Information,
Communications and Technology (ICT) influences our lives and changes the way we
do things. Learning is not immune to
these changes, ICT impacts the students’ learning styles, and the way they prefer
to learn. Education Queensland (2008,
p.3) identifies digital pedagogy as being "a new way of working and
learning with ICT to facilitate quality learning experiences for 21st Century
learners. Digital Pedagogy moves the focus from ICT tools and skills, to a way
of working in the digital world". Globally, ICT is recognised as fundamental to
economic growth and development (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), N.D.). For our
country to be competitive in the global market, education must be delivered
according to global standards. This
reflective synopsis provides an overview of a selection of digital tools and
resources available to educators to integrate digital pedagogy in the curriculum. Over the past few weeks I have been
researching and experimenting with these tools and resources along with some of
my colleagues, and discussing their place in the classroom. These tools include wiki spaces, blogs, PowerPoint,
digital video, iPods.
A wiki space is a
site online where visitors can read the content posted, and add their own
information. It is a tool that is ideal
for online collaborative learning.
Groups of people, from any physical location can work together and share
their ideas utilising a wiki space. This
makes wiki spaces perfect for distance learners to work together. A wiki space on its own does not formulate a
learning tool. When the learning manager
complements the space with scaffolding, such as Bono’s Six Thinking Hats (deBono
Thinking Systems, N.D.), the right environment is created to enable the
students to move in the right direction towards the knowledge that they
require. This learning environment
illustrates social constructivism, with students learning as a result of
interacting with one another. Framing
the wiki with scaffolding supports higher order thinking. I have had the opportunity to participate in
a wiki-based learning experience, being part of a group of students analysing
the decision to include mobile phones in learning, using the tool of Bono’s Six
Thinking Hats. Please see Appendix A
for the link to view this wiki space. I
found this to be a worthwhile exercise in exploring ideas about whether mobile
phones should be used in classrooms.
Rather than just exploring the ideas individually, I was able to
consider other students’ opinions when reaching my own conclusions. Using the scaffolding tool ensured that
discussion was focussed in the direction required for learning. This tool is ideal in any learning situation
where groups of students reside in different physical locations that make face
to face group work impossible.
A blog is a web
page developed by an owner who publishes annotations, and is similar to an
online diary. The author can also embed
images and videos, and include links to other web pages. In contrast to the wiki space, a blog can
only be edited by the author, although visitors can make comments. Over the past few weeks, I have kept a blog
as part of my studies, and accessed many blogs of my fellow students. When participating in the wiki space, I found
it difficult to decipher between comments, and who was the author. Visiting a blog however provided a real
connection with the author, and gave an insight into the views of that particular
person. As blogged by Sarah Arnold
(Appendix B) our blogs would have enabled our lecturer to see our progress and
understanding of the subject of e-learning.
I found it helpful in my own learning journey to be able to read the
reflections of other students. Likewise,
high school students would benefit from using a blog to complete an assessment
task, if used in conjunction with a scaffolding framework. Tammy Woodward (Appendix C) provides an
excellent example of utilising this tool for high school students’ assessment
tasks.
Young people are
accessing visual media sites such as YouTube on a regular basis for
entertainment and knowledge gathering.
Swisher (2007) concludes that visual media in the classroom doesn’t
necessarily improve learning, but it can influence mood and engagement. As I work with students at risk of
disengaging from education, I chose to reflect on the use of YouTube to engage
students in the classroom in my blog. I
viewed Abigail Anderson’s blog to see her podcast using an avatar (Appendix D)
and consider this to be an effective tool also in engaging adolescents.
As reflected in my
blog (Appendix E), PowerPoint’s can make or break a presentation, and in the
past have put many students to sleep.
Advancements in technology have improved the humble PowerPoint, enabling
greater student engagement in the classroom.
My blog investigated the tool of Mouse Mischief that transforms PowerPoint
from a teacher-driven instrument into an interactive activity where all the
students can manipulate what is displayed on the screen. James Sherry (Appendix F) explored the use of
glogster in the classroom, considering it to be an effective tool to both
present to students in a lesson, and for students to utilise for assessment
tasks to consolidate learning. Where
once students would produce a poster for a project, now they have the
opportunity to create a glogster that they can manipulate to incorporate
colours, video and digital images.
The Australian
Bureau of Statistics (2009) determined that almost a third of school-age
children under fourteen own a mobile phone and seventy-six percent of older
children own a mobile phone. Regardless
of school policies, students are bringing these phones to school. The decision schools are faced with is
whether to embrace these technologies in the classroom, or prohibit their use
in the school grounds. In my research of this, I determined that
iPods were a better choice of technology for the classroom as they have all the
functionality of a mobile phone, without the phone call capacity (Appendix
G). When permitting and commending the
use of digital technology in the classroom, the educator is required to
consider legal and ethical implications in its use.
