Reflective Synopsis

Introduction

E-learning to me is an amazing word that explains an array of tools and uses. Through this course I have been exposed to a life time supply of usable ICT’s which with the right scaffolding can help my teaching and students understanding in the future. This tool incorporates digital learning which can contain digital technologies and internet based sources. E learning can be as simple as typing up a document in Word or be as complex as creating your own website through Weebly. Whatever the mode type it can be classified under E learning. Derek Stockley (2003) defines E learning as “The delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic means. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material”. This type of learning is essential for every classroom of today. Prensky (2001) also suggests that “Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”. We know that the technologies will help with the students learning because Prensky shows us that the students know how to use them and understand how they work. Students who use ICT as a tool are able to efficiently and effectively access digital information to help assist with investigating issues, solving problems and decision making. Students are exposed to communicating, sharing and collaboratively working in the global environments (Education Queensland, 2012). The following reflective synopsis contains information about the four tools which I have decided to analyse. It will also examine the Legal and Ethical issues related to these tools. 

Wiki Activities

The Wiki Activities completed in the first couple weeks were designed to enable group collaboration. But what it really showcased was a whole heap of repeated work. I do believe that the activity was designed so everyone could have their opinions heard but there was a majority of repetition as more people added to the discussion. With all this said I think that the De Bono’s Hats activity was an appropriate choice but lacked the subjective difference within the hats. Overall it was a great way to engage a large audience and perceived the needs of a collaborative exercise. There was a great deal of critical responses which changed my mind over the issue and would definitely use the wiki based task in future planning. Click here for a PMI created by us the students which shows great analysis about wikis.

Tool 1: Microsoft Power point

I previously have never used Microsoft PowerPoint for anything other than aiding an oral presentation. Uploading pictures to the PowerPoint to create the picture slides for the assessment was what I thought the limitations of PowerPoint were. Until undertaking some experimentation this was the uses I had for it. My new view of PowerPoint is much broader now, I can see that PowerPoint has many useful and effective features which can be used in classroom teaching. PowerPoint allows you to view images, videos and sounds on the slides. With some scaffolding all these features could be incorporated into a PowerPoint that can be used for learning in the classroom. They can engage, inform and challenge the students which can allow for student paced involvement. You can crop, copy, create duplicate slides, edit backgrounds, edit grouping and add speak text to just name a few tools. But to ensure these are properly used in the classroom the students will need to be shown or instructed how to use the tools. I myself only really discovered these tools this year so with some guidance the students could incorporate the various aspects of PowerPoint into every assessment. Once thought very limited this program posses movie making features which would be a very useful when challenging students to create their own movies that don’t include a video camera. The only legal issues with this program would be referencing and plagiarism if uploaded onto the web. As usual permission would be required by students to place anything onto the web.  

I did create a very simple PowerPoint to then make a video in movie maker but due to not having the program this was unsuccessful. Click here to access my wiki spaces page where I have up loaded the PowerPoint but if that does not work click here to view the same PowerPoint on our group wiki. Note to find the PowerPoint on the group wiki scroll down in the first hat to the bottom where my writing is in orange and the PowerPoint is embedded there. 

Tool 2: Pod Casting

Pod casting was a new tool which I was introduced to this year which I can see could be used very creatively. Unlike some other programs I used podomatic seemed to have limitless uploading capabilities. In other words you could use just about any type of program/camera to then upload the pod cast. Podcastings are great for engaging student’s interests because they do posses the video technology. Videos can be seen as more exciting and more capable of creativity by the students. Click here for a PMI about podcasting posted onto youtube. Podcasting would be a great tool for those learners who are not terribly strong at public/oral speeches. This tool would allow the students to be completely comfortable in their own home as well as have as many retakes as they need possible. Once on the web though it doesn’t end there, you can subscribe and follow favourite pages. You could use this tool for a task where the students have to document a digital diary of a weekly analysis to then be used in a very similar situation like this assessment. The students could watch each other’s video entries to gain more knowledge about the topic and with the final assessment create a summative reflection of the unit. There are a few legal issues involved with this tool as they are encountering the web. Students would still need to take into consideration what is appropriate and ethical language. Rude or obscene gestures would definitely not be accepted along with other sensible casting material. Overall they are a great source for informing the viewers and can be exactly how you want them to be.    

Tool 3: Weebly

I have previously used this website for a maths assignment at Uni and I feel is a great resource for many students to gain skills in creating a website. Click here for a quick PMI on the weebly website. This website is great as there are a number of user options which enables the students to understand how to create a web page particularly with this are exposed to many legal issues. The website post many valuable features which help the students along their way. The following link is of a brainstorming PMI completed by us about websites which outlines some great Positives and negatives which incorporate the weebly website. Group PMI  

The legal issues for these types of tools are very niggly due to copy write and plagiarism. These would be the biggest legal issues along with student permission and site accessibility. Firstly referencing everything will be required to attain who has the rights to the information. Just like if our uni assignments referencing lists would be required on the website. Again when incorporating work from students their permission is needed when uploading work. The most crucial factor within these tools is the fact that you might want a password security to access the site. Student privacy is the main focus here and viewing wrights should be discussed but with this tool there are no capabilities for secure websites. The following link takes you to the weebly website which I created for my previous assignemnt. Its overall outline is the key to this tool as it allows you to plan whole units for the students to work through at their own pace.

Tool 4: Bubbl.us

This tool really takes the standard cloud concept maps which we still create on our black boards to the next level. This tool might actually be the easiest concept mapping website every made. Once on the website it is an easy step to sign up which is free. A straight up bonus but the positives don’t stop there, once into the creating screen it is as simple as writing a txt into the bubble and clicking Ctrl ENTER to make a linking bubble off it. The simple ease required to apprehend this tool is unbelievable. The reason I have chosen it as one of my tools is for this reason. It works and can make a boring task into something interacting and fun. My week 5 reflection shows an example of which a student could create a concept map on and talks about its uses.  With these simple tools capturing my attention due to my annoyance of not understanding something and not really seeing the point trying to figure it out over half a day. The creations from this tool can be saved on the username desktop and be printed. A big bonus this has is its HTML code capabilities which allow it to be uploaded on various web based programs like Blogger. There is a PMI for this device below which was constructed on the program as well. Both of my past Uni pracs have had interactive whiteboards in the classroom and a similar program was used for this purpose. The simple nature of leaving the website on the desk top allowed for easy use and availability. The tool could definitely be used for group and individual task that allow for presentation settings. I feel that the tool might have been constructed for student use just because of how simple the format is. The following link  shows a great PMI about the Bubbl.us tool. The main disadvantage to this tool would be that you cannot put restrictions onto your concept map allowing your students to add their ideas. Although you could possibly link the page to your class blog so they can access it still. The legal worries that relate to this tool would be very little. Again if there were any referenced ideas then the usual concepts would be applied. Also the content that is uploaded would have to be appropriate and student accounts would definitely have to be monitored. To become a member you need to include a current mail address only in cases of lost passwords so students would have to acquire one of these. But at no time is the email account used for anything other. 

Conclusion

Through my journey in this course I have rediscovered what it takes to teach in this modern world. Instead of trying to restructure the students we as teachers must familiarise ourselves with the modern technology. Students are very familiar with these modern technologies and so it is up to us to further challenge our students by knowing the current ICTs. It is our challenge as educators to integrate ICT into subject teaching and learning using pedagogical approaches (Hennessy, Harrison and Wamakote, 2010). E-learning has exposed me to different ICT tools and there uses in modern classrooms. I would definitely use PowerPoint, Weebly, Podcast and Bubbl in the future to help with my students understanding. The endless possibilities of ICTs through e-learning has excited me for the future.

      

Reference

Department of Education. (2012). ICT in learning. Retrieved from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/

Hennessy, S., Harrison, D., & Wamakote, L. (2010).  Teacher Factors Influencing Classroom Use of ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Retrieved from www.cambridgetoafrica.org/.../Hennessy%20etal_FINAL.pdf

Prensky, M. (2003). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrieved from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=12562  

Stockley, D.  (2003). What is E-learning? Retrieved from  http://derekstockley.com.au/elearning-definition.html

PMI for Bubbl.us

Week 5:
Where to start! Ok so I went straight home and started to reproduce what Wendy had showed us about the image story in PowerPoint and how to then make that into a movie. So I made a really cool powerpoint demo and then was stumped about how to save all the slides as images. Then once I had another go at it at uni the next day I couldn’t even complete it because the uni computer doesn’t have Movie maker all they have is some cd creator. So I tried it and found that PowerPoint a lot like Word had so much more capabilities then I first had ever thought. Through class Wendy makes everything seem easy and I always try to write down some process of what just happened so I could try myself but didn’t get everything down. The PowerPoint complexity would definitely need some further development but as long as you know what your doing its teachable. Reproducing slides to start your movie is a simple process and you can create a really entertaining video by editing the background and the grouping. I edited the grouping of a mouse feature and found that there could be some problems here. As I removed the first feature that I didn’t want there seemed to be about 10 different lighter shades along with this one. This then made a seemingly seconds task into a five minute mission just to get it right. I then decided that it might be a lot quicker to do this in paint if there wasn’t a quicker way. Maybe I didn’t have a setting ticked to aid in this, not too sure in the end. Other then this I can see that there are many other features which can help make PowerPoint a really great a useful teaching aid. For instances the slide master tool can be implemented when students require more structure in their presentations, this tool also allows for generally more user options. Getting the students use to allowing these quick tools would be definitely beneficial in their schooling years.
Overall PowerPoint definitely has its place in modern ICT aids. It provides a great basic structure for presentations as well as allows for movie making procedures. With some simple explanation a teacher could easily display many different still and moving images. Along with audio insert boxes that enable sound into slides.

Bubbl.us came next after many failed attempts at trying to create a Glogster account and downloading googleearth. Bubbl.us is a great and easy tool which can help create your very own digital concept map. The features are very simple on the website but have easy to follow hover by instructions. You can link clouds together for similarities and create possibly as many as you want. They are easily saved to your username and the whole process is absolutely free. You can print the concept map easily and acquire the HTML address with the click of a button. It honestly is user friendly with some good tools available. The only disadvantage to this website I can see would be that the tools might be just that little bit too simple and you cannot have a multiple user page where students could adjust your concept map. You could definitely link these pages to a blog for student access or just upload the HTML. Overall it is an easy and simple tool which anyone could use without having user problems.

Unfortunately these were the only activites as I was a little daunted about the assignment but would definitely try to access these in the future. Anyways thanks for reading J

Photos, Videos, Podcast and Voki

Week 4:
Time to have some fun :)

Again we were sent into what seemed like the continually spinning void of figuring out how to do the activities. Britt and I tackled the tasks together and this helped quite a lot.

Firstly MobaPhoto didn’t want to download so instead I decided to crop some pictures in paint or word. These 2 have the basic tools needed to crop pictures and are easy to use. So what I decided to do was to crop an image which when u look at it closely without the background gives a different interpretation of what is going on in the image. The second then shows what it is talking about. This would be an easy tool to help students understand perspectives and to not always assume that the picture is just the pain attraction in the image.

After this there were then some more minor setbacks like the fact that the computers we had couldn’t record voice or sound so it was up to the iPhone. Now this seemed like a good plan except when it came time to upload the voice text it didn’t work. I didn’t know how to change the format of the file so just had to use some pre-set voices on the website.

Mats Voki

I feel the Voki had some great aspects about it. The tool could be used to get students interacting with other students which will enable them to replay over the message again and again. The voki set up is easy and can be fun for the students. There are step by step instructions which make this process simple. This could also be used in flex situations where the students might have to listen to the teacher online.

My Podcast

The podcast was relatively easy and only had minor setbacks. Other than this the way in which the materials were uploaded on the free website was easily done and was again fun to make. The podcast idea still isn’t my favourite simply because there are easier methods which don’t involve the internet to view video streams. In saying that it still has usable qualities which enable the students to make their own podcasts, follow specific ones from teacher and possibly even demonstrate their assessments via a video task.

 That pretty much covers my week. I didn’t have enough time to make the Movie but have had some prior experience in that field. The movie maker sounded rather interesting but did appear to be annoying when uploading the final product to the blog as like a lot of things.  

Week 3 PMI

Week 3:

This week during our computer time it was great to see how easy it was to use wikis, weebly and blogger after some physical help. This is where is always seem to struggle as I am a kinaesthetic learner I need to be shown to learn these tools. Overall it was a good week and I did feel a little more confident about the 3 ICTs that were covered.  

Wiki:

Overall I Like using wikis they provide a very good basic layout which is interesting and applicable to everyday people. There are simple enough instructions and what I would call user friendly options. There will always be that global use going on in your head but by making the wiki private it brings the usage of wikis back into the picture.  

+Plus+	-Minus-	?Interest?
·         Easy tool bar to navigate through modifying your wiki ·         Can make the wiki private, invitation only ·         Collaborative overall theme	·         Online threats from other people ·         Initially setting up the wiki was a little confusing	·         Can change your design of wiki, layout and colours ·         Can keep tabs on viewers usage

Blogger:

Blogger is a useful online tool as it provides you with complete control as to what goes onto the blog and exactly what is said. There is ample room to upload multi modal devices. This would definitely be something I would consider using in the future.

+Plus+	-Minus-	?Interest?
·         You can upload endless amounts of pictures, videos and web links. ·         Able to edit your work and post what you like ·         Multiple uses not just for school use, personal sue is also available ·         You can control who is following your blog	·         Cannot link the comments to online threads just that particular work ·         Have to add urls to follow people	·         Can change your design of layout, make it to your liking ·         Easy to navigate around people blogs as well as following links

Weebly:

I was first exposed to weebly last year and from having experience I would definitely use it again. It provides easy enough explanation of the set up process and allows for a lot of personal choice. This I feel would be best suited for an investigation style task as you can link a lot of things to your pages and follow this in an order of tasks.   

+Plus+	-Minus-	?Interest?
·         Easily accessible to all students ·         Can make the page to your own preferences ·         You can upload endless amounts of pictures, videos and web links.	·         Cannot post feedback onto webpage ·         The page does go global so is open to everyone in the world	·         Can design to incorporate a learning journey/process ·         Because it is on the internet students can access this at home aswell

Week 2 reflection:

The vast array of uses and knowledgeable ways ICTs can be applied into classrooms is astonishing. I came to that assumption last week but after my first tute it made it much clearer.  Yes I knew I phones were very capable devices but unless you actually know how to use the ICT resources that you have they are useless. I didn’t and still don’t really know how to simply add a video from my I phone to my blog just because I wouldn’t know where to look in the first place (hopefully ask Wendy this week about that). The activity material this week seemed very familiar, I connected well with it because I had enough background knowledge about the topics to understand them and go through them fairly quickly. Something which opened my eyes was the fact that ED QLD acknowledges that ICTs pedagogy is necessary to teach in the 21^st century. To go forward in an ICT based world we need the people making up our curriculums to see that we must progress our learning styles and methods. Without this the next generation of learners would not be equipped for the world and thus helping them to not succeed. The TPACK model I feel is one which can be understood easily and shows just how important ICTs really are. So after my first tute I did feel relieved that I hadn’t got lost from the pack. I felt I could relate to and understand what was going on. This is it for another week and I am hopeful that in the future I will be doing a video reflection J      

Week 1 Reflection:

Ok so I managed to figure out how to make a blog (thanks to shona) and started on some of the activities for the week. Due to my absence from the first tute I did feel that I could slightly comprehend what was going on through the activities but really had no clue as to what it really meant or how it was relevant. Because I am writing the rest of this reflection in the second week I can now say it makes...........a little more sense. I definitely agree that ICTs have their place in schools and the evolving way in which we use these are making things like face to face interaction less frequent. This being said if we didn’t have these technologies then how would distance learners cope. I would have to say that I am a fence sitter when it comes to this topic because I feel that the authentic learning methods like student interaction and hands on collaboration are hard to not incorporate. Social skills might be overlooked just to coincide with the technologies available. Still I value ICTs in the classroom and know their importance. That’s it for me see you next week.