Reflective Synopsis - Natalie Raymond - S0178843

My E-Learning journey has been one of excitement and hesitation but most of all full of satisfaction that, with practice, I can facilitate these learning tool in my future teaching. Importantly, I have realized that society is rapidly engaging in highly sophisticated Information Computer Technology (ICT) and it is imperative that teachers incorporate this in their everyday teaching. Although I am not an expert in the programs that I have trialed, it is important that I will become confident in the instructional design strategies that inform learning with ICT. (Smith & Lynch, 2007.)
Education Queensland have developed The Smart Classrooms strategy to ensure that ICT is integral to learning and to create a vision for “…clever, skilled and creative Queensland”. (Education Queensland, 2008). The Government has acknowledged the rapid growth of technology and is taking steps towards education and teaching methods to adapt to this ever changing world. Each classroom should have a balance of virtual and face to face teaching with the main focus on learning not the technology. (Education Queensland, 2008).
Several policies by Education Queensland (Department of Education and Training, 2010) have been set in place to guide a teacher when using technology in the classroom and it is important for educators to be aware of the dangers and challenges when guiding the students through the World Wide Web. Such risks as cyber bullying, copyright and safe display of web page materials are all incorporated into these policies.
Attitudes and Perceptions play an important role in the deployment of teaching these ICT in order to support students’ learning and to encourage higher order thinking. Perceiving tasks as Valuable and Interesting (Marzano & Pickering, 2006 p 30) by ensuring that students are highly engaged in tasks and can see the relevance in everyday life. The use of ICT’s will allow for student choice and allow for creativity and a challenge for students through investigation and research.
Throughout my synopsis I will be discussing several teaching tools and using frameworks such as the Big6 Skills Overview (Mike Eisenberg, 2001) and The Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999) to examine and analyse the different tools.


Blogging is one teaching tool that I have explored and feel could be valuable in a learning environment. Blogging gives students and educators an opportunity to communicate between peers and motivates students to write further. This motivation can come from students as they feel satisfaction in publishing their blogs and allows students to respond to and to hear others comments. Students are able to ask questions, give their point of view and reflect on their learning. As educator we can use blogging as a way of assessing students understanding of a task and also to gauge their level of interest in a particular subject. (Downes, S. 2004)

By using a blog to create an in class discussion, higher order thinking is encouraged. Students extend their knowledge by describing, naming and answering questions from their peers throughout their blog. The Engagement Theory (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999. p. 1) is based on “…students’ must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks.” A blog enables students to discuss their learning journey on a particular subject and allows for active cognitive processes such as reasoning, decision making, problem solving and evaluating. (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).
Blogging is also a positive way to developing relationships amongst peers. As the students blog they are able to get to know each other through visiting others blogs and reading and responding. Both the shy, timid student and the extroverted student are catered for in a blog. Each students have the same blogging space within to write their views, opinions and knowledge learnt, giving the students a sense of ownership and equality while taking part in collaborative learning. (Downes 2004) Blogging overall is an easy, free and powerful tool. However, for blogging to be successful, students must first be engaged in the context of the task and students must be comfortable in the process of blogging and embrace the process. Once engagement is present blogging is a great tool that incorporates the process of higher order thinking and collaborative learning that involves reflecting, criticizing, reacting and reflecting which in turn allows teachers to use for assessing and scaffolding teaching. (Downes, 2004).



The second tool that I found very useful is the Weebly Website. This particular tool again was free and quite easy to use. I can see a lot of potential with setting up a classroom webpage and also see that it is the future of teaching with many teachers already using this tool.
A virtual classroom could be set up using Weebly or The Learning Place websites. Teachers could use this tool as a means for students and parents to access classroom information in their own home. Not only could a virtual classroom produce such things as a newsletter for parents and students but also homework, school values and websites that the students can access at home. (Brown, S. 2009). Teachers could post onto the virtual website, details of the current unit of work and also some websites to research. The Big6 (Eisenberg, 2001) skill number Three, Location and Access, would be used as the students are required to locate sources and find and read the information. Skill number four would then be used as the student engages in the information, whether it be a You Tube, website or article.
In comparison to a traditional classroom, the virtual classroom could be beneficial as it allows for parents to keep up and to be involved in their child’s education which could be a positive and encouraging step towards the lifelong learning process.

