Hi to all those interested in reading my reflective synopsis on the various technologies in which I believe to be important and effective in the classroom environment.
If you are wishing to view this document, please follow this link to my Mediafire account and click on the "Reflective Synopsis.doc" link to view what I have written.
Just think, i'm providing a use for Mediafire in a classroom right here haha. (Providing files for students and teachers to access.
Anyways, here's the link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7f1b31007206325241446e35a78dc463e04e75f6e8ebb871
To dare is to do.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Week 5's Installment
The following resources will be used in this piece:
- Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education 20(2), p.240-254
- Ten Principles to Active Learning (http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/dowling_002.pdf)
- Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of learning: teacher’s manual. Alexandria, VA Sydney, NSW: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Well, well, well. Week 5 has brought even more interesting programs in which we have discovered.
The first was Ning. This social networking program is similar to that of the project room in the learning place. It's a great way of finding information required to instigate and continue learning. Also it is a great communication tool just like other such as myspace and facebook provide. "Students engage in colaborative, open-ended problem solving with peers as well as working independently when needed" (Ten Principles to Active Learning).
On the Flickr website, they have a section called creative commons. In this section, people are able to label certain copyright clauses to their image determining the types of uses to their images. These clauses are:
- Attribution License: Attribution - Yes, Rest - No
- Attribution-NoDerivs Licence: Attribution - Yes, No Derivatie Works - Yes, Rest - No
- Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Licence: Attribution - Yes, No Derivatie Works - Yes, Non Commercial - Yes, Rest - No
- Attribution-NonCommercial Licence: Attribution - Yes, Non Commercial - Yes, Rest - No
- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence: Attribution - Yes, Non Commercial - Yes, Share Alike - Yes, Rest - No
- Attribution-ShareAlike Licence: Attribution - Yes, Share Alike - Yes, Rest - No
This site has be helpful in teaching students how to understand what copyright is and that by not abiding to them is the same to going down to the shop and stealing a piece of fruit. There for this allows the students to become self-aware about their actions and are forced to also reflect on their actions to identify if their are right or wrong (Oliver, 1999).
Mahara is an e-portfolio and another networking application. It allows its users to make a portfolio of their learning to present to higher authorities. Mahara has the following uses: file manager, blogs and resume builder. This can be used by myself when I go for my interview after finishing my degree. Also students can use this application to complete documentation of a unit such as technology of how they created a solar boat for example. Marzano and Pickering say that students must know that organising and information is a very important part of learning as you have to evaluate on the best way in which the audience will read it (1997). Mahara would help the students to engage in that Higher Order Thinking stage on Bloom's Taxonomy.
Tag Galaxy is another application we looked at. It is a way to find the exact image you want by refining your search results to a deep extent. This can help students not only when finding images, but in breaking down a topic for research. Students, when given a topic, are able to type it in this program and it will give the user more options to what they could research. These research terms could them be put in a concept map form on bubbl.us to show their ideas. The students are not engaging in multimodal resources (Oliver, 1999).
Incompetech is an application that has been created to allow for safe and legal download of music, videos etc, but they must be correctly labelled to ensure copyright isn't breached. This can be used for students to continue the process of the previous paragraph to present the research topic and ensure the student's are continuing to engage in multimodal learning (Oliver, 1999).
File storage is another topic we explored yesterday. Mediafire is the application of choice and this allows users to upload and backup files and information onto an online area. This has a couple of benefits. One is that if your usb and computer crash, all of your data will still be accessable if you regularly place the data on this site. Another use is in the classroom when completing group projects. Students are able to complete individual tasks in a collaborative environment by uploading their work onto one profile. When the group complete their individual tasks, the group can then come together and access the data together and collaborate on what has been completed. This is important as explained by Oliver as he believes that collaboration tools are vital to student online learning (1999).
I have provided a graphic organiser on some risk analysis issues that relate to me as a teacher professionally and the rights of my students which engaging in electronic applications. Click on the image to have a better view.
I hope this weeks post was insightful as the previous installments.
Adios
To dare is to do.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Week 4's installment (Part 2)
The following resource will be used in this post:
The only problem with this system is the level of engagement provided. Sometimes, this form can be used where sheer content and readings are posted which does not accommodate for all learners and suite the ICT world. But if used technologically effectively can become a vital resource.
To dare is to do.
- Ten Principles to Active Learning (http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/dowling_002.pdf)
The only problem with this system is the level of engagement provided. Sometimes, this form can be used where sheer content and readings are posted which does not accommodate for all learners and suite the ICT world. But if used technologically effectively can become a vital resource.
