Advent Calendar

For those of you who are interested in seasonal ICT ideas, here is a great one! It is the ICTmagic Advent Calendar. This is a great way to talk about the season and improve those ICT skills with an engaging, interactive website.

 

The full website can be viewed at: http://ictmagic.wix.com/christmas-2013

Angry Birds in the Classroom

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirds

I'm sure that you are all familiar with Prensky's ITC decree that as teachers, we need to 'engage or enrage' our students. In his research he cites the use of game based learning by engineers and how successful it was at teaching concepts and encouraging collaborative learning. I don't know about you, but my programming skills are not very advanced, in fact, I feel pretty clever if I can resize a Youtube clip! But we don't need to create our own games and programs when there are already so many out there.

A great example is the work of Brisbane-based teacher Lachlan Hull and his use of Angry Birds in his prep year classroom.  I was lucky enough to meet Lachlan last year at a BCE ICT sharing session. He has now taken his ideas around the world, presenting his ideas in Boston at the 'Building Learning Communities' conference July, 2013. Here is a clip of Lachlan, telling us how he makes it all work:

A Classroom Full of Angry Birds

and an interview where he discusses using Angry Birds and classroom management tool Class Dojo:

Lachlan Hull interview

Pedagogy of Multiliteracies

Don't ever forget about the power of picture books in the classroom!  I regularly use them with all primary school children. They find them engaging and more than entertaining. As students get so much of their information online and very often from Youtube, it is important that their visual literacy skills are up to scratch.

In fact the whole concept of literacy is currently in a state of upheaval. We are moving on from multimedia to hypermedia. This term is derived from hypertext and relates to how today, we not only get our information in a variety of different mediums, but we are now presenting it in multimodal forms: text, picture, videos and any number of combinations of media.  If you would like to find out more here is a very interesting paper on this concept:

Visual Literacy and the Classroom

ThingLink: New Presentation Kid on the Block

Once there was PowerPoint, then there wasGlogster and Prezi.... now they can both move over for the new presentation tool on the block: ThingLink. ThingLink is a new online presentation tool that allows you to embed media into your presentation. Use your own pictures or upload from the web. You can then embed tags which can be seen by others by hovering their mouse over it. Multiple pieces of data can be put together regardless of format.

This programme is a free download from ThingLink



Downloaded from: http://www.thinglink.com/



 For more uses for ThinkLink check out:

Aunty Tech's 

Pinterest

ThingLink in the Classroom

 

 

 

Microsoft OneNote

This would have to be the greatest treasure that Microsoft Office has in its repertoire and yet so few people seem to use it!  Using this piece of the Office Suite, you can capture video, sound files, text and copy directly from the web (and it arrives with a citation!) Best of all it can be password protected and you can sync it with other devices.  It is available as an app for Apple or Android devices, so it can be accessed anywhere.

Downloaded from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/onenote/



Other Office files can be embedded into it and then all can be displayed and accessed through Notebooks.  It is the perfect tool for teachers, as students can have their Notebooks syncing into your OneNote so work can be accessed and feedback given at anytime!  To find out more have a look here:

Microsoft OneNote

Digital Storytelling

What is Digital Storytelling? by  Jerome Gratigny

Digital storytelling is an emerging art form of personal, heartfelt expression that enables individuals and communities to reclaim their personal cultures while exploring their artistic creativity. "

- Bernajean Porter

We all have our own story and there are nearly as many ways of telling them!  For a change of pace why not try Digital Story Telling. This can be particularly effective with students because, as digital natives, they respond best to multi-modal constructs.  It has been claimed that digital storytelling can be seen as the new art form for everyone and anyone!

                         

How do we go about producing a digital story with video, pictures, text, music and narration in a school with limited resources, I hear you ask?  You will be surprised what you may already have on hand. Many technologies are probably already present on devices that you have in your school.  For example, if you have Microsoft Office you will have PowerPoint which can have music, text, narration and video embedded into it.  But if you are like me and feel that it has all been done before, here are some other free or inexpensive Web 2.0 options:

Microsoft Photo Story 3 is free from Microsoft and can combine pictures, text and sound for a basic presentation.

Audacity can be used to create, combine and edit sound files.

Windows Movie Maker includes the abilities to edit movie files and add narration and music to your presentation.  While Window Movie Maker 2.6 has been superseded by Windows Live Movie Maker, it is still the preferred tool by many educators as the newer version will not allow the addition of narration.

iMovie would have to be the star of this category.  At around $15 it is not cheap for an app, but compare that to the hundreds of dollars required for Adobe Premier Elements and it doesn't seem so bad!  And by using hand held devices such as iPad, iPods and iPhones, you have the ability to capture image and sound as well as editing it all in one place.

If you wish to find out more about digital storytelling, Microsoft have a great little e-book to guide you on the journey. This book contains lots of great information and resources such as templates for story boarding.

