Reflective Synopsis

Introduction

E-learning is the term given to teaching and learning with the World Wide Web. This includes the use of digital tools but also the use of devices such as; cameras, voice recorders, phones and computers. The use of information and communication technologies in learning gives students the opportunity to be creative, imaginative and innovative. Current multimedia software and Internet access bring a large array of text and image-based information into the classroom. Technology with it's ability to provide and retrieve information and its uses as a communicative tool are slowly changing schooling and education as we know it. It is becoming less about word-based text and is now focused on multimedia; including sound, picture and moving image (Abbott, 2001).

“powered by technology, fueled by information and
driven by knowledge.” (Tinio, 2002)

The above quote I think generally sums up students in secondary. Of course all students are individual but growing up in the information age has had them exposed to a lot of information and communication technologies. When given those tools to work with secondary students will engage with content on a deeper level. Whether it be a simple video clip or using an interactive whiteboard, students in the secondary sector need to be exposed to the technology that they have grown up with and are familiarised.


Body

I have selected four tools; Blogs, Wiki's, Weebly and Glogster as i believe that they all transform, support and enhance learning.

Blogs are a writing device that allows students to keep a running journal that can be edited with ease. Videos, images and sound can all be uploaded onto their blog posts. Students can also follow other people's blogs. This would be a great learning tool as students could connect with professionals of their subject area. Or it could simply put them in touch with other students.
Blogs give students the opportunity to reflect upon their own learning. They can also explore their peers learning. Blogs also allow teachers to monitor a students' progress and observe the way they are thinking. Most students in the secondary sector have used basic instant messaging programs, they are going to refine their communication skills to write in a more professional tone.

Wiki's are an online tool that can be used for individual or collaborative learning. This tool is great for teachers to set up research lessons or a webquest. All materials for the lesson are placed on the Wiki, students access it and follow the links and work through activities. It could also be used for a class to collate information as it has settings as to who can edit it. Like the blog you can upload videos, images and sound onto the wiki, you can also create tables and graphs. This tool could be used for any subject. Or again as a reflective activity. This tool could be used as a group activity or for a research assignment. As it allows many people to edit within, it would be a great collaborative tool. Wiki's would be great to use within a lower secondary classroom, for guided Internet activities.

Weebly is an interactive design tool. It allows students to create their own websites. They can upload videos, images and sound to support their text. It could be a great multi-modal form of assessment. Students could be given a topic, they research and using ICT's generate a informative website that shows what they have learnt throughout the unit of work. They could find multimedia to help represent and give evidence of their topic. Through weebly they can create photo galleries, connecting pages of text and link directly to other sites or multimedia. This interactive design tool would provide a creative way to present information that is engaging and enhances learning. Students could look into topics more deeply and make links between the real world and school. This tool would be effective in a secondary classroom as a means for assessment, instead of a written exam or assessment. Students could use multimedia resources to create a multi modal assignment.

Glogster is a creative, imaginative and innovative way to produce information. This online tool allows students to make a scrapbook poster. They can change and adapt the background and animated icons. They can also add text, images, sound and video, can also draw. Students could also use this tool for understanding new concepts or knowledge, as a way of mapping out their general thoughts and refining them. This is a great way for students to develop a visual representation of their thoughts and learning. Again could be individual or collaborative tool. Could be used as a concluding activity to reflect on learning at the end of the learning experience.

For more information on the above tools click on the appropriate links below

Wiki's, Weebly's and Blogs
Glogster

Students in the secondary school need to be engaged in a variety of activities, that challenge them intellectually. The tools above challenge students to think in complex ways and also develop their social interactions between peers. Students in the Middle Phase cohort need to have situations to engage with peers, work collaboratively, learn how to use knowledge meaningfully and link learning to the real world or past experiences. The ICT tools above allow students within the Middle Phase sector to express themselves creatively and gives them opportunity to reflect and refine on the knowledge and skills learnt. (Knipe, 2007)

TPACK

Technological and Pedagogical approach to Content Knowledge
The TPACK framework shows a great way to mesh pedagogy, content and technology whilst catering to individual students' needs. This framework breaks down each aspect of teaching and learning and examples of how they could be seen in the classroom. It also gives ideas for teaching and classroom strategies. The tools that I have chosen (descried above) all incorporate factors of the TPACK framework. The TPACK framework takes learning theories, productive pedagogy strategies and professional knowledge to make engaging and intellectually challenging pedagogy to apply to learning experiences.

