Wikipedia

I still don't know exactly how to feel about Wikipedia. I have used it to gather background information on particular topics but have never used the content or referenced it in my work. This is probably due to my original opinion that it is a social encyclopedia that is not monitored. However, I have since discovered that Wikipedia has a tight set of guidelines and rules that ensure the information provided is accurate.

I think if I were to use Wikipedia in the classroom, I would be inclined to use it for quick reference. For example, if we were commencing a science project on energy, and all the students were interested in what kinetic energy was, we may quickly search Wikipedia and place the results on the interactive whiteboard, knowing that there will be a relatively accurate definition available. We may also use Wikipedia in group activities where students have 15 minutes to source as much information as possible about a particular topic to present to the class. Wikipedia would probably be their first port of call because the information is extensive and usually available.

However, Because of the exhaustive nature of the site, I would probably be inclined to place rules on its usage. Students need to develop effective research skills and if we allow them simply to go to one site that has all the answers, they are not developing their ability to search for relevant data.

Google Earth

The only word that comes to mind...insane!! I am blown away by what can be discovered using google earth. When this first came out, I used it to search for my house, was amazed that it could do it then simply forgot about the program. I was actually almost not going to load the newest version because I had the opinion that I had seen it and used it. Gosh am I glad I did download it, it is incredible.

I think I am glued to the 'space' section. You could create lessons utilising google earth and an interactive whiteboard purely on the moon. Students get a better visual of how the moon looks and can be involved in finding out facts about it. Google Earth includes data, pictures and even clips of stars, planets and constellations.

Most commonly known is Google Earth's ability to find a location. If you want to see a view of your house, type in your address and Google Earth will take you there. It will take you anywhere in the world and show you famous locations and give you valuable facts. If the students have international school pen-pals, we could research and view where their international friends are from.

Davidson Hall (2010) summed up the use of Google Earth within the classroom perfectly. He stated "Google Earth enables teachers and communities to easily create tremendous collections of work integrating video, 3D buildings, photos, podcasts or NPR stories. Teacher and students will travel the real earth of explorations, migrations, heroes and history and share new instruction growing on the planet itself".

Hall, D 2010, 'Teachers speak out', Google for Educators Discovery Educator Network, www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html

YouTube

YouTube is something that I am relatively familiar with. I spent a little while tonight exploring and trying to find a video that could teach children the main elements of writing an interesting narrative. The reason I chose that is because the students in my prac class are currently learning the skills necessary to complete an entertaining narrative. Unfortunately I could only find one and it was very uninteresting, so decided to pass.

I then thought about the fact that there are many children who not only struggle with maths but find it difficult and wonder why it is necessary to know. I found a really good youtube clip, probably targeted to younger years, that identifies maths in everyday life. This is important as children can then see maths as being relevent outside of school. Tasks such as counting money, counting the number of slices of a pizza, identifying patterns on road footpaths and seeing symmetry in nature, are all considered maths. Students therefore can see more clearly the authenticity of learning mathematics and its purpose in their lives.

I believe this clip would be a really good introduction to the concept of maths. To form this clip into a project, students could form groups and identify together, maths concepts they can identify in everyday life.

Picnik

My Naughty Red Bird
Originally uploaded by JaimeaF

My Naughty Red Bird
Originally uploaded by FoNgEtZ

Again, something I never really knew existed. I love this as well. Apart from the number of hours I know I am going to spend on Flickr and Picnik, I think students will be able to use this to its full advantage. If the students were for example, creating a poster on birds they would have the tools necessary to grab the attention of their audience. Utilising a tool such as Picnik also gives students a sense of ownership, it is their creative work. Instead of trying to gather pictures, they can take a picture that to them seems ordinary and make it quite personal as well as an effective visual.

What I was really impressed with, is the fact that your pictures you have gathered from Flickr can then be imported into Picnik, altered and loaded directly to a blog or wiki. I think students would pick this up extremely quickly. It is very user friendly.

Flickr

Vietnam, Ha Long Bay
Originally uploaded by Kathy~

The easiest setup I have done so far. Flickr is fantastic! What is so embarrassing however is that I have known nothing about it for years. During my previous degrees and even some assignments for this GDLT, I have spent a rediculous number of hours searching for pictures that are for free and don't have a massive watermark printed over the top of them. I am so ashamed to say that I did not know Flickr existed.

The idea of using Flickr within the classroom is great. In two of my lessons already I have attempted to immediately engage students by showing interesting thought provoking pictures on the interactive whiteboard, pictures that I have spent hours searching for on google. To know that I now have an account and can simply type in the search area and have free pictures is amazing.

However, the use of Flickr for children within the class is also going to be advantageous. As an example, when I first started prac the students were completing an ICT project on energy (a television advertisement). Some students were really struggling to find some interesting pictures to place in their advertisement. they searched google and came up with quite ordinary results. I should have suggested Flickr and they could have included something like this.

Clean Energy
Originally uploaded by imagonovus

PowerPoint

Powerpoint presentation

I have created a very simple PowerPoint on Weather and the Seasons. Through this activity I learnt a lot about PowerPoint that I was unaware of, such as the ability to add a transition sound as well as manage the speed of that sound. I have had a lot of fun looking through animations, pictures and colours in order to ensure that students are engaged in the lesson. It is common knowledge that a PowerPoint presentation full of content is not going to keep student attention, even if the content is important to understand. Visual learners especially require learning techniques such as interesting, animated slides.

I have in my previous roles, presented many PowerPoint presentations for the purpose of providing statistics to staff but the emphasis on creativity and interest has never been required. It was always important simply to get the facts across. I see a new side to PowerPoint and one that is very exciting. However, I am also extremely conscious not to overuse this tool as too much PowerPoint, no matter how creative, can become boring.

I tried to create this presentation based on Kearsley & Shneiderman (1999) framework for technology-based teaching and learning. This engagement theory emphasises the importance of ‘relate’, ‘create’ and ‘donate’.

This presentation is not a full lesson but is the introduction to a lesson based on this theory as a full lesson utilising only PowerPoint would not be effective. Students are automatically engaged with the content due to the interesting, animated PowerPoint. The content is relevant to them as everyone needs to be familiar with the changing seasons. During the presentation there is time for students to discuss together the answer to a question. However, this presentation is used more as an introduction to their collaborative project, creating a seasons poster.

Within groups, students create a poster (one season) based on the introductory knowledge they have learnt, the pictures, sounds and colours provided in the presentation as well as further research. They then present their poster to a younger class for them to display around the room or even present them to another school. This will give the student a sense of making a positive contribution to younger children by giving them visual understanding of the seasons.

I utilised SlideShare to upload my presentation.

note: after finally playing this published PowerPoint presentation (as I had massive troubles in importing onto my blog), I have noticed that all of my animations and sounds have disappeared which is a real shame. A lot of wasted work.

Kearsley, G, and Shneiderman, B. (1999) Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.