Reflective Synopsis.

Reflective synopsis.

I have split it into named paragraphs and have underlined the links that are important to view.

This reflective synopsis will firstly address the E-learning and the theories, then Wikis and the de Bono hats activity, four tools will be described in detail. A paragraph on TPACK and Bloom's Taxonomy and a short paragraph on working legally online, followed by conclusion.

   1) Managing E-learning and the theories.
 E- Learning is the computer and network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge. (Wikipedia, 2012). E-learning just like any other learning is approached by investigating, analysing and applying the teaching, learning theories and knowing the cognitivism model found here.  Classification of learning styles by Felder and Solomon is important because to teach someone you need to know how they best learn. And it is proven that technology targets different learning styles. For kinaesthetic learners, tools such as interactive whiteboard can act as a catalyst in enhancing these students' motivation.(  Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Barlett & Biehler, 2009, p. 123). I have done the activity about the learning styles and posted the reflection here. The profiling of the learners should always be the first part undertaken when commencing the teaching. (Marzano & Pickering, 1997). ICT is making it easier for teachers to get to know the students. I have used powerpoints and interactive activities in my previous placements and it has helped me to get to know the students quicker and get their attention, which made me feel like I am heading the right way. Today we are faced with a digital age and the students that will be taught will most likely be digital natives, Prensky has a strong belief that teachers should learn the language of the digital natives, my reflection on Prensky's ideas can be found here. ICT is capable to cater for all sorts of learners. The combination of individual and collaborative work opportunities with ICT are just the few of the possibilities. With ICT students can work individually and then share the ideas with others. As a practising teacher, in one of my placements I have presented a powerpoint with powerful images, where students had to brainstorm words and then try and create the poem. This was successful, as the students seemed motivated to view the pictures and start creating the poems. Social networking enhances the theory of social constructivism where Vygotsky states that social interaction has a large influence on learning. Class discussions, debates and interactive activities are a few of the things that do work and I have seen it work at schools, where students are willing to express their opinion. Blogs, wikis and other tools are making the expression more personal. ( Fasso, 2012). According to Waterhouse (2003), E-learning involves improving teaching and learning using instructional strategies enhanced by technology, especially computer technology. At a very basic level E-learning is using information communication technologies (ICTs) to engage, enhance and extend learning in pedagogically sound, flexible and innovative ways. ( Fasso, 2012). Digital pedagogies should become important in the classrooms and not just be barely integrated, ICT should be a tool which is used consistently and not rarely to achieve the optimum learning result. There are many teachers that don't know enough about the technologies, which they should and it needs to change.The learning theory for the digital age is that of the connectivism. George Siemens believes that the location of the contents, the speed and the means of finding the information is becoming a focus point rather than the actual resources. Technology has made it possible to access the information quickly, accurately and learn anywhere, with Wi-fi's, 3G models, people can access information at the fingertips. The students are finding it appealing because it is quick and easy. No need to carry all the heavy material in the bags, when you can have an i pad that fits so much.

2) Mobile phones Wiki Activity and the de Bono hats. My contribution can be found here.

My reflection can be found on the de Bono hats can be found here

    A wiki is an online space where users and guests can edit, modify, add, remove information. One important thing to know is that one student is able to remove, overwrite or edit the work of another. ( Fasso, 2012). This activity provides 6 perspectives on the mobile phones, this gives a chance for people to develop and respond on the same topic in a constructivist way by responding on different perspectives. It is useful for teaching process and it encourages the students to search and discover new things to say about the topic, instead of repeating what somebody else has said, even if it was the starter idea for that student. This activity really encourages the deeper analysis of the topic. This activity is a part of scaffolding and it provides some hints to the students by allowing the students to view what other students are thinking. (Snowman et al., 2009, p. 47). I would also classify this activity as guided learning for our E-learning course, where Wendy Fasso has encouraged the discussion and has led us to participate in this activity. This systematic presentation of the information and activities allows the students to be guided to the meaningful leaning. ( Snowman et al., 2009, p. 396). This activity was not isolated and it was collaborative, therefore it encouraging social constructivism. It was used to combine the individual talents of all students in order to investigate the problem and the point of view on mobile phones. ( Snowman et al., 2009, p. 413). I could use this activity in the class, where any topic could be named with varied perspectives.

