Blog Synopsis - By Anna Phelps s0154329

Introduction
As I think back to when I first started this program to where I am now I cannot believe how much has changed and how much I have learned. As I have explored the technological competencies required within a 21st century connected society, I have discovered new tools, applications and re-evaluated my pedagogical approach to teaching. To successfully scaffold this reflection, I have gone back through my notes, papers, discussion boards, blogs and reflections to show the progression of my learning. This reflection will focus on the tools I have discovered which allow students and teachers to: access/gain information, consolidate and refine information, transform information to develop new information and present knowledge to an audience.

Generation Y was born with a mouse in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. They have always known technology and how to live and learn with technological advances (Huisman & Sjoer, 2006). They are, according to Marc Prensky (2001, p.2 ), “digital natives”, native speakers of the Internet, computers and video games. As a learning manager it is vital that I engage digitally native learners by focusing pedagogical frameworks on student focused, authentic, project based, inquiry learning, incorporating ITCs to assist students to research, organise and present information in a collaborative learning environment. By facilitating these learners and utilising a range of Internet tools in the classroom, learning managers with be fostering the learning gains of future citizens who will be active processors of information, skilled problem solvers, and effective communicators (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

The Internet is characterised by an abundance of information, speedy update, and ease of access (Novak, 1990). As a part of my blog reflection I compared two models or learning theories to assist students to keep on task while using the internet: Collaborative Inquiry Learning (Chang, Sung, & Lee, 2003) to the Big 6 theory (Eisenberg, 2006). Collaborative inquiry learning is a strategy utilised to assist learners to familiarise, hypothesise, explore, explain, revise and report in a structure and collaborative environment. The Big 6 Theory (Eisenberg, 2006) is a model used to assist students to define the task, seek information strategies, access and locate information, use information, synthesise and evaluate information while solving real life problems.

Throughout my reflective blog I have created a comparison table. Within this table I have listed the key traits of each stage for both the Big 6 Theory (Eisenberg, 2006) and Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning (Chang et al., 2003). It is quite evident from examining the table that these two theories are quite similar. They both elicit a process for students to follow to sort through the masses of “stuff” on the Internet to locate what they are looking for, in a time effective manner. Both of the learning theories support the three basic principles of Kearsley and Shneiderman's (1999) Engagement Theory: an emphasis on collaborative learning, project-based assignments with a non-academic focus. My research discovered by using these theories or frameworks in conjunction with each other, learning outcomes will be enhanced for students. Especially when promoting higher order thinking, such as: problem solving skills, ability to explain data, critical thinking, and understanding of crucial concepts (Chiappetta & Russel, 1982; Saunders & Shepardson, 1987).
 
Access/gain information
Phase three of both the Big 6 Theory (Eisenberg, 2006) and Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning (Chang et al., 2003) suggest that students need to locate the best source, create a collaborative concept map and access/gain information. As it is quite easy for students to ‘get lost’ on the Internet, learning managers need to remove unwanted distractions. A great way to narrow down students searches is through a Web-based system. A Web-based system designed according to the procedure of inquiry learning or the Big 6 theory, will empower teachers’ instruction and students as they feel in control of the learning (Novak, 1990). An interactive tool I discovered during my blog journey was Weebly Websites.

Curriculum
Weebly are free sites which can be easily used by the creator. Weebly websites can be created in a matter of minutes without any programming knowledge. These types of websites ensure that students are following safe, ethical Web practices to research information quickly and effectively (Huisman & Sjoer, 2007). They also allow learning managers to place all of materials students need to complete their research in one convenient location. Students can contact their teacher via email directly from the Weebly website. I established my Weebly website, Interactive Learning Activities: Growing Life Long Learners, as a collection of useful internet learning activities categorised into subject specific areas. Kim Thompson’s comment raised a crucial point which I had not considered; this tool removes “that awful red stop sign that kids hate so much” which assists the lesson to run smoothly. Weebly can incorporate: You-tube clips, Vokis, Digital Videos, Images and so much more.

