This course has been a great eye opener to all kinds of new technology that I never even thought of using in the classroom or I had not even heard of at all. The journey I have taken has broadened my mind and made me stop and have a good think about how hard technology can be for some people.
Prensky divided learners into two categories when it comes to technology Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. But the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives. “What should we call these “new” students of today? Some refer to them as the N-[for Net]-gen or D-[for digital]-gen. But the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives. Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. So what does that make the rest of us? Those of us who were not born into the digital world but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are, and always will be compared to them, Digital Immigrants.” (Prensky, 2001, p.1-2) I class myself as a digital native, we did have one computer in year 1 and then from then on we always had computers. During this course I have spoken will Meryl, a mature student, through skype. I realised that I take technology for granted. I could easily follow instructions to gain access to websites and set up accounts. For Meryl and many more students it is not that simple! The same happened in my class at university, I could not understand why it would be so hard to log on Moodle or a website and download a file. Now I have seen how difficult it can be for those students and I know that I can easily assist them. When working in the classroom I have to ensure I think about the students they may not have a computer at home or they may struggle doing certain tasks and not take it for granted.
The ICT’s I have used during this course have amazed me and really made me think about how I can incorporate them into everyday learning. The learning based theory by Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman has also assisted me in my new thinking. “By engaged learning, we mean that all student activities involve active cognitive processes such as creating, problem-solving, reasoning, decision-making, and evaluation. In addition, students are intrinsically motivated to learn due to the meaningful nature of the learning environment and activities. Engagement theory is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom. These three components, summarized by Relate-Create-Donate, imply that learning activities: occur in a group context (i.e., collaborative teams), are project-based, have an outside (authentic) focus” (Kearsley,1999, p.1 ) This is by far one of the best theories I have read, it is exactly what students need. I remember being at school and thinking, when will I need this when I am older? Why do I need to know that? By using this theory and using ICT’s lessons will be far more exciting, meaningful and enjoyable for students.
I will definitely be creating a Blog for my future class. I believe this will be a great tool for students, teachers and parents. Each day or week as a class we can write about the things we have learnt. Pictures, videos, Vokis and many more things can be added to this. Parents will be able to read the blogs freely and actually see what their child is completing. When writing the blog entry, this can be a class activity and summary of their day or week. It shows progress and will immediately boost the students’ self-esteem as they are physically seeing their progress and they can show family and friends on a computer away from school. I believe it is a brilliant tool! The Wiki pages can be set up in a similar manner and can be used as a class notice board similar to a blog. The digital story telling is brilliant for younger students to sit and watch a story but also for older students to create their own stories. Obviously when doing such activities and posting items onto the internet it is essential for you to check school policies for privacy and security of the students. Also parental permission.
When introducing ICT work and activities to the classroom guidelines must be set out very clear for students. The learning manager (LM) must make sure that students are given the correct information about safety on the internet, cyber bullying and ensure that when doing activities on a computer that they are unable to disconnect from the main activity and procrastinate. As covered by Aldred (2010) there are many ways in which the internet can be abused but also many ways in which an LM can prevent this abuse. It is essential that when doing work on a computer with any aged students that the LM does the activity prior ensuring there is nothing wrong or that it can be abused in anyway. To ensure students use the correct websites the LM should compile a list for them to use. I found writing my own blog easy as it was just like writing a diary each day. I enjoyed looking and using the new technology ideas and reporting back. I did find myself on numerous ages being distracted by the many different ways you could create things for example the Voki, Picnik, Flickr and the blog itself. I realised that when using these technologies in the classroom it would be wise to set a certain timeframe in which students had to complete the activity. On my blog I allowed comments to be made but I created it so that I had to moderate the comments before they went onto my blog. This meant that I can control what is said on my blog. This is a great thing for use with students. It is important that the LM knows how to set privacy settings to ensure students are not abusing or being abused through the web. I also included three reaction buttons at the bottom of each of my postings. This allowed for people to submit a quick reaction to my post without writing a comment. I like this as sometimes you find it hard to write something negative on someone’s thoughts and ideas. This is when Netiquette comes into play. I had not known that there was an official word for being polite on the internet. This is another great thing for LM’s to teach their students.
From this course I have realised that we all need time to adapt and become the best at something. When using new technology in the classroom it is essential to consider all needs of students and ensure that you provide easy and clear instructions for use. Making sure that students know the correct way to act online allows for safety and less abuse on the net. When using the different ICT’s and resources we must use an open mind and allow for mistakes as these only make us stronger. I will definitely be using the theory by Kearsley and Shneidermann as I believe it is the true way in which students learn. We must make activities meaningful and enjoyable in such a way that they can learn new knowledge and skills. Students can work together in groups, just like we have in the construction of our blogs. As an e-learning class we have collaborated and commented on one another’s blogs. This assists the blogger in ensuring they are doing the correct thing, it boost their self-esteem as they are getting praise and positive comments but it also makes the reader stop and think about the new concepts and ideas put forward to them. My e-learning experience has been a great one during the time of my blog as I have been submersed in new and exciting technology and I have gained more ideas from everyone that I would never have thought of. Thanks!
Blog Comments - These are some of the comments I posted onto my peers blogs. I posted supportive and positive comments. I also ensured that I replied to all comments that were posted onto my blog from my peers. This showed that I had spent the time to read and reflect on the comments.
Laura said...
Hey Zelina,
What program did you use to do a recording of your powerpoint, I have always wondered how to do that! Very cool!!
Interactive whiteboards are so fun, I have had a play on a few back in England, we used to use ours everyday in the classroom they are brilliant. They really keep the children interested and they all want to have a go. You just have to make sure that all of the children have an equal turn.
Laura : )
6/4/10 3:55 PM
Laura said...
Hey Tanya
That is a good idea to keep Facebook as your personally life site and a different account like Flickr as a more professional sharing site!!
Laura : )
Haha Peck-Peck got a mention!! I bet Alex loves your VOKI!!
The only problem is like you said you have to change some of the words so it sounds better. Otherwise you can always record your own voice onto it. Imagine all the young children at school recording their own VOKI, they would just love it. Obviously they would be using it for educational purposes, maybe to post onto their class blog or as a presentation!
: )
April 28, 2010 11.49 PM
Laura said...
Hi Dallas
Although you say your picture is a basic edit. Younger students may find it very challenging whereas older students could take it so much further. There is just a huge range of things that can be done with just the one technology and it can be used on a vast range of different aged students with many different learning styles!!
Btw, he is a cute little dog!! : )
Laura said...
Hello
The 5 resources you mentioned truly are great!! There are just endless possibilities with them all. It would not be hard to incorporate these into everyday lessons.
: )
Hi Tanya
I am finding Mahara a bit hard, I guess because it is a totally new concept although it does have similarities to other social sites. Once we have a good play around with it and practice it can only get easier!
Laura : )
References
Aldred, S. (2010). Effective e-learning design. Retrieved from CQ University e-courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=44151
Kearsley, G,. & Shneidermann, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. MCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001.
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