3) Blogs

I have chosen a blog because I have been working quite alot with it and in it for the last few weeks and I got quite familiar with it. So, a blog is a website, maintained by an individual, where regular information, content is added for own or for sharing. I think that blogs are quick and easy to set up and the information can be added quickly and updated also fast. This is a space where the teachers and the students can work together to achieve more in the classroom. In my blog, I have provided more information about the blogs and have used the scaffolding such as PMI and SWOT analysis to further explore the digital tool-blog. By allowing the students to create own blogs, the teachers can learn about the students and explore the intelligences that each student has. Each person in the class is bound to have a completely unique blog, just like we all do in our E-learning class. These blogs could become like diaries and could be used daily if applicable because lets face it one of the critical changes in schools in the twenty-first century is the focus on technology and the way in which students access and use technology. (Hyde, Carpenter & Conway, 2010, p. 30)
The scaffolded information about the blog can be found here, on my blog.

4) Images.

" Literacy" usually means the ability to read and write, but it can also mean the reading of the signs, visual cues, images, gestures. ( Thibault & Walbert, n.d) We are sure living in the visual culture, where magazines are presented with powerful images, that seem to be speaking more than the words. I have chosen to investigate images further because I believe that images make students think critically and create the meaning for themselves, brainstorm the words that could describe the image, use imagination. Find out about the image, the time that it has been taken, created, the reasons, what is the picture trying to say? Reading images is more complicated and it requires analytical thinking. The teacher can engage the students with the image just as effectively as with written text. Provide images that are authentic and relate to students' interests. (Marzano & Pickering, 1997, p. 32).The images can be used to construct the meaning by having a class debate or creating a concept map.  Students also will get to experience the content through a variety of senses. ( Marzano & Pickering, 1997, p. 52). Students can present own images and provide the background story to the image, which would be great in English classes, the image can also be used to write poems from brainstormed words. To my wiki, I have added some additional information about the blogs and i have also added A PowerPoint presentation, which I have used at school and it is based on images and creating a poem from the images, this can be found here. Also the extended information on the images can be found on my blog here.

5) Powerpoints.

I have chosen to analyse the PowerPoint further because I find it quite useful for using when presenting the information to the group of people. PowerPoint is regarded as a presentation tool and it used to support oral presentations. More can be found here. Declarative knowledge needs to be presented to the class and i think that PowerPoint is a good tool for that because it will capture the classe's attention through the slides, which could be displayed quite effectively by using appropriate timing, embedding videos, audio and attaching powerful images. A PowerPoint is perfect for aiding the teacher and it can further convey the meaning of the scaffolded information in a visual kind of way. PowerPoints could also help the students to develop complex reasoning process, where the PowerPoint slides could be used to compare, classify and abstract the presented information. ( Marzano & Pickering, 1997, p. 114). But the PowerPoints can also be created by students and creating a PowerPoint will require the students to research the information, put in a chronological order and make the meaning, so that the audience could understand more clearly. The PowerPoint's are used as presentation tools for teachers and they have to be incorporated to a consistent social learning theory, where the teacher demonstrates the material pictorially and graphically and the students reflect and ask additional questions. ( Snowman et al., 2009, p. 383). More information and PowerPoint presentations can be found here.

6) Concept Mapping

A popular method of organising and spatially representing the relationships among a set of ideas is concept mapping. ( Snowman et al., 2009, p. 389). I have chosen concept mapping because i think that it is an effective tool in emphasising the organisation and the meaningfulness. I have used Bubbl.us which can be found here. Bublu.us allows you to create a concept map online and then extract it and save it on your computer, or online. One of the Bubbl.us that I have created for one the courses has broken down the information about numeracy and literacy and described IT in meaningful links, as to what constitutes  literacy and what constitutes numeracy. This encourages higher order thinking, where it requires students to manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications. This transformation occurs when students combine facts and ideas in order to synthesise, generalise, explain or arrive at conclusion. Presenting the concept maps and then requiring the students to create some themselves, will engage the students in constructing the meaning. The students need to think and reflect on the concepts. ( Mclnerney & Mclnerney, 2006).

7) TPACK and Bloom's taxonomy.

