Benefits of Blogging in the Classroom

Copied from http://edudemic.com/2012/02/blog-with-students/

In the course of our studies we have read many reasons why blogging is good for students and the positive outcomes from this activity.  Benefits listed in the Stephen Downes article "Educational Blogging" include:

• a way to store bookmarks
• chronological history of individual's writing
• possibility of world wide audience
• way of knowledge management for educators
• defined by process not content
• encourages students to write by immediate and real world feedback
• students can engage with real-world experts by following and commenting on their blogs
• encourages students to use correct spelling and grammar
• breaks down barriers
• develops critical thinking
• develops writing skills
• develops information literacy
• develops analytical writing and thinking skills
• engenders lifelong learning
• enables teaching of the importance of web security and cybersafety

This link shows how empowering a blog can be for students and how more valuable they see their own work when it is given real life application.

Three Classroom Blogging Tips for Teachers

And here are some really useful tips for blogging in the classroom:

8 Tips For Blogging With Students

Best free blog sites:
Google's Blogger
Live Journal
WordPress

TPACK (revisited)

As educators for the 21st century, new technologies are bringing new expectations. Once exemplar content knowledge was all that was expected of teachers. Then, pedagogy (how knowledge is delivered to students) became the focus. Now, techology is often seen as the main focus in education.  But to get the full benefit of the three areas of teacher expertise, it is where these points overlap, the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) that must become the driving force for a successful classroom.

This website has some great information on TPACK and ideas for classroom planning.  Of particular interest is the reflections of some pre-service teachers:

TPACK



A keynote presentation by Mishra and Koehler at the TTF conference Sydney Australia, March 2011
Screen capture from http://www.ttf.edu.au/show-video.html?resid=1392

Creating Video

Using Movie Maker seems to be quite easy.  The only problem I had was converting my music file so that it was compatable with Movie Maker.  In the course of this exercise I discovered that Windows 7 isn't actually included in the Window 7 package, but is easily downloadable from Microsoft.  Here is my movie, using my own family history photos and music from the creative commons that took about 8 minutes to make (and probably looks it!):

 

With handheld mobile devices such as iPad, iPods or small cameras such as FlipVideo, students of all ages included even the very youngest can readily create their own movies and have a way of instantly telling their own stories regardless of their written literacy levels. This powerful tool therefore adds to the need for educators to remember the need for the teaching of visual literacy to enable their students to fully communicate and understand the communication of others in this powerful medium.

 



 

Podcasting

Apple - Education - Podcasting

http://www.apple.com/au/education/podcasting/

Screen clipping taken: 24/03/2013 2:44 PM

After looking at all the Group 2 digital technologies (images, podcasting and digital video), I chose podcasting as it seemed the simplest and most adaptable of the group. A podcast can be either an audio or a video file that has been uploaded to the Internet so that it can be shared with others. This can be done in a number of ways either using a PC or Apple devices. For a brief overview on the use and history podcasts see this link: Podcasting

Apple devices seem to be ideally suited for creating podcasts.  Using the iSight camera on a Mac and then importing it into iMovie, you can quickly and easily create a video podcast.  Garage Band can be used for audio podcasts. A really simple app for youngers students is Audio Boo and can be used on iPods, iPads and PCs. These files can then be embedded into other applications. Apple (Apple Inc., 2013) offers many uses tips for the creation and acquisition of podcasts.

listen to ‘Bear with no ears!’ on Audioboo

PCs can also be effectively used for creating podcasts.  By downloading Audicity or simply using the computer's built in sound recorder, sound files can easily be created. Files can then be shared by others through school Learning Management Systems such as Moodle, school blogs or websites.  More can be learned about the creation of podcast from tutorials such as Podcasting Basics.

Podcasts can be created by teachers or students from their own original material or existing files made by others can also be shared.  A huge variety of educational podcasts can be found.  There sources include:
ABC National
ABC EdPod
ABC
iTunes U

Podcasting, to me, has particular appeal as it gives the learner a unique opportunity to be in control of their learning, particularly for younger children or those with limited written literacy skills. Most hand held devices such as iPod, iPhones and iPads have voice recording apps already on them or are freely available. As these tools are expensive, classrooms can extend their number of devices by inviting students to bring their own devices. Of course, this depends on school policy as whether or not this is allowed, but this would go a long way to bridging the digital divide in lower socio-economic communities.