For more information on the TPACK framework click on link below

TPACK Framework


Conclusion

Overall I believe that ICT is not a thing of the future, it is here and now. Students are interacting with various multimedia and digital tools today. Teachers need to incorporate these tools within the classroom if they want to support the transformation and enhancement of learning within their students. Without these engaging ICT's students will become disinterested in not only school but learning in general. For students to continue their lifelong learning they need to be intellectually, creatively and socially challenged. The use of ICT's in Education gives them that challenge.

References

Abbott, C. (2001). ICT: Changing education. London:RoutledgeFalmer

Knipe, S. (2007). Middle years schooling: Reframing adolescence. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.

Tinio, V. (2002). ICT in education. New York: United Nations Development Program.

McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology: Constructing learning. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.

Snowman. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton, QLD, Australia: John Wiley & Sons Australia


Links to comments

Amanda
Kyah
Emma

Week 6- Animations and Simulations

There are many websites to play with when it comes to animation and simulation. One of these is wordle, very easy to use. It is purely a visual tool, students can use it to view information in a fun way or a teacher could give them important words to research. Great tool to use for visual learners.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Animoto is an online animation site that takes photographs, videos and text and transforms it into animation. The only downside is the presentation can only be 30 seconds long. This would be a great intro to making videos for students. They could experiment with animoto and then proceed onto Windows Movie Maker.







Glogster is a great interactive tool. You can display images, videos, text, sound and animation on the poster wall. This tool would cater for all learning styles; students have visuals, they can construct it themselves, it has sound and text. Not only is it a fun approach to displaying learning it also offers a virtual experience and taps into higher order and complex thinking.

The above tools are a small representation of the many available online. They all offer a virtual experience for students and are heavily interactive. They also have the advantages of helping students to understand complex and abstract concepts. Interactive tools encourage students to look for a deeper meaning and to think more complex.

Week 5- Digital Video

This video goes briefly over the change in technology over the years.

Videos are useful within a secondary classroom. It presents information to students in a different way, a way they are more likely to engage with. However the video needs to be engaging For example a documentary may not be the best option, something upbeat that delivers the information as well as interesting to the student needs to be used.

I think a majority of the time videos are used as time fillers or rewards instead of engaging and providing learning bases.

Videos are great for analysis, for example. If an English class was looking at Stereotypes, they could watch a section of Glee. Using the characters of Glee they could look at the behaviour, appearance and relationships of each. Instead of just studying stereotypes they can see them in action and analyse them. This particular topic could also open up discussion about humor in the media and the use of pun, hyperbole and sarcasm to exaggerate the material for entertainment. Overall I believe that videos and film are a great tool to use in the classroom of the secondary school, not only does it engage the students in technology it also helps them to use higher order thinking skills.

Week 4- Images

Moba photo is a program to resize photos. This means photos embedded within websites or wikis will load quicker.

Images can be very useful within the classroom. The next two images are depictions of King Tut. Students could look into reliability of these photographs. They could also investigate the way television has warped Tut's image into a younger version for entertainment purposes. This could lead into a discussion about the way the film and tv industry has repeatedly warped aspects of history for entertainment value.

The website flickr gives people the oppurtunity to share photos online. Students could use this site to look at photos related to a specific topic. Below is a link to an education photo.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/picturesbyann/2572204267/




Images are a great learning tool for students. A picture is worth a thousand words and using images within the classroom will open up many discussions. Images also include cartoons as well.

Week 3- Power point

Power point is often misinterpreted as a way of presenting information only. While it is a good way to present information it also has other uses. As I read in Emma's elearning power point blog, it is a great interactive tool to check students knowledge and understanding in prep. However it wouldn't be used that way in secondary. It could be used in the higher grades to create storyboards or presentations and again students can interact with technology. Would be a great multi modal assessment idea. Images, text, video and sound can all be shown in a power point. Although i agree it would be a great interactive tool in the prep setting, it wouldn't be used for the same reasons in secondary.

Week 2- Wiki, Weebly and Blogs

Wikisapces or 'Wikis' are a great online tool for collaborative or individual use. When you set up your wiki you can allow yourself only or the public to edit. It could be used as an individual reflection tool or to collect information collaboratively from a group.

