your preferred medium.  

Group three technologies- PMI of Glogster

  PMI

Pluses

1. Glogster is a great platform to showcase students work.
2. It uses video, audio, graphics, animations, and images.
3. Combining these mediums it allows student to bring their work to life.
4. Its not static. Students can have access to the same glogster to combine all their works together.
5. Great for collaborative projects.
6. Parents/guardians can be provided access to interact with their childs projects
7. Simple to use. 
8. Flexible to cater for all different projects or interests, as well as learning styles.
9. Works within elearning frameworks of constructivism.
10. Can be put into a wiki, site, or blog
11. Fosters creativity, higher order thinking and is engaging.
12. Multiple uses on one account.

Minuses

1. Initial page takes time to create and set up
2. Can be seen from the public
3. Implications of legal and ethical issues arise from public nature of glogster
4. While the basic version is good, to use better features requires a fee, which makes it less attractive.
5. Can put too much info on the one page. 
6. The teacher could become complacent and not encourage critical thought or utilise the benefits of  this creation tool.

Interesting

1. Could pioneer how students create works for assessments. 
2. Rewarding work, especially if something fantastic is accidentally created.

How could I use this in a primary school context?

As glogster is versatile, I believe that its uses would only be limited by my imagination. I think this will present the greatest stumbling block to my teaching. Glogster could clearly be used as a teaching tool, and assessment tool. The teaching context could involve a number of scaffold educational activities, from documenting a interactive page of excursions, to personal works expressing a students creativity in any given KLA. Because the nature is essentially mulitimodal, that is talking in images, sounds and texts, students would be compelled to communicate using the 'new literacies'.

To put it into a context, last year my child did a unit of work on health and nutrition. They learnt this topic through reading about being healthy, learning about the hierarchy of foods, discussed what constitutes a healthy and active lifestyle and cooked healthy snack foods. They did a class collage of images cut out of magazines depicting what they thought it looked liked to be healthy. They also participated in foot races and other silly games. Through my uneducated eyes that seem to cover about half of the KLAs required to be taught. Imagine if they my son's teachers incorporated that unit into glogster. It could include video of the kids in action, either cooking or playing around. Students could record what they think being healthy is about with vodcasts. Their favourite books could be uploaded into a reading list for parents to peruse. Sections on recipes, and links to free family activities could be posted, to encourage further exploration of the topic at home. Thats just some of the things I can think of now. I'm sure anybody reading this could come up with something else. Within all of this, is the use of ICT's in the classroom as a tool to aids in creating a effective elearning experience.

This example is one way to use glogster in the classroom. I found a glogster page of a class in the US that used glogster to showcase the topic of Christmas. It contained vodcasts of students discussing their Christmas trees and was then put into the teachers wiki. What a great way to engage the class, combining Christmas and digital devices in one- genius!

Overall, I think glogster is my preferred presentation tool because its so flexible and is created to target learners from P-12 and engage them. Why fight what the kids gravitate towards? I'm not.

Check some of these little gems....instructional, cute and scary? 

My missing piece- poetry
Help this cause- japan tsurnami
Web 2.0 tools for the classroom
Oaklawn Elementary Library
Weather 
Reading Practice
New Bloom's taxonomy

Group Two Technologies- PMI of Digital Video

My Movie (Introducing the genius of Sam Nolan) and PMI.
A bit dark and twisted, I know but good for a giggle. I like to acknowledge that my son wrote the text and drew the pictures. All I did was put it together. Sam had a great time doing this and I can see how most children would really enjoy this learning process.
Now to the serious stuff.

I have chosen digital video from the multimedia week because I think it that a combination of images and sounds is more engaging a medium for learning when compared to Flickr and podcasting.



PMI of Digital Video in a Primary School Context.
Pluses:

• Movie making is mulitimodal. It integrates textual, oral, spatial and aural communications into one medium.
• Flexible medium. There is no limit on what you make with digital videos. It could work in all KLA's and meet most of the EL's.
• Easy to use, so young learners could have a go and still create something pretty good. 
• Engaging. Digital video enhances motivation and compels the learner to commit to the process. Students may often sacrifice leisure time in order to work more on their projects.
• Its fun 
• Digital video requires clear planning and organization. As projects are usually collaborative, management, negotiation and problem- solving skills are developed and refined.
• Creates authentic learning experiences.
• Opportunity to build technical skills required to create a digital video.
• Transforms the student-teacher relationship. Students becomes more independent and teachers acts as guides.
• Supports collaboration. Group work creates an environment congruent for peer tutoring, giving opportunities for all students to 'shine'. Success of the project reliant upon effective team work.
• Digital video can be created with basic equipment commonly available. Many households and schools already possess the technology.
• Great activity to cater for constructivist fans. Has the elements of working within a child's frame of experience, social based inquiry, collaborative problem solving, and scaffolded activities to achieve a targeted learning aim.
• Provides an medium for a personal, subjective and interpretive approach to projects.
• A 'real' audience motivates the creator to make something worth while for peers to review.
• Potential to use digital video as a vehicle for student to reflect on own learning.
• The nature of video and the ability to edit or re-shoot allows student to take risks and perhaps explore avenues otherwise dismissed.
• Digital video production demands critical thought. Analysis and evaluation are needed at every stage of production. 
• Delivers information in a medium most of us are familiar with and comfortable to use
• Schwartz and Hartmans: engaging, saying, seeing, doing hypothesis.

