5
November
2008
This unit has definitely opened my eyes to the vast amount of new innovations we have today. It was surprising to find out that I had never heard of most of the innovations!
The way that this unit was structured and planned, I think, was quite effective. When we do focused assignments in other units we do not learn much about other topics, only our own topic. However, with this assignment I have learnt a lot about my innovation and about other innovations because we have had the opportunity to practise using them in class.
Most of the ‘sharing of knowledge’ was presented through powerpoint, class interactions and hands-on experiences.
Louise and I chose to present Interactive Whiteboards as a powerpoint presentation but we also included hands-on work. We split the class up into two groups (one group with Louise and the other with me). Louise’s group practised hands-on learning with the interactive whiteboard and my group learnt how to create a word wall for interactive whiteboards using Notebook; then we swapped groups.
The feedback we got about or technique was very positive! Everyone found it effective how we did focused teaching so that everyone got to practise with using the whiteboard and creating an activity.
I would like to thank Lina for helping us through this unit and for creating a unit that has increased my knowledge of technology.
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5
November
2008
Unfortunately I was not able to attend this presentation =( I really wish I did because after reading about these innovations on the internet I think it would have been a very interesting topic.
The websites I visited explain that Clickers and Turning Point are generally used in large classroom or lecture settings. Students use a remote control device that allows them to respond to key questions displayed on a screen or powerpoint. Depending on the device, students can make simple responses or provide more detailed responses by using a remote that has a key board.
The responses are collected and can be displayed immediately on the screen for all to see – immediate feedback.
I think Clickers and Turning Point can be quite useful and effective in large classrooms but perhaps not in small (normal) classroom sizes. I personally prefer student-student interaction over student-student –via technology interaction. I like the idea that student responses can be displayed immediately as feedback because it allows everyone to see what everyone else thinks.
I am still not quite sure of what these innovations are about and I would love to read about them in the class wiki.
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8
October
2008
This is kind of a late blog but last week we viewed a presentation on Google earth. This was a really good presentation because we got to play around with all the functions and places around the world! I’ve used Google earth before and it was really fun to visit the different places, view different photos and to see places in 3D.
The presenters asked us to find our house and this was when it hit me that Google earth is a real life innovation. It was amazing to see my house and my familiar neighbourhood except that it was a bit out of date. It was really cool to visit all the landforms and see them pop up in 3D!
The only negative thing about Google earth is that it is a little out of date. Only the places that get clicked on most often are updated more frequently. Also, you can find some pretty weird pictures on Google earth (like random naked people). I guess this is the privacy issue of Google earth.
Would I use it in the classroom?…I might consider using this in the classroom because of the many places I can show students. I would also allow students to find their homes so they can see where they fit in the context of the world. Students could also navigate and use Google earth themselves but I would need to monitor the places that they visit and the pictures they view. Maybe I could make a list of certain places I would like them to visit and use those places as discussion topics that could lead onto report writing.
From the presentation I can see that along with the many benefits of Google earth there are also a few faults and negatives. Overall, I think Google earth is a lot of fun!
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8
October
2008
Hmm I’ve never really used google groups before but my friends have used google group. They have used it to send mass emails to a whole bunch of us, so instead of inserting individual receivers they just click on the group and send it as a whole. I think this is really useful and convenient. From the presentation, i think google groups would be a useful and convenient way to interact with students outside of school. It seems like a safe way to encourage students to use computers. The ability to monitor students through e.g. discussions, times/dates and files uploaded makes this a safe way for teachers to interact with students and for students to interact with their peers. I think I might use it in the classroom to do administrative things and maybe ask parents to send questions and concerns about their children. It can also be used to send homework to students who are away.
During the presentation we were asked to edit some articles. This would be one way for teachers to mark and edit their students’ work. I think it was useful that we had many people inputting and marking the same work but it was also very confusing because I kept editing a word and someone was changing it back to the original (I was wrong though haha) but yeh…if I was to use this in my classroom I would be the only one marking the work, however, I could use this as an activity for students to practise editing spelling and punctuation etc.
I think google groups and docs could be quite useful =)
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24
September
2008
Last week we participated in a presentation about Second Life. It is virtual world where you can create avatars of yourself. In this world you can look and be whoever you want! you can change your appearance and clothing…you can basically be PERFECT!
What i liked about Second Life (SL) is that you can change your appearance and visit an endless number places around the world. This is very useful in the classroom because students can visit places which they may never actually get the chance to in real life. This intergrates society and environment into SL. There is also a webquest for students to access and complete tasks on their own using SL. These make SL a useful tool in the classroom.
Students can also chat to one another and develop skills in making friends =)
However, SL can be dangerous because it IS NOT monitored. Children may well be talking to dangerous stranger without knowing it. People using SL can say whatever they like which means that children can hear and read about things which they should not hear e.g. swearing etc. Children can make friends on SL but I don’t think that this should be a substitue for making ‘real’ friends. You hear about children trapped in playing video games and other virtual world games and not actually living in real life. I myself do not play many video games therefore I would not spend my time playing on SL, however some children will.
As a teacher i would only use SL as a whole class activity because i can not monitor the class if every student was to have their own account.
Overall, SL is an amazing creation and has the potential to be a great teaching tool.
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10
September
2008
Today in our teachnology and enterprise class we viewed a presentation about Twitter and how it works. First off I didn’t know what was going on but by the end of the presentation everything linked up. Can I just take the opportunity to say that the presentation was really good and easy to understand.
I think Twitter can be handy for keeping in contact with friends and just finding out about what they are doing. It seems like such a simple way of connecting people. Twitter is short, sharp and to the point which is great because it takes me ages to read a long post haha!
As mentioned in the presentation, Twitter can be useful for asking questions to get other people’s opinions and thoughts and for collecting data from around the world for edcuational purposes. If I were a teacher I may want to find out about the national animal of many countries. I can post that question on Twitter and receive feedback in a matter of minutes (depending on my network). This would be a very good resource for general data collection.
The presentation also discussed the pros and cons of using Twitter in the classroom with students. I definitely think that if a teacher was to use Twitter with students he/she would need to closely monitor what their students are doing. Twitter is such a global application and if students are not monitored while using Twitter they could get into safety and privacy issues regarding Twitter. Twitter-ers are free to say whatever they like which means that students could read posts that are inappropriate or could be ‘followed’ by dangerous people.
Overall, I think Twitter can be a useful and easy thing to use but if I were to use it in a classroom I would use it as a whole class activity so as to keep my students safe.
Ok, those are my thoughts =) *tweet* (bye!) lol
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20
August
2008
Last week we had an expert blogger come in to show and teach us about how to blog and and the benefits of blogging. I created my first ever blog and I must say I found it extremely confusing! We had to create accounts with different sites and add many applications. It was all a bit too much! I think blogging can come in handy but I just need to figure out how to use my blog properly before I do anything else lol I hope blogging becomes second nature to me =)
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13
August
2008
Hi I am Christina Ly and I am a second year student doing Early Childhood Education. This unit I am completing is Using Computers in the Classroom which shows me how to teach students using the different types of technology we have today.
Children today are being constantly immersed in technology, so the purpose of my blogs is to reflect on the different types of innovations that can be used with children and that children can use. I have never used a blog before so hopefully by using this blog I, myself, will become more familiarised with blogging!
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