When working with ICT in the classroom, it is important to know how to do it properly and effectively, TPACK framework, which can be found here is a famework of Shulman and it acknowledges that subject area experts know their content, and teachers of this content have specific pedagogies that they use to support its learning. Technology (ICT) is designed and used for specific purposes and subjects in the classroom, some tools will be better for certain teaching areas. For example English and German subjects will benefit highly with tools such as wikis, powerpoints, voki, where language could be analysed, presented, heard. Technologies such as I pads at schools, make many things possible for students, students can access dictionaries for German, thesaurus. Podcasts could be used to view and listen to poetry. Endless opportunities, but the teacher must know the content in order to present it, that is what TPACK  is stating. Bloom's taxonomy states that there are three types of learning: knowledge, affective and psychomotor. The link can be found here. Bloom's taxonomy displays the steps of moving from lower order thinking to higher order thinking. For this to happen, the information which is being presented should be accurate, meaningful and challenging, it should leave room for expansion and room for students to explore, create and add own opinions and content in order to reach the higher order thinking stage. The teacher should not just provide chunks of information, it must be systematic and closely relate to the steps needed in order for learning to take place, Bloom's Taxonomy explains that.

8) Working legally, safely and ethically online:

All the materials used should be referenced properly unless they belong to you. it is important to use attribution, as a teacher it is important to know the guidelines of what material can and can't be submitted online. The teacher should be aware of stranger danger and cyber bullying, things that are quite common today.

9) Conclusion

To some it all up, the blogs, images, PowerPoints and concept maps are all great tools to use in the classroom. The ICT  has made it possible to present the content in various ways and make it easily accessible. This E-learning course has taught me alot. Some of the tools I have never heard of and now I feel better because I know all the various ways of how  I could present the information using ICT. I can't wait to be able to incorporate all these tools into my teaching practise. The systematic organisation of the activities and tools has been great because I was able to easily follow the content and learn step by step. The significance of technology is imeasurable, it is not a maybe anymore but a must, the world has changed. As a teacher we must learn with the worls and pass it on to the students, we must know the current changes in order to relate, that is the profession. It is not less important than being a doctor, where one must know the new invented medicine because that's what is being prescribed. This E-learning course has opnede some doors for me, I did underestimate the technology before but now I believe that it is a powerful tool of today and the future.

References:


Ambrutyte, H. (2012).  HensE-learning. Retrieved August 16, 2012, from
http://www.wikispaces.com/user/my/henny1987

Ambrutyte, H. (2012). Hen's E-learning blog. Retrieved August 16, 2012, from
http://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/

Ambrutyte, H. (2012). ICT Tools -Group 1: Wikis, Blog & Website. Retrieved from

http://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/digital-tools-group-1-blogs-wikis.html


Ambrutyte, H. (2012). ICT Tools-Group 2: Images, Podcasts & Digital video. Retrieved from
http://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/ict-tools-group-2-images-podcasts.html


Ambrutyte, H. ( 2012). ICT Tools- Group 3: Powerpoint, Prezi & Glgster. Retrieved from http://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/ict-tools-group-3-powerpoint-prezi-and.html


Ambrutyte, H. ( 2012). ICT Tools- Group 4: Google earth, google maps, online concept maps, google docs & museumbox. Retrieved from
http://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/ict-tools-group-3-powerpoint-preziand.htmhttp://henrika87.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/ict-tools-group-3-powerpoint-prezi-and.htm

Department of Education and Training, (DET), (2010). Productive pedagogies.
Retrieved August 12, 2012 from
http://education.qld.gov.au/staff/learning/diversity/teaching/pp/index.html

Fasso, W. ( 2012. May 14). Learning theory and e-learning.  Retrieved from CQUniversity e-

ourses, FAHE 11001 Managing e-learning,
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?name=FAHE11001_2122

Hyde, M., Carpenter, L., 7 Conway, R. (2010). Diversity and Inclusion in Australian schools (1^sted.). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

Marzano, R., & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of learning: Teacher’s manual (1^st ed.).
Aurora, Colorado: McREL.

Mclnerney, D., & Mclnerney, V. (2006). Educational psychology; constructing learning. ( 4th ed). Pearson Education Australia, NSW.


Snowman, J., Dobozy, E., Scevak, J., Barlett, B., &Bryer, F. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching (11^th ed.). Australia, Ltd. John Wiley & Sons.