To implement ICT
in the classroom, the teacher needs to be conscious of the legal
responsibilities when using these tools, and conduct themselves ethically and
legally, to model and teach correct behaviour to students. The internet is not immune to copyright laws;
any material sourced from the internet requires referencing and credit to the
author (National Copyright Unit, n.d.). The introduction of the internet to the
classroom has necessitated the education of children about internet
safety. Schools and parents are
responsible for the education of children about the risks encountered on the
internet, and ensuring that they are protected from harmful and inappropriate
material and people. Schools have
filtering and monitoring tools for internet use, and this can provide
difficulty when some useful sites are mistakenly blocked from use, and can
affect the accessibility of some tools such as blogs. In our wiki space discussing the introduction
of mobile phones into schools, the increase of opportunity for cyber bullying was
considered. Privacy issues need to be
considered when students are publishing private or identifiable information
about themselves online.
Information,
Communications and Technology is ever-changing and evolving, and is part of our
lives and integral to education. ICT
provides many tools to facilitate learning in the classroom. Learning about ICT is incorporated into
education to ensure that our children are equipped with the skills and
abilities to interact with the digital world.
The Learning Manager in the 21st manager has no choice but to
be equipped with skills and knowledge to be confident in integrating technology
in the classroom. This integration needs
to be mindful of the legal and ethical challenges that the internet world
introduces, with educational facilities responsible for developing policies and
guidelines to ensure both educators and students are protected and working
within safe environments.
Appendix A
Wiki space example
https://fahe11001-3-11.wikispaces.com/Group+2+Mobile+Phones
Appendix
B
Week 3 - Teaching Using Blogs
Using blogs as a learning tool can be a great way to see
students' progress and thoughts through their learning journey. By allowing
students to create their own online space and add their own individual features
including images, links, colouring and backgrounds, it lets students creatively
express themselves in an area of technology they can feel comfortable using.
Students can also collaborate their ideas and findings to show their research
skills and showcase what they have learned from the course or topic. A major
advantage to using blogs as a teaching tool is that teachers can monitor what a
student is adding to their blog and can monitor students' learning progress.
Teachers and other students can also give comments and feedback to students
online. Another advantage to using blogs is students can complete them anywhere
and at anytime, so learning is not limited to the classroom. This may lead to
further investigation of topics and a more in-depth analysis.
Disadvantages to using blogs may be that students are not using
them appropriately for educational purposes, however if this is monitored by
the teacher these problems can be easily fixed. Another disadvantage is that
blogs don't give students much of a chance to work collaboratively with each
other.
There are many ways in which blogs can be used as a learning
material. One way they can be used is by asking students to reflect each week
on their thoughts of the learning material so far. A way this can be arranged
to promote higher order thinking is by asking the students to create a KWL
chart (Ogle, 1986) http://www.readingquest.org/strat/kwl.html in their blog. This allows them to
express what they already know, what they want to know and what they have
learnt form the topic.
Another way blogs can be used as a learning material is by
asking students to take different components from what they are learning and
each week provide an analysis of each component in their blog. for example if
students are learning about planets they could choose a different planet to
discuss each week.
These reflections may also help students when completing
assignments as it provides them with a virtual set of notes and ideas from what
they have been learning over the duration of the course.
Appendix
C
To blog or
not to blog?
Blog Definitely!!!!
This is a fantastic tool for high school students. This tool
provides students with the opportunity to post comments about certain topics
and experiences. During EPL
I was given the task by the Lead Learning Manager to develop a piece of
assessment for the students in year 9 Home Economics class. The assessment I
developed was the students were to complete an individual cooking blog. As the
learning manager I then created a list of each students blog address and
students could comment on each other’s blogs. The students were extremely excited
about this assessment task.
The students were required to complete a Venn diagram type
activity in their blog, include a picture and self evaluate their performance
each week for the provided recipes. This structured type of blog kept students
on task as they had criteria to follow. This was very similar to the wiki
activity where it was structure and participants were kept focused on the task.
Blogging allows
students to comment about their experiences. It also provides and engaging way for
students to reflect on their own personal performances each week. During the development of their blogs
students were required to research other blogs to get ideas how to set up their
blog, this was a great way
to start which also helped me to gain a better understanding of the blogging
process. A great learning
curve for all. During this
process it was imperative that the students were advised of the safe practices
for blogs and the internet. They
were also reminded of the schools technology policies.
Happy blogging
everyone !!!!!
Appendix D
Reflection 3
Images,
podcasts and videos
As a 21st Century educator, I will be incorporating the use of multimedia such as images, podcasts and videos both in and out of the classroom. Swisher (2007, p. 11) suggests that multimedia can enhance students learning, although this is reliant on effective pedagogic practices - teaching strategies.
