My Uni Map

Hello Fellow bloggers,


View My Uni Spot in a larger map

Google earth and maps is a program that I knew about but i have only used the maps side of it prior to this tute. After exploring these tools I realised that incorporating them within a classroom would be an engaging for a variety of Key Learning Areas.

Google Earth can be utilised for various tasks such as;
Spacial awarness - Top and Bottom of Earth from satellite photos
Global features - Picture of earth - measure distances
Compare different places - land use, agriculture, habitation and population
Follow and compare different rivers e.g. The Nile and The Amazon
Spin the globe on an Interactive Whiteboard

Google Maps
Print maps - recognising street names (turn left or right into Brown Street)
Plan excursions - Collaborative, Student choices and real to students
Research - Land use in local areas, Human impact on local beaches

These tools can be used anywhere within a unit of work and can be used in conjunction with many other applications.

References

Collision. M, Using Google Earth and Google Maps with Blogs/Wikis. Retreived 15th August, 2009 from:
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:I3NKyWroNVoJ:myocum.com/store/intel%2520webinar.doc+google+earth+in+the+classroom&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

'Till next Time,
Happy Blogging!

My video

Hello Fellow Bloggers,
Please see the video that we made in our tute today... A little different...Enjoy...


http://feeds.feedburner.com/Jfkchevy69



This was made from a Windows Movie Maker Program that is straightforward for students to use. This tool could be used by students for reflections, assessment or record of research. This is an engaging tool that students can practice using their own initiative and tap into their creative side to create meaningful movies.

Windows Movie Maker can also be used by teachers to present new information to the students in an engaging, interesting and exciting way. Students that can see their teacher involved in a 'movie' will engage in learning as students will want to be in a movie as well. This is a collaborative tool that is engaging and allows students to make choices for themselves about the finished product.

I have added a powerpoint from Slideshare.net for you to watch that shows you how easy it can be to incorporate this ICT tool within your classroom.

References

Oliver, R. (1999), Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education 20(2), p.240-254
Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999), Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 14, 2009. from: http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

My feedburner url

Hello Fellow Bloggers,


FeedBurner is a web feed management provider. FeedBurner provides custom RSS feeds and management tools to bloggers, podcasters, and other web-based content publishers. Services provided to publishers include traffic analysis and an optional advertising system.

As a teacher I could set up a feedburner for my class and then everything that the students input onto their blogs or wiki's can be stored on the feedburner. This can be advantegous if students are saving their assignments on their blog as this information will be stored onto the feedburner site.

References

Google Feedburner, Retrieved 14th, August, 2009 from:

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=feedburner&continue=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedburner.google.com%2Ffb%2Fa%2Fmyfeeds




This is the link to my feedburner... take a look if you like.

'Till next Time,
Happy Blogging.

My podcast / vodcast

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Please subscribe to my podcast if you are interested... Some interesting listening.

This tool would be excellent for getting different information from various students, whilst observing practical learning situations and not missing vital information whilst writing notes. Podcasts can be used to pass on information to all students and then get their thoughts and comments which encourages continual learning within the classroom.

Students can obtain new skills such as:

Technical skills needed to record a high-quality podcast.
Brainstorming, and design the themes and content of their Podcast with teacher guidance.
Complete pre-production, production, and post-production of their Podcast.
Project management skills, Podcasting technical skills, and actively use the Podcast as a medium for positive student expression.

An interesting YouTube about podcasting for Teachers

Vodcast

A vodcast is a podcast that contains video content. The term vodcast comes from the combination of the words "video" and "podcast". Video podcasts may also be referred to as vidcasts.In order to watch a vodcast, you need a podcatcher capable of playing video(such as iTunes).


'Till next Time,
Happy Blogging!

References

Podcasting in the Government Classroom, Retrieved from
14th August, 2009.

My Temperament

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

After completing the questionairre on url:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

I was a ESFJ which is a guardian.

All Guardians (SJs) share the following core characteristics:
Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions. Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.

This information came from 'The Jung Typology Test' this tool could be utilised within the classroom to allow students to discover their individual strengths and weaknesses. This would enable the students to focus on what skills they need to practice and improve on. For example: Social skills if a student improved thier social skills their may be a stronger team member when it comes to oral presentations, debates or just collaborative learning environments (Quenck, 1999.)

References
Quenck,N. Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

My Learning Style

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

This is my learning style...





MY Results
These are the results of your inventory. The scores are out of 20 for each style. A score of 20 indicates you use that style often.
Style Scores
Visual - 15
Social - 17
Physical - 16
Aural - 15
Verbal - 16
Solitary -17
Logical - 16

Memletic Learning Styles Graph:

My results are quite similar I am a hands on learner and enjoy working with others.

This is a great tool for teachers to use to check what type of learners may be in their classroom to assist with the managing and organising resources and what strategies to use when planning lessons to assist students to achieve learning outcomes.

This is an authentic tool that students use by making choices and is a reflection of a multiple of perspectives.
You can access this website by clicking on the title ( My Learning Style)

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

Google Reader / Rss Aggregator

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Google reader is a tool that can be used by teacher and students to subscribe to various sites that are related to relevant KLA's or topics of interest that may be current in the classroom environment. This tool will save time as teacher and students can check for up to date information on one site insted of searching on various sites.

It is also another form of booking favourite websites, with the abilities to mark read and unread material so that users are not rereading old information. This tool brings the information to you you do not have to look for it.

Great for students that have a large subscription to educationl sites for research for assessments.

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

References
Google Reader Team (tutorial)
http://www.google.com/reader/view/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-ww-ww-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google+reader#welcome-page

Delicious bookmarking website for Teachers and Students

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I am excited about discovering "Delicious" . I never knew it existed until our first tute it is so much better than using favourites.

I know that as a teacher I will continue to use this website to create tags for my class and start saving links that my students might find useful or interesting. Share a link of this tag with your students' parents on the class syllabus, class website so that parents can become involved as well. This would also allow teachers to monitor students' research progress (Barsky and Purdon, 2006).

Students will be able to use this collaboration tool to create their own tag and use it for interesting and useful information that they have come across while researching for assignments or if they are participating in group projects this tool will be invaluable as all group members will be able to access all links through a group tag (Barsky and Purdon, 2006.)

This website could be utilised in any Key Learning Area for various applications.

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

References

Barsky, E & Purdon, M (2006): Introducing Web 2.0: social networking and social bookmarking for health librarians. JCHLA/JABSC 27 (1): 65-67.

Blogs for Teachers and Students

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Blogging and using it as an educational tool

After reading up on blogging and how it can be used in different ways, I think that using Blogging from a teacher's perspective can be used for Tracking of assessments, Planning class events using students ideas and feedback, Using Blogs to encourage higher order thinking among students on various topics posted in new threads from the teacher and being able to watch the responses form the students as well as being able to categorise and manage the learning content to be present to students. Blogs can be very useful to teachers if created with careful planning and providing clear objectives (Williams and Jacobs, 2004.)

For students Blogging is a tool that can enhance collaborative learning and thinking in an engaging and social constructisvt environment as well as allowing students to provide feedback or ask questions on a variety of topics, as well as a way of practicing digital literacy (Williams and Jacobs, 2004.)

References

Williams, J B and Jacobs, J (2004): Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) 20 (2): 232-247.

'Till next time,
Happy Blogging!

Introduction

Hi Everyone,
I am nervous yet excited... Hope we all survive and pass this course!!

I have been looking over Moodle and the content of this course and have come across some interesting information....

E. Learning - Equity

E.Learning needs to be equitable in schools and not be disadvantageous to any students and teachers need to embrace this concept and promote it to all children no matter what their background is.

Embracing e learning in Australian Schools (Spender & Stewart, 2002)


Engagement Theory

Students need to be engaged in their (ICT) learning environment as they need to be able to relate to real world problems and situations. Students need to be able to work in small teams and create solutions. The difference is that with (ICT) the solution is donated back to the real world.

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998)

ICT Learning Design


This project focuses on learning designs implemented with the use of Information and Communication
Technologies. Oliver (1999) argues that a learning design comprises the following key elements:

•Tasks that learners are required to do.
•Resources that support learners to conduct the task.
•Support mechanisms that exist from a teacher implementing it.


Learning designs refer to a variety of ways of designing student learning experiences, that is, a sequence of types of activities and interactions.

Learning designs may be at the level of a subject, or subject components. A learning design can be considered the framework that supports student learning experiences.




Based on Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education, 20(2), 240-254.

Thus the term learning design is used by this project to describe the various frameworks that can be used to guide the design and choice of these three elements in the development of a learning experience for students, particularly ICT-mediated learning experiences.

So how do we as teachers create engaging, authentic learning experience using ICT? What pedagocial tools will we use?

That is what my blog is about... all the different E.Learning tools that we teachers can use in our classroom to create a meaningful learning journey for our students.

Till next time... Happy blogging!