Week 8 Blog Entry

This week has been very full on.  I have not been retaining a lot of information due to the information overload I have been experiencing from all of my subjects.  I have found that I have read through my assignments three or four times and still do not fully know if what I am saying is what I want to convey.  I have been editing the video for the group and finding that the fine tuning on the video was more work than I had originally thought it would be.

The professional development video has been a very interesting thing to work on because it has provided me with a new way to look at teaching through ICT to enhance a lesson and that using ICT within the classroom is not just useable through the research phase or through ICT based subjects. 

I did have problems with the video unfortunately.  Uploading it to TeacherTube was impossible because the video file was too large.  I was able to load the video to Youtube but there were also issues around file size and taking over 3 hours to load.  When the upload failed I decided that I would lower the quality of the video and then post it online.  There was no point in waiting over 3 hours again.  I was very happy with how our video came out in the end though.

Week 7 Blog Entry

In the tute we did a little bit of group work.  This worked alright however what we were told to work on was a bit hard.  We had to list different beliefs and where you would place them of importance in your school/classroom.  I personally believed that everything that was given in the list was of high importance within schools.  If I were a teacher I would have more likely listed it more as a flow chart from overall to more specialised areas but valuing all equally.  Through this task it seemed like an underlying lesson was compromise and dealing with what you have even if you do not totally agree with it (group agreed completely but it was actually placing importance that was very hard).

In our group we got to meet up as a last group meeting.  We managed to get all of our videoing and audio recording completed so I could finish editing the video.  We found it was quite informative at the end to be able to talk about and plan the final video.  The video itself was quite interesting to do however next time we will see if there are other students near us because the graphic design students were setting up their cardboard masterpieces and celebrating as we were trying to film.  We ended up using the microphone headset to get clearer audio which worked well because it allowed us to hear what we were saying a lot clearer and cut out a lot of the interference we were getting from road noise and other students (although it was minimal because it was on a Sunday).

Week 6 Blog Entry

This week one of the main points that was in the lecture really struck home.  The point was teach with a purpose not just for the sake of teaching.  You teach the students basing their learning around things that they are interested in.  This to me means that the students need to be able to find meaning in what they are learning because they are the ones who need to be engaged in the subject.  This means you need to know what the students are interested and why. 

I also learnt about a section of NAPLAN that I had not heard of before.  The ICT section of NAPLAN which is undertaken in year 6 and year 10.  They do not test all of the students though because students need individual computers to be able to participate.  This to me seems a bit wrong because it means that the school can choose their best at ICT and it then makes the results stilted towards good rather than getting a proper general idea of where all the students are at.  The whole school should be tested in my opinion however that is impossible with the dearth of computers in the public school systems that are available to students to use.

My group has finalised our speeches this week to find out that we were going in the wrong direction for the assignment.  We have made an emergency meeting so we are able to modify the areas that do not fit into what the assignment is asking for.  Our group has now decided to work on SOSE and will have our written parts completed (again) by next week.  Working under this pressure is definitely proving hard to stay on top.  Re reading the readings is getting to be tedious because all the readings seem to blur together.  I believe when I am in the classroom I may get my students to write up a short blurb on each reading (if I set any) and that I will start doing that for my subjects now.

Week 5 Blog Entry

In our group we have already all written up different parts of what we would like to talk about in the group.  In our group meeting we came together with 2 minutes worth of speech each and posted them up on Google Docs which allowed each of us to view and edit each other’s speeches.  As I learn more about Google Docs I am finding that I am spreading it to other areas of my study.  This has been very beneficial to my learning and as such will be used by me within the classroom as long as the education system will allow it.  If not I will look for educationally approved programs that are of a similar setup.

During the tute we were looking at approaches to learning.  This was an interesting subject (especially linked in with the readings from last week that talk about the three main pedagogical approaches, constructivism, behaviourism and cognitivism).  This really brought all my knowledge about the area forward and allowed it to advance as I was learning new and applicable things.

I found the tute was also very informative because it showed many different places you can go to make videos.  The websites were alright.  There were a few that I did not find very interesting however the screen-o-matic website was a great idea because I had already decided upon doing a screen shot of a move by move video editing.  Upon looking at my laptops abilities it does say that I can record full screen captures however upon trying it I was told I had to pay for an extension on pre-existing software.  Screen capture works well because it allows you to show people how to use certain software and they can always have a video of it in case they need to go faster or slower or need to see it more than once.  I will definitely use it for my classroom because it allows the person viewing the video full control.

Week 4 Blog Entry

Throughout the lecture for week 4 we learnt about all of the different literacies.  I personally knew that there were differing types of literacy however I did not know all of the different types mentioned.  I found it interesting that Digital literacy is seen as another whole subset of literacy.  Knowing all of the different forms of literacy allows me as a teacher to better understand my students and to know how I can cater for student needs.  Students with strong areas in one form of literacy but weaker areas in other forms of literacy will need to have the teacher scaffold their learning so that the students are able to interpret and understand different areas.
Types of literacy and meaning

Digital literacy – is seen as another whole subset of literacy.
Basic literacy – being able to function in todays literal world.
Scientific literacy – knowing science with confidence
Economic literacy – understanding of buying and selling
Technological literacy – this is not ICT but this is generally a new product in the world.
Visual literacy – being able to interpret films, pictures, audio. Visual literacy is more      communication
Information literacy – like library literacy.  Being able to access information, being able to         search for information.
Multicultural literacy – welcoming other cultures
Global awareness – understanding that there is information available in other places in the        world.
Game literacy – games and their uses in the classroom
            Also others like twitter literacy, texting literacy etc… you must view it as more than         just text communication.

