Synopsis of my e-learning journey

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignighted" (Plutarch)

We are currently living in what is referred to as ‘The knowledge economy’. It is a dynamic globalizing economy, in which the most important resource is the knowledge in the heads of the labour force. Siemens (2004) The most successful people in this knowledge economy are those work well in teams and can transform information and ideas. Those who are problem solvers, those who are creative, those who dare to reflect and question – those who utilise higher order thinking and creativity.

The modern workplace demands proficiency in these skills, yet historically students have been taught to work and learn on their own. (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1997)

Since the students of today are the future ‘heads of the labour force’, we need to provide them with these ‘knowledge skills’ needed for survival and success in their digital future. Benjamin Bloom (1956) has devised a taxonomy to aid in determining learning outcomes requiring higher order thinking/learning processes to be achieved. Our learners need to be in charge of their learning, they need to be involved in student-centred learning – a system of learning that has the student at its heart.

Two main things I have come to realise over the duration of this course are: Firstly, that learners today think and process information very differently from the generations prior … they speak a totally different ‘language’ to most of their learning managers (Prensky, 2001). Secondly, that the role of a learning manager in the 21st century classroom is to ‘break down this language barrier’ and provide digital pedagogies that engages every student and produce meaningful learning outcomes involving higher order thinking processes, and creativity.

Successful learning cannot be achieved unless the students are motivated, excited and engaged in the learning activities. Once the learning outcomes have been outlined, students need to engage in the learning activities. The best way to engage a student in learning is by using pedagogies they are familiar with … digital pedagogies they have already been exposed to and enjoy in their daily lives … bring the outside into your classroom! If you provide a learning environment where students perceive the tasks as meaningful, they are intrinsically motivated to learn.(Kearsley and Shneiderman , 1997)

Within the last few weeks I have been engaging with many different digital pedagogic tools that are available in today’s society, and for the 21st century classroom. When deciding the suitability and uses for these tools in the classroom, I have been thinking about how these relate to the conceptual frameworks outlined in this course and their value in the classroom. I have made postings to my blog with these ideas. Links for these postings are provided throughout this synopsis.

My first active engagement with technology was the creation of my blog. This is a student centred tool that allows collaboration of ideas,(through feedback given and received), and allows reflection on this ‘whole new world’ I have just entered. The Learning Engagement Theory (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1997) aligns with this digital tool because the fundamental idea underlying the engagement theory is that students are meaningfully engaged in learning activities through collaboration with others and worthwhile tasks. Even though in principle, engagement could occur without the use of technology, Kearsley and Shneiderman believe that technology can facilitate engagement in ways which would be otherwise difficult to achieve. Engagement theory is intended to be a conceptual framework for technology-based learning and teaching.

Due to the nature of this theory I have found it underlies many of the tools I have engaged with and reflected on. Another collaborative tool that I have commented on in my blog that would prove a valuable tool in the classroom is wiki’s. Other digital tools that could be used in group projects in the classroom to create a product that is of value to the real world are flickr and picnik, powerpoint and slideshare, Google Earth.

Another conceptual framework underpinning many of these digital tools was ‘Active Learning’. Active Learning generally involves activity based learning experiences that are multi-directional (teacher – student, student – teacher, student-student). It can be achieved in whole group settings, trios, pairs or even as individuals. Active learning allows student centred learning, involving them in real life experiences. “The objective of active learning is to stimulate lifetime habits of thinking to stimulate students to think about HOW they are learning as well as WHAT they are learning and to increasingly take responsibility of their own actions.” (cited by Abilene Christian Community from Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education). The digital tools I discovered on my learning journey that would enhance active learning, and would prove to be very valuable resources in the classroom are: Google Earth, Interactive whiteboards , video, animations and simulations.

In the classroom, learning style and personality can have a significant impact on achieving learning success. Students engage effectively in learning if it is suited to their style of learning (Felder and Solomon, n.d). It is the learning manager’s duty to ensure all students are engaged. There are various digital tools such as powerpoint, YouTube and TeacherTube, Royalty free music and Voki’s which cater for this diversity of learning styles in the group because they allow multimodal delivery.

Digital tools have their place in the 21st century if they are used to enhance what students are learning, how they are learning and where their learning takes place. They should be used as communication tools, not as media devices. The brilliant thing about all of the digital pedagogies I have looked at, is the fact that they can be used for learning wherever there is a computer available with internet connection. This means that children basically have access to their ‘classroom’ 24/7 irrespective of their location. Many students with introverted personalities, tend to become more involved in learning in the comfort of their own homes as well. This is where digital pedagogy is also of advantage in the 21st century.

In order to create positive attitudes and perceptions in the classroom, and allow higher order thinking to take place, learning managers need to be aware that technology is evolving at a rapid rate. It is their job to keep up with and understand the changes taking place, and convey a positive attitude towards this. What we are teaching the children today, may very well be obsolete in 5 years time, knowledge is often only valid for months now, not years like it was previously. The tools we are using to engage the children may change, but the need to engage them in higher order thinking and encourage their creativity will not.(Siemens, 2004)

I am sure that, like myself, students will encounter problems when using these digital tools. This is when we need to use some of our habits of mind (Marzano and Pickering, ), and resist the impulsivity to ‘toss the computer’. We need to use our higher order thinking to analyse the situation, question what has happened and endeavour to solve the problem. This requires perserverance and eventually success will follow, developing lifelong learning habits along the way.

I have really enjoyed my journey so far and I am really looking forward to continuing on in a 21st century classroom.

References:

Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Alexandria: ASCD

Wikipedia

Image Courtesy Of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project, and frequently updated news resource. Wikipedia seeks to create a summary of all human knowledge in the form of an online encyclopedia. Since it has virtually unlimited disk space it can have far more topics than can be covered by any conventional print encyclopedias. Wikipedia employs the open editing model called "wiki. This open nature of the editing model has been central to most criticism of Wikipedia. For example, a reader of an article cannot be certain that it has not been compromised by the insertion of false information or the removal of essential information. (Wikipedia, 2010)

Wikipedia's, even though 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed, still prove to be a valuable tool in the classroom. Students will, no doubt, utilise this resource at different times in their research. They need to be informed that the information should be used as a starting point only, and further research is required to prove accuracy of information.

Wikipedia fits in with connectivism. "Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical." (Siemens, G. ,2004)

Wikipedia can also be a way of incorporating some higher order thinking, as in Bloom's taxonomy, into the classroom. Students can analyse the information given in wikipedia, complete more research, then evaluate the accuracy of the wikipedia information.

Feel free to post your comments on the role you believe wikipedia plays in our 21st century classrooms.

INCOMPETECH - Royalty free music

Image courtesy of Music and the Mac

Royalty free music is music that is allowed to be used in the classroom and doesn't breach copyright laws (covered under Creative Commons agreement) Incompetech is a website that provides royalty free music to be downloaded.

Music has a number of uses in the classroom. It can be used to motivate and engage all types of learning styles (multiple intelligences), create a mood in the room, and promote creativity in the students when they compose their own works containing music. It is a powerful tool when used effectively.

I downloaded a piece of music called "Deliberate Thoughts". This music could be used in the classroom to accompany a powerpoint or photostory for greater impact of the message. It is a calming music, and would be used to support a 'serious' topic, such as effects of global warming on our wildlife. This type of music could also be played as background music in the classroom, when children are having 'reflection time'. Another use for this piece could be when teaching students dance. They could dance using slow floating movements to express themselves creatively.

Music offers the students another tool for student- centred learning, to make their works unique and an expression of their character. Music could also be used in group task to meaningfully engage students in a worthwhile task to produce a product of value in the real world, for real world feedback (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999) .

