Ciao (hi in Italian).
Voki avatars appear to be a love them or not type of technological tool if my uni lecture group is anything to go by. Some students used them in their group presentations which I thought was fun and great that they have mastered the power so easily. While others thought them silly and that they are very un-human (some students argued they give a human element to the lesson but aren’t we all human?). I take it from this mixed reaction that this could be the response in a ‘normal’ classroom environment.
http://www.voki.com/php/viewmessage/?chsm=26d20df5f5363e737e228897f1980ec4&mId=316546
(several people and myself couldn't get this to open properly here so hopefully the link works).
I personally feel unless I could make the voice different to my own culturally wise I probably wouldn’t use them too often. My class is a quite diverse crowd and would most likely respond well to a voice that sounded similar to their own. I wonder if I could record several students’ parents’ voices and then add that to an avatar and play it during a lesson. Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to do this. Thanks.
Arrivederci (bye in Italian).
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Powerpoints re-visited
Oi (hi in Portuguese).
My Prep students said they enjoyed the power point presentation I created for them, even though it didn’t hold their attention for long. I think it was because I personally wasn’t comfortable with the technology and felt that the lesson could have been constructed better. In hindsight I could have persevered to add music or find clearer pictures but this is all still a learning curve for me. I will hopefully learn from my mistakes along my learning journey and become a power point wiz.
Thanks Cristi for the suggestions on how to add pictures from the internet. None of the people I had spoken to had ever had such a problem and couldn’t assist me in uploading pictures other then clip art to my power point. I haven’t made any more power points for class but plan to again one day soon with this newly gained knowledge.
And in other big classroom technology advances for me-
· I have introduced signing in on the smart board when the students enter the room. Most of the students love it and some have started doing rainbow writing (writing their name over the top of itself over and over again in different colours). There are still two students who are reluctant with the process but we practice together when other students aren’t around because we all need to work on our Queensland font handwriting skills!
· I have also involved my students in working in the word function of the computers we have in our classroom. It came about as an unplanned event as I was typing up students observations for their portfolios when several students showed interest in what I was doing. I set them up and stepped them through their options of drawing lines, using shapes or typing letters in different fonts and/or colours by clicking on different areas. They truly enjoyed it and have now made it part of their ‘police’ play as they use computers!
How much fun! Wait until I introduce them to Google Earth this week (fingers crossed it works at school) on our Gingerbread Man’s trip around the world.
Tchau (bye in Portuguese).
My Prep students said they enjoyed the power point presentation I created for them, even though it didn’t hold their attention for long. I think it was because I personally wasn’t comfortable with the technology and felt that the lesson could have been constructed better. In hindsight I could have persevered to add music or find clearer pictures but this is all still a learning curve for me. I will hopefully learn from my mistakes along my learning journey and become a power point wiz.
Thanks Cristi for the suggestions on how to add pictures from the internet. None of the people I had spoken to had ever had such a problem and couldn’t assist me in uploading pictures other then clip art to my power point. I haven’t made any more power points for class but plan to again one day soon with this newly gained knowledge.
And in other big classroom technology advances for me-
· I have introduced signing in on the smart board when the students enter the room. Most of the students love it and some have started doing rainbow writing (writing their name over the top of itself over and over again in different colours). There are still two students who are reluctant with the process but we practice together when other students aren’t around because we all need to work on our Queensland font handwriting skills!
· I have also involved my students in working in the word function of the computers we have in our classroom. It came about as an unplanned event as I was typing up students observations for their portfolios when several students showed interest in what I was doing. I set them up and stepped them through their options of drawing lines, using shapes or typing letters in different fonts and/or colours by clicking on different areas. They truly enjoyed it and have now made it part of their ‘police’ play as they use computers!
How much fun! Wait until I introduce them to Google Earth this week (fingers crossed it works at school) on our Gingerbread Man’s trip around the world.
Tchau (bye in Portuguese).
What in the world is LMS?
Hi (hi in Romanian is the same too!).
Learning Management Systems or LMS as they are more commonly referred to on the internet are programs just like Moodle and Blackboard.
Moodle and Blackboard programs (which we all use for university so don't need an explanation) can be described as being student centred rather than teacher centred because if you look at the continuum of teaching methods you will realise we the students really do guide our own learning. With LMS programs, students can focus on the areas they want to read or participate in without having to be concerned about what everyone else is doing.
And if you look at it from a Productive Pedagogies viewpoint, programs like Moodle and Blackboard fit in the Supportive Classroom Environment column accurately as again it is student directed, self regulated and incorporates academic engagement.
The author of an article by the Australian Flexible Learning Community compared LMS to being a ‘basket’ that just about everything you need is in. That comparison sums up Blackboard and Moodle to me. What do you think?
Pa (bye in Romanian).
References:
Continuum of Teaching Methods
Department of Education. (2002). Productive Pedagogies. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: Curriculum Implementation Unit.
Australian Flexible Learning Community. (2004). How To Choose A Learning Management System. Retrieved the 13th of August 2009 from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. http://community.flexiblelearning.net.au/managingflexibledelivery/content/article_6944
Learning Management Systems or LMS as they are more commonly referred to on the internet are programs just like Moodle and Blackboard.
Moodle and Blackboard programs (which we all use for university so don't need an explanation) can be described as being student centred rather than teacher centred because if you look at the continuum of teaching methods you will realise we the students really do guide our own learning. With LMS programs, students can focus on the areas they want to read or participate in without having to be concerned about what everyone else is doing.
And if you look at it from a Productive Pedagogies viewpoint, programs like Moodle and Blackboard fit in the Supportive Classroom Environment column accurately as again it is student directed, self regulated and incorporates academic engagement.
The author of an article by the Australian Flexible Learning Community compared LMS to being a ‘basket’ that just about everything you need is in. That comparison sums up Blackboard and Moodle to me. What do you think?
Pa (bye in Romanian).
References:
Continuum of Teaching Methods
Department of Education. (2002). Productive Pedagogies. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: Curriculum Implementation Unit.
Australian Flexible Learning Community. (2004). How To Choose A Learning Management System. Retrieved the 13th of August 2009 from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. http://community.flexiblelearning.net.au/managingflexibledelivery/content/article_6944
Interactive White Boards
Hola (hi in Spanish).
Interactive whiteboards which I know better as ‘smart boards’ have been in both of the schools I have completed practicum at. But am I any better off than a friend of mine who hasn’t had access to one in either of her prac years I couldn’t tell you.
Neither of my classroom teachers (as brilliant as they are) have embraced the technology much or taught me anything amazing using them. They have both used the ‘smart board’ to play music and DVDs and the occasional interactive games on it but I had not seen power point presentations on it until the week I did mine. I have not seen avatars or links to internet programs such as Google Earth on it so I will set myself the challenge and attempt to do that myself.
I wonder if we should be learning more about ‘smart boards’ and its various features and functions in our university lectures? Should the lecturers be teaching us using the technology we will be using in the classroom? Could we better prepared if we have played with them before stepping foot in the classroom?
Another friend (I don’t want to use names on here but they know who they are) recently returned from her holidays in another state and had visited a school there. She had the opportunity to sit in on classes where the teacher used the ‘smart board’ all day long and incorporated it into everything they did in one way or another. It was her who gave me the idea of getting students to sign in on the ‘smart board’ as it was the way the teacher she observed started her student’s day. My friend said the teachers there all got a program/CD rom to download on to their computers so they had everything at their fingertips and were able to embrace ‘smart boards’ and all their capabilities. I think that would be a wonderful thing to access as a pre service teacher so that people like myself who aren’t tech savvy (hey I only got a laptop a few months ago!) could practice and play with it before going into the classroom and attempting the whole trial and error thing in front of students and mentor teachers.
Adios (bye in Spanish).
Interactive whiteboards which I know better as ‘smart boards’ have been in both of the schools I have completed practicum at. But am I any better off than a friend of mine who hasn’t had access to one in either of her prac years I couldn’t tell you.