Our group has decided upon doing a video on Video Editing and focusing on the mathematical concepts that students could be using it for.  This was a joint decision because we were thinking about SOSE focusing on the dinosaurs too.  As a group it was decided to do video editing because I know how to use the video editing software and it would help the others in the group learn how to create a video using Windows Movie Maker allowing them to be able to use that knowledge when they go out to teach.

I have still been struggling with doing the readings before the lecture/tute because I just don’t seem to have the time.  I am finding however that doing my readings after the lecture/tute I am able to stay on task a lot easier.  This seems to be because I understand what the readings are talking about and it is not just words.

Week 3 Blog Entry

This week’s readings were half completed before the tutorial because of the immense size of them.  I did however get the chance to see the way that people change their mind/opinion about technology within the classroom through the readings in seeing one journal article then the same person rewriting it 20 years later.  Through this I do realise that in the classroom putting weekly readings online is a good thing because it allows for the readings to be accessible to the student on any format.  I would however provide my students with hard copies because my eyes usually hurt after having to read everything on the screen for such a long time.

My group has been working well together utilising Google Docs.  We have posted all of our research up on the blog so we are able to read what each group member has done.  This allows us to be able to share resources in an easily accessible way rather than having to send a lot of emails.  I like also how it shows you who has edited it last.  I still cannot find on there where you can go to see who has edited what and when.  Through being able to use this I know for certain that if it is possible to use Google Docs in the classroom then I will introduce it to students to allow them to do group work online.  It has allowed me to post things up even when I am on my mobile phone.

Throughout the tute I was able to use other technologies.  I have started writing up a list of them in delicious and am looking for another website to post favourites up to as well.  The information I am able to put onto the internet through cloud computing is endless and I have discovered so many different uses of technology like (going back to first week) the BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) where it picks up thoughts and emotions and can convey to the reader what parts of the brain were stimulated and when.  Technology within the classroom was already a high priority to me however now that I am in this course it looks like technology should be used throughout school life because technology is constantly evolving and changing (like education) and in 10 years could be completely different.  Keeping that in mind I think staying technological is better than reaching a certain point and advancing no further just to find out that technology has changed enough that you no longer understand it.

Week 2 Blog entry

During this week in the lecture/tute I was a lot more confident in myself and how I believe this course will go.  The first week had me wondering how hard the overall course would be and if I would be able to manage a good grade given the fact that we are being immersed in new technologies that I either have not used because I have not heard of them or technologies I used alternatives for.  An example of this is a blog.  I have created a blog before, however it was not for University nor my studies.  I kept the blog for 10 months.  Having a blog I have to post to every week is a new thing to me because I am not used to having to follow another person’s guidelines about posting online.

I have found that I did not have time to do the readings for the second week before the tute however after the tute I was able to do the readings.  I found doing it in that way it consolidated the readings and I was able to stay more focused on them.  This may be because the readings had a purpose where it did not doing it before the lecture/tute.

I had one of my group members drop out of the course but thankfully I was able to get the new person who joined our course to join our group.  We then spoke briefly as a group after the tute about what we would be able to do our 10 minute video on.  We have narrowed it down to some educational games on Neopets or video editing.  I have been doing a lot of research on differing areas for students to be able to use them for.  I also set up a Google Docs word document for the group to be able to post all their information, ideas and eventually finalised scripts.  This was a good site to use because it allows us to be able to work from different computers on the same document at the same time.  I am hoping to learn about more cloud computing software as the course progresses.

Monday 28th of February s2717954

Today was the first tutorial for ICT.  Going into this tute I expected it to be more of a remedial class.  Upon joining this course and having the first lecture I have discovered that the course will be more demanding than first expected and provide enough of a challenge to keep me focused on the course.

Through  the duration of the lecture I learnt that students are able to write in text talk for some of their writing tasks.  Also about the benefits of having the internet available to students.  The internet allows students to social network.  This is giving students the ability to interact with people on a higher level than ever before, this is because they are connected through the internet to other people from anywhere in the world.

I also learnt about the many applications provided by Google.  I do not usually bother with using Google's applications further than the search application and the maps application.  This is because I usually use other programs available through the internet or they are applications I have not had a desire to use before now.  This introduction to the programs is allowing me to broaden my knowledge on computers and allow me to keep up to date.

New information that I had obtained through the lecture was also the different uses of technology (hardware) in the classroom for the future like the item used to scan brain activity which allows the reader to see different parts of the brain in various amounts of activation.  Upon further research on the Emotive hardwear BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) they are already able to read brain activity and combine it with your keystrokes to pick up on what your brain is thinking when you type a certain thing to the point that when you usually put a :) smiley face and you smile when you type it that it will automatically type a smiley face when you smile.  The ability shown in the Emotive BCI with technology at the stage we are at shows that in time we will be able to fine tune our BCI and be able to control whole prosthetic limbs or other complex machinery.