Great Website!

Working backwards...

I was given the link of storybird.com to look at. It is a fantastic website to help students become inspired when writing narratives. With this tool (and teachers can sign up a class!), students start with the pictures, provided by the website, and create their own storybook. I had a go: read my story "The Lost Fairy". You can even read stories created by others. Great site to visit!

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In other news...

My uni lecturer places numerous resources and readings on our class forum. The reading "UNESCO evaluation shows student achievement increases by combining professional learning, compelling interactive digital content and technology in the classroom" by Dell (the computing company) identifies a study in Brazil that demonstrated how technology assisted student performance in schools. It is a short reading that has some valuable points. 

Food for thought:

The funny thing is that this video is probably already outdated!

One student from my uni course brought The Horizon Report to our attention. This is a great eye-opener for K-12 teachers. It basically lists the future of education in terms of technology. Some future directions for the classroom include:

• Cloud computing: this is basically (in as simple terms as possible) a virtual environment for storing files. Most cloud applications allow the manipulation of data in some way, such as editing. It is a cost effective solution for data storage for schools. (Some cloud applications are listed and I might have a look at them later...)
• Mobiles: what potential do mobile phones have in the classroom? Imagine a classroom where every student comes to school with a mobile device of some description (iPad, SMARTphone, Notebook) and uses that device to access the school network and Internet. The school would not need to purchase the latest state-of-the-art computing equipment for students to use and students would probably respect an item that is their own than an item belonging to the school. Something to ponder...
• Game-based learning: why can't we use computer games to teach a concept. Why not use role playing games to teach students what conditions were like for a convict on the First Fleet, or how to manage a small business using a virtual business program?

There are a lot more, but these are the ones that 'jumped' out at me. Enjoy the read!

Hello strangers!

I haven't posted on this blog in two years - not since I finished the Web 2.0 course.

This year I am completing a Graduate Diploma in ICT Education by correspondence with Charles Sturt University. I have completed the computing background subject, and now I am getting into the education and teaching side of things. I have two subjects this semester, and have received some FANTASTIC readings about ICT and education. One of my subjects has also suggested that we start a learning journal, so I am going to use this blog as my learning journal.

My two little 'daughters' also help me with my study. This is Chewy (Chewbacca) helping me 'find' my pen and sitting on my readings. My other girl is Yoda (my Star Wars fanatic husband named them!)


The first excellent reading was called Computer Technology in Schools: What teachers should know and be able to do" by Scheffler & Logan (1999). It was interesting, and true, that often money is spent on putting the technology into classrooms but no money is spent on training the teachers who need to use it. Training needs to be an ongoing process to help raise the confidence of teachers who, more often than not, have less IT knowledge than the students they are teaching. Scheffler & Logan also points out that the knowledge in training programs needs to be knowledge that is used and not knowledge that one just has. It is interesting to note that, when computers first started making their way into the classroom in the 1980's, it was intended that teachers will develop knowledge in programming language to create their own educational programs for students!!!!! I have studied programming language and I am glad that the plan did not go ahead!

Scheffler & Logan highlight a training process that needs to be put into place for educators so that they can effectively integrate technology into their classroom. It should be:

1. AWARENESS
2. OPERATIONAL SKILL
3. INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING
4. INTEGRATION

Following these steps should ensure that educators can use technology is a beneficial way for their students.

The second reading I read was "Making your own road: The emergence of school-based staff developers" by Richard (2003). This reading discussed the need for dedicated trainers to train teachers in technology. It raises 6 questions about whether they are necessary. In my opinion - yes!

On the same topic of training, the following reading was "Mentoring in the new millennium" by Hargreaves & Fullan (2000). It discusses the evolution of mentoring and beginning teachers from the beginning teacher watching the mentor to learn their craft and then they were thrown into the classroom with little support. It also discussed how in the past, there was little collaboration, and many teachers were isolated in their own classrooms. Collaboration, the reading points out, increases the effectiveness of the teacher. It is also important that teachers are also supported emotionally. There was also discussion on how principals need to value the contributions of experienced and beginning teachers, so that experienced teachers do not feel undervalued and threatened when confronted with the IT knowledge of beginning teachers. The underlying message of the article is that mentoring is an integral part of schools.

