PowerPoint Presentations
This week we looked at PowerPoint Presentations and Interactive Whiteboards. I think PowerPoint's are a good way to engage students in the classroom as it's different to just the teacher talking or writing on the board and it's colourful, although not too colourful as to distract the students. Bullet points are a great way to outline key words or topics while the speaker elaborates. Power points are prepared before the class and simply 'played' to the class. I think they are a great idea as there is no class time wasted writing information up on the board or drawing diagrams, the class time is used more efficiently. PowerPoint presentations are also a good idea for students to use for presenting their work/assignments and familiarising them with that style of technology.
Interactive Whiteboards
wow it's like these things have a mind or are real! After watching the video on interactive Whiteboards on the ICT's Moodle site I was quietly blown away. This is a step up in technology for the classroom and I think they could be great! Unfortunately I do not get the chance to use one on my Placement. I believe it would have been an eye opener being able to utilise one of these whiteboards in the classroom and better my technological knowledge also.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Reflective Synopsis
At the start of this course I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I attended a high school that had a very traditional approach to teaching and I believed I was computer and technology illiterate. It's nearly two months on from the commencement of the course and I'm feeling much more at ease with all the new technologies and the course work. I am having so much fun with my Blog and the Avatars/Vokis's in particular. Long gone are the days of the chalk and talk approach to teaching which is great as I can tell you first hand that it is not an engaging teaching strategy. I have loved finding out about all the different learning styles, finding out more about myself and opening my eyes to the array of different learners and how to incorporate particular teaching strategies into the classroom to cater for the different learning styles of the students to ensure all students are given the opportunity to learn.
I have established the strong need for authentic tasks and assessments in the classroom in order to engage the students and help them to see what is being taught is relevant to them. Once a student can relate their learning to real experiences in their lives, they are more likely to be interested. As technology is ever expanding in today's day and age, as a teacher I think it's a must to keep up to date with these ever changing technologies and incorporate them into the classroom where possible to engage students. Think about it, students love computers, face book, i-pods etc and I'm guessing they see classes of copying down notes and listening to a teacher talk for long periods of time boring. Now think how much more students will be engaged and interested if told they had to make up a Blog or Mahara 'page' to document their findings and showcase their assessment. As sited in Dimension 1 by Marzano and Pickering (1997), students need tasks that have real life relevance, are intellectually challenging and give them choices. I think a Blog or e.portfolio like Mahara incorporated into their learning journey/task/assessment would provide real life relevance to the students by utilising a new technology and 'styling' the layout and profile as they choose.
I really enjoyed the 'Mazlows Hierarchy of Needs' (Kunc, 1992) reading. This reading explained how students need to feel that they belong regardless of their attractiveness, academic level, athletics's or diverse status/level. Belonging is a human right and should not be dished out only when a student s excels in sports or academically. A lot of students that feel they don't belong either at school or at home may be disruptive in class or have behaviour issues. Therefore many teachers segregate them from the class, but this may not very well be the solution. We must remember that "as we take away a students sense of belonging, we completely undermine their capacity to learn the skills that enable them to belong (Kunc, N, 1992). See paragraph 3 of this blog posting http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/03/icts-week-2-learning-activities.html for more details.
