Reflective Synopsis

E-Learning constitutes all of the pedagogies, technologies and digital tools that can be accessed by educators to incorporate into lessons. It offers amazing opportunities for students to become engaged in lessons and new ways for them to express their learning to others.

It has been an exciting experience to participate in this course and learn about the different digital tools that educators are able to access. The amount of technology and digital tools that schools throughout Australia are now incorporating into their classrooms, and all the new technology yet to become available, makes studying to become a Learning Manager an exciting prospect. When thinking of what we are learning in this course and its' applications in the classroom, it is amazing to think of all the possibilities and opportunities that are becoming available to transform learning. I am now more eager than ever to get into the classrooms and share all this new information I have learnt with the students; and even more excited to see what; the students can accomplish with all the new digital tools; their enthusiasm to engage in their learning and explore what they can now accomplish.

In this new age of 21st Century (Appendix 1) learning it is important to remember that E-Learning is vital in classrooms as '... students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.' (Prensky, M. 2001) This is because as stated by Mark Prensky (2001) students of this era '... have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age'. Therefore, as an up and coming educator, I believe, it is vitally important for all educators to learn as much as possible about technologies, digital tools and learning theories (Appendix 2) to help engage students, support their learning and give them different options to express themselves. The importance of teaching students how to use all the technology at their fingertips is something that educators need to think of also. There are many ethical, legal and safety issues that students need to be informed of and shown how to work within.

The Wiki tasks of mobile phone use in classrooms and the practise quiz (Appendix 3) were interesting to do and my first experience using Wikispaces. Both tasks were well set out and easy to contribute to allowing for a lot of information to be gathered in one place on a topic. The task mobile phone (Appendix 4) use in the classroom using the de Bono's hats was an excellent learning experience. De Bono's Six Thinking Hats encourages the person using them to attempt to discover as much information they can about a topic as possible, while thinking about the topic in different ways. This scaffolded learning experience allowed me to see how using a constructivism learning theory (Appendix 5) approach to teaching can support learning by; allowing social interactions within a learning community, thereby having the students learn from their peers. This resembles peer tutoring which is also a great resource.


By contributing to this task I was able to learn from my peers and find new ways of thinking about a topic, even when the same thinking hats were used. The different perspectives on the topic questions were easy to access and comment on. Having all of the students' thinking and understanding of the topic in one place will allow me to; go back to it in the future and still understand what it is I am looking at; find information I wish to revisit and explore further; and if wanted contribute more ideas.


Group one tools consisted of creating a blog (Appendix 6), Wikispace (Appendix 7 blog post) and Weebly page(Appendix 8) (Appendix 9 Weebly blog post). All of the tools have merit and opportunity for use within a classroom. However, from my experiences of using them for the past few weeks, I personally think that Wikispaces has the most to offer. Wikispaces has the options of; allowing for collaborative learning; scaffolding and learning theories/frameworks to be applied; different media to be added and is easy to use and has security option features.

Wikispaces is a fantastic tool that allows multiple participants for collaborative learning, for example; collecting information (text), images, videos and sound/voice recordings of an excursion and class research into a topic. Once all the information is gathered and placed on the site, the link can be sent to either another class; school (even across the world); expert in the field or parents and have further information, comments and content added. It would also be a great way to allow students present their assessments.
My Wikispace can be accessed here: http://amys-managing-e-learning.wikispaces.com/

Group two tools were images, videos, audio and a combination thereof (Appendix 10). The most important of these in my consideration is images (Appendix 11). This is because no matter what types of media are used images are, always the main component if not at least a minimum part of any visual media. Students from Prep to Year 12 use and associate many things in their learning journeys with images. In fact most of everyones' lives consist of image recognition and processing. Magazines, books, textbooks, lectures, newspapers, television, movies, iPods and many, many more digital devices or older types of communication involve the use of images, whether static or moving and with or without sound.

There are many places to use and store images online or on a device and many things that can be done to them (Appendix 12 image manipulation blog post).

However, it is vitally important to research and understand the many rules in using them. Some of which involve; copyright, privacy, security, ethical issues and the permission needed to take and show some images (especially in schools concerning not just the students but any of their work also).

Group three tools consisted of presentation medias such as PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster(Appendix 13). All of these have great uses in a classroom. The three mentioned are all presentation based. My favourite of the tools in this group is PowerPoint. This is because I am most familiar with it, having used and watched it the most. It is a tool that most people have had exposure to and know how to use.

Though Prezi, with its' zoom in and out feature is an interesting way to put across ideas, I consider it a tool more suited to student presentations then for use in lessons. Glogster is a great tool to use for students to compile information for presentation of their learning. It is essentially a poster - which all students have a fascination with creating - but allows for multiple media formats to be embedded into it. This creates a more interactive and visual aid for students to use to present their learning and saves all the mess of glue and glitter the enemy of teachers everywhere.

