REFERENCES

Create Simple Power Point Presentations. Retrieved on March 9, 2010, from
http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/create_simple_power_point_presentations#ixzz0hv5vJoOd

LL Gilson, CE Shalley - Journal of Management, 2004 - jom.sagepub.com



Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology based teaching and learning. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Marshall, S. (2007). Engagement theory, WebCT, and academic writing in Australia. Retrieved on March 9, 2010, from http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=227&layout=html

Podcasting Workshop - An Introduction to Audio Podcasting Retrieved on March 6, 2010, from http://www.atomiclearning.com/uk/en/podcasting?from_legacy=1

PowerPoint 2003 – Intro retrieved on March 11, 2010, from http://www.atomiclearning.com/uk/en/ppoint_2003_intro?from_legacy=1

Problem-based learning Retrieved on March 9, 2010, from http://pbl.cqu.edu.au/content/develop.htm



Wikispaces-How To retrieved on March 19, 2010 http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour

another summary

When reviewing the Essential Learnings for ICT, across all grade levels, it is found to be the only one that does not include ways of working and a knowledge and understanding focus. Rather, in the Essential learnings, it deals with Inquiring, Creating, Communicating and Operating the technology. In every year level there is a strong focus on the Ethics and responsibilities of ICT. To quote the essentials: “Students understand the role and impact of ICTs in society. They develop and apply ethical, safe and responsible practices when working with ICTs in online and stand-alone environments.”
From this it can be seen that ICT is a method for gaining knowledge and understanding, rather than a discipline in itself.

The new learning focus is on the ability to find information rather than remember it. It is better to know where (and how) to look for something, than to try to remember the details of everything. The ability to quickly access information is important, as is the ability to decide whether the information is pertinent and trustworthy. Technology opens up a world of information, but an overriding concern is the veracity of that information. This requires students to analyse perspectives, one of the 8 complex reasoning processes described in the dimensions of learning.

In the dimensions of learning DoL 1 the focus is on attitudes and perceptions. Productive Pedagogies also emphasizes the important of learner engagement. Many frameworks insist on learning that is real world in its nature. Kearsley and Schniederman (1999) also emphasise the importance of engaging the learner. Many of the technologies covered in this course certainly do that. It is suggested that in this emerging knowledge and creativity based economy, the ability to use and function effectively using this technology is advantageous.

In studies on the use of these new technologies, it was discovered that “the more creative teams were those that perceived that their tasks required high levels of creativity, were working on jobs with high task interdependence, were high on shared goals, valued participative problem-solving, and had a climate supportive of creativity.” (Gilson, Shalley 2004)

This also links to the current pedagogical trend to promote cooperative and collaborative learning, as a way of the future.

Learning with technology does not simply deal with computers, but a whole range of digital devices such as cameras, voice recorders, mp3/4 players and one that is becoming more prevalent, the interactive white board (and derivations of it). When gathering information, cameras and voice recorders allow a scene to be photographed and described, for more effective viewing and detailed analysis at a later date. Podcasting allows information to be viewed at leisure.

A concept of particular interest is that of digital nativity. Most primary aged students have grown up using this new technology. For the older generation, it appears that there is an accent that is due to unfamiliarity with the processes. As the learning model has shifted from teacher centric to collaborative and cooperative learning, this accent, whilst noticeable, should not hinder the learning of either party. It is a given that success breeds success. In a classroom setting, the fact that the students may be able to show the teacher how to do something may increase the students’ self confidence and esteem, an important part of many resiliency frameworks.

As the specifics of ICT are not in the description of it, but rather its use in allowing learning in other KLA’s , the possibilities for its uses are nearly endless. For researching and questioning people from around the globe, it is without compare. Skype allows face to face contact with anyone who has access to a computer (depending on timezones). If students are researching another country, communicating with students in that country will provide real time opinions and experience. If the communication is well orchestrated, the learning is for both sides of the discussion.