To dare is to do.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Week 4's Installment
The following resources will be used in this post:
Webquests are something that I have some knowledge on due to the requirement of creating one for an assessment tasking in a prior course. WebQuests are designed to "use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of anaylsis, synthesis, and evaluation" (ISTE, 2001). Being able to provide an ICT where the student is required to complete the learning with minimal teacher input is a skill that is greatly required. It aids their research, group, presentation and higher order thinking skills in a engaging way. This tools can be identified to be effected through Oliver as he believes that the learning must be scaffolded; which is definitely done in the creation of WebQuests (Oliver, 1999). We created a quick webquest on Weebly. Visit my Weebly page by clicking here.
Youtube. Something everyone should know about due to its widely published forms. It can be used effectively in classes during the engage and content section of a unit. It can allow students to become interested in a topic along with providing vital information to create a final assessment piece upon. Youtube is a program that I use regularly to great effect in the learning phases previously stated. McInerney & McInerney believe that such tools like these provide stimulus for the study of learning and thinking strategies, the teaching of cognitive strategies, and the assessment of cognitive strategies in the context of performance on academic tasks" (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, p. 96).
If students were required in a webquest to create a concept map, the site bubbl.us is a great tool for students to create this. It has various design feature while allowing for easy usability and all the normal perk of a concept map. Another way to publish work can be in the form of a digital book - specifically www.myebook.com. This is just like a PowerPoint or SlideShare presentation but in the form of a book. So just a different design feature from the previous programs. Kearsley and Schneiderman believe that these tools explained above are important for student learning as project-based creation of learning is vital in everyone's learning journey (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999)
To Dare Is To Do.
- McInerney, D. M., & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson.
- Edheads. (2009). Edheads: activate your mind. Retrieved 28 July, 2009, from http://www.edheads.org/
- International Society for Technology in Education. (2001). Five rules for writing a great webquest. Retrieved 28 July, 2009, from http://www.iste.org
- Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education 20(2), p.240-254
- Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: a framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved 28 July, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
All I can say from this week is OMG!! We covered so much content in this tutorial. The focus of the tutorial was higher order thinking and the ways in which the use of ICT's can help this along the way.
We looked at Google Earth and Maps. This is a tool in which i have had some experience of. (In a previous post I have encorporated an image of CQUniversity.) I believe that this tool can be very important in engaging students in lessons by viewing various places around the world to understand their culture, sculptures etc. Vygotsky believes that it is important for students to have meaningful material in which they can relate to society to facilitate learning. (McInerney & McInerney, 2006). This tools allow students to view other places around the world and holistically study the environment, landforms, landmarks etc. to help the learning in such subjects as SOSE. Another feature can be the area or distance tool which can help in a maths setting when teaching measurement of areas such as the school oval.
We quickly visited the Learning Place and the advantages of it. This is something that I will use when looking for resources and ideas for units. It can provide all types of these on any topic through an easy search term. This tool is similar to that of Learning Management Systems that will be discussed further in the next post.
Webquests are something that I have some knowledge on due to the requirement of creating one for an assessment tasking in a prior course. WebQuests are designed to "use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of anaylsis, synthesis, and evaluation" (ISTE, 2001). Being able to provide an ICT where the student is required to complete the learning with minimal teacher input is a skill that is greatly required. It aids their research, group, presentation and higher order thinking skills in a engaging way. This tools can be identified to be effected through Oliver as he believes that the learning must be scaffolded; which is definitely done in the creation of WebQuests (Oliver, 1999). We created a quick webquest on Weebly. Visit my Weebly page by clicking here.
Youtube. Something everyone should know about due to its widely published forms. It can be used effectively in classes during the engage and content section of a unit. It can allow students to become interested in a topic along with providing vital information to create a final assessment piece upon. Youtube is a program that I use regularly to great effect in the learning phases previously stated. McInerney & McInerney believe that such tools like these provide stimulus for the study of learning and thinking strategies, the teaching of cognitive strategies, and the assessment of cognitive strategies in the context of performance on academic tasks" (McInerney & McInerney, 2006, p. 96).
If students were required in a webquest to create a concept map, the site bubbl.us is a great tool for students to create this. It has various design feature while allowing for easy usability and all the normal perk of a concept map. Another way to publish work can be in the form of a digital book - specifically www.myebook.com. This is just like a PowerPoint or SlideShare presentation but in the form of a book. So just a different design feature from the previous programs. Kearsley and Schneiderman believe that these tools explained above are important for student learning as project-based creation of learning is vital in everyone's learning journey (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999)
To Dare Is To Do.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Slideshare
Here's a slideshare presentation that I found interesting. (We were required to put something up there).
