Wonders of Podcasting

This is a link to a local Bundaberg school. One of the classes went on a trip to Canberra and while there, the students uploaded podcast explaining what they had done that day. Parents were able to keep track of the students during their week long trip and the podcasts remain as a great reminder of the fun that was had. A trip to a museum could be podcasted in the same way. Students could carry iPods around with them and each be responsible for recording information and their thoughts on a particular museum piece. Back at school, all of the podcasts could be used to gain a comprehensive reminder of the trip but especially an in depth view on the museum and how it was seen through the eyes of each of the students. This would work for an art gallery as well. The podcasts could be available for other classes to listen to and learn from also.

Affordances of a Podcast

Podcasting:

• Can be done from a computer, phone or iPod
• Provides a certain amount of anonymity for kids
• Can help  improve oral skills
• Helps students to practise their oral skills to use in other non-virtual arena 
• Allows the student to listen back and improve oral performances
• Is a valuable tool for verbal learners

Limitations of a Podcast

Podcasting:

• Is not ideal for visual learners in the classroom
• Is not great for kineasthetic learners
• Can disengage students if podcasts are made without visuals
• Discourages face to face interaction

Photo experimenting with our Jinx!

What seemed a lot of work at first after uploading itunes to my laptop and uploading photos from my phone became a little easier when it was time to upload to my blog. Phew! I think being able to upload photos onto a blog or wiki would be great for supporting learning in the classroom. Linking information with images is a fantastic way for students to make connections in the brain. Photos can show the sequence of time such as tracking a building being built or a vegetable growing in the garden. This would help students to understand the steps needed for actions of this type to come to ompletion. An ancient history lesson would be so much more engaging if images of the buildings of Ancient Greece could accompany text. This would ensure the two buffers of the brain are meaningfully connected. In a senior english class, students could take photos of objects that represent them as youth in Australia. All of the photos could be collated to showcase the different views on what it means to be an Australian.

My Wiki Reflection

Reflection Week 2 - The Wiki!!

Last week I wasn't entirely sure what a Wiki was. This week I spent an hour (or so)  contributing to one!!! What next?? As I moved my way down the hats I could definitely sense my thinking become more critical. Each hat required  a different argument from me and as we see most things from only one perspective, it took my thinking to higher level. I believe this task encompassed all of the learning theories in some way. It was behaviourist in that I took a series of steps to complete the task. I think it was a little cognitive, or at least it felt that way, as it seemed like all of the processes of the brain were in action at the time. Each hat required me to think more broadly and more complexly about the topic at hand. It was mostly constructivist because I used my experience to come up with most of my ideas and opinions. Lastly, it was definitely connectivist because I was part of an on line discussion about mobile phones in classrooms. I was able to connect with the other student's contributions which helped me to gauge my own opinions.

I can see lots of benefits to this kind of activity. I recognised Bloom's taxonomy here as the scaffolding process used to increase our levels of thought and reflection. De Bono's six thinking hats provided a collaborative platform from which us, as students, could give our opinions based on experience, research and critical thought while sharing these perspectives with all of our class members. This provides the opportunity to gauge one' s own contribution to someone elses and provides a sense of common goal reaching for everyone. Mostly, it makes you feel like you are contributing to a worthwhile discussion as a member of a group. A wiki is ideal as a collaborative learning tool and provides yet another collaborative opportunity to create a sense of belonging for both internal and external students alike. 

Cute you tube learning theoriest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sy8n5DRa7A&feature=related

Engagement Activity 1

I had the opportunity to complete the Solomon Felder test last year and am pleased after doing it once again that I now sit in the middle of sensing and intuitive but unfortunately I am still at the far end of the reflective, verbal and sequential scales. I thought perhaps after some study I may have become a little more balanced. Clearly there is still work to do. As a teacher and reflective learner I will be keen to explicitly explain everything to my students in class to make sure they have understood, much to my visual learners chagrin. As a student I like to take notes and read over everything I have been given. As a verbal learner I also like lectures and the lecture/student interaction. This relates to my reflective learning style as a class situation helps me to ask questions and clarify any problems I  might be having. I am very much a verbal learner also and realise that this may not suit the student of today. Engaging students with pictures and diagrams can help them understand and remember certain concepts and benefit their learning overall. As a sequential learner I like to follow steps to help me understand. Learning sequentially also means I can struggle to connect things together and often will miss the big picture. As a teacher connecting my subject to information my students already know will help the Global learners gain an overview and a better understanding of the information.
ICT will help balance out my learning styles as it will encourage me to be more creative with my lesson plans and encompass the different learning styles in my class. It gives both the student and the teacher the opportunity to explore information in various ways. ICT will benefit my active learners as it will suit their 'let's try' attitude and will help reflective learners find a balance as it won't always suit their note taking style. Intuitives will love ICT as it opens up possibilities and variety that is not repetitive. Sensing learners don't like surprises, so ICT is a valuable opportunity to allow these learners to adapt to change. ICT will assist the visual learner by giving them opportunities to see rather than hear. Again, the verbal learner will benefit from being exposed to this style.  ICT allows for many different possibilities for learning because it can help balance a student's learning style. This will ensure they have the best opportunity to succeed in the classroom.

Reflection Week 1: Engagement activity 4

Connectivism challenges what some of us experienced in our own school education. Does that mean that studying for all of those exams was a waste of time? Even sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher would be considered time not well spent, from a connectivist point of view.
In the 21st century though it is easy to see how connecting students with each other, with credible information (non-textbook style) and connecting them with students and experts around the world is a fantastic way to learn. There is so much available information today that it seems to be not what we know, but how we find out, that is key. The danger of illiteracy is real and as a learning manager I must become information literate as soon as possible.
This learning theory holds great value in the classroom as it focuses on a proactive student taking responsibility for their learning. As a future History and English teacher I can see connectivisim being very useful for learning in my classes. As these disciplines are often research based and address real people, places and things my students could connect with this information in a very real way. That has to be exciting for everyone.

Reflection Week 1:

I have worried about this course for a very long time. Ten minutes into the lecture I realised that was a waste of time. There were as I expected, a lot of 2nd and 3rd year students in the class, but much to my relief I wasn't the only first year novice. It was very eye opening to hear even the gen y's were not all completely comfortable with IT and ITC. Clearly I'm not in this boat alone. Yay.

Here I am posting onto my blog at the end of the first day. Amazing. I was one of the lucky ones in class today who managed to start a blog before Google decided the class was spam. Lucky and technology for me rarely go together so this might be a good sign. I have to confess I asked the tutors a few questions and watched the online tutorials more than once but I think that's okay for week 1.