Week 6

Dipity timeline allows you to add dates, vidos, images, text and audio to a timeline of yur choice, it could be a personal timeline or a history timline.  You can zoom into a minute by minute timeline and embed it into any webpage.  I had fun using this tool and would like to expand on it.  This is my link to Dipity Timeline

Week 5 Prezi

I found the Prezi presentation tool really easy to use and could be somewhat addictive.  Prezi is flash based and will not work on ipods or iphones, which is okay by me because I don't own them.  The great thing about Prezi is that you can create your presentation by downloading it or working on it off line. Unfortunatly for the people who are global learners this will cause frustration and it has been documented on our Illuminate sessions that some people are getting sea sick from the prezi application tool.  Prezi can zoom in and out giving more impact for presentations unlike Power Point.  This is my link to Prezi

Assessment Two: Synopsis

My Reflective Synopsis

Reflecting over the last five weeks of managing e-learning, I feel I have explored many varied tools that I never knew existed until undertaking this course.  I have experienced a whirlwind of emotions from confusion, frustration, anger to happiness, relieved and satisfied of my achievements.  I have found managing e learning to be very time consuming and at times hard to get my thoughts around, but overall I have been engaged and entertained along this new ICT journey.  I have used problem solving skills and higher order thinking to overcome challenges and new concepts, such as voki’s, Prezzi’s, Wordle’s, Concept maps, videos and images.  I have had to reflect and analyse on my own learning through Blog’s and Wikis for using ICT in the 21^st century.  I can see the learning benefits and skills of incorporating the use of these tools within the education system.  These tools will engage students in learning, acquiring knowledge, scaffolding tasks using a student centred approach and teach students about the safe, legal and ethical practices that must be adhered to when using ICT’s.

The Four Tools I Will Be Looking At In Detail Are:

Group one: Blogs and comparing them with Wikis and Websites

Group two: Digital videos

Group three: Prezi Presentations

Group four: DIPITY Digital Timeline

Group 1: Blogs And Comparing Them With Wikis And Websites

Blogs are where individuals can create meaning of knowledge in an online space.  This tool will enhance reading and writing skills and critical thinking. Blogs are more than an online journal, it is a place where students can link to websites they like, embed podcasts and digital videos, upload images and reflect on their learning journey.  Blogs support students to take ownership of their learning and make public their thoughts and understandings (Wittner, n.d.).  Blogging encourages collaboration learning and peer interaction by using research, exploration and discussion techniques which also gives students incentive to write authentic, credible and accurate work (Downes, 2004).  Vygotsky (1978) suggests that social interaction and working collaboratively develops meaning making and knowledge construction.  When a learning manager scaffolds activities to develop on the required knowledge of what is being learnt this construction can be achieved in Blogs and Wikis (Wittner,n.d.).  Although wikis are a shared space and Blogs are an individual space both can be used as a group learning activity. This is a link to my wiki- Wiki. This is also a link to the DeBono's Mobile Wiki DeBono

A Comparison Chart of Blogs, Wikis and Websites

Tool	Advantage	Disadvantage
Blogs	·         Can link and embed ·         Personal space to reflect on learning ·         Is on going ·         Others cannot change content ·         Links to RSS feed ·         Can receive feedback and comments ·         Safe if kept in the educational setting	·         Time consuming to read, write and comment on other postings ·         No folders ·         Information is not always the facts ·         No privacy ·         Can contain inappropriate content
Wikis	·         Shared space ·         Allows people to add their own knowledge ·         On going ·         Collaborative learning	·         Loss of data and able to delete content ·         Can only be open to one editor at a time ·         Can contain inappropriate content
Web sites	·         World wide audience ·         Create and design to suit personal choice ·         Create links ·         Accessed anywhere ·         Diverse audience	·         Technological difficulties ·         Easily distracting ·         Not always reliable sources ·         Security issues and viruses ·         Inappropriate content

My Personal Reflection:

I found blogging to be very time consuming but easy to use once the fear had gone.  Creating a blog is a great tool to use to extend and reflect on key concepts and my new ICT knowledge.  I liked the ability to personalise our blog page, I have books as a back drop because I found it ironic and reflective to have books as part of our past and embedded tools of my e-learning future as the main focus.  I found that the tools are as good as the users’ creativity, time and desire to participate.  For the safety I would supervise all internet activity and only use blog sites that are password protected or are only accessible through the Learning place website for students to record their learning journey,  blogs such as these have a limited audience.

As a future Learning Manager it is important to provide and demonstrate a safe, legal and ethical practice at all times for students to understand the risks and consequences if these practices are not adhered to (Department of Education and Children’s Services, 2009).  This also goes for the issues around copyrights with blogs so as educators we need to explain to students that they must acknowledge all sources that they use in there blogs and to never provide personal information (Downes, 2004).  It is vital for students to report to learning managers if they are or feel unsafe, bullied, harassed or exposed to inappropriate content; however it is up to the learner manager to help students feel confident that learning managers are available at all times for students to approach (Department of Education and Children’s Services, 2009).

Uses In A Learning Context:

Blogs have so many uses in the classroom it is a way for students to engage in informal learning and create their own personal learning journey.  Blogs can be used in group work where the learning manger and parents can be involved and monitor students learning journey and see the progress and understanding they are making along the way.  Blog postings can explain assignments, suggested readings and links to related units of work.  The ability to interact via postings allows student’s to ask questions and post comments.  I enjoyed the participation and interaction of group questions this enabled me to reflect on my thoughts and come away with new knowledge.  I found value in (the wikis activity)  Debono’s six thinking hats, because it made me look at my own ideas from a different perspective I feel that this is a very useful strategy for students to use in and out of a classroom environment.

Group 2 -Digital Videos

Digital videos allow the user to show the audience an array of technology designs.  Digital technology can construct an overlay of visual images from photos or videos with audio being spoken or songs embedded.  Text can be added along with visual effects; this creates stimulation and designs a wow factor in presentations.  Another vital skill to learn is to interpret images meaningfully and by creating a digital video students are becoming visually literate (The New Media Consortium, 2005).  All pictures and videos require skills to view them critically, interpret meaning and gather information and ideas to determine whether they are valid (Thibault & Walbert, 2003).  The same critical thinking skills helps students to make sense of what they see and can be applied when viewing paintings, graphic art, drawings, maps, films, graphs and charts. This a link to my movie maker posting Movie Maker

My Personal Reflection:

I used Movie-Maker for my digital video, because I am familiar with this tool.  I have played around making home movies and short photo stories for myself and for university.  Movie maker does take time to familiarise yourself with navigating around the site.  However I found once I played with the effects, the creative possibilities became endless and addictive. Movie maker is only limited to the imagination of the user.  The biggest problem I personally had was in the conversion from movie maker to movie file when I had finished my task.  With frustration and a deadline to make I overcame this problem by seeking help from fellow uni students, whom are more technologically advanced.  However Like any tool, the more you use it, the more comfortable with it you become.

Uses In A Learning Context:

The SEE, THINK and WONDER strategy (Thibault & Walbert, 2003) is a good scaffolding tool for students to use for any visual stimulation.  By providing students with the opportunity to make their own movies will offer them with a range of experiences in an array of contexts. Movie maker can be used as a group collaborative learning tool by incorporating students as part of a team.  And as a team students will need to contribute individual ideas about planning, structure, organisational skills and work ethics.  Students could communicate through a wiki to establish thoughts and ideas and delegate who is going to do what.  And as suggested on Moodle (2011) videos can be used for observation and analysis purposes and provides students with their learning by being a reflective tool.  Making movies enhances students’ capabilities in their literacy learning, metacognitive thinking, communication skills, presentation skills and higher order thinking.

All interactions with ICTs in all contexts need to address every time to students; that they should never share their passwords, access codes or personal details to anyone (Department of Education and Children’s Services, 2009).  An ethical practice is to request permission to upload others work or images when using digital videos (The New Media Consortium, 2005).  It is also necessary for students to know the copyright law that protects the acknowledgement of all resources used.