Powerpoint presentation and slideshare

Image courtesy of Learning Tools Zone

I have definitely had my ups and downs with powerpoint and slideshare over the past couple of weeks. The Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies(C4LPT, 2010) define slideshare as ".. a site where you can host your presentations and share them with others. Presentations can be linked to at the site itself or else embedded in a web page. You can also synchronise an MP3 audio file (podcast) with the slideset to create a slidecast - a more powerful way of distributing presentations/tutorials. Slideshare is also a tremendous resource site of presentations. "

I actually started my powerpoint presentation before Easter. This is the first powerpoint I have ever made, so it took me forever. I kept battling along, and thought I had it just right, ready to upload to my blog, and I realised that I hadn't acknowledged any of the images. I was shattered, I hadn't saved any of the images anywhere, so I had to go back and either find them again, or find new ones. This was my first hiccup.

Next, I was ready to go again, and decided to have a look at one of my colleague's presentation and saw that the lecturer had commented there was too much information on it, needed to use point form if she was going to use it to teach a lesson in the classroom (which is what I intended to do). So back to my powerpoint I went again for more changes.

I finished my presentation (for the third time) and made all the adjustments I wanted. I recorded a narration for it which took me ages as well. When I was finished, I created a slideshare account and uploaded my powerpoint. I discovered all the hours of special effects and narration were lost. At this stage I was pretty disappointed because I had already spent far too much time on this project.

I then decided I would try to upload it to my blog .... without success again!!! I was fed up by this stage and called it quits on the powerpoint for a while so I could continue on with the other tasks I had to do.

In the meantime I looked at other peoples powerpoints and noticed that some of them used slideboom which is basically the same as slideshare, giving you the same options to share your powerpoint.

I had success ... well sort of. The presentation uploaded and the effects worked, but the narration didn't. I have decided that I have spent all the time I can on this because I have too much other work to do!

Even though I have not had a very favourable experience with powerpoint to date, I think that powerpoints have their place in the classroom. I had a look at the Powerful Points website, and realise that amazing things can be done with powerpoints. I believe they can offer the following for the learning manager:

• are a good way to engage students
  
• they allow group sharing in which collaboration can occur,
  
• they provide a different style of presentation to cater for different types of learning styles - (multimodal delivery of information),
  
• they can be used for different purposes such as lecture style, multiple choice testing, embedding you tube videos and many more I would think

Students can also create powerpoints. They may create them to get a message across for a media assignment, they can be used for delivery of oral assessments, and for other assessment information such as information reports etc.

It has been suggested that students who actively engage with the material are more likely to recall information (Bruner 1961). I think the beauty of powerpoints is they promote creativity in the user, which is what we are strongly encouraging in the 21st century classroom. They allow student-centred learning, if used effectively they will promote active learning. In group project situations, powerpoints can be the tool of choice to provide valuable information with an outside focus, for real world feedback. Relate-Create-Donate (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1997)

Students creating powerpoints encourages active learning. It fits into the most effective means of learning on Dale's Cone , because they provide direct, purposeful learning experiences which are hands-on (The Abilene Christian University Adams Center for Teaching Excellence, (2000). Like any of the pedagogical tools we have been introduced to, they loose their effect rapidly if overused.

My comments on slideshare are probably not as favourable as my comments for powerpoint. I have had limited use of the product, with limited success. Due to my success with slideboom, I will base my comments around it. This is a great tool to have because it allows web access for powerpoints, which is great. It allows your message in your powerpoints to go global if you need it to, and you have unlimited access to them as long as you have a computer with internet connection.

Below is my long awaited powerpoint presentation, that I will hopefully use in my EPL at some stage. It would be to fit in with a unit of work "Commotion in the Ocean" - hence the title! It would be used in a group discussion to highlight the negative impact that humans are having on our oceans, and how we can all individually help in the fight to save our oceans. Students will then use this information to go on and work on group assessments.

COMMOTION IN THE OCEAN powerpoint final version

View more presentations or Upload your own.

I hope it achieves my desired learning outcomes, because I'm not sure if I am ready to do another powerpoint any time soon with the other 8 assignments I have due in before the end of the semester creeping up on me very fast!

Feel free to leave comments, and constructive criticism, so when I have my next attempt at a presentation, I make it more effective.

