Week 5...

A REFLECTION FROM WEEK 5

 

PowerPoint is merely a presentation aid.

 

Image Courtesy: www.forbes.com

 

It can't be used to facilitate learning in it's own right...can it?  

 

When I was in Grade 9, my English class was charged with the task of presenting a magazine deconstruction using PowerPoint .  Students were scanning images here there and everywhere, using WordArt, ClipArt, transitioning slides and embedding WHHHOOOSSSSHHH sounds. 

 

Then there was David. 

 

On presentation day, David didn't speak.  His presentation spoke...LITERALLY...and the teacher was lost for words.

 

That was 1999. 

 

To dismiss PowerPoint as an effective tool to promote student engagement, enhance learning outcomes and foster collaboration in an interactive environment is pure ignorance. 

 

I have captured the "essence" of this tool in the below SWOT analysis. 

 

 

Here are just a few practical uses of PowerPoint in a classroom context...

 

• To provide all students with the same summary of key information from a lesson or lecture goes against the very idea that is being drilled into us as GDLT students; all learners are different and we must cater for this diversity, respecting all learning styles and theories. 

          

          Some students may prefer the information slide by slide 

 

          Some, a summary of the key points covered by the presenter (notes)

 

          Some, handouts so they can build upon an idea presented in their own words.

 

          PowerPoint caters for this diversity, even in its printing functionality!

 

 

• Mouse Mischief is a PowerPoint add-in which allows students to anonymously interact with presentation material (individually or as teams), allowing multiple mice to be attached to a singe computer. Instant student responses provide feedback, maintain focus, encourage discussion and may highlight a lack of understanding.  This can be useful to ensure learning outcomes are met.  Here is a static representation of my interactive presentation, central to the idea of revenue and GST. 

• The below presentation provides an example of how higher order thinking skills (e.g. comparison, evaluation and justification) can be incorporated into PowerPoint in a fun and engaging way.  

 

 

References

 

Mischief Mouse presentation slides - images courtesy:

• www.tduveen.com.au 

Want a lolly presentation slides - images courtesy:

• www.lolly.com.au 
• www.roadmap.net.au 
• www.geeksofdoom.com 
• www.comicvine.com 
• www.xyscrubs.com 
• www.istockphoto.com 
• wordsfortheyoung.blogspot.com 
• www.presentermedia.com 

 

Week 4...podcasting & digital video

Has technology gone too far?

Image courtesy: www.cartoonstock.com

 

There are many uses for podcasts and audio recordings in a educational context.  I have chosen to explore those relating to Grade 8 Maths.  

 

Meet my kitten Mog 

 

She always seems to get herself in all sorts of trouble.  Listen to her podcast below and help her to remember where she is using integers.  It's important to remember that Mog is renowned for waffling on, so please take note of only the important points. 

 

___________________________________________________________________

-15   -14   -13   -12   -11   -10   -9   -8   -7   -6   -5   -4   -3   -2   -1   0   1   2   3   4   5 

 

http://30779.podomatic.com/entry/2013-03-20T01_16_35-07_00

 

 Interestingly enough, something as simple as the above example can tap into all levels of thinking according to Bloom's Taxonomy. 

 

What about in a business classroom context where students are exploring the customs of different countries relative to business transactions?  Instead of listing answers in a homework book, how much more engaging would it be to record podcasts of interviews where students act out an international transaction?  What if these were transformed three-dimensionally using digital video technology? 

 

The below Tube clip shows how simple pictures can be connected using song to make a very effective movie presentation...and also a catchy way to think about podcasting. 

 

 

 

Week 4...

A REFLECTION FROM WEEK 4

The New Media Consortium (2005) introduce the importance of multimedia to facilitate learning in an educational context, stating "a province once only occupied by artists and filmmakers is now populated by an entire generation of digital natives." 

They go on to say that "young people adept at interpreting meaning in sound, music, still and moving images and interactive components not only seem quite able to cope with messages that engage several of these pathways at once, but in many cases prefer them."  Prensky suggests this preference is due to the nature of the 21st century; "All the students we teach have something in their lives that's really engaging - something that they do and that they are good at, something that has an engaging, creative component to it" (Prensky, 2005). 

Multimedia is a multifaceted concepts which incorporates all of the above elements.  It can be used to transform learning, engage students, draw connections, organise learning material, enhance pedagogy and evoke emotion.   

Image courtesy: www.blingcheese.com

Is your head on the chopping block? 

