Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Digital Tool 6: Prezi. com
I found the use of Prezi. com very interesting however if you take away the sparkle, to me its just an updated version of PowerPoint. As I commented in my ppt blog that I have concerns with using these types of presentations in the classroom I feel Prezi will demonstrate the same characteristics. Introducing this tool to students to use for particular in class activities could draw more interest to them compared to the standard old ppt. As we keep working through this course and discovering that technology is the future I think we need to start considering old technology vs new technology and what is more appealing to our students
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Digital Tool 5: PowerPoint
From past knowledge of computers I believed that I knew the ins and outs of the power point (ppt) program until I was presented with steps for PowerPoint with an edge. I found it very practical designing a PowerPoint in a word document and being able to transfer this information directly to ppt program. Being able to see the whole layout of design rather than going through each slide was a better process. I was able to cross reference information between each slide to ensure everything linked and kept on a flow.
On a different view I would like to reflect on ppt use in classrooms of today. Is it the new chalk and talk? So far out of my degree I have attended two schools one only very new and being classed as ICT inclined and the other is where my parents went to school and not one teacher would use a ppt presentation to teach a class.
Walking into my first school I was very excited to write on the board as it can be a very hard skill to master. To my disappointment I hardly wrote on the board and was encourage heavily to use ppt presentation as this was the way teachers taught the class. I did enjoy designing presentations but I was concerned that slides may not be effective to my learners. From what I observed I felt that ppt could be really effective towards the learning however they need to be created in a format that does not reflect the chalk and talk process. The article "PowerPoint in the classroom" highlights some important points about the use of ppt.
Spending my second year at a less ICT inclined school was very intersting to observed. A lot more practical activities where happening in the classroom but the amount of content that was delivered was at minimal level. I did discuss with a lot of the teachers of how they felt about ICT usage and majority replied that they are not educated enough and lack facilities.
I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to using ppt and as our digital world evolves I feel teachers will no longer have the choice to resort to the board but be required to implement a lesson via a digital presentation.
On a different view I would like to reflect on ppt use in classrooms of today. Is it the new chalk and talk? So far out of my degree I have attended two schools one only very new and being classed as ICT inclined and the other is where my parents went to school and not one teacher would use a ppt presentation to teach a class.
Walking into my first school I was very excited to write on the board as it can be a very hard skill to master. To my disappointment I hardly wrote on the board and was encourage heavily to use ppt presentation as this was the way teachers taught the class. I did enjoy designing presentations but I was concerned that slides may not be effective to my learners. From what I observed I felt that ppt could be really effective towards the learning however they need to be created in a format that does not reflect the chalk and talk process. The article "PowerPoint in the classroom" highlights some important points about the use of ppt.
Spending my second year at a less ICT inclined school was very intersting to observed. A lot more practical activities where happening in the classroom but the amount of content that was delivered was at minimal level. I did discuss with a lot of the teachers of how they felt about ICT usage and majority replied that they are not educated enough and lack facilities.
I believe there are advantages and disadvantages to using ppt and as our digital world evolves I feel teachers will no longer have the choice to resort to the board but be required to implement a lesson via a digital presentation.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Digital Tool 4: Website
My Website
Creating a website I found very frustrating as the process seemed very slow and time consuming. I am struggling with ideas of how to implement the use of a website into a unit of work. I have thought that a website could be a great communication tool for the teacher to the general class to give updates on what is happening in class and assessment dates. The best idea I have come up with is for the students to design a website for assessment that is on the particular unit of work. You could tie in a lot of numeracy and literacy skills with this but my concern with this assessment is the amount of time it will consume in class. Would love to know other peoples thoughts on implementing this tool into a unit of work.
Creating a website I found very frustrating as the process seemed very slow and time consuming. I am struggling with ideas of how to implement the use of a website into a unit of work. I have thought that a website could be a great communication tool for the teacher to the general class to give updates on what is happening in class and assessment dates. The best idea I have come up with is for the students to design a website for assessment that is on the particular unit of work. You could tie in a lot of numeracy and literacy skills with this but my concern with this assessment is the amount of time it will consume in class. Would love to know other peoples thoughts on implementing this tool into a unit of work.
