All groups purchased the same items and number of each item. The students are to anaylse the shopping lists and explain why all of the groups have a differnt total cost. Two of the groups shopping lists are provided here.
Group1
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Week 1 - Brainstorming activity
One students mind map constructed when brainstorming indivudal prior knowledge.
The same students mind map after collaborating with their peers to extend their knowledge and add futher ideas to their mind map. (The students additional ideas are in purple bubbles)
The same students mind map after collaborating with their peers to extend their knowledge and add futher ideas to their mind map. (The students additional ideas are in purple bubbles)
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
Week 5 - Students advertising poster
E-mail sent from a student to the class teacher with their vote for the posters.
Hi Miss Fernie,
I would like to vote for Abby Jones poster because it is bright and colourful and she has covered all of the information that people need.
From Ivy Smith
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Analysis of Digital Technologies
The 21st century has seen the introduction of
many new technologies and continual increased use of these technologies in
education. The term e-learning is used to refer to the intersection of
education, teaching and learning with information and communications technology
(ICT) (White 2013). E-learning is an important aspect of today’s curriculum as
it aids in engaging, enhancing and innovating learning (Fasso 2013) that will
improve students chances of becoming a success in their life after school. In
order to improve learning outcomes with the incorporation of ICT, effective
pedagogy is essential. Pedagogy can be defined as the craft of teaching, with a
positive interaction occurring between teacher and student (Fasso 2013). There
are three interconnected and mutually depending components of e-learning, which
include digital pedagogy, digital content and eLearning spaces. These three
aspects create a new light on education for the new generation of digital
learners. All three aspects must be present and balanced as displayed in figure
one in the classroom in order for effective learning outcomes (Education
Queensland 2008).
Figure 1: The three components required for balanced and
effective eLearning (Education Queensland 2008)
The four learning theories that need to be understood by teachers in
order to design effective learning activities for students include
behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism. Please click
here to view an infographic that does
a brilliant job of explaining the basics of each theory. As described by
Edudemic (2013) and Fasso (2013) each of the learning theories being the
traditional three and connectivism introduced in the digital age all overlap in
one way or another making a combination of the four necessary for a complete
learning experience. To plan effective e-Learning the TPACK
framework and Blooms Taxonomy
are essential. The TPACK framework helps teachers make informed decisions about
how technology can support the content to transform learning and pedagogy that
supports the best learning outcomes. Whereas Blooms Taxonomy allows the teacher
to decide on the complexity and level of thinking their students will engage in
when undertaking an e-Learning activity (Fasso 2013). This reflective synopsis
will address how wiki activities, blogs, digital videos, prezi and bubbl.us are
effective e-Learning technologies that can support, facilitate and enhance
learning for the new generation ‘digital natives’.
The group one tools that were explored and created include blogs,
wikispaces and websites. After an exploration of each tool we were asked to use
an analytical tool/thinking routine such as PMI or SWOT analysis to evaluate
each one. Through my investigations with these three tools I have decided to
analysis blogs, however please feel free to explore the link to the other two
tools first. Please click here to
be taken to my blog posting where I have identified the features of wikispaces
and websites, undertaken a PMI chart for each, provided examples of how I would
use these tools in my classroom and provided links to the wiki and website that
I made. I have chosen blogs over the other two tools in this group because each
child in my class will be individual, seeing carefully scaffolded activities
allowing students to work in their individual zone of proximal development. If
desired a group blog can also be effective seeing students collaborate and work
as a team. I am aware that high-quality learning activities can be scaffolded
using wikispaces or websites and will be used at some point in my teaching;
however I think blogs are more of an individual approach to a students
learning. Effective scaffolded activities allow learners to ‘climb the ladder’
so to speak of Blooms Taxonomy from lower to higher order thinking and increasing
the complexity of their activities at a pace that challenges them but at the
same time is not too hard seeing them give up or work that is too easy, seeing
a student not being challenged and gaining new knowledge. Please click here to
read about the functions and facts of blogs, including a PMI chart on the use
of blogs in the classroom, examples of how to incorporate blogs into classroom
activities and the legal, safe and ethical guidelines that should be followed
when working in a blog. Make sure you check out the cyber
safety quiz, that I recommend all primary students undertake before being
allowed access to the web. To demonstrate that I am capable of using a blog and
therefore will be able to use it effectively in my classroom click
here to view the features of text, images, videos (using embed codes) and
web links that I have incorporated into a blog posting.