Cheers

Google Earth

Image courtesy of Google Earth


Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program available on the world wide web. Google Earth displays satellite images of varying resolution of the Earth's surface, allowing users to view cities and houses looking perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle, with perspective (Wikipedia, 2010).

Prior to this year, I had been briefly introduced to Google Earth by a friend, and we found my house, which I thought was unbelievable. I had no idea of the other brilliant features it had to offer.

I have now had a look at some of these features , and I am amazed how much detail Google Earth provides of any place in the world (including under the oceans and on the moon!).
Some of the features available for use are which I have discovered on Wikipedia (2010) and Google Earth homepage:

• for some areas of the earth 3D images of terrain and buildings are available
• flight simulator option is available. The Google Earth flight simulator features the ability to fly to any supported locations of the world. The pilot can choose any location to start a flight or attempt to land a flight in the world.
• Google sky is a feature that was introduced in Google Earth and allows users to view stars and other celestial bodies.
• Google Street View provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
• The Google Ocean feature allows users to zoom below the surface of the ocean and view the 3D ocean floor beneath the waves.
• Historical Imagery allows users to traverse back in time and study earlier stages of any place. This feature is very useful for research purposes that require analysis of past records of various places.
• Google Earth 5 includes a separate globe of the planet Mars, that can be viewed and analysed for research purposes. It also includes 3D renderings of the Martian terrain.
  
• Google Moon allows users to view satellite images of the moon.
• Allows you to create tours, of places of interest to you.

Google Earth would be a invaluable tool for the Learning Manager to use in the classroom. Geography would have a whole new meaning. Students can literally view the world without leaving the classroom (or their house, if they have the internet). Google Earth is a much more engaging way to learn about various countries/cultures than the 'old style' atlases and maps. It makes Geography seem so much more 'real', and important to them, and allows them to grasp some hard concepts, that may be difficult to explain, better .... 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Google Earth would be great for Unit work involving countries or culture as well.

I have also viewed a blog posting containing a video demonstration how to plan tours on Google Earth ( and many other great resources to use in the classroom for Google Earth). This This would also be a great idea for the classroom. Groups of students could plan tours for assessment pieces, they could organise an overseas holiday in groups. This use of Google Earth aligns with Kearsley and Shneiderman (1997) Engagement theory because it is a group based, collaborative project, providing a product of value to people outside the classroom. It also enhances active learning in the classroom because it is an activity based, multi directional learning experience, that allows student- centred learning. Students can be involved in 'real-life ' experiences and stimulate lifetime habits of thinking, about how as well as what they are learning. Their learning experience would be direct and purposeful. (Active Learning Online, 2000) The visual, hands on experience with Google Earth, also allows for diversity of learning styles in the cohort.

I commented on Carolyne's blog about her great use of Google Earth in the classroom to create a a ficticious story could be created about a character who goes travelling with different events happening at each placemark. It would be an interactive story that could be created and shared online.

The possibilities of using Google Earth in the classroom are probably nearly endless. It's just a matter of researching and experimenting with it to realise its full potential. Students can now do the 'impossible' and explore the world and beyond, by merely sitting in front of a computer, using Google Earth.

You Tube and Teacher Tube

Image courtesy of Wikipedia





Image courtesy of Wikipedia



You tube is a video sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. Anyone can watch the videos, but only registered users can upload videos (unlimited number). (Wikipedia - YouTube, 2010). Wikipedia -TeacherTube (2010) also defines TeacherTube as a video sharing website similar to, and based on, YouTube. It is designed for teachers, and anyone else in the education industry, to share educational resources. These resources include as video, audio, documents, photos, groups and blogs.

Majority of children love to watch videos, that's a well known fact. So it makes perfect sense to use the things we know they like, to engage them in the classroom. Many learning managers use YouTube and TeacherTube to select videos relating to the idea/concept/subject they are teaching at the time. There are literally thousands of videos available containing educational content that is available for use by both teachers and students.

