Week 5 - Google Earth

This week I decided to focus on using Google Earth as my nominated tool for animation and simulation. Google Earth is a website that lets you see into the world through imagery. It is very easy to use, you just need to type in a place or more specifically an address and Google Earth will show you images of the place. This can help the students see the world and feel as though you are standing in that particular place.

Positives:

• Students can feel connected to places through Google Earth, rather than images off the internet.
• There are possibilities of connecting with another school in a different part of the world and use Google Earth to visit their place and for them to see ours.
• It is very user friendly and the images are very clear.
• It is readily accessible from your desktop once the software is downloaded and is also free.
• It presents a lot of information in a geographical context.
• It can be an excellent research tool for students to describe a particular place.

 Negatives:

•  Students may limit themselves to only using Google Earth and not use other resources in geographical projects.
• The teacher will need to be well educated into using the different aspects to Google Earth.
• There is not much information on the places being searched, mainly just imagery.
• It can be quite difficult to navigate once you are on the ground level and could find yourself getting lost.

Week 5 - PowerPoint

I decided to use a PowerPoint that I have already created and share it with slideshare. A very easy place to share your PowerPoints and very easy to embed onto a blog as the code came up almost automatically after clicking on the save and continue button. There are many technical aspects to a PowerPoint that I did not know about. After reading through the reading materials and watching the engagement activity video I can now see how PowerPoint can be used in much more than just presenting. You can create various slides with images, sound and video that can be very simple and child friendly. One of the great aspects of a PowerPoint is after all of the slides have been created it can be turned into a movie which the children would find fascinating. To think that they could make their own movie! I would use the PowerPoint in the classroom as a flip chart. Whether there are images with questions and the children need to drag and drop the correct icon in a box, or move a certain image into the correct place. It could be used individually or as a whole class warm-up. Creating a PowerPoint is not very time consuming and can be handy to have as activities for the children that have finished their work early or for the students that have deserved some computer time and possibly to help the students that need more time in a certain area.

Week 5 - Glogster

Above is my first glog creation. The process was more time consuming than the other two tools in Group 3. The tutorial helped me out with embedding it onto my blog which I have found the most difficult with the blog. It was fairly easy to create and embed images and videos from YouTube. It seemed as though there was plenty of advertising on the pages leading up to creating my glog and on the glog homepage itself. If you are willing to pay the money then you can create glogs for your classroom that is kept for private use. On my glog I decided to focus on Mathematics, Year 2, gathering information and creating block graphs. This is how I would set up the homepage of the glog for parents to help as well. There is a video embedded on the page for parents to view on the steps in creating a block graph. That way they are encouraged to help out their son/daughter with some ideas on what other sources of information we could gather to create another block graph. Glogster could definitely work in a classroom environment. The teacher would need to first spend time creating the page, all of the student's pages and changing their passwords if necessary. Compared to the other two tools it would be more time consuming but it could be more beneficial once it has been set up. Children are able to post their work on the own page within the classroom. The teacher will be able to keep track of each student's glog, their progress throughout the year, who needs to be extended and who needs more work on the topic. The great thing about glogster is it could be used by more than one classroom, teachers will be able to collaborate ideas towards the glog as a team project for their students.

Week 5 - Prezi

Well I can definitely say that this week has been a whole lot better using the multimedia tool Prezi! It was very quick and easy to get started. I just needed to sign up using my email address and could get started right away. The video tutorials helped me create my first prezi with ease. I went onto my Facebook and saved a few pictures of my family and created the presentation within 15 minutes. Very easy to create and embed the link onto my blog. Here is the prezi I created about my family.
http://prezi.com/oihcnszsduey/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Prezi is a great tool for teachers to use for creating quick presentations to the students. It can also be a way for students to create their own presentations. Students can create their own narratives using prezi, rather than typing up a story on word. Each slide can contain an image with some text, whether the images are found on the internet or the students art work is scanned to the computer and embedded that way. Parents/Caregivers will be able to access the story online, they can also save it as a pdf file and print it out for safe keeping. The students will be more engaged using prezi rather than typing up the text on word, they will be able to see their story come to life, making their story even more meaningful to the students.

Substitution:
Prezi can be used in the classroom to show the students how a narrative is structured. The first slide can go into more detail on the orientation of a narrative, then the next slide on the complication and then on the resolution.

Augmentation:
The children can now start to think about some ideas on what their narrative will be about. Viewing narrative stories on Prezi and begin writing down all of their ideas for their very own story, choose a layout and images to use as well.

Modification:
After viewing narratives on Prezi, the students can now start editing the stories and even change the characters, the setting and the mood. The students can begin to start predicting what might happen in each event, based on the title and images.

