The more I do the more it all makes sense!
I am a learner, I want to be a teacher, but this doesn't stop me from learning and continuing to learn in very fundamental ways. I've been reading the writings of Tom March's evolving framework for on-line learning 'Webquest' and am dazzled by the applications this tool has for the classroom.
When I ask myself this question: What kind of outcomes do I want my students to achieve? I think back to when I started my learning journey and how my learning has been enhanced & transformed by researching, creating, and playing. I have also been challenged and rewarded for my efforts which has spurred me on to learn more.
March's "Choice-Effort-Quality-Attitude" creating a 'labor of love' for learning is the environment that I would like to foster in my classroom. I want to create a class of students who are inquisitive and self-motivated (Ahhhh, is this too much to ask?), and make learning meaningful.
The thinking routines outlined in the course readings offer multiple choices for the collaborative classroom.
Sunday 17 April 2011
Monday 11 April 2011
Assessment 2 - Reflective Synopsis
Foreword
Kearsley and Schneiderman (1999) said it best, that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. Dimensions of Learning (Marzano, Pickering, Arredondo, Blackburn, Brandt, Moffett, Paynter, Pollock, Whisler, 1997) further suggest that in order to make a students learning meaningful teachers must put the lesson into a context that is meaningful to them. The incorporation of ICTs into the pedagogical practices of teachers provides ‘digital natives’ with an authentic platform from which to construct deep understanding.
Education Queensland states,
"Pedagogies that integrate information and communication technologies can engage students in ways not previously possible, enhance achievement, create new learning possibilities and extend interactions with local and global communities." (MCEETYA: Learning in an online world - Pedagogy Strategy, retrieved from Education Queensland, 2010)
As 21st century teachers we must consider the needs of our students and construct pedagogy that is student centred. My learning framework is a combination of engagement theory and constructivism which supports the foundation of ICTs to facilitate meaningful learning.
Education Queensland states,
"Pedagogies that integrate information and communication technologies can engage students in ways not previously possible, enhance achievement, create new learning possibilities and extend interactions with local and global communities." (MCEETYA: Learning in an online world - Pedagogy Strategy, retrieved from Education Queensland, 2010)
As 21st century teachers we must consider the needs of our students and construct pedagogy that is student centred. My learning framework is a combination of engagement theory and constructivism which supports the foundation of ICTs to facilitate meaningful learning.
My exploration of technologies available to support learning has had me excited, frustrated, elated and exhausted! So many possibilities, but caution is advised...it can be addictive!
Technologies for Enhanced Learning
Wikis
The new buzz word for the 21st century is ‘collaboration’ and wikis are certainly indicative of this. Wikis provide and support collaboration on-line and provide a scaffold from which to build ideas from. They can be edited by anyone, anywhere, anytime and provide a valuable tool for generating new ideas on a particular topic. In the classroom, I would use a wiki to enhance student learning by creating a ‘Book Review’ wiki. This would allow students to discuss points of interest of a prescribed text for literacy.
I would use ‘wikispaces’ for the creation of this wiki, as it is free for educational purposes and easy to use. I have created a sample wiki as part of this course http://toni72.wikispaces.com/SWOT+Analysis Individual pages can be set up along the lines of:
- Introduction to students, what the wiki is for
- Overview of book, plot
- Character Analysis
- Quotes of Note
- Information about the author
As students read the book, they can comment on any themes, character interactions, likes/dislikes, feelings on the story etc in real-time. By networking with other students, writing no longer becomes a ‘process’ but a fun and dynamic study tool, “wikis invigorate writing” (Lamb, 2004). Therefore learning is transformed from the 'everyday' into an active learning experience.
Wikis, in general terms are ‘open’ sites, easily edited by anyone. However, for the security of this site, I would have a log-in for every student in the class. This also prevents the ‘intellectual property’ copyright dilemma. For more on legal and safe issues when using on-line spaces see my blog posting 'Legal, Safe and Ethical Issues' Legal & Safety Obligations
MovieMaker
The use of ICTs in the classroom is all about fostering creativity and making learning “an active, constructive process” (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2011). By transforming acquired knowledge, into a meaningful context the overall learning is enhanced.
Creating a video using a tool like ‘Moviemaker’ can generate excitement and enthusiasm. By enabling students to take control of a task their level of engagement is increased (Marzano & Pickering et al, 1997).
