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.

Memories captured in a digital video

 
There are many ways to capture memories but the best way is always to take a photograph. These photographs can then be added onto moviemaker, photo story or a number of other different presentation tools. I have used both photo story and moviemaker in the past and find both of them to have advantages and disadvantages. The photographs can be added onto either of these tools before adding music, sounds or even your own voice. Photo story also allows you to edit the photos before adding them into the presentation and both of these tools allow you to add text and captions onto the presentation. Both of these tools can be engaging to students either to watch a presentation created by the learning manager or to create their own presentation.

Plundering with Powerpoint

Powerpoint is a great resource that every learning manager should use. There are many different uses that could come out of a simple powerpoint that could help all learning types to obsorb information. A learning manager could use it as an engaging tool to help students learn as it has the visual image of text or diagrams to help the visual learners. Interactive powerpoints could also be created that could help the kinesthetic learners to learn by following prompts or answering questions. Sounds and other noises could also be incorporated into a powerpoint presentation to help the audio learners. I have created many powerpoints for assignments during my schooling life and know alot of the basic things and even a few of the in depth things. All learning managers need to use powerpoint as an engaging tool in their classroom.

Plus:

• Suitable for all learning styles, ability levels and age groups
• Fun and engaging way for students to learn a topic
• Students will be able to create their own presentation for an assessment piece

Minus:

• Because PowerPoint has such a broad definition, some students may not understand all of the different tools that can be used in PowerPoint

Interesting:

• PowePoint can be added to google docs so that the document can be retrieved from anywhere as long as google is available
• PowerPoint presentations can be added onto blogs, website and wikis

Marooned with Google Docs

Google Docs is an office suite and data storage service where a user can create and edit documents online while collaborating with other users in their own time. There is also a presentation program that can be run from anywhere just as long as the user has access to their Google account. A learning manager could create any form of document that the normal Microsoft office could create, the benefits of Google Docs is that the documents can be linked to blogs, wikis or websites easily. These documents can be a great way to create worksheets for students of any age to add to blogs or wikis. Older students could also use this system to create their work and upload it for their learning manager. Google Docs is a great resource for learning managers to use in their classroom.

Wandering through YouTube

YouTube is a great tool to engage students in a lesson. It is easy to embed into websites or blogs and students understand how a youtube clips work with the play button. the only thing that learning managers need to worry about is the advertising at the begining or the end of the clip. the learning manager should also watch the youtube clip the entire way through the clip to ensure that there is no inopropriate content. A learning manager could find a good youtube video on nearly any subject or learning activity.

Plus:

• YouTube can engage almost any student into a topic that needs to be covered
• There is a YouTube video for almost any subject or lesson
• A YouTube video is good for almost all learning types; visual, auditory and sometimes even kinesthetic 

Minus:

• If the YouTube video is embedded into a website or blog without going through some processes, inappropriate advertisement or other inappropriate videos might come up at the end of the video 
• YouTube videoes may be tricky for students to embed them into their blog or website if they do not understand how to do it

Interesting:

• YouTube can be an educational tool or just a bit of fun that students can enjoy
• Students of all age groups and ability levels can enjoy YouTube videos
• Almost anyone can upload a video onto YouTube 

Weigh Anchor with Google Maps

Google maps is a website that allows its users to see maps from all around the world. It also has a route planner which can help to plan a trip whether by foot, car, bike or public transport. Google maps also has an urban business locator for numerous countries around the world. Google maps could be used for many different subjects such as art history, Earth science, Environmental science and even history. The learning manager could also create their own maps with uploaded text and photographs. The possibilies with Google maps are endless and a learning manager could create many different lessons using this as a learning tool.

Setting sail with Google earth

I had a good look through Google earth to see what type of information or images could be found from this helpful website. If Google earth was used in the classroom the learning manager could use the resource for not only geology but also history, Maths, literature, biology and many more other subjects. At the moment Google earth has a page detailing the expedition to Mars including pictures of what has been found there. Google earth also includes 3D cities for users to explore along with a mobile app which includes a tour guide that can lead the user to famous landmarks and natural wonders. Google earth also has a new upgrade available that allows its users to "share our world like never before" and enjoy a seamless and beautiful view of our planet. All in all Google earth is a fun and exciting website that could offer students with a detailed view into the world around them.

Ahoy! Assessment Task 1

In a collaboratorive session with Gemma and Dale we completed Assessment task one; the online quizzes. This consisted of two quizzes that tested our knowledge on e-learning. In the first quiz I received 70%, with 3 questions wrong. In the second test I received 100% with none of the answers wrong. Gemma, Dale and I looked at each question together and discussed what the answer could be, listening to every point and idea. If we had not done this collaboratively, my results definately would not have been as good. 