Redefinition:
Now the children can put all of their ideas and planning into creating their own narrative using prezi.com. By now through each stage they would of been able to gather enough information on how a narrative is structured and many ideas on what their story could be about.

Week 4 - Podcasting and using audio

This was my least favourite this week! I first used Audioboo but I couldn't find a way to link it to my wiki or my blog! Then I tried to create a voki for the first time. I recorded my voice and created my character and then clicked publish. I was able to save the voice recording but there was no embedding code to post it on my blog and I was unable to email the link either? I have spent far too much time stressing about how to use this type of technology this week. I understand how it can benefit learners but there needs to be more of an explanation on how to actually use the software that is recommended in order for us to create them. I have found the downfalls in using multimedia and that is there is far too many complications with most of them.


This is the transcript I used when trying to create my voki:

This week’s engagement activity was to record a short audio clip, I decided to create a voki, for the first time. Podcasting in education gives children the opportunities to express themselves using multimedia. A podcast is an audio recording that can be uploaded, saved and accessed online. It can also be embedded onto a blog. There can be safety precautions as a podcast can be accessed by anyone. The best way to ensure your recorded files are readily accessible is to also download them and save them to your desktop.

Week 4 - Digital Video

Digital video is an excellent way for students to create an engaging presentation to their class. This week I decided to create a video based on my hometown, Kaikoura in New Zealand. Students in Australia, Year 3 Geography could benefit from this video by seeing the similarities and differences of places in neighboring countries like New Zealand. Students could then create images on their hometown and create a blog to share with students in Kaikoura. Through e-learning, children will be able to connect with the world on a topic that relates to them.

I created a PowerPoint and then turned it into a video using PowerPoint as well. I tried to use Moviemaker first, but I didn't know how to add a slide just for credits and a title page. My computer is fairly new and therefore I had no music saved, so I had to spend some time downloading music for the video as well. Ever since starting this course I feel as though I am downloading a lot of apps and software onto my computer, not sure if this is a good thing or not. For me to be able to use multimodal designs in the classroom, I need to have more experience to be comfortable in teaching it. Here is the video I created below:

This week I chose to further explore digital videos in the classroom.
The technical aspects when creating a video like the one above are first gathering the images, analysing and evaluating which images to use and choosing an audio that relates to what the images represent. The 21st century student is already familiar with this type of technology, therefore relating to the student more so than traditional materials.

Substitution:
Students are given a task of creating their own digital story, using images of their own, it relates to the school and the characters are children in the classroom. Instead of looking and listening to a story book, the children are engaged with a digital video.

Augmentation:
The students can now be engaged in writing out their plan, using the digital video as a guide to write out a step by step procedure, based on the video clip. Once the plan has been marked off by the teacher, the children can then move on to the next stage.

Modification:
This is now where the children can start taking images that relate to their story. The children will need to analyse and evaluate each image and make the decision on which image should go where, according to the story plan they have already written.

Redefinition:
This is where the children can now be engaged with creating their digital story book. The chosen software to use would be PowerPoint. This can be an individual task or can be used as a group assignment. The children will be able to save their digital video to a USB stick to take home to show their family or can be shown to family members during parent teacher interviews. A great way to show them the capabilities of each student.

Image retrieved from:
http://gettingsmart.com/2013/07/using-samr-to-teach-above-the-line/

Week 4 - Resizing images on Mobophoto

This is the image I chose to resize on Mobophoto and was saved  as 105KB. Below is the exact same photo but is now 12KB. Can you notice the difference? The experience I found was quite easy, it only took a few minutes to download the software and choose an image to resize. When creating websites it is important to resize the images, this can make the downloading of the site a lot quicker, and Mobophoto makes the process easy and convenient.

Images are important because they can help trigger emotions, memory and every child perceives an image differently. Images are all around us and should be used in the classroom to help the children critically think about what they see, asking the questions of what, where, when, why and how. Images through multimedia can be a very effective engagement tool, especially when combining audio as well. But not only that, children can create their own images and anaylse and evaluate their work.

Week 3 - Wikis

On creating the wiki I found it to be quite overwhelming. For someone that is not familiar with technology it could be quite hard to navigate around the page. However, it is a great e-learning tool for the classroom. I would use a wiki for group assignments in the upper years of primary school. This way the students can share in information they have researched individually and eventually create a group assignment. I would create a wiki for my classroom during a science experiment where students could post about their findings on the topic. Even an exploration assignment in the environment where students could post images of either flora or fauna, and post information regarding their particular find. Students will be able to learn from each other and about new living things their classmates discovered.

