Today I was introduced to podcasts, what they are, what they do and how we can use them in the classroom to enhance students' learning. I had heard about podcasts, however I did not know what they were and how to create them. I was unaware of how to use them and the effects that they could have on students' learning. I began to think about the engagement theory, and how it is focused on the students being engaged to learn effectively. I began thinking about how podcasts could possibly enhance and engage my learners in the schooling environment. I believe that they could be useful in certain circumstances. Such as if students are involved in science investigations, they could record their thinking and progress about an experiment, watching how a plant grows, watching how an animal grows- e.g. chicken.
This is a way of recording what they see, think and learn which can then be included in their learning journals (digital portfolios) for all to see. Students could also benefit from using podcasts in a collaborative environment - refering to the collaborative theory- students learning in small groups and using each others ideas to learn in a collaborative environment. I believe that using podcasts in the schooling environment would be of great benefit to students' learning, especially yo those students who are visual and auditory learners. Using podcasts would also cater for students with learning disabilities eg. hearing impaired or vision impaired.
Although I have trouble creating podcasts myself I believe that practicing and working out the steps that need to take place to create a podcast wuold be of great benefit to both myself and my students. Podcasts are a great ICT tool to enhance students' learning, however I do believe there are implications with any ICT tool as if the resources and technology is not available in the school itself, this would block the use and creation of using ICT tools in the classroom, which would be devastating!!Click the link to see a range of podcasts that I found on the ABC website, this is great site with free podcasts available to be downloaded and used in classroom settings.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Powerpoint!!! The simple yet useful!!- TOOL 5
WELL!! Today was all about powerpoint and the power that it can have on students learning. I have been well aware of powerpoint and have used it alot throughout high school and most of my university experience. I have found that for myself it is an effective tool and I also believe that it is an easy and effective way of expressing alot of information in a more exciting and interacting way. There are many positive outcomes that come after using powerpoint as a learning tool, these are as follows:
- Practice using computers- develop ICT skills.
- Create and present information in an interesting and engaging way.
- Use sounds, images and text to create learning objects/ quizzes etc.
- Students are engaged and excited about learning and completing tasks using powerpoint.
- It is Kinaesthetic, visual and can also be auditory- catering for all learning styles.
- Allows student- centered learning to take place over the traditional chalk and talk - teacher- centered/ directed learning.
After exploring powerpoint in more depth I discovered that there are so many possibilities, more then I could have ever imagined. I was adding sounds to images, adding links to images, creating a quiz, learning object by using links to sounds, images, answers and other pages. This is a tool that has alot of potential in the classroom.
Have a look at the concept map that outlines the frameworks and theories behind PowerPoint and its many uses. I believe that using concept maps to show these ideas is the simplest most effective way to communicate this knowledge.
I believe that using powerpoint as a learning tool would be very beneficial to all students as it is a kinaesthetic approach to learning that will engage the learners in meaningful learning. I believe that powerpoints are strongly linked with behaviourism and constructivism theories, as using powerpoint in the classroom will keep students on task and engaged which in turn will limit the amount of behavioural issues that may happen in the classroom. Constructivism can also be included if the students work in pairs or small groups to work on a task or learning activity, where collaborative learning also enters the powerpoint realm. Using powerpoint in the classroom has various uses and most of these uses are yet to be discovered by myself, I am still learning and believe that there is alot more to come!
Here is some constructive comments that I have added to a peers blog to enhance my learning and refective experience in the ICT realm.
- Practice using computers- develop ICT skills.
- Create and present information in an interesting and engaging way.
- Use sounds, images and text to create learning objects/ quizzes etc.
- Students are engaged and excited about learning and completing tasks using powerpoint.
- It is Kinaesthetic, visual and can also be auditory- catering for all learning styles.
- Allows student- centered learning to take place over the traditional chalk and talk - teacher- centered/ directed learning.
After exploring powerpoint in more depth I discovered that there are so many possibilities, more then I could have ever imagined. I was adding sounds to images, adding links to images, creating a quiz, learning object by using links to sounds, images, answers and other pages. This is a tool that has alot of potential in the classroom.
Have a look at the concept map that outlines the frameworks and theories behind PowerPoint and its many uses. I believe that using concept maps to show these ideas is the simplest most effective way to communicate this knowledge.
I believe that using powerpoint as a learning tool would be very beneficial to all students as it is a kinaesthetic approach to learning that will engage the learners in meaningful learning. I believe that powerpoints are strongly linked with behaviourism and constructivism theories, as using powerpoint in the classroom will keep students on task and engaged which in turn will limit the amount of behavioural issues that may happen in the classroom. Constructivism can also be included if the students work in pairs or small groups to work on a task or learning activity, where collaborative learning also enters the powerpoint realm. Using powerpoint in the classroom has various uses and most of these uses are yet to be discovered by myself, I am still learning and believe that there is alot more to come!