For specialty areas with information for both students and teachers, many exciting sites exist.  For example, for history many useful podcasts can be found at:
iTunes Australian History

Here is my PMI analysis of using podcasting in the classroom:

listen to ‘PMI Analysis of Podcasting’ on Audioboo
 

Why use podcasts in the classroom?  By creating their own podcasts, students are given a unique way of sharing their learning experiences, giving them the depth and breadth that can only come from real life applications of knowledge. Having the potential of a much wider audience online has been demonstrated as giving students greater focus as the importance of their own work and offers opportunities to students of lower or limited literacy skills. Correctly scaffolded, a podcast will meet the Metiri Group Report's list of principles (Swisher, 2007). Podcasting can also be effectively used by teachers for feedback and assessment.

 

Bibliography:

Apple Inc. . (2013). Ready Set Podcast! Retrieved March 24, 2013, from Apple in Education: http://www.apple.com/au/education/podcasting/

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.

Western Australian Dept. of Education . (2013). Podcasts in the Classroom. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from Resourcing the Curriculum: http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/#value

 

Audio Files

Here is a clip I created using the voice recording tool on my laptop.  I then uploaded the recording to a website, Your Listen, created specifically for the sharing of audio files.  The site then gives you options of how to share your file including how to embed your file in Blogger, Face Book, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Be warned, it can take a long time to download.

Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy

http://taggalaxy.de/

Screen clipping taken: 24/03/2013 12:15 PM

I love Tag Galaxy!  This online tool is a great way to stimulate conversation with children when starting a unit and discover what knowledge that students already have about a topic.  When a subject is entered into the site, Tag Galaxy collects information that relate to the topic and displays all related areas as planets in the solar system. When a planet is clicked, it then collects images from the Flickr Creative Commons site and displays them on a globe. Individual pictures can then be clicked to find out more about them.



Tag Galaxy

Image Resizing

Jordan and his new table

Here is an image of my grandson Jordan with a table that he made with his grandfather over Christmas. I used the MobaPhoto program to resize this image. While it is easy to use, it doesn't seem to install on the hard drive, so the .exe file needs to be kept on a USB device or in your downloads file for future uses.  However, it does look like it would be great for large numbers of photo uploads.

There are a whole gamut of programs and apps to resize or edit photos. I usually use Picasa and find this program useful for organising photos. It also has the added feature of being able to offer cloud storage for images, thus reducing the chance of them disappearing into the ether as can happen without backup.

Here are some other photo editing tools I have come across:

Pixia

Picasa

Photoscape

Gimp

Picnik was a really good program to use with younger children, but alas, it is no more...

Mac users have the very easy to use iPhoto and for PC users Windows 7 also has its own picture editor, but having not used it myself, I'm not sure as to its usefulness.

More important than the process to upload a photo, is the process of making sure that your students are safe online.  I asked my grandson for his permission to use his picture on my blog and he graciously allowed me. We must ensure that parental permission is given for all student photos for use in the online environment. 

Also of importance is making sure that uploaded photos are in a secure site. That is, that public access is restricted to school community.  Full names of students, identify information such as address or phone numbers should never be included, regardless of security levels.

Creating a Blog - Reflection

Blogging is now a both a popular and commonly used tool for academic, recreational and businesses purposes. The term blog comes from the contraction of web log and is becoming increasing used as a tool in today’s classrooms.  In this reflection, the usefulness and potential of blogging in the teaching context will be examined.  To begin this discussion a SWOT analysis of the tool will be considered:

SWOT Analysis of Blogging as a Learning Tool
Strengths: ·         Easy to use and free ·         Good tool for literacy development ·         Instant gratification for the author ·         Engaging for user ·         Multimedia possibilities ·         Portability – can be accessed anywhere ·         Can be used as an information repository ·         Students can connect with other loci of information, both human and non-human Keeps cronological record of student work	Weaknesses: ·         Relies on self-motivation of user ·         Technology can break down ·         Technological skill of user required ·         May allow for limited teacher control
Opportunities: ·         Collaboration ·         Immediate feedback ·         Creation of “mashups” using blog ·         Can be accessed on a variety of tools, e.g. PCs and mobile devices ·         Students with poor literacy skills can still contribute using podcasting or video uploads ·         Good opportunity to get to know students	Threats: ·         Possibilities for cyber bullying in comments ·         Needs to be monitored ·         Could be hacked

Blogs can be used effectively with students at a variety of ages and levels, but scaffolding and adult assistance would have to be used accordingly.  By writing or recording their thoughts in a blog, students can gain a variety of benefits that conform to several learning theories. By practicing literacy and ICT skills when blogging, students gain positive reinforcement which is noted as prerequisite for learning in the behaviourist model of learning. Cognitivist theory is also supported as blogging is a valuable tool for linking information to what is already known by the learner as it gives ample opportunity for the chunking and organisation of information.  This may then add information to long term memory and thus support or add to the individual’s schema (Fasso, 2013).

Siemens (Siemens, 2004) suggests that Connectivism is the learning theory for the digital age and blogging also seems to meet the requirements of this theory as it is a networked from of learning using both computers and the internet.  However, it would appear that Constructivist theory best describes the way in which a blog can be used by children to learn by their own experiences and that of their peers (Fasso, 2013), thereby constructing new ideas and knowledge.

In my own use of a blog as a tool for learning, I have found it an excellent means of recording my feelings and experiences in a new learning environment, that is, as an online student. This should transpose nicely into a variety of learning environments as it is flexible. As it will be a primary school that I will be using this tool in, I feel that with adequate scaffolding it should be successful.  For examples, if you are working with a year three class, as a teacher you would have to ensure that the children have the ICT skills to create their blog and if not create it for them.  Older students would be expected to create their own.

When used as a journal, its reading can be an effective way for a teacher to get to know their student.  As a writing tool, it can be used with any topic.  As it can be edited later, it is an effective method for draft work to be presented to the teacher for comment. With peer feedback, further opportunities for growth and the consolidation of ideas are also offered.

When used with younger children such as year 3 students, scaffolding would have to include:

·         Suggested websites if research is required

·         Suitable picture sources

·         Explanation of copyright and Creative Commons sources

·         Permission from parents or guardians if images of students are to be published

Bibliography

Fasso, W. (2013, February 21). A Brief OVerview of Learning Theory. EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design.

Siemens, G. (2004, December 12). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from elearnspace: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Fakebook

Fakebook is a tool that can be used to create pages with the same looke and feel as Face Book.  Students can use this tool to create biographies, describe the plot and characters from books and demonstrate events in history through the people involved.

While having the look and feel of social networking, this tool is static and non-interactive, so students can safely let their imaginations run free in this arena. Work can be saved and re-edited later. Here is a tutorial on how to get started:



Fakebook

Timelines

A great way to help students to get their head around new ideas is to create time sequence patterns by putting events into chronological order. An easy way to do this is to use an online timeline creator.  There are quite a few out there and here are some of the best around:



Image from: http://www.tiki-toki.com/

Ticki-Tocki

 

Image from: http://www.timetoast.com/

Dipity

 

Capzles

 

TimeGlider

 

Our Story

 

Read Write Think

 

 

Timetoast

Bare Foot University

This is an amazing story of a completely alternate view of education, its power and possibilities:

Reflection on Wiki Mobile Phone Activity

Created in Wordle http://www.wordle.net/create

In this reflection, I will discuss the mobile phone wiki (Wiki Walk Through: What is a wiki?, 2013) activity though my own learning experiences and through the design and purpose of the wiki activities. The original activity was looking at the pros and cons of using mobile phones in the classroom using de Bono's Thinking Hats (De Bono Thinking Systems, 2013) to support the activity.

When breaking down the task into each of the hats there were several observable features that could be a reflection of several learning theories. Opinions voiced by people (including myself) often reflected what they thought appropriate behaviour in the classroom based on their own or their children's experiences. This could reflect either behaviourism (Learning-Theories.com, 2013) (the behaviour that they practiced when they were at school) or cognitivism (Mergel B. , 1998) (the schema that they worked in when at school). By reading the experiences and opinions of others, participants in the wiki could then possibly construct new ideas by adding the additional information in the wiki to what they already knew thus demonstrating constructivist theory (Mergel B. , 1998).

Looking at my own participation in the wiki, I can see that I learned more about the topic as I went along. By participating in this collaborative learning activity, my own perceptions on the topic grew to include ideas that I had not previously considered. This put me in what Vygotsky (Culatta, 2013) calls the “zone of proximal development”, as while I was support by the wiki scaffolding, I was pushed beyond my existing knowledge and experience, giving an example of social constructivist theory (Atherton, 2011). I learned a few things about myself also, such that is easier to criticise that come up with constructive ideas! Looks like I'm the guy in the black hat...

The obvious benefit of participating in an activity like this with a group of peers is that it gives you a unique method for a shared learning experience. The wiki seemed a little slow to start of with. Maybe it was because we were frightened of making mistakes, but as Robinson notes, without the freedom to experiment and take risks no new ideas can be created (Robinson, 2008, p. 129).  While I found the format a little awkward to read with names of students not necessarily beside the comment and text a little messy to look at, this in itself seemed to provide a collaborative learning opportunity as participants came up with ideas for organising the wiki data, such as inserting breaks and using different colours or styles of fonts.

I felt that the wiki activity had well-constructed scaffolding (Scaffolding, 2003), in that it was clearly explained and supported by our readings and learning engagement activities. By performing a SWOT analysis (Mind Tools, 2013) on the activity, ideas were expanded and concepts evolved. By using the De Bono Thinking Hats, we were forced to think about the topic at different levels, thus taking us straight to the higher order thinking of the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (see Appendix 1). Little input by the lecturer seemed to be required as the activity was self-directed. As we also had to reflect on this process in our blog, more individual experiences could then be shared by the reading of our fellow student’s blogs, thus increasing the constructivist notion of our learning and allowed for real, deep learning. I also gained further insight into my own learning styles. This new knowledge should help give me insights and empathy when considering the learning styles of students that I will come across.

In a classroom situation, I could see a wiki working well. For example, say an assignment on the environment is designed as a wiki. Learning could be scaffolded by the teacher by the inclusion of web links, suggested readings on the home page and a Thinking Hats interactive activity. Students could collaborate in the discussion area in the evening and share the knowledge that they already possess on their topic. This forum also appears to give those who are reluctant to put up their hand in class a means to overcoming shyness. They could then attempt the set activity, again collaboratively, therefore increasing their opportunities for a deep learning experience. But behaviourist theory comes to the fore again as I realise that by using a wiki to support classroom pedagogy, using it repeatedly (practice) will reinforce its usefulness as a successful tool! Here is a SWOT analysis on how I feel a wiki would work in a classroom: My SWOT analysis (see Appendix 2).

In the classroom context, a wiki is also good in that it allows for the creation of a safe working environment that can be managed by the teacher, thus ensuring cybersafety. It also enables a good teaching opportunity for cybersafety and 'netiquette' in student interactions.

Ultimately, I found that the wiki mobile phone experience was an graphic example of what Merrill (1991, p. 51) calls the assumptions of constructivism:

• It allowed knowledge to be construction from one’s own experience
• Each individual’s learning was based on their own personal interpretation of the experience
• The process of learning was an active one based on experiences
• The growth of concepts was based on the interpretation of meaning gained by sharing ideas with others and allowing individual perspectives to change through collaborative learning
• Opportunities for ‘real world’ learning were given and assessment was built into the task

Bibliography

Scaffolding. (2003, July 21). Retrieved March 30, 2013, from University of Tasmania: http://www.educ.utas.edu.au/users/ilwebb/research/scaffolding.htm

 

Mind Tools. (2013). Retrieved March 28, 2013, from SWOT Analysis: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

Wiki Walk Through: What is a wiki? (2013). Retrieved April 2, 2013, from TeachersFIrst: http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/index.cfm

Atherton, J. S. (2011). Constructivism in learning. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from Learning and Teaching: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/constructivism.htm

Culatta, R. (2013). Social Development Theory (L. Vygotsky). Retrieved April 1, 2013, from Instructional Design: http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development.html

De Bono Thinking Systems. (2013). Six Thinking Hats. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from De Bono's Thinking Systems: http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm

Learning-Theories.com. (2013). Behaviourism. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from Learning-Theories.com: http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html

Mergel, B. (1998, May). Cognitivism. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from University of Saskatchewan: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm#The Basics of Cognitivism

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

Merrill, M. D. (1991). Constructivism and Instructional Design. Educational Technology, pp. 31(5), 45-53.

Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Chichester: Capstone Publishing Limited.

 Appendices

1. Bloom's Taxonomy

2. MySWOT analysis

 

TPACK

Image source: http://tpack.org

 

To me, TPACK is the next stage in the evolution of teaching.  Traditionally, teaching was all about the content knowledge.  From its earliest days, education was about teachers talking and students listening. A teacher was required to be an expert in the subject in which they were teaching.  While it is still a desirable concept that a teacher does know and understand their topic well, it did not always guarantee that the method used by the teacher, that is the pedagogy, was sufficiently sound to pass the information to the student.  In response to this issue, the mid to latter half of the twentieth century saw a shift towards greater focus on the need for stronger pedagogy in the classroom.  However, the latter half of the twentieth century also saw the creation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and as education is an innovative process, it rapidly adopted the new technologies for use in the classroom.  As many teachers were not always conversant with the new technologies, very often the focus then fell onto the technologies rather than either the content or the pedagogy.

Therefore, today the focus in education is on how the content of the subject, the pedagogy used to teach it and the ICT tools selected all intersect to create  the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework.  Built on Shulman's idea of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, TPACK cannot simply be using ICT tools to illustrate content knowledge or pedagogy based on ICT (Koehler, 2011). 

It must be through the combination of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and ICT knowledge that optimum educational results will be achieved, including:

• enabling deep knowledge through higher order thinking
• collaborative learning where interaction with others is important
• students understand their own learning styles
• problem-based inquiry learning based on real world situations and outcomes
• relevant learning that connects students to their prior knowledge
• students take ownership and manage their own learning
• socially supportive learning that engages and values individual culture
• learning that encourages active citizenship (UNESCO, 2008)

Bibliography:

Koehler, M. (2011, May 13). What is TPACK? Retrieved from TPACK: Retrieved from: http://www.tpack.org/

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

 

Productive Pedagogies

Image from Productive Pedagogies online material http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115340

Just when you think you have it all under control, you have to have to do an activity that really makes you test your understanding!  I am not sure as to how well I performed in this activity, but I found it a very interesting insight into what I have (or haven't) learned in this section. 

I would like to think that the questions and problems that I have created would open the way for conversations between students and guides on my imaginary tour. After looking at the background knowledge and finding out what the students need to know, participants should have ownership of the activity.  By getting children to work in teams or pairs they should interact with each other collaboratively and use their individual strengths in assigned tasks. With the addition of problem based activities about life today and in the past, the excursion will have some relevance to their own lives and facilitate higher order thinking.   Cultural knowledge of our area and its history will be given to our children when they are interacting with the senior citizens that man the village.  By adhering to the safety rules they will have set themselves for the day active citizenship will be put into practice and their identity as a group should be reinforced.

Cyber Safety and the Pre-Service Teacher

When working with ICTs in the classroom, it is imperative that the legal issues of online technologies are considered.  There include:

• copyright
• child safety including stranger danger, exposure to explicit or inappropriate material
• cyberbullying
• privacy

A huge variety of websites on all of these subjects.  Here are some relevant ones that I have collected on Site Hoover.

Digital Citizenship

If you feel that you need to find out a little more about cyber safety before you venture into the classroom, Australia Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) has a program specifically aimed at the pre-service teacher.



The program is available from the ACMA website. Click on the link below:

Pre-Service Teacher Cyber Safety

Online Bookmarking

Sick of all those loose link all over your web browser? Why not organise them using one of the many online bookmarking tools now available to you, free of charge, courtesy of the power of Web 2.0 technologies. There are heaps of them out there (just Google the term "online bookmarking" and see what you come up with.) Some of my favourites are:
Diigo

Diigo lets you join groups so that you can share links with like minded people.

Sitehoover
I find this a great site for creating lists to share with others.  Students like it as it displays an image of the webpage so that they can easily identify which site is which.

Sitehoover