Ways in which iPod and iPad devices can be used in the classroom
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I-Pods can be used as an e-learning device.
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Regardless of their small size, teachers can enable learning with
entire library of reference materials, interactive lessons, and other
applications which can be used anywhere.
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Teachers can get students to access apps for every subject and every
stage of learning.
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iPods can have more than 20,000 educational applications of all kind for
example from science to sign language.
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Kids are enjoying using the device but are learning at the same time. It creates enthusiasm among students and this
makes it an engagement tool. (Flitch Green Academy)
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Students can download books from the iBookstore.
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Students can use Keynote to create presentations with custom graphic
styles, elegantly designed themes, and stunning animations and effects.
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Pages has what students need to create beautiful documents, including
Apple-designed templatesand easy to use formatting tools.
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Numbers has 250 easy to use functions, a keyboard flexible tables, and
eye-catching charts and spreadsheets.
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With iTunes, students can listen to lectures, read books, watch videos,
and stay on top of assignments.
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A teacher can use iPods to send a message to students who will receive
a push notification with the new information.
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Young students such as year 2 pick up skills and learn using an i-Pad
at an incredibly quick rate. (Flitch
Green Academy).
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Students engage with content in interactive ways
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They find information in an instant
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They can access an entire library wherever they go.
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I-Pads provide creativity for kids in many ways. One of those is a hands-on touch screen feature
where they can enlarge, minimize and move pictures with the tips of their
fingers.
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Students can flip through book pages by sliding their finger on
thumbnail images of the pages.
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They can instantly look up word definitions.
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They can access large photo gallery or images with interactive
captions.
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A finger can be used to rotate a 3D object to show every angle.
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Instead of using the same book year after year, students can access the
latest version of a novel by downloading the latest version for a small
price.
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Using the iWork for iPad: Pages, Keynote and Numbers, teachers can
guide students to create professional-looking documents, presentations and
spreadsheets.
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The Learning manager can share the content of their screen with the
students by connecting their iPad to an HDTV or use AirPlay to stream
wirelessly to any HDTV via Apple TV
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Through iTunes, a teacher can create a course for their students and
invite them to enrol in it with a code or URL
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The content of the course can include a syllabus, handouts, quizzes,
and so on.
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Wednesday, 22 August 2012
i-Pods and i-Pads for use with education
Friday, 17 August 2012
Reflective Synopsis on Digital E-Learning
Once upon a time students in schools
utilised only chalk boards, chalk, slate, ink and blotting paper for study. In
a short span of few years digital technology has escalated in its development
in leaps and bounds to include a diverse range of digital devices and online
tools. According to the Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit (A Global
Imperative) young learners across the globe at present are using a different
type of literacy. This is a type of digital literacy and is best
described as “21st century literacy is the set of abilities and skills where
aural, visual and digital literacy overlap. These include the ability to
understand the power of images and sounds, to recognize and use that power, to
manipulate and transform digital media, to distribute them pervasively, and to
easily adapt them to new forms”.
Most Australian schools provide education that
is delivered using advanced technology along with more basic tools. Large
cohorts of students now use laptops and interactive online tools, some examples
of which are discussed later. As
recommended by the Summit findings, The National Curriculum requires teachers
to be knowledgeable in all three requisites of TPACK. Teachers are expected to
use these criteria across the Key Learning Areas of English, Maths, Science,
The Arts and Technology. The TPACK
requisites state that teachers are expected to teach professionally with the Technology,
Pedagogy and Content Knowledge. Teachers must ensure that students’ learning
is professionally, ethically and legally catered to follow the Australian
National Curriculum expectations.
Technology
– As technology improves on a constant basis, it is becoming globally used in
many parts of the workforce. This means that teachers need to be able to be ‘tech
savvy’ and encourage their students to become proficient technology users. Additionally teachers need to be aware of the
issues in allowing students to use the internet in class and at home. Such issues
include working legally, safely and ethically
online. Students in younger grades should
therefore be adequately educated about all the possible dangers of accessing
material from the internet. They should also be aware about the dangers of
accessing the internet in large public areas such as accessing illegal or
pornographic sites, cyber safety, etc…
The students in these grades need to be guided and monitored in their
accessing of age appropriate material online. This suggests that schools may
need to restrict access to some online websites or have a monitoring system
installed for internet usage while at school.
There
are a wide range of visual presentation digital tools available for teachers
that can be used in the delivery of learning in conjunction with learning
theories and pedagogy. The Global Imperative, a well known education authority, recommends the
use of creative and interactive online multimedia tools within schools. Looking at recent reports by CISCO
Systems, some of those gains such as adding visuals to verbal (textual and/or
auditory instruction can result in significant gains in basic or higher-order
learning.