Students could choose a topic or I would provide one relevant for the subject, for example, ‘Road Safety’ (Stumer, 2011 Blog Posting: The Next James Cameron..Making Movies). Students would then be involved in all facets of the production from:
- Preparing a storyboard
- Writing a script
- Finding appropriate filming sites
- Filming/Photographs
- Editing/voiceover/music
- Distribution/Marketing
This task encourages students to become literate on multiple levels, be capable of independent thinking, being able to communicate using digital technologies in an authentic way, and use digital mediums to produce meaningful learning outcomes.
The legal, safety and ethical guidelines that would need to be addressed in this activity would be any music used and students acting in the video.
There are a number of royalty-free sites available to download music from. The site I have used is royaltyfree.com. They offer a number of tracks free-of-charge and only require that you acknowledge them in the credits at the end of the video. For students participating in the video as actors, permission from parents/caregivers would be necessary.
Glogster
School projects and presentations do not have to static, monotone regurgitation's of facts. With Glogster students can truly express their creativity and design 'paperless' projects that are interactive (IWB) and reflective of their interests. For deep learning to occur students need to be engaged and create meaning from knowledge, Glogster provides the vehicle for this. Students can use cognitive processes (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999) and will be motivated due to the learning environment that this on-line tool creates. Finally, Glogster addresses various learning styles: Visual, Kinesthetic, Musical, Linguistic and Logic (Lane, n.d.).
I love the 80s so my Glogster was reflective of my interest (Stumer, 2011 Blog Posting:Glogster). There are many ways that Glogster could be incorporated into a class activity, and these could be individual, for example, creating a 'Interest Inventory' . Students would design a Glog that was indicative of who they are, their likes, hobbies, family background etc. Student Glogs would utilise the various elements of their personalities through music, colour, text and video. These could then be collated into a class portfolio that could be embedded into a class wiki or blog and shared with others.
When using Glogster through the new educational platform, Glogsteredu, teachers can monitor student usage through the administration feature. Teachers can also create individual student logins and passwords for added safety and security. When incorporating music and video content into their Glogs, students would be given the sites that offer royalty-free images/music (Flickr or royaltyfreemusic.com) or You Tube for videos. If students wish to incorporate their own images ie. their face, they would need to get permission prior to the activity from a guardian.
Dipity - Timelines
Once again the various learning styles can be addressed with a virtual timeline, taking traditional text based learning and delivering it in a context that stimulates and fosters enhanced learning. For example, rather than look at pictures in a book, students can 'live' history by incorporating not only text on a subject, but using sound and imagery to generate an emotional response ie. Dinosaurs roaring, the sounds of their environment etc. The New Media Consortium (2005) suggests that "images and sounds in general, can be used as powerful communication tools."
I would get students to use Dipity to create timelines to look at their place in history. Creating a timeline of what they wear, how they travel to school, how they learn compared to students years before. Presenting a subject in a new way to generate critical thinking (higher order) and comparisons, stimulating discussion on how history is constantly being made and how it influences the future.
Once again the legal, safe and ethical issues need to be covered by adhering to copyright when using music, video and pictures and if using students or local content, keeping it general.
Conclusion
When students attend school for the first time they have often been exposed to technologies ie. PCs, DS, ipods, DVDs etc The New Media Consortium (2005) report on Global Imperative states that students come to school equipped to learn on multiple levels using multiple learning styles and their needs are not being adequately met by todays curriculum.
Classrooms should be learner and knowledge centred, allowing students to problem solve, question, use each other as sounding boards, experiment and in essence create a 'community of learners' (About Learning: Report of the Learning Working Group, 2004 p.18). The use of ICTs as an intregal part of good pedagogy will foster a deeper understanding of a lesson and in turn create 'productive mental' habits of mind that they will take into their eveyday life (Marzano & Pickering et. al, 1997).
As tomorrows teachers we need to successfully engage and capture the imaginations of 'digital natives' harnessing their prior knowledge in this area, and support it actively in the classroom.
About Learning: The Report of the Learning Group (2004) Pdf document from Topic 2 'Learners and Learning'
Pedagogical Content Knowledge Readings, GDLT Program CQU
I love the 80s so my Glogster was reflective of my interest (Stumer, 2011 Blog Posting:Glogster). There are many ways that Glogster could be incorporated into a class activity, and these could be individual, for example, creating a 'Interest Inventory' . Students would design a Glog that was indicative of who they are, their likes, hobbies, family background etc. Student Glogs would utilise the various elements of their personalities through music, colour, text and video. These could then be collated into a class portfolio that could be embedded into a class wiki or blog and shared with others.
