Managing E.Learning 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Comments to other E.Learning students

http://e-learningwendys.blogspot.com/2010/07/learning-management-system-digital-tool.html

Monday, August 9, 2010

E.Learning and Podcasting

Podcasting and audio recordings have many uses in real life contexts, i.e. guided walking tours, music recording, story-telling (audio books), training and talk shows (CQ University, 2010.) Real life contexts filter into the classroom when the teacher provides learning experiences that enhance students' learning through the use of the technology and in a real life context. For example used to introduce radio presenting or talk shows, students can write scripts or answer questions relating to learnt or researched topics. Podcasts are particularly useful in fostering students' reflections on their learning. Another positive aspect about podcasting is that it is an exciting form of communication between students and teachers, making it effective when used with distance learners (CQ University, 2010. Langwitches Blog, 2010.)

Here is my first attempt it has been created through PodOmatic.

My first Podcast.

http://rachpod.podomatic.com/

Here is my second attempt at a podcast. Music lessons, the Family Day Care children love music. They love singing and playing their instruments, sometimes making it up as they go along. I suggested to them how wonderful it would be to record their songs and put them onto my iPod so we can listen to them whenever we feel like it. We could also play it for their Mummies and Daddies when they come to collect them at the end of the day. The children all really liked this idea and at the end of the activity, they were very proud of themselves.

I found this to be very useful as an educational tool. The children were engaged in the actual Music learning experience, and they were very interested to know how the music gets onto my mobile phone, then onto the computer (iTunes), and then finally onto my iPod.

This activity provided me with great feedback both during the activity and afterwards when replaying the recording (Podcast). So here it is, you might not want your volume up too loud...

Podcast No.2 & No.3

http://rachpod.podomatic.com/

References:

CQ University (2010). FAHE11001 - Managing E-Learning: Digital Tool 3: Podcasting. Accessed August 9, 2010 from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=91805

Langwitches Blog. (2010). Langwitches Blog: It’s Not About the Tools. It’s About the Skills. Accessed August 9, 2010 from http://langwitches.org/blog/2010/01/09/its-not-about-the-tools-its-about-the-skills/

PodOmatic Inc. (2010). PodOmatic. Accessed July 9, 2010, from http://www.podomatic.com/featured

E.Learning and Digital Images

The use of images can be very effective in students' learning activities. Images can be used to assist with learning a particular skill, i.e. step-by-step instructions for a Prep student learning to tie their shoelaces. Images can also be used to provoke and engage students thinking and feelings. I witnessed the latter used effectively in a year six classroom during an English lesson on persuasive writing, that was in conjunction with their SOSE learning topic.

The emphasis was on the notion that some information (written or images) published in newspapers, books, on websites, etc. may not provide the audience with the whole picture. Therefore individuals need to know how to make their own educated judgments, taking into consideration other points of view. To do this the teacher used the laptop and a data projector to show the class an enlarged photo of a modern, uniformed, American soldier. However, the teacher explained that she had cropped the original image. This encouraged the students to think about the cropped image and what was missing from the whole picture. This in turn started a whole class discussion where students made suggestions and asked question about the image and its possible missing part. From this activity the teacher not only observed first hand the students' thinking patterns during the conversation on "persuasiveness", but could also use this knowledge to plan further lessons. Following on from this in the next English lesson the teacher instructed the students to write a newspaper article based on the cropped image and the information that they presently knew. Students were asked to professionally present their article as if it was going to be printed in the local newspaper, this gave them the opportunity to explore layouts of newspapers. Eventually the teacher revealed the whole image which led to another whole class discussion on what it revealed and how this compared to their initial reactions from the cropped image. The teacher then in following lessons instructed the students to write another newspaper article using the whole image and what they now knew. Again, they were asked to professionally present their article as if it was going to be printed in the local newspaper.

From this lesson many aspects of the Big Six theory can be observed, in particular, Step three, Location and Access: which includes locating and using appropriate technology resources (i.e. imaging software, desktop publishing software, printers, scanners, images on-line flicker) that are available to them in their classrooms, school libraries and technology labs (Berkowitz, et al, 2001, 2010.)

I do not have this particular photo on hand but managed to find something similar in nature on flickr (Yahoo!7 Pty Ltd, 2010.) Although there are no known copyright restrictions the image does belong to the Smithsonian Institution.

Cropped image: Who are these men? What are they doing?

Original image: Who are these men? What are they doing?

I have included a photo that was originally taken of my two children, the Family Day Care children and myself, on a recent excursion to the Archer Street Tram and Train Museum in Rockhampton. For safety and privacy reasons I have cropped out the other children. The image now shows my daughter and I. See if you can notice the editing or manipulation? See if you can work out why I did this?

Yes, the "bunny ears". My daughter is sometimes cheeky and loves doing this in just about every photo, even though she knows it annoys me. However, since I showed her that it doesn't bother me because I can simply erase them, she has actually stopped doing it. I guess there's no point as it doesn't annoy me, or ruin a great photo anymore! Lesson learnt!

N.B. I used Adobe Photoshop for my cropping, resizing and photo editing.

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/

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_Big6-ICT_Curriculum_LMC_MayJune2010.pdf

Yahoo!7 Pty Limited. (2010). Flickr - Smithsonian Institution: Soldiers Writing Letters Home. Accessed August 9, 2010 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551151402/

E.Learning and Learning Management Systems (LMS)

There are two main categories of LMS, "proprietary" and "open" source. Proprietary LMS are expensive and not very flexible, but have sound documentation and backup support. CQ University's former student access point "BlackBoard" is an example of a proprietary LMS. An example of an "open" LMS is CQ University's new "Moodle". Open LMS are much cheaper and more flexible. There are more plug-ins to suit the many functions needed. However, open LMS do not come with sound documentation, or any backup support (CQ University, 2001, 2010.)

CQ University's "Moodle"

I think Learning Management Systems (LMS) to be highly valuable in students learning in terms of education facilities and teachers providing students with large quantities of information and resources on relevant topics, and communication forums to provide student interaction, feedback and guidance. LMS also provide links to direct students to do their own research and learning. They are also particularly useful for external learning, i.e. off campus students attending University (CQ University, 2010.) LMS aims to help learners work smarter rather than faster by having learners focus on processes and content, which links to the aims of the Big Six pedagogy, particularly in terms of; Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, and Use of information (Berkowitz, et al, 2001, 2010.)

Two downfalls to the use of LMS would be firstly for those students that need or prefer teacher-student face-to-face interaction. As long as there was effective use of video-conferencing and teleconferencing this could overcome this negative aspect. Secondly, LMS assumes that everyone is computer literate and therefore technologically savvy. This is not always the case, and it might prove difficult for some users (learners) if they do not receive the right tutoring on how to use it, and its various components.

References:

CQ University (2010). FAHE11001 - Managing E-Learning: Digital Tool 7 - Learning Management Systems (LMS). Accessed August 8, 2010 from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=99697

E.Learning and Prezi

I had not heard of Prezi until this course. I like the idea of Prezi. It think that it is a step up from power points. As I watched the given example on Moodle, I felt as though I was actually moving along with the information on the "journey" so to speak.

E.Learning and Power Points

I'm rather fond of power points. I personally think that power points can be very versatile. The complexity of each power point depends on the creator, the information being addressed and the actual use of the power point.

I have tried to upload (without success, but will keep trying), an example of a power point that was used during a University presentation on NAPLAN. It was used to support the information, to provide a visual focus to the audience, and act as "palm cards" to the presenters. Power points are effective used in this way. They provide a method to keep the audience interacting visually with the spoken word. It also provides the presenter with an effective way of staying focused on the information that they are presenting.

Here is a snap shot of a slide from the power point that I could not get to upload.

I have been in classrooms where teachers no longer always ask students to cut 'n paste pictures onto A2 card and hand write their "found" information. Instead students are given lessons on how to use the power point program and their USB sticks in class time. Then in class and as homework they create their own power point to present their information to the class as an oral presentation. They are then assessed on their oral skills, information provided and on the power point itself.

Moving away from the power point being used as presentations, the power point can also be used in classrooms to assist various types of learning styles to research information on "topics". For example, I tried to upload (again without success, but will keep trying), a "talking book" designed to provide information on "hermit crabs" in a Science lesson. Students have a visual, kinaesthetic and auditory approach to reading about hermits crabs, and it is self paced.

Here are some snap shots of some of the pages from the talking book. I could not get this to upload either unfortunately.

Talking books are also available as "fiction" stories. Either way, in classrooms students could make their own talking book. However, in regards to "narratives", a year six class might decide that they would like to help the Prep students with their reading. The year six class could write their own story or a recount on a chosen story, then write (type) this up as a talking book (as their "good" copy). Using other Key Learning Areas, such as The Arts, year six students could create their own illustrations to be scanned and inserted into the talking book. Or they could ask the Prep teachers and students if the Prep students would like to help with the illustrations. Therefore this could be implemented as a collaborative task to coincide with a real life context, such as "National Book Week" being celebrated in the school.

In regards to digital pedagogy, use of power points in either manner shifts the focus away from using and learning ICT tools and skills, to a way of working in a digital world (CQ University, 2010.) Students can work through the learning processes using traditional tools (i.e. pencils and paper) and modern ITCs (computers, power point program, scanners, etc.) to end up with a product that relates to the twenty-first century student (i.e. talking book). The use of power point in these varying ways all coincide with the Big Six approach and its six stages of successful information problem-solving (Berkowitz, et al, 2001, 2010.). It also links to the TPAK approach (Mishra & Koehler, 2006.) where knowing how to use the technology in actual learning of specific content is highly important.

References:

CQ University (2010). FAHE11001 - Managing E-Learning: What are the Roles of ICT in Education? Accessed August 8, 2010 from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=91800

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

My Wiki update

Since first posting my wiki on this blog, I have actually used it and found it to be very useful. I had to partake in a group presentation for another course in the BLM degree. The groups' members did not live close to each other and had hectic schedules, so in order to do the task effectively we decided to have a go at using the wiki. I gave the other members a brief tutorial on what it is and how to use it, keeping in mind that I only just learnt all this myself recently. We then used it to schedule meeting times, communicate our ideas, and write down information (including references and quotes). We also used it to write our rough drafts, provide feedback and edit each others work, and write up a final copy.

It was a really useful way to communicate when we could not meet face-to-face. Also we could all see each others progress. Wiki saved us time, it was instant and it was easy to use. We really liked it.

As far as learning pedagogies are concerned, I definitely still see the use of wikis as a resourceful collaborative tool that would benefit those Learning Managers looking to use the Big Six (Berkowitz et al, 2001, 2010.) or the TPAK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006.) approaches particularly when there is a problem to be solved and the Learning Manager wants the content addressed whilst at the same time embedding the use of ITC's in the learning itself.

http://rachelod.wikispaces.com

References:

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