PowerPoint also has add-ons such as Mischief Mouse, which allows for multiple student interaction within the slides of the presentation. The educator can construct a lesson with PowerPoint and engage students by having them use a mouse - all students at once- to select answers to questions or, complete tasks on screen by, for example moving objects. What is possible with PowerPoint is limitless; it can be used as a tutorial feature for students who need extra help; as a whole lesson with use of add-ons if wanted; as a student presentation tool for tasks and a number of other things limited only by the imagination of the user. PowerPoint also supports the inclusion of different medias into the slides such as images, videos, text and music to name but a few.

Group four tools consisted of online medias such as Google Earth, bubbl.us and Zooburst. Though all these tools provide great support to lessons and tasks for students I have chosen to focus on an ICT tool, the iPod Touch (Appendix 14).

The iPod touch has been a great resource allowing for learning on the go and raising my engagement in my learning to a new level. I have been able to do everything I do on my laptop on the iPod touch, which has been a new experience and, one that has made me realise how valuable a resource they could be and in some cases already are in schools.

IPods are a less expensive cost for schools to acquire than new computers for all students. They have the option of students taking their learning outside and exploring their environments for answers instead of being stuck in a classroom. Since they are so portable learning can be documented and supported not just in school but on excursions and camps. There are so many applications that can be downloaded to the iPods to support and build learning for students and to provide limitless options for students to express themselves and their learning for tasks.

In conclusion I have come to the understanding that the use of any of the tools looked at and the many more out there and more yet to be invented is only limited by the imagination of the user. It is important as an educator not only to use and teach these technologies but, to allow the students to express themselves; their ideas, thoughts, knowledge and learning in ways they want to, when utilising these technologies. We as educators are not limited by how we could use them to support learning; so too should students not be restrained in their use of them to express themselves. I have discovered just how important knowledge of the digital age and all its tools are to the new generations of students that we will be required to educate. This is because we are educating them for a future that, none are sure of, nor the extent of technology they will be a part of to keep the world turning. As long as we are teaching about all the technologies out there it is also of vital importance that we teach them how to safely, ethically and legally use all this technology at their finger tips.

Everything that I have so far learned and attempted to express about digital tools and their use, has been stated by the Queensland Education Department (2008) with the explanation of,  E - Learning:

  '...is about engaging the digital generation, improving individualised learning opportunities, sparking innovation in learning, enhancing teachers’ digital pedagogy and getting the best from schools’ ICT investment. It is a transformative strategy to transition from traditional ways of working to a digital way of working that is meaningful, engaging and connected. The challenge lies in shifting from teaching and learning about ICT to teaching and learning with and through ICT. This means rather than using technology to do old things in new ways, we want to do new things in new ways and use technology to enable and transform teaching, learning and the curriculum. Digital Pedagogy is defined as the convergence of technical skills, pedagogical practices and understanding of curriculum design appropriate for digital learners. Digital Pedagogy used effectively supports, enhances, enables and transforms teaching and learning to provide rich, diverse and flexible learning opportunities for a digital generation. It provides the basis for engaging students in actively constructing and applying rich learning in purposeful and meaningful ways. Digital Pedagogy enhances opportunities for authentic, contextualised assessment that supports learning in a digital context.' 

All that is now left for us, besides continually exploring ICT and digital tools for future use is, as mentioned in the quote above from Education Queensland; to start the journey of learning how to plan for the effective use of the technologies in our classrooms to benefit the learning of the students we will teach.

Reference List

Education Queensland (2008) Smart Classrooms Bytes. Retrieved from:

           http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001) On the Horizon. MCB University Press. Vol. 9 No. 5. Retrieved from: 

                http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf                       

Group 4 tool iPod touch

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

OK so this is my last post besides my reflective synopsis. The above is a video of me talking about the iPod touch as my Group four technology since I was part of the research group for its' use in the Managing E-Learning course. I kind of waffled a bit I guess but effectively what I was saying is what a fantastic digital ICT tool the iPod was to use for learning. It helped to take my learning anywhere and I was able to do anything on it that I could do on my laptop. I think it is by far the best ICT tool for use in schools. Students as I am in its use, find it more engaging and fun to learn. It opens up so many possibilities for its' use in classrooms as it can utilise any of the tools we have looked at so far. The iPod is definitely something I would encourage the use of in lessons whenever possible.

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.

Thoughts on image use in a classroom

Using images in a classroom is a great resource and allowing students to use them can help them to express themselves and their ideas or thoughts better. However, if images are to be used it is important to consider the; how, where, when, why, who and copyright.

• How will the imaged be used;
• when will be be used - to just fill in time or as a valuable resource to get and idea or concept across or to encourage thinking and discussion on a topic;
• why are you going to include an image in the lesson or allow them to be used in tasks;
• who is your audience - an image for a year twelve class more then likely could not be used for a prep class
• and lastly is it your image other consider the copyright laws and ensure you use image you are allowed to.