A disadvantage that the author has experienced is the lack of this technology in any of the schools that he has ever done practicums in. The most working computers he has ever seen in one classroom is 4. This was for a class of 23. He has seen an interactive whiteboard in action once. At his local school (where his wife is Head of Special Ed.) the BER funding has allowed for the construction of a new hall which will eventually contain 32 computers in a computer laboratory. Unfortunately the funding ran out before they were able to buy computers to fill the lab with. Also this year all classrooms in the school have been given interactive whiteboards.

There are several tools which the author will endeavor to use in his classroom, where ever that may be. In no particular order they are:

Podcasts/ Podcasting. See blog post from 10/8/2009 and 2/8/2010. Podcasts are advantageous in that they allow listening/ viewing at any time, through very common equipment. In constructing one, they engage the students in decisions about content, audience, scripting, and many other English essentials. As there are thousands of podcasts available on Itunes, many made by students from around the globe, the content available is enormous.

Digital Recording Equipment. See blog post 2/8/2010 from Digital recording equipment streamlines the gathering and analysis of information for further investigation. Its use also allows for a large variety of presentation methods: videos; podcasts; webpages; as well as the more traditional ones like posters and pamphletts. This relates to several frameworks by engaging the learners in real world authentic experiences.

Blogging. See blog post from 18/10/2009 Blogging is: reading and writing; a conversation; communication with a larger audience; about applicable to every subject; and a portfolio of learning, work, thoughts, feelings,and life. As a means of sharing information and communication, blogging provides many educational benefits. Linking to the English essentials, the writer must identify the target audience and work out how best to get their message across. As all Ict is based on communicating in a multiliterate way, and due to the fact that there is a hope that what is produced will be observed, there may be an intrinsic motivation in producing a blog.
Email. Email is the basic method of communication on the web. Students need to know how to find information and communicate that information. The telephone reduced the art of letter writing, emailing may encourage its uptake. Because the communication is instantaneous, and there is a record of it, it is a very useful tool for students to master. As much business is conducted by email in modern times, there is another link to real world authentic tasks. There are many links relating to this: 11/8/2010;

Movie making/ animation. This is an engaging topic for students of all ages. I have not had too much success at it myself, but I am aware of the many possibilities that it presents. Several of my friends who are already teachers, use movie making and animation extensively in their classrooms. A friend of mine; who I once drove boats for, has won an Oscar for animation (David Denneen, Leisure, 1976). I have had several discussions with him as to how he thinks animation may be used in the classroom. The advances in software make this easier to achieve. I must spend more time with them so they can better train me, however. Further evidence of this is the 4 hours I spent trying to turn a PowerPoint into a movie, without success.

Interactive whiteboards. Due to their interactive nature, these devices align well with the cooperative and collaborative learning scenario. Whilst I have only ever seen one in action, and seen the “clip on” one that Wendy brought in last year, discussions with people who use them point to them allowing a lot of useful teaching/ learning. One point to note is ergonomics. Apparently many have been installed at a height that precludes younger learners from reaching much of the board. A use that springs to mind from my own perspective is the display and manipulation of such interactions as the Moon, the Earth, and the Sun. whilst researching for a science unit last year I found many things that worked on the interactive white board. Unfortunately we didn’t have one. As they become more prevalent in schools, there will be more training in the use of them, and more applications that will work with them.

To sum up, whilst I may be a technological dinosaur, I believe that much of the technology is extremely useful, and for that reason I am quite happy to plod along and learn to use it. I am conscious of my incompetence, and am working to remedy that.

being colourful

Following the helpful advice from Gema, I am trying to make my blog more colourful. I have somehow managed to change the colours and the background. This produces a pleasing effect. Due to the fact that I owned and operated my own business for the last 14 years, I think I am more interested in the information contained in the report, than the way the report is presented. I believe this is is called pragmatism, and when the buck stops with you, is a good way to be. However, it is so easy to make colourful things that are visually pleasing that it is worthwhile doing. Ahh, the benefits of free time...

