Hello followers,
I realise that Skype is not one of the digital tools within the weekly outline however when conducting research for my English group assignment I learnt more about a tool in which I did not feel confident in using but now feel is a great tool. According to Skype Limited (2010) “Skype is software that enables world’s conversations.” It is a program that enables businesses and individuals to have voice and video calls, send instant messages and share files. This software was founded in 2003 and can at peak times have up to 23 million users.
During the research for our English group assignment we also considered Skype’s educational value. From this I believe the major use for Skype in the classroom is using it as a tool to connect students with the world. For example Skype could be used to connect students in Australia with a sister school overseas. After realising the educational value of Skype I decided to go back and build my confidence in using the software. After having a play and chatting with family overseas I realised that Skype is not that hard to use and it is in fact a popular and effective communication tool.
So if you are looking for a tool to enable global communication, Skype is great.
Kelly.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
RSS Aggregator
Hi,
The embedded “Plain English” YouTube clip below I think explains RSS aggregator and how to set it up quite well. I hope you find it useful.
I believe this is a very handy tool if wanting to remain up to date with all the happenings on your favourite sites, blogs and wikis. I setup my RSS reader through Google Reader and since setting it up have found it very useful. Instead of visiting ten different places I can go to one place to see what has changed or occurred on these sites.
I think in the classroom this can be a very valuable tool for teachers if following blogs and wikis of every student in the class.I think for students this tool can be useful in following sites that are of importance or relevance to them.
I recommend however that everyone have a RSS aggregator setup to allow easy website, blog and wiki following.
Kelly.
The embedded “Plain English” YouTube clip below I think explains RSS aggregator and how to set it up quite well. I hope you find it useful.
I believe this is a very handy tool if wanting to remain up to date with all the happenings on your favourite sites, blogs and wikis. I setup my RSS reader through Google Reader and since setting it up have found it very useful. Instead of visiting ten different places I can go to one place to see what has changed or occurred on these sites.
I think in the classroom this can be a very valuable tool for teachers if following blogs and wikis of every student in the class.I think for students this tool can be useful in following sites that are of importance or relevance to them.
I recommend however that everyone have a RSS aggregator setup to allow easy website, blog and wiki following.
Kelly.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Well what a shame. After reading and learning about Learning Management Systems (LMS) in the week three practical activity section I was very excited to get in and have a play. However due to a backlog I was unable to go any further than the initial sign up. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to experience this tool to evaluate its true value.
Kelly
Kelly
Prezi
Hi,
With majority of the other tools I have come out with a confidence and an appreciation in using them in however I am not quite sure how I feel about Prezi. I had viewed a Prezi before but when viewing it I never actually imagined how hard it would be to create it. When trying to create my own Prezi I really struggled to manipulate the Prezi into a form in which I was happy with. It was not like there were many options it just was not clear what the options were or even how to manipulate the mouse.
In reflecting on my play with Prezi, I think I became just a little impatient and instead of taking my time to find its value I gave up. However sitting here doing my blog I have decided to analyse Prezi as a tool not my experience with Prezi. In doing this I have looked at the positives and negatives.
Positives
• Clearly highlights the main points.
• Best if small key points are made, which is better for presentation purposes.
• Offers another option for presentation.
Negatives
• Designing options not clear.
• Difficult to learn.
• Some text not always the correct way for example upside down or on too much of slant.
In the classroom, I think Prezi can be used as another presentation digital tool. I would love to hear about other experiences with Prezi and other ways in which this tool can be utilised in the classroom.
Kelly
With majority of the other tools I have come out with a confidence and an appreciation in using them in however I am not quite sure how I feel about Prezi. I had viewed a Prezi before but when viewing it I never actually imagined how hard it would be to create it. When trying to create my own Prezi I really struggled to manipulate the Prezi into a form in which I was happy with. It was not like there were many options it just was not clear what the options were or even how to manipulate the mouse.
In reflecting on my play with Prezi, I think I became just a little impatient and instead of taking my time to find its value I gave up. However sitting here doing my blog I have decided to analyse Prezi as a tool not my experience with Prezi. In doing this I have looked at the positives and negatives.
Positives
• Clearly highlights the main points.