To Dare Is To Do
T07 0853173 Soccer: The "Complete" Sport
View more presentations from Chris Crombie.
To Dare Is To Do
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Week 3's Installment
The following resources will be used in this post:
Two areas in which were the emphasis of the lesson were vodcasting and podcasting. Vodcasting is the trasmission of videos and podcating is the transmission of audio.
Let's unravel podcasting. We were required to create an audio file using a voice recorder then upload this onto the computer then onto www.mypodcasts.com. This program is good to use as it allows any of you friends to listen to all of the new postings on your account. This could be a great tool in communicating with those overseas. My own podcast account URL is http://yidtodareistodo.mypodcast.com/index.html.
This technology could be useful in a classroom as it might be beficial to use in a group project. Recording everything that happened in the group and who did what could be a way to encorporate technology into a science, english or whatever unit to create a transdiciplinary unit; as identified to be important by Oliver through the use of quality resources to create authentic tasks (1999).
The next area which was explored was vodcasting. In groups we created a video using Movie Maker which encorporated both pictures and sound then uploaded it into our blogs. I found movie maker to be quite simple to use as I have previously used it at school. But for someone who hasn't used the program before, the culmination of combining images with sound along with uploading it onto our blog would be a difficult task. I believe that the whole idea of vodcasting is an effective way to provide tutorials for those who are visual learners along with learners that benefit from being told instructions. Within this, if the image weren't quite crystal clear or you wanted to make more alterations to the image, you can go to www.picnik.com which is a program that has various editing features to improve your images.
After the vodcast has been uploded, a program called feedburner allows all that are friends to view and download the video onto their ipod through itunes. Just another way to keep connected to others.
A follow on from this, www.voki.com is simply a program that allows you to create an avatar in which can be placed on your site to provide information. This tools is great for teachers to place on sites to provide an interactive tool in giving the steps to complete a task. The theorist, Mr Oliver believes in his Learning Design Framework that this type of tool is important for learning as mulitmodal resources must be used to scaffold learning in authentic and complex ways (1999).
Finally we covered two fun little programs: www.wordle.net and tagcrowd.com. This allows words to be placed in a form and once published, these words come up in an abstract way with the words appearing more times in the form to be larger. I have seen this tool being used for helping spelling where the larger words are the ones that the students have difficulty with. The Active Learning Framework identifies that "technology is used as a tool and a resource to support learning" (Ten Principles to Active Learning). As stated previously this technology supports learning through these specifications. Another way this could be used is for summarising pieces of work to identify the overarching idea of the text.
Below is an image of what tagcrowd can do. This is a summary of this blog posting.
- Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education 20(2), p.240-254
- Ten Principles to Active Learning (http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/dowling_002.pdf)
Two areas in which were the emphasis of the lesson were vodcasting and podcasting. Vodcasting is the trasmission of videos and podcating is the transmission of audio.
Let's unravel podcasting. We were required to create an audio file using a voice recorder then upload this onto the computer then onto www.mypodcasts.com. This program is good to use as it allows any of you friends to listen to all of the new postings on your account. This could be a great tool in communicating with those overseas. My own podcast account URL is http://yidtodareistodo.mypodcast.com/index.html.
This technology could be useful in a classroom as it might be beficial to use in a group project. Recording everything that happened in the group and who did what could be a way to encorporate technology into a science, english or whatever unit to create a transdiciplinary unit; as identified to be important by Oliver through the use of quality resources to create authentic tasks (1999).
The next area which was explored was vodcasting. In groups we created a video using Movie Maker which encorporated both pictures and sound then uploaded it into our blogs. I found movie maker to be quite simple to use as I have previously used it at school. But for someone who hasn't used the program before, the culmination of combining images with sound along with uploading it onto our blog would be a difficult task. I believe that the whole idea of vodcasting is an effective way to provide tutorials for those who are visual learners along with learners that benefit from being told instructions. Within this, if the image weren't quite crystal clear or you wanted to make more alterations to the image, you can go to www.picnik.com which is a program that has various editing features to improve your images.
After the vodcast has been uploded, a program called feedburner allows all that are friends to view and download the video onto their ipod through itunes. Just another way to keep connected to others.