Another consideration in using images in a classroom is the students to be shown the image, not just what year level but the students themselves. A teacher should take into consideration the profiles of his/her students - culture, beliefs, background, maturity. An example of this is to use an image with deceased aboriginal elders or people in it for say an Australia history class; if there are aboriginals or other islanders in the class they can not watch the images or footage supplied, or at the very least must be warned of the content and allow to choose to watch or not. This is just on example and there are many other beliefs and cultures that could not look at certain images. Therefore while I would use images in a classroom and allow students to use them to express themselves as images are an amazing and valuable resource, there are many things to consider when using them to ensure they are used correctly and to great effect.

For as voiced by a character in Ivan S. Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, 1862:

"The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book."

or a picture tells (is worth) a thousand words attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title "One look is worth a thousand words", in Printer's Ink, December 1921. . 

Digital Tool Try Outs

This week while finishing off week four work, I have been trying out all new types of programs and free sites, to try out some new digital tools. So instead of a whole lot of writing again, here is just some example of what I have done. None of it is intensely scholarly just some fun with images and things I have on my computer.

Here is a Blabberize attempt I have done. It is a lot of fun to do and something students of all year levels would be easily engaged in. Easy to use, fun and can deliver some funny outcomes.

Here is a Voki that I have made, again it is just a quick talk to get it to work and see its' value in a classroom. Voki also has a classroom available to use and is free, it is a great way to engage students.

I have also done a Moviemaker video using my images from a holiday. This would be great to use when students have been on an excursion. If it was recorded it can then be made into a film with voice overs, music and the like for a presentation.

Another useful program to make movies or a picture show type file is to use Photostory. It could be used the same sort of ways that Movimaker is used. Here is one I have made with some images from my computer of a Medieval Festival I went to:

Here is a podOmatic podcast episode I have done:



The podOmatic site is a great resource as it is free and easy to use. It could be used for recording instructions and steps or a class and then posted for students to access at home or at school. Students could also use the podOmatic site to create there own pods casts with recordings and pictures and files to present an assessment task or in class task. It is a resource that would work perfectly with all the digit tools of iPods and the like that most students have access to at home and at school.

Week four image manipulation

So far for this weeks tasks I have done the photo resizing which I can see as being extremely helpful when uploading photos to the web. This is because most of the time websites will only allow a certain size as in dimensions, or size as in bytes to be uploaded. The Mobaphoto software program is extremely easy to use and effective as it can also batch manipulate photos saving time. Batch editing would help in the classroom when it is necessary to upload a lot of images possibly from the entire class.
Here is an example of using MobaPhoto on an image from my computer of my daughter and nephew playing dress-ups:

(I have permission from myself and my sister-in-law to use these images).

Original size photo

Resized Image

Covered again this week as it is important, is the copyright problem faced when working with students. I suggest it best to allow the teacher to have final say and look before anything is used or uploaded to try to stop any un/intentional use of images, videos etc. A way to do this is to let the students know that no one is allows to save work and log off until their work has been okayed by the teacher, I have seen this used in a classroom and it does work. It also allows for feedback and questions before the end of the lesson, it just has to be planned in time wise by the teacher. A quick easy read of what a teacher can do in a classroom using multimedia is available at: http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/946

I have also joined Flickr - an online image sharing site - and Picnik - an online image manipulation site - both sites where easy to join and are free which is always helpful.

Flickr allows the member to be able to upload images that can then be viewed by people who search for content or by specifically allowed persons. There is a lot of security settings that can be changed such as; who is allowed to view the images, if third party sites can have access and also the copyright level for your images. These security setting are excellent for a teacher to have access to, as it allows a teacher to use Flickr in the classroom without having to worry about copyright and potential threats to the images, with setting the security levels appropriately. Flickr can be used as a great resource in the classroom allowing for the storage, sharing and finding of images and videos online; whether for students work, assessment presentation or research of appropriate imagery for class tasks.

Tag Galaxy is an option available to search Flickr for images. I believe it is an amazing resource to use in a classroom as it would engage students with just the look of it and also allow for easy searching of images through tags.

Picnik is another site that is easy to use with large tabs that allow the member to be able to edit images with ease. The selections are straight forward and popup boxes allow you to further manipulate the image with the tool selected. Other things such as text and stickers can be added to the images. Once the image is completed   it is easily saved and can be sent to a Flickr, Facebook or email site allowing an easy share option for the images. Picnik is a great resource to use in the classroom as it could be easily used by every year level and any ability level. It is definitely easier to use then Photoshop even if it doesn't really allow for the same amount of freedom in image manipulation. It could be used by students to edit photos they have taken themselves or from images straight from Picnik or Flickr that are to be used in a task presentation.

Here is a link to a picture I have uploaded to Picnik and manipulate and then sent to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amydemartin/6392778441/in/photostream
I didn't do to much to it just fiddled with some filters, stickers and a couple of other options. The original is also on my Flickr pages so if you would like to see it just click the older button till you see it.