Minuses

• Need clear learning outcomes.
• Need to consider the legal and ethical implications of creating a video that has images of children, especially if published to a public domain.
• Need to consider legal implications of intellectual property rights
• May encounter resistence form parents/guardians as to the validity of the project. 
• Must acquire the necessary technical skills. Although these are easy to master, they do take time. 
• Integrity of the video may be eroded after editing.
• Ability to edit may create biased reports/outcomes.
• Greater research is needed to examine how digital video can be used in class and an affective pedagogy developed.
• While digital video maybe an engaging activity, it does not necessarily create curricula outcomes.

Interestings.

• Not being a big movie watcher, I was surprised at how engaged I was doing this activity. 
• My son was instantly enthralled with the idea. He has already made two more story boards for his next projects, without any prompting from me. His limited exposure to the process has already made a impact on his thinking skills, in evaluating whether his story line makes sense and do the images marry up with the text. With practice this would be refined and take less time to do. 
• Its inspirational; girlfriends with children want to make one of their own child's works after seeing mine. Did not expect that. Maybe mothers groups could incorporate this activity in to their meetings. Start this process in play group, now that is an impressive idea. Research shows that a child will learn the most between 0-5 years. 
• I like the informality of the process. It doesn't feel as constraining as my primary school learning experiences had. I think it is this informal learning process that is one of the hooks when working with digital devices.
• The ability to edit with ease is digital video has is benefits and problems

• Creating a digital video compels students to develop and refine their written and language skills. This seems an interesting point because when thinking about digital video, the first assumptions made are that visual and aural literacies would dominate the learning agenda.
• Some believe that digital video may lull viewer to be less critical of content because of the seductive nature of film. Not sure if I personally believe that.

How would I use digital video in a primary school class?
There are two ways to use video in the classroom, pre-recorded video and student generated video.

Pre-recorded video would be useful to use as an instructional aid. Examples would be using age appropriate documentaries or specific recordings that targetted young audiences. The educational benefit would be that children naturally gravitate towards video, and would take greater interest in watching a video than listening to me 'talk and chalk' it. A deconstrucition of the video content using a thinking routine, perhaps the ' I see, I wonder' routine would be most appropriate, as a follow up activity. I could see the relevance of using instructional videos to help teach ideas and concepts realting to social sciences, sciences like biology and chemistry, drama and music.

Using student generated video in my class would probably be a term long activity. I would probably follow the academics advice intially as I become more familiar with school life. So, I would use student generated video for english and science projects, where students would create their own news and current affairs reports. For science, use video to record observations and data which would allow students to make evaluatations and conclusions. I really enjoyed the 'baking cookies' example in the coursework and thought that would be a great learning experience for younger students. 

I have chosen the reading "Students in the directors seat' to do a quick summary. It contains what I think are the relevant points in context to digital video in primary school setting. I will either directly quote from the text or paraphrase.

There are three foci to this study:
1. Focuses on pedagogy rather than technology
2.Focuses on student-generated video rather than professional video productions
3.Focuses on the process of generating the video, rather than focusing on the end product.

One of its main questions is, 'What are teacher's rationales for using student-generated video in their classes?'
Authors argue that,

In general, the literature on computer based learning makes many claims about good practice resulting from computer technology use, but most of these claims are untested (Schuck 2002). It was the aim of this research to conduct an in-depth study to provide understanding of what is happening in a set of classes using student generated video, and to focus on the pedagogical practices rather than the technological ones.

They also add that the research concentrates on the socio-cultural aspects of computer-based learning.

Additionally, the authors also point out that good pedagogical practices include scaffolded activities, designed to help students work independently citing Davidson (2004) as their example -p11.


Furthermore, they state that if using video as a teaching tool or assessment, there must be clear learning outcomes for the students in the initial planning stages ( p12). They use Ludewig  2004 to support this claim.


On page 13:

• the potential of digital video projects facilitate multidisciplinary learning.
• DV promote open ended exploration in authentic based learning environment, particularly when the learner chooses and captures his/her film clips (Squires 99)
• Interesting example: Video based laboratories in science and maths. "Students use of video to presentations to make observations, measurements, and gather data about events. When connected to spreadsheets, students can then use the video clips to efficiently gather data and make graphs and other representations to analyse and model these data. Studies have shown that these video-based laboratories to be both motivating and provide authentic learning experiences for students".

Rationale for using student-generated digital video- p14

1.Development for a variety of literacies

• integration of aural, oral, textual, gestural, spatial, and multi-modal communication along with language required to communicate about images, music and film ( Meeks & Ilyasova 2003).
• positive relationship exists between (video0 projects and the development of critical viewing skills.
• Developing media literacy creates informed consumers and world citizens.
• " The development of visual literacy language is needed for students of engage in digital video projects, but more importantly can become a life skill which is necessary for understanding and communicating in a increasingly visual world."

