PowerPoint

PowerPoint’s are one of the most commonly used technology teaching and presenting tool used in schools, universities and professional businesses. From my experiences, this tool is used to convey ideas, statistics, generalizations, guidance, commands and other materials that express a message. This can be done through text, visual pictures/graphics, videos, hyperlinks and the animation that introduce the different elements on each screen and the following slides, for example, fade, wipe, fly in, box, diamond…etc. These effects are what create interest and engagement in the content displayed, without these effects the audience is left trying to motivate themselves to listen and learn. With an adult audience this is not one of the major concerns as we should be able to stay focused for longer periods of time, although some may beg to differ. But with children, I believe, it is an important feature that helps them stay more alert.

Over time I have watched and been intrigued with how many young learners in the early childhood years that have a fetish for PowerPoint’s. They will download pictures and graphics off the internet of animals or other fixations, place it on a slide, add a few words to it and then view it. As a Learning Manager it is my responsibility to bring something that they use on regular bases to the classroom with innovation. The learners love seeing something that they normally use in a different light. I have used PowerPoint almost my whole life and the only disadvantage that I have come across is that is can be very time consuming when you use all the nitty gritty functions.

This PowerPoint tool can be very affective when engaging and pointing out specific content and text to learners’, as a Learning Manager I need to take on the concept of the connectivism theory that “learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are actively attempting to create meaning” (Siemens, 2004, p.1). I am not doing my learners a favour if I continually use this teaching tool to display ‘knowledge’ instead I need to use it to the best of my ability to prompt higher order thinking and meaning making. Technology is a great resource at hand, but if I am using it at a ‘dumbed’ down level, then I am not using it wisely.

Until my next learning experience,

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Mim, Lizzy's Avatar Friend

Avatars

Throughout my E-Learning experience I have been fascinated with the avatars in the course work. When going through each learning experience I was excited to find how easy and assessable these avatars are to create and implement in many different websites. Through Voki I opened a free avatar creating account. I was amazed at the variety of characters and accessories available to choose when customizing my voki avatar. My first created voki is shown above, have a listen. The only disappointment I found was the word limit when creating a script; it was very hard to make a complete thought in just one creation.

Avatars can be a very useful pedagogy technology tool when used to engage the learners in a learning process. In the scenario that I have been using in my latest posts of the year five unit ‘Around the World in Ninety Days’, avatars can be used as a teaching tool and learner creations. The Learning Manager can create a avatar to be implemented on the teachers Blogspot or the class’ BlackBoard site that would identify the requirements that they had all agreed on in the relate and create phase of Kearsley and Shneiderman’s (1999) Engagement Theory. These avatars would be placed systematically to enhance the learners’ performance and learning journey. Each avatar giving specific directions or reminders, for example, don’t forget who your targeted audience is, at each country place a map in your blogspot…etc. The learners could also be engaged in the creation and implementation of avatars in their blogspots. In each group the learners’ would take turns in creating a new avatar when leaving a country. The learners’ would create them based upon the country they were in, for example, if they were in Mexico they might wear a Mexican sombrero or create a Speedy Gonzales mouse avatar, just as long as one of their characteristics represented the country they were in. They would then write a script about their experience in that particular country and record their voice. They would then embed their talking avatar into their blogspots.

For the younger years, avatars can used as a great pedagogy tool to increase the learners’ vocabulary, improve their grammatical speech and be used in the listening post area for learner engagement. The learners can create their own avatar and then record themselves reading a book. This will help them hear what they sound like when they read, enabling self correction in language usage and engagement in reading and listening. Great reading games and transitions can be created with the use of this technology tool.

Below is an avatar that I created for young children when learning the ABC. It took a little longer to create then what I expected, as I wanted to slow down the voice so the young learners are able to understand it. Listen to it and let me know what you think. I think I need to do a bit more work on it. Thanks for listening.

Until my next learning experience,

Kind Regards

Lizzy

Reference List

Voki. (2008) Get your our speaking Avatar. Accessed July 30, 2009, from: http://www.voki.com/

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

ABC Learning

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Wikis

“A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages…Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, and for note taking. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis” (Wikipedia, 2009, p.1).

A few weeks ago I opened an account on a wiki site called Wetpaint, my initially reaction questioned the purpose and usage of this tool. I found that wetpaint confused me with too many functions and gadgets. I was not sure where to start or what to do; I was expecting an easy to follow and workable site. With great disappointment I communicated my thoughts to my colleagues, they were every quick to guide me to Wikis in Plain English (YouTube, 2009) on YouTube. This short film clip was so simple to understand and comprehend its purpose. Through this process I opened an account with Wikispaces and was able to easily work my way through this site. I then used this collaborative tool in completing a group assessment task, but with regular meetings the wikispace was not used to its fullest potential.

Wikis are based on collaborative work, where all members can contribute their ideas and experiences through ICT’s in different locations. In my opinion this tool can be both positive and negative in many forms, especially when used in the professional context of a productive and engaged classroom. If explicitly introduced and taught in this context the advantages will outbalance the disadvantages, but could also have the reverse affect if not implemented appropriately. The learners could be engaged in collaborative work where they all have an input into the drafting and planning process, not just at school but in their own homes. Or they could be completely unsynchronized in their thinking, problem solving and agreeing on, causing a continual circle of adding and removing team members’ inputs and hard work. The quieter and more withdrawn members may be more open to express themselves in nonverbal communicative ways, but would also have a disadvantage on the learners’ social skills. These are the two main concerns and positives out of many factors which could either add to or break learning in the classroom. Creating a learning design with wikis need to have a balance of provided resources and Learner Management support in each activity, as based around Oliver’s (1999) learning design. This balance will allow the Learning Manager to scaffold through every process, ensuring the learners are continually on the right track. Note: the Learning Manager will continually have control over what goes in and out of each wiki and the security options will ensure outsiders have no access to the students’ work.

Wikis could be used as a good collaborative tool in the scenario of the year five unit ‘Around the World in Ninety Days’. In Kearsley and Shcneiderman’s (1999) second phase of “Create” the learners can use wikis to collaboratively identify their itinerary; what countries they could go to, what they could do when they are there, where they could stay, the things they need to do before leaving the country, what they could pack and the problems they could face. Each group has their own wikispace and they all work collaboratively to plan before investigating each country and placing their reflective journey on their group blogspots.

Until my next leaning 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). Wikis in Plain English. Accessed July 19, 2009, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Wetpaint.com. (2009). Wetpaint: Where superfans are superstars. Accessed July 15, 2009, from: http://www.wetpaint.com/

Wikipedia. (2009). Wiki. Retrieved July 27, 2009, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

Wikispaces. (2009). Wikispaces Spaces for Everyone: Get Started. Accessed July 19, 2009, from: http://www.wikispaces.com/