What an incredible course. I have gained so much knowledge of the various webtools available to me- and I can't wait to use them! The iLearn model makes much more sense to me now, and I can see how it fits into the overall curriculum. I feel confident in implementing the principles of this model into my future programming.
The Web 2.0 tools will go a long way towards engaging the students, but more than that, it will keep my own teaching fresh and contemporary. As a teacher, I am a lifelong learner, and my time spend doing this course is testimony to that.
I love the way that the tools address the higher order thinking skills of the students. An activity like brainstorming (Bubbl.us) requires students to create, the same with Glogster, Google Docs, Wikis etc. These are wonderful ways to engage the 21st century learner. In the use of ICT and the tools we have learnt about in the course, we are empowering our students to achieve success both as learners and as individuals in the modern world.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this course. It has been enjoyable and enriching. I am excited about my new found knowlege and confidence in the field of ELearning.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Module 10
In this module I was introduced to Wikis and Nings... The wiki seems very similar to a Google Doc, and I love the whole idea of being able to work collaboratively without the bother of emailing back and forth. Students (particularly older students) could be working together on a project in the comfort of theor own home- in real time! As I have mentioned earlier, I am currently teaching Kindy, but I would love the opportunity to use Wikis with older students.
This year I worked with the Public Speaking team- a great use for a Wiki would have been for the students to write their speech using a wiki, and I could have read it and made any suggestions in my own time.
Nings provide professional online communities for teachers...this can be a place to share information, ideas and advice. Online forums can be created in order for many teachers to come together to discuss various topics. What a great way for teachers from different schools to work togethr and share their knowledge!
This year I worked with the Public Speaking team- a great use for a Wiki would have been for the students to write their speech using a wiki, and I could have read it and made any suggestions in my own time.
Nings provide professional online communities for teachers...this can be a place to share information, ideas and advice. Online forums can be created in order for many teachers to come together to discuss various topics. What a great way for teachers from different schools to work togethr and share their knowledge!
Module 9
Ahhh, social networking...I have to admit that I am a bit of a Facebook addict. Recently, this is how a conversation went between myself and my son's friend.
Me: Hey Brendan. It's been ages. I see from Facebook that you have a new dog
Brendan: Hi Kerrie, yeah, his name is...
Me: Link! He's really cute, I saw the pictures on Facebook.
Brendan: I am going to...
Me: Japan in December! Yeah, I read it on Facebook! That will be so exciting. I would love to go to Japan!
I am almost ashamed to relate the rest of the conversation. Suffice to say I knew all Brendan's news from Facebook...and he knew mine too. This leads me to wonder if Social Networking is as good an idea as it seems.
I do not Twitter- I find Email, Facebook and life in general is enough information for me- however, after seeing that my professional peers have Twitter, I may get it to keep in the loop and learn of new developments.
Linkedin looks like a good concept for professional networking. I am not sure that I would use it, but I know that it has it's purpose and there would be many professional people who would like to see how certain people are connected.
Scootle lets students to view and use content online. A collaborative workspace can be created by adding digital resources to the workspace and set tasks for the class. Scootle is a good example of social networking site within an educational setting. In this way a teacher can facilitate online learning communities.
Me: Hey Brendan. It's been ages. I see from Facebook that you have a new dog
Brendan: Hi Kerrie, yeah, his name is...
Me: Link! He's really cute, I saw the pictures on Facebook.
Brendan: I am going to...
Me: Japan in December! Yeah, I read it on Facebook! That will be so exciting. I would love to go to Japan!
I am almost ashamed to relate the rest of the conversation. Suffice to say I knew all Brendan's news from Facebook...and he knew mine too. This leads me to wonder if Social Networking is as good an idea as it seems.
I do not Twitter- I find Email, Facebook and life in general is enough information for me- however, after seeing that my professional peers have Twitter, I may get it to keep in the loop and learn of new developments.
Linkedin looks like a good concept for professional networking. I am not sure that I would use it, but I know that it has it's purpose and there would be many professional people who would like to see how certain people are connected.
Scootle lets students to view and use content online. A collaborative workspace can be created by adding digital resources to the workspace and set tasks for the class. Scootle is a good example of social networking site within an educational setting. In this way a teacher can facilitate online learning communities.
Module 8
At the risk of sounding clueless, I had never heard of a RSS feed. The tutorials were very informative and I have subscribed to two new sources using Google Reader. It's such a great time saving device. I do waste a lot of time re reading old articles because I can't remember what I have seen already. I don't like wading through stuff that I have already decided that I am not interested enough in to bother reading...
As an aside, I have been trying to comment on other people's blog and the message keeps saying I am not authorised to view the page- has anyone else had this trouble? Am I doing something wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)
As an aside, I have been trying to comment on other people's blog and the message keeps saying I am not authorised to view the page- has anyone else had this trouble? Am I doing something wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)
Module 7
Starting a Delicious account was fast and easy- however, it will not allow me to add the 'add link' button to the toolbar. I think this will make adding links a little more time consuming than it should be, however, it will be worth it to ensure that I can accss my bookmarks from any computer.
I think that tagging your links is a great idea, because if you want to find a site about something, you can look for the tags and not have to rifle through a whole lot of sites that may not be useful.
I don't really have much more to say about this...it's a great resource and one that I am sure I will utilise both at home and school. :)
I think that tagging your links is a great idea, because if you want to find a site about something, you can look for the tags and not have to rifle through a whole lot of sites that may not be useful.
I don't really have much more to say about this...it's a great resource and one that I am sure I will utilise both at home and school. :)
Module 6
Although I had heard of Flickr before, I didn't really know much about it. To be honest, I thought it was like PhotoBucket...or even like storing pictures on Facebook.I love the way you can group photos together on Flickr...I also like how you can tag your photos. Flickr is user friendly, and I was able to get in by using my Google account, which makes it all very easy to use.
I did not wish to put personal photos up, and I wanted to avoid copyright issues, so I uploaded the sample pics that were already installed on my computer.
Flickr can be used in the classroom to store photos taken by the children (Eg: Photo of the Day), excursion photos, concert photos- you name it. It is very important to ensure that the photos are not viewable by the general public, so ensure the security settings are set appropriately.
I will certainly be using my newly set up Flickr account- in fact I will set up a personal one as well as a school account. Flickr really is a great way to share images with the people you choose.
Module 5
While completing Module 5, I focussed on learning to use Glogster. This is a wonderul resource for making posters online and bringing them to life with video and audio.
I made a simple Glogster- not artistic in the slightest as I just wanted to learn how to put up the images, audio and video. It's not hard to use, and you are only limited by your imagination. I saved my mindmap from Bubbl.us and posted it to my Glogster, and added some video from TeachersTube and a sound file from my computer. I also put up a few images from my computer! This took me around 5 minutes, so it it really fast and easy to do.
My kindies could work with their buddies to make posters to present to their peers...I would have loved to have knowledge of this earlier, because I could have used it during our 'Living Things' unit when my students made life cycle posters. I could have had a group working on a Glogster along with our Teacher's Aide...or all of the children could have worked on a Glogster with their buddy. This technology opens up a whole new world of collating information and presenting it- absolutely amazing!
I made a simple Glogster- not artistic in the slightest as I just wanted to learn how to put up the images, audio and video. It's not hard to use, and you are only limited by your imagination. I saved my mindmap from Bubbl.us and posted it to my Glogster, and added some video from TeachersTube and a sound file from my computer. I also put up a few images from my computer! This took me around 5 minutes, so it it really fast and easy to do.
My kindies could work with their buddies to make posters to present to their peers...I would have loved to have knowledge of this earlier, because I could have used it during our 'Living Things' unit when my students made life cycle posters. I could have had a group working on a Glogster along with our Teacher's Aide...or all of the children could have worked on a Glogster with their buddy. This technology opens up a whole new world of collating information and presenting it- absolutely amazing!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Module 4
Storytelling...it has come a long way in the past 10 years or so! Digital storytelling- what a wonderous concept! While I have very fond memories of the picture books of my own childhood, I can't ignore the fact that there are new ways to tell a story.
Having a Smartboard in my classroom is a wonderful resource, and we view many stories in this way. Youtube is a wonderful resource, and one that I utilise daily in my classroom. There is a beautiful range of Eric Carle books and animations on Youtube which my Kindergarten class love.
Take one of the classics, Rosie's Walk. My Kindergarten students love the animated version available on Youtube (which incidentally was originally made in the 1970's on a film reel). I have a lovely story regarding this video. In my class I have a boy from Vietnam who has almost no English. His understanding of English is absolutely minimal, however, whenever he watches the Rosie's Walk video he laughs so hard. He loves it. This is a prime example of how visual little people can be. He gets a special enjoyment from the video that he would not get from the still pictures of the book. In this way "J" is included in the storytelling experience. We can build on his language by talking about the story.
I use Audacity to record myself reading the Benchmark readers for my children to listen to on an iPod. In this way, they can read along and listen to reading modelled by an experienced reader. I also use Audacity to record the children reading, so that they can listen to themselves and reflect on how they sound. I have found that this has assisted greatly with fluency and expression.
Having a Smartboard in my classroom is a wonderful resource, and we view many stories in this way. Youtube is a wonderful resource, and one that I utilise daily in my classroom. There is a beautiful range of Eric Carle books and animations on Youtube which my Kindergarten class love.
Take one of the classics, Rosie's Walk. My Kindergarten students love the animated version available on Youtube (which incidentally was originally made in the 1970's on a film reel). I have a lovely story regarding this video. In my class I have a boy from Vietnam who has almost no English. His understanding of English is absolutely minimal, however, whenever he watches the Rosie's Walk video he laughs so hard. He loves it. This is a prime example of how visual little people can be. He gets a special enjoyment from the video that he would not get from the still pictures of the book. In this way "J" is included in the storytelling experience. We can build on his language by talking about the story.
I use Audacity to record myself reading the Benchmark readers for my children to listen to on an iPod. In this way, they can read along and listen to reading modelled by an experienced reader. I also use Audacity to record the children reading, so that they can listen to themselves and reflect on how they sound. I have found that this has assisted greatly with fluency and expression.
Module 3
I am very excited to report that I can now create a Google doc, presentation and a form! I just created a form with multiple choice questions for our Staff Christmas Party! The possibilities with Google Docs is endless.
I would definitely use this in the classroom- homework tasks could be done online, comprehension activities, writing, Maths tasks...as I said before- endless.
Presently I have Kindergarten, so I would have to put a lot of thought into how this could be utilised, but off the top of my head, children could keep an online journal of what has been learnt, they could put their spelling words into sentences and answer simple mental problems.
I love the idea of children being able to work collaboratively on documents, however, I feel this is more suited to primary and high school students.
As a teacher, I am sure we could use Google Docs to create programs, units of work and even work together to update policies etc.
At the risk of seeming a little too keen, I will be actively searching for opportunities to appropriately incorporate Google Docs into my teaching. I have jumped on board a little late for this teaching year, but next year is filled with possibilities!
I would definitely use this in the classroom- homework tasks could be done online, comprehension activities, writing, Maths tasks...as I said before- endless.
Presently I have Kindergarten, so I would have to put a lot of thought into how this could be utilised, but off the top of my head, children could keep an online journal of what has been learnt, they could put their spelling words into sentences and answer simple mental problems.
I love the idea of children being able to work collaboratively on documents, however, I feel this is more suited to primary and high school students.
As a teacher, I am sure we could use Google Docs to create programs, units of work and even work together to update policies etc.
At the risk of seeming a little too keen, I will be actively searching for opportunities to appropriately incorporate Google Docs into my teaching. I have jumped on board a little late for this teaching year, but next year is filled with possibilities!
Module 2
I have just completed the 2nd module in the Web 2.0 course. As I said the last time I completed the 2nd module, I am not sure exactly what information I should put in this blog. I will start with some of my reflections on looking at the links provided...
The 21st century learner need to be engaged with a range of resources- with technology being extremely important because these children have been born into an age where technology is a part of our every day lives. Most children have daily access to computers, iPads, ipods...it is imperative that, as educators, we understand the best ways to intergrate these products into our everyday teaching,
Having taught Kindergarten for the past two years, I have seen first hand how much knowledge these little ones come to school with regarding ICT- the students in my class were more adept at using iPads than I was! Fortunately that has now changed and we are learning from each other.
Having access to the range of tools offered in Web 2.0 will be a huge asset to me as a teacher, and to the young learners in my class.
The 21st century learner need to be engaged with a range of resources- with technology being extremely important because these children have been born into an age where technology is a part of our every day lives. Most children have daily access to computers, iPads, ipods...it is imperative that, as educators, we understand the best ways to intergrate these products into our everyday teaching,
Having taught Kindergarten for the past two years, I have seen first hand how much knowledge these little ones come to school with regarding ICT- the students in my class were more adept at using iPads than I was! Fortunately that has now changed and we are learning from each other.
Having access to the range of tools offered in Web 2.0 will be a huge asset to me as a teacher, and to the young learners in my class.
Module 1 (Take two)
Hello all!
Here I am again, attempting the Web 2.0 course. I am looking forward to completing the whole course this time- bringing myself and my students into the 21st century.
Here I am again, attempting the Web 2.0 course. I am looking forward to completing the whole course this time- bringing myself and my students into the 21st century.
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