Digital Tool 3: Wiki
I found this digital tool very easy to create and I am very confident that any high school student could manage this application within a subject. My Wiki
At first I was having trouble getting my head around how I would use a wiki in the classroom as I prefer a blog. With a Blog as a teacher I am able to gain more control over what is posted and who has access to it and most of the activities I had thought up worked in well with a blogs functionality. However after reading ideas from the website 50 ways to use a wiki my mind started exploding with ideas and now blogs seem a tool of the past. My next worry was how am I going to apply these activities scientifically? After coming across the website wiki ideas for the class room more ideas started to expanded and I was able to make a connection to the content of the science curriculum.
My favourite activities at the present is designing an wiki that students formulate their own glossary of terms linking sites to these terms. In science and in other subjects it can feel like you are speaking a different language and it can be good to gain other peoples interpretations of concepts.
At first I was having trouble getting my head around how I would use a wiki in the classroom as I prefer a blog. With a Blog as a teacher I am able to gain more control over what is posted and who has access to it and most of the activities I had thought up worked in well with a blogs functionality. However after reading ideas from the website 50 ways to use a wiki my mind started exploding with ideas and now blogs seem a tool of the past. My next worry was how am I going to apply these activities scientifically? After coming across the website wiki ideas for the class room more ideas started to expanded and I was able to make a connection to the content of the science curriculum.
My favourite activities at the present is designing an wiki that students formulate their own glossary of terms linking sites to these terms. In science and in other subjects it can feel like you are speaking a different language and it can be good to gain other peoples interpretations of concepts.
Frameworks!
The framework that I work best with is Blooms Taxonomy. I enjoy a lot of how blooms focuses on the the different types of thinking processes and activities that associated with them. The concept map I have created expresses this.
Frangenheim, E. (2006) Reflections on classroom thinking strategies.Loganholme. Qld: Rodin Ed Publishing
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Learning Theories
Through analysing the four learning theories you begin to develop and understanding of how a student can best learn. It does be come difficult to select the right theory to work by as all have positives and negatives but I have found over my time teaching that you select parts from each theory that suit your situation.
By this stage in the learning management degree almost every educational subject has focused highly on these theories. Instead of outlining each theory for this post I thought it would be more useful to apply the type of digital tools that would be effective to each theory. These were found on the elearning pedagogy site.
Behaviourist
Breaking learning into smaller steps and providing positive and negative feedback
eg: Quiz
Cognitive
Learning through specific differences. Organize
eg: Mental maps (concept maps), making the links : media presentations
Constructivism
Processes involved with learning
eg: Real world simulation and collaborating with other ( blogs, skype, wiki)
Through out this course I hope to add more digital activities that could apply to the different learners.
By this stage in the learning management degree almost every educational subject has focused highly on these theories. Instead of outlining each theory for this post I thought it would be more useful to apply the type of digital tools that would be effective to each theory. These were found on the elearning pedagogy site.
Behaviourist
Breaking learning into smaller steps and providing positive and negative feedback
eg: Quiz
Cognitive
Learning through specific differences. Organize
eg: Mental maps (concept maps), making the links : media presentations
Constructivism
Processes involved with learning
eg: Real world simulation and collaborating with other ( blogs, skype, wiki)
Through out this course I hope to add more digital activities that could apply to the different learners.
Multiple Intelligences
Multiple Intelligences results
I did try and make a hyperlink to my results but it will not show up.
My results showed that I was a Kinaesthetic, Intra and Inter personal and logical learner. I believe the results were pretty spot on with how I like to learn. I am a very active learner and learn by doing the skill. I do prefer to study by myself but love socializing. I much prefer number equations as it make a lot more sense to me then reading a word equation.
I would love to do this activity in the classroom especially with core classes such as maths and english to identify strategies that would be effective to the learner that would engage them as in most cases students are either stronger in English or Maths not both.
I did try and make a hyperlink to my results but it will not show up.
My results showed that I was a Kinaesthetic, Intra and Inter personal and logical learner. I believe the results were pretty spot on with how I like to learn. I am a very active learner and learn by doing the skill. I do prefer to study by myself but love socializing. I much prefer number equations as it make a lot more sense to me then reading a word equation.
I would love to do this activity in the classroom especially with core classes such as maths and english to identify strategies that would be effective to the learner that would engage them as in most cases students are either stronger in English or Maths not both.
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