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

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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 : )