Playing around with more online tools. Not sure if this will work as I am having a day where technology seems to be against me... and yes the link keeps refusing to work... but this site is fun! short movies

Still Blogging...

I haven't revisited this blog for a while. Christmas holidays and new years celebrations involved technologies in interesting ways, such as the new smartphone that has joined the ranks of my family. Now getting back into study I find that my consciousness has been awakened to the thought of using technology in ways I may not have previously considered. For example while I have been doing my early childhood subjects I have found myself experimenting in ways I wouldn't have 'bothered' with previously. In many ways I can now see that the more I use the technology myself the faster I become at understanding it and while I find the first go frustrating, if it proves itself useful it actually starts to provide easier and faster , or simply more creative ways to do things I may have previously done other ways.
So without further ado, my wordle on my beginning thoughts about curriculum in early childhood education. This helped me to think about what I would consider curriculum, and note my beginning thoughts so that I can later compare my learning. It also was a way that I could present these thoughts aesthetically.

Synopsis

As my final blog posting on this blog this synopsis aims to make links from my own experiences with these technologies, and my growing awareness of how I would use these tools within a classroom environment . 

In reflecting on my learning in this course it is necessary for me to expand on my growing views related to learning theories and the application of digital tools from the perspective of myself as a future learning manager.  The role of teachers in regards to digital technologies is one that cannot be ignored as today’s learners are faced with a future in which technology plays an increasing role (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Moreover Florida (2002) suggests that society is changing to embrace a creativity that requires different skill sets from the past.  Theorists have proposed that this must prompt us to consider how learners learn in a new framework, one that builds on the ideas of constructivist learning and expands this into a brave new world where learning takes place not just within people but around them in systems and through networks ( Hargreaves, 1998) The TPCK- Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework has been suggested as a way of integrating the related areas of teacher practice within the classroom with subject specific knowledge, the use of digital tools and environments and the learning that we seek as teachers to encourage.  Going further than simply suggesting teacher’s use technology in teaching, this framework supports knowing how to use technology in a way to enhance higher order thinking rather than for its own sake (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). The framework recognises the problems inherent in technology use such as the rapidly evolving nature of technology;  and offers solutions including the suggestion of teachers learning in a “technology-by- design” approach (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). 

The approach outlined felt ultimately familiar to me as a student teacher as I immersed myself in the course activities, as I felt that this was a hands on way to learn and integrate my understandings of the uses of technology.  In this way the TPCK framework has encouraged me to think more about the how of technology use rather than the what of simply selecting digital tools. 

As I began this course  I considered the ideas on how I learnt best and how others learners may also have learning preferences.  While there is questions surrounding multiple intelligences it is clear that different people may find benefit in different areas of the digital spaces ( Paik, 1998 ). My reflections on these different learning styles can be found HERE.  The mobile phone wiki that we contributed to really opened my eyes to my own cynical attitudes, a view expanded upon by Leadbeater (2002) who says that pessimism permeates the view of science and technology for our future in many ways, through the view that machines may out evolve humans as we know them, or the havoc that technological advances could make (Leadbeater, 2002). However like Leadbeater I also found through considering the use of technologies in a positive way that I found a new dawning appreciation for what this new technological future could hold (Leadbeater, 2002). This initial pessimism was obvious in my use of the mobile phone wiki. Looking back I can see how limited my participation was in this activity as I felt uncomfortable sharing knowledge in an online space. I then reflected on this in my blog posting. As a teacher my experience will help me to scaffold online learning environments by preparing children through the use of habits of mind and classroom climate to be confident to have a go with learning experiences. After my reticence to participate I reflected more about the importance of being allowed to make and learn through mistakes and shared an interesting talk about this within my blog postings.  I appreciated the use of de Bono’s hats as a scaffolding tool and this helped me to contribute to the wiki and elucidated the importance of scaffolding students’ response to provide an easy entry into posting in online spaces.  In this way I also experienced the ‘expert teaching’ approach described as a knowledge based profession and therefore reliant on developing thinking skills more than transferring information (Turner- Bisset,  2001).

