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.