Consolidate and Refine Information
Bubbl.us is an interactive tool that allows students to represent their declarative knowledge by sorting and categorising information into a concept map or graphic organiser. Buzan (2009) suggests that a mind map or concept map is “a thinking tool that reflects externally what is going on inside your head.” This tool could be used at the analyse phase of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956) where students: compare and contrast, investigate influencing factors or deduce how parts interact to consolidate and refine information. Buzan (2009) furthers this idea by suggesting that mind maps assist students to: organise, learn, problem solve, memorise and manage projects. These skills are all essential in a 21st Century classroom. I found bubbl.us an easy to navigate tool which particularly appeals to visual and kinaesthetic learners as the bubbles are colour coded (Gardner, 1983).

Transform Information to Develop New Understandings
Two of the best tools I discovered to assist students to transform information to develop new understandings, with a joint construction or discussions approach, were Wikis, for the upper grades, or Primary Pads, for the lower grades. These are essentially the same tool; they both create learning in a group context, promote authentic learning and are project based (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). However PrimaryPad is slightly easier to navigate, use and understand than a Wiki. Pauline White’s blog exposed me to PrimaryPad when she created a blog post about this great learning object. She recommended that this tool will allow students to organise, insert tables and concept maps to encourage group consolidation while fostering critical thinking, analysis, evaluation and synthesis to produce a final product. This process supports and promotes higher order thinking as students are at the exploring and explain phase of collaborative learning (Chang et al., 2003). This tool not only allows students to transform information to develop new understandings, but also assists students to consolidate and refine information in a collaborative learning environment with two-way conversation (Brady, 2006).

Personally I have utilised Wikis for group assignments at university. As a future learning manager I am considered to be ‘time poor’. Between juggling work commitments, children, relationships, assignments and the myriad of other ‘things’ which demand my attention sometimes it is nearly impossible to try and find a day and time that suits 5 or 6 busy individuals to complete a group assignment. Wikis are fantastic tools which allow learners to collaboratively contribute to an online forum around a topic and consider alternative perspectives. The two group assignments for which I used a Wiki this semester were: ‘Ensuring Student Success’ and ‘English Curriculum and Pedagogy’. The results for English Curriculum and Pedagogy were fantastic; all members were able to contribute to the Wiki and the assignment came together really well! Unfortunately one of the members from the Ensuring Student Success group accidentally deleted the entire Wiki the day it was due. Luckily I had saved the presentation to my USB the day before; however, this scenario could have easily ended in tragedy. This experience has made me more hesitant to use Wikis in the future without some protocols on backing-up the information.

Present Knowledge to an Audience
A website or a blog is both an interactive and interesting way for students to present knowledge to an audience. Both of these tools allow students to edit and change information as they follow steps outlined in the Big 6 Theory (Eisenberg, 2006) or Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning (Chang et al., 2003). Students could be the creators of information and demonstrate their understandings by embedding movies, images, digital art, animations, bubbl.us mind maps, voki’s and podcasts. If the learning manager creates realistic boundaries (criteria sheet) and allows students options of how they will show their knowledge (tools) in the Web-page assessment students will be demonstrating their understandings via their preferred learning styles (Gardner, 1983) and will take ownership for the learning (Marzano & Pickering, 1997). Throughout this process students will be utilising higher order thinking while they plan, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information to present to the audience. The learning manager could check the learners’ progression by viewing the Web-page on specific dates and assist students who may be having difficulties.

Conclusion
Throughout my learning journey in E-learning I have discovered the increasing need for technology to be embedded in all Key Learning Areas, not tacked on as an extra (Prensky, 2001). Students need to engage in technologies in collaborative, inquiry-based learning environment with learning managers who are willing and able to use technology’s power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information (New Brunswick Department of Education, 2010). As a futures orientated learning manager I intend to continue to up-skill myself to keep up with the ever changing demands of incorporating ITCs into all Key Learning Areas on a daily basis.

Reference List

Conversations with peers

Gizmos

Today I was having a look at my peers blogs when I came across Kristen post "Gizmos as a Learning Object". As an avid fan of Paul Jennings work, I was curious to discover what a Learning Object Gizmo could be!

I clicked on the link that Kristen had provided and signed up for the 30 day free trial. I too was AMAZED at these learning objects! The observations I have made in my prac classes have been that Maths is normally taught as a 'talk and chalk' subject by using resources such as Go Maths or Real Life Maths. The teacher usually gives a 10-15minute demonstration of the topic with a activity sheet or work book page, or two to complete.