As a 21st Century educator, I will be incorporating the use of multimedia such as images, podcasts and videos both in and out of the classroom. Swisher (2007, p. 11) suggests that multimedia can enhance students learning, although this is reliant on effective pedagogic practices - teaching strategies.
Images
are used to engage learner’s attention, evoke emotions, promote visual literacy
and enhance skill development. As demonstrated in this week’s Blackboard
Collaborate session, images can provide opportunities for open discussion,
creative thinking and problem solving.
This is one of my own photos taken at Sydney's
Taronga zoo featuring Mr turtle. I downloaded MobaPhoto and had a go at editing
a picture, although I found it much simpler and straight forward to edit it
through Windows Live Photo Gallery. I reduced the size of the photo and changed
the contrast and colouring of the image.
To
ensure safe, legal and ethical practices, I will need to gain students
permission before posting their work online and acknowledge it as their work.
In regards to posting pictures of students online, I will require consent from
the student and additional parental consent for children. Also, children should
not be identified online and their images must be stored securely.
On an ethical note, images
shown to students need to be age appropriate and cross culturally sensitive.
i.e. from my experiences working in early childhood, educators cannot show
multimedia to children that is rated PG without parental consent.
Podcasts are another great way to engage learners and promote skill development. Below is an example of a podcast I created using Voki. Voki is a free and easy to access website that allows you to create your own avatar and add speech. It can be easily embedded in websites, blogs and other social networks.
http://www.voki.com/lesson_plans.php
Unfortunately I have not had enough time to create a video. I have viewed some of my peers video's and they look great. I can see how using and particularly making video's would be an engaging, productive activity suitable for all ages and genres.
Video's, podcasts and images can be used individually or combined for multimodal learning.These multimedia have benefits for all students as they address multiple learning styles and intelligences. I look forwards to using them with my students in the future.
Podcasts are another great way to engage learners and promote skill development. Below is an example of a podcast I created using Voki. Voki is a free and easy to access website that allows you to create your own avatar and add speech. It can be easily embedded in websites, blogs and other social networks.
http://www.voki.com/lesson_plans.php
Unfortunately I have not had enough time to create a video. I have viewed some of my peers video's and they look great. I can see how using and particularly making video's would be an engaging, productive activity suitable for all ages and genres.
Video's, podcasts and images can be used individually or combined for multimodal learning.These multimedia have benefits for all students as they address multiple learning styles and intelligences. I look forwards to using them with my students in the future.
References
Swisher,
D. (2007). Does multimedia
truly enhance learning? Moving beyond the visual media bandwagon toward
instructional effectiveness. Retrieved
from,http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_Beyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness
Reflection 4 – a fresh look at PowerPoint
We have established in our investigation of multimedia tools,
that multimedia does have a place because ‘students learn better from words and
pictures than from words alone’ (Mayer, 2001, p. 63). Swisher (2007)
warns that the use of multimedia in itself does not guarantee educational
success. We have all endured death
by PowerPoint. Endless slides of boring facts and figures. I
have good news for you! There is absolutely no reason why PowerPoint
presentations should be boring and tedious. Technology has once again
improved, to allow the humble PowerPoint to be interactive.
Mouse Mischief is a free download for PowerPoint, which enables
the PowerPoint to become interactive. Each student can operate a mouse at
their desktop, and interact with the slide. Mouse Mischief also supports
collaborative learning, and students can utilise this resource as part of a
team.
As a teacher of Certificate II in Engineering at TAFE, I could
utilize this technology with PowerPoint. When doing revision in
preparation for exams, the PowerPoint slide could have a multiple choice question.
Students could be divided into two teams, and each team could circle the
answer they believe to be right. This YouTube clip shows how Mouse
Mischief can be integrated into the classroom.
PowerPoint has always been known to be an effective tool to
engage students aurally and visually. The integration of such tools as
Mouse Mischief now introduces a third sense of touch to the lesson as
well. As discussed in the previous reflection, engaging the senses
improves the transfer of information to memory, and assists in the retrieval of
this information.
References
Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia
learning. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
mousemischief. (2010). Mouse
Mischief Sultan School CaseStudy. Retrieved
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGHEU5UowXY
Swisher, D. (2007). Does Multimedia Truly Enhance
Learning? Moving Beyond The Visual Media Bandwagon Toward Instructional
Effectiveness. Retrieved
from http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_Beyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness
Appendix F
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Week 5 Reflection - Glogster
This
week, I am reflecting on a glogster or glog for short. The most basic way to
describe glogster is an interactive online scrapbook. It is also known as an
online poster.
Why should classrooms
move away from regular scrapbooks and posters, and move towards glogster?
