SlideShare

Hi Bloggers,

Slideshare was a whole new program to me as I had never heard of it before, therefore I didn't know what it was used for. After reading information from courseware website Moodle, I discovered that slideshare allows you to upload powerpoint files to a publicly viewable space. (Central Queensland university, 2009). It's basically like an online storage file however with different capabilities. I uploaded a powerpoint presentation which was used last week for a group oral presentation is the subject of Ensuring Student Success. The powerpoint presentation is embedded below.

I was surprised to see that when I uploaded the powerpoint presentation it turned into a video clip which could still be used similar to a powerpoint but made it a little extra exciting as opposed to the normal everyday presentation.

When students have got the skills down for powerpoint and know how to use it properly, to enhance their presentations they could then place it in the slideshare website where it gets turned into a clip. They could then further it and provide an audio clip or record a narrative file for this presentation. Unfortunately I was unable to provide the audio file of a narrative for this activity, as I'm still learning how to complete all those activities and I don't have access to a microphone in which I can complete this at the current time.

Naplan Pp

View more presentations from Court22.

Cheers,
Courtney.

References

Central Queensland University. (2009). SlideShare. Retrieved on 15th august, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

SlideShare. (2009). SlideShare: Present yourself. Retrieved on 14th August, 2009, from: http://www.slideshare.net/

WIKIPedia

Hi bloggers,

Wikipedia (pronounced /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/ or /ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə/) is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. (Wikipedia, 2009). I have used WIKIPedia many times before, especially for the use of finding definitions, although you need to make sure it's what your looking for. Even though there are a tight set of guidelines on what information is contributed, (Central Queensland University, 2009). there are still a few things that are published that have no relevance to the actual topic you are researching. Need to ensure the information you find is accurate and correct before utilising it.

I undertook a search in the area of Early Childhood which is what I'm specialising in. However I didn't really find many resources and those that I did find were not of a technological nature. I found many resources for outdoor use to help with gross motor programs.

Although I did not find the following program of PALS on Wikipedia I felt it was appropriate that I share this with you. PALS which stands for Playing And Learning to Socialise Program, (Inscript creative educational resources, 2007). is quite self explanatory in itself as it's a program designed for children aged 3 to 6 years teaching them the basic skills that are a necessity in life. Some of the skills that are taught are greeting others, identifying feelings and sharing to name a few. The program is already written out and all early childhood educators have to do is follow the program. However, while using this program earlier in the year while on prac at a local Kindergarten I tended to modify the lessons quite a lot to tailor to the students needs and wants.

The use of ICTS is also incorporated into this program with the use of DVDS and CDS, hence why I thought this would be appropriate to share.

I personally think it was an amazing program and the children were very engaged within the topics and skills that it taught the students. It was clear to see that the students also took a lot away from this program.

Please inform me on yours thoughts about the PALS program and also if you find any educational resources for an early childhood cohort that I may be able to add to my list.

Cheers,
Courtney.

References

Central Queensland University. (2009). WIKIPedia. Retrieved on 7th August, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

Inscript creative educational resources. (2007). PALS Social Skills Program. Retrieved on 7th August, 2009, from: http://www.palsprogram.com.au/

Wikipedia. (2009). Wikipedia: About. Retrieved on 7th August, 2009, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About

WebQuests

Hi bloggers,

"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web." (Dodge, 1995). This clearly defines a webquest, however i find this difficult to explain in my own words on what exactly it is. I was first introduced and exposed to the technology of WebQuests last year at uni in a SOSE subject.

I found the whole idea of WebQuests daunting at first, however they became quite interesting and also quite fun to utilise and fiddle around with. At first it was slightly difficult to figure out but after spending a little time with the functions, I found it was quite simple to utilise and manage. As I was working with a partner too, I found it made it easier as we would go away and fiddle and come back and show each other the new things we had learnt about the program.

We completed a WebQuest around Recycling, which required the use of a TELSTAR enquiry model. As cited on the Central Queensland University website "a good WebQuest has an authentic context and problem or task. The driving question and its problem task are messy and ill-structured with no single answer or solution. Good WebQuests require small teams of students to relate to the messy, ill-structured problem task, investigate the issues, share what individual team members have learned from their individual research and apply this new knowledge to problem and create an authentic product that can then be donated back into the real world for authentic feedback. (2009). This states the effectiveness and extent to what the WebQuest tasks should involve within them. They are quite complex, the one that was created last year by myself and fellow uni student Jo, had basically all of these attributes and was a good example of a WebQuest hence receiving a high mark for that assessment piece. This shows higher-order thinking needs to be involved within this process, so the students' can actually take something away from this rich and authentic experience while working with WebQuests.