Gismos gives learners the opportunity to discover new information for themselves through inquiry based learning (Marzano and Pickering, 1997). Higher order thinking skills were developed through the use of Blooms’ Taxonomy, specifically to formulate the process of investigation and thinking skills used when completing the requirements of the individual task (Bloom, et.al, 1956).

Kristen has created a great SWOT analysis which comprehensively covers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of this learning object. It can be viewed by clicking here.

Voki

Get a Voki now!



Voki's are an interactive tool which can be used to engage learners and limit the amount of direct teacher instruction (Edward-Groves, 2003). In my prac classroom we have a smartboard and I have observed that students engage with anything when it is projected onto the smartboard. Vokis could be used to:

- Introduce a new topic or theme for the unit
- Create problem based, inquiry learning situations
- Give real-life authentic meaning to a task
- Could be used to explore other countries (by changing the accent of the character)
- Assist students to make content knowledge (normally chalk and talk information) exciting and engaging.

Voki's are an easy and engaging tool which I will be sure to use in my current and future classroom/s.

Big 6 Theory vs. Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning

To enlarge this table please click on the image.

To help further my understandings of the suggested theories or frameworks to assist student to find, process and use information effectively on the internet I have created a comparison table. Within this table I have listed the key traits of each stage for both the Big 6 Theory (Eisenberg, 2006) and Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning (Chang, Sung & Lee, 2003). It is quite evident from examining the table that these two theories are quite similar. They both elicit a process for students to follow to sort through the masses of "stuff" on the internet to locate what they are looking for, in a time effective manner.

Both of the learning theories listed in the table support the three basic principles Kearsley and Shneiderman's (1999) Engagement Theory: an emphasis on collaborative learning, project-based assignments with a non-academic focus. If futures orientated learning managers utilize either the Big 6 Theory or the Collaborative Inquiry Based Learning approach in conjunction with the positive influences of The Engagement Theory learning gains will be reached for all students in a structured and engaging learning environment.

EtherPads

When I was reading Pauline White's blog about EsterPads I was amazed at how simple and interesting she made them sound. So I decided that I need to check out EtherPads for myself. To use an EtherPad you first have to open Primary Pad and click on the trial link. Follow the instructions from there to create your own pad!

Public pad is very similar to a Wiki, in that you can add and explore ideas with a common group of people. I really like the use of colors which makes it very clear who has contributed and who has not. I think this tool could be used in classrooms as a collaborative learning tool to assist teachers and students as they communicate with each other. I will definitely be adding this tool to my Weebly Webpage of useful sites.




This site also has a tool similar to paint where students and teachers can add their own images or draw images. These can then be linked to the PublicPad. Which gives students a visual image to re-enforce their ideas.

PLUS
1. Easy to use
2. Simple instructions for students
3. Encourages collaborative learning
4. Supports the engagement theory as students can; define the task, seek and share information, access eachothers ideas, use the information and present and evaluate the process.
5. Distance is no barrier, regardless of location students can contribute (click here to see a conversation Pauline White, Kate Pollard and I had about this).

MINUS
1. If the internet or computers are not accessible for all students they would be unable to contribute.
2. Some students might accidentally delete all the information.

INTERESTING
1. The use of this tool in classrooms on a global scale is limitless!
2. Teachers could use this tool in most KLA's
3. Some suggested ideas can be viewed here

I hope you too can experience this great tool!

Weebly - Website for the Classroom

Weebly are free sites which can be easily used by the creator. Weebly websites can be created in a matter of minutes without any programming knowledge. The fast and attractive results achieved using Weebly greatly contributed to the intrinsic motivation to make a website (Huisman & Sjoer, 2007).


This is a screen shot of my web-page

I was astounded by how easy this site was to use and edit. Because I felt I was being swamped by useful educational web-site resources during lectures, from peers and at my prac I decided to use my Weebly website as a collation of all of these resources. To view my Weebly web-page click here
I have also added a link so others can email me with their educational websites. It would be great if you had time to contribute. Go to the 'more' option followed by the 'suggestions' tab on the task-bar or just click here

Digital Video

Digital video applications such as Widows Movie Maker are a fantastic tool for students of all ages to communicate their understandings in a fun and creative way. I have used Movie Maker throughout some of my schooling and really enjoyed using this application as a student and can't wait to incorporate this great software into my unit plans as a teacher. It allows students at all levels of development to create, present, communicate, summarize, evaluate information in a fun and interesting way. It also allows students to experiment with technology and builds their understandings of these tools.

The classroom application for programs such as Movie Maker are endless! They may include, but are not limited to:
Assessment tasks, such as information reports
Term diaries for lower grades with pictures
Recount of what happened on the holidays
Science procedures
Information for parents (have movie maker playing when parents come to pick up their children from school)


I have embedded two Movie Maker Movies that I have created. The first one was for a school assignment.




The second movie I created was for a job application to demonstrate my skills with ICT.



*** All the material used for the production of this video are copyrighted and owned by their original artists and labels; UMG, SONY, WMG, EMI. I own nothing. This video has entertainment purposes only! ***

PodOmatic

Today I attempted to use the podomatic podcast. I reflected on this tool by creating a podcast which you can listen to if you click here

Uses for podomatic in the classroom:
Book talks
Literature Circles
Process dramas
Meet the author
Science logs
Art critiques
Historical or audio diaries
Oral histories

I found an excellent website which models and explains all of these ideas. It can be viewed by clicking here.

Picnik

Picnik is the most FANTASTIC photo editing software ever!!! I am amazed just how easy it is to upload, edit and save photos! I have inserted a before and after shot of a quick snap I took at home, see for your self the unbelievable difference!



It has some really fun settings and I could spend hours just fiddling and making changes to photos, but it doesn't take hours - its fast and fun! It has some really great options such as the pix-elated areas caption. This editing option could be used for any documentation of photos of students as you could pix-elate the students faces for students safety. It could also be used for a mystery guest unit, a wanted poster or editing photos to put on your class web-page.

The image I have uploaded could be used in the classroom as:
1. Creative writing stimulus
2. A demonstration at the beginning of a Picnik tutorial
3. A demonstration for photography lessons, focusing on landscape shots.
4. Image for a real life/problem solving maths equation ("If a farmer harvests 1 tonne of wheat per acre and owns 12,000 acres how much wheat will he harvest in total?")
5. An investigation or identifying cloud types for science.

This is an really useful program to use in and out of the classroom. Its safe to say I will definitely use it again in the future!

I have spent considerable time browsing through the collection of images on flickr. and have discovered that a picture really does say a thousand words. Thanks to the creative commons a selection of works (visual and auditory) are available to others to share and build upon legally. The Creative Common License allows creators to specify which rights they reserve and allows users to edit and use the data within these rights. This license provides creators and users with the most up-to-date and useful information possible (Creative Commons, http://www.creativecommons.org.au/version3). There is an infinite number of images, with a Creative Common License, which could be used in the classroom to enhance students learning journeys.

Importing a re-sized image & Bubbl.us concept mapping

Bubbl.us Concept Mapping



Bubbl.us is a fantastic tool to assist students to organize declarative knowledge by sorting and categorizing this information. Before I created my graphic organiser I had watched the "Tony Buzzan Mind Mapping" You Tube Clip which really helped me understand a little bit more about concept mapping. He suggests that graphic organizers are "a thinking tool that reflects externally what is going on".This tool will be really useful in the classroom to assist learning managers to understand students misconceptions on a particular topic.

Importing a re-sized image



After having difficulty uploading images I was very pleased to participate in the Topic 4 tutorials on images. To overcome this hurdle I have saved the image as aforementioned in my previous post, then re-sized it using the MobaPhoto software. I am very interested to see the difference in quality of the three photos.

Re Post

Thanks Pauline, I have loaded this image as a jpeg as you suggested to "print the screen, then paste it into PowerPoint and then I save the PowerPoint as a JPEG file interchange format. You do this by selecting “save as” and then within this “save as” box you click the arrow down where it says “save as type” and then scroll to select JPEG file".

Lets hope it works!