We're getting towards the end of this section of blogging, so now it is time to go back through them to make them more applicable to the task at hand. As this blog has now been going for over a year, it has given me plenty of time to reflect on the things I would use in a classroom. It has also given me lots of chances to talk to teachers about how the differnt technologies have been used in their classrooms. Many of them have given me very useful ideas to incorporate some of the things we have learned here. Most have come from teachers who have just started in the last few years, and reflects their experience with this new technology. Not all of them are necessarily young, but all have used technology in different careers. Some older teachers have shown a mistrust for this new stuff. As I am an older learner, this stuff does not come naturally to me. However, I can see that this is the way of the future, and when it is explained properly, it can be seen to allow some very powerful teaching/ learning. To this end, I have thought very hard about the things I will use, and some of my thinking may prove to be a bit out of the square. Never the less, I believe it can be used to gainfully engage a variety of learners. After re reading this several times, I still believe that it doesn't relect the amount of reflecting I have done on these topics. Bruce Lee suggested that in the study of martial arts, the student should take in what was apllicable to them, and ignore anything that wasn't. As I have had a couple of attempts at doing this course, I am well aware that there I may appear to have not grasped any of it. As I am a relatively deep thinker, it may be that my lack of essay writing ability could be holding me back. As with most Uni subjects, I would perform substantially better with an exam, rather than assignments. I suppose I will have to get used to this as it appears that this style of learning (and assessment) is the way things are headed.

mind mapping stuff from the Learning Place

A concept map is a diagram showing the relationships among concepts. They are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge.

Concepts, usually represented as boxes or circles, are connected with labeled arrows in a downward-branching hierarchical structure. The relationship between concepts can be articulated in linking phrases such as "gives rise to", "results in", "is required by," or "contributes to".[1]

The technique for visualizing these relationships among different concepts is called "Concept mapping".

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies and tree structures denoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.

Below are some different mind and concept maps I found on the learning place. An outside the square use I found for these sorts of tools is to create food webs and food chains in science; they lend themselves really well to this sort of thing.

Circle Map (35 K) - Type: MS Word file
Cyclic Flow chart

Cluster Map (32 K) - Type: MS Word file
Another way of organising research information

Concept Web (12 K) - Type: Adobe Acrobat file
Build a concept by branching off into each sub heading. For example Narrative. Setting with who, when, where.

Flow Chart (20 K) - Type: MS Word file
Use a flow chart to show your thinking process,
where one word or thought connects to another.


Genre graphic organisers (93 K) - Type: Adobe Acrobat file
Graphic organisers for the power genres, from the Pat Edgar website. They are extremely useful and necessary to give directions to students learning.

Jigsaw (26 K) - Type: MS Word file
Begin with small home groups, disperse into smaller groups as experts, and then return to home groups to report the new findings.

KWL (32 K) - Type: MS Word file
What I know . What I want to know . What I learned .

Matchmaking (24 K) - Type: MS Word file
To reinforce the meaning of subject-specific vocabulary

Mind Map (19 K) - Type: MS Word file
Write the words on the branches as visual pictures that reflect your knowledge of a topic. Use mind mapping for brain blooming what you know, reviewing and summarising.

Mind Web (20 K) - Type: MS Word file
Write your topic in the middle of the web and
write relating words at the end of each branch.
Continue to expand your ideas on each branch.


Placemat (23 K) - Type: MS Word file
Give each group a large sheet of paper and ask them to draw a large circle in the centre. The outside section is of the diagram is divided so that each person has an individual work area. Point out that the circle is for writing the group summary at the end of the activity. Continued

PMI (19 K) - Type: MS Word file
Draw a table to find the plus, minus and interesting points about a topic. Use it for organising your thinking, making decisions, brain blooming,
evaluating an experience or solving a problem.


Question Prediction (31 K) - Type: MS Word file
List questions and predict the answers or results that you would might expect. Refer at end of unit and see if you were right in your responses.

Response Journal (31 K) - Type: MS Word file
Students wrtie their Thoughts,Feelings and Questions about an issue or topic.