Another tool I am familar with is Photoshop. Here is a couple of images I have made or manipulated with the program. All the images where copyright free and ones I have taught to a class.

Animated buttons

Water reflections

Where I only stated with this image:

Image and tutorial to make the final image can be found at:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/water-reflection/

Text styles

Adding colour

Started with this image I took of my daughter after she got her face painted.

Aagin starting image I took (I gave myself permisson to use these photos)

Added some colour to complete her look.

So far the use of the online sites and other programs listed in our course material this week; as well as other programs I have used before for photo manipulation such as Photshop, Illustrator and the like; as well as the photo re-size software and sites like Flickr; all definitely fall into the TPACK pedagogical style/theory.

This is because it follows the technology pedagogy and as long as the teacher knows how to use the above websites and programs they will be using it falls into to use of the TPACK theory. By using theses types of multimedia the teacher could also employ the Dimensions of Learning for example to; ensure the students are able to understand how to create a safe learning environment for themselves and their peers. Bloom's taxonomy can be used to create a task that would require higher order thinking, for example; in how to create and use different multimedia tools to create an end product and also a way that it could be presented in an engaging way. Also the teacher could employ De Bono's Thinking Hats to scaffold the questions and to look at the advantages and disadvantages of using some of the multimedia available to the students in regards to what is being asked of them. Also the Habits of Mind can be used depending on the task such as Striving for Accuracy in using the programs to get the desired outcome.



iPods and iPads allow for more freedom and/or expression and movement to learn.

Wiki activity for practice quiz

This is currently week four and while I am working through the content for this week I thought I would also now try the other wiki activity set for us. This was to complete a practice quiz on the moodle course wiki page in preparation for assessment task one - completing two quizzes -.

I have chosen to wait until now to complete this wiki task as I wanted to gather some more information from the course with the information learned from the past few weeks to enhance my knowledge of pedagogies and learning tools.

Again as with my first experience with using wiki for the mobile phone task; I found wikispaces to be a valuable tool for a classroom. Whether that class is digital as ours is or in a classroom where the task to be completed requires all students to supply information to the final outcome, wikispaces is a valuable tool to have.

In doing this task, I was able to look at other students choices for answers to the questions given and then look at their reasoning given for that answer below their choice. It has been very informative to see how others have come up with answers that I agree/disagree with and how they came to their conclusions in a different/similar way to my thinking. It has helped me to understand areas of the questions I was not sure of; or just of another way I could think about it that made finding the answer easier for myself.

Using wikispace made this an easy task to do with using the edit feature, I was able to highlight my answer and then below the answer choices, give my reasoning for my answer selection in a different text colour so others reading the page can differentiate between my entries and the original page content.

After using wikispaces again for this scaffolded task for the course - which is different again to how I am using it to make my own wikispace - I am again finding myself in the definite affirmative to use wikispaces within the classroom for tasks that require collaborative learning and information collection to take place. Doing so would allow me to work ICT use in to the class and allow a freedom of expression for the students in how they answer the task requirements. It would also provide engagement for the students in using a resource in the classroom - the computer and the Internet - that they ask to use more often anyway.

Week 3 Weebly site

Well the last task for week three about the learning tools was to create an online site through Weebly.
I have done this and the link to view is: http://amydmanaginge-learning.weebly.com/

So far I have done the home page and weeks 1 to 3. I essentially copied the information I have written in my Wikispace and added some different picture and some extra text. I did this just so I could learn how to used Weebly and to see if it would be a good resource in a classroom environment without having to spend alot of time on new content on the same subject.

It has been an easy tool to use and gives the creator alot of freedom to enter different mediums into the pages. I have included pictures, video and text so far. The Weebly site also allows for comments to be left at the bottom of the page, however, this is only an option that the site creator must include if wanted.

The Weebly site would be a valuable tool in a classroom for students to use. It has a slightly more professional feel to it than Wikispaces.

However, to use this site for multiple entries from many sources is hard to do. This is because the Weebly site can be created by one person with no option to change the sites content given to whoever views it like in Wikispaces. If content is to be changed by other people beside the creator it would take some work to add these people especially if it is a whole class. There is a section where this is able to be done on Weebly but, is requires individually adding each persons details into the authorised editors page. This could be time consuming if large classes or different schools and/or professional contributors are involved. It could also cause some problems within the class in choosing who is to be the website developers. Although it may be possible to turn it into an opportunity to allow the class to learn about team management and job allocation and specifications to create an end product.

The site is a great resource to create a more professional looking site with researched information. The site would have to be created by the teacher or a couple of selected students who then add new material gathered from their fellow students research.

Also Weebly allows the creator to choose a domain for the site to be a part of. I choose to be under the weebly.com domain, but if the students were learning about the Internet and its capabilities then the site to be created could be made under the .com domain. This would also allow a more professional look and sound to the site since it has its own .com and is not listed under another company's domain.

