Kids love videos...

I think no matter how dull the video, YouTube, DVD or movie clip may be, students always seem to get excited as the prospect of watching them! Videos will always have a place in the classroom providing they serve a difinitive purpose and are explicitly linked to the content being delivered. I am a big fan of using vidoes in my lessons particularly for Business Education as the theory work can become very dry and boring after a while (particularly with junior learners). A the moment my learning site has the ClickView program which I am continually looking to for videos/clips that relate to the content I am teaching. This is such a valuable resource as it provides a plethora of clips to choose from according to the subject area and comes with teacher support materials as well. Refer to ClickView's website (http://www.clickview.com.au/home.php) for further information on this technology (it is currently on trial at my learning site so it may not be available in all schools).

According to Oliver's ICT Learning Design Theory (1999), technology integrated into pedagogy is only effective if adequate scaffolding and support systems are offered. This is a very true statement as the use of video clips in the classroom needs to be supported by preparation or follow-up activities or activities conducted before or throughout the viewing of the clip (worksheet, note taking etc.)

The above clip is a video that I would use next term with Year 12 Geography in terms of introducing the class to several green renewable energy technologies. Videos are an effective way to break up the vocal (teacher) explantions in regards to the declarative knowledge content.

References:

ExcessOEnergy 2009, Solar and Wind Power: Renewable Energy Sources, viewed 6 August 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3TUTfy1n60.

Oliver, R 1999, Learning Design: The Learning Design Construct, viewed 9 August 2009, http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm.

Interactive Whiteboards

I am currently on prac at a school where many of the classrooms are equipped with Interactive Whiteboards and as such, I have underwent numerous training sessions in regards to this e-learning tool. The system used at my learning site are the Active (Promethean) Whiteboards. I firstly have to say that this technology is very time consuming to initially learn and to embed into learning experiences. I have used it several times throughout the year and it is gradually becoming easier to use. However before choosing to embed this technology into my pedagogy, I need to ensure that it will form the basis of a worthwhile learning activity.

After reading over the prescribed website from the Teacher Delivery Technologies page, I now have a few more ideas (as highlighted on the website) in terms of using the technology in my classroom. I thought that the brainstorming (mind map) activity would be useful to depict on the whiteboard as I could move around the suggested ideas according to patterns/issues/sequence of events etc. I loved the idea of the built-in-maps which I would most certainly use for my SOSE classes-it is just a matter of finding these resources on the whiteboard program. Creating a video file and uploading it to the whiteboard when teaching students software applications (such as creating speadsheets or graphs) in my business classes would also be an appropriate use for the whiteboard.

The interactive whiteboard conforms to Kearsley & Shneidernman's Engagement Theory (1999) as it encourages a hands-on approach to technology in terms of students engaging with the learning materials. For a timeline activity, I would ask students to come up the front and drag the correct sequence to its corresponding point on the timeline using the Promethean pen.

Reference:
Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B 1999, Engagement Theory: A Framework for technology-based teaching and learning, viewed 24 July, 2009, http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm.

My Flickr slide show!

Wow this Flickr thing took a while to get my head around! Once I had set up the account and had uploaded my photos I had to navigate between the Flickr website and my blog as to how to imbed this show. I finally got it working and am quite proud of myself :). I am now realising that with the world of e-learning it takes significant effort to initially get your head around the ICTs. However, once you correctly apply the procedural knowledge and achieve the desired result everything becomes much easier the second time!

I tried this a second time around after completing the image manipulation activity. I took the original photo of the leaves and manipulated it using the various tools on Picnik which I actually had lots of fun doing! I then had to embed the new HTML code into my blog so that it would show the new photo of the leaves that I added to the original show.

Prensky (2001) iterates that today’s learners are characterised as either digital natives or digital immigrants. Many of the students who I am currently teaching (particularly junior learners) are digital natives and have not known life to exist without the integral use of technology within society. As a digital immigrant, I believe that it is worth modelling certain technologies which students may be unfamiliar with 9Flickr) to demonstrate that you are keeping up with the technologies and can offer them a little variety in terms of introducing new technologies to them.

I believe that image manipulation is an important skill to promote in high school students particularly seniors who intend on progressing to university. At university we are continually having to submit assignments via email or digital drop boxes as and such there are size limits in regards to file size. Many students don't realise the size that a simple image requires and as such cropping/re-sizing images is an important technique to show students in preparation for univeristy/future employment.

Finally getting the hang of this!

Reference:
Prensky, M 2001, Digital Native, Digital Immigrants, viewed 20 August 2009, http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf.

YouTube

Here is a YouTube clip that I have already used as part of my pegagogy with my Year 8 SOSE class. We are currently studying a small unit on Natural Disasters and I used this clip to introduce and explain the concept of tectonic plates and continental drift theory. The class actively engaged with the clip as they were able to recall (in their own words) the key elements concerned with tectonic plates and the role they play in causing earthquakes and volcanoes.

By scaffolding the students' learning via the use of an ICT (YouTube clip) I was essentially conforming to Oliver's notion of using resources to firstly scaffold the learning journey which then equips students with the knowledge necessary to complete task (Oliver, 1999).



YouTube is a very powerful tool to embed in classroom practice as it sparks intial interest and students can readily relate to the format. However, it is important no to over-use the tool as students may become bored with continued use (as with any teaching strategy).


Reference:
Freudiger, M 2009, The Early Earth and Plate Tectonics, viewed 4 August 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDqskltCixA.

Oliver, R 1999, Learning Design: The Learning Design Construct, viewed 9 August 2009, http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm.

Slide Share

Living In The Shadow Of Indonesia’S Volcanoes

View more presentations from Hanselearningjourney.

Here is my presentation that I have uploaded to Slide Share. I checked back on it several hours after uploading it and already have 10 views! I seem to be forever composing PowerPoints for my lessons so I will definitely be referring back to Slide Share in the very near future for resources. After having a quick look around the website, I found several slide shows that would be of particular worth in my SOSE subjects. I only wish I had been told about this site earlier it is truly a gold mine!

Slide Share could be utilised by both teachers and students. I recommend this resource to all teachers who are keen to embed ICTs into their pedagogy but have limited time to do so. For students, I would take them to a computer lab and refer them to this site when introducing/explaining a new unit/topic of work. I would do this instead of presenting it to the whole class as students can work (copy down the key terms, diagrams, graphs) at their own pace.

Thank you ClassMarker!

Thank you ClassMarker! This is possibly one of the most useful and applicable e-learning tools that I will use for students' assessment. The initial design stage of the quiz took no longer than a hand-written or word processed quiz would take and as a student, I would much prefer to engage with a quiz based online than a standard black and white sheet of paper. Like any e-learning tool it took a little while getting used to the design of the site and how to manoeuvre around it.

After trialling this test with several learners from my 9 Business Education class, they indicated a positive reaction to it in terms of the different style of testing that it offered, receiving immediate and direct feedback in regards to their answers and that it seemed more important than the usual (paper-based) revision test.

ClassMarker ties in with Oliver's theory of ICT Learning Design (1999) as it facilitates hands-on engagement with the ICT (online test), effectively supports students' learning during the task (identifies where students went wrong) and provides adequate support system (clear test instructions and questions). The second time around designing the test, I would change the format to mutiple-choice as opposed to short-answer to further ensure accuracy and validity.

Type in the following URL: http://www.classmarker.com/viewtest.php?id=57403 to try this test!

Reference:
Oliver, R 1999, Learning Design: The Learning Design Construct, viewed 9 August 2009, http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm.

File Storage

After engaging with the Media Fire site and uploading a PowerPoint file to it, I realised the huge advantage that this site offers. I will use this site again when I am short of space on my USB drive or I don't have access to storage space (using a public computer) or if I am simply short of hard drive space on my personal computer. Thanks Media Fire!

Here is the link to a PowerPoint file that I used at the beginning of this term to introduce the new unit on Sustaining Biodiversity to the Year 12 Geography class:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=9ab3d16ca55fd01767cd7f7bd65f7eefe04e75f6e8ebb871