Retrieval Chart (25 K) - Type: MS Word file
A Retrieval Chart organises a number of categories, objects or topics, and enables them to be easily compared.

Similarities and Differences -Characters (30 K) - Type: Adobe Acrobat file
Compare the Characters in a story by outlining their differences.

Venn Diagram (27 K) - Type: MS Word file
For differences and similarities between 2 topics

Y Chart (19 K) - Type: MS Word file
Helps to visualise thoughts, experiences and ideas.
Write points in each area of the chart.

What is the most important thing to remember about Netiquette. "Remember the Human."

This quote came from one of our online quizzes. It sums up a lot. Re reading some of my previous posts, I have noticed that I have not said much about the young learners we will be dealing with. Because this technology allows communication with anyone around the world, there is a responsibilty to provide guidelines for safe usage of the net. As my daughter in grade 5 is learning to email, it is worth looking at the guidelines they have been given.
1. Never give your full name out online.
2. If you recieve an email from someone you don't know, delete it straight away.
3. If you recieve a message that contains something offensive, don't delete it, but show your teacher straight away.

There are also guidelines regarding what can be displayed online. Permission must be gained before publishing photos of students, and thought should be given as to who will be able to access the photos. It may be best to publish to a closed site, where only certain people are able to veiw them.

Sites such as flick'r allow students to access a variety of photographs that may be used for a variety of purposes. Some may be free to use with no attribution, others may require the source to be attributed. When using some of these photos on a website, it may be necessary to resize them, so pages load quickly. A size of about 65 kb is usually adequate.

If students are researching a topic, it is legally acceptable to copy 10% of a work, with attribution.Attribution in copyright law, is the requirement to acknowledge or credit the author of a work which is used or appears in another work. Attribution is required by most copyright and copyleft licenses, such as the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons licenses.

Attribution is often considered the most basic of requirements made by a license, as it allows an author to accumulate a positive reputation that partially repays their work and prevents others from claiming fraudulently to have produced the work. It is widely regarded as a sign of decency and respect to acknowledge the creator by giving him/her credit for the work. (Wikipedia) (I had better attribute this quote)

Learning with ICT is best when ICT is integral to learning.
ICT is integral to learning as a method of being able to efficiently find what is sort. Consulting the essential learnings for ICT, there are no ways of working, or knowledge and understanding as such; rather there is an emphasis on enquiring, creating, communicating and operating using the opportunities that Ict presents.
Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) suggest in their paper "Engagement Theory" that highly effective learning is best achieved by providing small student teams with authentic, real world problem tasks that they can relate to, create a solution/product and then donate that back into the real world for authentic feedback.
Collaborative ICT tools are important to learning because they support collaborative, constructivist online learning.
Web 2.0 technologies offer significant advantages to educators and students in that there is now a fast growing repertoire of excellent resources designed and uploaded to public areas of the Web.
Authentic learning allows students to see real world applications in their learning.
When comparing a student-centred learning environment to a teacher-centric learning environment, the key difference is learning is negotiated between students and teacher.
ICT is integral to learning when effective integration is essential, not peripheral to the learning activity.
Guidelines for safe, legal, ethical operation online include protection of intellectual property, copyright, privacy and child protection.
"I have a responsibility to get through this content by ..."(a certain time) is not an example of student-centred teacher discourse.

The previous was one of the online quizzes we had to do for this course. As well as being a method of checking what has been learnt, it also represents a good way of acquiring knowledge. Because the questions by nature can not be too long, and the answers fit in them, they represent a good summary of what has been learned. They can also be used as a method of formative assessment, and simply as a method of remembering the important points of a topic. In a classroom, they would be useful to keep students engaged, and also may provide motivation for a reluctant participant. By having a variety of quizzes available for students after they have finished a task, they could be a method of extension, if not re inforcement. Mathletics online and reading eggs are two online sites that deal with Maths and reading respectively. Mathletics appeals to most primary age groups, reading eggs is useful for students who are just beginning to read, probably prep to yr2. It would also be possible to make verbal quizzes that could be loaded to I tunes, as a podcast; there could already be a variety on there (I haven't had a good look yet). Nintendo DS's also have a variety of educational games available.

podcasts

Podcasts can be small video or audio files that you upload to support student or staff learning. Read through our bank of Ideas for learning to help you get started.

