Home Bound - The end of my adventure

Finally!
This learning journey has come to an end! I have learnt so much and believe that my perceptions of teaching and learning with digital technologies has been changed for the better. I hope that you enjoy going through my blog and looking at all of the fun and exciting things that I have been exploring.

Thank you!

Tahlia

Ahoy! Assessment Task 2 - Analysis of Digital Technologies

Introducing... Technology!

It is hard to think that around 20 years ago phones, laptops and computers were very rare to have in a household, but in today’s society it is very hard to find a household without one of these electronic devices. Although it is easy to buy one of these products, it is another story to understand how to use it and find all of the different tools available. Students these days will need to know the ins and outs of nearly all electronics so in order to teach them, the learning manager will need to know as much information about them as they can.

Safe, Legal and Ethical Practices

The first thing to know about using electronic devices that are connected to the internet is how to stay safe and keep students safe. The Internet Society explains that adults and children alike need to look out for service attacks, spam, viruses and even identity theft (2012). Learning managers need to inform their students about what each of these things are, and how to prevent them from happening. Learning managers also need to be aware of bullying and inappropriate websites or ads that students might come across. Nowadays most schools have a blocking system that blocks websites that are not suitable for children but nevertheless learning managers should make sure that their students are aware of the threats and content on the internet.

Although there is a wealth of knowledge on the internet at the tip of our fingertips, this information has come from a source that needs to be recognised. Learning managers need to educate their students on how they can acknowledge sources on the internet and why they need to along with an explanation of plagiarism.  Most websites don’t mind if information is taken from their site just as long as they receive recognition, this is why learning managers need to teach their students how to reference their sources. However it is not only other work that students and teachers need to reference but also each others work. If a learning manager was to use a piece of a students work as an example then the teacher also needs to acknowledge that student. If a learning manager is unsure of anything to do with safety on the internet or legal issues, they should educate themselves before they start a unit of work with students in order to be prepared.

Reference in my blog about Legal Practices: Flying with Flickr

 

Group 1: Online spaces

Working within a Blog

Although I have never used the tool blogger to create a blog, I have used the social website Tumblr. The idea of these two tools is much the same though, where people post pictures, ideas, thoughts and videos. At first the idea of putting my learning journey on the internet where everyone could see was a little daunting. After I put my first couple of posts up on the internet though, I was fine and just thought about it as if I was just sharing my ideas with my friends and colleges and not the rest of the world. I really enjoyed seeing how other people had presented their blogs and shared their ideas. It was a great way to get my own ideas flowing so I could post my own thoughts and experiences onto my blog.

I believe that blogger is a great tool that could be implemented into the classroom. The learning manager could create a unit of work that centers on the students blogging about what they are learning. This way the whole class can see each student’s perspectives on different issues as well as comment on their ideas. The learning manager could also use each student’s blog as an assessment piece in order to see what they have learnt.

Students of all age groups and ability levels could enjoy posting and blogging on blogger, but they need to be aware of the safety measures. If the student has taken information from a source off the internet, then they need to know how to reference it. The students also need to understand that some people on the internet could intend to do bad things, so they could use nicknames and avatars instead of their own details.

Reference in my blog regarding Blogs: My Adventure so far...

Group 2: Visual and Audio tools

Working with YouTube

YouTube is a great tool to use in the classroom to engage students. There are millions upon millions of YouTube videos out on the internet and hopefully at least one of them could be used for a lesson or unit in the classroom.  A learning manager could find a YouTube video to explain something they are trying to teach I a fun or exciting way or they could use YouTube just to show students something funny. Students can even upload videos to YouTube so they can show they parents at home, just as long as they have permission.

YouTube is a great tool for all ability levels and can help all learning styles such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic. It is also a great tool for all age groups although students will need to be at least 13 years old in order to have an account and upload videos (Wiley, 2010).