The first topic for one subject is all about peer coaching. "Professional development: Outside the workshop box" by Beaver (2001) discusses how most of the time, professional development (PD) for teachers is rarely carried over to the classroom. The most valuable PD is viewing other teachers actively using IT in the classroom, followed by a debrief session to discuss what had occurred and to solve any problems or questions that arose.

Technology integration in classrooms is something that many teachers struggle with. "Integrated technology: some things you should know" by Dias (1999) is a great reading to help teachers evaluate IT resources to find what is effective. Dias lists the stages of technology integration as:

ENTRY: text-based use
ADOPTION: increased integration
ADAPTION: introducing IT into classroom practice
APPROPRIATION: the teacher sees technology as useful
INVENTION: the teacher begins to experiment and reflect on practice

In conclusion, I am going to answer the questions for my journal, set for me by my lecturer:

Have you heard of peer coaching? Maybe by another name?
I see peer coaching as the same thing as mentoring. The process is similar to the hubs that we have the the Early Learning program.

In my particular learning educational environment, how could peer coaching add value?
Peer coaching is invaluable for beginning teachers to learn from more experienced teachers. On the flip side, teachers who possess unique skills can teach those who wish to learn through the use of peer coaching.

The following readings are also fantastic, and they are from my other subject.
"Children, Wired: For Better and for Worse" by Bavelier, Green & Dye (2010) discusses whether or not this generation of children are 'wired' or 'switched on' to technology. It discusses how technology effects cognitive development. An interesting point was that educational resources aimed at increasing cognitive development had no or a negative effect on cognitive development, whereas those deemed 'mindless' actually had value when it came to child development. Television shows that encourage active participation of children was important. The concerns though are the portrayal of violence in video games, IT addiction and decreased attention span. This reading is valuable for teachers as it assists teachers in evaluating resources for classroom use. It certainly changed my thinking about what I perceived as 'a valuable resource for students'.

Another fantastic reading discusses why mobile education is the future. "Why mobile is a must" by McCaffrey (2011) provide a great example of how mobile technologies can assist student learning. Mobile technologies empower students to own their learning and personalise their learning. It also introduces the terms "digital natives" and "digital immigrants". Digital natives being those under 30 who were born into the digital world, and digital immigrants being those who need to 'learn' the language of technology.

The terms digital natives and digital immigrants was introduced by Prensky (2001) in his article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". Digital immigrants often retain behaviours of their past 'language'. I thought of my mother when I read this. She wanted to print an image from a webpage but didn't know how - so she took a photo of the screen using her digital camera! Teachers must change their methodology and content of their teaching in order to cater for the digital native students in their classrooms.

Other readings that I had the option to read about this topic (but didn't as I only needed to read one) were "The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence" (Bennett, Maton & Kervin, 2008), and "Latour meets the Digital Natives: What do we really know" (Sheely, 2008).

Module 10

Wikki Wikki Wow Wow!



First task was the visit the Bookleads Wiki to find out more about blogs. The first think I noticed was that they had a glogster page embedded into the site. Cool! I randomly selected some links and explored the Wikis on the links. The next site was 50 Web 2.0 ways to tell a story. It is a great way for students to publish their stories or even other text types!



The Wetpaint Central Help and Support site was explored. It is necessary to have a support site to help members with any technical issues.

The Bloom's Taxonomy Digital map is a great resource to visually indentify where Web 2.0 and the digital world fits into the taxonomy. Most students in my class who rarely reach the creating level (the highest level) when completing reading and writing tasks, were able to create vodcasts (videocasts) and blog this year. Perhaps this is where Garner's MI theory needs to be used alongside Blooms with another MI level "Technical". That way, students who are not achieving the higher thinking levels in linguistic or logical areas, for example, can achieve in the "technical" word and their abilities are not ignored.


This version of Bloom's Taxonomy helped identify that some students are achieving the higher thinking levels. In terms of planning, I can see that students can create a digital product in order to achieve the higher thinking levels. However, based on experience, "googling" needs to be explicitly taught, as students are often overwhelmed by the wealth of information available and do not have the skills to sift through it. By teaching them ways to Google particular keywords, it would help them proceed up the levels in the taxonomy.