I now see how relevant technology is in teaching students in this day and age. The Internet can be used for researching almost any topic/subject. Blogs are a great way for students to showcase their work, receive comments and constructive criticism from others and view their peers work. Blogs can also be used for teacher's to monitor their students learning journey and a way for teacher's to leave positive feedback. I think blogs are a fun alternative to keeping notes and assignments in book or on paper. They are also a great way for students to get in touch with technology. If a student had a blog they could work on it and access information outside of school hours and work collaboratively with others peers. Here is a link to my blog http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/
I think Wiki's are a great way to find out more about a subject or topic, or to post a question if unsure of the answer, and see what kind of feedback/answers come back. They are also a great way for the student to get in touch with technology and work collaboratively with others. I personally think Blogs, Wiki's and Mahara sites link with Kearsley and Schneidemans (1997) Relate, Create, Donate theory as they provide and put emphasis on collaborative learning, authentic projects and gives the students flexibility with the creation of tasks/projects (no two peoples Blogs are the same, even if they are about the same topic). This is a link to my wiki, it's called 'Vegorama' http://vegorama.wetpaint.com/
I personally think Avatars are so great! I had so much fun creating them for my Blog, I now have two. Depending on the age range and class at school I think the Avatars would be a hit! I think they will engage students as they are fun and different, but also informative and instructional. Students may like taking instruction from an Avatar as it's a change from the teachers direction. I really think Avatars would be a great student engager in primary school. They could also be great in high school if tailored right and used in the appropriate context. Avatars are great for auditory and visual learners, although if students could create their own that would incorporate the kinesthetic learners also. I created a friendly classroom avatar named 'Chippo'. Chippo was great fun making and I recorded my own voice for it as I wanted Chippo to say more than typing would allow me. Therefore I used a microphone to record my voice onto my computer then uploaded my voice file onto Chippo, my avatar second creation. My first avatar creation is an avatar creation of me introducing my blog. To view my avatars please visit http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-5-learning-activities.html
Through this learning journey of ICT's to date I have learnt so much about technology and become familiar with so many programs that I'm sure will engage students in the classroom when incorporated in a relevant way. On this journey so far I have commented/had conversations with a few peers about the new and ever changing technologies. Here is a link of a courteous comment I made to my peer Alicia about her post on Avatars
http://talkintoleesha.blogspot.com/2010/04/voki-avatars.html#comments. Also I made a comment on Leah's blog for her post about PowerPoint presentations, here is the link for that
http://ltictjourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/powerpoint-presentations.html Also here is a link to a conversation myself and a fellow peer Jus had about PowerPoint presentations and Interactive Whiteboards
http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-6.html
References:
Kunc, N. (1992). Mazlows Hierachy of Needs. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-course, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://e-course.cqu.edu.au
Kearsley,G & Scheiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory - A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Marzano, R. J. & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning Teacher's Manual (2nd ed). Alexandra, VA: ASCD
I have established the strong need for authentic tasks and assessments in the classroom in order to engage the students and help them to see what is being taught is relevant to them. Once a student can relate their learning to real experiences in their lives, they are more likely to be interested. As technology is ever expanding in today's day and age, as a teacher I think it's a must to keep up to date with these ever changing technologies and incorporate them into the classroom where possible to engage students. Think about it, students love computers, face book, i-pods etc and I'm guessing they see classes of copying down notes and listening to a teacher talk for long periods of time boring. Now think how much more students will be engaged and interested if told they had to make up a Blog or Mahara 'page' to document their findings and showcase their assessment. As sited in Dimension 1 by Marzano and Pickering (1997), students need tasks that have real life relevance, are intellectually challenging and give them choices. I think a Blog or e.portfolio like Mahara incorporated into their learning journey/task/assessment would provide real life relevance to the students by utilising a new technology and 'styling' the layout and profile as they choose.
I really enjoyed the 'Mazlows Hierarchy of Needs' (Kunc, 1992) reading. This reading explained how students need to feel that they belong regardless of their attractiveness, academic level, athletics's or diverse status/level. Belonging is a human right and should not be dished out only when a student s excels in sports or academically. A lot of students that feel they don't belong either at school or at home may be disruptive in class or have behaviour issues. Therefore many teachers segregate them from the class, but this may not very well be the solution. We must remember that "as we take away a students sense of belonging, we completely undermine their capacity to learn the skills that enable them to belong (Kunc, N, 1992). See paragraph 3 of this blog posting http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/03/icts-week-2-learning-activities.html for more details.