Therefore I approached the practice of using the first group of tools, with the idea of ‘having a go at using them’  despite my fears and considering their use within a learning situation.   I found that I was able to create content and reflect on using Wikispaces  and  through investigating this kind of online space I also found myself being drawn to the use of social media as an online learning space similar to wikis, and I expand on this in my blog.  Similarly I created a website which is linked here in my Wikispace. I reflected on websites in this posting. Amongst these tools I really enjoyed blogging. I learnt that I loved writing regularly and would use this online space within a classroom setting to provide that opportunity to my students. Alternately I also found that blogs can include all sorts of multimodal content, which could encourage all students to use them as an online space for presenting other work, or a record of their learning.  From this I’ve expanded on my ideas about using blogs, as online spaces within the classroom through the use of a PMI strategy in my blog post.

The second group of tools covered the use of images, audio and video. I really enjoyed discovering these tools. I loved the easy manipulation of digital images, and considered the use of digital audio in a school context, this lead me to again reflect upon my own learning in a blog posting. My focus tool is digital video as this week prompted me to think about my limited use of video. I have uploaded a video that my daughter and I produced using movie maker and reflected on the learning involved in this blog posting here.  Using movie maker allowed us to plan, make and learn about the topic that we were making the movie for. In this way my experience of using this technology will inform my teaching practice as I see how movie maker allows for an engaging way to learn content while also learning technological skills and work through from a plan to a finished product. 

Presentation tools were the group 3 digital tools. As I had experimented with glogster previously using images, I considered PowerPoint and Prezi in this  posting.  My initial attitude of reticence to newer technologies is evident in how I began to interact with Prezi. I found the intuitiveness ‘difficult’ and the zoom feature confusing. However the effectiveness of a finished Prezi is inspiring. As a learning manager I would consider using Prezi above and beyond PowerPoint for my own presentations for this reason. I also think that younger learners would benefit from the ease of the editing in Prezi. With practice things do make sense and the pictures instead of text menus enable even non readers to navigate the editor easily. For this reason my experience with Prezi was an important one in terms of my learning as it was a tool I was not comfortable using that now I would consider using more often. As a way of presenting content Prezi’s wow factor is something that I would love my students to see and associate with their hard work.  

The last group of tools included varied online digital tools including animations and simulations. Learning objects were also included.  I loved Google Earth and as a resource it seems to have limitless applications. I have included the introductory Youtube clip in my blog for this week’s tools.  I admit I found it challenging to use and slightly frustrating to control and find what and how to do things as this was the first time I had seen the layers. My previous experience of using this tool has been for the novelty value of being able to look up local areas therefore as a learning manager I can see how my expertise in using this resources has plenty of room to grow. My focus tool for this group is ZooBurst pop up story books. This seems to be a simple tool where stories can be written with graphics that pop up when you turn the page. As an early childhood teacher this resources really appealed to me because of the simplicity. It was colourful and I immediately started to think about the application in classrooms. I think this would be a great resource in an early years environment and I’ve shared some of my ideas about using it within this blogposting.

In conclusion, I started this course with a pessimistic mindset toward the use of technology. I’ve found that using the technology has excited me and encouraged me to think about applying it within classroom situations. Using the scaffolding of ‘thinking hats’ has allowed me to understand further how digital tools for their own sakes are not enough in a classroom, and specific thought needs to be given on the learning managers behalf on how the tools will extend learning. Further to this a real integration between the content area being taught, the tools themselves and then the skills needed to use the tools and demonstrate the learning is the ideal. I’ve found through my own practice that digital tools lend themselves to a learning through doing approach, however this still needs to be carefully scaffolded to support reticent students like myself and to gently encourage students to use the tools in a way that investigates the content area, and expands thinking. I am just at the beginning of my learning journey into managing E- learning, and I am looking forward to continuing to learn.

Florida, R. (2002). The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Hargreaves, D. ( 1998). Creative professionalism: The role of teachers in the knowledge society. London, UK: Demos.