2. Creating authentic learning experiences.

• DV allows students to engage in real-world problems and situations, rather than abstract and hypothetical examples that can be difficult to put into practice. Example, students create news and current affairs programs.
• DV projects provides unique opportunities, across all stages for constructivists learning approaches to be implemented in a variety of disciplines and result in creation of a product that is appropriate for a real audience.

3. Developing Conceptual understandings.

• DV facilitates conceptual understandings.
• Particularly scientific concepts effectively and quickly.
• DV most appropriate medium for learning and embedding new subject knowledge and understanding and for reflecting on and reinforcing/extending that knowledge. (sounds familiar? dimensions of learning chapt two PCK).

4. Enhancing motivations and other affective outcomes

• Increased engagement is one of the most heralded benefits of student-generated DV tasks.
• students will work through lunch and after school to complete project.
• Students liked the control over the project and independence from the teacher.
• This ownership of project enhanced self esteem and self perceptions in some students.
• DV allows students to take risks. Editing facility provides a safety net.

5. Promoting expression and communication skills. p17

• DV enhances students written and other communication skills.
• Levels the playing field. Allows those students with weak written skills to enhance than while showcasing other communication skills.

6. Develop collaborative learning skills

• DV usually requires group work. 
• benefits of peer learning environments in terms of developing key collaborative and communication skills, appropriate language development, and effective teamwork skills such as negotiation and reaching a consensus.
• This evidence is raised by students and teachers alike as the most important outcome in DV production.

7. Building technical skills

• Obviously, the process would teach students the basic of video production.
• There is a concern from some teachers that the lack of technical skills a student may have may negatively influence  the student and that further research is needed to understand/know what technical skills are needed for students to effectively work with video.

8. Building generic learning skills.

• VD aids in problem-solving, project management, organisation, planning skills as well as thinking, reasoning and risk-taking skills.

The paper further discusses these points in length citing case studies and the importance of the perspective of the teacher. That is, the primary reasons why VD has been used in the classroom is because the teacher recognised its teaching and pedagogical value.

 The authors summarise,

"the findings from this study indicate that well designed student-generated digital video projects are strongly aligned with principles of independent, authentic learning. These tasks are inherently student-centred, context-rich and encourage active group participation. They provide students with flexibility and choice, often creating a strong sense of ownership, self regulation, self-esteem benefits and personal interest in topics." (p79)

Another point, "digital video promotes greater autonomy of the student and transforms the role of the teacher into one of a guide.

The case studies and methodologies provide greater insight and detailed evidence of their arguments. The PMI is covers some of their points. It also includes my personal experiences and ideas from creating my own digital video.


References.
Fasso, W. (2011, April, 5). Group Two Technologies. Digital video in education. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=163850

Kearney, M. & Schuck, S. (2006). Students in the director's seat. Teaching and Learning across the School Curriculum with Student-generated Video. University of Technolgy, Sydney. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://www.ed-dev.uts.edu.au/teachered/research/dvproject/pdfs/ReportWeb.pdf

Schwartz, D. & Hartman, K. (n.d.) Its not television anymore: Designing digital video for learning and assessment. Stanford University. Retrieved from CQUniverstiy e-courses, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/Designed_video_for_Learning.pdf

Had a go on Wordle

This would be a great way for students to practice their imagery literacy. It is quick and easy to use, so even P-3 could easily pick this up. This might be good for creating a image that learners might brainstorm in class and wish to publish. Not sure if this could be put on glogster, but I might give it a try. I suppose this sort of activity only supports one side of visual literacy, that is pictures/words and neglects the audio side. However I do think that this might be a good way to introduce concepts of visual literacy to young learners and a graet place to begin to scaffold their learning. Once this is mastered (or no longer interestiing) further introduction interactive sites would be appropriate.

My first Prezi

Podcast

My first podcast

I've seemed to have jumped the gun and discussed podcasting previously. please find it in 'captains log- week four'.


TTFN

Salman Khan: Lets use video to reinvent education

Salman Khans's idea of 'flipping' the classroom around is a very exciting idea. Essentially he argues thats videos in the classroom allows greater scope and opportunities for learning and teaching. He says that introducing this technology has had a 'humanizing affect' where learning and teaching are customised to the student and allowing the teacher the time to work with those that are struggling.

Advantatges for students

• Kids prefer to work with digital devices
• can work at there own pace- in control of their learning
• can pause/replay video if unsure
• working with video removes embarrasment from asking for assistance.
• capacity for peer to peer tutoring, classroom walls no barrier to tutoring globally.
• each child has the same opportuinies to be 'smart' at that subject

Advantages for teachers

• Classroom no longer 'chalk and talk'.
• Takes the guess work out of a lesson, teachers are sure that kids are where they need to be for their learning- eah step is mastered.
• teacher observation of pauses/replays informs where the 'sticky' points are.
• A classroom dashboard allows teacher to know where each student is at. Pinpoints which students would benefit from some coaching
• teachers can confidently choose a student which has masterd a topic to tutor a student who is struggling to pick it up. 

 These advantages of using video in the classroom create a student centred approach to learning, or a humanised environment. By flipping the structure of the classroom around this creates the space for teachers to ensure that all students excel. Khan points out that it the student to teacher ratio is now redundant. Rather it is the student to valuable teacher time that takes precedence. 