Mind mapping is a tool useful in all year levels in an educational setting. Originally mind mapping was words written on a chalkboard or paper. Digital mind mapping is the new innovation which allows students to work individually or collaboratively and build on their ideas or knowledge. When working with a variety of information, experimenting with mind maps maintains students’ interest and encourages engagement. It is a way for students to organize and process information and their ideas in a visual format. The Big6 skill of Task Definition would be relevant here as students are defining the problem.
Bubbles. us is a program that I trialed and produced a mind map. The colourful format and the visual building blocks enable me to understand a concept by using words to help build my understanding.
Anders and Beech (1990) described the purpose of technological mind mapping and stated that, “As students begin to web information and create maps of their ideas by moving them close to one another, a visual pattern or hierarchy begins to emerge. Creating these patterns, or maps, is a strategy to learn, organize, comprehend and recall
information”.
Bruner’s theory (as cited in McInerney and McInerney, 2006) reflects on personal constructivism as the discovery of patterns and connections. This theory allows for students’ level of learning and flexible thinking. The mind map does this as a basis to allow students to use their earlier understanding of a topic and allow for further discovery of a topic.
Lastly, a tool that I find extremely useful in my early childhood phase of teaching is the Bee Bot. The Bee Bot is a floor robot in the form of a plastic toy that moves according to how it has been programmed to. The plastic sheet that the Bee Bot travels along can be changed with a variety of topics such as shapes, colours, letters, sounds etc. The Bee Bot can provide activities throughout all the Key Learning Areas and allows for knowledge to be scaffolded to the younger students and add this new knowledge to the schema.
With the Bee Bot, students are able to explore processes, topics and concepts in an engaging manner that would otherwise not be available without this technology. As the aim of this robot is to arrive at the correct destination, it presents a question and a problem for the children to solve. This is in line with Kearsley & Schneiderman’s Engagement Theory (1999) that describes engaged learning to involve active cognitive processes where children are intrinsically motivated to learn. Children could work collaboratively or individually to solve this problem.
On reflection of my learning journey while trialing the various learning tools, it has become very clear to me that ICT is the way of the future in a classrooms. However it is important for future learning managers to realise that it is the teaching that should be the main focus in education not the technology. Teachers need to encourage and embrace ICT in their classrooms and create a balance between virtual and face to face teaching. Teachers do not need to create their own materials to incorporate ICT in their classroom and can use mentors such as The Learning Place (Education Qld, 2010) which has a wide range of resources that have been tested for appropriateness (Smith & Lynch, ) that the teacher can manipulate for their own use or use directly from their website. I acknowledge that I need to be teaching for the twenty first century which means that technology must be integrated into my classroom to engage learners of today.




References
Brown, S. (2009). Using a classroom webpage to communicate with parents. Retrieved 20 August, 2010 from: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/689.
Downes, S. (2004) Educational Blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, vol 39:5. Retrieved 18 August, 2010 from: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920
Education Queensland (2008) Smart Classrooms. Retrieved 13 August, 2010, from: http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf.

Education Queensland. (2010) The Learning Place, Curriculum Exchange. Retrieved 23 August, 2010 from: http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/cx/.

Inspirational Software (nd). How digital tools prepare students for the 21st century. Retrieved 18 August, 2010 from:http://www.kidspiration.com/sites/default/files/documents/How_Digital_Tools_Prepare_Students_for_the_21st_Century.pdf
McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational Psychology . Constructing Learning. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.
Queensland Government. (2007). Interactive Learning in the Early Phase. Retrieved 18 August, 2010, from: https://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=35953

Smith, R., Lynch, D & Knight, B.A. (2007) Learning Management Transitioning teachers for national and international change. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.


Appendix:
Blogs I have been following:

http://nooniesimone.blogspot.com/2010/07/week-one.html
http://nooniesimone.blogspot.com/2010/08/big-6.html
http://brookelinsket.blogspot.com/2010/08/dove-onslaughter.html#comment-form
http://kirkraemond.blogspot.com/2010/07/digital-tool-concept-mapping-for.html

