Synopsis: Analysis of digital technologies

Introduction

Information Communication Tools (ICT’s) are becoming ever increasing within the education system in today’s society. Technology is seen throughout classroom lessons through the use of computers, smart boards and internet explorer. Technology is incorporated into classroom tasks through a variety of e-learning tools. These tools are broken up into four categories; space, multimedia, presentation and other tools. These tools are used to scaffold and support students learning to effectively uses higher order thinking (Lincoln, 2008 & Snowman etal, 2009). Many of these tools have several uses and when combined together can be a great visualisation tool that engages learners in specific topics that alone might not interest them. These tools have many different uses for learners in an educational context; however some of these tools have limitations with academic usage.

I believe that e-learning tools are great to use in the classroom, although for them to work effectively educators should have a extensive knowledge and understand of a variety of these tools. Technological tools are often designed for specific types of learning, thus some tools are designed for space, presentation and multimedia uses. Also varying the use of these tools in an educational environment not only enhances different ways to learn but will also keep learners more engaged in classroom tasks if tools are regularly rotated as telecommunication technologies help students to understand the world beyond their own environment (Dickinson, 1998). However there is always some legal safety and ethical issues associated with the use of ICT’s in a educational context.

Legal, safe and Ethical behaviour

When working with ICT’s in an educational system it can often be a difficult situation in ensuring that as a learning manager my learners’ behavior when working with ICT’s is legal, safe and ethical according to the Australian Government legislation. There are numerous concerns when incorporating technological tools into classroom tasks such as privacy issues, risk management, copyright issues and cyber-bullying. I believe that all educators must have an excellent understanding of these legal implications and sufficient knowledge of how to successfully incorporate ICT’s into classroom tasks, to ensure that their teaching practices abide by the legal laws of the Commonwealths legislation pieces. I believe a major issue that constantly need to be addressed when young children are working with ICT’s is cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is becoming an ever increasing issue amongst school aged children with the amount of ICT’s that are incorporated into everyday life Heirman & Walrave, 2008). This is a major issue that need to be address properly when working with technology before any serious problems arrive with bullying against any students. 

Group 1 tools

E-learning space tools are beneficial in educational systems if utilised properly. Space tools consist of blogs, wiki spaces and websites and allow the use of individual and shared work to reflect and share information in an area that is easily accessible to all. A space tool is a place where students can work in group environments to develop collaborative learning skills. After creating and trialling these three tools (take a look at the links above), I have decided that the tool I prefer most is the wiki spaces because it is a tool designed more for group sharing rather than individual work with group reflection. It is easy to communicate and share and all members of the space can edit, add and delete information, photos, videos and links. Ways I would apply these tools to my future teaching practices would be through the use of scaffolding classroom tasks and instructions and to model and provide examples of specific tasks.

Group 2 tools

Through analysing the types of multimedia tools used for e-learning there are several tools that cause my interest including voki, podcasting, mobaphoto and movie maker. There are core themes that are seen through all these tools such as a combination of visual and auditory hooks. These tools are all great technological tools use in a classroom environment to engage learners in classroom tasks. My favorite multimedia tool would have to be movie maker as it is both a visual and audio tool that incorporates aspects of all the other tools together into one tool that is easy to use and navigate. In the classroom multimedia tools such as movie maker could be used to demonstrate a progressive task that occurs of several weeks, adding information to the project until it is ready to be published. Students could then you this tool to demonstrate visually and orally their assessment tasks of the work they have been doing. For example when I was experimenting with movie maker I created a presentation about technological tools that I had examined for the first three weeks of the managing e-learning course.

Group 3 tools

Presentation tools are a great resource for students and teachers to demonstrate classroom tasks through using PowerPoint, Prezi or Glogster. These are great tools to use to engage your students through a combination of photos, videos, text and audio. Exploring through some of these tools I have decided that I would most likely incorporate Prezi into my classroom teaching as I believe that it is a great tool to scaffold learning. It is useful for educators to use this tool to provide students with task instructions through audio an visual imagery. I think that this is a great tool for educators to use even for those that are not technologically savvy as it provides you with a step by step tutorial on how to effectively use the tool. It is an easy tool to use as you can either design your own Prezi or you can just expand on from a set template like I did in my Prezi.

Group 4 tools

Group four tools consist of all the other technological tools that do not fit specifically into the other three groups. The tools include online resources such as Google earth, Google docs, online mindmaps and Google maps. Through exploring the educational uses for these tools the one I prefer the most is Google earth as there as so many different ways you could implement this tool into an education context. These tools makes it possible for students to “understand real experiences in greater detail and depth” (Dickinson, 1998).

