Group 2 tools: Images, Audio and Video

Images
The following images come from The New York Times Magazines, this feature article was about weekly food consumption around the world.

Images sourced fromhttp://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

I can imagine these images would be very thought provoking for students who were doing a unit on nutrition, families, different culture etc. It is very easy to access quality images on the internet and in hard print. These images allow students to develop critical literacy skills and higher order thinking as they analyse and make judgments about what they see, think and wonder. The see, think, wonder strategy encourages students to consider what they are viewing closely as they ask these three questions "What do I see?", "What do I think about that?" and "What does it make me wonder?". The four resource model by Luke and Freebody would also be a great tool to use when analysing these thought provoking images. The four resource model asks the student to consider the image from different perspectives, as a code breaker, meaning maker, text analyst and text user.

The important thing is that the Learning Manager provides the students with quality images and gives them a framework to scaffold higher order thinking. Images are useless if students don't understand the critical literacy skills necessary to analyse them. This means that the Learning Manager must allow time in the unit to teach students these skills and to make them familiar with the metalanguage involved with images such as lighting, scale, position, purpose. Then students are confident and capable analysers who will be able to use higher order and deep thinking to really see the images!


Audio

Unfortunately podcasts really didn't grab me like the other tools have! I can see the value in students creating their own podcasts as the research suggests students learn best when they are actively creating as opposed to passively listening. I don't think that I would use podcasts in my classroom to convey information, especially in an early years classroom.

Vokis on the other hand are very appealing to me especially in an early years context! In the past I have only seen vokis with computer generated voices and I was excited to find that you can record your own messages to go with them. I think they are a really creative way of conveying certain types of information. They could become boring if over used but I believe that when used appropriately and in moderation they are a novel and engaging way of sharing information.

I have long had the idea of using a voki as a feed forward tool at the start of the day. Each day I could record what will be happening and the types of things the class will be learning. I would give the voki a name let's say "Fiona" and each day we would sit in front of our IWB and Fiona would tell us what is going to happen today. I think that this could be a great hook to a lesson and in this case a hook to the start of the day!

Video
I created this video using Reel Director on my iPod touch. This was such a simple process and I really enjoyed being able to take photos and transfer them straight into such an interesting and engaging medium for everyone to enjoy. All up it took about 10 minutes to take the photos and videos, arrange them how I wanted them and add music. I bought the music from itunes and then I was able to add it straight into the program. Following that the program had to render which took a while, but I was able to press the render button and walk away. The simplicity of this program made me think about how easily students could use this independently. It would be really simple for students to document things that they have learnt and then create a video for reflective or communicative purposes. Bloom's Taxonomy lists "create" as the highest level of thinking, with this tool students have the opportunity to document the information or experiences that they have had and then create something that will help them to share their knowledge with others. Please enjoy my video!




Thanks for reading

Group One Tools: Blogs, Wikis and Websites

Ok, I have played around and spent some time familiarising myself with these tools and I must say that I do see them as very valuable tools to use for personal and whole class learning.

Blogs
I set up my own blog without any problems and quickly started playing around with the functions and settings to make it personal! I found that the set-up of the blog and the way the blog interface is designed is very user friendly. I think that students would be able to use this interface quite easily if they were given a few introductory sessions and were able to play around with the interface. The most daunting thing about using the blog is that it is really a reflective journal for you to write down your thoughts. Normally this is reserved for private viewing as opposed to this blog where many people are able to scrutinize your grammar, spelling and general thoughts. I believe that in order for students to use blogs effectively the learning manager would need to provide students with support and information about the types of things to put in their blog. Their must be some type of framework or guiding questions in order for students to use higher order thinking when they are reflecting on their learning. Reflection is probably the number one thing that I would use this blog for in my classroom. Reflecting on learning is one of the most important parts of the learning and unfortunately it is often the thing that gets cut short as the bell rings. Students would be able to jot down their reflections using text, images, videos or other tools that they can embed in their blog. This makes the reflecting very personal to each student and doesn't limit them to pen and paper!!

Wikis
I created a wiki for my pretend year 5 class who have investigated rain forests and are now discussing the impact and influence that different stakeholders have on the rain forest. Having created this page and added text, sub-pages, videos and images I am impressed again with the ease of setting it up and interacting with the material. I especially like the fact that the learning manager can monitor the content and can restrict content with passwords, ensuring that the students have privacy within the wiki. It is important to set up a safe environment for students to work in as the internet can be a dangerous place for young children, but the password protection provides peace of mind for the learning manager and parents. I have created my pretend grade 5 wiki with the intent that groups would interact with each other and share information on their page. The front page gives an introduction to the project and encourages students to find their group (animals, homeowners etc.). On these pages I would put an activity that stirs up conversations and guides students to make valuable contributions. For example on the animal page students are asked to consider how the rain forest impacts the animals that live there. This way students are researching, communicating with each other and developing a shared understanding. I think that when using wikis in the classroom it is important to give students guidance about the content that they should upload and discuss to ensure that students are learning and using higher order thinking skills.

You will find my wiki here https://nikitabarnett.wikispaces.com/

Websites
Following my rain forest theme I created a website using weebly to make an information website about rain forests and the impact that different stakeholders have. I really like the way that you can drag different features onto the page and then edit them to put in your content. I really enjoyed playing around with the different functions and int he end thought that simple was best! I created different pages and if I was actually designing this for a class I would use this as a base for my students research. I would put up suitable websites for them to explore, word documents such as checklists, tips for internet searching or templates for them to display their work. As a learning manager I don't think that the goal is to monitor and restrict students access to the internet but I do think that it is helpful to have a place to start that is safe and reliable. Creating your own website means that you can monitor the content and guide students to reliable websites on the internet. I would be really interested to learn how I could make the website more interactive so that younger students could access the website using an interactive whiteboard and really interact with the content.