Leadbeater. C. (2002). Up the down escalator: Why the global pessimists are wrong. London, UK: Viking.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. ( 2006, June). Technological Pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054

Paik, H. S. (1998). One intelligence or many. Retrieved from  http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/paik.html

Turner- Bisset, R.(2001). Expert teaching. London,UK: David Fulton Publishers.

concept mapping and other digi tools

 The group 4 technologies include many technologies
The first group are simulations and animations. As a learning manager I would consider these a useful addition to my knowledge of online tools as animations seem engaging to most people regardless of age. Simulations also seem to produce credible learning results with simulators used in many adult learning situations including highly skilled fields such as aviation.

Interactive learning objects are also included in this group of tools. Learning objects are generally resources that can be used to support learning. In this context they refer to digital technological resources. The ability of learning objects to be reused and used in different circumstances is one of the capabilities that make learning objects useful for teachers. In some situations learning objects have been shown to increase learning above and beyond the use of paper and pencil tasks.
Mathletics and associated games on rainforest maths provide learning objects that can be used by children in schools either by teachers using these resources on a smartboard in an instructional way or by children individually using them at their own computers.

Google earth

Google earth is a great digital resource that has many applications in the classroom. google earth has layers that allow exploration of more than simply the earth's surface. It may be useful in investigating human growth on our planet, the animal kingdom, geogrpahy subjects including volcanoes and earthquakes, not to mention using it to investigate places, map local areas and even create virtual tours. Google Earth also provides resources and tips for using this digital tool.
Similarly Google maps is another useful resource. Google maps can be easily manipulated using some other software, and photos and placemarks added to and then embedded into class Wikispaces. (Barrett, n.d.)
Google Documents
Google documents is an online digital tool that really supports collaboration.

As a teacher I can see Google documents being a useful tool as you are able to set who can access the document to make changes. Google docs can also be used to by teachers to publish documents that can easily be shared.
 Concept Mapping
Bubbl.us is a concept mapping tool.

ZooBurst Interactive digital story books.


 I loved using this web tool. As an early childhood teacher I really started to see how I could use these tools when I began to play with this. The way content could be tailored to stories designed by the learning manager to use in whole group situations to further reading practice, and then learners could also make their own stories through planning them, and producing them. These stories could also be used in simple sequencing lessons in an early childhood context as they can be made to a desired length by the author.  It is an easy interface to use, and the graphics are colourful and engaging. Upgrading to the full features so that audio could also be used would make this resources even more engaging.

Strap on the tool belt there could be more tools to come...

Presentation tools
Power point is a presentation tool. University introduced me to power point and it is used with varying degrees of success in our lectures. I love the PowerPoints that draw me in acting as a teaser, almost an add on to the lecturer's presentation. The PowerPoint seems to work as a prompt for the lecturer to ensure that the valuable information is presented, but does not need to be read word for word. Similarly it is used to entce the learner in, containing quotes, images, embedded videos and sound effects that liven up the spoken presentation.
I had to ask my teenager to show me how to use PowerPoint when it was first introduced to me as an adult learner.
The first power point I have ever made is a demonstration of where my technical skill began and I know I can continue to improve upon it in the future.

First power point I ever made

View more presentations from mummameme

As a learning manager I feel confident about using PowerPoint for presentations. In my prep class this year powerpoint was an easy to use program that enable the teachers to produce slide shows with sound effects using the photos of the children in the class, and animated clip art pictures. After our class excursion the photos from the day were collated into a PowerPoint presentation that was then able to be used to prompt the students thinking before structuring a recount and writing a recount of their excursion the next day. The presentation was also able to be used to share with the parents who had been unable to come on the excursion.


Prezi is also a presentation tool. To be very honest, I've investigated Prezi before and despite it being touted as intuitive I will admit it scared me off. Being a slightly older learner, I wonder if I have gotten so used to the 'linear' structure of things that I actually find 'intuitiveness' goes against the grain in many ways. Bring back the old school style where I ask someone how to do something and I get an instruction book thank you very much! Despite my somewhat lukewarm appreciation last time though I am going to give Prezi another chance. I have discovered through interacting with technologies that once you start to play with them soon you no longer hanker for the instructions, I am even finding that I may get impatient when instructions are proffered - " No thank you," I may say "If I need instructions, I know how to search for them, ask Google or find the help button - For now I just want to play with this and see how it works for myself " .  Here's hoping with that frame of mind I manage to come up with my first Prezi. Watch this space!