The Weebly site like the Wikispaces site could be used to create a place to add content on a topic that has an ongoing nature in the classroom. It would allow teachers, parents and outside parties to view the material the students have contributed to the site.

I was going to list the many ways that this site can be used however, once again I find it is easier to say; 'the options for its' use are limitless'. The teacher can think of many uses or ask the students to contribute ideas, also peers and Internet searches can be done  to find more ideas. I think now before we even start the next lot of work in the weeks to come -on tools that can be used in classrooms for digital learning-, will be an endless list with endless possibilities.

My SWOT analysis on Weebly in the classroom is at:http://www.wikiswot.com/SWOT/4_/Amy_s_Managing_E_Learning_on_p.html

Wikispaces

OK so for week three we are learning about 'tools' we can have that are web 2.0 based. That is programs, websites and possibly apps that are defined as web 2.0 as the content is able to be added to, changed or manipulated in some way by the people who visit the site. Overall control of the pages though does come back to the original creator of the pages.

One such 'tool' that we have already begun is this blog which so far I think I have done okay with. There are many things yet I want to try like; video posts and such and will get around to them as soon as I can. That way I can say I have at least given the full blog experience a go.

The second 'tool' for this week was to create and maintain a Wikispace. Mine can be accessed at:
https://amys-managing-e-learning.wikispaces.com/
Please feel free to browse it and please leave some comments or add to the pages.

I have also done a SWOT analysis on Wikispaces in learning and the link to that is:
http://www.wikiswot.com/SWOT/4_User_Generated/Amy_s_Managing_E_Learning_Pote.html
Please feel free to add to it also. I will be added more to it and the SWOT on blogs in learning as I go and think of more things. I also used a Wikispaces site to do the SWOT analysis so I could have a bit more experience in using these types of sites. It was an easy to use and follow site that was a great resource to keep in mind whenever I need to complete a task such as that.

So far my exposure to Wikis had only been the task for week two in contributing to the class Wiki on mobile phone use in classroom as a learning tool using the De Bono's thinking hats to scaffold our thinking and answers. Now I have also created my own Wiki.

I can see the advantages to using a Wiki in a classroom, in the fact that as with our class task in enabled many people to provide their thoughts, ideas, concepts and knowledge on the questions asked in a way that allowed everyone a say. It also let there be debate on the answers and gave confidence to answer the questions  for people who find it had in classroom where everyone would look at you.
Wikispaces could be used in many ways like the blog could be that I have already posted about. Such us:

• Making a wiki that allows students to record information and continually add to and improve what is there.
• It makes collaborative learning an easy task to set up.
• It allows the teacher to use scaffolding to keep students on track but gives them the freedom to answer in different ways, like; text, pictures, videos and web links.
• It  can be accessed by students when not at school giving spur of the moment ideas a place to go.
• It can be used with other schools or classes around the world or in the same school to collaborative on learning.

There are many more ways it can be used and again I am finding myself saying that really the only limit is the teachers imagination in the ways it could be used. It could also be a great way to involve the students in a task by asking them ways in which it could be used in the subject and allowing to contribute to how they want to learn.
A great video from our course material page was this video which explains in a fun and quick way the benefit of using a Wiki to collaborate with other people on a task.


That is all for now but please check out my Wikispace and add some info or just comment if you want I would love some feedback.
Thanks
Amy

Expanding on the the Potential of Blogs in teaching

Further expanding on my post of my SWOT analysis of this topic I am now going to try to think of and describe some ways I could be using blogs in a classroom environment.

Blogs can be used so many ways within a classroom. Some ideas would be to:

• Use them once a question has been scaffolded (to keep students on topic). 
• To keep a learning journal that can be admitted as an assessment for what they learned. 
• It can be a place that is updated weekly by a teacher with what is to be taught the following week allowing and asking the students for input on how they would like some of their learning to take place. 
• It can used as a place to post pictures, videos, weblinks etc of the class work for parents and guardians to access to see what the class is up to.
• It can be used between schools or classes using comment posts to communicate.
• A research tool to log and record information gathered and learned that a professional can be asked to comment on regularly.
• The students can use it in any way they can come up with in presenting assessments or ongoing class tasks.

A way I thought I could use blogs in a school since, I am only currently volunteering once a week for robotics, even though the class works on the projects I set and, others regularly through each week is to:

• Get the students to create a blog for robotics.
• Edit the page till it looks how they want it to.
• Ask them to regularly post text, pictures, videos in the blog to allow me to see what they have been doing in between my visits.
• Ask them to post ideas of robots they might like to try and build or are interested in learning about.
• A place they can post YouTube clips of LegoNXT robots they have found that gives them some inspiration to build some other robots.
• This would allow me to keep up to date on their work and comment on some ideas and encouragement for the students.
• I could also answer questions they might have that the teacher can not answer.
• I could also get them to post weblinks of programming and build instructions from robots they like so we can always access them quickly since the information would be in one place.
• Doing this would also allow me to show what I have been able to do with the class with my inspirational lecturer and fellow robotics enthusiast at the university. This would allow me to show them something I am having a problem with instead on trying to explain it.