They Might Be Giants produce a very engaging range of podcasts, useful for student's of many ages.
Your students or colleagues will be able to view video and audio by either going directly to the project room and downloading the podcast or selecting the RSS feed option so they are alerted when new podcasts become available.

If you don’t have suitable podcasts, select quality evaluated video/audio via the Curriculum Exchange resource centre.

from the learning place:

Useful links

School Torque - The show for Aussie kids, made by Aussie kids
www.schooltorque.com/index3.html
School Torque is a television program giving young Aussies a real voice in Australian Media. This site has loads of information for students wishing to develop a basic understanding of the principles, technology and techniques of video production.

GarageBand support - working with podcasts
www.apple.com/support/garageband/podcasts/
Learn how to create your own rich and professional sounding podcasts using the GarageBand tools.

Search for Education Podcasts
www.apple.com/itunes/
Search iTunes for educational material.

Teacher Tube
www.teachertube.com
Teacher Tube provides an online community for sharing instructional videos and fills a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners.

Search Atomic Learning for tutorials
education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/onlinelearning/atomic-learning.html
The Learning Place has recently added Atomic Learning Tutorials through our website. They can be accessed through Blackboard. If you can not login to Blackboard then you need to register for a course or community first. We recommend registering for Teaching in Blackboard.

Switched on Teachers community
www.learningplace.com.au/ea/sot
Join our Smart Classroom community of practice and share and review what teachers are doing around the start in make ICT integral to learning.

Also see comments and practicalities for podcasts, on this blog, on about 10/2. An advantage of print over spoken language is the ability to go back over and re read things that may have been missed. By taking advavtage of podcasting (both video and audio)students can access the podcast at a time that suits them and can listen / watch again if they require. There are a variety of educational podcasts available on ITunes.
Students can also make their own and upload them to Itunes. This again links to Keirsly and Schniedermanm's engagement hteory in that they are involved in a real world practical activity. If there are a variety of schools doing the same thing all over the world, it allows for students to see what others are doing and the conditions they live in all over the palce. This can be benficial for such subjects as SOSE. A step further than this is blogs which I will deal with in another post. The same things apply though. Students are able to request real world information from all over the place. This is much more engaging than simply looking up information in a text book (or online). It also allows more specific questions to be asked.

movie making redux

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ReversingTheNorm is a movie we made last year. It is a very basic one. Having had a lot of discussions with teachers of a range of grades, this is a technology which appears to very extremely applicable to the classroom. A friend of mine who teaches prep (and is very familair with this technology) openned my eyes to some of the possibilites of this. He got his preps to design a script, design a setting and then make a movie regarding litter. This is a real world concept, and they were able to make a movie using stop motion principles. All students had a role. All student were very involved in designing costumes, settings and script. As an engaging way to make a presentation, this appears to be way ahed of the standard poster/ speech etc. Where the opportunity presents itself, I will be using this in my classroom. The variety of learning available in this is much greater than any of the presentations I have seen previously, and much more engaging and real world for the students involved. Here is a link to Eric's movie, cotained in a quote from Eric:

You will need to be on the learningplace to view the movie we have made. Try it anyway.
http://eq21.janison.com/eq/podcast.asp?guid{49BF3288-8459-461B-83DD-CF57A0D65544}

It is very impressive to see what can be done.

voki

Get a Voki now!




http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/ also this one for downloading you tube