When using Glogster through the new educational platform, Glogsteredu, teachers can monitor student usage through the administration feature. Teachers can also create individual student logins and passwords for added safety and security. When incorporating music and video content into their Glogs, students would be given the sites that offer royalty-free images/music (Flickr or royaltyfreemusic.com) or You Tube for videos. If students wish to incorporate their own images ie. their face, they would need to get permission prior to the activity from a guardian.
Dipity - Timelines
This on-line tool provides students with the ability to become active participants in the creation of their learning. Students can create a timeline of events long ago, for example, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, (refer to my website http://learnindesignintheclassroom.weebly.com/why-dipity-in-the-classroom.html ) Students can also use an array of other topics from current affairs, sports and important public figures/celebrities (pop culture). Dipity allows you to add pictures, videos, music and embed it into a website or wiki to share with others.
Once again the various learning styles can be addressed with a virtual timeline, taking traditional text based learning and delivering it in a context that stimulates and fosters enhanced learning. For example, rather than look at pictures in a book, students can 'live' history by incorporating not only text on a subject, but using sound and imagery to generate an emotional response ie. Dinosaurs roaring, the sounds of their environment etc. The New Media Consortium (2005) suggests that "images and sounds in general, can be used as powerful communication tools."
I would get students to use Dipity to create timelines to look at their place in history. Creating a timeline of what they wear, how they travel to school, how they learn compared to students years before. Presenting a subject in a new way to generate critical thinking (higher order) and comparisons, stimulating discussion on how history is constantly being made and how it influences the future.
Once again the legal, safe and ethical issues need to be covered by adhering to copyright when using music, video and pictures and if using students or local content, keeping it general.
Conclusion
When students attend school for the first time they have often been exposed to technologies ie. PCs, DS, ipods, DVDs etc The New Media Consortium (2005) report on Global Imperative states that students come to school equipped to learn on multiple levels using multiple learning styles and their needs are not being adequately met by todays curriculum.
Classrooms should be learner and knowledge centred, allowing students to problem solve, question, use each other as sounding boards, experiment and in essence create a 'community of learners' (About Learning: Report of the Learning Working Group, 2004 p.18). The use of ICTs as an intregal part of good pedagogy will foster a deeper understanding of a lesson and in turn create 'productive mental' habits of mind that they will take into their eveyday life (Marzano & Pickering et. al, 1997).
As tomorrows teachers we need to successfully engage and capture the imaginations of 'digital natives' harnessing their prior knowledge in this area, and support it actively in the classroom.
References
Kearsley, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999, 2010). Engagement Theory: A Framework for Technology-
based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved March 9, 2011 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
based Teaching and Learning. Retrieved March 9, 2011 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Marzano R. J, Pickering J. P, Arredondo D. E, Blackburn G. J, Brandt R.S, Moffet C. A, Paynter D. E, Pollock J.
E, Whisler J.S. (1997) Dimensions of Learning Teachers Manual (2nd Edition) McREL (Mid-continent
Regional Educational Laboratory) USA
E, Whisler J.S. (1997) Dimensions of Learning Teachers Manual (2nd Edition) McREL (Mid-continent
Regional Educational Laboratory) USA
Education Queensland (2010) Information and Communication Technology. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from
http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/area/ict/index.html
Lamb, B. (2004) Educause: March/April 2011. Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/WideOpenSpacesWikisReadyorNot/157925
Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011, April). Constructivism at Learning-Theories.com.
Retrieved April 11th, 2011 from http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html
Department of Education WA (2011) Educational Value of Wikis. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from
http://det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/wikis/
Lane, C. (n.d.) The Distance Learning Technology Resource Guide: Multiple Intelligences.
Retrieved March 14, 2011 from http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html
The New Media Consortium (2005) A Global Imperative. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from
http://archive.nmc.org/pdf/Global_Imperative.pdf
Pedagogical Content Knowledge Readings, GDLT Program CQU
Saturday 9 April 2011
Mind Mapping
My Mind Map on Group Technologies.
This was a very easy site to use, however, the work is in developing the words/ideas you want presented.
The mindmapping tool allows you to generate and brainstorm ideas on a specific task. This tool then provides a 'scaffold' to build upon.
In my recent volunteer work at a local primary school, I've seen the year 3 students use the mindmapping tool (in written form) to generate ideas for their practice persuasive writing task. The teacher reads them a persuasive story, then the students analyse it using a mind map to highlight the arguments presented. She then gets the students to write a piece of persuasive text using their mindmap.
Students are able to hone their semantic skills and collate these thoughts into their own piece of writing.
Mind maps can be used for other writing tasks including summarising texts and the relevant ideas gained from them.