Bee Bot

Hi Everyone,

Those of you that are studying Early Childhood would have probably seen this new Educational toy and teaching tool. For those who haven't it is called a Bee Bot and I have actually purchased one. It is a fantastic tool to use in the Early childhood phase and has lots of potential in all areas of the KLA's. The idea is that you have a plastic mat with square drawn at 15cm increments. The Bee Bot is programmed by the children to go where you want it to. This is great for learning directionality , ie left, right, one more more forward, backwards. The Bee Bot can remember up to 40 instructions and can also turn 90 degrees. The reward for the children is a lovely beeping noise and flashing lights that Bee Bot makes when it arrives at it's position.
The Bee Bot not only makes learning more engaging, but can enhance learning and make learning more relevant to younger digital learners . Students are provided with opportunities to learn about processes, topics and concepts that wouldn't have without the use of ICT's.
An example of how a Bee Bot could be used in a Prep or Year One classroom is with Names or shapes. The children are to direct the Bee Bot to their name by programming it to move. You could also answer simple maths questions or use sounds or letters.
This is a great tool and I have introduced it to my school and the teachers love it. They use it as a treat for the children. The children get very excited and love it.
Bye for now
Natalie

Wordle

Hi Everyone,

Really love wordle. A way for students to use for mindmap, profile a subject or even as a hook to open up a new unit of work. Really easy to use and looks great.
Bye for now
Natalie

Movie Maker

Hi Everyone,

I have just used Movie Maker for the first time. Was a terrific experience and I'm very pleased with the results. This tool would be very useful in a classroom as so many experiences can be captured. I particularly like to be able to import music to the video as it creates a mood. This program was fairly simple to use and the set up pretty well gives a step by step instruction.

Photos as well as videos can be imported and it could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom including digital portfolios, student assessment and reflection on learning and also could be used in all KLA's to include creativity in these areas.

Please note: All photo's have been used with written permission and are from my private collection.

Regards,

Natalie

Podcasts

http://media.libsyn.com/media/podkids/PA_Ep_22_Sep_09.mp3

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/#classroom

Hi everyone,

Above are two links that I found very interesting and helpful in learning about what exactly a Podcast is.

"A podcast is an audio or video file imported onto the Internet so it can accessed by a personal computer, downloaded and transferred to a portable MP3 player. " Department of Education (2010) Retrieved 4 August, 2010 from: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/#classroom.

Creating podcasts
There are three main stages in creating a basic podcast:
1. Recording. You will need a microphone and software to record your sound file.
2. Publishing. Once you have created your audio file and saved it, usually in mp3 format you need to upload it to a webserver. Many sites on the internet, including Blogger offer free podcast hosting services.
3. Publicising. Having created your podcast and uploaded it to make it available to potential users you need to provide a way for users to access your files. This may be as simple as providing a link from an existing webpage or more complex, such as creating an rss feed document which will allow users to subscribe to your podcast.


Educational Value of Podcasts
Podcasts can be created from original material by students and teachers or existing audio files can be downloaded for classroom use.Creating a podcast allows students to share learning experiences. It provides them with a world-wide audience that makes learning meaningful and assessment authentic. Teachers can use the technology to provide additional and revision material to students to download and review at a time that suits them.
Department of Education . (2010). Retrieved 4 August, 2010 from:
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/#classroom

This tool is a terrific way for students to reflect on their learning by performing. It is also a great way for teachers to reflect on their teaching as there is a record of the students work.

I need to read a lot more to really understand how this works but my first impression are that it is a terrific way to engage students with a end result that students can listen and watch and enjoy.
Going to read some more!
Regards,
Natalie

Images

Our Community: Courtesy of Google Images Hi Everyone,
I chose this image as the children at school are currently studying a unit of work called Our Community. They are visiting different businesses in the area and creating a PowerPoint for assessment. Images such as the one above is a example of what the students could import to tell their story.

Importing images is a very easy way for a teacher to make a sheet of work interesting. Students at all levels love to see a picture, even if it is on an assessment sheet! Images can help students to engage in the context by relating it to "real life". Some images such as animals, characters, cartoon picture etc can help the child to relate to the context of work through a message in the image. What I'm trying to say is that images can support the text and keep it interesting. The actual process of importing an image is simple. You can save the image as a picture then crop it, rotate it, change the shade etc. Personal pictures taken from a Digital camera are also easier imported. This would be particularly helpful to a teacher for digital portfolios, especially in the younger years. Childrens' work could be scanned and saved as an image and also recorded in their portfolio. A very useful and easy tool for a teacher and there are millions of free images on the web.
Regards,
Natalie