Glogster is an
interactive modern tool that can grasp the interest of a child and engage a
whole classroom. On a glogster page you can write descriptive blogs, change the
colour background or add a picture like setting. You can upload images, videos
and music and embed links into your poster. Glogster is giving teachers and
students another dimension to explore by adding videos and music to a poster or
scrapbook. Regular scrapbooks and posters only contributed to a visual learning
style, but glogster is providing a visual and aural learning style, this will
give students a better chance of understanding and engaging with the topic.
Below I have uploaded a
basic glogster page of my own, to give you an understanding of the capabilities
of glogster.
In a PMI Chart I will
discuss the implications of glogster.
|
Plus
|
Minus
|
Interesting
|
|
· Creating
Visual and Aural Learning
· Classroom
engagement
· Students
working with a modern tool
· Could use
glogster as an assessment item.
· Students
improving problem solving skills through modern technology
· Teachers can
setup a
glogster education
page to
protect
students
on the
Internet.
|
· Needs
Internet access
· Teachers
need to understand glogster to implement it to the class.
|
· Anyone can
use glogster.
· You can
embed glogster onto blogs and wikis.
|
Glogster is a great web
2.0 tool for classrooms. It is a fun exercise, and is giving students and
teachers another way to express creativity and increasing the knowledge data
base.
How could
teachers use glogster in the classroom?
Teachers could use
glogster as an assessment task. The task could be that the students have to
create their own glog page and present their pages in an oral setting. I think
presenting a glog in an oral is a positive move, because then the whole class
can engage and interact with the music and videos and this will improve
student’s communication skills and provide knowledge content in a fun
atmosphere. Teachers themselves could create a glog and present it to the class
to help explain a topic in the classroom. I have uploaded a YouTube clip below
to help explain positives of glogs in the classroom.
As I am studying to be
a manual arts teacher, the glog below clearly shows what I could present to my
class. I have made a ‘Safety in the Workshop’ glog that I could display before
the class even started. This glog would remind students of the safety
requirements in the workshop and working with machinery. Another way I could
use a glog in my class, is to get every student to create a glog page once a
week and at the end of term, every student would have created an online
scrapbook to hand in for assessment.
Glogster is an
interactive web 2.0 tool ready to transform classrooms.
Appendix G
Reflection 5 - to iPhone or not to iPhone? That is the
question....
No matter the rules at school, the fact is adolescents bring
mobile phones and iPods with them. Each school is left with the decision
whether or not to allow access in school hours.
Louise Duncan (2011) supports a ban of mobile phones until
post-middle years, but allowing the iPod touch. Her reasoning is that
this allows for the students to develop responsible mobile phone behaviour
before allowing them to use this technology freely in school time.
I agree with her, but would take the ban to a later age.
Few students at the end of year 8 have developed the skills of responsible
mobile phone behaviour. Indeed, I see many incidents involving improper
use of mobile phones right through to the end of year 11. The advantage
of the iPod touch is that it doesn't have phone call making capacity.
I have three children of my own, two of them being at two
different high schools. One school has the policy of no mobile phones or
devices, but the majority of students have the devices with them, switched off,
or on silent, in their bags. The other high school has the policy
allowing these devices and their use in the lunch breaks, and before and after
school. Interesting enough, at the end of term one students have been
notified that this rule is being modified, to no use in school hours.
There is no doubt that the applications available for phones and
iPods have great learning advantages. I could see myself recommending
Fractions Basics to Certificate II in Engineering students who are struggling
with their maths. https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/fraction-basics/id404527208?mt=8
As was also mentioned as a comment in Louise's blog, the
position of equity needs to be addressed when introducing technological devices
as part of the curriculum.
References
Duncan, L. 2011. Why I would support a ban of mobile
phones until post-middle years and include the iPod touch. Retrieved fromhttp://louiseduncan.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/03/24/why-i-would-support-a-ban-of-mobile-phones-until-post-middle-years-and-include-the-ipod-touch/
References
Australian Bureaus
of Statistics. (2010). Children
and mobile phones. Retrieved from
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/d4cbec5b
b78b7c5ca25779e001c4770%21OpenDocument
Central Queensland
University. A Brief
Overview of Learning Theory. Retrieved
from
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=88322
de Bono Thinking Systems.
(N.D.) Six thinking hats. Retrieved
from
http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm
Education
Queensland. (2008). Smart
Classroom Bytes. Retrieved from
http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/documents/strategy/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf
National
Copyright Unit. (N.D.) National
Copyright Guidelines. Retrieved from
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/680
Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
(N.D.) Innovation in science,
technology and industry. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/science/inno/
Swisher, D. (2007).
Does Multimedia Truly Enhance
Learning? Moving Beyond The Visual Media
Bandwagon
Toward Instructional Effectiveness. Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_B
eyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness
