Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My E.Learning Synopsis

Throughout my e.learning journey I have investigated, trialed, observed, analysed, given my opinions and reflected on ways that each of the digital tools mentioned can be used to help enhance and engage today's twenty-first century learners. But what have I actually learnt? I would like to give a brief outline on what I think I have learnt in reference to my blog entitled, Managing E.Learning 2010”.

Firstly, I would like to reflect on how e.learning can be used to support and enhance how students learn, what they learn, and where and when their learning takes place. Today’s twenty-first century learners expect more than their predecessors (Prensky, 2005.) The role that today’s Educators (Learning Managers) play in supporting and enhancing students’ learning needs to meet their expectations, which are in accordance to the current world climate, one that is fast-paced, constantly changing and full of information (Smith & Knight, 2006.)

Today’s Learning Managers effectively need to address ALL learners. This means catering to the varying learning styles and interests of individual students in whole class cohorts (Marzano & Pickering, 1997. McInerney & McInerney, 2006. Smith & Knight, 2006.) As mentioned in my blog, there are seven learning styles; Visual, Physical, Verbal, Social, Solitary, Aural, Logical (Advanogy.com, 2007.)

“The possibility that students may have one or more of these learning styles greatly increases the need for Learning Managers to broaden their methods of implementing learning experiences” (O’Donohue, 2010.)

Linking learning styles and students’ interests to the use of ITCs in classroom learning, addresses students’ current and future learning needs. Today’s students are not just learning content anymore. They need to be learning processes and content combined (Mishra & Koehler, 2006.) This notion is emphasized in my description of a cohort learning about “waste”. Here, there is a problem to be solved and along the way to arriving at a solution, students simultaneously learn how to operate ITCs such as: Power Points, digital cameras, computers, and scanners. This is said to be learning the content and process, not just content alone. Meaning the use of ITCs are effective and the learning content valuable as a real life context. Prensky (2001, 2005.) and Mishra & Koehler (2006.) both confirm this notion, and elaborate on the stigma that many teachers are lacking in their own knowledge and skills of ITCs, and that this could be damaging students’ full learning potential.

Students of the 21st century classroom need to be able to use technology in a real life context. ITC needs to be embedded into the learning either through participating in individual or group activities to investigate, present, design or create something that would help them in their everyday life, or in a real world context (O’Donohue, 2010.)

My statement is supported in Prensky’s (2005. pp. 64) “Engage me or enrage me” where he states that Learning Mangers “have to find how to present our curricula in ways that engage our students - not just to create new lesson plans.” Thus students today do not necessarily learn sitting at a desk in a classroom. They learn when they are engaged, supported and interested. Where they learn has changed dramatically through technology. They can learn anywhere. Some of the methods of these have been outlined extensively throughout my blog, such as on-line through the use of wikis and websites, and blogs, or through power points, digital video and digital images. How students learn depends on the learning approach that Learning Managers implement. I refer again to my blog whereby the use of A2 card has been replaced by the use of power points for presenting investigation findings for example.

So far on my e.learning journey, I have come to the understanding that are a lot of learning theories and frameworks available. Learning Managers need to implement the one(s) that best suit them as a teacher, best suits the students’ learning needs, the content to be learnt, and the ITCs to be incorporated in the learning. In my blog I briefly mention learning theories and frameworks such as TPAK, Engagement Learning Theory and Connectivism, but I keep going back to the Big Six. This is because this approach really interests me. It appears to be user friendly in its step-by-step approach, but also it “addresses the need to facilitate life long learning in today's learners” (Berkowitz, et al, 2001.) aiming to help learners “work smarter rather than faster” (Berkowitz, et al, 2001.) by having learners focus on processes and content. The use of a wiki as a collaborative digital learning tool is a fantastic example of working smarter rather than faster and gaining skills that can be used in the future (Smith & Knight, 2006.) This links to the ideas of Connectivism (Siemens, 2005.) which appealed to me also, as an approach where learning incorporates that students need to know the difference between “important and unimportant information" (Siemens, 2005.) particularly in the current world where there is an abundance of information and it is simply impossible to know everything, but it is “beneficial to know how and where to find the knowledge that is known" (Siemens, 2005.)

Through experimentation and innovation in e.learning, teaching and learning can meet individual learning needs, developing student’s higher order skills and creativity. This has been demonstrated through a fellow CQ University BLM student’s blog, e-learningwendy's posting on, using digital video and YouTube in a school to teach students Auslan sign language. Learning experiences were conducted as a whole school initiative, to include students with hearing impairments. I was very impressed by the use of these digital tools. It really is thinking out of the box. As I stated on e-learningwendy's blog, it is a great way to

“embed the use of video in learning. Not only does it incorporate classroom learning requirements, the learning can clearly be extended to include all students – whole school in fact, and it links to a real world context” (O’Donohue, 2010.)

And the fact that the content and the ICTs are “breaking down the communication barriers” (e-learningwendy's, 2010.) within the school is a big “plus” in my opinion.

As per e-learningwendy's blog (2010), I too found the use of digital video a very useful digital tool. Thinking out of the box I came up with a whole school initiative that would encourage student participation in school sports carnivals. It also aims to incorporate higher order thinking and creativity in students’ learning individually, as class groups, and as a whole school community. Further more it addresses learning theories, including my preferred, Big Six theory of teaching smarter not faster, by linking the learning of content and the processes by using, applying and evaluating information for the specific needs of the learning task (Berkowitz, et al, 2001. Berkowitz, et al, 2010.) Ideally so that knowing how to “use technology as a tool for organization, communication, research, and problem solving" is at the forefront (Berkowitz, et al, 2010. pp. 24.)

Another insightful understanding to the possibilities of how higher order thinking and creativity can be obtained through using ITCs in learning was via Barry Wastie's blog (2010) that raised the question; DS, XBox or Playstation - should they be classed as e.learning? I commented that used appropriately digital games do constitute as e.learning tools, giving an example of educational CD-Rom packages

“whereby students work through problems, such as in math, reading and spelling. After they have worked through five questions they win a reward, the reward being they get to choose a game of their choice to play.” (O’Donohue, 2010.)

This approach keeps the student actively participating in problem solving, and engaged in learning both content and ITC.

How students learn as previously stated, has changed. A creative and useful digital tool is podcasting. As per my own blog on podcasting where I explain how I implemented a music lesson to early childhood students, extending on the traditional content to include; recording the lesson, recording the music, resulting in a final product - a podcast and a song on the iPod. The lesson was engaging, music content was taught as well as the ITC processes, incorporating how we get the music we made onto the ipod and emailed to our families. This lesson exemplified high order thinking and creativity. Hence, as well as having budding musicians, I now have budding DJs.

From my own personal e.learning in regards to podcasting, this is an example of me being a life long learner (Smith & Knight, 2006.) I was at first a little apprehensive as I did not know very much about it, but once I tried successfully at making my own podcast and investigated the ways it can be used in classrooms and in learning experiences. I realised that podcasting and digital recording can be very engaging as digital learning tools, and decided to utilise it in a real life context in my classroom. I think I like podcasting now as much as I like power points!

Another CQ University student's blog, Eva's Blog (2010.) used podcasting effectively by giving instructions on how to make a paper butterfly to early childhood students. Listening to her instructions it was easy to follow along and understand the task and the descriptions given. Podcasting in this way is a great way of engaging in the content and in the use of the ITC, being podcasting and digital recording.

In conclusion, I will admit that before participating in this e.learning journey, I thought myself to be quite computer literate, with sound technology knowledge and skills. However, now that I have delved into learning about digital tools and their related digital learning theories and pedagogies, I now understand that one never knows enough. As mentioned in my blog profile I am from a graphic design background. I have had to keep up with the times in terms of graphic design applications, moving from print based technologies to web-based technologies. Changing careers, I never imagined that I would have to keep on learning about digital technologies as such, as I always considered this to link to particular fields such as graphic design. However, the world today is constantly evolving and technology evolves it or with it. Lately I have learnt that as a Learning Manager, it is important to keep up with these technological changes. Learning Managers teach the students of today that will be the leaders of tomorrow. Ultimately, if Learning Managers do not commit to being life long learners themselves by engaging in digital technologies and their valuable uses in classrooms and in learning, they will hinder students in becoming life long learners. Thus hindering their development in becoming people that will engage, critically think, create and investigate content and processes to problem-solve, not just in the classrooms, but in the outside world of the twenty-first century.


Comments posted on other people's blogs to ensure that I benefited from collaborative learning:

Barry Wastie

e-learningwendys

Eva's Blog


References:

Advanogy.com. (2007). Learning Styles Online: Free learning styles inventory, including graphical results. Accessed July 19, 2010 from http://www.learning-styles- online.com/inventory/

Berkowitz. B., Eisenberg. M., & Johnson. D. (2001). The Big 6 - Information & Technology Skills for Student Achievement: Skills Overview. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6™-skills-overview/

Berkowitz. B., Eisenberg. M., & Johnson. D. (2010). Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Skills Curriculum Based on the Big6 Skills Approach to Information Problem-Solving. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/file.php/4033/LMC_Big6ICT_Curriculum_LMC_MayJune2010.pdf

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Marzano, R. J. & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of learning: Teacher’s manual. Colorado, USA: Mid-continent Regional Education Laboratory.

McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational Psychology: Constructing Learning (4th ED.). Australia. French Forest NSW Australia. Pearson Education.

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Prensky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: What today’s learners demand. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf

Siemens. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Smith, R. & Knight, B. (2006). The Rise of the Learning Manager: Changing Teacher Education. French Forest NSW Australia. Pearson Education Australia.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

E.Learning and Google Maps

"Google Maps" is similar to Google Earth because it allows teachers and students to find and study maps. However, it is user friendly in the sense that it is an online tool, so no downloading is needed, therefore it is accessible to students so long as the computers are connected to the Internet (Google Sites, 2010.) Also, Google Maps displays actual addresses in the maps of many countries, therefore as a teaching resource it is a fantastic interactive way for students to get “point-to-point, draggable directions plotted on an interactive street maps.” (Google Sites, 2010.)

As a research tool students can look up public transit options and study Yellow Pages listings with reviews, business information and discounts. Students can move freely and easily between maps, such as satellite, terrain, and street view to get different perspectives on a location (Google Sites, 2010.)

Like Google Earth, Google Maps can be used for an array of learning topics including history, geography, social studies and economics. Google Maps are editable therefore, students can add or move objects on their individual or groups' map, such as; the school, local swimming pool or shopping centre, thus creating a new map (Google Sites, 2010.)

An example of effective use of this digital tool in pedagogy, such as under the banner of the Big Six and the Learning Engagement Theory (Berkowitz et al, 2001. Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999.) is that Google Maps is a great way to plan excursions. A school camp for example, students can “create personalized, annotated, customized maps ” (Google Sites, 2010.) leading up to camp event itself. After the camp, students would then be encouraged to upload photos, videos, and descriptive text from camp to make their map come alive. Once students are happy with the final product they can then publish, share, and invite others to view and add to the map.

Some other Google Maps ideas that have been used in classrooms (Google Sites, 2010.);

Art History: Search for photos and user-created maps showing famous museums like the Louvre.

Earth Science: Use this Google Maps Mashup to locate and learn about recent earthquakes around the world.

Environmental Science: See how Google and the United Nations Environment Programme teamed up to use collaborative MyMaps for the International Cleanup Weekend Initiative.

Physics: Learn how one teacher used Google Maps with his 9th grade class to teach speed, velocity and displacement.


References:

Berkowitz. B., Eisenberg. M., & Johnson. D. (2001). The Big 6 - Information & Technology Skills for Student Achievement: Skills Overview. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6™-skills-overview/

Google Sites. (2010). For Educators: Google Maps. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.google.com/educators/p_maps.html

Google Sites. (2010). Google Maps. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://maps.google.com/maps

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

E.Learning and Google Earth

As a person that loves maps, I find “Google Earth” really fascinating. It is a great resource to use in the classroom. Students can see images of Earth from many different viewpoints. They can literally see different countries, landscapes, roads, longitudes and latitudes (Google Sites, 2010.)

As an educational website, Google Earth has various useful resources that teachers can use in their own classrooms. So whether your students are learning about transportation, demographics or economics, Google Earth has something for every learning topic. Sample topics covered in Google Earth include; Biology and Ecology, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Global Awareness, History, Social Studies and Humanities, Art History and Architecture, English and Literature and Math (Google Sites, 2010.)

For example (see image below), for an Environmental and Earth Science learning topic on Volcanoes, a useful resource would be to use Google Earth through the Smithonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program. Google Earth displays layers containing images, links, and descriptions, with information about thousands of volcanoes around the globe (Google Sites, 2010. Smithsonian Institution, 2010.)

A drawback to the use of Google Earth is purely a "time" factor. Like many of the digital tools in this blog, Learning Managers need to keep up to date with how they work and how to use them in actual learning. Google earth needs to be taught as an application as well as having the students use parallel to the learning content, otherwise the students end up simply "playing" with maps. This is clearly echoed in the ideas of Prensky (2001, 2005. pp. 64) when he states that "today’s kids are challenging us, their educators."

References:

Google Sites. (2010). Google Earth: Google Earth for my Subject. Accessed August 22, 2010 from http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/Home/Google-Earth-for-My-Class/google-earth-for-my-subject

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Accessed July 22, 2010 fromhttp://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf


Prensky, M. (2005). Engage me or enrage me: What today’s learners demand. Accessed July 22, 2010 fromhttp://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf

Smithsonian Institution. (2010). Google Earth Placemarks. Accessed August 22, 2010 from http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/globallists.cfm?listpage=googleearth

E.Learning and Animations and Simulations

In terms of engaging twenty-first century learners, animations and simulations have their advantages, particularly over print based materials, especially when the topic to be learnt is complex and its concepts abstract. Some offer virtual experiences, which are very useful especially when it proves impossible to give examples in class or it is simply not affordable for the school’s budget. Since animations and simulations are Web-based they can generally be accessible for students use anytime and anywhere (CQ University, 2010.)

Animations and simulations on their own do not constitute learning. The teacher needs to embed them effectively in correlation to the actual learning context (CQ University, 2010.) An example could be high school students that are learning about the human body in Science. A student talks about his Grandpa needing a hip replacement. This starts a discussion into medical procedures; what actually happens during operation time? How is the hip replaced? What happens to the bone? A very useful site that could be incorporated into the learning that involves animation and simulation could be “Virtual Hip Replacement”, where students take on the role of the Surgeon throughout a hip replacement surgery.

Yet again, when used effectively I believe this tool to be highly beneficial in teaching and engaging twenty-first century students. Used in this way as mentioned above, students access animations that relate to the real world whilst engaging and learning in actual technology devices, to achieve answers to questions. Problems are solved (Berkowitz et al, 2001. Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999. Mishra & Koehler, 2006. Siemens, 2005.)

References:

Berkowitz. B., Eisenberg. M., & Johnson. D. (2001). The Big 6 - Information & Technology Skills for Student Achievement: Skills Overview. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6™-skills-overview/

CQ University (2010). FAHE11001 - Managing E-Learning Digital Tool 12: Animations and Simulations. Accessed August 22, 2010 from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=91814

Edheads. (2010). Edheads: Virtual Hip Replacement. Accessed August 22, 2010 from http://edheads.org/activities/hip/index.htm

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Siemens. (2005).Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

E.Learning and Digital Video

My family and a lot of dear friends live far away from us, so the aim of this video was to connect with them. By recording my son's first soccer match they got to share his enthusiasm and mine. My son helped me make the video. He helped me edit (choose the footage to be used), add music (it's his favourite song), and add the text (we wrote this together). I filmed it from my mobile phone, and then once uploaded onto my iMac, I created the actual clip using iMovie. My son is five, he is the one skipping around the field.

So that my family and friends could access the video easily, I uploaded it onto my Facebook profile. Click on the link and you will see the short video.



Think out of the box - how can teachers use video to create, present, communicate, summarize, evaluate?

I had an idea, one that would involve whole class learning experiences in mini group tasks. It would also involve certain year levels, but the learning outcomes would affect the whole school community. Slightly ambitious, but here I go, picture this;

A school is going to have a Sports Carnival. Using video, the year seven classes would be in charge of making a documentary covering "behind the scenes of the school's Sports Carnival". Before the Sports Carnival itself they would interview teachers and helpers to investigate what is involved in organizing the day.

On the day itself, when the students are not actually partaking in events, they would takes turns being responsible for filming events and interviewing teachers, students and parents on the day, making sure to focus on all the jobs and organizaton that goes into the Sports Carnival. They would then edit, add music and audio to communicate their findings by presenting the video to the whole school on assembly, the week following the Sports Carnival.

The year six classes could be responsible for creating an advertising campaign to boost the whole school's morale and participation leading up to the day. This would include posters, flyers, and a video communicating what the day is about. Students would be encouraged to make their advertising material persuasive and exciting. The video in particular would be presented to the whole school at assembly prior to the day.

The year five classes could make a video acting as TV reporters summarizing and evaluating the Sports Carnival day itself, from a spectators point of view. Students would interview other students through photographing and audio recording methods. They could also borrow video footage from the year sevens. The final result, being a video (DVD), would then be viewed by individual class groups at their teacher's leisure. It would also be viewed by all teachers at a staff meeting. This would provide opportunities for students, in a class environment, to reflect on the day itself. It would also provide the teachers and the school community with feedback, so they can evaluate how successful the Sports Carnival was, and what areas can be improved on.

The aims being to;
1.) Encourage more students to "have a go" and participate in school sporting events.
2.) Engaging students in persuasive writing/communication.
3.) Engaging students in investigative writing/communication.
4.) Having students reflect on their learning.
5.) Teachers can evaluate students learning.
6.) Teachers can evaluate their teaching.
7.) Schools can evaluate the effectiveness of the Sports Carnival.

I'm sure there could be more aims and outcomes. Can you suggest any?

The use of digital video in schools is varied, however in general it is used for the same purposes. These being to communicate, observe and analyse, and reflect in learning, both from the students’ perspective and from the teacher’s. The use of digital video or movie making must be used effectively to support student’s learning. That is to say, the learning must be the focus; simply playing with videoing equipment does not constitute learning that is higher order, metacognitive or real life (Kearney & Shuck, 2006.)

With this in mind, video used effectively in learning experiences, really does provide a way of engaging students to be involved in the learning journey and in using ITC, again sticking to the principals of the pedagogies and theories previously examined and reiterated upon (Berkowitz et al, 2001. Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999. Mishra & Koehler, 2006. Siemens, 2005.)

References:

Berkowitz. B., Eisenberg. M., & Johnson. D. (2001). The Big 6 - Information & Technology Skills for Student Achievement: Skills Overview. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6™-skills-overview/

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Kearney & Shuck. (2006). Students in the Director’s Seat: Teaching and Learning across the School Curriculum with student-generated video. Accesses August 13, 2010 from http://www.ed-dev.uts.edu.au/teachered/research/dvproject/pdfs/ReportWeb.pdf

Mishra, P. & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf

Siemens. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Accessed July 22, 2010 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm