Effective Group Work not up in the air

Uluru - Ayers Rock Sunset

Uluru - Ayers Rock Sunset
Originally uploaded by Heaven`s Gate (John)

Courtesy of Flickr

The beautiful Uluru - to be used to show my year 4 class this natural wonder

I think I am in LURVVVV with you tube - my new best friend

Just another demo, but how wonderful is this

You Tube Demonstration on Quilling

Here is a great example of how to use you tube to demonstrate a difficult task or topic. This video demonstrates quilling, which my class did a few weeks ago, to make a mothers day card or fridge magnet.

Floral quilling

Floral quilling (bottom)
Originally uploaded by Inna (Crafts, Kids, Quilling)

Here is another one!

Shows the 2D effect this art form displays

Flowers. Quilling for LEP

Flowers. Quilling
Originally uploaded by Inna (Crafts, Kids, Quilling)

Here is a photo of quilled flowers,used to demonstrate to my class in our art lesson on creating our own quill

You tube video for maths lesson on fractions

I don't know about you, but I really disliked maths at school. I could not understand the concepts and rote learning of times tables really disinterested me! For my year 4 prac class, I decide to use a you tube video as the hook to gain interest at the beginning of the lesson. I also used this tool, as an opportunity to engage a variety of learners and learning styles. In essence I wanted to make the lesson interesting and fun in the hope that students would engage in the topic. I asked the class to focus on the words and think about the upcoming lesson. I also gave them the opportunity to engage in physical activity prior to the lesson to incorporate some HPE into the lesson experience also. Enjoy!

REFLECTIVE SYNOPSIS - ICT'S IN EDUCATION

This reflective synopsis provides an insight into my experiences over the last 8 weeks of ICT’s in GDLT. It provides an overview of the technologies that I have employed as a pre service student, and have discussed in my professional blog. Furthermore, it identifies how I will apply these digital technologies into my pedagogical practice, both as a student teacher and upon teacher registration. This synopsis will explore the use of technology such as blogs, wikis, vokis/avatars, picnik, flickr, video, power point and Google earth, and how I will incorporate them in my classroom.


The technologies discussed, integrate the principles of Engagement Theory (Kearsley and Shcneiderman, 1999) and Active learning (Active Learning, 2000), which when used engage students via technology in learning by doing, creating,  problem solving, and encourage higher order thinking. This in turn creates individuals who are work place prepared, as they have developed the skills required to be flexible, adaptable and interact effectively in a group situation. (Smith  2000).

Blogs are an on line device, which can be used collaboratively or individually for various purposes. Individual students can utilise a blog as an online journal, a reflective tool or as a communication enhancement between teacher and student. The opportunities for students to practice creative writing, display information (reports); complete homework and remark on peers work are just a few examples. A teacher could incorporate this tool into students learning by recording creative stories on individual blogs.  See my blog (http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/03/welcome-to-week-4.html)

WIKIS are an excellent collaborative tool that enables students to work on projects, ideas and tasks together. This tool provides the basis for engagement theory (Kearsley and Shcneiderman, 1999) and active learning (Active Learning, 2000) ) to be employed in the classroom. The very nature of engagement theory is based upon the idea of 'creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom.' (Kearsley and Shcneiderman, 1999)  (http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/03/welcome-to-week-4.html )  details the use of this tool in my pedagogy and examples of same.

Collaborative tools such as WIKIS, Blogs, and E –portfolios are student centric in nature, allowing students to guide and design their own learning journey, with support from the learning manager. They do not focus solely on what students learn, but in how they learn and apply knowledge to other situations. (Smith, 2000)  This also relates to the Dimensions of Learning and in particular dimension (3) Extend and Refine Knowledge and (4) Use knowledge meaningfully  (Marzano and Pickering, 1997). As learning managers we encourage our students to souce their own information, so that they learn to be independent, resourceful adults able to function effectively in society. As Learning managers we assist students  by guiding them in the right direction.

'Teachers will be key professionals who can guide students to produce, mediate and use knowledge in a socially and personally useful way.' ( Smith, 2000)   This is supported by ( Houghton and Sheehan, 2000) who state that 'What organizations need is the production of people with broad based problems solving skills and with the social and interpersonal communication skills required for teamwork, along with the skills and attitudes required for flexibility.' Learning Engagement Theory (1999) effectively incorporates these skills in students allowing them to be utilised in the future and in a working environment. The use of wikis in education enables students to acquire these attributes and will be implemented in my pedagogical practice.

E portfolios such as Mahara are a wonderful tool that incorporates collaboration and file hosting. My Blog post discusses this further (  http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/mmmmmm-mahara-e-portfolio-way-of-future.html )  In the social sense students can engage with each other on line, create groups of interest and share resources. As a personal tool they can store blogs, video, pictures and files and are the way of the future in presenting a resume.

A voki or avatar is a fun, interactive and interesting form of digital enhancement. (Refer to my blog posting) to see how I have incorporated this tool into my blog. (  http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html )  As a learning tool, it can be used to encourage students to write, type and speak. Students can also use vokis to aid in writing sentences. These could either be spoken or typed, with students being able to show peers their work. As a “ hook” it could be used by either learning manager or student when presenting a topic. In a blog or wiki, a voki could be used to provide a snippet of information. In a wiki, each contributing member could incorporate a voki into the authentic task and use it to introduce or conclude the topic.

