Group 3 - Presentation Technologies

       

These days, there are so many platforms available for presenting information. I have produced my first interactive powerpoint. It has the same organising structure as a normal powerpoint but in addition it has links to each slide from the homepage and back again. I don’t see this as a great benefit and doesn’t seem any more interactive than progressing through a presentation from start to finish. In fact, there is the possibility of losing track during the presentation.

My Prezi is fantastic, it puts a whole new spin on powerpoint. Prezi is alot more visually stimulating than a powerpoint because all the information is constructed on the one canvas. A pathway is created through the information by the author for Prezi to chunk the information into individual slides to present. Images, videos, audios, text and links are all supported in Prezi. The canvas feel promotes minimal text use, challenging students to incorporate other forms of media to inform the audience. This formate genuinely supports all the learning styles, can be collaborative and looks really professional.

Finally, I have used the same information from my powerpoints and converted it into a Glog. Similiar to the Prezi, this format takes on a poster style canvas but has a more scrapbooking feel. I found this site easy to use but a little tricky to organise my content. The whole poster is not visable as you are constructing, so balancing the page is more difficult. Glogging is excellent for classroom projects as teachers can have up to 50 students in the class. Everybody has access to all student glogs, eliminating fiddly invitations and acceptance. This is a virtual online classroom that is completely safe for students.

Interactive Powerpoint
Plus: -Teaches students to organise thoughts - Chunking into key points -Printable	Minus: -Overuse of dot points - Creativity is limited -Not collaborative online	Interesting: Has been the pioneer of digital presentations and widely used by individuals and corporate but will eventually be superseded
Prezi
Plus: -Eliminates storyboards -No concerns about different versions of pp not being compatible -More visual based -Collaborative (up to 10 students can work simultaneously on the same Prezi) -Creative expression unlimited -Online storage	Minus: -Not all media is supported yet -Difficult to print presentation	Interesting: -Still evolving as a powerful presentation too -Spacial approach rather than lineal approach to construction
Glogs:
Plus: -Limited space forces students to consider how best to present information -Online storage -Can be embedded into other formats -Teachers and students can easily view each others work -Safe, protected environment -Easy to master	Minus: -Vulnerable to technical issues (students not saving work) -Students can waste time -Focus can be taken from the quality of content by distracting gadgets -Lack of inclass time -Can be slow to upload due to the graphical nature	Interesting: -Spacial or lineal approach to construction

Moviemaker MADNESS

Moviemaker is a brilliant technological tool. I thought putting my photos into a motion picture was going to be painstakingly hard but I was pleasantly surprised how quickly it all came together. Maneuvering around the site was easy, once you have your photos and video uploaded it was just a case of dragging and dropping them in sequence into the timeline along the bottom of the screen. Then, it was time to add your special effects. It was amazing what the addition of music does for your clip. I did mine on a family day Go Karting at ‘Kenrose Park’. It is very basic but honestly, it has only taken a couple of hours. If you were inclined, you could easily invest more time and have a high quality piece of work to claim as your own. The quality of this tool has really impressed me.

In the classroom, moviemaking could be used across all genres eg. reporting, story-telling, interviewing, instructional, investigating and persuasive speech. Most students would engage, if the topic was relevant to them. Furthermore, this would be an ideal tool for collaborative learning. The Learning Engagement Theory springs to mind.

Plus:
Highly engaging (verging on addictive)
Suitable for all learning types, visual, audible and kinesthetic
Accessible and inexpensive
User friendly

Minus:
Time consuming
Making sure students give attribution where required

Interesting:
You can always make your movie better...just depends on how much time you have!

Podcast Reflection

Podcasting is simply an auditory recording which can be uploaded and downloaded from a computer. It is actually quite boring and uninspiring but really practical. Universities often use them for external students who cannot attend weekly lectures. Lecturers only need to record the lecture as it is being delivered, so there is no extra demand put on their time. Podcasts are ideally designed for the audible learner but also complement other learning styles as it can be stopped, rewound or repeatedly played to help gain a better understanding. My daughter, in year 7, uses podcasts for her Mandarin lessons. This allows her to practice her language skills at home. ESL students would also benefit from podcasts to support their learning outside the classroom. I have no idea, at the moment, about what to put in my podcast. I have used them before and don't think they would be difficult to create.

Plus:
A limited level of technical expertise to produce
Not time consuming and inexpensive to make
Portable
Supplement learning
Can be rewound, replayed, fast-forwarded instantly.

Minus:
Audible learners are a minority.

Interesting:
Global platform, information sharing across the globe.

Playing with Picnik

Well, I started out this little Picnik journey confused and subsequently frustrated but all is calm, I have done it. I have uploaded a favourite photo of mine into Flickr that has been modified to my personal liking lol. As I began to play, the pieces all came together for me. I must admit it took me some time to navigate my way around the site but it was interesting, the more I manipulated the more engaged I became thinking about what else I could do. (My own little personal experience of the power of engagement in learning). By the end, I was having a ball and can’t wait to have more spare time, after this course, to play. I would imagine kids would love to play in Picnik too.

In an educational context, digital images would most frequently be used by teachers to introduce a topic to create a discussion. This would give the teacher an insight to what the students already know and how to extend that knowledge. The pedagogical framework to apply would be See, Think, Wonder. Asking the students open-ended questions about the image could progress them through Bloom’s Taxonomy to higher-order thinking of analyzing and creating. I would definitely consider using it in a history or geography context.

Plus: Digital images bring the world into the classroom.
Cameras are easily accessible to students and can be shared.
Capture images of excursions to be used in report or recounts
Inexpensive to produce

Minus: Students need to be informed of code of ethics when using images
Copyright issues

Interesting: A picture can be unwrapped and used in so many different ways, according to topic and age of students.

eLearning Design Framework

Bloom’s TaxonomyThis theory identifies three main domains of educational activities:
• cognitive – mental skills and knowledge
• affective – attitude and feelings toward learning
• psychomotor- manual or physical skills.

The cognitive domain is subdivided into higher order and lower order thinking, together they create six skill levels of progression from remembering through to creating.

• Creating High Order Thinking
• Evaluating
• Analysing
• Applying Lower Order Thinking
• Understanding
• Remembering

Learning Engagement Theory

"The fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks." Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999).
Put simply, engaged learners are achieved through a concept of Create-Relate-Donate. Using a social learning context of group work, through which students communicate, negotiate and plan a project that has a real world purpose for a real “customer”.

TPACK

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge is the term which refers to the effective integration of technology by teachers, competent in its use, to effectively enhance student learning.

Jannine’s eLearning Design Framework
 Engage students through content that relates to their real world.
 Use technologies that they are familiar with to engage students.
 Scaffold thinking through open-ended questions to create discussion.
 Reflect and analyse outcomes.
 Result – Authentic meaningful learning

Group 1 Technologies

My wiki has been created as a Peff family organiser. I felt to create mine in a authentic context so that I could see for myself the potential for these in the classroom. Creating the wiki was easy, the site is logically set out and user-friendly. I have posted up working hours, sport and music commitments, and daily jobs for each family member over the week. Each page is a day of the week. Finally, I invited my children to be members. My hope is that I will get some real benefits in using this online space to communicate.

My webpage is very basic. I have had two attempts at trying to get it to look half decent but I find that it is hard because I have no real ideas or plans to inorporate into it (no authentic pupose). However, I have just put up a video and picture and a few links for teaching resources. This really needs a moderate level of technical skills and knowledge to have this as a real engaging place. Much more time (of which of have none right now) is needed to delve into the workings of creating a website; however, we have all used countless websites over the years and have a fair understanding of the difference between a good and bad one.  

In the classroom, I could see both technologies being utilised. However, the wiki is more interactive and easier to create. I would use it as a class organiser,  place for parent information notices, student permission slips, assignment criteria sheets and homework activities. Students can interact outside of classroom hours to support each other while being monitored by the teacher. A classroom website could be developed by the teacher for similiar information but without the interactive capabilities of the wiki. The website could be used as a bank of reliable information to support students in their learning.

Website
Plus: -Teacher is in control of content -Teacher recommended content -Safe environment -Available 24/7	Minus: -Needs regular maintenance to remain engaging in the long term - Website design needs to be carefully planned to ensure easy use -Need a moderate level of technology skills to create -Time consuming -Not interactive	Interesting: -Creating a website would be a great opportunity to teach students how to choose sites that are reputable and that not all sites are reliable sources of information - There is a responsibility involved when providing information in a public forum
Wiki
Plus: -Safe environment (Learning Place) -Interactive -Collaborative -Page is continually evolving -Promotes higher-order thinking -Can be scaffolded by the teacher -Available 24/7	Minus: -Unsafe if not created in the Learning Place -Unwanted addition or deletion of student contribution may cause stress -not all students like to share their work publicly -sabotage between groups -Vulnerable to technological issues	Interesting: -Would those highly motivated students tend to dominate the site making less active students not as accountable for participation in group work?

Assessment 1 - Summary Conclusion

Teaching and learning go hand in hand; however, designing an effective eLearning experience requires the careful balance of ICT, learning theories and thinking frameworks to support students through the process. These days, teachers are using many forms of online spaces to engage their digital native learners (Prensky, 2001). Participation in the three wiki activities in this course has given me firsthand experience of eLearning, of which, will be the focus of the following evaluation.

Each of the wiki activities demonstrated the social interaction and collaboration components of the ‘Constructivist’ model to cognitive learning (Vygotsky, 1962). The profile wiki required us to construct a profile for the purpose of identifying a suitable workmate for the Learning Theory wiki activity. The intention was to develop networking connections, consistent with the ‘Connectivist’ theory (Siemens, 2004). However, I noticed a pattern with the internal students who preferred to pair up face-to-face, as did my partner and I. Personally, it saved precious time because we didn’t have to sort through everybody’s profiles. This, I feel, would accurately reflect the classroom situation and therefore I would not consider using a profile wiki for this purpose. However, there could be a place for it in larger schools where there are a number of classes across a grade. Profile wiki could help bridge social gaps to help build a strong school community.

Pairing of students for the Learning Theories wiki effectively shifted the focus from teacher centred learning to student centred. The principle of this collaboration style was effective in connecting learners with course materials and with each other so that students could gain knowledge through donating their learning. Considering the amount of reading across all the theories, it would have been too difficult to process and analyse all the information individually in such short time. So this was a very efficient way to cover broad topics while maximising student engagement. Posting your name to the learning theory wiki was a public declaration that created a sense of ownership of that learning theory making students more accountable for their participation in the activity. Furthermore, I didn’t feel at all overwhelmed at the task knowing I had only one learning theory to focus on and a mate to share the load. Collectively, this promoted student success which is always important when learning.

The mobile phone wiki was moderately successful. This time, collaboration was across the whole group which did cause more issues than the pairing activity. Firstly, the large number of students accessing the site at one time caused a bottleneck leaving students waiting to access the site to contribute thoughts. Secondly, the individual contributions across the large group produced a mass compilation of messy information which became too difficult to read. Repetition resulted as students posted without engaging with previous comments. On the other hand, some perspectives were harder than others and this activity allowed students to work to their strengths. I gained from the creative insights of others, which allowed my thinking to broaden. As a result, I learnt that there could be a productive place for mobile phones in schools after all. Ownership of the project is also an issue with such a large group of students. Those students who do take initiative can dominate the site which makes it easier for less active students to hide.

The PMI and De Bono’s hats thinking frameworks in the wiki activities really challenged my thinking as a strong sensory learner. Scaffolding helped to break my thinking mould by challenging me with open-ended questions. This promoted higher-order thinking which allowed the subject to be more fully analysed and evaluated. As a result, I felt I had gained a deeper understanding which made my learning more authentic and meaningful (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1998). I would definitely utilise both of these scaffolding techniques in my eLearning designs as they encompass both the intuitive and sensory learning styles. The PMI is simplistic but still promotes higher-order thinking, while De Bono’s hats is a more complex thinking framework which facilitates problem solving for more contentious issues where opinions are wide ranging. Scaffolding thinking is valuable as it not only teaches students to think critically but also promotes discussion to unravel complex problems enabling informed decisions to be made on issues.

When designing eLearning for my students I will most definitely utilise the PMI and De Bono’s hats for scaffolding online spaces to guide my student’s through Bloom’s taxonomy to higher order thinking. Careful planning of scaffolding questions is paramount for contextualising the thinking for the student so that the intended learning outcomes are reached. Consideration for the organisation of online traffic must be addressed to ensure there are no barriers to student learning; therefore, individual collaboration across large groups should be avoided. My recommendation for larger classes would include dividing the students into smaller groups. Each group would represent one of the coloured hats so that students could choose which perspective they wish to contribute to. Each group would then summarise their points before posting to avoid repetition and to reduce the number of students accessing the wiki at one time. Furthermore, collaboration in smaller groups makes students more accountable for contribution whilst making it easier for shy students to participate. Overcoming technological difficulties is a frequent dilemma in eLearning. Building resilience in students is important. This can be done through modelling good practices like backing up work regularly and encouraging students to do likewise. Moreover, being flexible and willing to improvise when things are not working out as they should is also important to demonstrate. Finally, keeping the face-to-face component of teaching entwined in new eLearning experiences is vitally important so that relationships between teachers and students can develop authentically to relieve any feelings of student alienation.

Reference List

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1998). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Educational Technology, 38(5), 20-23.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.


Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Social development theory. Retrieved from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html

Mobile Phone Wiki

Participating in the mobile phone wiki was very insightful. Scaffolding, according to De Bono’s hats, was very effective for this type of discussion. Some perspectives are definitely harder than some and this is where the individual strengths of students within a class can complement one another. So, intuitive and sensory learners unite! Being strongly sensory myself, I find stating the positives and negatives of mobile phones in schools quite easy; however, I stumbled when I came to the green hat. This is where I found the value of scaffolding this activity by coloured hats. I don’t like the idea of phones in schools but reading through my classmates creative ideas for phones in schools, showed me that there could be a productive place for mobile phones in schools after all. This constructivist style forum presents all perspectives so that an informed decision can be made on a particular issue.  

The downside to using the online space was only one person could edit the page at a time. I had to wait for twenty minutes before I could get access to the site. So, bottle necking could be an issue if you have a large number of students wanting to add to the wiki at the same time. The forum also became a little messy and hard to follow as more people presented their points.

'Engage' me or 'Enrage' me

Prensky's article was an interesting read. It did make a good point about engaging students, no prizes for that one though. I found the article to be on the extreme end of the continuum. The majority of kids today are over-entertained and this theory tends to pander even further for their need for an adrenalin fix. As soon as the excitement is over with one game they are no sooner onto the next. These kids still have to live in a 3D world and there are just some things that should not be compromised. One is the art of developing meaningful relationships. It has been my recent experience with my fifteen year son that the quality of his relationship with the teacher has a more powerful impact on his engagement level than the teacher's ability to entertain.

Week 1 Activities

My learning style?

According to Felder & Soloman, learning styles can be defined by four specific continuums which are:

·         Active and Reflective

·         Sensing and Intuitive

·         Visual and Verbal

·         Sequential and Global

A series of 44 questions were posed and the answers were analysed to produce the following results.

Results for: Jannine Peff

      ACT                          X                        REF

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

      SEN  X                                                INT

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

      VIS  X                                                VRB

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

      SEQ          X                                        GLO

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

These results indicate that my learning style is well balanced between active and reflective, which Felder & Soloman recommend as being ideal (what can I say.....I’m too deadly). However, I am predominantly more sensing than intuitive and strongly visual rather than verbal. Lastly, I am moderately more sequential than global.

In all, there are no real surprises in these results for me. Generally, I like to have a go and see what works and what does not but I also like to think first about how I might approach the task before I begin, so that I give myself every opportunity to be successful. It is important for me to be successful as I struggle with a fear of failure when learning.

When I consider my schooling days, the blackboard and step by step instruction worked a treat for me. I would say the IWB would be even more effective for me today being both active and visual. Demonstrations would also be another strategy that would satisfy my preference for visual learning. Furthermore, homework sheets that reinforce the day’s new concepts through practice. This would allow me time to reflect and answer the why question to give me a more complete understanding. I guess I can now put this down to the strong sensing learner that loves the facts.  

My learning experiences would be most successful if an overview of the lesson was provided at the beginning so that I could contextualise the activity. This is important becauseb I struggle to engage if I don’t understand how it relates to my learning (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). Then I would prefer the lesson to be scaffolded so that I have my starting point which is often an issue for me.

As a learning manager, I would endeavour to incorporate many teaching strategies to support the different learning styles. These would include: explanations, demonstrations, think pair share, games and individual tasks.

Currently, I am only barely familiar with IWB. This new technology appears to cater to all learning styles and therefore, should be the focal point of today’s classroom. Importantly, being competent and creative in its use is critical if it is to support all learning styles in the class. Outside the classroom, there are a number of wonderful platforms for teachers to extend the classroom for students to support their learning. A few that I am familiar with are blogs, podcasts, wikis and social networking sites.

Profiling Questions

1. “Harry Potter” series, would you prefer to

a) read the books.

b) watch the movies.

2. Do you like learning about

a) real things.

b) new ideas.

3. In class, do you like to work

a) with others

b) by yourself

4. When putting together a new toy, do you

a) look at the picture on the box.

b) follow the instructions.

Learning Theories Wiki

My learning has been explosive this week. After getting through my reading on 'connectivism' my head was a jumbo mess but after some discussion with my mate I began to gain perspective and  my own thoughts started to sort themselves out. I couldn't imagine reading all the readings on each learning theory, there wouldn't be enough time for me to process all that information before the end of this course. Going through all the posting and getting a brief overview of the learning theory along with some different perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of them was, by far, more efficient and effective way to learn. My head didn't hurt so much and so this is where I found the value of collaborative learning. I love it!!!