I would place Second Life into the Taxonomy based on the uses. If Second Life was just used to explore and meet people then it would fit into the 'remembering' level. It is also a game that they are playing and they need to use a number of skills, so therefore it fits into 'applying'. The same applied for Flickr. Uploading images fits into 'applying'. If they categorise images with tags, then the students are 'analysing'. Finally, in terms of mind mapping (such as Bubbl.us), students could be categorising their thoughts (understanding), editing their mind maps (applying) and linking ideas (analysing).


The final reflection post on the WetPaint Wiki is:

What role do you see for using Web 2.0 tools in your own life as a learner and as a member of online communities?

Web 2.0 plays an important role in my life as I use them to share my own work with others and to view what others have shared. I believe online communities are vital to ensure that knowledge is shared with many. I use Web 2.0 tools such as YouTube and Facebook to share images and video with family and friends. As a member of an online community, I need to ensure that the content I share is current, relevant and safe for all to view.

How can Web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?

As mentioned in my Module 10 post, by many of the products created using Web 2.0 tools allow users to achieve a higher level of thinking in the Bloom's Taxonomy. Students need to be motivated to learn. Without that motivation, learning does not occur. Web 2.0 tools seem to motivate students in a way that teacher's could have never imagined. Blogs allow students to create posts in a "real world" context. There is a reason for their writing - it isn't isolated. They have an audience and produce a better product because they know this audience is there. The audience is other students, and not just their teacher. They work harder. I've seen kids who HATE editing edit their own blogs so that it is correct. Student's eyes have lit up at the thought of creating vodcasts to sell our school to students overseas. When the motivation is there, the learning happens. When more learning occurs, the learning outcomes are achieved and extended.

How can we use wikis as a joint KNOWLEDGE construction tool in our learning spaces (virtual or physical)?

Wikis help students share knowledge. When students record information in their workbooks in class, only them and the teacher are their audience. When they publish information in a wiki, the audience then becomes the Wiki members! Other students can comment to praise of critique others' work. Students can add information to a wiki page so that every member of the class is a valued member in the construction of the page. I have used retrieval charts in the classroom, where the class are given a topic and must work together to complete the chart. Imagine a wiki as a retrieval chart, where each child works to complete the task. Student contributions and what they need to research can be varied depending on students' abilities, so that every child has the ability to be a useful and valuable member of the task.

I think I'll have a go at creating the Wetpaint Wiki in the summer holidays and link it to my blog.


Signing off! Happy holidays everyone!


A

Module 9

Caught in a net of networks!

Scootle was the first social network I visited. I realised that an email I had ignored at the beginning of the year was my key to logging in so I began a search through past emails to find my log in link. Registration completed, I began my exploration of the site. I decided to take a shortcut and headed to the seach function. I typed on "British colonisation" as I am currently teaching that unit and will teach it next year at my new school. I found a few good resources, mainly aimed at older children. I downloaded the Scootle User Guide and skimmed the 59 pages. It was clear that there were a number of ways to find content other than the search function. These included:

• by advanced search,
• by location,
• by time,
• alphabetical searching, and,
• by topic.

When I initially searched, my automatic reaction to the search results was that there was nothing of use there. Then, when I looked closer, I noticed that certain buttons needed to be pressed to find the content I was looking for. To the untrained eye, Scootle could easily be disregarded as an unuseful resource. Before I read the user guide, I thought that, while Scootle was quite useful, that it took a marathon of steps to find content. Most teachers would agree that taking time to find resources means using time we don't already have. Once I read the user guide, something I probably should have done before, I gained a better understanding of how to use Scootle to maximise its potential. Yes, I should have read the user guide before, but how many people start assembling something a cabinet without looking at the instructions. I put up my hand and say I'm guilty of this!

Scootle definitely has its benefits. In the age of multimodal education, it is evident that Scootle provides several options and resources to integrate a range of rich multimodal resources into the classroom.

I could identify a few Web 2.0 features of Scootle, the most obvious being the ability to share learning paths. I visited the learning paths page to answer the question and to my surprise, someone from my school had already begun a learning path! I created a learning path called Christmas and began adding Christmas items to it. I then clicked on my learning path to share it with my school. It was quite easy and I can see the benefits of the function, especially with collaborative planning and team teaching.

