Group three and four technologies

For week 5 content we had to look at some more technologies that can be used in a classroom. The technologies looked at were Powerpoint, Globster, Prezi, Google Earth and some others.

This week there was alot of content to look at and though I did look at them all I have not been able to go into using them all fully. I have been having some trouble with my ankle this past week or so and have not been able to do as much as I would have liked.

Even so the technologies covered this week have been great to explore. I have realised that there are many technologies that I could show to students in order for them to learn new applications and techniques in utilising the technoloigies to express themselves in different ways.

The technologies looked at this week and the past few weeks have opened my eyes to the many experiences that I could work into lesson plans to give students more ways to access new information, learn from it and express themselves. The technologies offer many ways for students to express themselves in class tasks or assessments that print and writing do not allow for.

Students can now get their opinions, ideas, thoughts and knowledge across in so many ways using so many different kinds of media. Allowing students to do this would give them opportunities to get their thoughts across using images and animations; or sound and voice overs and a combination of other medias in a way that helps to express themselves that normal methods would not allow or that they may struggle to use to get their ideas across with.

One of the technologies I used this week was Powerpoint. I have used this program many times throughout my schooling, and have viewed many Powerpoint presentations. It is an easy to use program and can be used in many ways other than I have already done. One way is to create a whole lesson using it; including the use of images, videos and text. Another great tool for use with Powerpoint is the Mouse Mischief add-on that allows for interaction with students as a class. It is a great resource to use and is free and easy to embed into lessons.
I have also joined Slideshow which is a site that allows for the upload of Powerpoints and for them to be shared and even embedded into other sites like this blog that nornally you can not do. Here is the Powerpoint I created, again it is nothing spectacular and I only used some of the features not all that are available to use:



Powerpoint is a great resource for the classroom for both teachers and students. It is easy to use and allows for multimedia input into the presentations.

There are many rules for using Powerpoint to engage the audience it is directed at, as well as steps to ensure the presentation flows smoothly. Though many people have uploaded the rules of Powerpoint to the internet my favourite has alwasy been the following YouTube clip:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck

Another presentation type technology looked at was the Prezi. This is another great resource not just for students to express themselves but for the teachers to use to impart information on a subject. It is easy to use also and is fun to watch, although sometimes can induce a travel sickness. Here is a Prezi presentation I have created:

Try out of Prezi for class on Prezi

The last of the group three technologies is Glogster for education. Again this is an easy to use site and is free. It is a great resource as it allows the teacher to add students to the account and then allows multiple input into an interactive poster that the class creates. It is a great tool to use to minimise the amount of information that students sometimes try to put into presentations. It allows for the ability to add images, videos and text. It lets student/s create a poster with interactive components and graphics. It is an amazing resource and one students would engage in easily. Here is a Glogster poster I have created:



Again it is not highly scholarly or anything just an example of what can be done with the site.

The group four technologies looked at included; animation and simulations, interactive learning sites, google maps and earth, Adobe Flash, online concept mapping, online timelines, Museumbox and Zooburst. Although I have have not had the time this week to create items with these sites and programs, most of them I have used before.

I have used Adobe Flash and Illustrator to create moving sprites for games to use in Gamemaker8 program, and bubbl.us to create concept maps for everything from maths formula usage to idea mapping for assignments. Google maps and earth I have used mainly last year when I was suck in northern Queensland during the floods to find a way home. Timelines (dipity), Musembox and Zooburst I have never used before but have gone and look at them.

All of the above mentioned group four technologies are great to use in classrooms. They create many ways for a teacher to plan and implement engaging and fun lesson for students. They also allow and even more myriad range of medias and technologies for students to use to express themselves in their learning.

My favorite of this week would have to be Powerpoint. It is a widely know and easy to use program that mostly everyone has access to. This program can be used by and for all school levesl from Prep to year 12. Now also with such add-ons as Mouse Mischief there are even more applications and uses for Powerpoint in the classroom. Some examples of using Powerpoint in the classroom could be to get the students to create a presentation about their school to be displayed as the welcome message on a monitor/tv in the administration building. It can be used as a quiz and help the teacher with answers in the presentation using Mouse Mischief. Students can use it to present information and images collected from excursions and camps to be shown to others. Teachers can use it to supply a whole lesson to a class. Older students can be taught how to use Office in preparing their presentation using the outline feature, and by using a concept mapping tool like bubbl.us to plan the presentation. There are many, many more uses for Powerpoint in a classroom beside what I have listed here, some others from websites are:

• http://www.vickiblackwell.com/ppttemplates.html
• http://themes.pppst.com/backtoschool.html
• http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech013.shtml
• http://www.internet4classrooms.com/ideas_pp.htm

Powerpoint is a digital tool that covers many of the learning theories such as connectivism, behaviourism, social constructivism and cognitivism. It can also be easily used in the many learning pedagogies such as TPACK, Bloom's, Habits of Mind, Dimensions of Learning; by focusing on one aspect of the lesson or part of a task the students have to complete or as the lesson as a whole. Using Powerpoint allows for the teacher to change or implement aspects of the lesson to cover the learning styles of the students such as auditory, kinesthetic, visual easily and effectively as there are so many components to using the program and what can be added to it.

Though I have chosen Powerpoint as my favorite program there is no reason why any teacher implementing technologies into their lessons and classroom can not use all of the technologies we have looked at over the past few weeks or other as they become available. The use of technologies benefits not only students but teachers as well and create a more profitable learning environment for all concerned.