Here is my website http://year5rainforestproject.weebly.com/

Thanks for reading

Unpacking TPCK... What does it mean for me?

Throughout my time at university I have learnt about pedagogy and content knowledge. Both of these concepts are familiar to me and I understand the need to incorporate them in my classroom. TPCK takes this one step further and adds technology to the equation, not as an optional extra but as a crucial part of teaching in today's society. Below is an image of how the three areas work together to make "pairs". Each pair is just as important as the whole and it is important for teachers to know about each section separately, the pairs that are formed and the fusion that is TPCK. 

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK): 

Teachers must know what teaching strategies (pedagogy) best fit the particular knowledge that they are teaching. This results in students receiving information in a way that makes sense to them. 

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK):

The content that is taught can be changed and enhanced by using appropriate technology. Mishra & Koehler (2006) give the example of Geometer's sketchpad as a way to teach geometry. Students are able to play with geometry in a hands on way that doesn't change the content but changes the way students interact with it. 

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK):

Teaching students to use technology appropriately and pick which types of technology are appropriate is a skill in itself. Teachers must understand the components of the technology they are using and be prepared to teach students how to use the technology as well as teaching the content through technology. 

The combination of these things is TPCK, this is a blend of the above pairs. In order for TPCK to be effective teachers must realise that there is a dynamic relationship between the three areas, one that actually can not be separated into three areas, as they all work together.

Image from http://tpck.org

This all sounds very exciting, but how do I do it?? Apparently this is a question that many people are asking. It all becomes very overwhelming when you realise that there is so much to learn and so little PD that helps to make sense of it. Mishra & Koehler (2006) say that professional development doesn't work for these reasons
- The rapid rate of technology
- Inappropriate design of software (made for businesses not education)
- The situated nature of learning (tools are used for specific ages and contexts and PD is very generic)
- Emphasis on what not how.

They believe that the best way to learn is by designing. Teachers should be involved as practioners in the construction of units of work. This way teachers are not passive onlookers, but contribute to the process by identifying a learning need and working with others to find solutions. This involves the teacher identifying their specific content, audience and outcomes and experimenting with how technology and pedagogy can be used to best teach the content in that particular situation. This teaches teachers to use higher order thinking skills to analyse and make judgments, which will benefit them much more in the long run than simply listening to a lecture on technology.

Thanks for reading
Nikita

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M.J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: a framework for teacher 
              knowledge. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-learning, 
              http://e-courses.cqu.edu.au

Mobile phones in classrooms...?

This week the managing e-learning wiki asked us to consider whether mobile phones should be used in the classroom. To analyse the many perspectives that people have, we used De Bono's thinking hats. De Bono's thinking hats is a tool that people use to look at an issue from many different perspectives. I was drawn to the white hat because it encourages people to do some research! I don't really have an opinion about the effectiveness of mobile phones in classrooms because I don't know if they work!!

My contribution to the wiki was

whitehat.jpg

Nikita Barnett

Information: What information do I have? What are the facts? What information do I need? What do I want to KNOW?

- Information about the effectiveness of mobile devices in classrooms would be necessary to make this decision. This information could come from surveys, research or personal experiences

so... then that made me think, I wonder what sort of research is out there about this issue that will make me more informed.
Here are some things I have learnt
- In a survey done in Japan it was found that students use features such as email and document storing on their mobile phones far more than on a PC
- Students are already using mobile phone features such as to-do lists, reminders, online searching and emailing to help them in their studies
- Rich multimedia found on mobile devices are incredibly engaging and therefore more likely to capture students attention  and the information is more likely to be retained.
- Availability is a major issue, most classrooms have access to a computer, but this is a far cry from access for every child.
- Both students, teachers and administration need time and professional development to understand how these tools can be used effectively. There are a lot of people and programs out there that could have a positive impact on education, but there are not enough educators that are aware of how to make the best use of these tools

These are a few of the articles that I read, feel free to find out more!
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~yshigena/Thornton_Houser_2005.pdf
http://www.eduworks.com/Documents/Publications/Mobile_Learning_Handheld_Classroom.pdf
http://www.tojet.net/articles/8210.pdf

Upon reading this information and considering it from the perspective of the white hat, I felt compelled to add more to the wiki. This time I added information to the yellow hat. De Bono's thinking hats provide an excellent framework for learners to explore a topic. It is very difficult to construct knowledge with a group of other people without a common framework for people to be guided by.

This has made me consider what it would be like for learners in my classroom. I need to scaffold their learning in such a way that they feel comfortable to contribute and learn from sharing their opinions and knowledge. It is also important that the framework or guidance that you provide allows learners to use higher order thinking skills. The process of using De Bono's thinking hats in the wiki helped me to feel comfortable contributing to the wiki because I immediately saw something that I was familiar with (the thinking hats), I was able to pick a hat that suited me and I could learn about different people's perspectives and ideas which actually informed me a lot and inspired me to find out more and contribute to the wiki again.

I think that wiki's are great! but even greater when learners are scaffolded to contribute effectively!!

Thanks for reading

Nikita