The group three tools that were examined and created include
PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster. After exploration of these tools I decided to
analysis Prezi as it was the most appealing to me. Before discussing Prezi
further, please click
here to view my exploration of PowerPoint and Glogster. Prezi was the most
appealing tool to me because of its effectiveness in engaging an audience due
to the fantastic zooming feature. The ability to zoom in on text or images
allows teachers to get their students focused on the most important aspects of
the lesson. Arrows can be an effective feature used to point out minute detail
in images. When the arrow is clicked on, the screen is zoomed in to the tiny
detail that would otherwise not be seen if using PowerPoint. Prezi is an
excellent tool that can be used by all students in the class as it accommodates
all learning styles; visual, kinaesthetic and auditory (Rivers 2011) seeing
each student create their own individual presentation that suits their learning
style. Prezi can also be used as a collaborative tool seeing students from
schools around the world working on and adding to the same Prezi which would be
a fantastic cultural and educational learning experience for all involved.
Please click here
to view the ease of use, benefits for learning, examples of how I would use
this presentation zooming tool in my classroom, the Prezi that I made and the
legal, safe and ethical guidelines for using Prezi as it requires internet
access.
The wide variety of group four tools provided for exploration inspired
many ideas for their use in the classroom. The tool that I consider to be most
valuable to me in my classroom is the online concept mapping tool bubbl.us.
Bubbl.us is a Web 2.0 tool that is simple and easy to use, allowing the
creation of an online mind map (Web 2.0 Teaching Tools 2009). The simplicity of this tool and its technology
based nature makes it a fun and educational tool to incorporate into many
classroom activates. Mind mapping allows learners to arrange information or
ideas to suit their pre-existing ideas, prior knowledge and schema (Fasso 2013)
which encourages learners to express their creativity. The many features of
this tool allows learners to display their ideas on a topic, emphasizing
connections with the use of images, colours and symbols. By allowing students
to express their ideas using their most effective learning style with the use
of images, colours and symbols improves memory retention significantly (Web 2.0
Teaching Tools 2009). Teachers have the ability to scaffold student thinking
with the use of concept mapping to analysis the elements of a new or complex
subject initiating the use of critical thinking skills. Collaboration on a
topic causes students to build on each others ideas improving their critical
thinking and communication skills (Web 2.0 Teaching Tools 2009). Please click here to
read about the ease of use, benefits for learning, some ideas on incorporating
this tool into classroom activates, the mind map that I created using bubbl.us
and the legal, safe and ethical guidelines that should be followed when using
this online tool.
In summary, e-Learning aids teachers in supporting,
facilitating and enhancing learning for digital natives. To plan effective
e-Learning lessons it is essential that teachers have the TPACK framework and
Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind. When scaffolded correctly and incorporated into class
lessons wiki activities, blog’s, digital videos, prezi and bubbl.us support
cognitive development, facilitate learner centred activities and enhance
learning by forcing students to express their creativity, critical thinking and
higher order thinking skills. The four tools that have been analysed in this
reflective synopsis link ICT with the other Key Learning Areas, hence teaching
students the skills required in the 21st century workforce. These
tools are very versatile allowing teachers to create either collaborative team
or individual activities that are not restricted to the classroom. As
technology is a continual increasing factor in education it is essential that
legal, safe and ethical practices are discussed with students and modelled by
teachers to prevent any breaches of the guidelines.
The cyber smart quiz discussed earlier is a great way to test primary
school student’s knowledge of web safety before allowing them access.
After exploration of many digital tools over the
last five weeks I have learnt that technology is a must in the classroom of 21st
century learners, new educational technology resources are becoming available
all of the time and when using technology in the classroom you should always
have a plan b and c. I cannot wait to put some of my ideas discussed in this
reflective synopsis into action in my own classroom!
References
Bell,
A. (2004). Digital video tips for the
classroom. Retrieved from http://www.nevada.k12.ia.us/DigitalVideoTips.pdf
Educational origami. (2013). Bloom’s Introduction. Retrieved from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+-+Introduction
Education Queensland. (2008). eLearning for smart classrooms. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/documents/strategy/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf
Edudemic.
(2013). A Simple Guide To 4 Complex Learning Theories. Retrieved from
Fasso, W. (2013). EDED20491 - ICT's
for Learning Design: Study guide. Rockhampton, Qld: CQUniversity, Australia
Larkin, J. (2012). Teaching,
technology and professional development. Retrieved from http://www.larkin.net.au/
Rivers, J. (2011). Benefits
of using prezi in the classroom. Retrieved from http://prezi.com/zgb-avk7pnfm/benefits-of-using-prezi-in-the-classroom/
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools.