• Best if small key points are made, which is better for presentation purposes.
• Offers another option for presentation.
Negatives
• Designing options not clear.
• Difficult to learn.
• Some text not always the correct way for example upside down or on too much of slant.
In the classroom, I think Prezi can be used as another presentation digital tool. I would love to hear about other experiences with Prezi and other ways in which this tool can be utilised in the classroom.
Kelly
PowerPoint
Hi all,
Before analysing PowerPoint as a digital tool I think it is important to first define it - PowerPoint is a program used by millions of people around the world to create presentations. Presentations include a number of slides which can contain various elements such as text and images (Nguyen, 2006). Prior to undertaking the tutorials from week three, I believed I was somewhat of a PowerPoint expert. I had experience creating presentations as an aid for assessment at school and in my first year at University. Little did I know however that there were other options for PowerPoint like creating a storyboard in Word and sending them to PowerPoint or creating an interactive presentation. When I was working through the tutorials for week three, I just kept thinking “WOW, how great would my past PowerPoint presentations have been had I known about these functions”.
In analysing this digital tool I have used a PMI.
Positives
• Is an effective aid for presentations.
• Easy to learn and use.
• Presentations can be customised.
• Great for visual learners.
Negatives
• Can be over done for example transitions too slow.
• Can have too much text.
• Creation can become time consuming for example spending too much time playing with the transitions and/or customising the presentation excessively.
• Sometimes just read off rather than used as a supporting aid.
Interesting
• Presentations can be linked and/or interactive.
• The different ways people use PowerPoint.
In the classroom I have only seen a couple of examples for the different ways PowerPoint can be used. The first is that it can be used as an assessment tool where students are given a research task and asked to present their information to the class. When presenting students are also required to have a PowerPoint to support and highlight the main points of their presentation.
Secondly I have seen PowerPoint used as a teaching aide where the teacher has a PowerPoint that highlights the lesson main points or includes pictures to engage learners. I am not sure on other examples for how PowerPoint could be incorporated in the classroom, so if there are other ideas for how to use PowerPoint in the classroom I would love to hear about them.
Kelly
Before analysing PowerPoint as a digital tool I think it is important to first define it - PowerPoint is a program used by millions of people around the world to create presentations. Presentations include a number of slides which can contain various elements such as text and images (Nguyen, 2006). Prior to undertaking the tutorials from week three, I believed I was somewhat of a PowerPoint expert. I had experience creating presentations as an aid for assessment at school and in my first year at University. Little did I know however that there were other options for PowerPoint like creating a storyboard in Word and sending them to PowerPoint or creating an interactive presentation. When I was working through the tutorials for week three, I just kept thinking “WOW, how great would my past PowerPoint presentations have been had I known about these functions”.
In analysing this digital tool I have used a PMI.
Positives
• Is an effective aid for presentations.
• Easy to learn and use.
• Presentations can be customised.
• Great for visual learners.
Negatives
• Can be over done for example transitions too slow.
• Can have too much text.
• Creation can become time consuming for example spending too much time playing with the transitions and/or customising the presentation excessively.
• Sometimes just read off rather than used as a supporting aid.
Interesting
• Presentations can be linked and/or interactive.
• The different ways people use PowerPoint.
In the classroom I have only seen a couple of examples for the different ways PowerPoint can be used. The first is that it can be used as an assessment tool where students are given a research task and asked to present their information to the class. When presenting students are also required to have a PowerPoint to support and highlight the main points of their presentation.
Secondly I have seen PowerPoint used as a teaching aide where the teacher has a PowerPoint that highlights the lesson main points or includes pictures to engage learners. I am not sure on other examples for how PowerPoint could be incorporated in the classroom, so if there are other ideas for how to use PowerPoint in the classroom I would love to hear about them.
Kelly
Friday, July 23, 2010
Websites
Hi all,
In the beginning (the construction phase) I once again felt out of my depth. When constructing my website (which you can access here) I found there were too many different options and it was not clear how to work through them or where the next option was going. After creating my website I used the SWOT analysis below to analyse websites as a digital tool.
Strengths
• It is another medium for students to publish their work.
• Promotes creativity.