Here is some constructive comments that I have added to a peers blog to enhance my learning and refective experience in the ICT realm.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Playing with VOKIS!!!!!
I have just discovered a site where i can create my own vokis!!! This is so much fun, and very easy to do. It is a matter of clicking and selecting options to create the desired person of your choice and then create a voice for them using one of four methods available!! Check out my Voki!!! This would be a great tool to use in the classroom, especially for younger grades!!
Thanks to http://www.voki.com/create.php for allowing me to create my own voki!!
Get a Voki now!
Thanks to http://www.voki.com/create.php for allowing me to create my own voki!!
Get a Voki now!
Using concept map to show my thoughts about Wikis!!
This is my thoughts and understanding of how wikis could be used to enhance learning and create meaning.
Created using bubbl.us/
Wikis and their use in the classroom!!! - TOOL 3
Today my tute was all about wikis and weebly and how they can be used in a meaningful learning context. "A wiki is an online space where users and guests can edit, modify, add, remove information with intuitive editing tools.
Wiki has turned out to be much more than I'd imagined! That is not to say that I didn't imagine a lot. These are the design principles I sought to satisfy with the first release of Wiki. -- Ward Cunningham
Key features of a wiki: (from http://wiki.org )
My understanding of a wiki, is that it is an online tool that can be added to, changed, enhanced and modified to suit the desired outcome of the user. To me wikis seem like a very valuable tool whenit comes to children and learning. However I do believe that in the Early Phase of learning it would not be as successful, unless there was alot of support and a high level of literacy ability involved. I believe that wikis could be used from possibly grade three and higher. With this in mind I start to wonder how I could alter it to cater for younger learners.....
Then it struck me!!!Younger students can gain alot from the use of wikis, it would just mean more teacher interaction and leadership. I believe that with planning and exploration this tool would be great in the classroom, and would be a great way to engage learners in their learning journey. View my contribution to peer learning and reflection about wikis.
As well as wikis I was introduced to another learning tool - weebly.com , weebly.com is similar to a wiki however with a weebly account noone else can edit the posts of the user. A weebly account is also very similar to a blog where it allows you to enter text about a given topic and add links that other users can read and view.
I believe that both of these tools are great when it comes to thinking collaboratively and related to the engagement theory - a framework for technology-based teaching and learning by Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman.
Their theory states that the engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. I believe that this theory matches the wikis and weebly tools that I have experienced in this tute.
Wiki has turned out to be much more than I'd imagined! That is not to say that I didn't imagine a lot. These are the design principles I sought to satisfy with the first release of Wiki. -- Ward Cunningham
Key features of a wiki: (from http://wiki.org )
My understanding of a wiki, is that it is an online tool that can be added to, changed, enhanced and modified to suit the desired outcome of the user. To me wikis seem like a very valuable tool whenit comes to children and learning. However I do believe that in the Early Phase of learning it would not be as successful, unless there was alot of support and a high level of literacy ability involved. I believe that wikis could be used from possibly grade three and higher. With this in mind I start to wonder how I could alter it to cater for younger learners.....
Then it struck me!!!Younger students can gain alot from the use of wikis, it would just mean more teacher interaction and leadership. I believe that with planning and exploration this tool would be great in the classroom, and would be a great way to engage learners in their learning journey. View my contribution to peer learning and reflection about wikis.
As well as wikis I was introduced to another learning tool - weebly.com , weebly.com is similar to a wiki however with a weebly account noone else can edit the posts of the user. A weebly account is also very similar to a blog where it allows you to enter text about a given topic and add links that other users can read and view.
I believe that both of these tools are great when it comes to thinking collaboratively and related to the engagement theory - a framework for technology-based teaching and learning by Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman.
Their theory states that the engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. I believe that this theory matches the wikis and weebly tools that I have experienced in this tute.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Concept map of my ideas about blogs!! - TOOL 2
Created using bubbl.us/
I believe that using concept maps, for me is a great way to view all of my thoughts and ideas about one given topic. It allows me to view these in a picture format, resulting in a higher percentage of retaining information.
I will use concept maps in my classroom as I believe they are of great benefit to all learners and allows learners to think in a variety of ways.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Using Blogs in the Classroom!! -TOOL 1
Blogs!! The first thing that comes to my mind is learning. I have begun my journey of discovery and learning about using ICTs in the modern classroom.
I knew blogs were available, I also knew that they can be effective when it comes to students and their active engagement in learning. However I did not realise how much they can learn and do by using a blog. I think of a blog as a diary, or a journal, something that is constantly and frequently added to and adapted as time goes on. I think of a blog like a flower, starting off as a small seed and slowly with time and effort grows into a wonderful flower. While thinking about blogs and there purpose in learning, I came across a reading about educational blogging and a child's thoughts about using blogs.
Dominic Ouellet-Tremblay, a fifth-grade student at St-Joseph, writes: "The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like. We can then know if people like what we write and this indicates to us what to do better. By reading these comments, we can know our weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment." (Downes, 2004)
After reading this view from a child it got me thinking about how I could use them in my classroom. I began thinking about the subjects that I could possibly cover through using a blog, subjects such as: science- experimenting, recording of results and reflection of what is happening to the life and growth of a plant, english- story writing, diary entires, recounts based on a single topic of choice, sose- using a blog to interact with other people all over the world, learning about different cultures, life styles and heritage. The opportunities are endless!!!!
As I read further on in the educational blogging reading I discovered some information about how teachers use blogs in the classroom that i found interesting.
"In the hands of teachers and students, blogs become something more again. The Web is by now a familiar piece of the educational landscape, and for those sites where personal publishing or chronologically ordered content would be useful, blogs have stepped to the fore. Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell identifies five major uses for blogs in education.
First, teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. Aside from the ordering of material by date, students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.
Second, and often accompanying the first, instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course. Mesa Community College’s Rick Effland, for example, maintains a blog to pass along links and comments about topics in archaeology.15 Though Mesa’s archaeology Web pages have been around since 1995, blogging allows Effland to write what are in essence short essays directed specifically toward his students. Effland’s entries are not mere annotations of interesting links. They effectively model his approach and interest in archaeology for his students.
Third, blogs are used to organize in-class discussions. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, for example, Alexander Halavais added a blog to his media law class of about 180 students. Course credit was awarded for online discussion, with topics ranging from the First Amendment to libel to Irish law reform. As the course wound down with a discussion of nude bikers, Halavais questioned whether he would continue the blog the following year because of the workload, but students were enthusiastic in their comments."(Downes, 2004)
Here is a concept map designed using bubbl.us to outline how blogs relate and link to theories - engagement theory, Bloom's Taxonomy and Dimensions of learning.
I will continue to read and adapt my thinking about blogs throughout my journey, however I believe that I am off to a good start!! Here are some comments that I have added to my peers blogs about blogs.
Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.
I knew blogs were available, I also knew that they can be effective when it comes to students and their active engagement in learning. However I did not realise how much they can learn and do by using a blog. I think of a blog as a diary, or a journal, something that is constantly and frequently added to and adapted as time goes on. I think of a blog like a flower, starting off as a small seed and slowly with time and effort grows into a wonderful flower. While thinking about blogs and there purpose in learning, I came across a reading about educational blogging and a child's thoughts about using blogs.
Dominic Ouellet-Tremblay, a fifth-grade student at St-Joseph, writes: "The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like. We can then know if people like what we write and this indicates to us what to do better. By reading these comments, we can know our weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment." (Downes, 2004)
After reading this view from a child it got me thinking about how I could use them in my classroom. I began thinking about the subjects that I could possibly cover through using a blog, subjects such as: science- experimenting, recording of results and reflection of what is happening to the life and growth of a plant, english- story writing, diary entires, recounts based on a single topic of choice, sose- using a blog to interact with other people all over the world, learning about different cultures, life styles and heritage. The opportunities are endless!!!!
As I read further on in the educational blogging reading I discovered some information about how teachers use blogs in the classroom that i found interesting.
"In the hands of teachers and students, blogs become something more again. The Web is by now a familiar piece of the educational landscape, and for those sites where personal publishing or chronologically ordered content would be useful, blogs have stepped to the fore. Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell identifies five major uses for blogs in education.
First, teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises. Aside from the ordering of material by date, students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.
Second, and often accompanying the first, instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course. Mesa Community College’s Rick Effland, for example, maintains a blog to pass along links and comments about topics in archaeology.15 Though Mesa’s archaeology Web pages have been around since 1995, blogging allows Effland to write what are in essence short essays directed specifically toward his students. Effland’s entries are not mere annotations of interesting links. They effectively model his approach and interest in archaeology for his students.
Third, blogs are used to organize in-class discussions. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, for example, Alexander Halavais added a blog to his media law class of about 180 students. Course credit was awarded for online discussion, with topics ranging from the First Amendment to libel to Irish law reform. As the course wound down with a discussion of nude bikers, Halavais questioned whether he would continue the blog the following year because of the workload, but students were enthusiastic in their comments."(Downes, 2004)
Here is a concept map designed using bubbl.us to outline how blogs relate and link to theories - engagement theory, Bloom's Taxonomy and Dimensions of learning.
I will continue to read and adapt my thinking about blogs throughout my journey, however I believe that I am off to a good start!! Here are some comments that I have added to my peers blogs about blogs.
Downes, S. (2004). Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004): 14–26.
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