(2009). Bubbl.us – Brainstorming,
Critical thinking, Creativity. Retrieved from http://www.web2teachingtools.com/bubbl_us.html
White, G. (2013). E-Learning
Definition. Retrieved from http://apo.org.au/commentary/e-learning-definition
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Week 6
Reflection and consolidation
In today’s
society children are introduced to technology from a very young age,
consequently making them somewhat dependent on it in their everyday lives. Mobile
learning devices including mobile phones, iPods and iPads possess many
affordances that assist in the everyday life of people, are fun and most importantly
educational. All of these devices allow the user to access the internet,
hundreds of thousands of custom applications, record sound, capture images and
record video footage (Fasso 2013). Along with the many affordances of mobile
learning devices there are some concerns about the health of users. Most
activities undertaken today pose some risk to the operator, however mobile
phones are thought to be the most hazardous internet-enabled device available
(Fasso 2013).
CTIA-The Wireless Association (2012) provides an overall view from students and teachers from different learning areas on the affordances to mobile learning devices.
Educators from around the globe argue strongly that mobile learning devices have an abundant amount of affordances and would easily be used in place of paper as they are inexpensive, personalized, support an extensive range of applications and are already owned by many school aged learners (Fasso 2013). These devices make learning fun and exciting for learners seeing them more engaged in what they are learning and provides the benefit of learning to occur at anytime and anywhere.
Examples of using
mobile learning devices/apps in the classroom with primary school students
iPod touch
·
Voice
recording – collaborative story building
·
Conducting
assessment with online polls
·
Image
search
·
Keeping
track of the weather – using the data for an assignment
(32 Interesting Ways to use an iPod Touch in
the Classroom 2012)
iPads
·
Mind
mapping – organization and sharing of ideas
·
Timed
reading practice – great for improving literacy skills and fluency in learners
·
Voice
thread – allows learners to talk, type and draw on the screen – great for
collaboration on a given topic
·
ABC
spelling magic – provides pictures to help young students learn three letter
words – sounds of each letter are also provided assisting the learner to construct
the word
(103 iPad 2 uses 2013)
Mobile phones
·
Calculator
– help with math problems when you don’t have access to a calculator
·
SMS
reminders – teachers can send students reminders about due dates for their
homework or remind them to return a permission slip
·
Blogging
– students can use their mobiles to update their blogs or extract homework
questions from a class blog
·
Unit
converter –who doesn’t have problems converting units of measurement, volume
etc.... I think this is a fantastic app found on every basic mobile phones
(Barret 2012)
Before
attempting to give a lesson or provide an activity for students using any of
these devices it is highly recommended that you as the teacher spend as much
time as required to become fluent with using the device (Langwitch 2012).
References
Barret, T. (2012).33
Interesting Ways to use Mobile Phones in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P_cfWd6S9UwXLKk4xCbRnTuoGmHrVGSbWrWZHW5P1pg/edit?pli=1#slide=id.i0
CTIA-The Wireless
Association. (2012, May 21). CTIA Visits a leader of Mobile Education in
the Classroom [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft4jPJpcG3g
Fasso, W. (2013). EDED20491
- ICT's for Learning Design: Study guide.
Rockhampton, Qld: CQUniversity, Australia.
Langwitch. (2012, March 11). My Ten Most Used Apps To
Become Fluent on the iPad [Web log post]. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from http://langwitches.org/blog/?s=Mobile+learning+devices
103 iPad 2 uses.(2013). Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fRPd8b_lzq68CANkGVKyH135qtE7O2cg4Ye3kit9qU/edit?pli=1#slide=id.i0
32 Interesting Ways to use an iPod Touch in the Classroom. (2012).
Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17owWGfe9UtNaH9xbFVh03odKx6HMaQB_mgVf3j4K3Vg/edit?pli=1#slide=id.i0
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Week 5
Digital Technologies 3 & 4
This week we explored some new and exciting digital
technologies that can be implemented in the classroom to support learning. The technologies explored this week include
PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster.
PowerPoint
Ease of use
When going through the tutorial for making a basic PowerPoint I found that I already knew how to do most things. PowerPoint is a versatile program used by many people, which I have utilised myself throughout my primary and secondary schooling and also in my previous university degree to support oral presentations. However when it come to making an interactive PowerPoint I had no idea that the program consisted of so many additional features that I had never known about or been shown how to use. I found the interactive features of PowerPoint such as Mouse Mischief very interesting and think that a feature such as this would be very engaging when used in a primary school for learning activities.