Pedagogy - Teachers need to be
knowledgeable with the pedagogy of teaching. Having a scientific awareness of
how a student’s brain works and acquires deep knowledge, of different learning
styles and multiple intelligences is important for the delivery of knowledge. Some of the learning theories are behaviourism,
cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism theories. These include using learning frameworks such
as Bloom’s Taxonomy of higher order thinking; Edward de Bono’s learning theory
of the Six Thinking Hats’ the Y Chart; the SWOT Analysis and K.W.L.
Content Knowledge - The ability to teach a
lesson also requires the teacher to have content knowledge in the area. Being
knowledgeable in the subject matter is essential so that the passing on of that
knowledge ends with the desired learning outcome.
The Australian Curriculum recommends that student
learning needs to be acquired using ICT online media tools through operating,
researching, inquiring, creating and using interactive communication
modes. Education Queensland (Smart
Classrooms) list the Student ICT Expectations and identify the ICT knowledge,
understanding, ways of working and skills that students are required to learn
from Prep to Year 12. Today’s 21st
Century learners are able to use multimodal literacies including digital
technology with the knowledge to access a multitude of applications.
Through observation of the young population
around us, at home and at school, it is evident that a lot of young people can
multitask a number of media applications all at once, for example, searching or
‘surfing’ the Internet for information as well as communicating on Facebook,
sending an email, viewing YouTube videos, downloading and listening to music,
uploading photos, posting their own video clips and more. Some of those students however struggle to do
these things and are subsequently left behind. This means that without support,
their chances of keeping up with the rest of the cohort are limited. Support is
needed for these students to learn to access these new technologies.
One of my first E-learning tasks was to
create a blog
which I thoroughly enjoyed. From this
learning experience I understand that the initial learning is behaviourism where
I learnt and tried to remember the sequence of steps to obtain the desired outcome
of my first creation – how to post a text, embed a picture, include links,
sources and using the HTML language to embed a video. I repeated those steps to create more blog
posts. This was an interesting exercise which I think
students would enjoy and it would be a useful to use with students in designing
a blog site where each can use their own creativity, post their ideas as a
communication tool, report presentation or for a journal assignment report which
can also be shared with the class if desired.
Blogsters are useful as a student’s work cannot be altered by anyone
else but peers can post comments and contribute their thoughts if they
wish. Whenever students borrow ideas
from experts, pictures or videos, the learning manager needs to remind them to attribute
recognition by creating a link or image source to the name and location of the
owner.
The E-learning Moodle course Distance students
and I contributed to a Wiki
activity which engaged us in analysing and sharing ideas on the issue of
‘Students’ use of mobile phones within the classroom’ while using Edward de
Bono’s Six Thinking Hats Higher Order Thinking strategy. This
activity proved interesting as we individually employed thinking strategies from
each Hat’s different perspective of viewing the situation and analysing all the
PROS and CONS about this issue. This
exercise helped us to scaffold this analysis to support our thinking, as well
as exploring other group members’ point of views and sharing our own in a
constructivist (Vygotsky,1978), and
collaborative learning process. This
exercise would prove equally useful with school students as a way of discussing
current issues and employ any other ‘higher
order thinking’ strategies, such K.W.L., The Y Chart Analysis, the SWOT
Analysis.
I created ‘my own’ Wiki,
where I embedded a video and images,including a hang out page where students
can possibly add comments if they wish.
It is essential that students are advised on correct communication
etiquette when posting comments or responding to others, to respect people’s
thoughts and only give positive feedback,
to value difference and group identity, a valuable Habit of the Mind
“responding appropriately to others feelings and level of knowledge” (Dim.5
Marzano & Pickering, 2006).
The ‘lower
order thinking’ levels of ‘Remembering, Understanding and Applying’ (Bloom’s
Cognitive Taxonomy, 1956) can be used by students in knowing how to operate the
computer and connect to the network to search for a particular website;
remember how to use the ICT tools, access and upload material and pictures. The
students aim to locate and understand the information they are accessing. They
take notes, summarize, collect information, relevant diagrams and pictures.
They use their prior knowledge to apply, use, choose and connect with ideas.
With a scaffolded problem-solving task, the
students will use the ‘higher order
thinking’ processes of Bloom’s Taxonomy of ‘Analysing, Synthesising and Evaluating’.
Using ICT activities such as a Wiki (with a hangout page), or Blog site where
other students can contribute and brainstorm their ideas and analyse others’
point of views. This activity works well in a connectivism (Siemens, 2005) and
constructivist (Vygotsky,1978), approach
to learning. Also the action of reflecting on other people’s comments involves
the higher order thinking levels of analysing and evaluating.
Another task prompted
me to create a ‘Voki’ short speech animation posted in my blog, a powerpoint with images and audio posted on my 'Wiki' Page'and a ‘Web
Page’ which is still in the process of
being created.
To add to my ICT tool experience, I created a short animated movie
called ‘Hi Ben’, using the Xtranormal
movie-making program which I posted on my blog.. This a program which provides
a great tool for students learning to use multimedia as they can express
themselves creatively while accomplishing a presentation task. The creation
process can engage the students to use higher order thinking processes in
researching, analysing and synthesizing the information that is required for into
a dialogue. They then have to calculate how
to present this dialogue using two animated characters carrying a
discussion. The text needs to be placed
in the right order in combination with the using of camera focusing angles,
facial expressions and body movements.
This is an example of multimodal learning where digital e-learning has a
lot of benefits for students including catering for individual learners’ needs
and abilities and is more effective than the old way of traditional text
learning (Stansbury 2011). Looking at
Recent reports by CISCO Systems, some of those gains such as adding visuals to
verbal (textual and/or auditory instruction can result in significant gains in
basic or higher-order learning.
Conclusion:
There is no denying that digital technology
is an essential part of the teaching and learning arena and increasingly so as
technology becomes more widespread and easy to use. Additionally there are many benefits with
using digital technology learning in schools, some of these include saving a
huge amount of paper, easy access to learning material, this mode delivers
multimodal literacies, more engaging for today’s generation as being digital
natives, they are naturally attracted to visual on screen learning, and
enabling students an instant secure delivery mode of assessment items. Students are more inclined to work on their
laptops as opposed to using paper and pen as ICT is natural to them and part of
their world.
It is evident that digital ICT tools are very useful at engaging students into learning. But at the same time it is essential that the teacher use problem based tasks that are scaffolded but require students to use complex and abstract higher thinking levels to be able to solve problem tasks. As discussed earlier learning theorists have divided opinions on whether digital technology improves learning for students through its use alone but all agree that appropriate required learning will only occur if delivered through professional pedagogy and knowledge content. So teachers need to be vigilant on how they use digital literacy and technology to properly scaffold learning tasks with intended outcomes.
It is evident that digital ICT tools are very useful at engaging students into learning. But at the same time it is essential that the teacher use problem based tasks that are scaffolded but require students to use complex and abstract higher thinking levels to be able to solve problem tasks. As discussed earlier learning theorists have divided opinions on whether digital technology improves learning for students through its use alone but all agree that appropriate required learning will only occur if delivered through professional pedagogy and knowledge content. So teachers need to be vigilant on how they use digital literacy and technology to properly scaffold learning tasks with intended outcomes.
As a
learning manager, I would definitely use ICT technology across the KLA’s as an
advantage not only to engage students but for all the applications which can be
carried out using ICT tools, but with appropriate scaffolding and learning
design.
Education Queensland, Smart classrooms (Oct, 2011) retrieved on 2/8/12
References:
Australian
National Curriculum of Education (ACARA, 2012), Scope and
sequence of the Australian Curriculum:
Technologies, retrieved on 12/8/12
from:
Bloom, B. S. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook
1: Cognitive
domain. London: Longman.
Atherton J. S., (2011), Learning
and Teaching: Bloom's taxonomy, retrieved 2
August 2012 from:
Cisco Systems, (2008), Multimodal Learning through Media: What
the research
says, Global Lead,
Education; Cisco Systems, Inc.: cfadel@cisco.com
Cooper, G. (1998), Research into Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional
Cooper, G. (1998), Research into Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional
Design, The University of New South
Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Retrieved on 2/8/12 from: http://dwb4.unl.edu/Diss/Cooper/UNSW.htm
Education Queensland, Smart classrooms (Oct, 2011) retrieved on 2/8/12
from http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/
de Bono, E., (1992),Six Thinking Hats,
retrieved on 2/8/12 from:
Marzano
R. & Pickering D. (1997) Dimensions of learning: Teacher’s
manual.
Colorado, USA:
Mid-Continent Regional Education Laboratory.
McInerney,
D. and V. (2006), Educational Psychology, Constructing
Learning,
Pearson Education, French Forest, Australia.
New
Media Consortium (2005), A
Global Imperative, A Report for the 21st
Century, 2499 S Capital of
Texas Highway, Building A, Suite 202,
Austin,
TX 78746.