It could be incorporated into a number of subjects such as geography, maths, history and science. Implementing this tool into my future practices to map, find places, find longitudes and latitudes, landmarks and view the solar system. An example of my analysis on how I would use Google earth in the classroom and its usefulness to students and teachers can be viewed on my Google Earth mindmap. Tools such as Google Earth allows students to “explore sites outside of their physical reach” (Dickinson, 1998).

TPACK

Having an understanding of the technological pedagogy and context knowledge (TPACK) creates a teaching context that is suitable towards 21st century learners. Today there is a high demand for educators to utilise technology in an educational environment (Education Week, 2006). I believe that having this knowledge and understanding as an educator I can best cater for those students that are kinaesthetic, visual and auditory learners. So that 21st century learners that are technologically savvy are more engaged and connected in classroom task through the use of technological tools.

E-Learning enhancing learning

E-learning can be used with learners to scaffold learning tasks, give instructions and to demonstrate class activities in a way that is engaging to them visually, verbally and kinaesthetically. As ICT’s transforms, facilitates, supports and enhances learning no matter what context it is used in (Tinio, 2002).

Scaffolding tools such as a SWOT or PMI analysis is a great way to identify positives, weaknesses, and interesting points about a particular context. As shown in week one learning theories activity of anaylsing multiple intelligences and the use of technology to enhance classroom learning. Through evaluating the learning theories (Multiple Intelligences PMI) I found that there is a strong link to incorporating technology based learning in the classroom in order to connect and engage 21st century learners of the new ‘internet age’ generation (Dickinson, 1998).

Conclusion

Overall information communication tools are great for classroom tasks to engage students in classroom tasks and to develop and expand students knowledge and understandings of e-learning tools. As providing students with clarity about knowledge that the task addresses allows students to stay more focused and even have a positive attitude towards the task (Marzano & Pickering, 2009). However students learning needs to be facilitated when working with these tools to ensure that students behavior is legal, safe and ethical within working with ICT’s.

References

Dickinson, D. (1998). Technology that enhances Naturalist Intelligence. America Tomorrow Inc. Retrieved from http://america-tomorrow.com/ati/mi8.htm

Education Week. (2006). Technology In Education. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/technology-in-education/

Heirman, W., & Walrave, M. (2008). Assessing Concerns and Issues about the Mediation of Technology in Cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 2(2), article 1. Retrieved from

http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2008111401&article=1

Lincoln, M. (2008). Higher order thinking through ICT. Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Retreived from www.aare.edu.au/08pap/lin08677.pdf

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (2009). Dimensions of Learning. In R. J. Maranzo, & D. J. Pickering, Dimensions of Learning (2nd ed.). Heatherton, Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett & Biehler. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching (1st ed.). Milton, Queensland, Australia: John Wiley & Sons Australia Limited.

Tinio, V. (2002). ICT in Education. Retrieved from www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/eprimer-edu.pdf

Group 4 other tools- Google Earth and mind maps

For the group four tools I decided to have a look at Google Earth and online concept maps (text2mindmap). A tool that I find interesting is Google Earth and the many uses it has for an educational purpose. To deliver my reasons on its affordances, usefullness for students and teachers and limitations I have created a mind map to present the information into categories. The image of my mind map is a little hard to read but here is the information I presented on the mind map about the using Google Earth in a educational environment.


Google Earth:
Affordances
Online, Interactive, Sightseeing tool, View places around the world, Find places, aerial images, satellite images, 3D viewer of the Earth, Find a location or Business, Save search results


Usefulness for teachers
A separate tool from the internet, Print screens, explore countries and cities, easy access, Primary database of information, Google Earth Gallery, Great interactive tool if access to a smart board

Usefulness for students
Maths - Latitude, Longitude
Geography - mapping, Cities, Countries, Photos, airports, Oceans, interactive globe, Rivers, Street view, landmarks, Volcano's, directions, Visualisation Tool,
Print results, Save search results, Educational
Science - Glacier melt, astronomy, Sky mode, solar system, Aviation simulation, Environment, satellite data
History - important landmarks, famous places, places you have lived/ visited

Limitations
Privacy issues with certain places, image processing takes time to create quality resolution, weather conditions can effect images quality

Legal, Safe & Ethical behaviour with ICT!

Working legally, safely and ethically in an educational environment can often be a tricky situation especially when you are uncertain or have little knowledge of copyright laws in the Australian education system. As an educator you must have an excellent understanding of the legal implications of uploading and using materials in an online environment. The following links provide you with examples on how to ensure you are working legally, safely and ethically in an online environment. What can a teacher do on a blog or wiki? (this link provides some great scenarios on what you can and shouldn't do when using online tools for educational purposes)

The Information privacy Act 2009 provides detailed information for the handling of personal information in the public sector on an online environment. It focuses on the "storage, handling, accessing, amendment, management, transfer, use and disclosure of personal information" (Information privacy Act, 2009) when dealing with personal information online.

Another major issue in the education system is use of copyright, there is the 10% rule that applies when copyrighting any material from a online source. Often educators do not know the full rules of copyrighting online materials which can lead to serious issue down the track. Although if all educators read over the Copy Right Act 1968 they will have a good understanding of he limitations involved with copying online material and implementing them into classroom lessons.

Educators should analyse the risks asscociated with web publishing when uploading students materials to blogs, wiki spaces or websites as some students situations might not allow for public recognition or work or achievements. Following these policies to insure the student identification is kept at a minimum (only first names) and that all students under the age of 18 have parental permission when photos and school work are uploaded on the school website, wiki space or blog spot. It is easy to maintain risk if educators follow and implement the Queensland Government Risk Management Privacy procedures.

Cyber-bulling  is becoming a major issue in school environments with the increase of Information Communication Technologies (ICT's) used in everyday life, especially within the education sector. Cyber-bulling is a 24/7 issue that common occurs through the use online tools such as blogs, facebook and websites. These tools are often used for educational purposes as they are a great place to communicate and exchange information with each other. Although with the increase of cyber-bulling many students often wish not to associate with technology tools in the classroom because of issues with the tools outside or within the school environment. A great way to limit cyber-bulling is to inform student about the implications and effects bullying has on young children today through examining what is cyber-bullying.

blogging away!!!

In preparation for my synopsis post I have been busy blogging away (and filling up your news feeds) as I type up my notes from each weeks activities on the group tools and review and expend on previous posts. Here is a quick recap of the last six weeks. Over this course I have developed and expand my knowledge and ability on educational technological tools such as spaces, multimedia and others. All of these tools can be engaging in classroom lessons if designed and implemented properly. Some of these tools are very simple to use whilst others more difficult for those educators that are not technologically savvy. There are numerous ways to incorporate a variety of these tools into the classroom as each tool is suited towards a specific way of teaching therefore educators need to have knowledge and can successfully use a range of these tools.

I find it useful to be able to experiment at my own pace with these online tools and then reflecting upon these experiences for future teaching practices. Overall I am confident that I can successfully incorporate these tools into classroom tasks to visually and orally engage my learners.

Group 3 presentation tools - Prezi

This is a snapshot of my Prezi (click link to view final project). It isn't much but I had a play around with moving pictures, adding texts and creating specific pathways to an already existing template. I created my prezi on the uses of this tool in the classroom whilst I examined and explored the tool. I found Prezi a great educational tool to use as it is engaging and simple.

Affordances:

The tool be shared easily online or downloaded on a computer. You can view the whole of the finish product on the one page compared with PowerPoint having several slides.The tool can also zoom in particular areas of texts and pictures for emphasis and you can create a pathway that move from one area to the next in a specific order. Great for giving step by step instructions that young children can view as many times as they like.

Usefulness for teachers:

It is a great to for teachers to use to give scaffold learning, to provide criteria examples or give specific instructions that need to be carried out. The information can be delivers either orally or visually through incorporating voice recordings, images and texts to engage a variety of learners. The tool is easy to use even for those teachers that are not technologically savvy as it provides tutorials on how to use the tool effectively. Also a great tool for educators to organise notes about class topics, discussion and ideas that are in one easy place to use. Teachers can start a Prezi from scratch or they can select an existing template and add their own specific information into it (as I have done in my example).

Usefulness for students:

This particular tool is great for young children as it is visually engaging and easy to follow through specifically designed pathways the outlines step by step specific instructions and resources for a particular task so students can use it as a guide to map out classroom investigations and activities. Students can create and share information and perspectives on classroom projects together or individually.

Expansion on Group 2 multimedia tools- Movie Maker

This reflection expands on from my some earlier post. To view my original posts and examples of work please click on the following links in the next sentence.

Digital learning tools such as window movie maker, podcasting, voki and mobaphoto are fantastic technological resources to use within classroom tasks to engage students in learning activities. These tools link closely together incorporating the use of audio, music, still photos and videos to appeal to those visual and auditory learners. They are all great tools to demonstrate classroom tasks such as teacher instructions and visual demonstrations that are effective and engaging and also easy to review over and over again.

Focusing specifically on one of these tools I believe that movie maker is a beneficial classroom tool as it incorporates aspects from each of these digital tools together in one place. I believe that moviemaker is a fantastic resource to use in the classroom as students are able to create, design and publish pieces of work that they have put together using texts, artwork, photos, videos, voice, and music. Using this tool to its maximum potential however can incorporate the use of other digitals such as podcasting to record and edit audio input. A positive about using moviemaker to deliver classroom instructions is that you only have to explain instructions once and students can re-watch the video if re-clarification is needed, as students are able to pause, rewind and fast forward using this tool to focus on a particular topic area.

Group 1 space Tools – Wiki spaces

Tools such as blogs, wiki spaces and websites are great tools to use within the classroom as you can reflect individually, discuss issues and share ideas and information with others. These tools also able you to set content control to authorise what information, comments and questions are displayed publically. Blogs are more of a reflective journal where others can comment but have no input on the content. A website is more of an informative tool that allows others to read but have no input incontent or feedback. Where as a wiki enables people to share ideas, communicate and edit within the tool.

One of these tools that I find most effective for classroom tasks is the wiki spaces as it is more of a shared group tool rather than an individual tool like a blog or a website. Communication is made easy through all memebers being able to post, edit and delete information, photos, videos and links. It is also a great tool for a discussion area as students can post comments, share ideas and easily communicate without having to be in the same room.

Here are links to my weebly website and to my wiki space, both designed to provide information about course activities and exploring online tools that are part of Managing E-Learning

wiki space

website

Reflecting

So looking through my blog I noticed my post of reflecting upon TPACK and Blooms Taxonomy wasn't there (it must of accidently got cancelled along the way) so here it is again. For my Reflection I chose a PMI Chart to identify what I believe to be interesting, positive or minus thoughts of TPACK and Blooms Taxonomy.

TPACK

Positive

• specific pedagogy's (ways of teaching)
• Each content area is specifically designed to make learning successful
• a strong relationship between pedagogy, technology, content and context
• It is designed and used for specific purposes

Minus

• It is essential to have a high level of technical skills.
• Need to clearly know your content and the context in which you chose to deliver your content in.

Image Source: http://tpack.org/

Interesting

• Teaching transforms learning
• You  need to know what is best for your learners in order to select specific content and digital tools to assist their individual needs.

Blooms Taxonomy

Positive

• new learning opportunities available as technology constantly advances
• Learning can start at any point
• Reflecting on prior knowledge

Minus

• Ability to gain access to Collaborative tools such as wikis, blogs, blackboard ect.
• Technology is expensive to keep upgrading
• Technology can at times be unreliably due to being fragile equipment, receiving viruses, battery or networking issues

Interesting

• "It's not about the tools its, using the tools to facilitate learning" (Churches, 2009)
• Collaboration today is essential in learning

References:
TPACK
Churches, A. (2009). Blooms Digital Taxonomy. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/bloom%27s+Digital+taxonomy+v3.01.pdf
Image source: http://teaching.uncc.edu/files/image/resources/pedagogy/diagramforwriting.gif

Follow Me

Hey everyone don't forget to follow my blog, and comment on posts with positive or constructive feedback (or both). also feel free to ask any questions you might have : )

Podcasting

Today I have been very busy experimenting with loads of useful tools such as movie maker and now I have just finished creating my first podcast, its not much but it is a small sample of a recording of my voice as a demonstration. This was my first attempt at using podomatic.com although I have used audacity before which is a program very similar. At first I had a little trouble publishing it correctly but soon realised that the format that I had used to record the message on my phone wasn't a compatible file with podomatic so I had to start again. I then tried using the voice recorder provided by podomatic with picked up lots of interference when I recorded it, although plugging in a microphone headset worked better as the mic was a lot closer to my mouth and it picked up less interference.

It is a good resource although for young children it might be a bit of a challenge as you have to speak very clearly and pronounce each work correctly otherwise the recording can become hard to differentiate between each words. However it is a fantastic tool to use in the classroom for students in the upper levels of primary school and high school.

Visit http://caramorgan.podomatic.com to view my podcast : )

experimenting with moviemaker

I have created this short movie to work on of my skills of incorporating images, sounds and videos together, as well as using visual effects and animations to produce a video of some of the different online resources I have learnt and and skills I have used.

Reflecting from this experience with movie I believe that I have developed and enhanced some of my skills associated with photograph, visual effects and audio soundtracks (using audacity). I believe that moviemaker is a fantastic resource to use in the classroom as students are able to create, design and publish pieces of work that they have put together using texts, artwork, photos, videos, voice, and music. It is a fun and creative resource that can entertain you for hours. It is also a great program to work with as each week students could expand on their movie so at the end of the term they can all publish them to a dvd to take home for their parents, so that they preview the activities their child has done and the work they have created over the term.

Voki

Just used voki, i found that it was a fantastic teacher resources to use as it is highly engaging, interactive and interesting. I could of spent hours designing my character and experimenting with different colours, backgrouds and voices. Its a great tool to use for classroom lessons to use for instructions or everday tasks

my Pros and Cons for the use of technology in education

Pro: Technology is used for a range of different hands on learning tools such as wikispaces, weebly accounts and blogs that are a fun and easy way to share information with other learners. As well as most young children find in fairly easy to navigate themeselves around the different resources.

Con: It however can waste valuable learning time trying to make particular resources work because you dont have the correct flash player or the right microsoft office program installed to use that resource. This not only wastes the childrens learning time but also all the time you have spent gathering information, useful websites or activities to share.

Personally I like to incorporate technology into classroom lessons as students these days are so familar with the technology that for them it can often be easier to understand. Also being a digital native I find it easy to understand and navigate a number of technology based resources however i am finding blogger a little bit of a challenge. As I am still having difficulting posting comments still after trying everyones tips and even using four different computers i still can't seem to post comments. So sorry to those that have some fantastic post I had tried to comment on about a dozen of them, and even to those who commented on my posts I can't even comment on my own blog. So if anyone else has some more ideas please on how to resolve my issue i would greatly appriciate it thanks : )

Exploring Weebly

I have just created a Weebly account which I have linked my Blog and Wikispace to the site. I have also explored and experiemented with the different design options associated with Weebly. It has many cool effects and layouts to choose from to create an appealing website that can be educational as well as fun to design and create.

check out my weebly site http://caramorgan.weebly.com/

Need help please :)

Is anyone else having trouble writing comments on other peoples blogs?
Mine keeps asking me to sign again and again and is not responding that i am actually already signed into blogger. Anyone know what I can do to fix this issue?

Thanks Cara

figuring it all out

Lately I have been focusing on looking at some fantastic sites such as wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) and I have learnt and quickly come to realise that incorporating these simple sites into your classroom engages students visually with new interactive ways to view texts. This site is simple and easy to use no matter how technologically savvy you are and is entertaining and engaging for all ages. My knowledge and understanding is increasing rapidly everyday just by examining and participating in the managing E-Learning activities and and exploring all the different ways to creatively incorporate the use technology in your classroom.

This is an example of one of my wordles from a website that I discovered during research. I found it interesting they way they have discovered how to use incorporate technology into educational lessons.

50 ways to use technology in the classroom



(text take from http://www.classroomtech.org/integration/50ways.htm)

The use of mobile phones in education

For the wiki activity this week we were to reflect on our thought of the use of mobile phones in education using De Bono's thinking hats. after some consideration this is my opinion, focusing on De Bono's Yellow thing hat (Positivies):

Students are already using mobile phones in a number of ways in everyday life as well as in the classroom as it is a hand held information and communication device that is common amongst the majority of high school students. Using mobile phones in education can be successful because majority of students all ready use mobile phones in the classroom regardless of whether it was intended in the teacher’s lessons plan and allowing mobile phones for educational purposes will more likely engage those students that are technologically savvy. Incorporating the use of mobiles in the classroom for educational purposes will hopefully engage more students in learning and by learning information they way they want will hopefully help them retain the information learnt. 

I believe it is a positive tool in education as I often used mobile phones in high school to communicate and research information as they are a easy device to navigate and are small and easily portable. 

Would love to here everyone elses opinions on the subject :)

Learning Theories

Been reading through learning theories on the article on the new Eighth Multiple Intelligence. It was interesting to know how today the multiple intelligences focus heavily on technology to implement and enhances the Naturalist Intelligence. I came across information relating to technology based learning in order to connect with the new “Internet Age”. It made me wonder for a while about how technology is changing the world we know, replacing human interaction in the natural world with a new virtual world. It is surprising to see the amount of young children today who rely so heavily on electronic equipment in everyday situations wether it is an essential item or not. I haven't really considered the effects of multimedia technolgy on human development until reading through some of these articles. Now I have gained an awareness of this increasing issue, and it is something to consider throughout the future.  

HI

Welcome to my blog : )