Navigating with BeFunky

Photo editing is a fun and exciting thing for people of all ages to try. There are many different websites, Apps and software items that can be used to edit images and photographs. One that I have had as an App on my Ipad for some time is BeFunky. It is easy to use and makes normal photos into fun and exciting images. I didn’t even realize that BeFunky was also a webpage that you can use to edit your photos as well. I edited the photo above through the website and found that it actually has more effects and fun things than the App on my Ipad. The website is mostly free to use and is still so simple to use that students would be able to navigate the webpage in order to edit their own photos.

Flying with Flickr

One Hundred and Thirty-Nine - Shutterbug *explored* by Spreading Wings Photography Taken from Flickr

Flickr is a website where many people upload their photos for the world to see. Although it is extremely easy for other people to copy and paste a photo onto their own webpage or blog from Flickr, there are certain measures that need to be undertaken if they do. A simple mention of who uploaded/took the photo can be enough to let other people know that the photo is not yours and you have taken it from somewhere else. I have also found that you can pay the photographer/owner of the image a small fee in order to keep the image on your blog. This photo above is from Flickr and was taken by Spreading Wings Photography. It is an inspiring photo and is one of millions that can be found on the famous website.

Globe Trotting with MobaPhoto

For this weeks adventure I have downloaded a tool called MobaPhoto. This is a type of software that you can use to resize your photos. As I was exploring the software I found you can edit the pictures as well. Here are some photographs that I have taken before being edited with MobaPhoto. I have added the original photo so that the differences can be seen.

A voyage into websites

Creating Websites is an easy task. I have made a couple in the past for my uni subjects as well as during high school for assignments. I believe that websites are a fun and exciting way to capture students’ attention and aid in their learning as they know and understand the internet. One of the websites I created during my time at uni was for SOSE and intended for a year 5 level class, investigating the aboriginal culture. Another website I created was for Technology and was aimed at a level 3 class who had to create a party hat for a party that they were throwing for the class as well as the parents. I used Google sites to create both of these websites because I know that google is a reliable tool and the lecturers would have been able to view all that I had created on these websites.

A Mission to Create a Wiki

I have had a little to do with Wikis in the past, both creating and contributing to them. With this wiki I have chosen an interesting theme called notebook. I havent added other pages or any other information at this stage but I'm sure I will add much more in the future.  

Footsteps in the Sand

Looking back on my journey so far....

So far my Adventures on this blog have been fun and engaging. Although I am a little late on posting for each week, I eventually post each one of my trips into the technological world of ICTs onto my blog. I have stuck with the theme of travelling, as I believe that this is a great symbol for my blog and my adventures through ICT.

Embarking on a Wiki

There are many different arguments over the question of implementing mobile phones into the classroom. After reading the wikispace where the question was posted for the thoughts and views of everyone enrolled into this course, it gave me many different things to think about. Positive and negative points were added onto this page and all views were extremely valid. Each of the responses to the questions were placed under each of De Bono’s thinking hats so the statements were easy to understand. I placed my views under the red hat which is the intuitive hat where the thoughts and feelings of the question are recorded.

My thoughts on whether mobile phones should be implemented into schools:

I feel that there are many advantages and disadvantages to this question. Mobile phones could definitely benefit in the classroom if they are used correctly and monitored to make sure the students are using them for the best of their advantages. Small things that could help students could be the calendar and calculator to apps that could be downloaded onto the newer smart phones like word apps, musical apps, iBooks, maths and many other different types. The keypads on any phones could also benefit the young students for many different reasons from the positioning of the numbers to the letters that correspond with the number on each key. The internet could also be a very good tool for students to use with the different educational games and search engines that can be used.
Although there are advantages there are many disadvantages as well. If the phones are owned by the students (mainly teenagers) there may be many different issues that could arise. During my teenage years at high school, there was an instance where inappropriate photos were sent to nearly the whole senior grade of the school. The internet could also help the students to find illegal photos or even videos on youtube that they would have no restriction to due to the fact that the phone is their own. Texting in class could also be an issue where the students are distracted by their friends and even social networking.

A Quest into De Bono's Thinking Hats

De Bono's Hats are basically the different points of views that are used when looking into a discussion. There are six different hats represented by different colours.