There are so many opportunities and ways that a blog could be used in a classroom within any subject area. Doing so would just involve the teacher sitting down and thinking about it, google ideas or ask around with fellow teachers to see if anything interesting or engaging is found.

My current experience and knowledge of blogs is only what I have done so far within this course. I have already discovered how beneficial blogs can be to a learner. It has allowed me to keep track of what I am learning. I can express my ideas, thoughts, concepts and knowledge in a way I feel safe and comfortable with. I have also found it fun and engaging to read and comment on others blogs within this class, it has allowed me to see others point of view and how they have interpreted the course information.

Here are some sites I have found that can give anyone some ideas on how to use blogs within the classroom:

1. http://www.adrianbruce.com/blogging/blogging.htm
2. http://legacy.teachersfirst.com/content/blog/blogideas2.cfm
3. http://edublogs.org/
4. http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/blogging-unit.pdf

Hopefully someone will get some benefit out of these websites I have already found some useful information.

Potential of Blogs in teaching.

First task for week three is to create a SWOT analysis about the potential of using blogs in teaching.

I guess the first thing to do is explain what a SWOT is:

SWOT is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
And is used to analyse thoughts, knowledge and ideas someone has about a topic.

To do this I searched for a good, free online site to complete and post my SWOT on this subject. In my searches I came across this website

http://www.wikiswot.com

This website is a great resource as it explains all about what a SWOT is and how to do them. There is also a tab to click on that will allow you to create your own SWOT and keep it on the site to allows other to contribute to your ideas. The bases of all WIKI pages.

If you go to the tab of Free SWOTs you find mine (Amy's E - Learning Potential of Blogs in teaching)  but here is the link anyway:

http://www.wikiswot.com/SWOT/4_User_Generated/Amy_s_E_Learning__Potential_of.html

I decided to do my SWOT this way as we are learning about wikispaces within this course and thought it would be good to continue my use and learning of this online information sharing medium.

TPACK and digital learning design

My understanding of TPACK is that the teacher employing this method must firstly know how to use technologies; secondly know their content knowledge of the subject to be taught and lastly to have sound knowledge and experience of pedigogies that can be used to effectively teach the content.

A great way to explain what TPACK is was the Prezi clip created by our course coordinator Wendy Fasso.
This clip was uploaded to our reading material site and is a great resource as it is easy to understand.

tpack on Prezi

If the clip does not play here is the link:

http://prezi.com/9uubz6gsgek-/tpack/

This teaching frame work is one that I think is becoming more and more important in the 21st Century classroom. Most classrooms have smartborads, desktop computers, laptops, iPads, iPods and a myriad of other technologies available in most if not all subject areas that can be utilised for learning. Also there is the countless thousands of apps and programs that can be used.

I believe that if the teacher in a classroom has access to all sorts of technologies and is not using them everyday is some way, the students of that class are being let down in their learning and abilities to express what they have learned in a new way.

An example I have of using TPACK to engage students is at a school I volunteer at where I teach robotics. The students were learning about different bugs, their biology and place in the world. Using the robotics I was able to team up with the teacher and have the students build a robotic 'bug'. Doing this allowed the students to be able to understand the 'mechanics' of the way a wing, legs or other body parts work in bugs. It was a hands on approach to learning but required alot of thinking and learning from mistakes to achieve an end result that looked and functioned like a bug. Later to present their assessments in this area I was asked to come watch some of the students results. This was a great experience as I got see the students had used the robots, stop-go clay animation, video and still cameras, movie editing software, web page design using programs like Dreamweaver and Illustrator and the use of websites like cooltext and programs like photoshop before printing out posters. Getting to see all of this allowed me to see how TPACK can be used not only to teach students and in helping them learn but also a  tool to allow students to express their learning in so many different ways.

Therefore with my own studies in the class (managing e - learning) and my own experiences at schools I have been able to learn about and witness the importance of digital learning design for the students in this day and age to learn and express themselves in more engaging ways.

Essential post - Mobile Phone Wiki

The task for week two of; entering into and then adding information to the Mobile Phone Wiki, was a new experience for me. I thought it was a good way to be able to scaffold a question to a class and allow answering to take place in a way that students would not feel threatened. The use of de Bono's Hats to do the scaffolding was an excellent choice to steer each studetns thinking in different ways. If you have never hear of the thinking hats here is a concept may illustration I have come across that helps to uderstand de Bono's Six Thinking Hats:

Retrieved from: http://katekendall.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/49841788.gif

As a student you were able to access the site, look at the questions and also to research the thinking hats if you had no previous exposure to them. Then the student was able to look at and think about other students' responses and relate them to their own ideas and theories. Once this was done a student is able to edit the page and add their own ideas, thoughts and concepts and theories.

I think this type of learning exercise covers all the learning theories that we have looked at for week one: behaviourism, constructivism, cognitivism and connectivism. I believe it covered all the learning theories; as depending on what thinking hat was used to approach the questions asked, all or some of the theories were used. This is an excellent way to be able to provide a task for students to do, that will allow all learning styles/theories to be employed.

I also noticed that Bloom's Taxonomy and TPACK pedagogies  learnt about in week two, could be applied to this task as;  it required us to use Bloom's higher order thinking in selecting and using a thinking hat to answer the question. It also uses the TPACK pedagogy by using the Internet and wiki spaces as medium for the students to supplied their ideas, concepts and theories, to the digital class.

This to me was a very effective way to use scaffolding questioning in a class while still using ICTs. It was an exercise that everyone would be able to do as it is straight-forward and does not need a huge amount of technical know how to do. It is also a great way to engage students who may not feel confident enough to answer questions in the classroom with everyone looking at them. This type of learning allows a student to think through their answers and find more information if needed, look at others responses and answer in a more confident manner.

The scaffolding used supported a range of perspectives in a class as, it provided the student with the concept of De Bono's Thinking Hats. Here is a YouTube clip of Dr de Bono talking about the Six Thinking Hats:


Retrieved frokm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ew6h5nHcc

Using this scaffold for the questions required me and other students to think through the questions being asked in a different manner then we might have without the scaffolding there. Therefore it makes anyone participating the task think differently and come up with many different ideas, concepts and theories regarding their answers. It is a technique I would use in a class to get them all thinking in different ways.

Optional - Learning Theories

This is the last of the reading for week 1 of managing e-learning and was very interesting. There are many types of learning theories relating to many learning styles. It is hard to just pin it all down to using just one, as each person is different and requires different styles to help them learn.
The connectivism theory is a great read as most students or teenager if you talk to them; do not see the merit of memorising information like we 'older' people feel you have to, to learn. Most teenagers will tell you it is not necessary to remember everything because you can just use your phone, tablet, laptop, iPod/iPhone - the list is endless - to access any and all information you need, at any time you need it. This attitude (belief) makes it hard for teachers to get across the message that there are times when you will need the information in your brain not in icloud to use. I believe that teachers should encourage the use of ICTs for gathering, using and presenting information within the classroom; however, it is vital that the teacher also help the students to learn the what, how, when and who of the information available online. There is so much information available and alot of it is not usable or at least not to be trusted. Some information such as this blogg is more opinions based on readings but not actual documents used. Therefore students need to be taught how to identify information that can be used and how to find and check any information.
ICTs are everywhere and being used more and more, we as teachers need to start not only allowing students to use them but also teaching them how to access all that information at their fingertips and use it properly and dismiss the junk.

Optional Post - 21st Century Learners

Just read the info and extra readings on the new learners that we will be faced with in modern classrooms.
I thought it was very interesting and could see a lot of what was spoken about happening in classrooms. Students now-a-days have been born into technology and are definitely 'natives'. They understand, see and speak differently to other generations.
This course is an excellent learning place for us in that we can understand the technology around us and different ways that we could use it to engage our students.
The article on engage or enrage was very interesting. I can see students now not paying attention in class; not doing homework etc and generally find school boring and difficult. Those students if we as teachers would listen, are trying to tell us to catch up to them in technology and use what we as the 'teachers and adults' have access to; to engage and challenge them and give them exciting and different challenges in their educational journeys.
As a person in the education sector it is vital to be a Life Long Learner to be able to give any student I teach the best information and delivery of that information I can. Therefore training myself to become a 'native' would help both myself, students and the future state of the world they need to run and look after.

Hey everyone,
I'm taking a break today my leg is killing me, so I'm resting up.
This is just a quick post that if want some great emotion-cons to use on your iPod go to iTunes and find an app called Emoji Free!
It is great 👍 and soooo easy to use and install.
Best of all its free😃
Give it a go and have fun😝
I will also post this on the forum so people will hopefully find out about it.
Have a good one catch you all later.
Amy🐶

Hey everyone, I'm trying out the iPod touch using cellspin!!! hopefully it will post a blog if this works and I have done everything properly?? If it works then this is awesome!!!!! and I can't wait to do more.

Video from Sir Ken Robinson

I totally loved this YouTube clip.
He is a very intelligent and funny man who makes a very valid point in my opinion.
Essentially the clip is about how education was formed and how its stands today and the impact it has on the children coming through it.
Sir Ken Robinson makes some very good points and I agree with him 100%.
Here is the clip:


If the clip doesn't play here is the link to the clip, have a watch and comment on it if you want or feel free to disagree with me.
It's a great clip have a watch:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Let kids be kids when ever possible and watch the future bloom!!!