Picnik and Flickr are photo hosting sites that can store and edit photos. Digital images can be uploaded to Flickr for classroom projects, reports, creative story writing, blogs and wikis. Picnik is the tool that can be used to edit the image, ensuring that it is the appropriate size, tone etc for it’s particular use. My blog post(  http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/flower.html.  In the classroom as students use digital photography for their projects, flickr is able to store the images for the project. See my blog posting for examples      http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/p1040181.html


The benefits of using a storage service such as flickr are that students are able to access the site as required (which may be outside of school hours) and work on the project whenever they have time. Provided all the students are given the log on details, they can access their images at their leisure. To encapture a range of learning styles, using digital enhancements assists the visual learner greatly.

The use of PowerPoint in my pedagogy is shown in my blog posting, and demonstrates the capabilities of this tool in education  (..http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/voice-over.html)  Powerpoint can be interactive, show pictures; brief summaries of topics, and even young students would be able to use this tool. A must in this day and age and a tool that I will utilise.

The interactive white board (IWB) is the latest innovation used in schools to aid teaching. Look at my blog posting(  http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/interactive-white-boards-wooh-hoo.html.)  This type of technology brings the senses of sight, touch and sound to learners, and allows the learners to guide their own learning journey; hence the learning manager takes on the role of facilitator. (Active Learning, 2000) The IWB fits in with Dimensions 1 and 3 (Marzano and Pickering, 1997) by creating positive attitudes and perceptions to learning, and extending and refining the knowledge. Whilst students use this technology they may discover new information, add to previous knowledge and compare this new knowledge to other situations. Engaging students in learning is easily achieved when using technology such as this. Students are able to draw pictures, graphs, spell words, create sentences- the list is almost endless. As most schools have at least one IWB it would not be difficult to incorporate this into my pedagogy.

The use of video (you tube and teacher tube) in the classroom is an excellent auditory and visual tool. See my blog post(  http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/04/teacher-tube-video-on-fractions.html.)  I will be using video such as you tube and video in my pedagogy as a hook and a learning tool. It caters for a range of learning styles and can be used for demonstration purposes and to engage students in learning.

Google earth and wikipedia will be touched on briefly, as I have not had the opportunity to explore these in depth. Google earth is a valuable digital tool that can be used in class to show maps of the world, find positions and show distances between countries and towns. It could be used to engage students in interesting activities such as ‘ a race around the world’ find my country (using clues of culture, climate and food) to determine geographical locations and to show actual pictures of geographical locations such as the North Pole, and the desserts. Refer to my blog post (http://megirwin073.blogspot.com/2010/05/google-earth-and-wikipedia.html.)  As a tool to enhance students learning wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. There is a large array of information on the web, and wikipedia is safe, up to date and has stringent publishing standards ensuring that correct knowledge is placed on the web.

The use of technology in teaching is essential to providing the most appropriate, up to date and relevant resources to students. As a beginning practitioner, I have learnt a great deal over the past 8 weeks and am keen to apply these tools in my pedagogy. As technology adapts and changes, we as learning managers must keep abreast of new advances, and be prepared to integrate these into our classrooms. Social interaction with other students and professionals can assist in acquiring new skills. The tools that we are using now, may not be relevant in five years, however we must be prepared to learn and advance our own knowledge, so that our students have the best possible chance of success both in education and as life long learners.


Here is documentation related to my professional conversations with other students and posts that I have commented
  http://annefletcher.blogspot.com/2010/04/poetry-powerpoint.html
http://samanthasjourney-gdlt.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-powerpoint-how-great-are-these.html?showComment=1271500615802#c2234493359942042908
http://anjalidatar.blogspot.com/2010/04/wikipedia.html
http://kylieslearningjourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/avatars-and-education.html?showComment=1271977029138#comment-c6842235099299583538
http://bean-the-teacher.blogspot.com/2010/03/engaging-with-wiki.html?showComment=1270680403070#comment-c8712395788965606498

Here are the students that have posted comments to my blog. http://anjalidatar.blogspot.com/2010/04/wikipedia.html
http://samanthasjourney-gdlt.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-powerpoint-how-great-are-these.html?showComment=1271500615802#c2234493359942042908
http://anjalidatar.blogspot.com/2010/04/wikipedia.html



REFERENCE LIST

Active Learning (2000) The ACU Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence retrieved on 2/5/10 http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/team.htm

Houghton,J,  and Sheehan, P (2000) A Primer on the Knowledge Economy, Melbourne, Victoria University

Kearsley, G.and  Shneiderman. B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.

Kunc, N. (1992). The Need to Belong: Rediscovering Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Marzano, J and  Pickering, D (1997) Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's Manual 2nd Ed. McRel, Colorado, USA.

Smith, Richard. Lynch, David.and  Mienczakowski, Jim. (2003, November). The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM and Education Capability)

Lets explore the Ocean

I have just been researching google earth again - on you tube mind you. What a fascinating tool for educational purposes. Here google earth examines our oceans, and you can even engage in quizzes along the way. I am sure kids in the classroom will love this!

Google Earth and Wikipedia, using you tube to demonstrate!

The use of these tools in the classroom is invaluable. Google earth can be used to locate countries, discuss climates, and view parts of the world, which one may have never seen before. There is another aspect of google earth which is worth mentioning. That is of it's creativity in designing buildings in 3D. You can design your own town, make changes to existing cities and live in hope that perhaps one day the budding architect could visualise it in all it's glory. As a tool to help with longitude and latitude, plus measurements for building, it is a fabulous tool to have in the classroom.

Wikipedia is an online encycopledia, that details the most current and up to date information on just about anything. Most of my google searches always revert to wikipedia and I know that the information is reliable as it has passed strict publishing guidelines. As a tool in the classroom,  I am certain that it would be used regularly