Friday 8 April 2011
Legal and Safety Obligations of On-line Use
Understanding copyright is the obligation of everyone. If teachers are to use this information rich resource we need to be across the legal, ethical, and safety obligations first.
The web is a free resource, however, it is illegal to plagiarise or reproduce content (audio, pictures, designs, movies) all have copyright.
When using information gathered on the web, credit should be given to the owner ie (Toni L. Stumer, 2011) and include the site information and the copyright symbol.
It is a teachers responsibility to ensure that the students participate in on-line activities safely. In order to achieve this no surnames, addresses/phone numbers or any other personal information should be used. Rather than use a students photograph for a blog, use an avatar.
Continual teacher/parent interaction is paramount so that parents are fully informed of what on-line activities their child is involved in. Creating links to blogs so parents can see their childs progress is recommended.
http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/keeping-students-cybersafe/
This site has some really useful ideas for legal and safe use of on-line teaching.
The web is a free resource, however, it is illegal to plagiarise or reproduce content (audio, pictures, designs, movies) all have copyright.
When using information gathered on the web, credit should be given to the owner ie (Toni L. Stumer, 2011) and include the site information and the copyright symbol.
It is a teachers responsibility to ensure that the students participate in on-line activities safely. In order to achieve this no surnames, addresses/phone numbers or any other personal information should be used. Rather than use a students photograph for a blog, use an avatar.
Continual teacher/parent interaction is paramount so that parents are fully informed of what on-line activities their child is involved in. Creating links to blogs so parents can see their childs progress is recommended.
http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/keeping-students-cybersafe/
This site has some really useful ideas for legal and safe use of on-line teaching.
'Dipity' Do da!
Well, I had a weee tinker with 'Dipity' which enables the user to create a timeline of events ie. a murder, a moment in history etc. Once again I tried to use my Dinosaur theme to create a timeline of their history:
Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous
http://www.dipity.com/Stumey/Diggin-the-Dinosaurs/
Why Dipity?
When I did history at school it was all about reading textbooks, creating presentations using pictures glued to cardboard and slowly putting the rest of the class to sleep.
Dipity transforms the mundane history lesson into something that students can connect with., which I think would be invaluable in the classroom. This brings me to the interesting article from earlier in this course, Prensky's 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'. If we want to 'engage' students and not 'enrage' them, we need to rethink our pedagogy, and Dipity provides a platform to present a history in todays 'native' language.
Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous
http://www.dipity.com/Stumey/Diggin-the-Dinosaurs/
Why Dipity?
When I did history at school it was all about reading textbooks, creating presentations using pictures glued to cardboard and slowly putting the rest of the class to sleep.
Dipity transforms the mundane history lesson into something that students can connect with., which I think would be invaluable in the classroom. This brings me to the interesting article from earlier in this course, Prensky's 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'. If we want to 'engage' students and not 'enrage' them, we need to rethink our pedagogy, and Dipity provides a platform to present a history in todays 'native' language.
The Word is 'Wordle'
I have been doing some volunteer work at a Primary school and the teacher has been doing some interactive whiteboard activities with an on-line program called 'Wordle'. It is referred to as a 'word cloud'. The fonts, colours and layout of the words can be changed offering students a variety of designs.
Ideas for the classroom:
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440515/ICTs
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440551/Snowwhite
SWOT Analysis
Strengths - Interactive, fun and easy to use; enhanced learning by stimulating students creativity; great brainstorming tool, idea generation, higher order thinking to 'pull out' hidden meanings
Weaknesses - May seem to have limited use as it is only words
Opportunities - Through the constructivist and connectivist nature of this application, students make a more meaningful connection with their subject matter resulting in deeper understanding.
Threats - Can get carried away with the design elements.
Ideas for the classroom:
- Creating wordles that describe a person, place or thing and students guess what it is. An activity like this would enhance learning by creating a 'hook' to engage students.
- Student create individual wordles to describe themselves ie. Interest Inventory
- Dissecting a piece of text into its various characters/chapters/events ie Shakespeare
- Creating spelling lists, students could create lists of weekly spelling words, or even word groups (example: listing proper nouns etc)
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440515/ICTs
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3440551/Snowwhite
SWOT Analysis
Strengths - Interactive, fun and easy to use; enhanced learning by stimulating students creativity; great brainstorming tool, idea generation, higher order thinking to 'pull out' hidden meanings
Weaknesses - May seem to have limited use as it is only words
Opportunities - Through the constructivist and connectivist nature of this application, students make a more meaningful connection with their subject matter resulting in deeper understanding.
Threats - Can get carried away with the design elements.
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