Multiliterate individuals are aware of the pitfalls inherent in technology while striving for empowerment through effective strategies for first discerning and then taking advantage of those aspects of changing technologies most appropriate to their situations.
Teachers wouldn't dream of giving students power tools without thinking through how they should be used in the safest way possible that still affords the greatest amount of learning and the most powerful outcomes. Likewise, no teacher would set up learning stations throughout the classroom without thinking through how they would embed the curriculum learning objectives in the activity, how they would organize the cooperating learning groups (which students to pair together), where to place which stations (reading stations need to be in a quiet location in the room and not next to the painting easel) and so on. Yet in our excitement of seeing how easily content is created using digital tools we often are so intent on getting students on with creating a web presence, that we do not think through possible pitfalls or most effective ways of connecting the learning to the medium being used. The 21st Century teacher needs to use these tools in his own personal learning before tossing the students the keys. We simply can't give away what we do not own.

The many forms that literacy now takes. This means extending notions of literacy beyond the spoken and written to include multi-modal and multi-mediated forms of communication, such as visual, audio, gestural and spatial patterns of meaning as well as electronic and digital media, on-line and on-screen.

I concurr with Peter's comments below. There are a variety of engaging ways it could be used, however, I am still not enamoured with it.

RSS Feeds

This link reveals that most children are, in fact, unrepentant sociopaths. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/new_study_reveals_most_children Therefore, to engage them, it is necessary to involve them in an activity that deals with one of their favourite subjects: themselves.
The onion is a satirical American news website. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows "subscription" to such sites. Whenever a new item appears, the subscriber is notified. Some series of Podcasts also allow subscription in the same way, and you could even subscribe to this or other blogs, if you wanted to. When veiwing this Blog, have a look down in the bottom left corner: it says "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)". If you click on this link, whenever I put any more inane ramblings on here, you will be notified.
Here is another interesting blog that can be subscribed to, in a different way:
http://andyjthompson.wordpress.com/about/ Whenever anything new is posted, you will recieve email notification.

Engaging

Today’s digitally native students learn by doing, and learn by making mistakes. An example of this is computer gaming: the player learns by making mistakes how to avoid them the next time they are encountered. Many schools now have classroom rules and reminders that include: “have a go” and “give it your best shot” this can be seen to link to these concepts and models of learning.
Computer gaming can also be seen to link to some of the engagement theory. By incorporating learning into games, such as Reading eggs, and Mathletics, students can learn whilst they are playing. In the future gaming with an educational content will become prevalent.

podcasting

Pod casts. I found this in my documents. I am not sure where I got it from or if I wrote it myself, for last years Elearning. If it is copied or paraphrased, I will find out and attribute it. This also links to some content we looked at the other day rregarding sharing, copying and attribution.

Hello class, I think this might answer the question, why I borrowed your MP3 players the other day. It was to download a podcast, which is what you're listening to now. What's a podcast? Teachers are using podcasts to connect their students to listeners local and long-distance to give projects a real-world context and audience, and to boost technological skills and independence.

By S.E. Kramer | August 2009
The best part? Creating and publishing podcasts is a relative cinch. Podcasts are downloadable audio files. Listeners can download podcasts, and also subscribe to them using an RSS feed.
In all their forms, podcasts have become a popular classroom activity during the past five years—iTunes is now populated with streams from hundreds of K–12 schools across the country. Some student podcasts are simply recorded versions of history or book reports. But today, podcasts coming from the classroom are frequently much more creative and ambitious team efforts.
Students do all the work of creating the podcasts.
The fourth- and fifth-grade podcasts have hosts, and include “interviews” with historical figures like Christopher Columbus and Albert Einstein. And even the first graders make their own podcasts.

1. INVEST IN DECENT COMPUTER MICROPHONES. Most computers have built-in mics, but ambient classroom noise can make these difficult to use and result in poor sound quality. Fortunately, headsets with microphones can cost as little as $6 online.

2. CHOOSE GOOD SOFTWARE. Apple computers come with GarageBand software, which is great for recording and editing podcasts. Windows Vista computers come with Sound Recorder software for recording and Windows Movie Maker for editing. Another option for Windows users is to download free audio-editing software like Audacity.

