Final Blog

Reflection on Assessment Task Two


Technology in the classroom is a fantastic idea as it is an easy, fun way to get students involved in their learning. At the start of this term, I was feeling extremely confident with regards to how much I knew about technology and how it can be used. At the time, I thought I knew high measure of technology and where it is used. However, I had not considered it being used in the classroom. I had heard of previously about prep children being taught how to use technology in their learning, but until now, I had never thought about it. After this assignment that I needed to complete for my course, I feel that there are many ways that I could use technology in my classroom to help give the best learning for my students. Now, I feel that I have a new knowledge about technology and what types can be used in the classroom.

There are some extraordinary things that you can accomplish online to help get children involved in the classroom. Even though using all these digital tools in the classroom is a great idea, I do however have to point out that not all classrooms can use technology. In a grade one classroom, students need hands on approach to their learning, whereas, students in grade six find it attractive and challenging to use more complex technology in the classroom like the tools that I have explored through my blogs.

Legal, Safe and Ethical Guidelines

Technology can be used in the classroom to enhance the learning of children by teaching students the interacting more and being interested in what they are learning. However, students need a safe environment on the internet, so that they do not stumble across anything, which may be considered rude, and that their personal information continues to stay private while using the internet for school learning. In my classroom, I can do this by keeping a close eye on what each student posts and mention to the students that it is importan that they do not post anything personal on the internet. In my classroom, I could teach students in what copyright is and how they can use the internet that does not violate the copyright laws. My students and I can explore how to post information from other site without breaching these laws.

 

Enhance, Support and Transform Student Learning with Digital Tools

My first digital tool from group one (Weebly) is a digital tool that you can create a website for free or paid. This digital tool is an enjoyable tool that teachers can use for the teaching of a certain subject in their classroom. Say a class is learning about the Seven Wonders of the World, the teacher can use this tool to help keep parents informed about what is happening in the classroom, have a spot to for my students to upload their assignment to me, have a space describing their task and about the history of each ancient. If you look at my previous blog posting about Weebly, it states that this enhances students learning in the classroom by being able to allow the teacher to go around to each student individually to help them with anything that they may be struggling with. Weebly states on their homepage that teaches can create a safe learning environment by managing their students accounts and keep parents up to date. 

Window Photo Gallery is the tool I have chosen from my second group of digital tools. Student can use this technology to interact using images as stated by Arun Kumar in their blog. This appeals to me as I like to modify the appearance of a photo to make it more appealing or more realistic. Personally, I feel that this tool is fantastic and easy to photo shop a photo by cropping, changing the contrast etc. In the past, I have continually played with this tool to crop a picture and leave out unwanted edges or fixed the red eye in a photo. I basically know everything about this tool, but I’m sure there’s always something new I could learn about it. What I learnt when using this tool is that when I click on Auto Adjust, the colour of the picture is automatically changed and sometimes, even the exposure. In my classroom of grade five students, I would ask the students to crop what they desire in a photo and adjust the red eye in the photos with their class mates so that they can show that they do not need to print out the photos, cut them and then scan them back into the computer a smaller size. For example, it makes life easier that in just a few clicks of the computer mouse, a picture of a dozen fish in the ocean has been cropped to one fish. For example on what a picture would look like if a student changed it, follow the link to refer back to my blog posting on Photo Shopping.

Prezi is a fantastic tool that helps to get children to explore a set task for a topic in an environment that helps them to present what their point is that they are trying to get across. This tool can also be used in the classroom by the teacher to attract their students attention. Sandra Pinto Pires agrees, stating in her blog, "PREZI’s zooming feature grabs and holds the viewers’ attention. It lets you create a sort of walking path through your presentation that makes it engaging and striking." At the beginning of this course, I had previously seen ads that related to the type of technology that a Prezi allows people to do, but I have never heard of the actual site before. After exploring the uses of a Prezi, I learn how to zoom in and out to view different rotations of the certain picture. For other skills that I learnt, follow the link back to my blog posting on a Prezi.