Thibault, M. &  Walbert, D. (n.d). Reading images: an introduction to visual literacy.
Retrieved August 10, 2012 fro
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/675

Wikipedia, (2012). E-learning. Retrieved August 16, 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

ICT Tools-Group 4 : Google earth, Google maps, Online concept maps, Google docs, museumbox.

ICT Tools- Group 4: Google Earth, Google maps, online concept maps, google docs, museumbox.

Google earth:

Is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called Earth Viewer 3D. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography.

It enables students to see images from different parts of the earth with the ability to overlay streets/ roads with latitude and longitude. Students can see their own backyards.

Google earth is very investigative. It can trace your current location, which is quite interesting.

How can it be used in the classroom?

Google Earth would be great for teaching languages, the countries and the location could be traced and the students could closely see the physical origin of where that language is spoken. In English, the students study language and the authors, their location and origins could be investigated closely.  Google LitTrips seem quite interesting too. Teachers could create stories about the authors and their journey.

Resources:
Wikipedia

Google maps:

Is a web mapping service application and technology provided by google. Google maps satellite images are not updated in real time; they are several months or years old. Google maps provides a route planner under 'Get directions' .

Google maps would be great to create when planning school tours, this map could be viewed with students and the teachers that are going to be going on that tour. A tour to Germany for example. Not too sure how can google maps be used in the classroom.

Resource:
Wikipedia

Concept mapping:

Is a way of representing relationships between ideas, images, or words in the same way that a sentence diagram represents the grammar of a sentence. In a concept map, each word or phrase is connected to another and linked back to the original idea, word or phrase. Cocept maps are a way to develop logical thinking and study skills by revealing connections and helping students see how individual ideas form a larger whole.

Google docs:

Is an easy-to-use online word processor ,spreadsheet andperesentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online in real time.You can create new documents from scratch or upload existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. There is no software to download, and all your work is stored safely online and can be accessed from any computer.

How can google docs be used in the classroom?

• In group collaboration activities.
• Keep track of grades, attendance, or any other data- always available spreadsheet.
• Maintain, update and share lesson plans- in a single document.
• Track and organize cumulative project data- accessable to any collaborator at any time. Google (2012).

Museumbox:

Museum box provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view the museum boxes submitte by other people and comment on the contents.

How can Museumbox be used in the classroom?

• This would be a great tool for English and German, where authors such as Shakespeare could be represented in that box, or in German the countrie' s profile could be presented in the virtual box.

Extended information on Concept mapping.

Affordances:

Teachers:

• Can be used to aid oral, direct teaching presentations.
• Can be easily accessed online and the concept maps can be extracted and saved.
• Can be used in the classroom.
• Can be expanded and linked as much as needed.
•  Colours, size of lettering and layout can be chosen.

Students:

• Can create own concept maps, using Bubbl.us or Text2Mindmap.
• Can use concept maps for revision or to get ready for the tests.
• Can share concept maps online,

Positives:

• Can be used to activate prior knowledge.
• Can be used to organize and brainstorm the new information.
• Is fast and and efficient to create, use and save.
• Can provide meaningful context
• Can organize information into a logical format
• Can scaffold material for students.
• Can link information so it is not isilated chunks of material.

Negatives:

•  Concept maps only present words and links, other tools such as digital and audio and other materials will be needed to provide clearer links for various styles of learners.

Application:

• Activating prior knowledge.
• When learning new topics.
• Doing research.
• Making links between one thing/ concept and the other.
• Revising for a test.
• Scaffolding the material and selecting the more important links out of a big chunk of text and information.

I have used Bubbl.us for my previous university courses. Here are some created Bubblu.us:
I have enjoyed this and it helped me to think more about the topic and also be creative. Bubbl.us has also got different colours to match the strands of the ideas, which is very beneficial.

ICT Tools- Group 3: Powerpoint, Prezi and Glogster

ICT Tools- Group 3: Powepoint, Prezi & Glogster.

Power points:

I have used PowerPoint's previously and I have used quite a few of them at my school placements. This is one of them, found at my Wiki space and it is called "Das Wetter", I used this PowerPoint for my German class when the topic was on weather.

What is a PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is a versatile presentation tool that can be used as a multimodal presentation to accommodate intelligences or as an advanced organizer to present content to learners.