How would I use this for learning? Considering the prevalence of the rise of the sketchily defined 'new literacies' it would make complete sense to use video in the classroom. Because it is a versatile medium, it can be used in all KLAs. Age is not a barrier, because it is using images and sound to communicate. It seems that video would slip easily into a constructivst framework for teaching, so it would be the role of the teacher to ensure that whats on the video is relevant and appropriate to class. Combining video with tutorial programs on the pc, there seems no limitation to creating little geniuses. 

So all that is great. The problem is that there is no where near enough computers in the classrooms for all students. We need to convince education power brokers that this is the way. Once that is accomplished, we are only limited by our imaginations. 

Salman Khan: lets use video to reinvent education

Choose the way you wish to learn: use the link or just watch the embedded video.

On the way to school...

On the way to school this morning my son declared that 'school is boring' and he couldn't wait for the school holidays. I asked him what would it take to make school fun and he replied playing the wii in class or even better if the whole school had its own DS and they could link up. He also suggested that the half an hour on thursdays in the computer lab is not enough and that the programs the school is using are too simple.

Interesting to hear this from my child in the context of what we are learning in this course. I think this five minute conversation with my son has had more impact on me than the stack of readings we have done. Constructivism in action?  Maybe in its simlest form.

Captains Log - week four

So its week four and I'm think I'm starting to get the hang of this......maybe. I think I would enjoy the process more if I wasn't constrained by time. I like the fact that I am being dragged into the twenty first century, cos really, I don't see myself doing it on my own. Which brings me to thinking, given what I have just said, I have real doubts about my ability to incorporate this stuff into the classroom. I am afraid that because I'm not a 'digital native' that it might be impossible to walk the talk. I can consider the framework, read the literature and do the activities but putting all together to make a meaningful learning process seems beyond me. Having said my piece, lets talk about how digital images/sound can work within the pedagogy's discussed in the course so far. 

I'm not going to come up with anything original, alas, cos I don't think I'm up to that yet. So lets go with constructivism and engagement theory, (why? because that is what I focused on in my conclusion) and I think these would lend themselves well with absorbing digital devices. If we presuppose that learning is best achieved when creating meaningful experiences with the learner, then the creativity and scope of using sound and vision would hit the mark. I really enjoyed seeing the movie of baking cookies (C is for cookie, I've had that running in my head ever since) and it really was a eye opener for me that it didn't take a long time to put together. I could see that this assessment piece ticked a lot of the boxes that engagement theory suggests. Working collaboratively, (student with teacher and parent I would assume to aid in the production side) and perhaps with the planning. A project that compels the student to think and plan about the content of the movie and  devising a coherent aim of the movie itself. This would involve higher order thinking skills in several areas to complete the assessment. Not to mention a need to employ multidisciplinary literacies. And finally to publish onto a public space for the benefit of others. It may not have been created completely in mind for the benefit  of another group, but comes pretty close. To marry this example with constructivism, this assessment task could be scaffolded to help the student achieve the learning aim. Baking cookies would be relevant to the students past experience and would provide a sturdy platform for future exploration and growth. Perhaps if the student worked with a class peer, this would satiate the constructivist approach for peer to peer learning. 

How would podcasts work in these frameworks. Fairly similarly I suppose. Podcast might even be easier to put together than a movie and I think would be great in a P-3 context. I really liked the idea of the 'museum' example in the readings and think that something like that could be very easily put in the classroom. However there was one point made in the course work, (sorry they have all blurred into one giant reading) where it was suggested to use a vodcast of a student doing a mathematical equation incorrectly to teach a class what not to do. I wouldn't prescribe to this method of painting a negative word picture. You can't think about what you don't want to think about, without thinking about it. Confusing? How about 'you can't not think about the pink elephant without thinking about it.' It makes no sense to me to do that.

Anywhoo, food for thought. Thanks for taking an interest.

Joy! It worked the first time.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buddhabinky/5555498062/in/photostream/

Swot Analysis of a Website in Primary School

This sums up my week....how 'bout you?

Assessment 1- Conclusion

This essay is the conclusion of previous reflection and research. It will briefly explore the different learning theories and discuss the implications of constructivism underpinning eLearning design. It will evaluate my personal reflections and research in participating in collaborative online activities, and discuss how these activities support eLearning. It will further discuss the importance of scaffolding activities and guiding students towards higher order thinking within a primary school context.

To begin a brief explanation of learning theory will be addressed.  Behaviourism argues that the mind is a black box promoting learning through repetition, practice and positive reinforcement to achieve learning gains (Mergel, 1998). Cognitivism explains learning through mental processes, of memory capacity and the formation of schemas (Sweller, 1998), and followers of connectivism contend it is the ability to learn, adapt and create connections that are most important for modern learners (Siemens, 2004). Constructivist theory argues that learning is an active, constructive process, where students relate to learning within their previous experience and amongst peers. Given this, constructivists use the technique of scaffolding to guide teaching practices (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2011).

