Synopsis

Synopsis

Links To Comments and conversations

July 19 - Concept mapping
August 2 - Concept mapping
August 12 - Images
August 19 - Concept mapping
August 19 - Mind mapping

You Tube

Is the above clip from you tube being used as a time filler, for engagement or interest, or is it for learning? Depending on the context this clip could be used for the all above.

However I believe in a primary classroom where the learning manager is about to introduce a new topic on pollution and climate change, these clips would be used for learning. Many of us have seen both of these clips before. I know when I first watched this clip it stirred up a lot of emotion, not just for me but others in the lecture. This was then followed by an in depth discussion about the climate change and pollution.

Youtube clips if chosen appropriately can be used as hooks, to draw students in, giving them something to think about, a discussion starter and many many more possibilities.

Digital Video

I have seen movie maker used in a year one classroom, it was scaffolded very well and as a result was very successful. Teachers organised for an incubator to be placed in the classroom with eggs that were about to hatch. Students took photos each day of the eggs then of the chicks once they were hatched. Students then uploaded their photos to movie maker. Once the photos were up loaded students recorded their voices explaining what was happening in each of the photos and explaining the development stages of the Chic's.



I have prepared a quick example.

I found using movie maker was a bit difficult at first, however like most things once I moved along it got easier to use. I can see many uses for this tool in the classroom, however I will myself have to use this tool more to get more confident with it before teaching students how to use it.

Movie maker is great for showing how things change over time, such as the life cycle of a chicken. I also think the content has to be something the students can connect with. For example if students were asked to find pictures of the Internet at different stages of the life cycle it wouldn't mean as much to the students. However the fact that the students had the chicken in the classroom and had their pictures taken with the chickens made it real.

Movie maker, like many of the other tool we are learning has a focus on visual literacy as students are required to understand how images, colour, line etc work together to create meaning.

As mentioned in the reading by Kearney & Shuck, 2006 digital video supports higher order thinking, organisation and team work. However for this to occur much thought and organisation on the learning managers part needs to go into the scaffolding.

Podcast

What is a podcast? I have no idea. I have heard the word used many times but im not sure what they actually are. In this blog I will be finding out what a podcast is, how to make one and if I belive they will be usefull in the classroom and if so how they can be used to maximise student learning.





A podcast is:

• audio or video
• radio style show, that people can download to mp3 players
• listen to what interest you, choose what you want to listen to
• raw and real content
• many podcasts are made by people who are passionate about a subject
• A vodcast is the same as a podcast with the online delivery of a vidoe or clip

The above information was summarised from the following reading suggested in the course. How to Podcast

During reading and article titled, Its not about the tools. Its about the skills. The author pointed out that students are engaged by ICT's and we as educators can use this to our advantage to teach literacy, numeracy, reading, writing. Ask youself by using this tool what skills and literacies are am I addressing?



After listening to a Podcast titled The Sounds of China Im starting to see the benifits of using these in the classroom. Podcasts would especially be good in the earlier years as students are still learning to read and write, for visually impaired students and for those students that learn best from listening.



The Sounds of China Podcast could be used whean studying different cultures and belifes. The podcast talks about what music means to the chinese and you can also hear chinese music. Instead of having the teacher talk about the music students can listen to the music for themselves and hear someone else (a chinese music expert) talk.



A vodcast is the same as a podcast except it is the online delivery of a video or clip. This would also benifit those in the younger years and those students that are visual learners.



Vodcasts and podcasts have many uses are the opportunities are endless. Its also great that they can be used time and time again, for example if a student is away or wants to listen/watch again the teacher could upload to a virtual classroom or blog that students can access.

Images

I have never really tried up loading images online as I have always found it really hard. After downloading MobaPhoto I can not believe how easy it is to use. I can see many purposes for this in the class room including making photo disc of the students to take home to remember their year, taking and using photos to use in learning, for example taking photos of a plants or animals development over time.

After reading Mrs Daisy's blog on images, I couldn't agree more with her about the importance of images in the classroom. I also have just completed a an assessment on visual literacy within the same group and can now see that visuals are all around us. Children see before they speak.

Reading through some other blogs that I'm following I noticed some people were using Picnik. After using this I found this was easier to use for editing and changing images. For example I changed the colour of this image and asked a child I knew how this picture made her feel.

The child responded with the following:

-Warm sunny morning

-Dew

-Autumn or warm summer

-Could be sticky steamy day

Images courtesy of Picnik.

I then changed the picture using picnik to the one below and asked the child how this picture then made her feel.

-Cold

-Winter

-Raining and miserable

-Early morning

This type of exercise can be used to teach students how easily images can be changed to make people feel different emotions when looking at them. This can then lead to how the media portray things.

Another effective activity I have seen used in the classroom is putting up an interesting photo such as the one below and asking students to write a story around that image. It is amazing the imagination that students have, and for some students its much easier to write a story this way rather than think of something themselves.

Image courtesy of free digital photos.net

Using images in the classroom also caters for those visual learners, I myself learn best when I can see how thing work visually.

Now I have the tools to use images effectively in the classroom I will be using them a lot more. Not just the images but also teaching students how to use the tools to change the look and meaning of images.

Powerpoint and Prezi

When I think of powerpoint I think boring, overused, time wasting, especially when used in the classroom. However when I looked throught the practical activities of creating an interactive powerpoint and creating animated movies it gave me other idea of how powerpoint could be utilised in the classroom.

From a Learning Managers perspective:

• Organised - The LM can hyperlink to anything needed rather than clicking through files and searching on the internet.
• Easy to use
• Caters for visual and auditory learners
• Can be used to scaffold lessons including times for showing examples or including activites
• If used correctly can be interesting and interactive
• Can be saved and changed or used again.

From a students perspective:

• Teaches students to plan their work first
• Makes students look at the bigger picture of their presentation first
• There is more focus on the information first rather than the pictures and text style
• Interesting and interactive

Powerpoint is a great tool for students to use to present information however I also think it a great tool to teach students how to manipulate elements. Once students have learnt how to construct a powerpoint using images, colour and text in the earlier years, I think they could move on to use Prezi.

Looking at the Prezi titled 'Why should we Move Beyond Slides?' by Adam Somlai-Fischer I found the prezi a definate option to powerpoint. Its interactive and appealing and something that I have not seen used in the classroom. Im sure it is used however not as much as powerpoint, and because of this I think teachers and students would embrace the use of something new.