Social networking is the use of online communities that allow people to connect with other people through a variety of topics and content. I explored the three sites: Social networking - friend of foe?, Libraries and social networking, and, What is social networking? The three sites provided some useful information about social networks. I am currently a member of a few social networks, such as:

• Facebook,
• MySpace,
• Twitter, and
• Friends Reunited.

Admittedly, I am quite a Facebook addict, spending at LEAST 3 hours a day on Facebook (yep! time to institutionalise me!)

I explored What is Second Life?. I had heard of Second Life before and was interested in finding out more. After watching the Intro video, I had recollections of my high school days when I was addicted (worse than Facebook!) to The Sims. Thank God I purchased a laptop with a weak graphics card otherwise Sim 2 would take over my life! Before watching the videos, I was a bit skeptical about how Second Life could be used in education. First, I watched Education in Second Life: Explore the possibilities. I loved the idea of asking students to create characters to explore how life was like in particular eras. At my school, we just had a "Back to School" day for Year 4, where they experienced school life in the 1800's. Some kids just couldn't handle it. With Second Life, there character is the actor, not them, and (hopefully) they would find it easier to tell the difference between acting and reality. The second video, Educational Uses of Second Life, it was clear that this tool would be useful for those students who are reluctant to participate in drama activities due to shyness or an unwillingness to participate. Here, they are are controlling their virtual character who is a different 'person' to themselves and hopefully would overcome that shyness or reluctance as it is the character who is in the spotlight rather than themselves.

The next site to explore was Facebook. He he... being told to go on Facebook is like asking me to open by Christmas presents early! The slideshare presentation was no longer available, so I explored the Directory of Social Networking Sites for Learning Professionals. I cannot believe the amount of sites available. I tried creating my own social networking site while I was in uni for beginning educators using a forum. It seemed that no-one was interested as it was before the days of social networks. Perhaps I'll try to get it running again....????

The final social network to explore was Twitter. I tried Twitter, with very little success. Not many friends are on it and it seemed pointless updating a site that no-one was paying attention to. The Twitter in Plain English video helped outline the basic use of Twitter. Perhaps if more of my friends were on Twitter, I'd probably "Tweet" more!

Ok, blogs done.. time to check Facebook! LOL!

A

Module 8

My own PA!

I have been a bit slack the last few months so I decided to sit down with the intention of finishing Web 2.0 once and for all!

This module is all about RSS feeds. I had heard of these in the past and I have seen the snazzy little icon on my brower toolbar before. First I viewed the video RSS: In plain English. Again, the plain English series explains the concept in easy to understand language. I like how he gives the warning: "It's addicitive! So be careful!"

The following video was Welcome to Google Reader! This video provided a basic introduction to Google Reader. The "list" fuction looks exactly like Gmail, which I have been using for years. Therefore, Google Reader looks pretty easy to use.

Next, I read through the website What is RSS? Here I learnt that RSS stands for "Rich Site Summary". RSS appears to be an excellent tool to use when you constantly access pages that are frequently updated.

When I clicked on the following link about Google Reader, I noticed it took me straight to Google Reader and that I already had items that I was subscribed to! Looking down my list, the Reader program had already subscribed me to the Web 2.0 blogs that I have been following, especially the blogs of my colleagues.

I also watched the Google Reader in Plain English video, which highlighted some excellent features of Google Reader.

I suppose websites with teaching resources would benefit from using these features so that teachers can stay informed about the new resources that have been uploaded onto the website.

Happy RSSing!

A

Module 7

What a delicious idea!

I had heard of Delicious before but had never know what is was for. Upon reading the How to: Del.icio.us tutorial, I was turned off by the fact that you needed to download a toolbar to use application. I have a loathing of custom toolbar downloading and try to avoid it when I can. After watching the Social Bookmarking In Plain English video, it seems that a benefit of Delicious is that you can bookmark sites from any computer. True, this is a great benefit. But what if you don't have the toolbar downloaded on the PC that you are using. Makes things much harder doesn't it?


I made my way to the Delicious site to sign up. I was please to know that there were alternates to downloading the toolbar, especially since I was completing this blog on a friend's computer. You can just copy and past the URL, which is a bit more work but saves clogging up hard drives with toolbars.