While these theories provide some insights on how people learn, I have chosen constructivism to provide the platform for discussing my own teaching practice and eLearning design. Drawn from experience with the online activities, it was clear that successful completion of the course activities was dependent upon on them being appropriately scaffolded. That is, the learning is to be broken in to small but key steps in order to ‘build’ learning while decreasing the level of assistance by the teacher as the learner gains knowledge and skills, culminating in higher order thinking (Dolittle, 1997). Scaffolding is reflected in my blog entries as a very important step in the learning process. To complete the tasks of the “profile, phone and learning theory” wiki, the eLearning design must address both content (subject matter) and practical skill (navigating the wiki/blog).  The concept of the wiki and moodle tutorials addressed the hands-on aspects, and different readings and collaborative works aided in learning the content. It became apparent that to successfully create effective eLearning design, the educator must have an in depth knowledge of each. Both skill and content need to be strategically placed beside each other, and appropriately scaffolded in order to guide the student towards desirable learning aims (Fasso, 2011).

Within a primary school context a constructivist approach supports eLearning provided that the activity is appropriate for that particular class. Given this, I would need to understand the level of declarative and procedural knowledge of the class in order to design an effective learning activity. It became clear that any activity I would include in the classroom would need to cater for younger minds, and perhaps use pictures and sounds to aid reading and comprehension. Within scaffolded tasks, thinking routines such as De Bono’s Six Hats or a PMI could be moulded to suit the topic and comprehension levels in the class, providing a new approach to problem solving and encouraging higher order thinking.  Implementing constructivism and ICT’s within a young learners’ environment may involve greater effort because of the age groups, however the underlying principles still remain. 

Other appropriate tools, such as small screen entertainment devices or interactive white boards, could provide the space for collaborative learning, using scaffolded activities to solve problems, introduce new concepts or engage the class in literacy or numeracy play based games (Prensky, 2005). Free online resources are available now, with the potential to transform lessons in the classroom from chalk and talk to interactive and collaborative. Wikis can accommodate many types of forums, and suit all age groups. With the advances in modern technology, incorporating digital devices in the classroom should no longer be considered a novelty, but a necessary part of school life. Finding the appropriate technologies and applications are key to engaging the class and successfully nurturing higher order thinking in young learners.

The wiki format gives students the opportunity to direct their own learning. Its flexibility allows students the space to form collaborative works of interest to them, engaging students and providing a sense of satisfaction of the works done (Kearsley & Shneiderman, n.d.). My own experience of collaborative work invited and motivated me to engage in the content, forcing me to think critically and analyse how these experiences could translate into a young learners’ environment. However, my experience has showed me that the wiki format does have its limitations. A number of my peers, experienced in using wiki’s voiced disinterest and felt unchallenged by the task, regardless of the content. Some of my peers disliked the wiki format, and were reluctant to engage, and as my classmates had the freedom to complete work to their schedule, the wiki was often empty or incomplete when viewed. It became tedious to check the progress of the wiki especially when time is at a premium (personal communication, April, 2011).  Another potential drawback is the nature of the wiki. As an online collaborative space, participants can add any content they wish. This content may prove to be untrue or incorrect and may disadvantage other learners; however some may argue that this is constructivism in action, an essential step of the learning path. Here the role of the teacher would come to the fore, redirecting the learning towards a desired outcome.

Other observations I have made during reflection of my learning experience is that the greater the transparency of the teaching process the deeper my own learning became. As I encountered obstacles working with ICT’s the transparency of the resolution process provided as much learning as the course content. An example of this is where the class encountered technical difficulties with the profile wiki. Technical problems can facilitate a transformation the student-teacher relationship into a partnership of learning (personal communication, W. Fasso, 2nd March 2011). In a primary school classroom, I believe transparency of the teaching process would give young minds the opportunity to contribute to and create their own learning, forming a partnership with the educator and nurturing higher order thinking. It is the nature of a partnership that sets higher expectations of the participants, and perhaps makes the journey enjoyable.  

The twenty first century classroom requires an evaluation of how new technologies are placed in context to learning and their underpinning theories. A greater awareness of learning and learning how to learn are now taking precedence over traditional methods of teaching and assessment. Personal observation and reflection upon my learning experiences illustrate that learners retain knowledge and develop skills when engaged in the course work. Activities that are scaffolded support students learning. Within an eLearning environment, strategically placed scaffolded activities with digital devices must work in tandem. The online spaces of wikis and blogs allow students to collaborate and control their research in a direction that has meaning to their reality. New approaches to critical thought, such as the thinking routines allow students of any age to engage in higher order thinking. Combined, ICT’s and constructivist principles support students in a new way of education.




Reference List

              Doolittle  P.E. (1997) Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as a theoretical foundation for cooperation learning.  Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 8 (1), 83-103.
              Fasso, W. (2001, March 7). Effective eLearning Design. Retrieved from CQUUniverstiy moodle  EDED20491 ITC’s for Learning Design, http;//www.moodle.cqu.edu.au
              Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011). Retrieved from Learning-Theories.com from http://www.learning-theories.com/
              Mergel, B (1998) Instructional Design and Learning Theory. Retrieved from http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The%20Basics%20of%    20Behaviorism   
             Prensky, M. (2005). Engage or Enrage Me, What Today’s Learners Demand. Educause review, Sept/ Oct, 60-64.
             Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivivsm: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

            Sweller, J. (1998) Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12, 257-285. Retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/sweller.html

SWOT analysis

Haha!!!! Finally something worked.