While navigating through my wiki, I went into the settings link and found that you could add members and make the wiki private if needed. This was a great indication that a wiki could be used in a classroom privately, creating a safe environment for students, teachers and parents.

Here is the link to the wiki I created: http://meljane1087.wikispaces.com

Week 3 - My first experience with Weebly

My first impression of Weebly was how easy it was to sign up through your email. I had to spend some time exploring through the website on how I wanted my design, how to add on new pages and also how to format the page. For a first timer I found it quite easy to make a website that looked quite professional, as the design aspects were already done for you. Here is the link to the website I created: www.meljane1087.weebly.com

This type of e-learning tool I would use in a classroom to create a website for my students that contains information for a research project. I could post authoritative websites for the students to access, inspirational quotes and images for encouragement during the project, I could also state the expectations of the project and how they will be assessed. The blog could be a place for students to interact on how their learning is going with the project. The higher order thinking will be done by students self-reflecting on the blog and eventually creating a research project with help from the Weebly website.

Week 3 - Blogs

This week's task was to read more into the features of a blog, critically reflect on the teaching and learning and how it could be used in the classroom. The technical features of a blog that I found to be the most interesting, were how you could use so many different links on the one page. You could locate specific posts by searching for the title, the date or month it was posted, the type of category the blog came under and many other additional links as well. Only you as the author have the power to edit any information on the blog and customising your page can be done also. A blog does not just have to be written text, there can be videos, images and links embedded onto your blog. However, you will need to reference any material you use on your blog to avoid plagiarism. This is my first time using a blog and I like all of the features about them and how they can assist in students sharing information to scaffold their learning. My favourite idea for it being used in the classroom was the ‘Expert Jigsaw’. Giving each child an individual task in the group and eventually posting it on the blog to create a group assignment, I thought was excellent.

SUBSTITUTION:

The use of a Blog is to encourage students to self-reflect and share with their peers. It also encourages students to write and record their learning journey.

AUGMENTATION:

There can be many uses for a blog in the classroom. Instead of using homework books and folders, students could post their homework on their blog, showing the date it was posted and their progress. The teacher could leave a comment to give positive feedback and acknowledge any errors.

MODIFICATION:

Using blogs in the classroom would be an easy way for the teacher to assess the students. Using an online blog is any easy way for a teacher to access a student’s work. Rather than a teacher having to lug all of the student’s book work home during the week and in the holidays.

REDEFINITION:

A blog can be used to help and support each student. There are many strategies that help scaffold a child’s learning that are used in the classroom. These types of strategies can also be used in a blog to help students critically reflect more effectively. These include using Edward De Bono’s hats, PMI Chart, Y Chart, T Chart, SWOT and many more. It’s the sharing of information and seeing the views of other students, is what guides each child to figure out how they feel on the topic, and then posting it on a blog for other students to see.

Week 2 - Edward De Bono's wiki activity

Design:
This week we were all asked to participate in an online wiki, giving our opinion on whether mobile phones should be used in the classroom. The main aspect was using Edward De Bono's six thinking hats to look at the topic from different points of view. The task was to think about the topic using a different thinking hat and post your opinion in one of the pages provided. Analysing and evaluating is the main aspect of learning within Blooms Taxonomy and possibly even synthesising. I found the design of the activity quite good, when I posted my ideas there were already four pages half filled so I decided to start on a fresh page, also just in case I deleted someone's post.

The Theory:
The learning theories connectivism and social constructivist were present during this activity, connecting and collaborating with others online, helping me realise my own opinion on the idea of mobile phone use in the classroom. At first I thought there was no way that this could work, but as I looked deeper, analysing and evaluating each hat, creating that higher order thinking, it made me realise that the idea is possible and could definitely work.
Before I wrote down my thoughts on each hat, I was able to see other student’s points of view on the topic. In reading all of the posts, this gave me a great insight on how I would approach the task. Whether I felt the same way as other students, if I could further extend on their information or add another point of view.

The collaborative process really engaged my thinking in the task, also because I knew that other students would be reading my posts and possibly using my thoughts to hinder their own.

The value of scaffolding and learning outcomes:
The task was designed to scaffold each student who participated in the activity. As we all worked individually to express our opinion on each hat, it was the sharing of ideas that supported each individual.  The scaffolding process for me took place from reading other student’s blogs which helped support my learning and drew out my ideas on the topic.
Edward De Bono’s six thinking hats are a great scaffolding tool to use in the classroom. An example of this would be to assign each group with a thinking hat.  Ask each group to work collaboratively together to come up with some ideas on the topic with the hat they were assigned. Then eventually share with the rest of the class all of their ideas. This gives the children a chance to analyse and evaluate the information, creating higher order thinking by all students.