• Other students, parents and community members can have easy access to view students work.
• Good to guide a student inquiry – students visit the website to work through tasks.
Weaknesses
• Cannot update or change after publishing the website.
• The blog option on a website does not allow for further posts.
• Students with low technological literacy may struggle with the construction of the website.
Opportunities
• There is an option to set up a blog on the website which can encourage comments and further communication on the website.
• Opportunity to teach and emphasise importance of editing before publishing.
• Exploration of resources students would not usually use.
Threats
• Initial setup time can be time consuming.
• Privacy issues.
Overall I cannot see this tool being really effective if students are creating the website. I mean there can be positives but I think the negatives outweigh the positives. I can however see a use in the teacher creating a website as a tool for students to visit and work through an inquiry task. I would however be interested in hearing any other points of view.
In terms of relating to theory, I think if the teacher designs the website and its correlating task in an effective way the students can be encouraged to work through the Big6 Skills. These skills come from the Eisenberg and Berkowitz Big 6 Framework. According to Mike Eisenberg (2001) “The Big6 is a process model of how people of all ages solve and information problem”. After collaboration with peers during a lecture it was discovered that the Big6 Framework was approach based, step by step (instructional) and written in simple terms.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on websites.
Kelly.
In the beginning (the construction phase) I once again felt out of my depth. When constructing my website (which you can access here) I found there were too many different options and it was not clear how to work through them or where the next option was going. After creating my website I used the SWOT analysis below to analyse websites as a digital tool.
Strengths
• It is another medium for students to publish their work.
• Promotes creativity.
• Other students, parents and community members can have easy access to view students work.
• Good to guide a student inquiry – students visit the website to work through tasks.
Weaknesses
• Cannot update or change after publishing the website.
• The blog option on a website does not allow for further posts.
• Students with low technological literacy may struggle with the construction of the website.
Opportunities
• There is an option to set up a blog on the website which can encourage comments and further communication on the website.
• Opportunity to teach and emphasise importance of editing before publishing.
• Exploration of resources students would not usually use.
Threats
• Initial setup time can be time consuming.
• Privacy issues.
Overall I cannot see this tool being really effective if students are creating the website. I mean there can be positives but I think the negatives outweigh the positives. I can however see a use in the teacher creating a website as a tool for students to visit and work through an inquiry task. I would however be interested in hearing any other points of view.
In terms of relating to theory, I think if the teacher designs the website and its correlating task in an effective way the students can be encouraged to work through the Big6 Skills. These skills come from the Eisenberg and Berkowitz Big 6 Framework. According to Mike Eisenberg (2001) “The Big6 is a process model of how people of all ages solve and information problem”. After collaboration with peers during a lecture it was discovered that the Big6 Framework was approach based, step by step (instructional) and written in simple terms.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on websites.
Kelly.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wiki
Hi all,
It seems so long since I last blogged but I have been having a bit of a hard time. When creating my wiki I was a little uncertain as to what I should be doing or what the content of my wiki should be. This was because I had found the directions for setting up a wiki unclear and was unsure on other places to look for directions. Whilst creating my wiki at wikispaces I found there were too many options and I had soon given up due to a lack of confidence and having too many questions. After getting clarification on the content and setup details for the wiki I had enough confidence to go back and update my wiki. When I returned to my wiki I had a play, adding different things, changing the setup, colour and themes and you can now access my wiki here.
After visiting the Smart Teaching website with the “50 ways to use a wiki” (2008) article (which you can access here) I think the following could be useful for using a wiki. Below are the different ideas and examples and/or positives of these:
• Resource Creation
o Solving Wiki – posting problems on the wiki and encouraging students to collaboratively solve these problems.
o Glossary – it would be great to have different glossaries in the form of wiki pages for the different topics students partake in. This way they can add words they come across and are unsure about or they can access the wiki when unsure on the definitions of different words.
o Create a wikibook – a good idea for promoting the home/school connection giving parents another opportunity to see what is going on at school. By creating a wiki all students can update the page.
• Student Participation
o Exam review/share notes – I think this is a good process for students to go through collaboratively. Students should review notes and use the wiki as a way of sharing notes, and other helpful pieces of information.
o Peer editing – This wiki would be useful in the higher grades when students are individually constructing pieces of work to get peers to look at it through a new set of eyes and edit their work.