Here is my blog entry for the SWOT analysis of blogs in a primary school context. Yes am aware that its too small to read right now but I need to walk away before I do something silly to the computer.

Reflection and Observation on assignment one

A combination of exhilaration and trepidation flood my system in the wee hours of the night, (well, eleven thirty is late for me) as I complete my first academic essay in over ten years. Feelings of pride of what I have achieved  (I have also helped my child do his homework, prepared lunches and dinner, washed the boy, cleaned up the carnage from this afternoons events, gone to the gym, done two loads of washing and again cleaned up the carnage of the evenings events) are present tarnished by the grrowing queasiness bubbling away in my stomach. The eternal doubts - What if I've totally missed the point? leading to 'I think I forgot to cover this..- to  #$@*  I'm totally crap and useless and will make the worst teacher in the world. In a feeble attempt I to try to rationalise the situation by thinking, 'oh the lecturer will go easy on me, its been ten years for goodness sake', until a sickening calm settles on you when you realise that your whole class-nay the entire world, can see your work, and pick it to bits. Frantically I rushed to the kitchen, searching for the secret stash of chockies hidden behind the flour. Too late, some sneaky smurf found them first and has left mummy high and dry. Breathe.....breathe......breathe.....
Okay, so I'm sharing this with you not to show the world my neurosis but beacause I'm asking 'please be kind to me?' when I do eventually publish my conclusion on friday....please???

Captains Log

The more I learn about this teaching stuff the more uncertain I am becoming about it all.... I'm not even sure I can work in the education system without becoming bitter and twisted let alone be apart of the vanguard for changing pedagogy for twenty first century education. Hmmmmm...... much to consider. I feel like I'm struggling with what ICT's are about. Between learning theories, running records (really there has to be a  better way to do it???) supportive learning environments, and matching it all up to curricula and continua, where do teachers actually find time to teach? Maybe I'll feel better about it tomorrow.

The Learning Theories Wiki

The Learning Theories wiki task required that I work with a partner and perform a PMI on a particular reading(s). Although I found the the PMI useful, I felt that this task has had the least impact upon my learning. I think it is beacuse I chose a topic that used vision instead of text to put forward the argument. I suppose I should have recognised earlier that this was not the best way for me to learn, but as I had already committed to the topic with a partner I couldn't back out. To take something of value out of this experience, is that when conducting lessons in my own classroom, is to ensure that my learners have access to all types of materials to work with. As I will be working with children in primary school, it is my responsibility to know every childs learning style and to provide a suitable platform of learning everyday. Also I must take care to not exclude certain types of materials in class because it doesn't sit naturally with me and my learning style.

 The catergory of '21st Century Learners' was a positve argument for a paradigm shift from traditional methods of teaching towards a Connectivist and Constructivist approach. It argued for a 'new DNA' of teachers and that essentially we are teaching todays learners for jobs that do not exist. It relied heavily upon the principles of  constuctivism/connectivism, where social interaction has a large influence on learning (Vygotsky) and that the learning must have significant personal meaning to the student (youtube vid 2,).It also argued for students to learn skills pertinant to the times, rather than content, and skills such as crtical thinking, adaptation, team work, problem solving , communication and cultural profiency to become the goal posts for future learners. That is, creating the connections and abilities to function in a maleable workforce are critical to the success of a learner in the digital age.

As to activity itself, I believe that there were elements of behaviourism, evinced through PMI, Constructivism through team work and connectivism by the actual wiki itself. Myself and my classmates know where to find the information on the learning theories wiki should we need it. The learning theories wiki supports learning by providing the whole spectrum of learning preferences and contexts, by supporting the different learning styles and allowing the student to choose what is to be learnt and in what manner it is to be learnt. In theory, the wiki should support learning in general, that is, by dividing the topics up and distributing the results to the class. However the quality of the findings are only as strong as the weakest student, and that may negatively affect learning. Additionally, as the wiki is shared space for collaborative learning, and conceptually should support learning, there is no impetus for students to regularly check the wiki updates. That alone is up to the students, and perhaps a further task of discussion and critque may provide a good follow up activity.

Reflections and Observations Week Two

ICT's and ICT's for Learning Design takes up alot of my study time. For it to be an effective aid and tool to support pedagogy, it needs to be tested and tried. I can see now that merging ICT's and pedagogy is no simple feat. Its going to be a major challenge for me. I can see now that the course employs many strategies as a way to include theories of connectivism and constructivism in the tasks. Adding to that, I can also see alot of using Blooms Domains and Engagement theory too. Sooo many ways and theories. So finding the balance is the key, as to not exclude a certain type of learner.

I feel I must apologise to Prensky for basically trashing his argument on  the 'digital natives' debate. Why? cos my seven year old did exactly what Prensky argued. It was during a chess game my son was playing against some adults, that my child pulled out his DS and played between manouvers. This astounded me because initially I though my child was being rude, but when put in context to Prenskys argument, it became very clear that 21st century learners require fast outcomes, can mulit-task and still be engaged at two different things at the same time.