Due to the fact that you cannot control pop-ups or advertising on YouTube, it is a good idea to download a program called KeepVid which allows you to copy and store any videos on your computer, so that the videos will be available without going into YouTube/TeacherTube to watch them.


To show how a video from YouTube could be used in the classroom, I have provided the following example:

The outcome for the Learning experience is to appreciate dance is used for different purposes in different cultures. This particular video could be used in upper primary classes to achieve this outcome.The learning manager would have already held discussions with the group of students and highlighted the fact that dance has three main purposes:

• social - for enjoyment and recreation (discos, nightclubs etc)
• artistic - created for an audience (ballet etc)
• ritual - cultural meaning/signficance (haka, aboriginal dance etc)
  

The you tube video is used to provide a great example, and very engaging for the students(of all learning styles), of two of the three purposes of dance (ritual and social). The pedagogical reasons I chose this video is because it is engaging, entertaining, and it explains the concept (quickly and accurately), that is quite hard for children to visualise through the use of words. It can be re-watched and different dance styles can be identified and significance of them discussed.

It could potentially open up a very interesting discussion for the group. I think by using this video, for the above purpose, the learning outcome for the lesson would be achieved.



Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Interactive whiteboards/Smartboards

Image courtesy of ETC

I have not had the pleasure of seeing an Interactive White Board (IWB) in use first hand. There is one in the classroom where I am doing my EPL, but I have been informed that there is no software at the moment to use it. The teacher has contacted the technicians for the school and they are in the process of getting it up and running.

I had never realised the potential of the IWB's until I viewed a you tube video with a debate with the pros and cons of IWB's in the classroom. The findings from this were that teachers have found that the pace of the lesson is increased, as is the motivation and engagement of the students since using this tool. Teachers have also found that they still teach the content of the lesson, but are reducing the use of their textbooks, because there is so much more, and often more interesting, information available that they have access to. It has been highlighted through my study that the most important thing in the classroom is effective pedagogy resulting in learning outcomes being achieved. In order to achieve this, students need to be engaged and motivated before learning can occur. Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) suggest that learning must be meaningful and engaging for the students through interaction/collaboration with others and worthwhile tasks. I believe that IWB activities tick these boxes. IWB use in the classroom also engages all learning styles of students in the classroom.

I went on to watch videos of some features of the IWB, and real life examples of IWB's being used in Australian classrooms, and was quite literally amazed by their versatility and effectiveness of learning experiences they offer. I know I have only just scratched the surface as yet, but already I can see their potential, and the place they have in the 21st century classroom.

In one of the videos I viewed I heard the term 'Promethean activeboards' pop up a few times, with rave reviews about them. From what I can see Promethean is a global company producing IWB's and their products. They create an active classroom where their aim is to create, develop and support classroom technology that unlocks the potential of human achievement in kindergarten,primary, and secondary education around the world. They are a global leader in learning technology, bringing the promise of 21st Century learning to life, improving engagement and results for all types of learners and teachers. They aspire to unleash the potential of every student and every teacher every day. (Promethean, n.d)

I talked to my Mentor teacher about their use and she said she has never used one as yet. She is planning to attend Personal Development (PD) workshops to learn how. She has not yet really seen their use either, but has heard endless positive feedback on how 'great' they are in the classroom.

I think when I become a learning manager, I would try to use these IWB's in my daily routine if it is possible ... The children(on the videos above) seem to really enjoy their experiences, and engage in the lesson, which can only lead to one thing ... learning outcomes being achieved in all students. (which is the aim of the game!)

Day 2 of EPL - even better than the first ...

Persistence is the twin sister for excellence.
One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.

Marabel Morgan
The Electric Woman
(Costa and Kallick, 2000)

Today was once again a great day. It didn't start off so well with me needing to employ one of my mental habits that Marzano & Pickering (1997) highlighted in the critical thinking category ..... perseverance! I had a student, that made it a well known fact, that he did not wish to finish his pages of the literacy workbook off (requested by my mentor teacher) because he didn't feel like it. We battled through it and achieved a reasonable amount of work under the circumstances.

