Reflective Synopsis

E-Learning in its simplest form is learning that is guided via electronic media. It is an important method of learning that has emerged with the ever-increasing presence of technology in the modern world and more specifically, our classrooms. Goal two of the Melbourne Declaration states that “All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens”, (Melbourne Declaration of Education Goals for Young People, 2008, p. 07). In order to achieve this goal, teachers must be confident in their digital pedagogy and constantly improve their knowledge in order to keep pace with the incredible growth of technology. Over the last seven weeks I have tested the waters of e-learning by trying out popular tools such as wikispaces, blogs, videos, prezi’s and writing apps. My synopsis aims to discuss my experiences and how they have shaped my learning regarding my own digital pedagogy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy, de Bono’s thinking hats and the SAMR model are effective pedagogies which helped mould my decisions on which technologies I found useful and would be able to effectively use in a classroom. In Week 6 in particular, the SAMR model helped me realise that although not all technology will rate very high on the modification or redefinition level, that doesn’t mean that it should be discounted and not used. My reflection illustrates this point perfectly.

‘De Bono’s thinking Hats Wiki activity’ is the perfect example of how collaboration via technology can allow for students to interact with each other intellectually and achieve deeper learning. When students are encouraged to widen their perspectives, higher order thinking can be achieved. Blogging and Pinterest also come to mind when thinking about collaborative tools that enrich the learning process. They also allow for students to become part of a global information society, which can then help with their own development through honest feedback.

When planning to include ICT’s in the classroom it is important to gauge the confidence levels or ability of the students who will be using it. Whilst the majority of students these days are already technologically efficient there are others with low computer ability and they may require more support from a teacher or even a collaborative partnership with a more confident student.  As Churchill et al (2013) states “ICT should be enabling, not disabling. It should increase the power and potential of a student’s performance and not be used merely because it makes something look nice, or because it should be used.” Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (2015) requires that the “teacher needs to make creative links between what is being learned (content), how it is taught (pedagogy), and the appropriate tools (technology).” This allows the teacher to create successful tasks or lessons that use ICT’s appropriately and not just for the sake of using ICT.  The modern educator should always look for opportunities to use ICT in a meaningful manner as this will enhance their own technical skill and complement their digital pedagogy. During my first practical placement in 2014, I noticed that many of the teachers who had been teaching for longer than five years, only used ICT at a Substitution level on the SAMR model. Whilst this did not affect the delivery of information, I believe that using new technology will help them engage their students more effectively.

Teachers must be hyper aware of the legal, safe and ethical practices of using technology in the classroom. Students and parents need to be addressed regarding what is considered appropriate use of ICT’s and online tools and be well versed about the many dangers of the internet such as cyber-bullying. Even though much of this is covered at the beginning of the school year in information packs and newsletters, educators must take it upon themselves to enforce such guidelines and explain internet safety. Another point that must be reiterated constantly, are copyright laws. Although students may already be familiar with the laws regarding copying from books, they may not be aware that these laws also apply in an online environment. Websites such as Smartcopying (2015) clearly define these laws and can be used to educate students.

For the modern educator there is the constant challenge of being able to keep up with expectation of students, parents, employers and the wider community. These stakeholders require that students are technologically fluent in order to successfully live in a world deeply steeped with technology. Whilst I use technology every day, it is not usually the technology that can be used in an educational setting. Therefore I need to maintain a willingness to try new technology and use pedagogies such as the SAMR model and Blooms Taxonomy, to consider how ICT be used effectively in the classroom.

References

Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (n.d) What is TPACK? Retrieved from http://www.ttf.edu.au/what-is-tpack/what-is-tpack.html

Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N.F, Keddie, A., Letts, W., …Vic, M. (2011) Teaching. Making a difference. (2^nd ed.). Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Howell, J. (2012) Teaching with ICT. Digital pedagogies for collaboration and creativity. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008).
Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young People. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf

National Copyright Unit (2015) Smartcopying. The official guide to copyright issues for Australian school and TAFE. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/home

Reflection 6- Online Collaboration

I must admit that my online presence aside from my blog was very minimal. I had the best intentions to comment on many students blogs but found that I would often forget to do so. I did follow several blogs through blogger and made comments to a select few.

I believe that had I made more of an effort to comment on other blogs, there may have been more comments on my own as it creates a community among students.

I was not sure if what I was posting on my blog was adequate enough, but after I received positive feedback in class (from my tutor), I then continued to use the same layout for my other posts.

A Screen Capture of a comment I had made on Claire B.'s  post

The positives I have gathered from this experience are:

·         I was able to observe whether my ideas were similar to others in my specialisation (English and Home Economics)

·         I was able to gather an understanding about other technologies I had not yet tried

·         The pressure I felt when completing the De Bono Hats activity made me think “outside the box” in order to complete the activity

·         A sense of unity among the different campuses studying the same course.

·         I have increased my digital fluency w which then in turn, will help me with my digital pedagogy

The one and only comment I received on my blog. Not so much with the constructive criticism, just a friendly comment on my video.

Some negatives I have thought of from this experience are:

·         The risk of plagiarism- There have been a few times where I’ve thought that my blog and others were very similar some weeks. Whether this is just ‘great minds thinking alike’ or plain copying, I’m not sure. This could definitely be an issue in a high school setting.

·         People may misconstrue feedback as a personal attack.

For my future students, I would stress the importance of giving constructive feedback and thinking carefully about how their feedback may be construed before posting.

However, if used correctly, peer mentoring can be a very positive experience.

Assessment Task 1.5

 A++ Writing prompts bundle

In years 7, 8 and 9 there is a lot of focus of writing skills with a big emphasis on sizzling starts. The app A+ writing prompts is an app that is available through the Apple App store for ipad and iphone use. It was purchased in a bundle for $8.99 AUD and included Character Prompts, Party Prompts, Dramatic Plus. It is extremely to use these apps, with a swipe, tap or shake you can generate new prompts.  Whilst not all of these apps can be specifically used in the English classroom, they can certainly be used in other subjects that you may be substituting for or even subjects that you do not specialise in such as drama.

The A+ Writing Prompts takes the trouble out of setting up writing exercises for children. Instead of making up your own examples or having the kids pick unimaginative writing prompts for themselves, the app (under scenes) randomises place, character, object and mood in order to give an exciting and challenging prompt for the student to use, especially if you want to do a quick five minute exercise.

Character Prompts is useful in adding depths to students writing- instead of writing about Harry who liked cats, the app gives you additional information such as height, weight, eye and hair colour, ethnicity and distinguishing features. You can also take it further in the info tab by giving the character a bad habit,  a hobby and a favourite saying. If used in Drama, you can have students improvise a scene based on the character you give them.

Party Prompts would be useful at the beginning of term when everyone is learning about each other and icebreakers are needed. Questions such as “What foods do you dislike most” can help students get over their fear of talking in front of their peers. There is also a tab in sketches that would be interesting as a class activity as it provides a genre and three pictures to inspire a story.

 

There is also the option under (texts) to get a whole idea to base a story on, such as “An unstable scientist keeps cloning cats and eventually changes their DNA.”

It is possible that I’ve not chosen a very good technology to write about this week but I’ve certainly found one that I would use in the English Classroom.

In regards to the SAMR model, I think it only covers Substitution and Augmentation. 

Substitution: I can only think of the app as a direct Substitute for picking random ideas from a hat/bucket.

Augmentation – the app can be connected via vga cable to projector and you can have the whole class write a short story via a prompt found under ‘texts’.

Realistically, unless the prompts are frequently updated- it is unlikely that you will be able to use the app all year with the same students.  However it can certainly be reused every year if you are teaching the same grade and even brought out as a refresher aid.

I don’t believe that the apps reach the Modification or Redefinition level of the model but that doesn’t take away from how useful the app can be in a classroom setting.