• Group Projects
o Track participation – I think this wiki could be useful for group members to collaborate and all have an effective and equal participation.
• Student Interaction
o Literature circles – I think this wiki would be a good idea in integrating ICTs into literature circles. Discussing it on the wiki allows students the opportunity to gain a better understanding, through hearing other points of view about the book.
• For the classroom
o All ideas are an excellent way of promoting Marzano and Pickering’s (1997) Dimension One – Attitudes and Perceptions. These ideas for wikis could help the classroom climate become positive.
• Community
o International sharing – a great idea when working on a cultural topic or topics that may relate to international issues.
When reflecting on these ideas from the website I have come from a background with a very limited knowledge on wikis so I look forward to hearing any other ideas you may have.
After considering possible uses for the wiki I decided to consider the positives and negatives of the wiki.
Positives
• Promotes collaboration and communication for example peer reviews.
• Introduces students to the international community.
• Students, parents and wider community members can access information on the class from home.
• Can lead to the promotion of a classroom climate characterised as positive.
Minus (Possible Strategies)
• Less technologically literate students may struggle and be reluctant to embrace the full potential of the wiki (Expert buddies, scaffolding the use and construction of wiki and/or wiki tutorials).
• Communication issues – rude, inappropriate and/or nasty comments or feedback (deconstruct what online wiki communication looks like and does not like).
After reading about the Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) theory and learning more about wikis I can see a connection. The engagement theory is based on creating successful collaborative teams which work on meaningful and ambitious projects (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999) and the website ideas and positive and negative points definitely seem to fit within and apply to this theory.
Having further looked into the wiki I feel it would be an effective digital tool in the classroom.
Kelly
It seems so long since I last blogged but I have been having a bit of a hard time. When creating my wiki I was a little uncertain as to what I should be doing or what the content of my wiki should be. This was because I had found the directions for setting up a wiki unclear and was unsure on other places to look for directions. Whilst creating my wiki at wikispaces I found there were too many options and I had soon given up due to a lack of confidence and having too many questions. After getting clarification on the content and setup details for the wiki I had enough confidence to go back and update my wiki. When I returned to my wiki I had a play, adding different things, changing the setup, colour and themes and you can now access my wiki here.
After visiting the Smart Teaching website with the “50 ways to use a wiki” (2008) article (which you can access here) I think the following could be useful for using a wiki. Below are the different ideas and examples and/or positives of these:
• Resource Creation
o Solving Wiki – posting problems on the wiki and encouraging students to collaboratively solve these problems.
o Glossary – it would be great to have different glossaries in the form of wiki pages for the different topics students partake in. This way they can add words they come across and are unsure about or they can access the wiki when unsure on the definitions of different words.
o Create a wikibook – a good idea for promoting the home/school connection giving parents another opportunity to see what is going on at school. By creating a wiki all students can update the page.
• Student Participation
o Exam review/share notes – I think this is a good process for students to go through collaboratively. Students should review notes and use the wiki as a way of sharing notes, and other helpful pieces of information.
o Peer editing – This wiki would be useful in the higher grades when students are individually constructing pieces of work to get peers to look at it through a new set of eyes and edit their work.
• Group Projects
o Track participation – I think this wiki could be useful for group members to collaborate and all have an effective and equal participation.
• Student Interaction
o Literature circles – I think this wiki would be a good idea in integrating ICTs into literature circles. Discussing it on the wiki allows students the opportunity to gain a better understanding, through hearing other points of view about the book.
• For the classroom
o All ideas are an excellent way of promoting Marzano and Pickering’s (1997) Dimension One – Attitudes and Perceptions. These ideas for wikis could help the classroom climate become positive.
• Community
o International sharing – a great idea when working on a cultural topic or topics that may relate to international issues.
When reflecting on these ideas from the website I have come from a background with a very limited knowledge on wikis so I look forward to hearing any other ideas you may have.
After considering possible uses for the wiki I decided to consider the positives and negatives of the wiki.
Positives
• Promotes collaboration and communication for example peer reviews.
• Introduces students to the international community.