Benefits for learning
Both teachers and students can benefit from PowerPoint by using it to support a lesson and oral presentation respectively. PowerPoint allows the user to embed text, audio, video and images, along with creating images, interactive quizzes or concept maps (Fasso 2013). PowerPoint presentations are presented in a linear order which is great for some students that have a sequential learning style and not so good for students that don’t learn most effectively from linear activities. As mentioned above the Mouse Mischief program run through PowerPoint can be used as a whole class activity seeing up to 25 students being able to actively participate in a lesson.Using it with Primary school students
·
Getting them to use PowerPoint to display an
assessment piece
·
In small groups use PowerPoint to make a concept
map of a given topic
·
Make a PowerPoint with a letter of the alphabet
on each slide with a small word and picture of something starting with that
letter for young students P-2 to work through individually or in groups to
learn the alphabet and make associations with words and things that start with
each letter – a similar activity could be done for colours and numbers
·
Make a quiz on a topic that has been taught in
class for the students to do to see how much they learnt from a lesson
·
After a class excursion students could be asked
to put a PowerPoint presentation together using the images they took and the
information on the handouts they received to be shown to their parents
Please click here, you will be taken to my wiki where
you can view the interactive PowerPoint that I made. The main feature of the
PowerPoint is the use of hyperlinking.
Prezi
Ease of use
I have to admit that I got very angry with this program on my first attempt to use it as it was completely new and I was just doing everything wrong. After some much needed assistance from my partner who has limited computer knowledge I was on my way to creating my own Prezi which I found to be very enjoyable and much more fun to use than PowerPoint. I loved that you could choose templates, search and insert images and videos straight from the internet and add, move and change frames. After getting my head around how Prezi worked I found it so easy to use and think I would use it over PowerPoint to present a class lesson or to get students to make their own presentations.Benefits for learning
Prezi is a non-linear presentation tool that would be best suited for those global learners that struggle learning from or using PowerPoint. The main feature of Prezi is its zooming capabilities. The first slide shows the big picture, from which you have the ability to zoom into very small detail and out again to the big picture (Fasso 2013). The zooming in and out on information is more likely to keep students interested and willing to learn in comparison to a PowerPoint slide where half of the information is too small to read causing students to lose interest in the lesson. As I found the program difficult to use in the beginning I would suggest that only higher grades use the tool, however younger grades may have the capability of using the program as they are generally more tech savvy than us these days.Using it with Primary school students
- Present the class with information on a topic at the start of a lesson, with all information readable to students at the back to the class due to the zooming ability of the program
- Students could use the program to present a research assignment with each slide zooming in on a different aspect of the research, diagrams and or examples that help explain their findings on the topic
- Weekly spelling words – have the list of words as the big picture then zoom in on each word for the students to look at, then each letter so that they can spell it out, followed by a blank slide after each word so they could think about it and have a go at spelling it without looking – this activity could be run by the teacher for the whole class, in small groups of students or taken home on a USB to practice for homework
- Teachers can scaffold a unit of work around their students building a Prezi on the unit of work as they go. After being introduced to the basic information by the teacher at the beginning of each lesson on a particular unit students could be provided with websites to explore to gain further knowledge on the topic. Students would then use Prezi to create a presentation of their understanding. By the end of the unit of work all students in the class would be able to present a completed presentation to their peers. From receiving information from the teacher, to researching for a further understanding and creating a presentation using the zooming feature to show the class what they thought were the most information aspects of the unit all students will have worked through Bloom’s Taxonomy starting from the bottom and working through to utilising higher order thinking skills.
Please open and view the Prezi
below that I constructed on the Animals of Africa.
Legal, safe and ethical guidelines for students when working in Prezi
·
10% of a work can be copied for educational
purpose
·
All
material that is not your own should be referenced appropriately. This includes
text, images, video and audio
·
Cyber bulling is not acceptable and will not be
tolerated
·
All schools should have a content filter in
place on students computers to prevent the risk of children being exposed to
inappropriate material e.g. pornographic, violence or illegal practices (Fasso 2013)
As internet access is required to
use the Prezi tool it is essential that students understand the rules and
safety issues of working online. As always the teacher should model these
guidelines in their practices online to encourage safe internet practices in
their students.
