Saturday, December 19, 2009
Technology, The gift, of glorified pain
As an afterthought to my synopsis, and after repeat attempts to access e.Portfolio link without any success I have considered that technology can sometimes do the opposite of what it is designed to do; that is, make our life easier. The link being down over the last 5 days has cause many problems. First and foremost, making the task of fully completing my assignment impossible. Secondly, the task of learning about Mahara difficult and thirdly leading myself to conduct the extra process of applying for an extension due to technical faults. Whilst I do applaud the use of technology and think that every new technology we use to better ourselves is a step in the right direction, I wanted to write this as a reminder to us all that on some occasions, technology will have problems for which we should be prepared. Whether this is through a Plan B for teaching or a backup piece of equipment we should not take these great resources as something that is definately on tap. With this in mind, I shall continue to work forward, or find an alternate way.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Reflective Synopsis
Throughout this assignment I have investigated many different E-Learning tools and their pros and cons. Whilst some I feel may not be as useful as others, there is a possibility that throughout my teaching career.
From all the E-Learning tools that I explored through this assigment my favourite would have been VoiceThreads. For myself I can see so much potential for this method to really assist students and get them involved in the work being portrayed. I agree that we need to embrace the methods that make it easy for our students to learn. We cannot be greedy and expect the students to work in methods that in many ways are outdated so that we do not have to put ourselves out and change with the times. Today's technology is often dubbed as painful, or disengaging, annoying, a waste of time and money; yet in the hands of an adult or a "Technology Imigrant" it is amazing, powerful and a gift.
A classic example is the "back in my day we did all those calculations in our heads". Whilst I agree that students need to know the fundementals of these calculations, I disagree that they are in the wrong for taking advantage of the technology to make them.
Blogging during this assignment was a new experience for me as I had never written a blog before. This tool was interesting for me as it was like writing a public diary. However by the end I found it an excellent method of reflecting on things I had read, seen or done.
RSS feeds were also of interest to me as I use several forums and until now used to go and read the new topics everyday. Now that they are delivered to my mailbox I find it easy to save time and still catch up with my reading.
Creating a WIKI was also a new experience for me. This whilst was not my favourite educational tool was one that I now hold in high regard as being useful for the amount of work required to create them (not too much!). This tool would be good I feel in subjects where students may need access to information not readily available off or online that the teacher could upload and offer.
To communicate with other students on their blogs on this assignment was both interesting and insightful. Through reading other students' blogs I was able to reflect and build on my ideas, or gain new ideas completely which will further help me with my teaching future. The diversity of ideas and answers can often amaze. When you think that you have all the answers, all the solutions, someone else has an answer you never would have considered or thought of. This is a fine proof of E-Learning working effectively. If I have an idea, and three people borrrow that idea and post it, each of those three people have three people borrow the idea.. My one blog has affected 12 other people.
Another technology I was impressed with was Voicethread. This software I feel will, like the Interactive whiteboard hold plenty of relevance in the future for educators and students alike. It is so versatile and user friendly; but most of all, familiar for students and easy for educators to use.
Interactive Whiteboards I feel will be implimented into as many classrooms as possible over the next decade. For many schools I feel this assists them to step into the e-learning age without having to try and afford class sets of laptops and wireless infastructures.
At present I have not been able to access the E.Portfolio or Mahara sign-up/Login page (through moodle and I can't find an alternate one on the website) so I am hoping that they will be up again so I will be able to experience and experiment with these.
Overall, E-Learning may not always be the way of the future, the day may come where we are born programmed with all the knowledge we require; but in the meantime we must continue to learn and study like we have done for the past century. So for now, E-Learning is the future. We have a world of students, with a world of technologies that they all are seemedly naturally fluent with, all of which are easily learnt by Techonogical Immigrants and accessible by all with a computer and an internet connection. There is no use continuing the old way which have become outdated and irrelivant to today's learners, so why would we?
Dave.
From all the E-Learning tools that I explored through this assigment my favourite would have been VoiceThreads. For myself I can see so much potential for this method to really assist students and get them involved in the work being portrayed. I agree that we need to embrace the methods that make it easy for our students to learn. We cannot be greedy and expect the students to work in methods that in many ways are outdated so that we do not have to put ourselves out and change with the times. Today's technology is often dubbed as painful, or disengaging, annoying, a waste of time and money; yet in the hands of an adult or a "Technology Imigrant" it is amazing, powerful and a gift.