A follow on from this, www.voki.com is simply a program that allows you to create an avatar in which can be placed on your site to provide information. This tools is great for teachers to place on sites to provide an interactive tool in giving the steps to complete a task. The theorist, Mr Oliver believes in his Learning Design Framework that this type of tool is important for learning as mulitmodal resources must be used to scaffold learning in authentic and complex ways (1999).
Finally we covered two fun little programs: www.wordle.net and tagcrowd.com. This allows words to be placed in a form and once published, these words come up in an abstract way with the words appearing more times in the form to be larger. I have seen this tool being used for helping spelling where the larger words are the ones that the students have difficulty with. The Active Learning Framework identifies that "technology is used as a tool and a resource to support learning" (Ten Principles to Active Learning). As stated previously this technology supports learning through these specifications. Another way this could be used is for summarising pieces of work to identify the overarching idea of the text.
Below is an image of what tagcrowd can do. This is a summary of this blog posting.
account allows along area audio blog com create difficult encorporate explored file form friends fun group html http idea image index larger learners maker movie mypodcast onto placed podcasting posting program provide quite recorder required site sound task technology tool unit upload used video view vodcasting wordle words www yidtodareistodo
created at TagCrowd.com
Monday, July 20, 2009
CQUniversity Flowers: Bundaberg
The fine flowers of CQUniversity in Bundaberg.
Commentry by - your's truely
Photography by - Laura
Bludging by - Leticha
Commentry by - your's truely
Photography by - Laura
Bludging by - Leticha
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Week 2's installment
The following resources will be used in this post:
We'll first look at Slideshare. I am still in the initial phase of this application but I believe it to be similar to that of youtube. It provides various information in a multimedia format but that similar of a PowerPoint presentation. Being able to post live scholarly PowerPoints for everyone else to view and use for academic purposes is something that is promising. I believe that this could more effectively used in a secondary schooling phase for teaching students, but be quite effective for older primary student to form assessment presentations here. The only difficulty that I associate with providing the use of students on this program is that significant teacher guidance is required because at times it is difficult to navigate throughout.
Wikispaces for me is just like a standard Internet site but with the ability to have multiple administrators altering the content of the site. This program could be effectively used in the association and creation of webquest type tasks where students are easily able to work in groups, individually work on separate pages and collaboratively formulate the entire document with the incorporation of each individual page. This positive to learning has been identified in the Ten Principles of Active Learning. Students are required to "engage in collaborative, open-ended problem solving with peers as well as working independently when needed" (Ten Principles to Active Learning) This type of technology allows students to engage in this principle quite effectively. A minor problem I noticed with this is that minimal design features are available for alteration. Also those students with extended computer knowledge are the ones who are able to completely benefit from this program.
Finally Powerpoint was also discovered. I believe that I have an extended knowledge in this program. Creating master slides, drawings and altering colours on images are something that I can associate with. Something I was disappointed with was the introduction of the "drag and drop" feature. Honestly you can complete this to the same success in Microsoft Word. Macromedia Flash is a program that would provide results with the drag and drop feature. In this you can program that thing that is being dropped to complete an action if it is dropped in the correct position. This would provide better results for prep students when completing such tasks like connecting animals to their matching sounds that they make.
I'm hoping next week we will be introduced to programs that will be as useful as those in the first week as quite frankly I believe that the uses for the programs explored this week are poor (to name it harshly).
Anyways until next time, don't be afraid to critically analyse new programs and not just say "Oh yeah this new program is so good!" Be weary!!
To Dare Is To Do
- Ten Principles to Active Learning (http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/dowling_002.pdf)
We'll first look at Slideshare. I am still in the initial phase of this application but I believe it to be similar to that of youtube. It provides various information in a multimedia format but that similar of a PowerPoint presentation. Being able to post live scholarly PowerPoints for everyone else to view and use for academic purposes is something that is promising. I believe that this could more effectively used in a secondary schooling phase for teaching students, but be quite effective for older primary student to form assessment presentations here. The only difficulty that I associate with providing the use of students on this program is that significant teacher guidance is required because at times it is difficult to navigate throughout.
Wikispaces for me is just like a standard Internet site but with the ability to have multiple administrators altering the content of the site. This program could be effectively used in the association and creation of webquest type tasks where students are easily able to work in groups, individually work on separate pages and collaboratively formulate the entire document with the incorporation of each individual page. This positive to learning has been identified in the Ten Principles of Active Learning. Students are required to "engage in collaborative, open-ended problem solving with peers as well as working independently when needed" (Ten Principles to Active Learning) This type of technology allows students to engage in this principle quite effectively. A minor problem I noticed with this is that minimal design features are available for alteration. Also those students with extended computer knowledge are the ones who are able to completely benefit from this program.