The next task was to add a user to your network. A downfall of Delicious is that you cannot import current contacts from you address book to see if any of your friends are using the Delicious network. This is something other social networks do. So I used a social network to send a shout-out to my friends on Facebook so that I didn't need to add a "random" friend.


Activity 4 required finding another teacher's blog. Right! Time to find fellow educators to see how they are doing. I commented on the blogs of two other teachers in my school.

Online communities are an excellent way of sharing information. Why should information be kept under lock and key, only to be used by the person who created it? What is the point of publishing when you don't have an audience in mind? The Internet has "shrunk" the world, making it easier to communicate and send messages to each other. Communities are no longer static in a particular geographic region. They are global and dynamic. Online communities make it easier to share information and to communicate ideas in a real-time setting and in a public forum.

I can see the benefit of using sites like Delicious in the classroom. We provide students with MyClasses pages of websites and information that we, as teachers, find both safe and useful. But what if one of our students goes home and finds another website to add to the list? They will write it down to give to us or email it to us. Then, we will need to find the time to add it to the property on the MyClasses page. Why not give students the options of assessing and evaluating the usefulness of websites themselves. Why not allow students access to Google so that they can shift through the millions of hits that come up? Students need to be equipped with the skills to evaluate these sites themselves. Yes, a site may appear with unsafe content. Yes, the site may be useless. But if teachers are spoon feeding sites to students, how will they learn to say "this is an inappropriate website" or "this is an excellent website"? Creating a class Delicious page and giving students the password means that they can assist in building a list of appropriate websites. Everyone raves about giving students ownership for their learning. So, let's start!

Happy bookmarking!

A

Module 6

Mapping your mind!

I learnt about bubbl.us at the ENDA conference I attended in the Easter Holidays (and I believe it was the only valuable think I received from the course). I thought it was FANTASTIC! I used it during the multimodal project to brainstorm about communities. I skimmed through the video Bubbl.us Basics because I was already familiar with this application. The only thing I really needed to do was to sign up because I was using Bubbl.us without a user name, which means that, while you can still use the application, you cannot save your brainstorm within the site or edit it once you have saved it as an image file. Once I signed up, I also noticed that you can embed the HTML of the application into a blog so that it is automatically updated when you edit it. I made two mind maps. The first shows the application of Web 2.0 in the classroom, which I will attempt to update throughout this course. The second one is a map I whipped up today to create a poster about alternate words to "said" to show a true application of this very useful Web 2.0 tool in the classroom.

The use of Web 2.0 tools to enhance learning



Alternate words to "said"

The next part of this module was to explore Glogster. I had never heard of Glogster before and was quite interested to do some exploring. After watching the video, I signed up and went on a journey to explore the three example pages. When the Shakespearean Parodies page loaded, I immediately thought of a scrapbook page. Scrapbooking is one of my hobbies so I immediately warmed to the idea of Glogster. I thought the author had quite a clever mix of multimedia on the page. Next, I explored the History Chapter Summary. However, I found the elements on that page a bit unrelated. Finally, I had a peek at the Decisions, Decisions page. I thought this was a great way to collate the students' ideas. It reminded me a bit of my Multimodal project.

Creating my own Glogster page was easy. The tools are easy to use and are just like using publisher. I even had an option to post it to this blog! Great! I officially LOVE Glogster! Here is my Glogster page:

Time for the optional challenge on Glogster EDU! After watching the Detailed Tutorial on Glogster EDU, I had the immediate thought to email my team teachers and get all of our students Glogster for their major projects on World Religions.

The uses of both Glogster and Bubbl.us are endless. To start off with, anyone with a SMARTboard should embrace Bubbl.us as a mind-mapping tool. It's time to face the truth teachers - our handwriting on these interactive whiteboards is shocking!

Secondly, Tell your kids to throw out the display folders, forget the cardboard and to save the environment! Glogster is an excellent project tool. Like I said before, our students are 21st Century learners, who are growing up in a world were technology is the norm. Why should we, as teachers, try to stop the growing technological changes in the world? Give the students options rather than limitations and you will be surprised about what they can do!

Have fun mapping your mind!

A