Reflective Synopsis

In a recent article that I read on literacy practices called, “Changing Literacies” (Lankshear, Gee, Knobel, & Searle, 1997) it identified aspects that hindered the teacher body accepting the use of digital technology in their classrooms. They were afraid that technology would overtake their professional job, the learners would know more about the technologies than them, it would be time consuming to develop understandings, knowledge, and the skills required to implement them in the classroom, and it would reduce teaching to an “instructional delivery vehicle” (Lankshear, Gee, Knobel, & Searle, 1997, p.9). Through my exploration into the different pedagogy technologies that can be implemented into any curriculum area, I have come to realise that these stated issues, from over ten years ago, can still hinder the use of technology in the classroom today. For a professional that has been in an industry for a long period of time, changing the way they deliver a lesson can be a challenge in itself. Through this learning process I have been overwhelmed with the amount of technologies on the internet that has such potential in the classroom. Because there are so many digital tools available it can be quite frightening to take the risk and develop implementation skills and understanding required, but as lifelong learner we must be willing to give anything ago and be willing to rise to the challenge and develop the “Habit of Mind” of a “Risk Taker” (Marzano, Pickering, Arredondo, Blackburn, Brandt, Moffett, Paynter, Pollock, & Whisler, 1997).

As a Learning Manager on a lifelong learning journey, it is my job to be continually aware of the digital world that my learners are so consumed in. With unthinkable statistics of “today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives” (Prenksy, 2001) and that was around eight years ago! It is becoming harder to turn a blind eye on something so intriguing and engaging for my learners. It is time to act, time to transform my practice around theoretical perspectives that of Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), and Oliver’s (1999) who use frame works to incorporate ICTs in collaborative, engaging and meaningful learning experiences in the classroom. These pedagogy technology tools are not incorporated to overtake the teaching profession, but to enhance the quality of the content and delivery, creating efficient learning practices. Through my journey of investigating technology tools I have been able to identify similar characteristics that they all carry. The tools are engaging, resourceful, easy to set up and most of all they are learner centered experiences that require explicit scaffolding and teaching. I believe that if these tools are taught explicitly with innovation they will promote higher order thinking, critical analyses and motivate the learners to become lifelong learners.

As a Learning Manager in the 21st century I will strive to engage with as many digital technologies in my classroom as I am capable of. I have enjoyed the learning journey through each of the required E-Learning tools for this course and really look forward in exploring them more, through my own experiences and from the reflections of my university colleagues and professionals who have used these tools with success. Below is a table of the technology tools that I would use in my current year one class. The table outlines brief activities and uses for each tool and what they are used to promote or teach the learners. This is a very rough table that I plan to develop in my journey when using and reflecting upon them, along with the advice and reflections from my colleagues and other professionals.

My learnings through these new technologies would not have been as fulfilling as it was without my university colleagues. I was continually able to reflect my experiences with each tool alongside them. Their blogging reflections helped my understanding of the tools that I had never used before and gave me inspirations of how they can be used in the classroom. There is so much insights and experience in my colleagues and I am excited to join with them on the continual learning journey that we follow. I will definitely continue to follow them and many others on this journey.

This digital world is a great place to be as a Learning Manager. I am excited and am awaiting the new experiences that lurk around the corner both in the classroom and through the new developing technologies. This experience and knowledge that I have gained has broadened my thinking, skills and lifelong learning journey. Thank you to the lectures that have made this experience worthwhile and fulfilling.

Until my next learning experience
Kind Regards
Lizzy

Reference List
Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 21, 2009, from: http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Lankshear, C., Gee, J., Knobel, M., & Searle, C. (1997) Changing Literacies: Literacies, Texts and Difference in the Electronic Age. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press. Retrieved July 10, 2009: http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/cro/protected/edcu14019/edcu14019_cro4388.pdf

Marzano, R., Pickering, D., Arredondo, D., Blackburn, G., Brandt, R., Moffett, C., Paynter, D., Pollock, J., & Whisler, J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning: Teacher’s Manual (2nd ed.). Aurora, Calorado: McREL (Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory).

Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrieved July 06, 2009, from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

VoiceThread

“A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too” (VoiceThread, 2009).

A few weeks ago I opened an account with VoiceThread, this is an amazing site of resources that can be used in the classroom and a great place to store documents. Through exploring VoiceThread I came across an amazing example, that I embedded below, of how this technology tool can be used in the classroom, it is called One Busy Day (Alupton, 2007). This shows just how to use VoiceThread that engages, creates a real and meaningful task, involves collaborative, and active participation from the learners. Check it out.

There are so many good examples on VoiceThread that I am looking forward to using in my classroom. I am continually trying to come up with new ways of introducing these technologies in an effective and efficient way, but sometime I think too hard. I need to come to realise that I do not need to reinvent the wheel, but to take hold of what is already out there. VoiceThread is definitely a pedagogy tool that I will be using more of in the future as it gives me examples of ways I can use it in the classroom and resources that are ready to be used. I am loving learning and finding new technologies.

Until my next learning experience

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

VoiceThread. (2009). About Thread. Accessed 19, 2009, from: http://voicethread.com/about/

One Busy Day

Incompetech - Using Music on the Web

Royalty is paid to artists when their music is used in public and for other reasons that are not under the copyright law. If their music is used without this, it becomes an illegal crime with server penalties that will be enforced. It is my job as a Learning Manager to ensure that the correct procedures and copyright laws are not misused, abused or broken in my classroom. I must ensure that I am using resources that have been identified as royalty free or that I have received permission from the artists or authors to use their products.

