Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Fish
A word on the fish, if you hover your mouse over the pond they will swim toward it. If you click your mouse over the pond fish food will appear and they will eat it. Please don’t over feed my fish or I will have to clean the filter and change the water and I’ll have big fat fish and have to buy a bigger tank and it’s not good for them. But aren’t they great. Susan showed me how to get them there.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Webquest and Gizmos.
http://www.classmarker.com/embedded_quizzes/?quiz=25c46e0cecd700006054bd3d27df7851
That's the link for my test. It's not the most challenging test in the world but classmaker is a very helpful tool. I keep thinking of 'school of the air' and think that they must be all over these technologies. Enabling is the word I would use for them but there is a process that begins when you first encounter each new ICT. My initial reaction will be either, 'mmm that's handy' or 'yeah, I've seen it and I don't think so'. If it's the former then you begin to use the aid to create components for a learning plan and find other uses for them along the way. Each process seems to offer a new door.
I had just such an experience with gizmos on the ExploreLearning site. With some imagination and tweaking you could deliver very useful, practical or theoretical (or both) learning outcomes. They cater for all learning types with a 75% on the Learning Pyramid retention rate. To see more on Dale's Cone and the Learning Pyramid visit the ACU Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence here:
http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm
I can remember when I was introduced to computing, in the early 90s, that virtual science experiments would be a great thing. Now I realize that I was a bit short sighted. There is no reason why these can't be used at all levels of learning. From preschool to Tertiary. I'm going back for a play.
That's the link for my test. It's not the most challenging test in the world but classmaker is a very helpful tool. I keep thinking of 'school of the air' and think that they must be all over these technologies. Enabling is the word I would use for them but there is a process that begins when you first encounter each new ICT. My initial reaction will be either, 'mmm that's handy' or 'yeah, I've seen it and I don't think so'. If it's the former then you begin to use the aid to create components for a learning plan and find other uses for them along the way. Each process seems to offer a new door.
I had just such an experience with gizmos on the ExploreLearning site. With some imagination and tweaking you could deliver very useful, practical or theoretical (or both) learning outcomes. They cater for all learning types with a 75% on the Learning Pyramid retention rate. To see more on Dale's Cone and the Learning Pyramid visit the ACU Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence here:
http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm
I can remember when I was introduced to computing, in the early 90s, that virtual science experiments would be a great thing. Now I realize that I was a bit short sighted. There is no reason why these can't be used at all levels of learning. From preschool to Tertiary. I'm going back for a play.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41159215@N02/3793279934
Watch out for that link, it'll bite ya. Flickr, Picnik, whiteboards, power point. I've been using PowerPoint presentations for many years. I actually use it for word processing and resumes as it often has better watermark colours and text control than Word. You really need to be creative to construct a PowerPoint presentation that isn't corny and too often people rely on them too much rather than delivering the learning package. They can be a useful visual aide but not an adequate substitute for teaching activities.
When I worked with Learning Network Queensland, delivering basic computer courses to the public, I used interactive whiteboards all the time. They're great for demonstrating I.T. processes. It was, in effect, a large desktop and because it was touch sensitive I could walk students through processes step by step in real time.
Flickr and Picknik are fun and can be used in many ways to add content to learning plans. The only limit is our imagination. I don't use these very often if at all. I process images on my laptop and store them on my Yahoo email folders. If I need to use them I can just cut and paste them into presentations. Video is much the same. I made a video on my phone to promote my music business, edited it and added text (all on my phone) and uploaded it to myspace. The possibilities are not endless but they are vast.
Watch out for that link, it'll bite ya. Flickr, Picnik, whiteboards, power point. I've been using PowerPoint presentations for many years. I actually use it for word processing and resumes as it often has better watermark colours and text control than Word. You really need to be creative to construct a PowerPoint presentation that isn't corny and too often people rely on them too much rather than delivering the learning package. They can be a useful visual aide but not an adequate substitute for teaching activities.
When I worked with Learning Network Queensland, delivering basic computer courses to the public, I used interactive whiteboards all the time. They're great for demonstrating I.T. processes. It was, in effect, a large desktop and because it was touch sensitive I could walk students through processes step by step in real time.
Flickr and Picknik are fun and can be used in many ways to add content to learning plans. The only limit is our imagination. I don't use these very often if at all. I process images on my laptop and store them on my Yahoo email folders. If I need to use them I can just cut and paste them into presentations. Video is much the same. I made a video on my phone to promote my music business, edited it and added text (all on my phone) and uploaded it to myspace. The possibilities are not endless but they are vast.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Dorky
Will, thunks to the kuds from utube. Theer you hiv et.
I love Dorky. She's so tongue in cheek. I wish you could add more text. It really only works as an intro for subjects or sections of study. I know the younger students would get a lot out of Voki. The older students too but you would have to work hard not to end up with Dorky.
I love Dorky. She's so tongue in cheek. I wish you could add more text. It really only works as an intro for subjects or sections of study. I know the younger students would get a lot out of Voki. The older students too but you would have to work hard not to end up with Dorky.
Mahara
My Mahara view is open to the public. I have not got a clue how it works or why it exists but I suspect I will soon. I forgot my password etc and took ages to find the right combo. I'm looking at the portfolio video at the moment so I dare say I will get some insights from that.
Monday, August 3, 2009
http://bradboy.wetpaint.com/
OK. Wikis are are a very cool bit of kit. The uses for these are almost endless. On a personal note I can see this being very useful for my music career where I can promote myself with a free website.
But back to the subject at hand. How could this be used in the learning environment?
Well sites like Wet Paint would tie in well with the RSS Aggregators. Group projects could be set up on a wiki and contributed to by students and monitored by as well as added to by the teacher.
I haven't full explored the capacity of this technology but it is one that looks exciting. The wetpaint site appears orderly and easy to navigate. It actually looks like fun. Students would be contributing and benifiting from the experiances of others at the same time. Each student contibution would build on that of previous students.
More soon.
But back to the subject at hand. How could this be used in the learning environment?
Well sites like Wet Paint would tie in well with the RSS Aggregators. Group projects could be set up on a wiki and contributed to by students and monitored by as well as added to by the teacher.
I haven't full explored the capacity of this technology but it is one that looks exciting. The wetpaint site appears orderly and easy to navigate. It actually looks like fun. Students would be contributing and benifiting from the experiances of others at the same time. Each student contibution would build on that of previous students.
More soon.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
RSS Agrigators
It’s been a while but I’m working through the various technologies. This post will about the RSS Aggregator. Well it took a while but I got it sorted. I chose Google Reader because I already had a Google account. I now have accounts all over the web. It’s just a simple cut and paste of someone else’s blog or home page and your monitoring their activity. You could use this in a couple of ways with students. One way would be to set up a group project with students contributing individually to construct a communal website. As the students contributed to the site you would automatically be updated on the progress and who was contributing.
George Siemens quotes Karen Stevenson in Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age when she says ‘I store my knowledge in my friends.’ RSS Aggregators fit neatly into Connectivism Theory. Siemens asserts that, according to Connectivism, learning rests in diversity of opinions and continual learning is facilitated by nurturing and maintaining connections.
George Siemens quotes Karen Stevenson in Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age when she says ‘I store my knowledge in my friends.’ RSS Aggregators fit neatly into Connectivism Theory. Siemens asserts that, according to Connectivism, learning rests in diversity of opinions and continual learning is facilitated by nurturing and maintaining connections.
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