After lunch I was once again teamed up with the same student, but this time for Maths. The lesson started out as the first one did, with very negative body language and attitude towards the task. After a lot of positive encouragement, and different methods of explaining the concept, the student grasped the concept, and completed the work successfully. I was already quite chuffed with the result, but it was increased ten fold, when he came up to me at the end of the lesson and told me that "it was really fun working with you today, I didn't know maths could be so much fun." I felt a lump in my throat (because I'm a sook!) and thanked him for the effort he had put in and for the nice compliment he gave me.

I guess this is the ultimate reward for a learning manager, achieving positive outcomes from a lesson with a student who seems destined not to achieve the outcomes in that lesson! This makes me glad that I am completing this course, even if I only help one student achieve this, I have succeeded.

Just wanted to comment on the quote above and say that, I'm sure it will take quite a bit of perseverance to achieve excellence .... guess I'm one baby step closer now!

References:

Costa, A., and Kallick, B., Habits of Mind: A Developmental Series. Retrieved on April, 2010 from: http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/what-are-habits-mind

Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Alexandria: ASCD

First day of EPL ...

Image courtesy of Fairfax County Virginia

My first EPL day at my placement was great, all went very smoothly. The school where I am based is quite different to most. It is a small bush school with 12 students, it is a 1 teacher, 1 teacher aide school. I was wondering how 5 different grades could be taught simultaneously without chaos erupting ... quite a skill to develop.

It was very interesting to go into a classroom and observe someone implementing some of the things that I have read about in the last 8 weeks. One thing that stood out for me was the diversity found amongst the student in the classroom. I found that in each of the 5 grades there were many different levels needing to be catered for, my Mentor teacher makes this look easy, which I'm sure I will find out when I teach a lesson is not!

I was keen to see if there was active learning happening in this 21st century classroom, since this is something we are encouraged to implement when we begin our learning manager journey. There were learning experiences today that were multi-directional, in which there was evidence of teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher and student-to-student.

Due to the range of students ages and abilities ,there is often times when peer tutoring is encouraged. This allows the teacher to assess if the student offering the tutoring has grasped the concepts, and often students benefit greatly from a students explanation of a concept because it is age appropriate.

There was even an example of 'reciprocal teaching' where a student stood up in front of the class, explained a given concept, and attempted to answer any questions the other children had regarding this. It was unreal to see the level of engagement of the children for this task, they never got 'off task' once in 20 mins, which I thought was impossible! It will be interesting to see when I go back for day 2 of my EPL tomorrow to see, when there is a check of prior knowledge, how much of the information was retained from this reciprocal teaching activity.

If today is anything to go by, I'm sure I will thoroughly enjoy my EPL.

References:

The Abilene Christian University Adams Center for Teaching Excellence, (2000), Active Learning Online. Retrieved April 13, 2010 from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/focus.htm

Picnik and Flickr

I have never even tried image manipulation before, I have heard about photoshop and others, but had never used it myself. I wasn't even aware of how to change the size of a photo ... until now.

I have just been introduced to an image manipulation program called Picnik . It is a free program and allows you to do basic adjustments such as resize, crop, enhance lighting/colour, and add some special effects to an image, as well as other things I haven't had the time to discover yet. There are more advanced versions available, allowing more possibilities for editing, but these involve a cost to upgrade your account.

Here are some attempts I have had at image manipulation (using the free version only):

This is my photo, I have resized it here

In this one I have used Picnik to add a border, enhance the colours, add a smiley and a text message.

Incorporating images into classroom work is a necessity, it engages all types of learning styles in the group. In order to make them more engaging for students, sometimes you will need to manipulate the image, which is where Picnik proves a valuable tool. It is simple to use for both teacher and student. I enjoyed using Picnik, I found it very engaging. I'm sure it will engage students in the classroom and would enhance their work if they were to use it to manipulate their own images. Picnik only stores 5 photos, but it gives the user the option of saving the images you have edited to either your computer or Flickr.