In my fourth and final group for digital tools, I have chosen Zoo Burst as it is an easy and fun learning for classrooms of all ages. On EducationalTechnologyGuy's Blog, he states, "Students can use this to tell a story, and be creative and imaginative." Even if it’s just a story book or a book about certain topic like sea creatures, students will find this an enjoyable tool that will help them learn in a productive manner. I believe this tool can be used in an environment for not only reading, but type of subjects like Mathematics, English and History. Students will find this just as enjoyable as I did creating it. Before I started this course, I had absolutely no clue that this type of tool existed let alone how to use it. It had never occurred to me that making a book online would make children want to learn about topics that they may consider boring. The skills I have learnt with this digital tool are listed in my previous blog posting on Zoo Burst. One example of how students can use this digital tool in the classroom is to make a journal of what they have learnt in each class so that they can look back and reflect. Also, this will help me (the teacher) find out how my students are travelling with their school work if I was given the link. You’ll find an example on this digital tool if you follow the link back to my previous post on Zoo Burst.

Summary

In conclusion, I have found this task to be helpful in my knowledge of how to use technology in an educational classroom. Because of my knowledge of the internet now, my students will have a legal, safe and ethical learning environment when searching on the internet. With the digital tools that I have explores, I can use these in my classroom myself, or I can let my students use and explore them for an assignment or project. However I use technology in my classroom, my students will use this in a constructive manner.

References

EducationalTechnologyGuy. (2011, April 8). ZooBurst - create your own 3D pop up book online. Retrieved from Blogger: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/04/zooburst-create-your-own-3d-pop-up-book.html

Kumar, A. (2010, September 10). Microsoft Free Classroom Monitoring Software. Retrieved from Bright Hub: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/86392.aspx

Pires, S. P. (2010, January 27). PREZI Killed Powerpoint! How to Intergrate PREZI in the Classroom. Retrieved from e-blahblah: http://e-blahblah.com/index.php/2010/01/prezi-killed-powerpoint-how-to-integrate-prezi-in-the-classroom/

Weebly. (2011). Home Page. Retrieved from Weebly for Education: http://education.weebly.com/

Discovering Google Docs

Previously, in one of my past blogs, I posted up a powerpoint presentation. As you know, I couldn't post the powerrpoint presentation in my blog, so I decided to post it in Google's helpful little tool called Google Docs. What Google Docs allows you to do is post on the internet a document that you wish to show everyone, or only people with the link. You can even set the document as only viewable to yourself.  Personally, this is not somewhere that I would post an upcoming test, even if I did put it as only viewable to myself. The reason behind this is that if someone wants that information, like a parent to help their kids pass, they could hack into your account and retrieve that document with powerful technology. I won't go into detail, but some may not even think about this senario happening to them and then it does.

Anyway, this technology is greatly helpful for teachers who need to post a few documents for the class, like class activities or assignment task sheets. Students can use this to upload any documents they made in a lesson that they needed to complete. Here are a few easy steps in how you can add your own documents to Google Docs:

1. Go to the Google webpage.
2. Click on the 'Sign In' link at the top right hand corner of the page.
3. Click on the link 'Create An Account Now' if you don't have a google account, or sign in with your account if you have one. Once you have signed in, your page will automatically go back to the Google home page.
4. Go to the top of the page and click on more. It will list a few options. Go down to the option that says 'Documents' and click on it.
5. In the top left hand corner of the page should read Google Docs. Click on the upload button and click on the 'Files' option when the list appears.
6. Finally, choose your document and choose your upload settings, then click start upload.

So there you have it. You can now start uploading your own documents. Enjoy.

Uses of Powerpoint

Microsoft Office is used everyday as it makes life easier to get things done instead of having to write everything down on a peice of paper. Powerpoint is one of Microsoft Office's greatest creations as it allows people to present something without loosing the audiences attention. Students can use powerpoint for show and tell to present to the class what they are wanting to show them without them getting bored and loosing their focus. It cn also be used in the classroom when present a new topic to the students. You, the teacher, can get up in front of a projection screen (if available) and present to your class pretty pictures and colours that will grasp their attention.