YouTube videos can be embedded into blogs and websites or just downloaded for future use. If a learning manager was to do this then they should watch the YouTube clip the whole way through in order to confirm that there is no inappropriate content in the video. The learning manager also needs to ensure that when they embed a YouTube video into their blog or download it for use in the classroom that they do it properly and go through the prompts to ensure that no adds pop up at the end that could be inappropriate. Just as long as the learning manager is careful, lots of fun can come out of watching and uploading videos to YouTube.

Reference in my blog regarding YouTube: Wandering through YouTube

Group 3: Presentation tools

Working with Powerpoint

A great presentation tool to use is PowerPoint. The possibilities are endless when working with PowerPoint and students of all age groups and ability levels are able to enjoy watching a PowerPoint. This presentation tool also helps students learn, as it engages them into the information, no matter what learning style they are. There are sounds for the auditory learners, moving images, diagrams and text for visual learners as well as full interactive PowerPoint’s that will help kinesthetic learners to absorb information.

There are many different PowerPoint’s that can be created by a learning manager to engage students. The first one is just a simple presentation that could help the learning manager or student as they are giving a speech; to have the information on the screen. The next is an interactive PowerPoint where the learning manager could create like a quiz where students need to select the answer or click on the next arrow to more onto the next slide. PowerPoint’s could also be used as a way to show photos in a presentation.

There are many different settings on PowerPoint that will help no matter what type of PowerPoint is being created. A learning manager could set their students a task to create PowerPoint as an assessment piece or to use a PowerPoint in a speech or answer questions on an interactive PowerPoint. Whatever a learning manager decides to do to incorporate a PowerPoint into a unit, it will be fun and engaging for all students.

Reference in my blog regarding Powerpoint: Plundering with Powerpoint

Group 4: Animation and Stimulation

Working with Voki

For the group Animation and Stimulation I have chosen to look into a voki. A voki is like a type of avatar which could be an animal, a cartoon, a 3D person or just an animated person. After the creator has chosen what their voki will look like, they can then change the background of where there character is. After this the creator can make their voki talk either by typing in what they need to say or recording their own voice.

 A learning manager could create a voki to explain a unit of work to their students. This way the technology used will engage the students which could help them to concentrate on what the avatar is saying. The students could also create a voki to embed onto their blog to explain what they learnt in a unit of work. Vokis are easy to embed, as the website actually gives you a code that only needs to be copied and pasted into the html coding part of a blog.

As of last year, Voki has actually brought out a new section called voki classroom. Voki Blog explains that this new installment will vastly improve the way teachers utilize Voki in the classroom (2011). Voki classroom allows the learning manager to have a class account, where all of the students in their class can be added onto their account. This is a great addition as each student had to use the teachers account in order to create their voki in the past. Voki classroom has many more installments that should be looked into by all learning managers so they can engage their students in the best of ways.

Reference in my blog regarding a voki: Pillaging with Voki

In conclusion...

I believe that I have learnt a great deal by completing this blog and creating an analysis of Digital tools. I have learnt a great deal and agree that digital technologies are very important in the classroom and can be incorporated into every subject. Safety, Legal and ethical practices need to be enforced from a very young age so that students understand and know what to do to stay safe and reference their sources of information. This subject has changed my outlook on digital technologies and I believe that I will be more computer savvy in the future for both uni and as a learning manager.

References

Internet Society (2012). Security. Retrieved 16 August, 2012, From: http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/issues/security

Voki Blog (2011) Introducing Voki Classroom. Retrieved 17 August, 2012, From: http://blog.voki.com/2011/05/31/introducing-voki-classroom-part-1/

Wiley, M., (2010). Everything you wanted to know about YouTube. Retrieved 17 August, 2012, From: http://www.media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/56/.../0470149256.pdf

Riding towards Wordle

My laptop wouldn't let me create my own wordle so I borrowed Gemmas' laptop to create this fun image that incorporates words. It was fun to make and the more times one of the words was added, the larger that word would be. Students would be able to create a wordle image easily just as long as their computer will let them, unlike mine.