 

For some great stories, check out these produced by QUT students:

 

Digital Story Telling

Assessment 1: Analysis of Digital Technologies

Created from the text below in Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/

In the first five weeks of the ICTs for Learning Design course we have looked at a variety of tools and methods to support e-Learning. But what is e-Learning? In our course readings we are given Waterhouse’s definition where he states that e-learning is teaching and learning using pedagogical strategies involving sound, flexible and innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage, enhance and extend learners (Fasso, 2013, 21st Century Learners). Why has this suddenly become so important? Because, from what I have read so far in this course, the world that young people inhabit today is the world of the ‘digital native’ who has been “born to be wired” (Prensky, 2005, pp. 60, 62). With the instant gratification and information that is available to children with ICTs, older methods of instruction no longer hold the attention and interest of children. So many teachers are ‘digital immigrants’ with a teacher’s accent steeped in the days of chalk and talk, not hypertext and interaction (Prensky, 2001, p. 2).

Another issue in our fast changing world is the need for the increased creativity and participation of all citizens in order to enhance the economic and cultural progress of individual nations (UNESCO, 2008, p. 12). Robinson (2006) and a host of other researchers state that arts subjects (the creative ones) are not emphasised as strongly as language and mathematics, thus devaluing creativity with educational focus firmly on standardised testing. For this to be addressed, again a new educational approach is also required.

Of greater urgency are the major world issues identified by UNESCO’s Commission for Education in the 21st Century (International Committee on Education for the 21st Century, n.d.). For this century, the commission has found that collaborative, life-long learning through new technologies is what is required to produce active citizenry to advance the economic and individual rights of all. For teachers, this then means a new pedagogy is required. To address these issues, UNESCO (2008) has created a set of ICT competency standards (See Appendix 1) for teachers. From our readings, I have deduced that in the real world these standards are best captured by the integration of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) into classroom practices (See Appendix 2).

To me therefore, the core ideas that should guide learning and teaching today are:

• Encouraging creativity
• Self-direction
• Working collaboratively
• Engaging learners with new technological literacy to encourage higher order thinking for real world environments through authentic learning (TPACK)
• Creating a safe and ethical online environment for students

Unlike traditional literacy, the new one has aural, visual and digital skills overlapping, requiring new ways of interpretation and instruction (The New Media Consortium, 2005, pp. 2, 8). For teachers, this means new skill sets and ways of teaching: a digital pedagogy.

 

With the issues and required pedagogy to address them firmly established in our minds, we then turned to tools that could be used in the classroom to implement the TPACK approach to education. The availability of Web 2.0 tools (Appendix 3) that are free or reasonably priced are the perfect option for digital pedagogy. To illustrate this point, our student cohort undertook the de Bono Thinking Hats wiki activity and then posted our thoughts on the process in our Wiki Reflection blog (see Appendix 4). This activity demonstrated a variety of learning styles in the participants and most particularly, the learning theories that had been dominant when they had been at school (Hammond, Austin, Orcutt, & Rosso, 2001, p. 9). By using the de Bono Thinking Hats as a tool for analysis of the question, we were forced to look beyond our prior knowledge and, therefore, extend our reasoning to the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysing, evaluating and creating (Fasso, 2013, Bloom's Taxonomy). 

 

It was social constructivism (Mergel, 1998), the learning theory that embodies collaborative learning, that seemed to be the driving force in this activity. I was surprised that a learning theory could be so self-evident in an activity of this type, but it was clear that students looked at the opinions of others, as well as their own prior knowledge to construct new knowledge. This was then further reinforced in our blog reflection of the activity with interesting thoughts and points being posted both in our blogs and various social networking groups such as Facebook.

 

The next part of our course led us to look at and consider the learning value of a variety of ICT tools and applications. While e-learning should be more about the thinking than the tools, it is important to look and consider how they could be used in the classroom to best meet the TPACK framework. These tools, when correctly scaffolded, can not only give learners the ability to find means to best suit their own individual learning styles and abilities, but also give students the ability to be in charge of their learning (Swisher, 2007, p. 10).

 

The first group that we examined were online spaces: blogs, wikis and websites. When looking at which one I would consider for classroom use I considered several factors. A key one, unfortunately, was the time factor. The second factor to consider is the age of the class I will be working with which is lower to middle primary. As I am quite familiar with blogging in Blogger, I decided to use this tool (see Appendix 5). To me, blogging more than adequately addresses the core ideas for learning that I have identified, in that it can:

• be used for brainstorming to determine prior knowledge
• enhance learning and teaching opportunities for a variety of ICT skills
• enable learning and teaching opportunities through content
• opportunity for cross-curricular activities
• cater for a variety of learning styles and literacy levels by the embedding of multimodal tools such as podcasts, videos and widgets
• with sufficing scaffolding, enable self-directed learning
• offer potential for higher order thinking by being collaborative and the possibility of immediate feedback
• assessment can be inbuilt through activities, quizzes and reflection
• offer learning and teaching opportunities for cybersafety, copyright and ethics

 The next group of tools were the images, video and audio tools. Multimedia tools have the greatest potential in the online learning environment as they can be used together and in an infinite variety of ways, thereby catering to a variety of learning styles, multiple intelligences and abilities. Research on coherence principle shows us that learners who receive instruction via concise multimedia presentations without extraneous material consistently perform better when tested (Swisher, 2007, p. 32). Thus, it is important to understand not only to include multimodal forms of instructions as convergence helps knowledge retention, but to know what to omit to avoid cognitive overload (Stansbury, 2008, How students learn).

 

I could see that all of the group two tools had the potential to suitably enhance e-learning, but I selected audio tools as I have been interested to see how podcasting could be integrated into my own existing online spaces and created on mobile devices (see Appendix 6). I found it relatively easy to do, but my Audio Boo link in my blog tends to work only sporadically. Again, a reminder that when working with ICT a plan B should always be in place! Podcasting allows for creativity as it removes the need for extensive literacy skills, allows children to work collaboratively (interviewing, commenting on other’s work), use this tool with other projects (embedding in blog, wikis, etc.) and, therefore, should move students to higher levels of thought, particularly if used for reflective thinking.

 

Group three tools include those that enable users to present information that can be embedded into other applications. PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster were selected as they are capable of including interactivity and multimodal (text, audio, images and movies) sources. After looking closely at this group, I selected Glogster as the tool I would focus on (see Appendix 7). I loved the multi-modal possibilities for creativity that this tool offers. Basic ICT skills such as resizing images or the creation of movies can be taught while progressing though Glogster activities. With a template to work in, creativity is still encouraged, but the scaffolding that this offers should keep the learning focused and self-directed. Sharing the finished Glogster, either in class or online, allows for further discussion and helps move students through the processes of Bloom’s Taxonomy. If Glogster is used in association with another online tool such as a blog, wiki or website, it can address all my the core learning ideas.

 

The final group was a brief sampling of what else is out there in the current world of ICT. I say small sampling as the opportunities are almost endless! Of the tools listed, I chose online timelines, due to my interest in history (Appendix 8) and their ability to graphically depict time, places, people and events. Once again, I was reminded of the importance of having an alternate plan if technology fails, as the tool I originally planned to use, Dipity, was not cooperative and an alternative had to be found. Online timelines have much that can engage a large variety of learning types: visual, kinaesthetic, spatial and mathematical. And with more interactive versions of these tools available, the inclusion of sound and video can cover nearly all levels! As tools of this type can be worked on individually or in groups, they offer possibilities for collaboration. If well scaffolded and when they are embedded into other online spaces, they too, virtually meet my entire core learning aims.

 

Looking at this last group of tools reminded me that more possibilities for ICT in the classroom are evolving all the time. Prensky gives the example of games that have been created for engineering students to give real world examples for their learning (Prensky, 2001, pp. 4-5). More inventive still, I feel, are teachers who are using existing games such as Angry Birds to create whole unit plans covering all areas of the curriculum in a variety of ways (see Appendix 9).

 

In my reflective blogs, particularly the wiki reflection, I have been able to experience firsthand the power of collaborative learning placed in the framework of ICT and have been given a real world example of constructivist learning theory. From this course so far, I have learned that as an educator, I will have a responsibility to integrate technology into my classroom practices. Not just the tools that I have discussed here, but I must remain in touch with the tools and trends of the future. To further this end, I must be willing to be an advocate for the bridging of the digital divide and the availability of high speed broadband for all Australians regardless of socio-economic, cultural or community group, to accommodate the findings of the UNESCO report. With the ongoing use of technology and my understanding of my own learning and teaching styles, I hope to be able to engender a sense of wonder and engagement to help create a generation of lifelong learners.
 

Bibliography

Fasso, W. (2013, February 21). EDED20491. Rockhampton, Qld, Australia:
           CQUniversity Australia.

Hammond, L., Austin, K., Orcutt, S., & Rosso, J. (2001). How people learn: Introduction to learning theories. Stanford: Stanford University.

International Committee on Education for the 21st Century. (n.d.). Learning: The treasure within. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/delors/delors_e.pdf: UNESCO.

Mergel, B. (1998, May). Constructivism. Retrieved March 30, 2013, from University of Saskatchewan: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The Basics of Constructivism

Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Retrieved from On the Horizon 9(5): Retrieved from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

Prensky, M. (2005). "Engage me or enrage me": What today's learners demand. Educause, 60-64.

Robinson, K. (2006, February). Do schools kill creativity? [video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html.

Stansbury, M. (2008, March 26). Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from eSchool News: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/03/26/analysis-how-multimedia-can-improve-learning/

Swisher, D. (2007). Does multimedia truly enhance learning? Moving beyond the visual media bandwagon toward instructional effectiveness. K-State at Salina Professional Day, Kansas State University. Salina: Kansas State University.

The New Media Consortium. (2005). A global imperative: the report of the 21st century literacy summit. Austin: NMC: The New Media Consortium.

UNESCO. (2008). ICT competency standards for teachers. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Appendices:

Appendix 1: ICTcompetency standards

Appendix 2: TPACK

Appendix 3: Web2.0 tools

Appendix 4: WikiReflection blog

Appendix 5: Blogging

Appendix 6: Podcasting

Appendix 7: Glogster

Appendix 8: Online timelines

Appendix 9: Angry Birds