I've already provided an example of how they could be used in a classroom, this was in SOSE on a recycling unit of work which included knowledge and understanding from the Essential Learnings. After completing a few the children could even try making their own in groups possibly, to learn and understand a new technology they are utilising. However, I do believe classroom teachers could experience problems with this method of technology.
1. It can be so intricate and time consuming.
2. To be able to find and utilise the time wisely to complete a WebQuest, you need to ensure it's going to be worthy and cover all the information content that is required.
3. You need to read background information to know exactly how to create a WebQuest.

Personally, I really enjoyed working with WebQuests and thought they were marvelous. I would be happy to use over again, it was just something different yet innovative and attention capturing simultaneously. I would really like to know your opinions on WebQuests to see if your experiences with this technology were as enriching as mine.

Cheers,
Courtney.

References

Central Queensland University. (2009). WebQuests. Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

Queensland Studies Authority. (2007). Studies of Society and Environment(SOSE) - Essential Learnings by the end of year5. Retrieved on 6th of August, 2009, from: http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/learning/qcar_el_sose_yr5.pdf

Webquest.org. (2007). What is a WebQuest? Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://www.webquest.org/

Google Earth

Hi bloggers,

The topic of this blog is Google Earth, I must say this has been one of the few technologies presented within the uni course that I have some knowledge around and have utilised before. Not only have I used Google Earth but have also used programs that are very similar. However, this was a few years ago when they did not provide the longitude and latitude of where you are currently situated. It's clear over the last few years how much more technology is constantly developing with new and improved gadgets all the time.

I remember the first time I used Google Earth was in high school, and I was like wow that's my house, but suddenly I thought if I can see my house that means everyone can. I kind of thought of this as a bit of a privacy barrier after passing my initial interest in this program. I thought a little more in-depth as to how this could cause problems for people in the real-world with stalkers etc.

However, looking at Google Earth in a different light as in different countries in the world and different towns and other iconic places and landmarks in the world. I see that this could be an effective tool to use in a mathematics lesson with topics such as mapping, latitude and longitude co-ordinates and bearings. it could also be used within SOSE - especially a geography strand. As cited at Central Queensland University, "Google Earth is a fantastic resource for teachers and students as it enables students to see images from different parts of the earth with the ability to overlay streets/roads with latitude and longitude. Students can see their own backyard and those of another country." (2009). this is very true, and I believe this could be an effective tool if used in classrooms appropriately. Teachers need to be on their toes ensuring this is used correctly and for the right purposes.

As I had already used this program before, I didn't really learn anything new from it. However, after all these years I still find it as interesting to use. i would like to learn about your experiences with Google earth so feel free to share them with me = )

Cheers,
Courtney

References

Central Queensland University. (2009). Google Earth. Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

Podcasting

Hi bloggers,

Wow! Before this topic I never had anything to do with Podcasting, I believe I may have listened to them once or twice in a tutorial at uni before, however this was not exactly broadcasted to us students. Frankly, when I first seen podcasting as one of the tools we are to investigate and utilise I was quite stunned and a bit worries, mainly because I ddidnt really know what it was. I found a video on Youtube called Podcasting in Plain English (Commoncraft, 2008). which helped me to understand exactly what podcasting is and to what extant you can go with podcasting. Podcasting actually stands for Personal On Demand casting (Commonncraft, 2008). which means you can take broadcasts with you anywhere and listen to them anytime, hence personal on demand.

After extensive research I do believe podcasting is a great idea, however it's not something I could become dependen on as technology isn't always reliable as many technical issues occur all the time. it could be used effectively in classrooms, with children learning the process of how to retrieve these podcasts and listen to them. Now, children can even record their own too which could be good for presentation purposes. As many students have access to some form of a MP3. MP4 player and even ipods , teachers can develop activities around the use of them. Such as listening activities could be recorded by the teacher and downloaded onto these devices and taken home with comprehension questions the children have to complete for homework, receiving answers from the podcast. We need to keep in mind that not all students' have this access to devices though so if that's the case, maybe the above activity can be completed within the classroom if the schools can afford these types of resources.