Pillaging with a Voki

A Voki is a great way to engage students. A learning manager only needs to create a character to use as their avatar and add what they want it to say either by text or recording their own voice. There are many different characters that can be used including animals, cartoons, 3D people, or just life like images. I have created a simple voki as an example.

Because vokis are so simple and easy to create, students will also be able to create one of their own.

Plus:

• Easy and fun to create
• Simple so students are able to create their own
• Engaging

Minus:

• Students cannot have their own account so the learning manager needs to use their account

Interesting:

• Students can record their own voices onto the voki
• Students can embed the voki onto their blog or website without much hassle

 



My Adventure so far...

Creating and exploring through this blog has been the most enjoyable and educational fun that I have had this term in uni. It has been very interesting to explore the wide world of electronics and technology whilst enjoying myself in the process. The creation of the blog was simple and a lot of fun. To think of a heading and theme was enjoyable and I used the idea of travelling because that is what this blog has been all about; my journey.

Students of nearly all age groups of all age groups could participate in creating blog. The learning manager could post about homework or notices or even notes to the parents at home just to name a few.

Strengths:

·          All students can have fun and get involved

·         The learning manager can monitor what students post about and watch out for any bullying

·         It is a way for students to add their feelings and thoughts to the world

 Weaknesses:

·         Some students might not want to participate in creating a blog

·         Blogger doesn’t have a proper spell checker when creating its posts

·         The learning manager would need to monitor every blog if students had a blog each

 Opportunities:

·          Other students can comment on posts about their own views on things

·         A blog could be a great way for students to create an e-learning journey (just like I have)

·         The learning manager could scaffold activities that the students could do in order to have the best outcomes whilst learning with the blog

      ·         The blog could be used with almost any subject area

 Threats:

·         Students may be able to copy and paste information straight to their blog

·         Anyone can see the blog so the learning manager needs to have parameters in place in order to keep their students safe

·         Students could spend most of their time on making their blog look nice instead of actually putting work into their posts

Abroad with Apple

Apple is a very famous producer of electronics in this day and age. It is one of the most popular products on the market and nearly every person has at least one product created by apple whether it is an iPhone, iPad, iPod or even a type of Mac like a computer or laptop. All of the “i” products have apps that can be downloaded for nearly any thinkable thing such as games, shopping, banking, education or even travel. But there is more to iPads, Phones and Pods then just apps. There is a camera, internet, calendar and even a calculator, simple things that are needed in everyday activities. Apple products can be embedded into any classroom and be used all the time by students of every age group and achievement levels. The learning manager just needs to be a little creative and think of fun and exciting things that the student can use these products for.

Having iPads in the classroom:

Plus:

• Students are engaged and learning through technology
• There are many different apps and activities that students could use on an iPad that are fun, engaging and educational
• A learning manager could use an iPad as a tool for collaborative learning

Minus:

• The learning manager needs to supervise the students in order to be sure that the students are looking after the iPads and not treating them badly
• Learning managers need to ensure that students are not using the iPads for their own purposes and are using them as educational tools
• Students must be aware of safety, legal and ethical rules for using iPads including not looking up inappropriate materials and not plagiarizing

Interesting:

·         The iPad is a very engaging tool that students will love to work with

·         All age groups and ability levels will be able to work with the iPad

·         All learning types will benefit from using an iPad; visual, auditory and kinesthetic

Commuting with QR Codes

QR codes are a type of barcode system that holds information. The image to the left (courtesy of Wikipedia) explains what each of the different parts of it entail. QR codes need to be read by a QR reader which can be found on most smart phones or by QR readers on the internet. The QR code below was one that I created on a website and if you were to read it with a QR reader it would direct you to this blog. A learning manager could use this in her class to engage students to find different websites or sources of information or create their own website as well as a QR code for other people to view their website.