I now see how relevant technology is in teaching students in this day and age. The Internet can be used for researching almost any topic/subject. Blogs are a great way for students to showcase their work, receive comments and constructive criticism from others and view their peers work. Blogs can also be used for teacher's to monitor their students learning journey and a way for teacher's to leave positive feedback. I think blogs are a fun alternative to keeping notes and assignments in book or on paper. They are also a great way for students to get in touch with technology. If a student had a blog they could work on it and access information outside of school hours and work collaboratively with others peers. Here is a link to my blog http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/
I think Wiki's are a great way to find out more about a subject or topic, or to post a question if unsure of the answer, and see what kind of feedback/answers come back. They are also a great way for the student to get in touch with technology and work collaboratively with others. I personally think Blogs, Wiki's and Mahara sites link with Kearsley and Schneidemans (1997) Relate, Create, Donate theory as they provide and put emphasis on collaborative learning, authentic projects and gives the students flexibility with the creation of tasks/projects (no two peoples Blogs are the same, even if they are about the same topic). This is a link to my wiki, it's called 'Vegorama' http://vegorama.wetpaint.com/
I personally think Avatars are so great! I had so much fun creating them for my Blog, I now have two. Depending on the age range and class at school I think the Avatars would be a hit! I think they will engage students as they are fun and different, but also informative and instructional. Students may like taking instruction from an Avatar as it's a change from the teachers direction. I really think Avatars would be a great student engager in primary school. They could also be great in high school if tailored right and used in the appropriate context. Avatars are great for auditory and visual learners, although if students could create their own that would incorporate the kinesthetic learners also. I created a friendly classroom avatar named 'Chippo'. Chippo was great fun making and I recorded my own voice for it as I wanted Chippo to say more than typing would allow me. Therefore I used a microphone to record my voice onto my computer then uploaded my voice file onto Chippo, my avatar second creation. My first avatar creation is an avatar creation of me introducing my blog. To view my avatars please visit http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-5-learning-activities.html
Through this learning journey of ICT's to date I have learnt so much about technology and become familiar with so many programs that I'm sure will engage students in the classroom when incorporated in a relevant way. On this journey so far I have commented/had conversations with a few peers about the new and ever changing technologies. Here is a link of a courteous comment I made to my peer Alicia about her post on Avatars
http://talkintoleesha.blogspot.com/2010/04/voki-avatars.html#comments. Also I made a comment on Leah's blog for her post about PowerPoint presentations, here is the link for that
http://ltictjourney.blogspot.com/2010/04/powerpoint-presentations.html Also here is a link to a conversation myself and a fellow peer Jus had about PowerPoint presentations and Interactive Whiteboards
http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/2010/04/icts-week-6.html
References:
Kunc, N. (1992). Mazlows Hierachy of Needs. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-course, EDED20491 ICT's for Learning Design, http://e-course.cqu.edu.au
Kearsley,G & Scheiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory - A Framework for Technology-Based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Marzano, R. J. & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning Teacher's Manual (2nd ed). Alexandra, VA: ASCD
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Week 4 Learning Activities for ICT's
Learning Activity 1.
1-2. Think about your own education to date and develop a pyramid of the categories of your learning experiences. Compare with Dale's Cone:
My education:
- Direct, purposeful experience (Least often learning experiences)
- Hands on tasks
- Field Trips
- Television
- Demonstrations
- Recordings, Radio and Still Pictures
- Dramatised Experiences
- Reading books
- Visual symbols
- Verbal Experiences
- Copying off board (Most common learning experiences)
Dales Cone:
- Verbal Experiences
- Visual Symbols
- Recordings, Radio and Still Pictures
- Motion Pictures
- Television
- Exhibits
- Field Trips
- Demonstrations
- Dramatised Experiences
- Contrived Experience
- Direct, Purposeful Experiences
3. What does Technology offer that could change the learning design in education from a teacher-centred to student-centric paradigm?
My education was very teacher-centred. Verbal experiences were used a lot as were 'chalk and talk' by copying things off the board. My educational experience was nearly opposite to Dale's Cone which is unfortunate. Although education at a university level is quite different. We were so dependant on the teachers at school and almost robotically copied notes off the board, that was mostly the extent of our learning. Technologies offer a whole new and exciting realm for the classroom. Technologies are a must in order to keep up to date and informed in the current age, therefore would be essential to students learning. Technologies are relevant to students as they are living in a modern technological time. technology in the classroom should engage students better and enhance their learning experience as the students should find it interesting. A mixture of teaching approached mixed with the use of technology in the classroom is more exciting for students and will certainly help them retain knowledge better than a chalk and talk approach. Personally it seems technology is education today is a must.