First Prezi on Prezi

Using images online.

Using images online is something I've always been slightly cautious with. I own this photo, and that negates those tricky copyright questions that seem to arise when sharing and using images from the world wide web. In the past I've tended to use creative commons images sourced from searching for content that has been shared under a license that allows for sharing the content. Usually this works well with the image needing to be attributed to the owner.
I've also been quite cautious with sharing photographs of my children out here in the big www.

I am also aware of different parents opinions on the safety of sharing images of children online. It is a touchy subject for some people. On one end of the scale some parents post a large selection of their children in all sorts of situations, and at the other end parents have known to be upset with photographs of their children being uploaded and shared on social networking sites without express permission from them, the parents. As  a teacher this idea of permission for sharing images is something that most schools seem to provide paperwork for with permission forms used to regulate the use of images and how they can be distributed. Using password protected sites and being aware of privacy issues is an important part of using images in schools.

This image was enhanced using Picnik.  This is a free photo editing website. I can see this kind of photo editing becoming very addictive. It offers a great digital platform for creative play with images. Being able to add in text and other additions could make this a useful tool when designing image content for class tasks. I can imagine children would very quickly work out what all the tools do and become quite adept at using this site.

Images don't have to be photographic. Voki is a popular site used to create avatars to use online.



I've also wasted spent a whole lot of time exploring glogster. I've attempted to "poster myself" ( well an image that I own, anyway). Here's hoping I can embed it here...


  It seems I can although size wise it needs some tampering but I am not about to try to change the values in the HTML code right now. That would really be pushing my advancing technological know how.

Multi media tools...the noise, the imagery, the learning.

Group 2 tools - Images, audio and video

Video;Using movie maker in educational contexts.

Here is a short movie that my daughter took for her show and tell in year 2 when they were doing a unit on camping. While I helped her produce this movie in y capacity as a mother rather than an educator, I have reflected on it anew during this weeks consideration of digital tools. The brief for the show and tell was to bring in photos of your camping experiences to share with the class. Having seen what movie maker was capable of I asked Delphi is she would like to use it to produce a movie instead of printing photos out. Being quite new to how it worked I found the easiest way to produce the movie was to collaborate on the design. In this way my daughter selected the colours, font, transitions and even chose the soundtrack. I then helped her to manipulate the images into the sequence and publish the movie to a disc. We do not own the rights to the music - It is credited at the end of the movie. It is "Countryside" by Empire of the Sun.
Had we had more time I would have liked my daughter to be able to play with this program more herself, she was engaged with the use of it and after the show and tell her teacher and class followed up with more 'movie' show and tell productions. This worked well due to the smartboard technology that was available.

This is just one way movie maker can be used, and probably a fairly old fashioned way! I'd love to investigate making other types of movies and using digital video as well. The technology is so wonderfully able to be manipulated and then used in many configurations, enhancing creativity by being able to be combined with other programs such as using PowerPoint slides to create images that can then be used to make stop motion animation.
The other consideration is time. I've spent hours fiddling with embed codes and asking Google lots of questions regarding how to put a video into my blog. Who knew that it was as simple as clicking on the insert video link in the editor box! A few false starts but here's hoping it is working now.



Mobile Learning
Also in this weeks resources was a reference to mobile learning. Mobile learning refers to the use of tools such as ipods, ipads and smartphones which are capable of being 'mobile' computers. These devices offer up ways for learning to be 'on the go'. Statistics and trends show the ownership of devices such as these is steadily on the rise. This therefore is an area where the tech savvy learning manager can also look at developing their pedagogy. One way of using mobile learning is through simple polls such as the one I developed asking for opinions on mobile phones in classrooms. In this way student responses could be collected by learning managers as an initial assessment or formatively throughout a learning experience. Similarly it could be used to develop classroom climate by providing students with a platform to 'have a say' on things including choices for classroom management.



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