Glogster
Ease of use
The online scrapbooking tool Glogster is very easy to use, providing the user with a number of different page designs to select from; there is also the option of starting from scratch and creating your own page design. There are many different effects that can be added to a Glog to make it bright, interesting and interactive. A teacher and their students are all connected to each other allowing the teacher to view the progress of their students work. No one else is able to view a student’s work making it a very safe site for primary school students to be using.Benefits for learning
Glogster is the 21st century version of a
traditional poster used to display a student’s work. It allows the user to
include text, images, videos and audio. You can select frames for your images
and a player for audio seeing each student’s creativity shine and guaranteeing
unique work by all students. This interactive online poster allows students to
incorporate the features mentioned previously into their work making the task
more appealing to students and interesting for their peers to gain knowledge from
and to view different design ideas. A teacher can present what students would
normally call a boring topic using the features Glogster possesses to make it
more student friendly, gaining their interest and increasing participation in
discussions on the topic. Overall, I think students would find using Glogster a
fun and exciting activity that teachers can scaffold to maximise student
learning at the same time.
Using it with Primary school students
·
Getting students to present their assignments in
this form
·
Teachers can present activity instructions using
Glogster
·
After learning about a topic give the students a
question ‘What have you learnt from this topic?’ and get them to put everything
they have learnt on a Glogster to gauge how effective your lesson was
·
Students could make a group Glogster –
collaboration
After exploring the group four technologies I have decided
that I could incorporate bubbl.us into many classroom learning activities.
Bubbl.us
Ease of use
When doing my exploration of the group four technologies I
found bubbl.us to be one of the easiest tools to use, hence making it a very
appropriate tool to incorporate into the everyday teaching in a primary school
classroom. Starting with a topic in the parent bubble, you simply press ctrl +
enter to produce a child bubble off the parent one to start recording your
ideas. You can create as many child bubbles off the parent bubble and as many
sibling bubbles off each child bubble as you wish. The user’s ideas are
recorded in colourful bubbles, whereby the bubbles can be colour coded
according to the hierarchy of the ideas and information (Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
2009). If you are interested in using bubbl.us in your classroom,
click the web link to try it out for yourself https://bubbl.us/
Benefits for learning
Bubbl.us possesses many learning benefits for students,
including encouragement of group discussion, risk taking, helps to generate
ideas, helps in organisation of thoughts and incorporates multiple
intelligences (Web 2.0 Teaching Tools 2009). Carefully scaffolded brainstorming
exercises require students to use critical thinking and creativity in order to
display all of their thoughts and ideas on a topic and the connections between
them. Concept mapping is a very effective tool for both visual and kinaesthetic
learners. Along with adding text students can also include images to express
their thoughts and ideas on a topic. The visual learners in the class benefit
from associating ideas with images where as the kinaesthetic learners benefit
from physically writing down or drawing their ideas (Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
2009). Mind mapping can be used as a
collaborative group activity where students can bounce ideas off each other to
add to their map or as an individual activity where students can display their
information in the way that best helps them learn and understand. For example
some students may find a map like I have done below to be messy and may prefer
to display their ideas in more of a list format.
Using it with Primary school students
·
Used like a KWL activity – before learning a topic
students could be asked to construct a mind map using bubbl.us to write down
what they already know on the topic and some other things that would be
interested in learning about. The mind map which can be saved can be revisited
a few days later after the topic has been taught so students can add what they
have learnt to their mind map. The teacher can view the student’s maps to identify
any key ideas that are missing that should be revised to limit gaps in students
learning.
·
Used to
construct a story line e.g. including plot, theme, characters
·
Use to
collect ideas before researching for an assignment
Below is a mind map that I have made to analysis the digital technologies that have been explored this week. You can get my general findings from this map instead of reading my explanations if you only wanted a brief overview of the technologies explored.
The small image below provides an overall view of my map and the bubbl.us viewing page below that can be manoeuvred around and zoomed in and out of so that you can read all of my thoughts and ideas on PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster and bubbl.us. It needs to be zoomed in to 100% so that all text is in its bubble.
Legal, safe and ethical guidelines for working in bubbl.us
·
Student
accounts should be password protected
·
10% of a work can be copied for educational
purpose
·
All
material that is not your own should be referenced appropriately. This includes
text, images, video and audio
·
All schools should have a content filter in
place on students computers to prevent the risk of children being exposed to
inappropriate material e.g. pornographic, violence or illegal practices (Fasso 2013)
Before
incorporating bubbl.us into any classroom activities students should become familiar
with the above guidelines for working online.
References
Fasso, W. (2013). EDED20491 - ICT's for Learning Design: Study guide. Rockhampton, Qld:
CQUniversity, Australia
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools. (2009). Bubbl.us
– Brainstorming, Critical thinking, Creativity. Retrieved from http://www.web2teachingtools.com/bubbl_us.html
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