A classic example is the "back in my day we did all those calculations in our heads". Whilst I agree that students need to know the fundementals of these calculations, I disagree that they are in the wrong for taking advantage of the technology to make them.
Blogging during this assignment was a new experience for me as I had never written a blog before. This tool was interesting for me as it was like writing a public diary. However by the end I found it an excellent method of reflecting on things I had read, seen or done.
RSS feeds were also of interest to me as I use several forums and until now used to go and read the new topics everyday. Now that they are delivered to my mailbox I find it easy to save time and still catch up with my reading.
Creating a WIKI was also a new experience for me. This whilst was not my favourite educational tool was one that I now hold in high regard as being useful for the amount of work required to create them (not too much!). This tool would be good I feel in subjects where students may need access to information not readily available off or online that the teacher could upload and offer.
To communicate with other students on their blogs on this assignment was both interesting and insightful. Through reading other students' blogs I was able to reflect and build on my ideas, or gain new ideas completely which will further help me with my teaching future. The diversity of ideas and answers can often amaze. When you think that you have all the answers, all the solutions, someone else has an answer you never would have considered or thought of. This is a fine proof of E-Learning working effectively. If I have an idea, and three people borrrow that idea and post it, each of those three people have three people borrow the idea.. My one blog has affected 12 other people.
Another technology I was impressed with was Voicethread. This software I feel will, like the Interactive whiteboard hold plenty of relevance in the future for educators and students alike. It is so versatile and user friendly; but most of all, familiar for students and easy for educators to use.
Interactive Whiteboards I feel will be implimented into as many classrooms as possible over the next decade. For many schools I feel this assists them to step into the e-learning age without having to try and afford class sets of laptops and wireless infastructures.
At present I have not been able to access the E.Portfolio or Mahara sign-up/Login page (through moodle and I can't find an alternate one on the website) so I am hoping that they will be up again so I will be able to experience and experiment with these.
Overall, E-Learning may not always be the way of the future, the day may come where we are born programmed with all the knowledge we require; but in the meantime we must continue to learn and study like we have done for the past century. So for now, E-Learning is the future. We have a world of students, with a world of technologies that they all are seemedly naturally fluent with, all of which are easily learnt by Techonogical Immigrants and accessible by all with a computer and an internet connection. There is no use continuing the old way which have become outdated and irrelivant to today's learners, so why would we?
Dave.
SlideShare
This was an interesting task, recording the audio was tedious due to a quiet microphone on my laptop and converting the file (recorded in WMA) required more effort than I would have liked. I think that I liked the process of using a voicethread more, as I think you would still be able to do much the same and more with a Voicethread.
This couldbe useful for posting ppts used in a class to the web for students to revise, with verbal explanations of what each slide means, much like being retaught.
This couldbe useful for posting ppts used in a class to the web for students to revise, with verbal explanations of what each slide means, much like being retaught.
Balancing Equations
View more presentations from D. Andrews.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Voicethread
The voicethread I made contains pictures of work from the internet that students have done, which had slighlty or very abstract answers. I have added text, sound and webcam comments and attempted drawing on one of the pictures.
This technology would prove useful for class forums on a topic, the teacher would be able to upload a set of images or videos for students to discuss, view and swap ideas on.
Students could also use this for group assignments, to upload new information, discuss it and update it.
This tool could be very dynamic, unless some students do not have access to good broadband.
This technology would prove useful for class forums on a topic, the teacher would be able to upload a set of images or videos for students to discuss, view and swap ideas on.
Students could also use this for group assignments, to upload new information, discuss it and update it.
This tool could be very dynamic, unless some students do not have access to good broadband.
Using Music On The Web
This sort of website is particularly useful for music, drama and arts teachers.
However, although I am trained in maths and physics there is a possibility that I will teach english, or one of the arts.
This site would be good for motivational pieces for students to use in drama scenes, musical pieces, english poems etc.
Students would be able to access and choose music that suits their persona to use for their presentation, without the risk of copywrite infringement.
However, although I am trained in maths and physics there is a possibility that I will teach english, or one of the arts.
This site would be good for motivational pieces for students to use in drama scenes, musical pieces, english poems etc.
Students would be able to access and choose music that suits their persona to use for their presentation, without the risk of copywrite infringement.
Mediafire
An example of circumstances where I would use this technology would be to upload images/videos from a prac or an experiment for students to access.
I could also share documents, prac writeups and other literary files for students to download and use for study at home etc.
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