• Students, parents and wider community members can access information on the class from home.
• Can lead to the promotion of a classroom climate characterised as positive.
Minus (Possible Strategies)
• Less technologically literate students may struggle and be reluctant to embrace the full potential of the wiki (Expert buddies, scaffolding the use and construction of wiki and/or wiki tutorials).
• Communication issues – rude, inappropriate and/or nasty comments or feedback (deconstruct what online wiki communication looks like and does not like).
After reading about the Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) theory and learning more about wikis I can see a connection. The engagement theory is based on creating successful collaborative teams which work on meaningful and ambitious projects (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999) and the website ideas and positive and negative points definitely seem to fit within and apply to this theory.
Having further looked into the wiki I feel it would be an effective digital tool in the classroom.
Kelly
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Concept Mapping
WOW!! What a great tool. I have always found that my graphic organisers have never actually looked that organised but now there is a tool for me to utilise, to organise my thoughts and notes clearly. I really enjoyed playing with bubbl.us however I feel that this may only be a useful tool for the older grades. The reason for this is because I believe the use of the mouse can be tricky and I am not sure how the younger students would handle this. I may however be proven wrong by young "digital natives".
Before I created my graphic organiser I had watched the "Tony Buzzan Mind Mapping" You Tube Clip and found many of his points good. He says that a mind map is "a thinking tool that reflects externally what is going on". The tools on bubbl.us allows students the chance to externally organise these thoughts.
Please note that my organiser does not follow the structures and points suggested by Buzzan as this is because I was using the organiser for another purpose.
Blogs
As previously stated there were terms in the course profile of which I had no understanding and I must admit "blog" was one of them. I had heard the term but never thought to look up what it meant let alone use one. Now after attending week one lectures and reading through a variety of information on Moodle and other sources I have seen their value.
Firstly, I think that in a classroom blogs can be useful in promoting collaborative learning. "Collaboration" the term used by Bruner (1996, cited in Brady, L., 2006,p.8)"implies a higher degree of student proactiveness and interaction in learning". Blogs can be used in the older grades where students create blogs and use them just as we have for this assignment.
Secondly, I think blogs could be useful in encouraging students to engage with world issues and events. Students could be encouraged to post comments and read blogs of students from around the world.
Lastly, I believe blogs could be a useful tool in communicating with parents, relatives and community etc. I think blogs create an opportunity for students to share their learning with each other and the community.
Overall after seeing how easy it is to set up and follow a blog I can see in the future blogs may be a useful technology tool in which I utilise.
Firstly, I think that in a classroom blogs can be useful in promoting collaborative learning. "Collaboration" the term used by Bruner (1996, cited in Brady, L., 2006,p.8)"implies a higher degree of student proactiveness and interaction in learning". Blogs can be used in the older grades where students create blogs and use them just as we have for this assignment.
Secondly, I think blogs could be useful in encouraging students to engage with world issues and events. Students could be encouraged to post comments and read blogs of students from around the world.
Lastly, I believe blogs could be a useful tool in communicating with parents, relatives and community etc. I think blogs create an opportunity for students to share their learning with each other and the community.
Overall after seeing how easy it is to set up and follow a blog I can see in the future blogs may be a useful technology tool in which I utilise.
My Early Thoughts of Course
When I first read the course profile I freaked. I was reading all of these terms of which I had no idea on their meaning. I was looking at the assignments thinking how am I ever going to get to the end of this course. Now after readng through topic one and in particular the Prensky (2001 and 2005) articles I know there is a term to describe this thinking, "digital immigrant".
I can now also recognise that while this course may be daunting its exposing to various technology tools will equip me with a toolkit and knowledge of possible technologies to create enriching, engaging and enjoyable learning experiences for my students. From this course I hope to gain a confidence and improvement in my teaching practice for my learners who may well be "digital natives" (Prensky, 2001).
Kelly
I can now also recognise that while this course may be daunting its exposing to various technology tools will equip me with a toolkit and knowledge of possible technologies to create enriching, engaging and enjoyable learning experiences for my students. From this course I hope to gain a confidence and improvement in my teaching practice for my learners who may well be "digital natives" (Prensky, 2001).
Kelly
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