Optional Post - Multiple Intelligences

I took the test for the multiple intelligences and got the following result :-

I think this test is great and is spot on really. This is pretty much how I view myself in the different areas tested. 

I also believe in the multiple intelligence theories. I think it makes more sense that people have different types of intelligence in different areas and at different levels. It all comes down to the individual, their life experiences and prior knowledge and their application of it in situations. For more information please read the following article by Han S. Paik about multiple intelligences and also the other theory of one intelligence - I do not agree with this but have a read and make up your own mind-. (Also available in the moodle site in the week 1 section in the readings options under Multiple Intelligences optional reading).

In classrooms I believe it is easy to see multiply intelligences in students. When students are profiled a teacher can see where some students are more intelligent, skilled or capable in certain areas then other students are. This is why it is important to profile and then be flexible and understanding in the classroom and try to make changes and have options available for all the students to show how smart they are in whatever area it is they excel in. Then equally important support, scaffold and teach them in the areas they are not so capable in to try to aim for all students to have an all round and level multiple intelligence.

Otherwise teach them to use their whole brain and body together in all areas of their life and in all situations.

ICTs in the classroom can help with giving students another way to learn or express themselves. They may find new and creative ways to use ICTs and even teach us a thing or two along the way, remember if we learn from them and they see this it allows the teacher to explain about Life Long Learning and then encourage students to so too. Students nowadays find comfort in using ICTs since it is an aspect of their everyday lives now. Therefore allowing students access to it to both learn and express themselves can aid students who may struggle with traditional methods in the classroom. 

Please feel free to comment on which intelligence theory you support and why you may think I am correct or misled.

Optional post - My learning style

Doing the Felder and Solomon (online questionnaire) my results show me that I am a balanced learner having gotten a score level of between 1 and 3 for each of the learning styles. This is what I expected as I have always been able to learn information no matter the subject or the teacher by just following myself and how I best understood the material. Once I worked out how I best understood the new material I stuck with that strategy.

The test itself is pretty accurate. However to be completely accurate it would require a lot more questions and probably some small tests on acquiring small amounts of information in different ways to see which method was the best way you retained the new information. This sort of test would be a long test and difficult to implement unless the person was willing to spend the time and effort to complete it. A teacher however would benefit from a more in depth learning style test to profile their students and learn the best way to help them learn.

Online learning design can be beneficial to students. At a school where I have done EPL, the students where asked to actively participate in the learning design process using the schools oneschool-onenote online program. The end result of this was that the students paid more attention in class, completed in class and homework tasks and successfully completed assessment tasks to a higher grade level then they have in other subject areas. Also allowing the students to access task information online was a huge help since they spend most of their time online doing social media. It allowed them to complete school work while feeling that they were able to still do what they want.

Learning Styles

1.    My learning style is a mixture of the main three - audio, visual and kinasthetic.
It depends on what I am learning about and if I have any prior knowledge of the subject to then use which learning style I need to absorb the new information.
I am able to learn in nearly any learning experience I am exposed to, again I just have to find a way to apply information I already have to a new situation and then learn, learn and learn some more.
2.    Within a classroom whenever possible I would allow all students access the verbal instruction I would give, while writing the instructions on the board at the same time. Also allowing any students who need to write those instructions down on a note pad or in their book to follow when they need. In the body of a lesson I would try to ensure making different activities for students to do or, be flexible and allow students to complete set tasks in a way they find most beneficial to themselves. Obviously profiling of the students and setting up time at the beginning of the term or year to work out the best ways for students complete tasks will help lessons to flow better later in the term and year.
3.      My current ICT knowledge would allow students to access the electronic white boards, computers, ipod touches and ipads as well as websites and programs that would allow students in the class to access programs or ICTs that will help them to understand the tasks or to express themselves in a better way. Also ICTs can be used extremely well within the Habits of Mind and Blooms taxonomy easily within lessons.
4.     I would in the classroom depending on the age level ask students to access websites with learning style quizzes that way I am able to find out their level of computer knowledge and skill level in using the ICT and then have the results from the quizzes to aid in learning about the student. Also just doing class discussions or using websites such as bubbl.us in class discussions can be an easy way to gather knowledge. Specific questions can sometimes stop a student from giving a helpful answer as some students might be trying to play the 'guess what is in the teachers head' game in fear of being wrong. Whereas using a class discussion on the topic/subject can put students at ease and allow them to reach for their own ideas and knowledge to share.
5.    ICT can be used to support all learning styles such as having an audio file of the instructions available for students to listen to, or having a video tutorial to help students who might have trouble following at the same speed as other students. Many of the games or programs that can be accessed will help some students to feel more confident to complete tasks. Lastly having a projection of the teachers computer (where able to depending on subject) can allow the teacher to go through tasks step by step on the projection while the students follow along doing this supports audio, visual and kinasthetic learning styles all at the same time.