MAD Learning

How will I keep up with evolving technologies which will benefit my students?

I will, along with my group, keep regularly posting on our Edublogs blog, and reading UTS and other teacher blogs. I will take notes of any innovative new technologies discussed on the blogs and in the media, and dedicate time to researching these as to how I could use them in the classroom.

In my remaining practicums I will aim to incorporate technology into as many lessons as is possible and constantly monitor and reflect on student motivation, engagement and quality of learning from these. I am keen to include lessons using some of the programs we have discovered through the e-Learning course, e.g. Garageband, iMovie, Scratch, Inspiration.

Expanding my own range of technological skills will ensure that I am keeping up with developing technologies. This is important so that my students are given opportunities to develop a range of technological skills in a world that is constantly technologically advancing and changing, and becoming increasingly dependent on technology. Children are the future and it is vital that I as the teacher am ‘on top’ of new technologies so that my students can also be. I am committed to making sure I am aware of new technologies which arise and any educational implications they may have, as I believe learning through and with technology is vitally important for the children of today.

-AD

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This is a journal article located in the UTS Library at Kuring-gai campus under 371.3305 LEAR.

This article to me highlighted how technology can greatly helped the disadvantaged students. it is based on the EnViSci Network, developed by TERC, which is a group of ten standard based curriculum units for grades 3-8. Each of these units has a website where students can research and share data over a network via databases. Science in the KLA that is targeted by this program. TERC in collaboration with Vcom3D  created signed units. This units are the same for students regardless of hearing or hearing impaired as all students are able to complete the various activities. The only difference is that Signing-Aviator characters have been incorporated into the units to make them ore accessible for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Science is a challenge to deaf or near deaf students because they often don’t know the signs for scientific terms or don’t understand its meaning if they can mimic the sign. The program addresses this by having and optional box to click that, when clicked, brings up several characters that sign for the students. The students requests also affect what the characters sign, so they can attempt to read the text block then have the character sign it for them. There are many options that help the students, such as speed control in signing, character choice,  and colour schemes.

The Avatar characters allow students to learn new vocabulary, develop reading skills, master science content and investigate their own ideas, importantly independently. there is also an important word section that students can add to that they might be having trouble with. The topics available after the avatar characters were implemented, showed tremendous results in the scores of students.

This article I really found goes to show how new technology is assisting students in class. Deaf or near deaf students now no longer have to be disadvantaged in the field of Science at school and can work independelty on the activities. The relative simple technological tool that has been developed for these students shows to me how much technology is an asset for teachers who wish to use it. technology in this article is relatively easy for the students to use and isn’t part of a complex system. This kind of technology, in which technology is used to assist learning, is what I believe is the most important kind.

An article well worth reading.

MO

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This article can be located at the following web address.

This article is focused on video. It starts with a brief overview of what videoing is and with the technology now available its ability to virtually capture anything on video. Furthermore, it shows the popular use of videoing by highlighting the many websites, such as YouTube and Google Video and its simplistic nature. It highlights how the use of video has gone to a grassroot level, with news programs regularly showing footage of ordinary people’s mobile phones.

The article states the fact that production and distribution of videos are nearly zero with many barriers to using them in learning and creative situations erased. Students now have access to educational videos just a click of the mouse away. With the ease of videoing it is now simple to incorporate videos into the curricula. So an example of this can be in a class setting for data collection, maybe for a early stage 1 class to see how many white cars pass the school over an amount of time. Higher institutions can now be seen offering new media courses of which videos form an integral part of.

The great advantage which the article puts forward is the ability of video providing new ways fro creativity and for millions of people to have their voices heard.  This is highlighted by the article providing several grassroots videos, one by secondary students and another by 2 professors from the University of Minnesota.

There are many grassroot videos available which the article lists and is well worth your time to have a look at.

MO

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Reactionary Post to Ruby’s posting Interactive Posting.

I valued watching the video that Ruby had posted about and I totally agree with the points that Ruby’s raises in her posting, especially how whiteboards can be transformative although it depends on the teacher. One thing which Ruby didn’t comment about was in the video a, rather large for me, part of the discussion talking about the financial investment side of whiteboards. I personally found this horrific that the Heads of these Education Departments could be discussing whether the whiteboard is a good investment, not just for the students and their teachers, but for financially also. I think that students education can be priceless and that a technological tool, such as whiteboards, if found it can help student learning, shouldn’t be not boought because of the financial side of it. If it is going to improve student learning, get it. yes it may be a bit expensive but can you put a price on children’s learning?

I personally haven’t used a whiteboard yet so I can’t comment as Ruby does on its benefits first hand but I can see how they should be used and I can clearly see why schools would want to have them in their classrooms.

MO

After being allowed to use the Scratch software in class I was interested to see what students could learn from it. At first it seemed quite fun but I wanted to see some commentary on the software, which is what I found with this brief article.

It outlines what students have to gain from using this software. Firstly, students will learn about mathematical and computational ideas. Something that I find just as important is that they will learn these concepts in a meaningful and motivating context that Scratch provides. Will undertaking the Scratch activities students are learning about the process of design. Scratch allows students to create an idea, create a working prototype, experiment with it, gain feedback and redesign it as appropriate, all key ideas need for research projects.

Rather obviously, Scratch involves 21st century learning skills that are key to success in the future for students, such as thinking creatively and communicating clearly. Students also with develop a deeper level of fluency of digital technology with Scratch.

This article won’t shock you with any surprising statistics or comments but what it does is that it provides a rationale over why Scratch can be a valuable teaching tool for classrooms. Students can gain many attributes, as discussed above, by using this software and what better learning is their when it is fun and they learn by themselves (constructionist theory).

I highly recommend reading this brief article if you are unsure of what help Scratch can be to educators.

MO

I found Kelly’s post “A thousand words: promoting teachers visual literacy skills” very interesting as it explained what teachers should do to assist students in this visual world. Students of today are very much visual learners and are surrounded by images everyday that show “textual and numerical information”. So that students are a part of the real world they are required to be visually literate. This means they should be able to “decode, comprehend and analyse the elements communicated by images”. 

Teachers should assist their students by developing their “conceptual, instructional, techincal skills” so that teachers can incorporate visual learning into the normal classroom. Kelly further explains that teachers should introduce concepts of literacy skills so that students can understand, apply, analyse and synthesise visual information.

It is very important that teachers assist students to developing their visual literacy skills due to the new technologies that are created everyday. Once students have developed these skills they are able to interpret and understand the world around them.

-DN

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As the subject comes to a close, we have been discussing our views on e-Learning and how these reflect our views on learning (which we discussed at the beginning of the semester). I believe that e-learning enhances learning, as kids ‘learn to learn’ through doing (e.g. creating things themselves using technology – children as designers). If allowed to experiment with and investigate new technologies, students understand the meaning of their learning.E-learning supports social interaction through participation and physical interaction. It enhances teamwork as students work together to overcome difficulties and reach conclusions.

Children enjoy using technology to supplement other forms of learning, making it fun, engaging and motivating, and the learning itself is enhanced as a result. Technology provides a visual stimulus for children and opens up a new range of possibilities for learning in a variety of ways (caters for different learning styles – visual, audio, verbal, written etc).

I was particularly interested in classmate Bronwyn‘s views on e-Learning. She created a metaphor “E-Learning is like playing soccer: You cannot know how to use it unless you try.”

Bronwyn highlighted an idea I strongly believe in but had not contemplated before reading her post. She emphasises the need for practising skills in order to hone these, and encourages students (and teachers) to persist with new technologies/skills even if they seem difficult to learn at first. This was extremely necessary in our e-Learning course, as the number of new programs and skills we were introduced to could easily seem overwhelming to someone who was not willing to persist with them. The same is true for all types of learning: the best way of becoming good at something is to practise it until it becomes easier/natural.

Bronwyn also likened e-Learning to soccer as a ‘team sport’. Learning with technology can be effectively done collaboratively, with various input/ideas from students. It enhances teamwork and can increase social interaction and confidence. Loved this metaphor, very clever!

Finally, I believe the focus of e-Learning should be to make it as student-centred as possible: allowing students to discover new technologies for themselves, and enabling them to create and design their own work.

I leave you with a Comic Life piece I created, detailing my perceptions on the strengths of e-Learning.

-AD

Source of Brownwyn’s post: http://moo26.edublogs.org/2009/05/26/my-views-on-learning-and-e-learning-b/

This is a post about the TeacherTube Video about the Blue Whale.

This is a very basic video of a student giving a small presentation about a Blue Whale, or may just be a part of their presentation. It has to be assumed that the student will be showing this video to the class or for the teacher to see as some sort of assessment task.

Although on face value this video seems boring, short and not very technological, it showed to me how simple technology in the classroom can be. Taken from today’s perspective, this video isn’t very exciting, but think back to your own primary school learning. Projects for me were still written in year 6, with the option of typing them. An assignment consisted of stapling pieces of paper together with pictures cut out from magazines and stuck on them. What a difference primary school is now from as little as 8 years ago.

Recently I was talking to a Yr 6 student from my old primary school and they said they had an assignment on a foreign culture. I had this same assignment when I was in Yr 6. Mine consisted of a book containing information divided into sections and a speech. Theirs consisted of an multimedia experience that had to be produced to the teacher and then viewed by the class. The same assignment I had to do has changed in content but how it is presented. If i was told to do a multimedia experience in Yr 6 for my assignment I would’ve either typed the assignment or taught myself abut PowerPoint.

The point I’m trying to make is how such a basic video as the Blue Whale would’ve once been viewed in excitement. If a child from my class had produced that video I would’ve had to ask many questions to know how they produced it. Videos such as the Blue Whale show how students, with this student probably from a stage 2, can now produce videos such as the Blue Whale instead of the methods that I used just over 8 years ago for delivering assignments. To me this video shows even I can find it boring because there Isn’t video and the pictures don’t have transition.

It just goes to show you how much classrooms have changed with the use of technology, how it is replacing old forms of assessment and how such a simple video can be made by students not even 10 years old.

MO