Finally Powerpoint was also discovered. I believe that I have an extended knowledge in this program. Creating master slides, drawings and altering colours on images are something that I can associate with. Something I was disappointed with was the introduction of the "drag and drop" feature. Honestly you can complete this to the same success in Microsoft Word. Macromedia Flash is a program that would provide results with the drag and drop feature. In this you can program that thing that is being dropped to complete an action if it is dropped in the correct position. This would provide better results for prep students when completing such tasks like connecting animals to their matching sounds that they make.
I'm hoping next week we will be introduced to programs that will be as useful as those in the first week as quite frankly I believe that the uses for the programs explored this week are poor (to name it harshly).
Anyways until next time, don't be afraid to critically analyse new programs and not just say "Oh yeah this new program is so good!" Be weary!!
To Dare Is To Do
Monday, July 13, 2009
HUMANMETRICS
Your Type is ESTJ.
I am a Guardian.
All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:
Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.
Sources: www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/Jtypes3.asp
keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=4&c+overview
I am a Guardian.
All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:
Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.
Sources: www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/Jtypes3.asp
keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=4&c+overview
Learning Styles
Style Scores:
Visual: 11
Social: 14
Physical: 7
Aural: 11
Verbal: 9
Solitary: 4
Logical: 16
Visual: 11
Social: 14
Physical: 7
Aural: 11
Verbal: 9
Solitary: 4
Logical: 16
This graph respresents a clear cut idea on which learning style is suited to me. I score quite highly in the logical and social sections. Also I have high results in aural and visual learning styles. The link between social, aural and visual learning styles can be easily understood. Also, when sterotypically identifying a male personality, having the largest learning style being locial comes at no suprise.
These learning styles have implications on the way I learn and also the way I teach others as I am studying to be a Learning Manager.
>
Source: http://www.learning-styles-online.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Week 1's Installment
The following resources will be used in this post:
Wow, what a week to begin in. At the beginning everything that Wendy was talking about was going "wwwooooshhhh" straight over my head. But that was mainly due to AT1 being talked about even though we hadn't started any content. As we progressed and moved into some content this is where I begun to become interested in what i was learning. I still stand by the real problem will be when I start to relate the content being learned to the assessment task.
This week we were introduced to 3 new applications, 2 of which I had not see/understood before. They were, Blogger (what I'm typing on now), Delicious (bookmarking tool) and Google Reader (way to follow what friends are creating).
Starting with Blogger. This is something I had some knowledge about. The ability to post your thought on the web with the ability for others to read and comment upon. By quite frankly this is where my knowledge stopped. I am now assuming that there are many more handy application within this program that will be helpful for this process that we are in for E-learning. But let's talk about what we already know.
I believe this blogging system is very handy when creating "scholarly" pieces. Not only do you have your own opinion placed on a public stage, you have the ability to become familiar with everyone else's beliefs through the comment system (providing people actually comment you). You can also comment on someone elses blog posting. This allows you as someone with strong ideas to identify the other side of an argument and research you side further to stake your case. This forces you as a "philospher" to use complex thinking processes to stake your theory correctly; which is something that Kearsley & Schneiderman believe to be important in their engagement theory (1999). Alternatively, the other person may stake their claim so well that you research their side of the argument further and totally change your opinions on the subject.
In summary of this program, I believe that it is an effective way in communicating ideas or arguments in an environment that is quite stable (providing the correct netiquette is applied).
The second application explored was Delicious. This is one of the programs that I had not previously explored. It allows people too bookmark web sites and place them on show for others to view through a handy key search term. Although I have limited knowledge with this, I believe at this stage, Delicious is just and updated version of "My Favourites" with the difference in providing the ability to share what is bookmarked rather than just keep them to yourself. This allows you as a learner to become connected to other learner's ideas and resources and therefore thecnically participate in long distance collaborative teams (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999).
Although I believe in this, I do think that Delicious would be helpful in a classroom. I see that students can place their research sites onto Delicious which can give other students the ability to locate them and use them effectively if they were completing an assignment. This resource can be put in place to force students to "challenge themsleves to learn utilizing teachers, peers and other resources to meet with success" (Ten Principles to Active Learning). The tecahers and peers side of this argument can be online and are not restricted to those in their immediate classroom. Although younger students may be able to use this program, I believe that to be effectively used, upper primary and secondary students who have the cognitive skills would be able to use this.
