Managing e-Learning: July 2013

This weeks engagement focused on creating and evaluating three basic read-write tools. I learnt how to make and embed a Voki as well as finding a useful SWOT analysis tool.

Building My Blog

I have enjoyed engaging with a new resource and building new skills that I will use in my teaching career by creating this blog. Below is a short PMI activity on how my blog could be useful in a teaching context.

Plus

Learner-centred rather than teacher centred.

Can be accessed from home or from school

Teacher has access anytime as long as there is internet access - able to constantly update

Minus

If students are using it from home they may not always engage fully/get distracted

Interesting

Teacher is able to step back slightly into the role of administrator

I was unable to find a PMI generator tool on the internet so I just typed mine out. I would be interested to see if anyone else found a generator online for their PMI to know for next time.

I really enjoy using my blog as a teaching and learning resource because:

I am able to add any kind of content from the internet

I can easily source clips straight from YouTube

It is simple to add links and import pictures

My peers can look and and comment on my blog and I can do the same to theirs.

I will definitely be using a blog when I finish my degree and start teaching, I think that I will find it particularly useful in an Early Years context to share learning with parents as well as providing follow up activities for children to complete online or with their parents at home to build on learning done at school.

Working Out Wiki

When constructing my Wiki I was surprised to see how easy it was, I just followed the link and did not have to consult the technical manual provided for us. For a digital native it might be useful to view a YouTube clip to guide them through a step by step process of creating a Wiki. I completed a SWOT analysis on my thoughts about the Wiki

I also found a step by step video that digital immigrants might find it useful to refer to on YouTube

Working Out Weebly

Having already constructed a Weebly website in a course last term I know how useful this tool could be for student learning as well as a teachers resource.
I searched online for a SWOT analysis tool and found one at http://i-swot.com/tool/, I had a little trouble saving the picture because it had to be exported to be converted into a Jpeg file. I was able to quickly rectify my mistake but I think that a digital immigrant may have had some trouble with this procedure.

Listen to my Voki to hear my reflection on how Weebly could be useful in the classroom

Here is a video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFjxAsDq0Sg that touches on the basics of Weebly for further reflection.

I am enjoying adding new skills and IT knowledge to my repertoire each week and I am finding these skills useful across the board, both in my other courses this term as well as finding them personally useful.

Lets see what skills next week brings

Teaching in Digital Environments

When thinking about teaching in digital environments I thought about ways that I have used digital tools to enhance learning, all of my working and prac experience has been with Early Childhood Students.

Some of the main ways that I have used digital tools are:

· Using the IWB

· Computer as a maths rotation activity

· YouTube claymation series

· Using iPads and apps for learning

I think that using digital tools enhances learning outcomes by providing a wider range of interactive resources for the classroom.

Sourced from: http://www.digitalteachingtools.com/portals/2/images/home_shot.png

What is Pedagogy – Digital Pedagogy

Sourced from: http://gabriellalct.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/productivepedagogies2.jpg

Earlier this week we touched on the Productive Pedagogies in our Learning Management 4 class. So I was able to consolidate my learning further and revise some of the knowledge. I would say that my own personal pedagogical approach is similar to the productive pedagogies model or at least that is what I am aiming for as a Pre-Service teacher on prac. I feel that I particularly connect with the concept of real life learning and equipping students with real life skills because these are the skills that students will be using forever, long after they have forgotten what they learnt in primary school.

Sourced from: http://www.jantoo.com/cartoons/lowres/332/33234434_low.jpg

After reading about Digital Pedagogies and consolidating my knowledge about Productive Pedagogies I think that digital influences, resources and tools can be added to any pedagogical approach to ensure optimal student outcomes and student and teacher success. This mind map summarises how digital pedagogies can do this.

Sourced from: http://edorigami.edublogs.org/files/2011/10/Digital-learning-1hcdw2n.jpg

TPACK

To explain the TPACK framework it is helpful to draw on a Venn diagram. This diagram shows that quality learning takes place in the section where technological knowledge, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge interconnect. Therefore teachers need to have sound knowledge and skills in these three areas to ensure optimal student and learning outcomes.

Sourced from: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://maine.edc.org/file.php/1

I found a short 2 minute video that summarises the TPACK framework which I found helpful to consolidate the information that I read in the learning materials.

Hats Off To Wiki Spaces

After participating in the wiki spaces de Bono’s hats mobile phone activity I have come up with my own hats activity reflecting and summarising my experience within the context of the Social Constructivist and Connectivism theories. I can clearly see how higher order thinking was achieved and scaffolded by this activity and Blooms Taxonomy rather than just evoking a positive or negative reaction. This template summarises my experience.

Template sourced from: http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/121625348.png

While thinking about how Blooms Taxonomy scaffolded this activity to promote higher order thinking I visited http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html which shows Kathy Schrock’s revised Blooms Taxonomy model which shows the interlocking of cognitive processes. I thought her approach was particularly relevant to IT as shown in the model below and I enjoyed exploring her Bloomin’ Apps iPad Edition resources. By looking at this model of the cogs in a system focused on creating it becomes apparent that Blooms Taxonomy is not a linear model, just as IT and e-Learning may not always follow a linear path.