For educators this means an easily accessible form of communication with their students as well as a way for their students to collaboratively learn and discuss topics further outside of the classroom. It could also be a way to direct students to engaging activities on the internet or websites that link to their unit of work. Lots of information can be gathered and stored within the wiki; text, sites, videos, photos and podcasts. Also it allows teachers to see how their students are progressing and allows feedack from students. Wikis allow teachers to make learning fun and meaningful. This tool would be very useful in the secondary sector. Secondary students are very tech savvy and would probably rather this way of collecting and viewing information compared to the text book and writing notes version. It also allows them to learn from each other, look into deeper meanings and use complex thought porcesses.



Weebly is an online tool that allows you to create your own website free of charge. This could be an interactive way for teachers or students to display information. Again it could be used as an individual or collaborative tool. It can be used to show picture galleries or a series of information.
A weebly could also be an alternative way for assessment. Students do their unit of work and at the end create a web page on that topic. Weebly's are an interactive way to allow students to create their own presentation of information. Again this would be an effective tool to use within the secondary school not only beacuse of the technology but because it also allows them to construct their own learning on a topic that is most valuable to them.

Blogging is an online tool that is easy to use and has many benefits. A blog can be about any topic or it could be just a way to keep in contact. However for the purposes of learning it can be a very powerful tool for a teacher to have. Blogging allows teachers to see their students thought processes and what they are taking away from their lessons. It is a great reflection tool for both students and teachers. For students they can collate their thoughts about a particular topic, look at what peers think of the topic or even track a professional's (in that topic area) blog. This helps to generate deeper meaning and greater understanding of a topic. Collaborative learning will assist students, something they may have missed or not thought of in class may be posted in someone else's blog; this means students will get other opinions or ways of thinking. For a teacher it can be a great relfection tool, you can see from the student responses whether lesson was well recieved or not. It can also help teachers to understand where students are travelling.
Blogging would also work well in Secondary as it give students the oppurtunity to work with technology and work with their peers. Blogs could also be used to work with other classes within your school, other schools or even different countries.

TPACK

I have chosen the TPACK framework for my blog as i believe it shows a great way to mesh pedagogy and content as well as catering for all individual learner needs. It shows the blend between technology, content, pedagogy and knowledge; giving examples of how each could be seen in the classroom and how they all fit and work together. Through looking at this framework more closely it has extended my knowledge and assisted me to make stronger links between technology, content, pedagogy and knowledge.

This framework is also ideal for my teaching area. The TPACK framework makes direct links to secondary students. As learning teachers we need to be creative and engaging in the way we design and implement learning experiences. The 21st century student cannot just be given knowledge, they need to discover it for themselves and construct their own meaning (however this learning can be guided by teacher), or how it relates to them. TPACK gives them that. Through the learning theories, productive pedagogies and technology, 21st century learners are given the oppurtunity to construct, refine and reflect on their own knowledge and understanding.

Welcome: week 1

Hello everyone and welcome to Managing e-Learning.
My name is Kaitlin Christensen and i am a second year BLM student (secondary). Before the tutorial today i was quite nervous and to be completely honest freaked out. Now look at me i am blogging.

During the first e-learning tute we used a few different tools. These included bubbl.us, delicious, a wiki space, google maps and a blog.

bubbl.us is an interactive brainstorming tool to construct concept maps.

delicious.com is an easy and transferrable way to bookmark sites, find more reliable sites easily and network with people that share the same interests as you. This tool could also be used to further develop professional knowledge, broaden my knowledge and resources for my particular subjects. (English and History)

Our wiki space is also something that i have never used before. It is a really engaging and interactive way to run a lesson. Thanks Wendy!

I had used google maps previously but only very briefly. This tool would be something i could use whenever i do a geography course in Sose and would engage students. Through google maps they could plan their own trip, choose holiday destintations or see with their own eyes a place we are studying.

I am actually writing a blog which i thought would never happen. I am relieved to find that it isn't as hard or scary as i had myself thinking. I am now really excited about this course and everything i can learn from it. Here is to learning many new, engaging, interactive ways to teach and learn.

I am looking forward to learning more aout technology, how to use it for my personal gain and how to implement technology in the classroom. We are in good hands with Wendy and i hope to learn alot from her. Cheers guys and have a great term!!

This is my first attempt at bubbl.us
It shows my first interpretations of e-Learning and what it means to me as a teacher.
It also reflects on what i have learnt about e-learning in our first tute.
If you have any comments or just want to talk more about e-learning it would be much appreciated.

Good learning :)

Kaitlin