Finally, we were introduced to Google Reader. At this stage for me, it has been a tool in which I can follow other peoples blogs. So pretty my an inbox in which i can track blogs. I still need further research with this tool to make a better opinion upon this.
Anyways guys thanks for reading this installment of my E-learning adventure (wow that sounded so corny). Lodge those insightful comments about what I have written and if you haven't yet, become a "follower" of my blog so you are able to catch many more insightful blogs from me.
Adios
To Dare Is To Do
- Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: a framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved 28 July, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
- Ten Principles to Active Learning (http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/dowling_002.pdf)
Wow, what a week to begin in. At the beginning everything that Wendy was talking about was going "wwwooooshhhh" straight over my head. But that was mainly due to AT1 being talked about even though we hadn't started any content. As we progressed and moved into some content this is where I begun to become interested in what i was learning. I still stand by the real problem will be when I start to relate the content being learned to the assessment task.
This week we were introduced to 3 new applications, 2 of which I had not see/understood before. They were, Blogger (what I'm typing on now), Delicious (bookmarking tool) and Google Reader (way to follow what friends are creating).
Starting with Blogger. This is something I had some knowledge about. The ability to post your thought on the web with the ability for others to read and comment upon. By quite frankly this is where my knowledge stopped. I am now assuming that there are many more handy application within this program that will be helpful for this process that we are in for E-learning. But let's talk about what we already know.
I believe this blogging system is very handy when creating "scholarly" pieces. Not only do you have your own opinion placed on a public stage, you have the ability to become familiar with everyone else's beliefs through the comment system (providing people actually comment you). You can also comment on someone elses blog posting. This allows you as someone with strong ideas to identify the other side of an argument and research you side further to stake your case. This forces you as a "philospher" to use complex thinking processes to stake your theory correctly; which is something that Kearsley & Schneiderman believe to be important in their engagement theory (1999). Alternatively, the other person may stake their claim so well that you research their side of the argument further and totally change your opinions on the subject.
In summary of this program, I believe that it is an effective way in communicating ideas or arguments in an environment that is quite stable (providing the correct netiquette is applied).
The second application explored was Delicious. This is one of the programs that I had not previously explored. It allows people too bookmark web sites and place them on show for others to view through a handy key search term. Although I have limited knowledge with this, I believe at this stage, Delicious is just and updated version of "My Favourites" with the difference in providing the ability to share what is bookmarked rather than just keep them to yourself. This allows you as a learner to become connected to other learner's ideas and resources and therefore thecnically participate in long distance collaborative teams (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999).
Although I believe in this, I do think that Delicious would be helpful in a classroom. I see that students can place their research sites onto Delicious which can give other students the ability to locate them and use them effectively if they were completing an assignment. This resource can be put in place to force students to "challenge themsleves to learn utilizing teachers, peers and other resources to meet with success" (Ten Principles to Active Learning). The tecahers and peers side of this argument can be online and are not restricted to those in their immediate classroom. Although younger students may be able to use this program, I believe that to be effectively used, upper primary and secondary students who have the cognitive skills would be able to use this.
Finally, we were introduced to Google Reader. At this stage for me, it has been a tool in which I can follow other peoples blogs. So pretty my an inbox in which i can track blogs. I still need further research with this tool to make a better opinion upon this.
Anyways guys thanks for reading this installment of my E-learning adventure (wow that sounded so corny). Lodge those insightful comments about what I have written and if you haven't yet, become a "follower" of my blog so you are able to catch many more insightful blogs from me.
Adios
To Dare Is To Do
Monday, July 6, 2009
The first installment
Well, well, well.
Here were are.
When two paths collide.
Plus many more cliches that add to the beginning.
Mainly what I'm saying is that this is my first blog that I've created...ever. Mainly to do with the kind people at CQUniversity that have forced me to create an account.
I'm a mad keen Spurs fan as you can see by my blog address.
Anyways, we're moving on.
Tune in next time for a new interesting installment into the life of me.
Here were are.
When two paths collide.
Plus many more cliches that add to the beginning.
Mainly what I'm saying is that this is my first blog that I've created...ever. Mainly to do with the kind people at CQUniversity that have forced me to create an account.
I'm a mad keen Spurs fan as you can see by my blog address.
Anyways, we're moving on.
Tune in next time for a new interesting installment into the life of me.
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