Below is the organisational chart I put together to organise my powerpoint and see what I need to hyperlink. This helps in the creating of a powerpoint as it structures the discussion of the powerpoint in a small, understandable format. So, the very first box in my storyboard represents what my powerpoint presentation will be about; in this case, I will be discussing sports with my class. The second row of boxes represent the subject that I will be talking about that relates to my main topic; in this case, I will be talking to my class about the different types of sports. In the third row, we outline what we will be talking about with regards to each subject. This process continues for how many sides and links that you wish to create. Before I continue, I want to let you acknowledge the fact that this type of format can not only be used for a powerpoint presentation, but for other teaching uses, such as planning each day for the advantage of being organised and not sitting there wondering what to do next while your students misbehave in the classroom.

Unfortunately, I can not upload my powerpoint presentation to this blog, but I am able to give you the link to the document I uploaded to Google Docs. This will only show you the slides and not allow you to be able to click on the links, but I'm sure you will get the idea.

ZooBurst Learning

ZooBurst is simply amazing with all the options you have in creating your own story to use in the classroom or even just to read at home to the little ones. What ZooBurst is, is it gives you the opportunity to create your own pop up story online so that you can send a message to children that you want them to have the knowledge of. I quickly threw together two pages of a story that I could read in a classroom. It's no where near finished, but it gives you the basic idea of what you can accomplish with this type of digital tool. To check out what I have started, click on the link below:

http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb0_4e3e690cadfb0

The types of options you have when using ZooBurst is adding pictures, sound, changing the background adding quotations and what you want to write about for each page. Picture can be added by typing into the search bar for a certain type of picture or uploading one from your computer using the green arrow located just under the search bar. You also have the option to add this picture directly on the page or in the background. With regards to sound, you are able to add quiet background music (this may be distracting when your children are trying to read) or you can simply say the words instead of them having to read. Unfortunately, you need to pay for this type of resourse. Changing the colour of the background is quite simple. Just clicking on the background will give you the options to change the appearance of the sky, ground, horizion and page. Finally, adding quotations to a charater is also as easy as clicking on the charater and typing in the Character Text Bar below the preview.

Now ZooBurst isn't limited to the teaching of pretty picture stories in the classroom. This type of digital tool can be used for subjects that require thought and engagement, like mathematics in the classroom when remembering times tables or just for the basics of reading to help get children underway with their reading skills. Finally, ZooBurst engages children to make reading, or subject, more fun and enjoyable.

The Point of a Wiki

The whole point of a wiki is so that anyone can add what they want to the page. When using it in a classroom, students can add their research to the page to teach students about a specific area in their learning such as mathematics.

The types of tools that are available are inserting a photo, link words or photos to a website or file, and add a comment to a photo. Photo's can be inserted into the wiki by clicking on the 'file' tool and then 'upload file' when the window pops up. This photo that has been uploaded or a certain word can be linked by clicking on the 'link' tool. They can be linked to either an external source from the wiki or with in the wiki. Afterwards, the photo can have a comment added to the side by clicking on the speech bubble button and then add the comment.

I decided to write up a sample of a wiki of how I can use it in the classroom by using the topic of 3D shapes. Students can have all the information in front of them at home so that they can continue to refer to it if they ever have problems with the topic. You can look at my wikispace by clicking on the following link: http://technology-r-go.wikispaces.com/

Weebly Website Creation

Students have the ability to participate in group activities that I, the teacher, have placed upon the sight for them. The website becomes useful when learning about a certain topic, which can be all on the website. This saves on teaching time where students can learn in groups and the teacher can then walk around and individually help each group with what they are stuggling with.

A good way to get parents involved is to create a parents blogs on the web page to keep the parents up to date on what their children are learning in the classroom and be able to comment about any concerns that they may have or anything that I may need to change about the assignment. They can also check out the rest of the website themselves to see what exactly their child is learning instead of me just telling them in the blog what the children need to do.

The URL to the learning website that I created is http://managingtechnology.weebly.com/ if you would like to check out on my learning strategy for my classroom. I only had a brief go at what ideas I could use in the classroom. An interesting sight that you can go to also is http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=5742. It contains another opinion on teaching in the classroom and why it should be used.

Prezi in the Classroom

Now don't freak out, it really isn't as hard as it looks. I chucked this together all in about half an hour, and I didn't even have all the information on me. So just check out my prezi at http://prezi.com/eer1rmtz6cb2/present/?auth_key=wcybu8p&follow=emily.j.driscoll@hotmail.com  and you'll find it interesting, the way that you can use this type of technology in the classroom.