Flickr is an online, safe storage site for images. It allows access to images (that you have uploaded, or any other images on the Flickr website) from any computer with internet access. Flickr is free and is available for anyone to use. Most of the images can be used for educational purposes. One of the great things about Flickr is that any copyright issues are covered because Flickr is covered under the Creative Commons Licence.

The use of Picnik and Flickr in the classroom promotes active learning, engages students and encourages creativity also. Students are meaningfully engaged in learning activities through collaboration and interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1997)

Using these two technology tools also needs 'creative thinking' (Dimensions of learning - Habits of mind) to occur. Perseverance, pushing the limits of your knowledge and abilities, generating new ways of viewing a situation that are outside the boundaries of standard conventions are some of the mental habits needed to produce different types of work using these tools. (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).

Examples of where this technology could be used in the classroom are:

• editing images for either group or individual assignments
• creating photostories/media presentations about specific issues/topics
• powerpoint presentations

This is all I can think of at this stage with my limited knowledge, but I know there would be heaps more.

References:
Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher's manual (2nd ed.). Alexandria: ASCD

Mahara

Image courtesy of Mahara

Back in February, when I printed off the course profile for this subject, I read through the assignments and was apprehensive when I saw that we had to create a Mahara account . I had no idea what this was, but thought I would ask some of my friends, and they would be able to shed some light on the topic for me. I was mortified when they had never heard of a Mahara account before, I knew I was on my own using a new technology which was a very frightening concept.

When Mahara tutorials were offered (for 3 night sessions) on the first day of our Residential school I was relieved. I made it a goal of mine that I needed to know why we were creating the account, and what the assignment was actually asking me to do. I ended up going on Tuesday night and created my account, (without any hiccups like others were having). Then when I tried to create a view, I was hopeless. I continued on to the best of my ability, which was nearly nil, and had minimal success. After two and a half hours I felt a hundred times more apprehensive then when I went into the tutorial, which wasn't good. Back I went on Wednesday and, thankfully, the penny dropped! I knew what a 'view' was and what we were required to create. I left that room a new woman ... persistence had paid off!

I found out that it was an e-portfolio (a digital version of a paper portfolio), that provides you with many options including: blogs, resume building options, upload files (images, video, audio, text), embedding external blogs, forums, groups, creating a view. It brings with it many benefits such as making a portfolio of evidence that is sharable wherever there is internet access, which globalises its use. It is also referred to as 'the new generation of the ring binder.' (Mahara, 2009)

In this course I will be using it predominately to create a 'view', for a specific purpose,which will display a combination of videos, images, text files and (maybe this blog as an external blog). The view I will create will be for the purpose of delivering an assessment item to the lecturer. The amount of views you can create on Mahara is only limited by how much money you want to spend. It is $5 for 100mb, and further charges apply thereafter. You can keep all your views private, or select the friends you choose to share them with. Views can also be shared by emailing a secret URL number for your view.

It is a great 'tool' for the learning manager to have in their toolkit because it has value both inside and outside the classroom. I have seen it be used, outside the classroom, to inform others, (via emailing a secret url number) of the individual's intentions to travel to their particular area and also contained his resume, in case of any casual work that may be available. Units of work can be displayed on a Mahara view to showcase your skills to future employees ... there are many possibilities. A forum discussion, with colleagues in my course, provided other uses for Mahara outside the classroom highlighting the potential 'digital scrapbook' element of Mahara where parents can scan and store examples of their children's masterpieces (paintings, writing etc) without having to keep heaps of papers. They can then easily pass these on to their children later in life.

I can also see Mahara being of use inside the classroom. It would most likely be used in the higher grades, because it can prove quite difficult to use. It could be used to provide units of work for the students, provide assessment pieces, with relevant websites for research included, and I'm sure many others will be discovered when I become more familiar with it.