Resource:
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/creating-animations-powerpoint-support-student-learning-and-engagement

     PowerPoint is regarded as a presentation tool that is used to support oral presentations. But it is so much more. It is a platform that supports the embedding of text, linking and interactivity, audio, video and images. So it is really a very easy to use multimedia authoring tool. When you analyse this tool, consider the multiple uses and think beyond the tired presentation. PowerPoint can be used to create a narrated stand alone presentation. This means that your students6 are able to record, listen, improve and re-record their narration - a benefit that is not afforded by an oral presentation. Thus, your students have the opportunity to develop their spoken skills rather than being confronted by nervousness when presenting orally. As a presentation tool, PowerPoint supports embedded audio and video, which has already been proven to be important to this generation of learners, and certainly by the learning theory you have consulted. PowerPoint can be used to analyse a process, to create interaction "choose your own path" story books. It can be used to create interactive quizzes both by yourself and by your students for each other (or other audiences).

Extended entry on the PowerPoints: 

Affordances:   

Teachers:

• The PowerPoint's can be used for the presentation of nearly every topic.
• The teachers can communicate their speech presentation better with the PowerPoint because it is possible to add images, videos, audio files to the PowerPoint's.
• The PowerPoint's can be zoomed using Prezi and it is perfect for global learners.
• Can do a presentation for the parents.
• Can create interactive presentations, where it is possible to click on the image and access a program from the computer if needed.
• Mischief mouse can be used for interactive activities.
• Adding a pop quiz at the end of the presentation.

Students:

• Students can create animations in PowerPoint.
• Students can present any topic with a PowerPoint, using graphics, images, videos and choose their own timing when presenting, with elaboration possible.
• Can get creative and use various backgrounds and custom bullets.
• Use Prezi to zoom the presentation and explain the certain parts in detail if needed.

Positives:

• Powerful presentation tools. 
• Videos and web videos can be embedded.
• PowerPoint can be converted to video.
• Many visual elements to create a powerful presentation.
• The new co-authoring function allows users to simultaneously edit the same presentation from different locations or computers.
• PowerPoint presentations can be organized into sections.

Negatives:

• PowerPoint works best for things that are presented visually, not verbally. It helps when you need to draw a picture and not necessary to tell a story.
• Since Powerpoint 2007 and 2010 both use the pptx extension, it is virtually impossible to tell which of the two versions the presentation was created in.
• It can take away the control from the presenter.
• It does not handle too much text well and so it is the best to use for visuals or interactive activities but not fro presenting long texts.
• The PowerPoint's real purpose is to be short, visual and informative.

Application:

• In German and English classes, the PowerPoint could be used to introduce any language features, for example presenting vocabulary words and maybe adding a picture with it for remembering better.
• A short, informative PowerPoint on Shakespeare.
• Students can do presentations about Germany and present it to the class.

Resource: http://www.shkaminski.com/Classes/Handouts/powerpoint.htm#How well does it work

Prezi.

What is Prezi?

         One of the drawbacks of PowerPoint is that it is linear. For your sequential learners this is ideal. For your global learners this is frustrating. Prezi allows you a global perspective on your material whilst allowing you the ability to add minute detail not possible in PowerPoint. In addition, sometimes you do wish to add detail to a presentation. In PowerPoint, this results in the slide that nobody
 can see - you know, the one that the presenter states "I know you cannot see the detail in this slide, 

but.....", and you wonder why they put it up. Nonetheless, we all screw up our eyes and battle to read the detail. Prezi allows you to present the big picture, and then zoom in to as much detail as you wish. It is like taking a magnifying glass to the tiny print on that hard-to-read PowerPoint slide.

I have never heard of Prezi before but once I tried it and copied one of my PowerPoint's to it, I realised how powerful it it, it is great. I consider myself a global learner and Prezi makes it so much
more interesting, with powerful zooming abilities and a possibility to add extra text and notes. I have enjoyed selecting the backgrounds.

I have explored Prezi and have added one of my created Power points here. Prezi is awesome, I am going to use this in my future schools. It is simply amazing!

Glogster:

What is Glogster?

Is a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters , or Glogs. A "Glog", short for "graphics blog", is an interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster but readers can interact with the content.  The tool is currently being used for advertising as well as for CV's. Glogster provides an
online environment to design interactive posters. The user inserts text, images, photos, audio (MP3), videos, special effects and other elements into their glogs to generate a multimedia online creation. Posters can be shared with other users on the site, embedded in external wikis and blogs, and shared via many social networks such as Facebook.