Group 3 – PREZI

PowerPoint has been one of the most popular presentation tools because of its simplistic, creative slide show ability and this forms a keen interest for students’ engagement in a topic.  Prezi presentations came to life just over a year ago and offer users a different approach to PowerPoint.  A Prezi presentation allows the user to zoom in and out showing a variety of content (Scrombie, 2011) and while not being linear you can change the pathway or have it structured so it is able to return to the next spot.  Prezi presentations allows you to group elements, add text, images, videos, graphs, arrows and shapes and for this reason it is like a graphic organizer on one page (Roy Rosenzweig Centre, 2010).  This is my link to - Prezi

My Personal Reflection:

I found Prezi to be engaging and fun to play with, although it has been said (on a few occasions) in our Illuminate sessions that some people were sea sick using this tool.  Prezi presentations will engage any audience and is a way to present to all learning styles, because Prezi is able to embed multimedia, write text and organize things in a way that certain aspects can be resized to represent the importance of the item (Roy Rosenzweig Centre, 2010).  Frustration is an emotion that I am really getting the hang of in all new tools to begin with, however as I navigate through all the tools before getting started the frustration lessens. I found that Prezi does have some limitations with

A small selection of templates, colours and fonts, and because of this there isn’t a great variety for both teachers and students to show personalisation in their presentation (Roy Rosenzweig Centre, 2010).

Again it is vital for learning managers to remind students about the copyright laws and acknowledge all work from other sources when using Prezi.  And just as vital for learning managers to keep their log in details and passwords protected, students need to be made aware of how important it is for them to do the same (The State of Queensland Department of Education and Training. 2007).

Uses In A Learning Context:

Rosenweig (2010) suggests that Prezi is available anywhere in the world online but it can also be downloaded and used offline to show presentations.  The T-PACK framework fits nicely with Prezi because it is about interacting with technology and becoming computer literate.  There is a certain element of pedagogy in prezi by being able to scaffold the learning journey, and still be sufficiently flexible so students can engage in collaborative learning, and then return back to the designated path.  Prezi needs content knowledge which can be displayed in a stimulating way to address all learning needs (Mishra & Koehlar, 2006.).  Because Prezi is a graphic organiser tool students can display cognitive processes by posing questions and investigations as well as planning, constructing and presenting by using multimedia and digital tools (Roy Rosenzweig Centre, 2010).

Group 4- Dipity Digital Timeline:

Multimedia tools are so diverse and if searched widely enough there is no excuse for not involving ICTs in any learning context (The New Media Consortium, 2005).  Users of Dipity can create their own timelines by inserting text and dates, and uploading photos and videos.  There is the option to import content from a wide variety of social media, thus increasing the timelines information.  Dipity also has pre-existing timelines; this allows students the opportunity to get a better understanding and be able to evaluate history and all its important events.  With the variety of multimedia in the 21st century it is easy to see how students learning can be transformed by keeping up to date with technology, although not every tool will suit every learning experience (Hargreaves, 2001). This is my link to - Dipity Timeline

My Personal Reflection:

I found creating a timeline quick, easy and a visually stimulating learning experience.  As I have found in all outcomes of these various tools, it really depends on how much time is given to how much detail can be added.  I enjoyed Dipity because I could create a series of events with meaning and purpose to a learning context in a short amount of time.  The format and layout is very self explanatory, which makes Dipity easy to embed into other presentations.  Dipity provides the user with a range of time frames, this allows you to personalise your events in a given sequence.  The end of this course (Managing e-learning) will give me the opportunity to explore, discover and continue my learning journey of so many new tools, which once scared me to death.

Uses In A Learning Context:

The versatility of being able to manipulate and arrange dates and events adds meaning to the students from the knowledge being formed.  The transference of prior knowledge to new knowledge comes from dipity’s ability to let students add their own visuals this creates their own mental picture.  Dipity has a fun to navigate interface, this engages students to explore a learning context whilst interpreting decision-making skills of what is important to illustrate (Roy Rosenzweig Centre, 2010).  Students gain knowledge when they learn that start dates and end dates have merit and students learn which content is important to add or omit and by constructing timelines students are using their higher order thinking skills.

Managing e- learning has opened my eyes to a wealth of new technologies and their tools.  This experience has enhanced my learning and I would promote these technologies and explore more within my classroom setting.

Reference List:

Department of Education and Children’s Services. (2009). Cyber safety: Keeping children safe in a connected world.

Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/                      DUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

Hargreaves, D. (2001). Creative Professionalism: The role of teachers in the knowledge society. London NQ. Demos.

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M.J.(2006).Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A framework  for teacher knowledge.

Roy Rosenzweig Centre.(2010).National history education clearinghouse: Digital classroom.            Retrieved from http://teachinghistory.

Scrombie. (2011). ICT and education: Prezi- A presentation alternative.Retrieved from http://ictandeducation.com/2011/01/25/prezi-a-presentation-alternative/

The New Media Consortium. (2005). Global Imperative: The report of the 21st century literacy summit. California, USA. Adobe

The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training. (2007)). Information and communication technology: Relevant legislation and policy. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/eppr/ict/ictpr004/index.html

Thibault, M. & Walbert, D. (2003).Reading images: An introduction to visual literacy. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.

Turner-Bissett, R. (2001). Expert teaching: Knowledge and pedagogy to lead the profession. London, 
UK. David Fulton Pulishers Wittner, R. (n.d.).Weblogs: A powerful tool for educators.

Week 4 Movie Maker

I created this movie maker last year for art.  I enjoyed the simplicity and creativity of movie maker and I would recommendand use this tool in my classroom for projects, investigations and sheer fun of making movies.

Week this is instead of a weebley

http://www.wix.com/freyawood/longwayfromhelp
My first attempt to add my webquest was incorrect, however the above URL is correct.  It is clear to me that at this stage I'm still a techno native.  The above address "freyawood" came about because when first learning about this tool "wix", I originally had my name then forgot my pass word and then with sheer frustration, had to start again, this time using my daughters name.  So it is my work under Freya's name.  I found wix to be fun and very frustrating.  The way you have to save your work and make links drove me nuts at first, until I got the hang of it.
                                        

The way things change!!

Is this something we as parents should expect now and or in the future?

aeshumanities8vivien.blogspot.com/2009/04/mother-father-and-child-cartoon.html

Week Three: my wiki

I started creating my wiki page and enjoyed doing a widget, this would be an awesome tool for students my PMI analysis:
Plus: Simple to create and free for all.  Great collaborative learning and helps with the ICT learning.
Minus: Other group members can erase another students work easily.  Only one member can edit a wiki at one given time.
Interesting: Lots of easy applications to use such as; widget, design templates, links etc.

I feel this could be introduced into a classroom environment to make projects more appealing to investigate and learn.
To view and interact in my wiki please follow this link: http://catherinecook1.wikispaces.com/

Week Two: Learning Design Frameworks VS. Conceptual Frameworks VS. Learning Theory

On reflection of participating in the learning design framework wiki, I feel I have a better understanding on learning design frame works, conceptual frameworks and learning theories and the benefits of it in a classroom situation. Slowly but surly I'm feeling a little more confident with the use of wiki's...
http://fahe11001-3-11.wikispaces.com/Learning+Design+Frameworks+VS.+Conceptual+Frameworks+VS.+Learning+Theory

Week One: Mobile Phone Wiki

As I ask myself what I think about children using "mobile phones in a classroom" it initially brings chills to my spine, because I see distraction bullying chatting and discourse.  However when I see the fantastic apps that could be used in learning and the creativity that would be drawn out of children I think perhaps with careful planning the use of mobile phones could be a beneficial learning tool. Using De Bono's Six Thinking Hats analysis, I found this gave me a different view and strategies to use every time I changed hats. De Bono's strategy of approaching a question aims to find varied outcomes, thoughts and feelings.  I would find using the De Bono's thinking hats a very useful tool to use in a collaborative group situations.  By using this strategy children will think critically and have the ability to change perspectives as they go.  De Bono's six thinking hats also presents children with the ability to create their own thoughts and understandings without the peer pressure of other students or teachers views.
This link is where I put my comments on wiki:
http://fahe11001-3-11.wikispaces.com/Group+1+Mobile+Phones

I'm learning how to blog!!!! and I don't like it so far...

This is my first impression of using this ICT tool. I would like to introduce myself and perhaps shed some light on why I'm not loving the whole blog thing.  I'm  a second year student studying the BLM course and specialising in Early Childhood.  After doing some readings I found out that I'm considered a digital immigrant, however I am enjoying my journey in becoming a digital native.  ICT scares me, because I have a fear of failure and I physically cannot touch the inside of cyber space and fix it if something goes wrong.  Computers were terrifying before I started this university degree, I did word documents, emails and that was it.  Now I have a better personal relationship with computers and feel comfortable to have a go at new tools and applications. I look forward to exploring all the sites and tools that I will be covering during this course of Managing E Learning.