Royalty free music can be found at Incompetech and other places such as Jimmy Gelhaar, Jon Roberts, Anthony Kozar, audionautix, and Danosongs. These sites realise that schools need plenty of resources to support and enhance the curriculum implementations, but are also aware that they cannot afford to pay large sums of money for royalties. Incompetech has acquired a licence that enables them to give away the music rights, otherwise known as royalty free music (Incompetech, n/d), at no cost expect an optional donation.

Incompetech (n/d) has a large range of music styles to choose from. In the younger grades, music is used in the classroom a lot through games, transitions, relaxation times and other activities. Music helps my learners engage, claim down and to get stirred up. One of the main areas that I would use this recourse of royalty free music is in the first five to ten minutes after lunch and morning tea times, as it claims the children down and gets them ready for learning. As the Learning Manager I can do this in a few different ways, the learners can come in after lunch, find a spot in the room and quietly read while soothing music plays in the background. Other times I would get the learners to lie down on the floor and with the music softly going, I would read a meditating book of descriptive stories, so when the learners sit up, they can express how they felt and what pictures they formed in their minds when they listened to the story.

Until my next learning experience

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

Incompetech. (n/d). Music FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed August 18, 2009, from: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/faq.html

MediaFire - File Storage

The other day I opened a few account with MediaFire, this account allows me to upload, store and share my large files and images and I can also organise these files with folders (MediaFire, 2009). MediaFire is another online ‘hard drive’ like storage device that I can assess anywhere in the world on any computer. With its security settings I can choose to hide my files from the public eye and just use it to sort them, or I can activate individual ones for all to view. This is much like Mahara except it is a free account. The only fact that would concern me would be that it does not seem as secure; Mahara is a paid account and ensures that my documents are safe. Despite this factor, I would still use this tool in sharing large impersonal and private content that would be too be to transfer through email or to a large group.

Using this technology tool in the classroom would be a lot easier to implement then Mahara and more cost efficient. The learners can use this tool to store and sort their work, research tasks and images. This allows the learners to assess their information from their home without transporting it in their school bags and losing it. As the Learning Manager I would use this tool to upload criteria sheets, research articles, website hyperlinks and more resources that would support the learners’ journey through tasks, assessment and homework. Another advantage would be to upload documents that are handed out and used in the class for later reference, learners who somehow loose them and the ones that are absent so they do not miss out.

Water Cycle Diagrams is a hyperlink to documents that I used in a SOSE lesson and uploaded through MediaFire. Having these sorts of resources continually available will give the learners the essentials that are required for each subject and enable them to undertake self studies and refreshments around assessment or exam time.

Until my next learning experience

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

MediaFire. (2009). About. Accessed August 18, 2009, from: http://www.mediafire.com/about.php

WebQuest

A WebQuest is "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing" (Dodge, 1995a; Dodge, 1995b). This technology tool is a completely new experience for me, as I have never interacted or seen one before. When looking through, Scot Albred’s (2004) ‘Antarctic Ice to Water Australia’, and Tom March’s (n/d) ‘Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?’ WebQuests, I was able to gain considerable understandings of how they work, the content they should contain, and ideas of how I can use them in my profession. Both WebQuests showed such realistic, relevant and real life situations that would bring meaning and engagement to the given tasks. The Antarctic Iceberg expedition may not be as relevant today as it was when they were debating the decision. But it shows the aspects of the past options and decisions our country made towards defeating the drought, this is part of the history of our country. September 11, 2001 was the day the world was shaken by terrorist, but what is terrorism? The learners are faced with such a real life experience that could have had repercussions on their own life. It challenges them to step outside of their beliefs and take on an opposite perception, to deciphering what tourism actually is. Both these WebQuest are written with such a high standard that it guides the learners into self discovery and critical thinking.

WebQuests are excellent pedagogy tools that create a learner centered approach, not the traditional setting where the learners are all given the same task and content at the same time, and they all work at the same pace. Instead WebQuests contain one main focus and revolve around both individual and collaborative group work to decipher the main concept. This enables learners to take on different views of their choice and critically seek out different perspectives, beliefs, and challenges within that view point.

As a Learning Manager, when designing a WebQuest to be used in the classroom, I would create it as a learner centered task that aligns with Oliver’s (1999) learning framework. The WebQuest would have to be explicitly designed to identify “learning activities” that promote higher order thinking and critical analyses. Within each activity a group of relevant external links to “learning resources” would be assessable, showing the one website required rather than searching through multiple sites, this protects them from assessing unwanted sources. As the Learning Manager I would link the activities and resources into practical and explicit teaching support on the specific strategies required to complete the tasks. If used in the older grades, once the WebQuest had been scaffolded to suit their relevance, the learners would work through each stage at a pace that suits them and seek support only at their own discretion and during explicit teaching sessions. In the lower years, Oliver’s (1999) three elements would all work more closely together to help the learners’ conceptual understanding of WebQuests. Lessons would be more directed and consist of whole class, individually and group activities directed, but still with relevance and a real life concept that would challenge them into higher order thinking and critical analyses.

I have provided very basic example that I am not even sure if they will work, I think I might be giving the older years a little too much independency. As I have not used or created WebQuests before I am not sure of the best possible ways to use them. I am looking forward to reading my colleagues postings on this technology tool. To help me understand this concept more I found a YouTube series called “WebQuest 101 - Part 1: What is a WebQuest, Part 2: How to Make a WebQuest, Part 3: Questgarden and Part 4: Process, (YouTube, 2009)watch them. Let me know what you think.

Until my next learning experience

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

YouTube. (2009). WebQuest 101. Accessed August 10, 2009, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4rel5qOPvU