Images 

 

A picture may be worth 1000 words, but it may also be 1000KB.

With so many on-line options available for presentations of student work or even assessment submission, file size is critical. 

Take me for example.  As assessment for another subject, I created a PowerPoint presentation. 

 

I then went to upload it. 

 

 

Uh oh! 

 

Being aware of programs available online (such as data converters) can ensure that these issues never happen to you!  MobaPhoto is a data converter which can reformat images and videos, effectively reducing file sizes.

 

It can even be used as subject for a maths lesson! 

 

What % file reduction did the use of MobaPhoto result in? 

 

 

 

79% for those of you who care.

 

So can images be used to enhance learning and promote higher order thinking?  This website  provides examples of how each level of thinking can be applied to one simple photograph! 

 

Take the 47.4KB image I simply uploaded from my iPhone.  Second to being a pizza, it can be used to provide a visual representation of a concept (eg: fractions, as slices of a pizza). 

 

This website provides an entire mathematics dictionary, represented by static and interactive images...who said maths can't be fun?

 

 

In the context of a lesson, this visual mode would not be used in isolation.  Commonly an idea/concept would be presented using a pedagogy combining written, aural and visual modes. 

 

Swisher (2007) argues that "when pictures and words are displayed in multimedia, only the visual channel is utilized and it can easily become overloaded; when narration is presented auditorily, it can be processed by the auditory/verbal channel, allowing the visual/pictorial channel more cognitive resources to process the graphical content."

 

He continues in saying, "of particular interest for multimedia learning is the ability of the learner to not only build both verbal and visual modes of mental representation but also establish meaningful connections between them." 

 

The idea here is that multimedia draws on different learning styles and multiple intelligences, which is key to student engagement.  Being a visual learner myself, I do not underestimate the power of images.

 

References:

 

Prensky M. (2005). "Engage Me or Enrage Me". What Today's Learners Demand? Retrieved from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf

 

The New Media Consortium (2005). A Global Imperative - The Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit Retrieved from: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/Global_Imperative.pdf

 

 Swisher D. (2007). Does Multimedia Truly Enhance Learning? Moving Beyond the Visual Media Bandwagon Toward Instructional Effectiveness Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/1046356/Does_Multimedia_Truly_Enhance_Learning_Moving_Beyond_The_Visual_Media_Bandwagon_Toward_Instructional_Effectiveness

 

 

 

Week 3...whoops!

I think I got so caught up blogging about blogs that I forgot to consider the other two Group 1 tools!

Wiki's

By now you've all met my Mother.  For her sake, I thought I would provide a clip explaining Wiki's in layman's terms.  I don't think I can handle any more blog/blob comments! 

 

In order to reflect on the learning potential of a Wiki, I encourage you to participate; drawing on the similarities and differences between FAHE11001-3-11 and learningstyles-smccowanblogger. 

 

It is clear that the design and presentation of the Wiki may act as a hindrance to it's use.

 

Websites

 

What do you think of this?

Week 3...

A REFLECTION FROM WEEK 3

 

By way of introduction to this weeks reflection, I wanted to share a conversation I had over the weekend with my Mother.
 

Me: I have to do a blog reflection each week for one of my subjects at Uni.
 

Mum:

 

 

Simply put, a blog is a web log.  Here's what I think...

Blogs can be used as a repository for information.  Users have the ability to embed media such as PowerPoint (uploaded through online tools such as SlideShare or authorSTREAM), YouTube clips, online quizzes, podcasts, animations and images, and can hyperlink to external sources such as websites or wikis within a single blog posting. 

 

Glencoe Online (2000-2005) provide four basic functions of blogs when used in a classroom context:

• Classroom management
• Collaboration
• Discussions and
• Student portfolios.

They suggest that "class blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board". 

Here is an example of a blog used effectively to promote higher order thinking and encourage creativity.  This posting would strongly reflect Connectivism, with other postings taking a more Behaviourist approach.  It is worthwhile considering the affordances of blogs as engaging outlets for extension students, or as remedial tools (additional activities to reinforce concepts) in the context of a lesson or even homework.  It is clear that the design of the blog and the way it is scaffolded can be used to address each students individual learning needs. 

References

Glencoe Online. (2000-2005). Using the blog in the classroom. Retrieved from: ttp://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47 

Images in PMI table courtesy of: 

• sammydvintage.com 
• www.acclaimimages.com 

 

Week 2...an afterthought

TEACHNOLOGY

 

 

Would you look at that?  I made up a word (let's blame my lack of typing proficiency).

 

 

Given the below options, let's define it:

 

 

a)  Teachnology is one letter away from technology, therefore the "a" was an intentional error.  "A" is representative of apple which suggests health.  In this context it refers to the importance of a healthy diet when surfing the net.

b)  Teach-nology simply means teaching students how to use technology.  This uTube clip is a great example. 

 

 

c)  Teachnology is the principle behind TPACK

Record your responses here!

 

Week 2...

A REFLECTION FROM WEEK 2

 

Doesn't this just make you feel all warm and fuzzy? 
 

Image courtesy: www.ucview.com

 

Orange stick people unite to put the pieces of the puzzle together...it's not as stupid as you may think.

 

Put in the context of a classroom, that's Social Constructivism.  Social Constructivism is based on the premise that "learning is founded upon social interactions within a learning community or expert community" (Fasso, 2013). 

 

Medina (2008) suggests that "if you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom". 

 

Connectivism and TPACK

As humans (as opposed to orange stick people), we are intrinsically curious. 

 

• Do marshmallows have different flavours or do pink and white ones taste the same?
• How were marshmallows invented?         * written whilst sipping a cup of Hot Chocolate
 

If this curiosity is not embraced by teachers in the classroom (and in some cases re-directed), the result could be disengaged learners. 

Siemens (2004) suggests that "learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing". 

I will be the first to admit that I don't know everything. I don't even know what "everything" is.  It is the same for students. 

Introducing Connectivism, a learning theory for the digital age.

 

TPACK is a framework which supports this learning theory. 

Image courtesy: missspinkontech.global2.vic.edu.au 

Put simply, it is the incorporation of ICT's into the teaching science.  Media Smarts (n.d.) suggest that "technology has shifted the traditional classroom paradigm that positions the teacher as the expert". 

Learning Engagement - Working in a wiki

This week we were charged with the task of working within a wiki, positioned around the controversial issue of whether mobile phones have a place in the classroom. 

 

The features of the wiki that appealed to me were:

• the organic nature of the site - I was surprised by the ease at which I could edit both the structure and text of the site,
• the ways in which it can foster collaboration - although I came to realise that this is highly reliant on the pedagogical design of the teacher and the ways in which the activity is scaffolded (through both peer and teacher input, bridging knowledge gaps or re-focusing attention), and
• it allows for creative expression, not only as a text repository for perspectives, but allows for the upload of multi media - which supports each students individual learning preferences

I found the exercise to be unstructured and messy (surprisingly, both terms used to describe Constructivism), however the benefits were clear.  This medium allowed for expression of a wider range of perspectives that I had ever considered.  This was great because it gave me a much "fuller" understanding of the issue at hand and my resulting opinion was significantly different from the narrow minded view I had to start with. 

 
The below diagram shows how wiki's can facilitate higher order thinking when it comes to analysing the information presented (in order to formulate an opinion or develop understanding of an issue).   

 

 

 "Productive Pedagogies", source: Slideshare; accessed on 9 March 2013

Depending on the extent to which you chose to engage, wiki's can support all learning theories. 

Take me for example...

 

....blah....blah....blah....*collaborative research projects idea*....blah....blah.... (written by other students)

 

I couldn't help myself but add the image (visual learner!)
Continuing on from the idea of using mobile devices to facilitate collaborative research projects, I have discovered a website (www.polleverywhere.com) which gathers instant responses to a posited question via text messaging. This is a fantastically engaging introduction to dry topics such as statistics, graphing and data analysis...and a quick way of knowing whether there are others out there who ate chocolate for breakfast this morning!! (written by me)

 

BEHAVIOURISM

 

COGNITIVISM

 

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM

CONNECTIVISM

 

As a side note, I discovered an additional feature which monitors usage statistics. 

 

 

 

What a way to check and see whether students are reviewing/editing original thoughts to scaffold their learning and develop understanding! 

 

Food for thought...

 

Isn't it funny that the top 2 search results to my marshmallow question were Wiki's?  Must be something in it hey. 

 

 

References

 

Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principals for surviving and thriving at work, home and school. Seattle, U.S.A: Pear Press. 

 

Media Smarts. (n.d.). Digital literacy fundamentals: Fostering digital literacy in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/digital-literacy-fundamentals

 

Fasso, W. (2013a). A brief overview of learning theory. Retrieved from CQUniversity e-courses, EDED20491 ICT’s for Learning Design, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=115326

 

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm