This week we focused on three more ICT tools that we could use in the classroom. These tools are:
Digital Video
Images
Podcasting and Digital Audio
Digital Video
The important thing about using a tool such as video is that it is interesting for students, and while sometimes (like the videos I have created) it can be time consuming, if you have visual learners in your classroom this method can be very effective. Digital video can be created using video cameras as well as using still photographs in a program such as movie maker. I have created a video using Movie Maker to show how using multi-media tools in the classroom can benefit your students.
This tool can be used in any area of teaching. To show how it can be used in the curriculum I have created a short video on how to teach subtraction.
Schools use digital video as:
A communication tool for messages ideas and information.
Observation and analysis tools for enhancing students observations
Reflection tools to support reflections on their learning (much like this blog)
Outcomes of video production can include:
Higher order thinking
Communication & presentation
Literacy
Organisational and teamwork
Movie making skill development
Using Images for learning
It is important to consider how you will use images while you are teaching.
Some common ways images are used in the classroom are:
To illustrate concepts or examples of what you are talking about
To inspire discussion
To teach diagnosis or treatment
To stimulate imagination
To help identify emotions and moods
There are many ways in which images can be manipulated to make them appealing to students. Some examples provided to us are a website called BeFunky and a free program called Artrage. I have used BeFunky to manipulate and image I took of The Grand Canyon to make it look like an old photograph. Before uploading I also resized the image using paint.
Podcasting & Digital Audio
A podcast is a sound file that is shared with others by subscription. The simplest way to record a podcast is by using a device such as an Mp3 player or voice recorder.
In the classroom podcasts can be used for a range of things. They are commonly used in University where lectures are recorded for distance students. However, they can also be used in language classes, for distributing school assignments and for student project work.
Week three gave us insight on three new ICT tools that were available for free online to us as learning tools. VOKI To the left is a Voki. You are able to access the site and create a Voki to your liking by changing the hair colour, skin colour, eye colour, clothes and even the background. Once you have create your Voki you are then able to add sound. The website gives you the option to type your text and convert it or you are able to record your own voice. A positive for using this tool in the classroom is that it will provide an interesting break from always listening to the teacher speak. You could be creative with the Voki and design it to fit the subject you were talking about.
FODEY The second tool I have utilised is the newspaper clipping, which is provided on Fodey. You are able to create a Title and add appropriate information to the clipping and then generate as a JPEG and use the clip such as I have in a blog. The website also allows you to create animated animals and objects where you can also add in the text you would like.
I have provided a SWOT analysis of using this tool in the classroom in my Newspaper clipping.
WORDLE The last tool we discussed in week three is Wordle. Personally, Wordle is my favourite tool so far. You are able to create a simple wordle by adding in all your words and it will sort them then you can change the colours or you can make an advance Wordle (as I have to the left), where you can pick which words will be the largest words.
The positives of Wordle are:
It is visually appealing
The importand words can be made the biggest.
The negatives are:
It doesn't provide a lot of information
It is harder for students to be involved in creating them
Interesting aspects are:
It is a great tool to use around the classroom to assist with learning eg. spelling.
WEEBLY
As part of our blog this week we were also asked to create a Weebly. I have never used (or heard of one before) so I started with a YouTube clip:
I have added my blog link into my Weebly and had a short look around and you can access it at zaraellaguley.weebly.com.
WEEKLY READINGS
Web 1.0 is static until changed by the webmaster and content such as text, video and images can be added. Web 1.0 are known as 'read-only' web content.
Web 2.0 is a read-write site that individuals can publish, share, network and download on. Content such as text, video, audio and interactive images can be added and a toolbar makes it easy to work in these spaces.
By utilising these tools as a teacher, you are no longer the sole source of learning and students cannot be assumed to have the same core knowledge. The role of the teach has become that of a facilitator rather than expert and learning can now be individualised for each student.
Blog, Wiki or Website
A website is static and content cannot be changed by students whereas blogs and wikis are owned by students.
Using Blogs for Learning
A blog (derived from 'web log') can encourage be used to encourage students to record their learning journey, however, educators must consider ways to scaffold student thinking to reflect the learning they are required to demonstrate by using:
Thinking tools
Carefully constructed question sequences
Blogs can also be used for assignment construction.
Plus
Minus
Implication
Enhance learning
environment
Other students can post
unkind things
Blogging can be informal
Enhance ability to self-reflect
Blogs can be complicated
Incorporates many multi
media forms
A new way of submitting
assessment
Time consuming
Tasks that are not well conceived
become ‘just another task’
Using Wikis for Learning
A wiki is an online space where users and guests can edit, add and remove information using editing tools.
Some key features of a wiki are:
Wikis are open and can be edited by anyone as seen fit if permissions allow.
The structure and text content of the site are open to editing and evolution. A wiki is not static, it is a living, ecological entity.
Duplication can be discouraged or removed by finding and citing similar or related content.
Collaboration - A good collaboration tool, both synchronously and asynchronously.
Plus
Minus
Implication
Students can share ideas
Time consuming
Children can use it inappropriately
A new learning tool
Not as fun as a blog
REFLECTION
This week has been a bit of a challenging week for me, learning all of these new tools, especially wikis and weeblys. I am going to use my spare time this week mastering the art of these two learning tools so I can eventually utilise them in my classroom.
I think all of the tools discussed this week can benefit in one way or another in the classroom if used efficiently.
Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. It is the design of learning and the interaction between learner and teacher.
At the start of this week, I was struggling to grasp the concept of Pedagogy and I found this video from Dr Sonwalker Nish very helpful.
My understanding of Pedagogy is that it is the process of taking a task and creating an educational way of transferring this knowledge to the learner, whether it be through creating lesson plans or online courses. As teachers we must be able to understand our students and how they learn so that they can understand the content we are teaching and in turn... LEARN SOMETHING!
DIGITAL PEDAGOGY
It is important for students in the 21st Century to have to opportunity to learn through ICT. By having ICT available:
Students use ICT to access, integrate, manage and evaluate information.
They use ICT to develop new understandings, and to participate as global citizens through collaboration across local, national and international borders.
Digital Pedagogy has been shown to transform learning. It enables students to develop deep knowledge through inquiry, connecting to sources of information, both primary and secondary across the world.
ICT supports thinking, organizing ideas, planning solutions, modelling, and visualizing the invisible.
ICT allows learners to build solutions and products through highly creative, expressive and reflective processes
(Excerpt from this weeks learning materials) As teachers it is important that we understand what is expected of us in then realm of ICT and these expectations can be found here in the AITSL graduate standards. We are also encouraged to understand what is expected from students and these expectations are provided here on the Education Queensland website. There are 5 elements in which ICT competences are articulated from Prep through to Year 12:
Inquiring with ICT
Creating with ICT
Communicating with ICT
Ethics, Issues and ICT
Operating ICT.
TPACK FRAMEWORK
TPACK is the incorporation of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. Teachers must be able to incorporate these three elements into their teaching to ensure that students learn effectively as learning can be compromised by little pedagogy knowledge and little technology knowledge.
TPACK consists of 7 different knowledge areas:
Technology Knowledge (TK)
Content Knowledge (CK)
Pedagogy Knowledge (PK)
Pedagogy Content Knowledge(PCK)
Technology Content Knowledge (TCK)
Technology Pedagogy Knowledge (TPK)
Technology Pedagogy Content Knowledge (TPCK)
I thought the picture to the right was a humorous spin off on what we are learning this week so I had to add it in. I think the important message with this picture is that, as teachers, we do have to create balance in technology, Pedagogy and content knowledge.
BLOOMS TAXONOMY OF LEARNING DOMAINS
Blooms taxonomy of learning domains was created to promote higher forms of thinking in education. It consists of three domains of educational activities:
Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (attitudes or self)
Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)
This is often referred to as 'the goals of the learning process' and it is expected that learners should have acquired these skills after a new learning experience. COGNITIVE The cognitive domain involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. For example: - Recall of specific facts - Procedural Patterns - Concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills. The cognitive domain (after being revised) has 6 major categories: Remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Examples of all of these categories can be found here. AFFECTIVE The Affective domain looks at the way in which we deal with things emotionally. For example: - Feelings - Values - Appreciation - Motivations The five major categories are: Receiving Phenomena, responding to Phenomena, valuing, organisation and internalizing values. Once again, further explainations of these categories are available here. PSYCHOMOTOR
The Psychomotor domain looks at physical movement, coordination and the use of motor skills. Development is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance or procedure and requires practice.
There are seven major categories as explored by Simpson (1972): Preception, set, guided response, mechanism (basic proficency), complex overt response, adaption and origination. These categories were also revised by Dave (1975) and Harrow (1972) and can be found here. So why do we use Bloom's theory? Because it has been demonstrated in research findings that simple learning such as knowledge and understanding is not necessarily better when ICT is used to support learning. But we also need to understand that sound teaching does not always work in a linear approach such as Bloom has set out. It is a process of 1. introducing student-held knowledge, 2. analysing this knowledge, 3. deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, 4. moving towards evaluation of the knowledge 5. creating as the culmination of learning.
WIKI ACTIVITY
Lastly, I would like to reflect on my participation in the wiki activity. Generally I am pretty confident with most things 'technology'. This class has definitely opened me up to some very new and unusual ways of using the internet as a teaching platform.
The wiki activity for week two provided me with a very broad range of opinions on the use of mobile phones as a learning tool. However, I am still not convinced. There are a lot of downfalls for providing the students with personal tools when in the classroom. Having said that, I believe that with the right class and the right approach it COULD work.
As an aspiring teacher I have always believed that the most rewarding part of the job will be making a difference in your students life. Whether it be teaching them to spell their name, solve a difficult mathematical problem or answer that "what if?" question that has been bugging them for the day. Week one has given me a lot of insight on how important it is to understand all of your learners and how to best make them succeed. It is important to build teaching around what you believe in and drive children with their strengths.
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE WHEEL
It is becoming more obvious that, as a teacher, it is important to understand your own learning styles and above is the results from my multiple intelligence test which has helped me gain more understanding of how I learn and how I can use these results to better my own learning techniques.
HOW CAN VAK CHANGE YOUR TEACHING?
Creating a lesson plan that is 'one size fits all' will not help to maximize the learning strengths of all the students in the class so it is also important to understand the different learning styles.
Put simply VAK is broken down into 3 different learning styles:
Visual: learn best through reading and seeing
Auditory: learn best through listening and speaking
Kinsthetic: learn best by touching and doing
Felder and Solomon created a more complex version:
Active and reflective learners
Sensing and intuitive learners
Visual and verbal learners
Sequential and global learners
I have completed their learning styles inventory and not surprisingly my results showed that I am a visual and sensing learner. A visual learner will retain knowledge best when provided with pictures, diagrams, graphs and films and a sensing learner solves problems with well established methods and are patient and practical.
21st CENTURY TECHNOLOGY
It is my belief that in the 21st century it is important for teachers to understand and use the technology available for students. Having said that, I know that there is a lot to learn in the way of communicating and teaching with technology (this is after all my first EVER blog). I found the introduction of Padlet (when used correctly) very intriguing and I am going to try and incorporate this into my teaching somewhere in the future. However, issues such as reputation management and cyber bullying are very relevant in the 21st century, therefore, learning to use technology safely, legally and ethically is a high priority in my education.
A FINAL NOTE
Understand your learners
Create a learning design that caters for all students
.jpg){kind=link}