Learning Activity 2.
1-3. Professional Blog URL address:
http://kendal-candise.blogspot.com/
Learning Activity 3.
Beyond School Blog:
The Beyond School Blog was very interesting and insightful. It focuses on how to incorporate technology into the classroom to gain trust from your students and also that we are learning all the time and never stop learning. This site had so many links I could have spent hours going through it. Clay has done a really good job on this blog as it is very informative and gives lots of advise on how to incorporate and present many ways of technology in schools/class. There were many points to this blog including being enthusiastic about what you as a teacher teach. Students will pick up on your enthusiasm and be more inclined to become interested. They may also gain some form of trust with you, because of your enthusiasm they may think I need to know what is going to be taught. If a teacher is not enthusiastic and uninterested in what they are presenting the students will not see the relevance in it and become disengaged. Allowing students to use technologies such as google search engines or a Blog shows you trust them to work with such technologies and to do what they are supposed to be doing on them. These types of technologies create an interactive environment for students to share their thoughts, findings and assessment. Also the students can check out their peers work and see what ideas they have of to possible source some inspiration. I think students would definitely become more engaged in the topic/subject from being encouraged to use these technological resources to research and approach their school work, rather then learning from a chalk and talk teaching approach.
Learning Activity 4.
I went to Google Reader and found the Blogs I'm following in Blogger have been added as subscriptions in Google Reader. I found I can manage my subscriptions in Reder without affecting my Follow List in Blogger. I am currently following 50 Blogs. To add a Blog to my Reading List all I have to do is click on 'Blogs I'm Following' tab under 'My Reading List' tab, on my Blog Dashboard. Then I click the 'Add' button in the bottom corner of my Reading List. At first I was thinking oh my god more things to do and wondered what to do and how it would all work out, but it's really quite simple.
Learning Activity 5.
Well I just set up my wiki on wetpaint and it seems to be a wonderful tool for communication and collaboration. So many peolpe can add to your page giving feedback, comments, pictures, videos and much more. I think it's a great way to build information on a specific topic. The wiki I created through wetpaint is called 'Vegorama'. As i was raised as a vegotarian I have loads of recepies and healthy food tips. I think it will be great for others to add their recepies and try out mine, and also list vegaterian cafes and restaurnats or a venue that makes a good vego dish. I have only just started it but feel quite excitied about it! My wiki address is http://vegorama.wetpaint.com/
ICT's Week 5 Learning Activities
Learning Activity 1.
Mahara:
I have set up a mahara page as most people have done by now. I have watched all the videos on mahara explaining how it is used and I think I kind of know whats going on with it! I have not put anything up on it as yet, just navigating my way around the site. The mahara site seems like such a good tool for professionals and students. It gives the user areas where they can set up resumes, views, put up photo's etc. It is a great professional e-portfolio tool that may help many to showcase their work when on a job interview. I think it will also be useful to students in order to showcase their work, get feedback, view others work and have interaction with others. I think it's a great tool as a showcase of the users work. I look forward to adding to my mahara page and constructing my professional e-portfolio.
Learning Activity 2.
Avatars/voki:
WOW I love the voki website! It was so fun to create an avatar! As I became so excited by the avatar I'm sure students will. It's an auditory and visual learning approach and I think the avatars will engage most students straight away. Think about a chalk and talk approach compared to an ICT's approach using an avatar. We all know which one the students will be more interested by. Avatars are a very student-centred way of teaching and I'm really excited about the use of them in the classroom.I think they are a great tool to enhance the learning experience and could also offer to be a great 'hook' at the start of a class. A lot of children don't like reading a lot or get bored with it over time, therefore an avatar is a new and fun approach. The student is still receiving the information in a more engaging way. The avatars can aid the instructional methods of a task by informing the students what to do next on a specific activity. Two big thumbs up for the voki website and avatars! I love them and think they will be a hit in the classroom.
Get a Voki now!
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