Colour	Representing	Questions
Yellow	Positive points of view	Benefits: What are the good points? Why can this be successful? Why is this a good thing?
Blue	The Process	The Process: Where are we now? What is the next step? Where have we been? What sort of thinking is needed?
White	Objective points of view	Information: What information do I have? What are the facts? What information do I need? What do I want to KNOW?
Black	Negative points of view	Judgement: What is wrong with this? Why will this not work? Is this safe? Can this be done?
Green	Creative points of view	Creativity: What new ideas are possible with this? What is my suggestion for success? Can I create something new?
Red	Intuitive points of view	Feelings: How do I feel about this? What do I like about the idea? What don't I like about the idea?

Cruising with Connectivism

Travelling with TPACK

 

In our lecture this week we learnt about frameworks and how they can help to teach the students about ICTs. The first one we learnt about was TPACK. TPACK stands for Technological (ICTs), Pedagogical (the how and what of teaching) and Content Knowledge (subject, discipline knowledge).

TPACK caters for all learners and is a 21st century orientated theory. It includes tools that learners are familiar with and strategies that include higher order thinking. This theory was created as a conceptual framework for educational technology so that teachers can integrate technology into their pedagogy.

Touring through Prensky's Ideas.

Prensky’s theories centre on ideas that the students of today are a different generation. Because of the fact that our students grew up with so much technology in their lives they need to have technology in their classrooms to be able to learn to the best of their abilities. I agree with Prensky’s theories and ideas due to the fact that I myself have grown up with some of the technologies that the kids today have. Although the technology I use now is a lot more advanced to the technology I grew up with, I believe I am a lot more comfortable with this technology than say, my mum or my grandmother. In saying this, my mum and grandmother have adapted to the technologies on the market today with both of them owning their own ipad and iphone. It just goes to show that whether a technological immigrant or a technological native nearly all of us in today’s society need technology. This is why Prensky’s writings are so important.

Productive Pedagogies Expedition

This activity showed me a new and exciting way of how to look at things. When growing up it always seemed a hard task to tie ones shoelace but once you learn how to do it, it is an everyday occurrence that you don’t have to think about anymore. After this experience of creating a type of mind map for the pedagogy of tying a shoelace, it is easy to see that things can be widened and explored in real depth. A whole unit could be created simply around tying a shoelace! By bringing in other cultures, the types of shoes out there, where else shoes are found and even why we wear shoes opens up a world of opportunities. So many lessons and units could be created around shoes that could bring in a range of other subjects such as History, Maths, English, SOSE and even science. The possibilities are endless for such a simple daily deed, but this also makes me think; what other simple things do we do every day that could be turned into a whole unit plan? 

Understanding how the crew learns...

These results from the learning styles test show that on this scale I am more towards the reflective; think before doing learner, Intuitive; discovering possibilities and relationships, Visual; learning from what I see and a Global learner; trying to absorb information slowly before suddenly ‘getting it’.

In a traditional classroom of 25 students, it might be hard to support the entire range of learning styles in the classroom. I believe that this could be done if each lesson had a number of different strategies to teach the desired outcomes to each of the learning styles; visual, auditory and kinesthetic. By showing a visual picture for the visual learners to see, allow the students to listen to what you are telling them or have a podcast playing for the auditory learners and also have a lot of hands on activities for the students who are kinesthetic learners it should help the students to absorb information a little easier. If these simple things are done to support the students through their learning styles, a learning manager can then look at the other, more complex learning styles and come up with ways of supporting the whole range of students in their class.

In order to support the variety of different learning styles, a number of different ICTs could be used. As an example, a slide show could be used for all learning types. Each slide can have a picture, diagram or even text for the visual learner to absorb the information to the best of their abilities. Podcasts, songs or even a talking avatar can be added for the auditory learner to hear the information that they need to absorb. For the kinesthetic learners, the slide show can be edited in a number of different ways that can make it a hands on experience so the information needed to get across can be absorbed in a way that kinesthetic learners can remember. A slide show is only one example of what an ICT can be used to help students learn, as there are plenty more out there that are easy to create and simple to use for a student.

Although it is easy for a learning manager to see a learning style in a student and develop ways to help teach the student it could always be a good idea to ask the student their preference of ICTs that they would be interested in using. By creating a simple quiz or questionnaire for the students, a learning manager could learn so much. They could ask the students what types of ICTs they already play with and what they already know about ICTs. This could give the learning manager ideas on what to use and what to introduce to the students if they have or haven’t used an ICT before. The learning manager could then structure their work units on the outcomes of the students’ quizzes or questionnaire.

ICTs can help all students to learn new and interesting things throughout their lives. For the new generation of students being the “technology age” all learning managers will need to have a thorough understanding of most ICTs in order to help their students learn what they need to know in order to be prepared for their future.