Neither of my classroom teachers (as brilliant as they are) have embraced the technology much or taught me anything amazing using them. They have both used the ‘smart board’ to play music and DVDs and the occasional interactive games on it but I had not seen power point presentations on it until the week I did mine. I have not seen avatars or links to internet programs such as Google Earth on it so I will set myself the challenge and attempt to do that myself.
I wonder if we should be learning more about ‘smart boards’ and its various features and functions in our university lectures? Should the lecturers be teaching us using the technology we will be using in the classroom? Could we better prepared if we have played with them before stepping foot in the classroom?
Another friend (I don’t want to use names on here but they know who they are) recently returned from her holidays in another state and had visited a school there. She had the opportunity to sit in on classes where the teacher used the ‘smart board’ all day long and incorporated it into everything they did in one way or another. It was her who gave me the idea of getting students to sign in on the ‘smart board’ as it was the way the teacher she observed started her student’s day. My friend said the teachers there all got a program/CD rom to download on to their computers so they had everything at their fingertips and were able to embrace ‘smart boards’ and all their capabilities. I think that would be a wonderful thing to access as a pre service teacher so that people like myself who aren’t tech savvy (hey I only got a laptop a few months ago!) could practice and play with it before going into the classroom and attempting the whole trial and error thing in front of students and mentor teachers.
Adios (bye in Spanish).
Video
Hei (hello in Finnish).
Now when I read video on the Moodle page in front of me, my thoughts instantly went to VHS or BETA. Some of the young people reading this will have no idea what I am talking about. It was what we used before we had DVDS!
Now after reading the topic fully I can understand they are talking about video clips that are saved in programs such as You Tube and Teacher Tube. Or better yet videos you as the Learning Manager or your students create by filming something on a digital camera or mobile phone then uploading it into a program such as Movie Maker.
I have only used movie maker once or twice and that was quite a while ago in an Art lecture last year. I remember it was quite an event for me as I am not technically minded and had a very old computer system. A quick play on my laptop now with the downloaded program (Movie Maker) and I feel confident I can make something. I might even set myself the task this week of filming the students in my class and experimenting with that during the week to create a mini movie. Of course I won’t be able to put that on here. I will have to come up with something else for that. Any suggestions?
Hei (which is also bye in Finnish).
Now when I read video on the Moodle page in front of me, my thoughts instantly went to VHS or BETA. Some of the young people reading this will have no idea what I am talking about. It was what we used before we had DVDS!
Now after reading the topic fully I can understand they are talking about video clips that are saved in programs such as You Tube and Teacher Tube. Or better yet videos you as the Learning Manager or your students create by filming something on a digital camera or mobile phone then uploading it into a program such as Movie Maker.
I have only used movie maker once or twice and that was quite a while ago in an Art lecture last year. I remember it was quite an event for me as I am not technically minded and had a very old computer system. A quick play on my laptop now with the downloaded program (Movie Maker) and I feel confident I can make something. I might even set myself the task this week of filming the students in my class and experimenting with that during the week to create a mini movie. Of course I won’t be able to put that on here. I will have to come up with something else for that. Any suggestions?
Hei (which is also bye in Finnish).
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Image Manipulation
Ahoj (hello in Czech).
Picnik is another easy to use program that I am sure my students will love as much as I do.
Picnik allowed me to re-size, crop, change colours, resolutions and contrast as well as red eye reduction to a picture that most of us have on our computers from when we first purchased them.
I was impressed with how easy it is to do and will be incorporating it into my future powerpoint and website productions.
Nashledanou (bye in Czech).
Picnik is another easy to use program that I am sure my students will love as much as I do.
Picnik allowed me to re-size, crop, change colours, resolutions and contrast as well as red eye reduction to a picture that most of us have on our computers from when we first purchased them.
I was impressed with how easy it is to do and will be incorporating it into my future powerpoint and website productions.
Nashledanou (bye in Czech).
Picnik
I really did love using Picnik! I will be attempting to add these sort of collage pictures to my in class powerpoints so that my students really do need to look at what they are seeing.
They could even start taking the photos and assist in the process.
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