I highly value this constructivist approach for today's students. Learning is supported by peers. In this case, each contributed a part of the puzzle so that everybody could gain a fuller understanding of learning theories. Furthemore, students can adopt ideas and perspectives of others or challenge and add new ones all on the one site. While teaching will always remain relationship based for me, I am finding more room in my thinking for the benefits for supplementing with eLearning. Wiki's would be ideal for collaborative research projects within the class. It is environmentally friendly, won't get lost and the dog can't eat it. Wiki's do not greatly support all learning styles but are great for the information gathering stage which has to be in text. I guess one downside is that loafers can hide a little easier and can disengage completely by not logging in.

Thoughts on Blogging as a Journal

I am not a blogger, journaller and have never used a diary......I might as well just get that out there. Therefore, this process is actually alot harder for me than it is for others. I have just completed a science degree where the majority of content was exam based meaning either right or wrong. Furthermore, there is a right way to do things and a wrong way. Looking back, this was all very logical to me and caused me no distress as I now know my learning style is strongly sensing and sequential.....who knew! However, here I am in my teaching degree where there is no right or wrong, and everything is open to interpretation! That is completely unsettling for me. I don't have my facts. Am I on the right track? I seem to always be asking myself. Not only that, the learning theories seem to cross each others boundaries leaving me completely confused. So, I have had to drop my old ways of fact finding and logical argument, let my mind go and force myself to think creatively. As I force myself to think about my learning in this course, my thinking is becoming more transparent and the process is becoming easier. I am actually suprised by the length of my blogs but I have to keep telling myself.......It is ok if somebody has a different perspective to me, nobody's wrong here..... right? As a future teacher, this has been valuable learning for me.     

Plus: I would encourage students to blog because it is important to teach them to reflect. Importantly, blogging a journal  teaches students to analyse and consider different ways to do things to get better results. These skills are lifelong and can be transferred into other areas of student lives for personal development. Continual blogging captures student growth over time and could be a confidence builder in their learning. Furthermore, the author of the blog has complete control of the content and the ability to link with other blogs allows for sharing of learning experiences and perspectives.

Scaffolding the reflections is a great way to help get them started and to reassure those who, like me, are always wondering if they are doing things right. Blogging builds knowledge about oneself which demonstrates the theory of constructivism. This new knowledge which has been sorted in the reflection is then added to or replaces existing schema. Connectivism is also visible as bloggers are able to follow sites and other bloggers journeys at a click of the mouse to develop a learning pipeline. Diversity is well catered for as pictures, voices, videos and text can be utilised by students in whatever learning preferences. In an eLearning context, teachers and students can interact on blogs regardless of distance and time, taking student interaction beyond the classroom.

Minus:

Interesting: Blogs are so diverse in there presentation which should reflect individual personalities and styles. No two blogs are ever meant to be the same. So again, there are no right or wrong ways to blog.

Profile Wiki

I knew nothing about the process of setting up a wiki but it seemed simple enough. I must admit I struggled to find the relevance to my learning; however, when we were asked to pair up with another person with similar interests for an activity it all started to make sense. My level of engagement soon increased to the point where I went back to add more information about myself so that I may give fellow students a bit more of an understanding of ‘who’ I am (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999). I now appreciate the benefits of these ICT activities in a learning context, even though I paired up with a friend I already knew. I noticed most of the internal students preferred to do it this way also. Those most to benefit from the profile wiki were the remote flex students. Although I am feeling overwhelmed with everything this week I found the profile wiki simple, effective and fun. My thinking has been broadened from the traditions of classroom teaching of twenty-five years ago. I was relieved to experience success in the first two activities of this course which is very important to me. It may just give me enough confidence to make it through to the end.

In the classroom, this activity could be used in the same way as in this course. Particularly, for those students, like me, who are shy or new and find approaching people in person difficult. Profiling through wiki gives student some basic information about others in their grade which could be used to give students a platform to approach others to begin to connect. Also, when there are a number of classes, profile wikis can help bridge the social gaps across the grade. I think the profile wiki caters for students across the learning styles. While the main page is predominantly text, ideal for the audible learner, it does provide links to pictures, videos and games to support the visual and tactile learners.

Profile wikis have a strong link to the connectivism theory (Siemens, 2004) in that the profile identifies persons within the class with similar interests and experiences as mine. Through wiki profile I have access to email or phone numbers so that I can establish a communications pipeline to access the appropriate information from the most suitable source. Constructivism is also identified as the information provides a schema for other students to compare and identify similiarities and differences with others. eLearning potential here for group work planning and drafting. Everybody edits and communicates from the same page which eliminates the messy email system where students can be accidently left out of the loop and collaboration is more difficult.