Assessment Task 1.4

Prezis

Prezis are a closely related cousin of PowerPoint or Keynote. They all make a presentations more visually stimulating but Prezi can be used in a non linear fashion as you can choose what path it will zoom in on.

Prezi was very easy to use. I signed up for a free account and was presented with the option to use many available templates or start a blank one. There are also tutorials available here.  Because it is a free account, your Prezi is available publicly for anyone to view/use. If you were to pay for a subscription, you could make it private. Also, with the subscription, Prezi has the capacity to become multi author, although it should be noted that they can also be deleted without the other contributors consent. Prezi is also customisable to a degree, the backgrounds are easily changed but there are no fonts to choose from which can make it boring to use after a while. I found though, that I was not able to do all the same things as in Keynote. I had made a Keynote presentation to use in a year 9 English class on my placement last year and decided to see if a Prezi could make it more interesting. I copy and pasted the information from Keynote but could not find the tools to make things animate. This was particularly useful when going through grammatical errors with the class, asking them where they thought the correct punctuation was and then visually showing them on the projector.

Thia is my Prezi below:

http://prezi.com/a7ahndb_qxne/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Substitution- Using Prezi instead of PowerPoint to give the visual learners in the classroom something to look at whilst you are checking for understanding.

Augmentation- In an English classroom, you can encourage the students to use Prezi to bring visually engaging elements to their oral presentations.

Modification- Students can work collaboratively in a mind map type setup (similar to wikispaces) on separate computers. In a Home Ec Classroom they could use Prezi to list as a group, what cooking utensils and ingredients they will need for a recipe.

Redefinition-Prezi allows for large presentations to be built upon collaboratively or individually. Large group projects are able to contributed to without the students having to constantly meet in person.

So I personally think PowerPoint/Keynote are still superior to Prezi but for the ease of use I think that Prezi would be very useful in year 7-9 as it is a fairly new piece of technology that they can add to their to their digital toolbox.

Assessment Task 1.3

This week we explored pictures, voice recording and video use in the classroom.

I have decided to focus on video for the third embedded task as it is such a versatile tool. 

We can now easily create personalised videos that combine the effects of pictures and voice recording. Videos can be made using static images and voice over/music or capture real life. They are easily created and edited via programs such as Windows Movie Maker, YouTube editor, iMovie or a multitude of apps that can be downloaded to smart phones/tablets. With videos you can present a large amount of information in a compact presentation.

Videos are not a multi-author tool in the sense of wikis. Certainly, people are able to work together on a video, but it will often be in different aspects (one in charge of filming, one in charge of dialogue etc).

I used Windows Movie Maker on my desktop to create a video that documented my dogs experience with motherhood. I tried to upload it via the 'insert a video option' but it wouldn't load onto blogger. So I uploaded it to my newly made youtube account and added it below.

I was able to easily add captions and select music from the free archive. The program also allows you to create videos from a webcam and/or upload videos from your phone/computer.  Simple animations and visual effects in the style of PowerPoint can be added as well. From my exploration I could not find any privacy settings to apply, so if that is needed, perhaps a more advanced program needs to be used. *Update, as I had to use YouTube for uploading the video, I can report that there are privacy settings available: public, unlisted and private.

As I had no previous experience with the program, I think it is very easy to use as the layout is simple and there isn’t an overwhelming amount of options. I believe this makes it straightforward tool for students to use in the classroom.

There are a number of ways you can use videos in the English and Home Economics classroom. 

You can:

*record lectures

* develop instructional video

* make faux interviews

*record oral presentations

*record role plays

* make a movie based on a story or poem in class

*write an original script and film it

*create a vlog (video log)

If we look at video via the SAMR model:

Substitution: Showing a video of Jamie Oliver chopping an onion instead of physically showing students.

Augmentation: Students can record the process of cooking a recipe from start to finish and share on blog/web page.

Modification: Students can record an oral presentation on video instead of front of class. Allowing them to perfect their speech and mannerisms before submitting for assessment.

Redefinition: Teacher can used flipped classroom method and record lectures for students to watch at home, freeing up time in the classroom to work on what would traditionally be homework.  Students are then able to re-watch lectures in order to gain better understanding.

Using videos in class can not only provide students with film making skills but also allows them to learn transferable life skills such as, collaborative working, research skills, organisational, technology, and problem solving skills.

 Willmot et al (2012) show that there is strong evidence that digital video reporting can inspire and engage students when incorporated into student-centred learning activities through:

·  increased student motivation

·  enhanced learning experience

·  higher marks

·  development potential for deeper learning of the subject development potential for deeper learning of the subject development potential for deeper learning of the subject

·  development of learner autonomy

·  enhanced team working and communication skills

·  a source of evidence relating to skills for interviews

·  learning resources for future cohorts to use

                                                                             Sources

The University of Queensland (2015). Pedagogical benefits. Retrieved from

http://uq.edu.au/tediteach/video-teach-learn/ped-benefits.html

Willmot, P., Bramhall, M., Radley, K. (2012) Using digital video reporting to inspire and engage students. Retrieved from http://www.raeng.org.uk/education/hestem/heip/pdf/Using_digital_video_reporting.pdf

Assessment Task 1.2

When using blogger, a blog is constructed via a simple version of Word- a blank page with an easy to use toolbar at the top.

It has privacy settings, so you can choose to make it public and appear on search engines. It is very easy to use and someone with zero experience with blogs can successfully make a blog and post on it. For those that need a little more help, they have very easy ‘how to’ instructions on the website.

The blog is easily customised. Background, format of the blog, pictures, fonts can all be chosen by you. The background can be customised with a variety of images on blogger or you can upload your own. I found that it asked for an image to be 1800 x 1200 or bigger, but when I found one that size, it told me it was too large. I suspect this is so you choose from their stock images, I have attached screen shots to show the change in background. Fonts are also limited to about 5 or so, understandable on a free website.

Before

After

The blog allows you to use media on it and has an insert video link which can add videos from Youtube, videos from your personal Youtube account, videos from your phone and from a web camera. You are also able to link to websites, picture. I have attached a YouTube instructional video on creating a blog through blogger below.

Using a blog helps you to connect with others by broadcasting your thoughts. You attract like-minded people to share with you, perhaps offer kind words or constructive criticism in your comments. If you have a food blog or a funny blog like Hyperbole and a Half, people will connect with you and share your blog with their friends.

There are three dimensions listed in the Home Economics syllabus, Knowledge and Understanding, Reasoning and Communicating Processes and Practical Performance.

A blog can record the progress a student makes from the beginning of the term to the end. It is clear in my example blog that fictional student Rowan hasn’t put too much thought into her cupcakes. By the end of the course, she would have to think about and demonstrate understanding of dietary requirements and sustainable nutrition when selecting recipes. In terms of reasoning and communication, a blog can record a students reflection as they analyse, synthesise and evaluate the information.

The Practical element of the course could be recorded on the blog via blog and pictures. In my example blog, Rowan showed pictures of what she wanted to make and the end result. To expand on that, she could organise pictures of the whole process from ingredients, videos of the actual mixing  or she could film an instructional video similar to what you see on cooking shows.

The SAMR model has helped me define some ways I could use blogs in either English or Home Economics.

Subtitution: Using a blog with private settings (only accessible to teacher not peers)as an online journal to answer weekly workbook questions on class novel. This is instead of writing in an exercise book.

Augmentation: Teacher can use class blog to make announcements regarding topics/assignments, class trips etc. Students can comment, ask questions, parents can view up to date information. This is like a class newsletter and offers up real time updates and opens up a communication channel as well.

Modification: Students can use a blog to share their  experiences with cooking recipes (like example blog), whether they were successful or not and then reflect on the experience.  Classmates can view and comment, allowing them to give encouragement or share similar experiences and teachers can give feedback directly. 

Redefinition: Blog work is published online as a formal assessment or writing portfolio. 

There are endless ways to use blogs in education, it is just about finding a way to include it that makes sense to the student.