Although, we need to keep in mind that "The power of this kind of technology should not be underestimated as this is a technology that is dear to to our students' hearts. Like video, the most impact is achieved in short segments of less than 10 minutes. (Central Queensland University, 2009). Keeping this in mind for the class activity that has been suggested, the students' ability to listen wouldn't exceed this 10 minutes so this could be potentially an effective activity.

I already know of podcasting being used in schools on ipods, which I observed at Parkhurst State School on the 27th of July, 2009. As the Conceptual ICT Learning Design Framework states "the cast majority of 21st century students are digital natives and media savvy. (Central Queensland University, 2009). A digital native is a person for whom digital technologies already existed when they were born, and hence has grown up with digital technology such as computers, the Internet, mobile phones and MP3s. (Wikipedia, 2009). Therefore, growing up with all this technology means the students' are highly capable of learning and using these technologies especialyl to keep interested and arousal levels high.

Do you think podcasting has the potential to be an effective learning tool?

Cheers,
Courtney.

References

Central Queensland University. (2009). Podcasting. Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

Commoncraft. (2008). Podcasting in Plain English. Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c

Wikipedia. (2009). Digital native. Retrieved on 6th August, 2009, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_native

Image Manipulation

Hi Bloggers,

This is my experience with the popular online photo editing program Picnik.



The Before.....



And the After....

I must say wow.... I have never used a photo editing program ever... and it's amazing... Let alone how the differences between the above two photos are free. I can't believe how different it is. In hte original photo my nose is so red, but now you could never tell the difference.

Therefore, I must say this has been a positive experience to utilise this program. I have never used one because I didn't realise there were any programs free as I thought you had to purchase them straight up.

I must say Picnik is an excellent program and I now most likely will be utilising it again in hte near future often. The only downside is, you can't use all the options as a program premium needs to be purchased. Nevertheless, it makes no difference to the free online version. It's very user friendly which means beginner users in this program like myself, are easily able to work all the functions.

I must admit that I had troubles in uploading the pictures from Flickr into my blog. This was because I was copying the link rather than the HTML code. As you can see, I worked this out for myself as the pictures are displayed above.

I personally would really like to hear from you all about your comments on this program as i thoroughly enjoyed playing around with the different modes and functions on this technology.

Cheers,
Courtney

References

Flickr. (2009). Photostream. Retrieved on 30th July, 2009, from: http://www.flickr.com/

Picnik. (2008). Photo editing made fun. Retrieved on 30th July, 2009, from: http://www.picnik.com/

Flickr

Hi Bloggers,

The following is a picture I found on the online program called Flickr.


I believe William Nicholson is the person who took this photo in 2007 of these two horses. It's a beautiful and cute photo hence why I decided to choose this one to post as someone else's picture.



The folowing is one of my pictures that I imported on to Flickr.


This was taken in November 2007 on the evening of my formal.

The pictures from above have been taken from an online prgoram called Flickr. Flickr is an online repository for images, (Central Queensland university, 2009). therefore basically anybody can set up a free account and place their images on this site for other people to view.

I have used a program similar to Flickr once before it was called PhotoBucket. They are the same thing basically an on-line storage place where other people can view photos and make comments. What I didn't realise is that Flickr allows you to edit pictures by cropping and using other various tools in conjunction with picnik (editing mode).

I think this a rather ingenious and marvellous tool. It could work really well in a school classroom. This might be a could web tool for finding certain pictures for presentations, that may be completed within the classroom. The children could also learn how to edit photos. By having Flickr each child can add other classroom friends and they can view each others pictures maybe from certain holidays they go on. They could import these pictures at any time especially at home and then bring them to school and possibly make a slideshare view with them. Another flipside is that parents can also view these accounts and observe the pictures.

The only thing would be that parents and teachers would have to monitor what students' are searching as there are some photos that may be deemed inappropriate for students' of a primary school age. However, this isn't a problem as monitoring is not an issue. This is an activity they would learn from by doing which has a retention rate of 75% on the learning pyramid, therefore this would be a good experience for the students. (Active Learning online, 2000).

In my opinion, I think this is a great tool, however I am not entirely sure how effective it would be within a classroom. What are your thoughts?

Cheers,
Courtney

References

Active Learning Online. (2000). Learning Pyramid. Retrieved on 30th July, 2009, from: http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whyuseal2.htm

Central Queensland University. (2009). Flickr. Retrieved on 30th July, 2009, from: http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=671

Flickr. (2009). Photostream. Retrieved on 30th July, 2009, from: http://www.flickr.com/