3. DON’T FORGET THE MUSIC. Like most radio programs, podcasts often start with music or a theme song. Some students may record original music for their podcasts, but royalty-free or Creative Commons licensed music is easy to find online. Search for it on GarageBand.com (no relation to Apple’s GarageBand software) and PodSafeAudio.com.

4. TAKE AN EDITING TUTORIAL. The Web is full of podcast-editing tutorials—some are even in podcast form. A search for “podcasting in the classroom” or “podcasting for teachers” on iTunes reveals several good audio and video podcasts. Check out the illustrated video series Podcasting, from Learning and Teaching Scotland. Classroom 2.0 and Education.Ning.com are great places to connect with other teachers about podcasting strategies.

5. FIND YOUR PODCASTS A HOST. Once your students have put together their perfect audio files, where should you post them? In many ways, this is actually the hardest aspect of podcasting. Audio downloads take up bandwidth, and bandwidth costs money.

Some teachers find that getting podcasts onto official school websites is too complicated, technically difficult, or expensive. In that case, you can use free podcast-hosting websites. Podomatic.com’s free account gives you 500 MB of storage and 15 GB per month of bandwidth, while PodBean.com’s free hosting allows 100 MB of storage and 5 GB of bandwidth monthly. These amounts of storage and bandwidth will be more than enough for most classroom podcasts: If you post two podcasts a month at 10 MB each (about 10 minutes long), 5 GB of bandwidth would allow each to be downloaded 250 times in a month.

Once your podcast has a host, syndicating it on directories is free and easy. Simply enter the feed’s web address into the directory (for example, on iTunes, the Submit a Podcast link asks for a URL) and the systems will take care of the details.

6. GET NOTICED! You’ll want students and parents to be able to find your class’s podcast easily. The best way to do that (besides sending a mass e-mail) is to make sure the podcast file has strong metadata. Metadata is information that doesn’t appear in the podcast’s title or in its content, but is attached to the MP3 file and allows people to find the podcast using search directories.

The passage above came from http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752278 . I found it very useful regarding podcasting.

more engagement

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) assert that for learners to be truly engaged in their learning in an Information Communication Communication (ICT) learning environment they need to RELATE to a real-world, authentic problem scenario that is messy and ill-structured. They need to, in small teams, CREATE solutions to this problem and then DONATE the solution back into the real world. While this theoretical perspective has strong links to pedagogical approaches like Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Authentic Learning environments, it is the DONATE aspect that sets it apart from the other approaches.

There is really only one way to learn how to do something and that is to do it. If you want to learn to throw a football, drive a car, build a mousetrap, design a building, cook a stir-fry, or be a management consultant, you must have a go at doing it. Throughout history, youths have been apprenticed to masters in order to learn a trade. We understand that learning a skill means eventually trying your hand at the skill. When there is no real harm in simply trying we allow novices to "give it a shot."

Parents usually teach children in this way. They don't give a series of lectures to their children to prepare them to walk, talk, climb, run, play a game, or learn how to behave. They just let their children do these things. We hand a child a ball to teach him to throw. If he throws poorly, he simply tries again.
Recent research suggests that the electronic learners of today respond well to this style of learning. It can be seen to link to playing computer games, where through trial and error, the learner finds out not only how to do something, but also how not to do things.