So what a Prezi is is it lets you bring your ideas into one space and see how they relate, helping you and your audience connect. Zoom out to see the big picture and zoom in to see details — a bit like web-based maps that have changed how we navigate through map books (http://prezi.com/about/). This means that when you put all your ideas into this little space, your students will be able to think a stay interested on the topic that you have set out for them to do.

The types of tools in prezi are being able to insert text, images, videos and drawings. These capture the students attention and make the project more realistic and enjoyable. You can also change the colours of the text and background by using the colours and fonts tool. Once your happy with your project, the fun begins. Click on the tool 'path' to start linking different views. Linking a large view to a small view simply zooms in when the view is being looked at. At the end, all you need to do is view your finalised project.

I can guarantee that students will thoroughly enjoy this tool as it is creative and, as they would say, awesome. This project can be used in the classroom when looking at grammar, spelling, history or even mathematics. However you use this tool, it will be excellent in your classroom.

Glogging on Glogster

With glogster, you can make many pages for your ideas and thoughts or even your favourite person. It is all about getting you creative and showing people what you like best. This type of tool can be used in the classroom when learning about a certain topic like birds. Children can easily go on the website and look at what you, the teacher, have created to show them what you want them to know.

There are six main tools that are available for you to use: graphics, text, image, video, wall and sound. With these tools you can create the most brightly coloured page for your students to see. With graphics, they are basically just stickers that you place on the page, like a heart or a bone, that can have meaning in you use them in the correct way. Text is basically what you want to say on the page, whether it be a title or discription about the topic on your page. You have the option to use a sticker with something on it or just a bubble that helps to attract the students. With images, you can have the option of uploading a photo and putting a border around it. This is the same for videos and sound that helps to keep your students motivated and interested. Finally, you can create all this and give your background that wow factor to draw your students closer to the topic.

You and your students will find this extremely productive as they will stay interested and you won't need to try hard to throw together a few things on the page. The glog that I created only took me around ten minutes, so you won't have any troubles in creating a small page. If you would like to check out my glog that I quickly threw together for a year three class, my glog is at http://ejdriscoll.glogster.com/birdy-glog/. I hope you like it for a half hearted effort.

Mobile Phones Wiki

Week two was a bit similar to last week, expect we were required brainstorm about what we thought about mobile phones.

Mobile phones are a great teaching tool as there are many different applications that can be used to teach children the basics of spelling, reading, writing and learning of math. However, they can become a distracting possession as children could play games, text one another or anything that may draw their focus from the learning topic. Also, not every child can afford a fancy mobile phone that allows them to go on the internet or download applications for their learning, which people need to realise this before introducing them into the classroom. Therefore, I have come to conclude that mobile phones would be useful in the classroom as long as the proper cautions are taken to make sure that they are being used for education purposes only and that each child has one.

We also were required to look at different points of view by using the 'Six Thinking Hats' . Each hat has a different way of thinking about the subjects:

1.  White Hat - facts and details.
2.  Black Hat - examines problems.
3.  Yellow  Hat - focuses on the positvies.
4.  Red Hat - emotions and feelings toward a topic.
5.  Green Hat - requires creativeness, imagination and lateral thinking.
6.  Blue Hat - reflection, metacognition and understanding.

In my reflection, I decided to do the White Hat and the Yellow Hat as I wanted to use a change of thinking. I found this task quite easy as the questions helped me to think about mobile phones in different ways. How I reflected to this task was:

• (White Hat) Mobile phones have a wide range of uses which can include being used in a classroom if used in the right manner. There are numerous different applications that can be used to teach children everyday basics, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation and even maths. Children can become distracted with mobile phones, going off track of what the class is actually learning. What is needed to be found out is whether mobile phones are a constructive way of teaching in the classroom and how do we know what year levels would be most beneficial to this type of technology?
• (Yellow Hat) Mobile phones have a wide range applications that can be used for the teaching children the basics of english and mathematics. This can be successful as children are eger to learn about technology and find it more interesting than looking at white dust being written on a black board. Technology of these advances is a good thing because children are more willing to learn.

The Thinking Hat scaffold that we contributed to was an excellent example of thinking about different points on the issue. In a classroom, this would be useful in the teaching of children to discover the different way of thinking by putting on one hat at a time. I will certainly be using this technique myself in the future as I find it a brilliant scaffold.

Learning Theories - Constructivism

Week one we had to conduct a bit of research to find out a bit about constructivism, which I found intregingly interesting. I have joined a group to research topic with Kristi and Louise on constructivism and added a little something to the page. I couldn't do much because they had already done a wonderful job of covering everything. Before now, I had absolutely no clue to what constructivism is, but now, I have a fair understanding.
Constructivism is when the teacher acts as a guide in the classroom, so the students can develop skills, such as reflective thinking, when asked to look for answers themselves. Children engage in group activites to discover an answer themselves while the teacher looks over and acts a guide, then the class discusses what they have found and build on that knowledge.

"The dominant 'progressive/constructivist' philosophy in education schools leads to teacher training that prescribes a student-centered classroom where the teacher's role is to serve mainly as a facilitator for student-directed learning. Under that philosophy it is regarded as bad practice for teachers to actually do much teaching. They are supposed to act as 'the guide on the side' rather than 'the sage on the stage.' Claimed by George K. Cunningham Ph.D on illinoisloop.org (http://www.illinoisloop.org/whatswrong.html).

This course got me to examine these readings in greater depth to show that I have understood what the topic means and to brainstorm why these learnings are used. It would be useful in my teaching context, as children need to be able to learn the ability of a thinking process. Comparing it online to in the classroom, children could have more opportunities online as all their information is there for them to learn. However, it is also important for a child to be productive in a classroom, so they can interact and voice their opinion. This activity was designed to be behaviourist, constructivist and connectivism. The reason behind this thinking is because this activity showed my feelings toward the learning theory wiki, got me to brainstorm and research information on this particular topic and it also got me to connect with other ideas that were brainstormed throught the group. This can support children who struggle to brainstorm by helping them by discussing ideas instead of just teaching it to them. The PMI scaffold that we used can also be a thinking routine as it gets you to think about one particular point of view instead of looking at the one. This would be useful in my own classroom, teaching children not to just look at one point of view, but a wide range of views.

Managing E-Learning Lesson 1

Posting on the Gladstone Wiki Profile was pretty easy in my opinion. After receiving an email from Wendy Fasso, I read what I needed to do before my first lecture and what I needed. Creating a blog was a breeze for me as I knew how to create a google user and blog, which I successfully completed in about 2 minutes. I did, however, need to look at the tutorial for some sections of how to add things to the blog, like how to put a 'YouTube' video in my blog, which I found very interesting. With adding my first blog, I wasn't quite sure what to write, so I wrote my opinion on photoshopping and how it would go in the classroom. Also, I had a few problems with how to find things on the moodle site. One thing I had an issue with finding was finding where I attach my blog link so that people in my class can find me. Also, with the Campus Group Wikis, I was a bit confused to what they were supposed to be used for. Once I talked to a few people, they helped me out and I now feel fully confident of what I need to accomplish.

Photo Shopping

Original Photo

Cropped and Edited Photo

 One Example of the great opportunities technology offers is being able to take a photo, upload it to the computer and edit it; making the photo look completely different to what it originally looked like. For this photo of my right eye, I used Windows Photo Gallery to edit and give this photo a whole different look. Even though Windows Photo Gallery isn't as advanced as some other photo edit programs, like Adobe Photoshop, it still gives a basic idea of what this type of technology can do. In the process of editing a photo, also known as photo shopping, I opened the uploaded, original photo with Windows Photo Gallery and clicked 'Fix' on the tool bar. Some options should appear on the right hand side of the screen: Auto Adjust, Adjust Exposure, Adjust Colour, Crop Picture, and Fix Red Eye. Auto Adjust automatically improces the colour and exposure, Adjust Exposure gives you the option of manually adjusting the contrast and brightness, Adjust Colour gives you the option of manually adusting the temperature, tint and saturation, Fix Red Eyes allows you to manually take any redness out of the eyes, and Crop Picture alows you to cut off sides of the photo. The reason it is useful to use this type of technology in the classroom is so children can use this technology later on in life to change a picture to look the way they want it for importantant documents, e.g. an assignment.