Prensky
M., (2001), Digital Natives, retrieved on 2/8/12, from:
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20- %20Digital%
20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
Stansbury,
(2011) ICT Ecologies of Learning, retrieved on 12/8/12 from:
www.irma-international.org/viewtitle/47266/
Siemens,
G.(2005) Connectivism: A learning theory
for the digital age, retrieved
12/8/12 from: www.elearnspace.org./articles/connectivism
Vygotsky, L. (1978), Mind in Society,
trans. A. Kozulin, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Creating a Voki and embedding it
Well today I had a go at creating a Voki as a trial science lesson beginning to engage students, but I think the voice sounds rather flat and there is no pause. I think perhaps the more expensive versions of characters are probably better. I preferred the 3D versions which I think would be a lot more engaging with students. I should try that instead. As well I could only place a certain amount of speech, it won't let me place any more than that.
The link to create a Voki is: Voki Link
Learning Styles
ABOUT LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES:
When teaching it is useful to be aware of students'learning styles so that the Learning Manager can provide variety in a lesson which will be engaging for those students who differ from other students in the way they prefer to learn.
To read about learning styles access this link:
NC STATE UNIVERSITY
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| My own Learning Styles Results : |
| ACT X REF 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> SEN X INT 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> VIS X VRB 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> SEQ X GLO 11 9 7 5 3 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 <-- --> |
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The results of my own learning styles testing came back
unexpected. I appear to have some
balance (scale 1-3) in the Intuitive and Global styles but some preference (scale
of 5) with the Visual. The higher
preference being a Reflective learning style which explains my frustration if
not enough time is allocated when learning something totally new to me. I actually have learnt in the past to follow
the advice that is being suggested for this learning style.
This means that I don’t really read and memorize the
material but rather find it more helpful to comprehend and retain the topic if
I review and take notes in my own words as I go along. And that seems to work for me.
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ICT Tool use in the classroom
Xtranormal Movie Maker
One example of the
use of these tools is carried out at my school by a HPE teacher. Using ‘Xtranormal Movie Maker’ (school funded),
the Year 9 students are each encouraged to create an online animated movie video
creation.
The animated movie presentations are used to create an oral presentation about a mental health illness of their choice, for example ‘depression’. The movie creation includes their personal research and using this research they create their presentation using a dialogue interview discussion between two animated characters who discuss the mental illness chosen and its issues, lending some useful information for anyone suffering from the illness or that know someone afflicted with this illness.
The animated movie presentations are used to create an oral presentation about a mental health illness of their choice, for example ‘depression’. The movie creation includes their personal research and using this research they create their presentation using a dialogue interview discussion between two animated characters who discuss the mental illness chosen and its issues, lending some useful information for anyone suffering from the illness or that know someone afflicted with this illness.
At the end of their
movie presentation, the student then answers any questions which their
classroom peers asks.
Overall I think
this is a great tool for students to experience using multimedia as they can
express themselves creatively while accomplishing a required task. This movie creation process also engages the
students to use some of the higher order thinking processes by synthesizing the
information into a dialogue and presented and stepped through the interview
into the right order. Some of the
student presentations ranged from an acceptable level to really well thought-out
presentations which I thought they thoroughly enjoyed creating.
The website for creating these short animated movies is:
As an example I created this sample the other day, although my apologies
as the topic isn’t about e-learning but rather for my own purpose of obtaining
an entertaining reaction from my children J
It was fun!
by: cathscreations
Thursday, 26 July 2012
The Functionality of a Website
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S.W.O.T analysis
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Topic: The
functionality of a website
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Strengths
A creator claims
ownership of a website: A website
remains the way its creator intended it to be designed and cannot be altered
or edited by anyone else. The site can look appealing, engaging and have interactive multimodal literacies that the students will want to participate in. Creating my website allowed me to embed videos and links; insert pictures; have background music; an appealing and an engaging colourful design. |
Weaknesses
The value of the learning is only as good as the appropriate
pedagogical learning design by the learning manager. Unless the website has carefully planned
and scaffolded using problem solving tasks, students will not be benefiting
from the active higher order thinking processes and only use passive lower processes.
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Opportunities
The learning
manager can create and upload activities they are to complete. Learning tasks that include problem-solving
activities with intended learning outcomes can be carefully scaffolded. Within the activities, the learning manager will have placed links which students will precisely access to locate the information they need for their task. Websites are ideal for students to present their work. |
Threats
Students may
not fully make use of the website properly and make poor use of the computer
time allocated.Students may sidetrack onto other websites so learning managers necessarily need to ensure students are on the right track and support them with accomplishing the required task. |
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Wiki Activity: The in-class use of Mobile phones debate
Wiki debate post:
'Students' use of mobile phones within the classroom'
· The Wiki collaboration
activity proved interesting as we individually employed Edward de Bono’s Six
Thinking Hats strategy and this engaged each of
us to think from each hat’s point of view, from a different angle, analysing
all the PROS and CONS about this issue.
· This activity enabled
us to explore the other group members’ point of views and share our own in a
constructivist and collaborative exercise.
Image source
Image source
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