Resource: Wikipedia.

ICT Tools -Group 2: Images, Podcasts & Digital Video

ICT Tools-Group 2: Images, Podcasts & Digital Video.

Images

Images may be two-dimensional, such as a photograph, screen display, and as well as a three-dimensional, such as a statue or hologram. They may be captured by optical devices–such as cameras, mirrors, lenses, telescopes, microscopes, etc. and natural objects and phenomena, such as thehuman eye or water surfaces. The word image is also used in the broader sense of any two-dimensional figure such as a map, a graph, a pie chart, or an abstract painting. In this wider sense, images can also be rendered manually, such as by drawing, painting, carving, rendered automatically by printing or computer graphicstechnology, or developed by a combination of methods, especially in a pseudo-photograph. A volatile image is one that exists only for a short period of time. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of a camera obscura, or a scene displayed on a cathode ray tube. A fixed image, also called a hard copy, is one that has been recorded on a material object, such as paper ortextile by photography or digital processes.

Source: Wikipedia

Tools for working with images:

Resizing photos: go to: Moba photo

Digital images online: Flickr: I have created an account and added a photo here.

I have also trialed and tested be funky creative website and have uploaded a photo and changed its appearance: like this:

Picture retrieved from here.


Extended entry on the images:

Affordances:

Teachers:

• Could be used as the hook for the class- powerful image, let the students brainstorm and begin associating the words with the picture.
• Can aid the written material and link the powerful images with it.
• Can aid visual learners.
• Can illustrate the events more effectively with images.
• Can illustrate the information and processes visually with diagrams and graphs.
• Can create powerpoints with images and zoom in the powerpoints by using Prezi.

Students:

•  Can create and share visual material through blogs and wikis.
• Can express themselves better with images that relate to what is being asked in some assignments by using graphs, mindmaps, photographs and so on.
• Can add personal, family photos to share information about themselves.

Positives-

• Provides variety, breaks up the written text and makes it more interesting and meaningful.
• Images can say many words, let students describe the image in descriptive words in English classes.
• Can make the Blogs, wikis more personal by adding own photos or the things that the students like.

Negatives-

• It is risky and dangerous to upload personal pictures and information, there are many cyber bullies and others that are willing to abuse the internet and do the wrong thing.
• It is important to  know what you can and can't share with the world and be aware that attribution applies and that some pictures need permission for the usage and the distribution.

Applications:

• Can be used at home and in the classroom. Powerful power point presentations with images.
• In German classes, the countries profile and states can be presented visually, foods, culture and other German-related images supplied to the class. In English, persuasive text can have images to go with it, advertisment, students describing a topic in anything, will be able to add images to it. Images can also be used to make a movie with a movie maker.

Digital audio recordings: see Experience with Voki  here.

What is a digital audio and a podcast?

A podcast:

A podcast is simply a sound file. But it is a sound file that is shared with others, usually by subscription. Clearly, podcasts can be accessed online, created by others across the web. They can be accessed online as files that you create for your students. But importantly, they are also files that your students create and share by uploading online.

In its simplest form, it is a recording of student performance or speech that is saved on a computer. This recording can be done direct to computer, or using a device such as a portable voice recorder or MP3 player. These recordings can be used in their own right, or can be used to provide a sound track on a movie, or embedded in PowerPoint.

In the next step up, audio recordings can be uploaded online. They can be uploaded to wikispaces, but unfortunately not into your blog. However, you can link from your blog to your wiki. The wiki will embed your voice recording into a player so it streams from your wiki page. Recordings can either be downloaded or streamed.

Digital audio can be embedded into the wiki space but not the blog, however the students can link the wiki site to their blog.

This is an example of the podcast.


http://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/

The podomatic website could be used for recording German and then using it in the classroom.

I have accessed the Podomatic and have had a look at Classic poetry aloud , since I am studying to be an English teacher, this poetry podcast is brilliant and there are many poems by many different poets which are currently being studied at high schools.

The only downfall is that if the podcast is quite popular and highly used, the donations will have to be made for the podcast to be accessed for example on the i Tunes, if the podcast is accessed online, there is no problem. I have embedded the 'Anthem for doomed youth' by Alfred Owen, which i remember i had to do on my practical as one of the war poems.

Digital videos:

According to a research study by Kearney & Shuck (2006), digital video has a range of common usages in schools, in particular for communication, observation and analysis, and reflection. As a communication tool, digital video facilitates students' communication of messages, ideas or information. Digital video is also used as an observation and analysis tool, enhancing students' observations of phenomena, experiments or performances. Finally, it is used as a reflection tool to support student reflections on their own learning.
here
Outcomes of student video production include affective, meta cognitive, higher order thinking, communication and presentation, literacy, organisational and teamwork and movie making skill development.

Whilst digital video is a sound support of student capacity, and outcomes described (taken from Kearney and Shuck), caution is urged in ensuring that conceptual development related to curriculum outcomes is maintained as a core focus.

Digital video can be created using digital video cameras, however can also be made using still photographs, audio overlay, and/or the inclusion of video.


Common tools for the simple creation of digital video include Windows MovieMaker (on all Windows PCs) and iMovie (on all Apples), both included with the operating systems commonly installed on computers. Making movies is accessible to all, and even early childhood students are capable of combining their voice recordings and images into a movie.

Digital Tools group 1- Blogs-Wikis-Websites

Digital Tools  group 1- Blogs - Wikis- Websites

What is a blog?

          A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art, photographs, sketches, videos, music, audio, which are part of a wider network of social media

Source: wikipedia

Blogs:

I have started E-learning course and one of the first things we had to do was to set up our own blog, which currently looks like it does underneath but more information will be added soon!

          ICT's  and blogs are powerful tools for teachers and students.  ICT( Information and Communications Technoogy) is the name given to any digital device. This includes but is not limited to computers and the affordances of the internet, including a range of read-write tools. Scanners , hand-held devices, mobile phones, cameras, digital voice recorders, iPods, MP3 players, GPS devices and digital microscopes are all ICT. ( Moodle, 2012). ICT's provide the students with a variety and also interesting resources can be incorporated together with learning context and the curriculum, it is important to present information which will make students use higher order thinking skills and scaffolding.

Blogger tour -  Will describe more about the blogs and will take you through the different information on blogs.

Blog analyzer- http://www.webseoanalytics.com/free/seo-tools/blog-analyzer.php. This website analyses your blog. I have analysed mine and here is some of the results: It is quite interesting and it explains what the domains mean after you analyse your blog.

Swot analysis of blogs an enterprise perspective from enterprisezweinull

Extended Exploration of a blog:

Affordances:

For teachers: Using edublogs for example.

• The possibility to share materials, news, downloads, links and more with the students daily.
• Facilitate online discussions and collaboration.
• Create a class publication that students can easily publish to and you can easily edit.
• Replace your newsletter and stay in touch with parents about what is going in class.
• Get your students blogging so that they can share their work and thoughts.
• Share your lesson plans.

For students:

• Sharing the materials with everyone and finding the 'voice'.
• Encourages the enthusiasm for writing and creating.
• Blogs can be easily edited and updated by the author of the blog
• Other students and friends can comment on the blog pages created by others.
• Blogs can be used for scaffolding and as a life- long learning tool.
• The written blogs can be viewed by many and it provides the students with the feeling of connectedness.

Resource: Educational Blogging.
http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging

Adding things to the blog:
With blogs you can add an image, third party such as flickr can be used aswel for uploading the edited photos to your blog. Adding videos is also posible. Blogger accepts AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, Real and Windows files and the video must be less than 100 MB in size. 

Can't add:
Audio files or powerpoints or files and Microsoft Word documents. Wiki would have to be used for that.

Positives-  Easy to use, step by step instructions, can be accesssed at the Blogger Tour. Interesting and encourages creativity, can change layout, font, make it personal. Can be timelined and the information can be organized and sorted out. Automatically saves while you typing. Can have drafts and publish whenever the full paper is ready. It is fun. Can keep the blog private.

Negatives- Can be slow when typing at times, gets overloaded, everyone can see the material if it is not made private, material could be criticised, could create issues in the classroom, some students might not want to publish their thoughts and ideas. Some students might not have access to the computer or the internet at home. When typing, the capital letters don't automatically apply, like in word documents, so the typing can be a bit slower.

Applications- Could be used weekly, to reflect on the learnt material, mainly use it at school and at the computer rooms, unless all the students have the access to the computer at home. Homework could be supplied, diaries could be kept for poetry for example. Blogs could be used to scaffold the information and to access the weekly information and activities, added by the teacher.

Possible usage of blogs in German and English classes: some ideas.

German: ideas.

Students can create a German blog, browse pictures relating to Germany, describe the pictures, write in German. Upload German You-tube videos, German songs. Do a presentation and share it with the class, allow other students to comment on each other's blogs.

Blogging very much supports learning theories of Social Constructivism and Connectivism:  

What is a wiki?

My wiki can be accessed here http://www.wikispaces.com/user/my/henny1987.
         A wiki is an online space where users and guests can edit, modify, add, remove information with intuitive editing tools. It could be compared to a never-ending, paginated sheet of online butchers paper. Working in a wiki requires rules and etiquette. Especially given that one student is able to remove, overwrite or edit the work of another. Whilst the previous work can be easily recovered using the history function of the wiki, it is inconvenient and poor etiquette unless it is an agreed upon activity. The history function can be very useful to identify the contribution of each student to the blog, authoring dates, and progress of students.

One drawback of wikis is that they cannot accommodate multiple, concurrent authors. If two or more people are editing a wiki at one time, only the work of one will be saved. If concurrent editing is the best way to work, spaces such as Google Docs are more suitable, in fact are ideal.

Wiki would be great for the class of students, where I could provide the topic and us the De Bono's hats for different perspectives. Wiki is effective because the whole class can access and contribute to the teacher-guided activity. Commnets and posts can be left in order to reflect and contribute to the opinions and the learning. Wiki reflection can be found on my blog here

What is a website?

          How does a website, or online space work? In the "good old days", you had to be a web author to create a coded web page. It is still strongly recommended that you become familiar with snippets of code because it allows you to manipulate and customise your pages.
These days, most online spaces have what is called a WYSIWYG editor - "what you see is what you get". It is much like Word, or PowerPoint. You put up your content, and the program does the coding for you.so ANYONE can be a web author. Some programs like Weebly make it even easier by allowing you to insert place-holders, into which you add your own content.

What makes a website fantastic is that you can upload only one of everything in a range of spaces custom built for each type of artefact. For instance, SlideShare is for Powerpoints, Flickr is for images (and video), of course YouTube is definitely for videos. And in your website, you are able to embed code, which embeds the artefact into your webpage. This is how I added the YouTubes to this page. Furthermore, you are able to link from one page to another using Linking, which allows you to move up and down, side to side across the web at will.
One VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember is that a website can draw together artefacts that are held in the WEB. You cannot copy and paste images etc into a web page when you are creating it. You will need to upload and embed it.

Weebly:

I have created an acount with Weebly and it seems to be very easy to operate. The idea of dragging pragraphs, photos, audio files and many other things seem easy and fun.  I haven't actually had enough time to add things to that website but I am planning to create a website in the future for the students, where I could add some things and the students could check it on regular basis, maybe for revision or extra learning material.

Voki experience

I have really enjoyed The Voki experience! It will be very handy to use in the English and German classes because of the speaking element in it. It is possible to use and save some characters and speeches for free but certain characters are only available for Voki classrooms and yearly costs apply. The character seems to be quite realistic when the speech is added and I can use my own voice for the speeches. This would be great for classrooms where I could add teaching material in my own voice. This could save me time ans students could access that and listen to it again if needed.

Wikis and Wiki reflection.

             I have created a wiki which can be found here. 

Henrika's Wiki

 I have added a wiki called Blogsforeveryone.

One of the types of wikis i really enjoy is Wiki How, one of the interesting Wiki How's that i found is How to be responsible digital citizen. This relates to E-learning course and the idea that digital immigrants and digital citizens have different technological capabilities.

SWOT analysis for  a Wiki:

Strenghts:                                                                                 

• Collaborative                                                                                                               
• Fun
• Social
• History function for retrieving information
• Can see the continous string of added information

 Weaknesses:

• Easily removable information
• Only one person can edit and contribute at the time.

Opportunities:

• Creating new networks
• Showing and contributing to ideas
• Learning
• Teaching

Threats:

• Privacy
• Intrusion
• Trust

This E-learning course is teaching me alot. I have never created  a blog or a wiki before and now I have and it is not as difficult as i thought but I must admit it is time consuming.