Mahara allows active learning to occur, a level of learning resulting in retention and transfer of knowledge, which occurs most efficiently through concrete activity-based experiences because it involves input, processes and output. (Active Learning Online, 2000)

It is a user-centred, personalised learning space allowing the user flexibility to present their work however they choose, to the world. It ties in with one of the key tenets of personalised learning, that students become key partners in the design of learning tailored to their needs.(Mahara, 2009)

Some ways I can see Mahara being used in the classroom, with my limited knowledge at this point in time, are: for collecting students work and reflections, presenting assessment pieces, recording and showcasing achievements, maybe even making a unit of work available to the students with the websites required for research. It could also be used to send samples of students work home (via the secred URL number in an email) to the parents to view if they have queries, or send to other schools if the student transfers. I'm sure as I actually use this tool more, there will be many uses for Mahara in the 21st century classroom.

On that note, I probably should go and keep practicing on creating views in my Mahara account to see if I can 'form a habit', and form views quickly and effectively (as opposed to struggling aimlessly along at a very slow pace!).

Little bit of reflection ...

Image courtesy of BetterPhoto.com

It's probably quite obvious (from my previous posts) that, prior to enrolling in Uni, I didn't have any interest in computers, or talk computers to anyone really. I avoided them like the plague because I thought it was 'all too hard'. If only I'd realised back then that it really wasn't very hard (with proper guidance), I'm sure I would have been more inclined to experiment.

Who would have thought that 4 weeks into the course, I would have established my own google reader account, set up RSS feeds, set up my own blog, created a wiki and a voki and be actually enjoying myself ...... NOT ME!

I'm not getting too excited here, because I know there is still a long way to go. I am gaining confidence in my 'ability to cope with the 21st century classroom', which initially was a very daunting concept and a major factor I considered when enrolling in the GDLT program this year.

I believe this course is providing me with my 'tool kit' for effective pedagogy. There is so much that I have learned in such a short time, and still a lot to go. There was a podcast in our course material where Richard Smith was talking about the 'Theory Practice Gap". I think this course doesn't have that gap ... all subjects appear to contain information which will be used next year, or when a teaching position become available, which makes all this hard study and reading seem so much more worthwhile.

I am enjoying my e.learning journey so far, and I'm looking forward to what's still to come!

Voki's (speaking avatar) in the classroom - Brilliant!

If my children are a good example of children in the 21st century.... Voki's definitely have a place in the classroom!

I used my kids as guinea pigs in my experiment to gauge the extent in which the kids would engage with Voki's (to see if they had their place in the 21st century classroom). In the early weeks of this course, I showed the kids the avatars on the courseware for uni ... they loved them, they thought they were hilarious.

When I found out that we could actually make our own, on the voki website, I was keen to learn how. When I realised how easy it was, I let the kids have a go ..... now they won't leave me alone, they're always wanting to make them!

I asked them a few questions about how they would feel if these were included in their lessons at school, and if they thought the other kids would like them too. All feedback was positive ... which brings me to the conclusion that speaking avatars are another great tool to add to the pedagogical toolkit! I would most likely use them as the "hook" for a learning experience, to introduce the topic of the lesson, and sometimes add them in for humour. I think they would also help to ensure that learning plans cater for all learning styles.

It is glaringly obvious that the world, as it is today, relies heavily on information communication technology (ICT's) This is evident in the everyday use of 'gadgets' such as mobile phones, ipods, computers, computer games, television, digital home entertainment devices, digital cameras and video recorders and many others I wouldn't know exist. There are not many jobs available anymore that don't require at least minimal ICT usage.

In 'the real world' we are out of the Industrial Age and currently in what is known as the Knowledge Economy. The education requirements and social skills required for the knowledge ecomony are totally different to the Industrial Age.

Education has been based on the Industrial Age in the past, and is now in the process of changing so children complete their schooling armed with a wealth of knowledge for the world today.

Education also relies on the use of ICT's to teach and provide students with ICT's, so in the Knowledge Economy classrooms in the 21st century, we need teachers capable of providing this. Learning Managers need to keep up with technology, they will need to keep updating their skills as required, another important thing for the learning manager is to portray positive attitudes towards the use of such technologies in their classrooms.