pictures, sounds copyright, sharing, etc

Gathering information. Introduction to Digital camera, phone etc. Depending on availability of digital cameras at school, demonstrate the students how to use a camera, zooming in or out, composition, taking video, and most importantly, downloading the result to a computer. Editing programs such as photo shop, photo bucket, Windows movie maker to be quickly demonstrated here. Flickr, and other image sharing websites could be introduced here, as well as sites that share music.
Inquiring with ICTs
Students explore, select and use ICTs in the processes of inquiry and research across key learning
areas. They:
• identify the inquiry focus, data and information requirements and possible digital information
sources
• plan, conduct and manage structured searches and advanced searches for data and information
in response to questions
• evaluate data and information gathered for usefulness, credibility, relevance, accuracy and
completeness
• reflect on, analyse and evaluate how ICTs have assisted in meeting the inquiry purposes and in
developing new understandings.
Creating with ICTs
Students experiment with, select and use ICTs to create a range of responses to suit the purpose
and audience. They use ICTs to develop understanding, demonstrate creativity, thinking, learning,
collaboration and communication across key learning areas. They:
• express and creatively represent ideas, information and thinking
• creatively document and present their planning, thinking and learning using a combination of
media
Communicating with ICTs
Students experiment with, select and use ICTs across key learning areas to collaborate and enhance
communication with individuals, groups or wider audiences in local and global contexts for an
identified purpose and audience. They:
• collaborate, develop, organise and present new ideas
• apply suitable or agreed communication conventions and protocols
• select and apply a variety of digital media to improve communication
Operating ICTs
Students use a range of advanced ICT functions and applications across key learning areas to
inquire, create, collaborate and communicate, and to manage information and data. They:
• develop operational skills and begin to use the extended functionality of a range of ICT devices
• apply operational conventions when using ICTs
• develop strategies for learning new ICT operations and consider different ways to perform tasks
• reflect on, analyse and evaluate their operational skills to meet the requirements of system
resources, processes and conventions.

Concious Incompetance

I have previously made a post about this subject. Wendy explained it much better than I had heard before. It relates to where a user's level of competency lies within a subject, and whether they are are aware that they have no idea and are trying to learn, or think that they have a good grasp of something and are yet to be disillusioned.
An analagy given the other day was of a learner driver: They are extremely aware that they are practising the skills to become competent; the skills have not yet become natural (thus requiring little thought). Reflecting on my own use of technology, it becomes painfully obvious that I am fairly incompetent, and as an older user, the skills are harder to pick up. This is not ot say that I can't do it, rather, it may take me a bit longer to work out. Having done this course before, I can remember a fair few of the ideas discussed, and I have had the benefit of having an extended time to think about how I would use some of them. It has also given me a chance to discuss a variety of ideas with competent practising teachers, to see how they would work in the classroom.

http://plstevens27.podomatic.com/ home made podcast. has not actually recorded anything

catching up with e learning

I have just set up my "Delicious" acount, and therefore will be able to share bookmarks with anyone who is linked to it. Wendy made some interesting points in the tute the other day, regarding this being the new way to access knowledge. It is no longer necessary to actually "Know" something, rather knowing how to find the information on that topic is valuable. Also interesting is the difference in the focus of the course this time; last year it was all about engagement, this time it appears to be about acecessing the information; it appears to be a given that there is engagement with the topic. As there are apparently several possible emphasises to the same learning this could be the basis for a concept map made using bubbl us. The emphasis on the course in general seems to have switched from "Dimensions Of Learning" towards the work and ideas of Eric Frangenheim. This could be because of the supposed shift next year back to this being a Bachelor of Education rather than Learning Management.

another go at E learning

I am undecided as to whether I should start a new blog or continue with this one. By typing here now I will at least have a record of the continuation of this one, that I may change later. For this task, we have to blog about the usefulness of a blog in our own learning context: "In it, provide a brief evaluation of the functionality of a blog and its usefulness in your learning context." I am going to copy some of my previous posts to put here, as they are still applicable.

"The more I do this, the more apparent it becomes to me that Blogging is a good way of encouraging people to write, and also to think about what it is they are actually writing. This relates to the idea that literacy is about communicating with others, through a means that has common rules and conventions."
"I am constantly checking for meaning and also to be sure that I am not being offensive to anyone. In looking at this process from the point of veiw of a student, it could be seen as a way of intrinsically motivating, that is, the motivation for doing it properly comes from within. Looking a bit deeper, however, there could be seen to be extrinsic motivation at work: make it the best you can, otherwise you may look like a bit of a clown in front of your peers."

Add another Blog post. In the second post, upload your concept map of the information covered in topic 1.