21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada

This You-tube clip supports Kearsley & Shneiderman (1999) Engagement Theory which is a model for learning in a technology based environment. Its aim is to engage learners in a collaborative, project-based, non-academic focused setting to achieve creative, meaningful and authentic learning gains.

This clip draws out some key elements to consider for futures orientated learning managers. Such as "the future is accelerating, education is about adapting to a changing world, how and what we teach has to change as well". Is this happening in Australian schools? Predominantly teachers in today's schools are Digital Immigrants who are attempting to make learning interesting and engaging for students who are Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001). Without up-skilling these teachers will never assist their students to reach their full potential as they must "keep pace and stay relevant to keep students engaged" (New Brunswick Department of Education, 2010).

The Department of Education, New Brunswick (2010), also rasises some interesting statistics when he stats that:
"Learning must:
1. Be student centered and personalized
2. Provide experiences and opportunities to apply knowledge.
3. Be accessible 24/7, anywhere, anytime

Students will use technology to:
1. Access Content
2. Demonstrate mastry of work
3. Publish their work
4. Maintain a portfolio of their skills
5. Interact with others."

However the question must be raised: is this happening in Australian schools? Is there enough support and funding for resources in Queensland schools to allow students to take part in this educational journey? Are teachers building their skills to embrace these new technologies? Are you seeing it happen in your school? What are you going to do about it?

Classroom application of PowerPoint

Today I examined the pedagogical practices of implementing PowerPoint into an interactive classroom. PowerPoint has evolved from when I was at school and is becoming an increasingly useful tool.

Have documented my findings in using the Outline in Word tool which I have used for organising my assignments numerous times - I love it! This tool works really well for visual learners. See below.

I am aware that this is not an overly clear picture. I took a screen shot from Word and cut and pasted it into Paint then uploaded it as a photo. Does anyone have a better way to do this?

Classroom application for Wikis

Last week I started a Wiki with 'wetpaint.com'. I found it really difficult to use any of the applications and was struggling to understand how this tool could be utilised effectively in the classroom because it was taking me so long to get anywhere. I found that there were too many tabs up the top of the screen for me to navigate, the user needed to download lots of applications to upload photos and there were numerous pop-ups that were so annoying!! I basically threw my hands in the air and gave up!

For our group assignments (for other subjects) Aly suggested that we use a Wiki to collaboratively research and to help us keep a track of everything. At first I was not excited about the prospect of spending countless hours trying to upload information. However when I attempted to upload my information I found that the wiki that Aly set up was through 'wikispaces.com' and was much easier to use. The layout and instructions were much easier to navigate through, and there were no annoying pop-ups!


Group Assignment: Ensuring Student Success Wiki

I have now deleted my original wetpaint.com wiki and established a new wikispaces.com wiki which can be viewed at www.twohourstwiceaweek.wikispaces.com. After this journey I can see that a wiki could be implemented in the classroom in numerous ways such as:

• homework tasks
• interacting with an international buddy class
• writing a group assignment
• vocabulary lists
• literature circles
• community recipe book

After researching about wikis in the classroom I found a great site called 50 Ways to use Wikis which has a comprehensive list of classroom ideas. I will be sure to us a wiki for future practises.

The beginning...

After yesterday’s lecture I have realised that I am quite internet illiterate. So I have decided that this first blog should be a glossary of new terms. Some of the below definitions have been taken directly from www.urbandictionary.com

Glossary

Webmaster - somebody who does the programming and designing of a website

Blog - Short for weblog. Allows different people to share “news”

Wikis - A collaborative Web site comprised of the perpetual collective work of many authors. Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit, delete or modify content that has been placed on the

Forums - An internet-based Bulletin Board in which members can post thoughts and views.

I imagine that this list will grow as this course progresses :-)

According to the standards proposed by Marc Prensky (2001) in his article Digital Natives Digital Immigrants, I am assuredly a "Digital Immigrant" as I prefer print text over the computer screen and feel like everyday there is something technical that I struggle to understand. However, Prensky makes an impressionable statement when he suggests that we should not be "outdated" as we will limit the educational advances of our "Digital Native" students. I firmly agree with this statement and intend to 'power up' my skills and make considerable advances in technology, hopefully this blog will be a good starting place. I am interested to hear your thoughts on this article.