Now that said, how am I be going to teach these new learners when I feel antiquated myself? Doublts....many doubts.

Reflection on Profile Wiki

The profile wiki task was my introduction to the concept of the 'wiki'. As I have discovered that my learning preferences lies towards sensing, verbal and active styles, this task ticked many boxes for me. The wiki profile made sense, it was a logical progession of mini-tasks, and provided the end goal of getting to know my fellow classmates. I felt that I had achieved something and learnt a new skill.

Looking at this with the perpective of a 'newbie' I think that this type of task would support my learners in the future, firstly,as a great introduction to ICT's and secondly, as an 'ice breaker' within the class community. I would agree that this task supports the four learning theories we have been introduced to. Connectivism definitely, as it claims to be the learning theory for the digital age (Siemens). I have seen this in myself, where I will quickly read/watch something on the computer, make a qucik judgement of the material and definitely note how to get back there for clarification in the future. Thus choosing what I want to learn and creating the meaning that has significance for me. Constructivsm also is supported by this task, if we agree that 'social interaction has a large influence on learning'. (Vygotsky) The nature of the profile wiki forces students to have contact with their peers. Practices of behaviourism are present, as the wiki provides measurable outcomes, and example would be the tutorials for creating your wiki. To a lessor degree, cognitivism because the wiki highlighted each students way of learning.

How does this design support a diverse range of students? I suppose I am a good example of one end of the spectrum. A newbie to the world of wikis, I was able to complete the task. Those with greater experience would have little trouble with it. Also as a flex student, I could still participate whilst being quite a distance from the university campus. As an online activity, this supports learning that traditional methods could not. Distance would be a major stumbling block, and thus discount me to be eligible to participate. The activity itself is a good example of how ICT's could be used in the classroom, after all lets not forget that we are teachers training to teach 21st century learners.

Reflection on Phone Wiki

The mobile phones wiki was an interesting task. I liked  De Bono's approach towards dissecting a topic. With the various coloured hats representing ideas and questions, I felt it allowed discussion to be multi-dimensional, adding flavour and shades of opinion, rather than neatly boxing a topic with a generalised statement. I suppose it is a reflection of life in general, nothing is black and white, and as educators in training, its important to teach with this in mind. How could this strategy support my learners? I think it covers most bases for supporting learning. In particular, the learning theories we spent some time on last week (behavourism, cognitivism, constructivism, and connectivism) are able to be implemented should I wish, as the phone wiki task does not exclude the possibility to use them. Constructivism and connectivism are the most obvious, as the wiki task supports their central ideas; personalised learning and creating/building connections repectively. Behaviourism and cognitism practices too, because the task allowed reinforced behaviours and the follow through of the cognitive process. The wiki is also a flexible platform for elearning, as all students participating have an equal opportunity to contribute, at a time of their choosing, regardless of location, and can also choose their level of invovement, thus allowing students to engage in the content, fostering greater awareness of their meta-learning. I certainly felt aware of this process as I completed the wiki and enjoyed that I could pinpoint these steps in my learning. Most beneficial to me was being able to read my peers comments, which highlighted some points for me that I had not considered. However I do feel that a downfall of the wiki (or student?) is that not all classmates have filled in the wiki and some students may miss a interesting point of view, due to lack of time to continuously refer back to the wiki.

Design Framework for eLearning

The task of designing an effective framework for excellent elearning is not simple. From the readings provided, it would seem that Bloom's Taxonomy is the accepted model for transitioning students from lower order thinking to higher order thinking. However as this is only a conceptual framework, it lacks the how or the platform to provide the setting for such learning to take place. Which is how Engagement Theory comes into play. This theory supposes that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activites through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks (Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman). So, it would be sound pedagogical practice to combine the two, providing opportunities for students to travel up Blooms ladder and engage in problem-solving based learning to acquire deep knowledge and real world skills.


A quick overview of the theories.

Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains
Bloom maintains that there is 3 types of learning; cognitive, (knowledge), affective (attitude) and psychomotor (skills). Bloom's main argument is that in order for learners to move from basic learning or lower order thinking, the learner must progress through a series of  steps to reach the ultimate goal of higher order thinking. Basically, in order for a learner to understand something they must be able to recall/remember it, in order for a learner to apply new knowledge they must have understand it, and so forth. (Blooms Taxonomy of Learning Domains). For the purposes of this task I will onlly use Bloom's cognitive domain.

Engagement Theory


Engagement Theory is a framework for technological based learning and teaching. Its aim is to engage the learner, using three principles of 'relate, create, donate'. That is, learning through group work, where works are project based, and projects are to have an outside focus. Kearsley and Shneiderman argue that the success of engagement theory is due to collaborative nature of work, focussing on ambitious goals that assist those outside the classroom.

The Task- design an effective framework for eLearning

As the teacher is the greatest influence in the classroom, and that no two students are the same, it would be important for me to provide a balanced approach to creating an effective eLearning pedagogy. So somethings I would do/consider are;

• An evaluation of the class standard of knowledg and skills, and further exploration of where individuals would sit within that realm. It would be poor practice to assume my class is homogenous in experience and skill. 

•  Consider the proportion of human contact to ICT contact and introduce varous mediums of digital devices.

• Design activities that allow for group and individual work, using ICTs to aid students form connections and build real world skills. Furthermore, incorporating ICT's as a learning tool and encourage students to take advantage of the many free applications. 

• Create assessments that allow the students to dictate the basis for research and provide the space for students to explore those concepts that interest them, ensuring relevance to the students themselves.

•   I believe that this framework gives me the space to include the learning styles and theories that we have been researching, and would incoporate these styles and theories in delivering this content, allowing students to 'climb' the cognitive ladder in their preferred learning style.

Back at uni...?

PMI activity

PMI ACTIVITY

Greg Whitby: pedagogical dna for schooling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l72UFXqa8ZU&feature=related

And

21st Century Learning Matters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2XwWq4_BY

Pluses (good points for your teaching context) all the benefits of the ideas presented in the readings.
· Innovative
· Reflective: looks at historical patterns, foundations, and power dynamics within current model

· Critical: able to recognise and name flaws in current model
· Child focussed: recognises the needs/behaviours/experiences of the students and identifies need for teachers to adapt rather than the child to adapt
· Recognises the value in shared, cooperative learning and co-constructive learning
· The digital world offer greater access to information ( and should the technology be provided to all schools for students to access) this then allows students greater exposure to information, including less mainstream ideas and alternative sources of information.
· Discusses the importance of teaching critical analysis skills to children, in that there is so much information students can access over the internet, the role of the teacher is not providing all the information, but rather the skill to critically evaluate the information and how reliable/ authentic/correct it may be.
· Engaging educators in a new discourse of teaching in the 21st Centaury
· Recognising the need for a new skill set for the digital age



Minuses (areas of the learning theory that will make your teaching difficult or ineffective) all of the dangers/problems associated with the ideas in the reading

· May encounter entrenched ways of thinking from other colleagues who do not share the same belief in the need to redesign teacher/learning in today’s context.
· May encounter parents who are challenged/unsupportive of new models of teaching/learning
· Parents may struggle to support students if they feel out of touch with teaching models
· No clear/ accepted model for 21st century learning – i.e same teaching methods from industrial age still happening within the classroom.
· Risk of again creating a model that is based on wide stereo-types and assumptions about 21st century children and as such risk a one size fits all approach.
· The rapidly changing nature of technology often leaves families/ schools needing to update technology to ‘keep up. This excludes smaller school and lower socio-economic families
· Often relies on having access to technology – what about our rural and remote communities
· Reinforces, and promotes the notion of a global world, which can further isolate children and families from their local communities. Alternatively this can lead to education models that do not fit some communities ( e.g. remote indigenous communities).
· Creates education as a response to the digital era (as opposed to the industrial era) and as such is still often corporation driven and as such has the potential to focus on overall corporate needs rather than individual/family /community needs.
· Applies that the teaching methods of the 21st Century are “fundamentally mismatched”… Is that true??



Interesting (areas you have just learned about, areas that may create a heap of opportunities when you teach, areas that may be plain unpredictable when you teach) anything else you identify of note in the reading. Elements that are ambiguous, or difficult to make decisions on. Elements that are outstanding
and work explaining further.
· The world of the Unknown – being in a time of development whereby there is recognition of the need for a new model/pedagogy, but not having that perfected or implement as yet – this leads to an interesting time in the education environment.
· I’m thinking of the resistance education may have to this thinking as it really is a huge power loss for teacher – from being seen as having the knowledge and handing it out to students to providing a supportive environment and co-ordination the facilitation of/access to information.
· Term DNA of pedagogy
· Role of the teacher is shifting to a mediator

Reflection and Observation of ICT as a learning tool and experience

Being a newbie to all of this here is what I've noticed.

ICT's as a learning tool and way to deliver and explore new info provides limitless possibilities. Thats great. On the one hand, you can create and shape your lessons to provide not only learning content, but also introduce new ways of thinkng and application that is relevent to the learners and the global environment at large. I get that this is not a fad that will fade with time but revolutionary to the context of teaching. Having said that, I think it is importatnt to keep in mind that this is a way of teaching, not the way. Having completed week one on Literacy, it drove home the point that all ways of teaching is intergral to the learning process.

Another observation I would like to make it that ICT's are great only when they work!!!!You can do this and that and everything else at the click of a mouse. But when something is wrong (and really the possibilites there are endless as well) then your in big trouble. For example, Moodle is great, I can work into the wee hours of the night while my family sleeps, and get alot done with no distractions, until that vital link doesn't work. Who are you going to turn to? its three in the morning, normal people are sleeping. Then you study routine is stuffed cos everything is scaffolded and you lose momentum, blah, blah, blah...

Another observation I would like to make is that using ICT's in the classroom can waste alot of time as well. The constant clicking to this page then back again then scrolling then waiting for something to load really eats into valuable lesson time. I did find that a big distraction in res school (being a auditory learner).

However I am really enjoying this process and can see how this will enable me to be potentially a great teacher.

Thanks for taking a interest.