REFLECTIVE SYNOPSIS

My journey over the past five weeks of exploring ICT (Information Communication Technology) tools and their valuable use in the classroom has been a huge learning experience. I found many challenges throughout my learning and although sometimes frustrating I have learnt a great deal. I have come to realise the importance of integrating the use of ICTs on our students to provide them with positive learning experiences and prepare them for our ever-changing global society that is driven by technology and communication developments.  It is not about just teaching our students how to use these tools but about choosing the right tool for a specific learning experience to provide the best possible learning outcomes for each and every student. Due to the flexibility of ICT tools they enable us as Learning Managers to apply appropriate pedagogical practices and scaffolding to support a diverse range of learning experiences. Through exploring these tools I have been given the opportunity to reflect and analyse my own learning experiences and how different tools could be implemented in the classroom. It is through the following text that you will find my reflections on elearning technologies I have explored and the legal, safe and ethical practices that need to be addressed when using these tools to ensure the safety of students which is of cause our number one priority.  

                                                                                                                

Legal, Safe and Ethical Practices for using ICTs in the Classroom

It is important that teachers and students are made aware of and understand the legal, safe and ethical practices to follow and to be taken into consideration in elearning.  They need to be made mindful of:

• ·         Knowing when to make attribution when researching and copying information, photos or videos from the web and how to reference these correctly.

• ·         Accessing inappropriate material such as pornography and violent or harmful content.

• ·         Risk of cyber bulling, harassment and online predators and how to report these.

• ·         Providing personal information online

Providing guidelines for students to follow not only in the classroom but at home as well will help to lower the risk of them coming in contact with inappropriate content and give them confidence in dealing with any issues they are exposed to. To ensure parents are also familiar with these issues I would send an information sheet home with students outlining this topic or invite them to attend an information session that would go into detail about these concerns and how to deal and manage them. Learning does not only happen in the classroom so I think it is important that everyone is made aware of these practices. Before any elearning takes place these issues need to be top priority and appropriate pedagogies and learning scaffolds need to be in place to ensure the best learning experience.

Group 1 Technologies 

Please see Week 3 –Reflection for my reflection on group 1 Technologies. 

The first group of technologies we were introduced to were wikis, blogs and websites. I have always been familiar with websites, however I had not created one, and wikis and blogs were not something I had ever heard of or used for that matter. Through examining these tools, taking part in Week 1 and Week 2 wiki activities, reflecting in my blog and creating a website I found these tools would be a great way to get students to explore, collaborate and reflect on topics. Websites in particular I believe could be used as a base or starting point for learning due to the flexibility they provide. Websites are able to be created to provide information for students to read and can provide links for further investigation, offer activities for students to complete such as homework tasks, quizzes or assessments and have the option to add a blog or provide links to a wiki where students are then able to reflect, ask questions or add extra information to collaborate with one another and come to a conclusion. They can help to support higher order thinking, substantive conversation, academic engagement, student direction, social support and connectedness to the word which are some of the essential pedagogical practices teacher need to ensure are incorporated into their teaching strategies. Websites provide a great base for students to work from and if combined with face to face learning in the classroom the overall learning experiences would be much more effective and guarantee better learning outcomes.

Group 2 Technologies

Please visit Week 4 – Digital Video Activity and Week 4 – Flickr Activity for further reading.

According to A Global Imperative (2005) 21^st century literacy is the set of abilities and skills where aural, visual and digital literacy overlap. These include the ability to understand the power of images and sounds, to recognise and use that power, to manipulate and transform digital media, to distribute them pervasively, and to easily adapt them to new forms.

Group 2 technologies focused on digital multimedia tools such as videos, audio, podcast, images and image enhancing tools. Whether it is watching television, playing video games, listening to the radio or walking down the street we witness these types of technologies everyday making their presence in the classroom vital. Incorporating these tools into the learning environment helps to enhance students visual and auditory learning styles and helps them to explore and reflect on different learning experiences visually making it more engaging and exciting for students.

Due to images and videos being very similar in context I have decided to focus on these two together. The tools I chose to explore were Flickr and PowerPoint. When using Flickr I found the risk of students coming across inappropriate material high due to them being able to access a wide variety of images however I do believe this is a great tool for Learning Managers. Flickr has an enormous range of images available that would be suitable to use in almost any topic that is being studied in the classroom to give students a visual aide that they are better able to associate things with. Tools that would suit students on the other hand that involve using images would be programs such as Mobaphoto and Picnik. These allow students to edit or resize their own photos, create collages and create albums and slideshows.  PowerPoint was the other tool that I explored as I didn’t have access to MovieMaker. PowerPoint allowed me to use images, videos, music and text and organise them into a movie. I did this using videos and images of my son. If using this in the classroom it would provide an effective way for students to document a field trip or experiment as a way to reflect and analyse what they had learnt instead of just taking notes. In helping students become producers of knowledge, the teacher’s main instructional task is to create activities or environments that allow them opportunities to engage in higher order thinking. (The Productive Pedagogies, 2002) If scaffolded correctly using images and movie making tools would provide great opportunity for this type of learning environment.

Group 3 Technologies

Please visit Week 5 – My Glogster and SWOT Analysis

Group 3 technologies included presentation tools Prezi, Glogster and PowerPoint. These tools provide teachers the opportunity to present information in an interactive way which is entertaining, meaningful and engaging for students. Due to using PowerPoint as part of group 2 technologies when making a video the tool I am going to focus on this time is Glogster. Again this was a new tool for me but I thoroughly enjoyed learning and exploring all its features. It really is a tool that takes presentation tools to a whole new level. Glogster EDU provides a collaborative online learning platform for teachers and students to express their creativity, knowledge, ideas and skills in the classroom. (Glogster EDU, 2011)The opportunities that exist with using Glogster makes it a prime example of the 21^st century learning tools and how technology is becoming more and more advanced. Glogsters are able to be creatively constructed and provide visually appealing information where images, videos, podcasts, animations, web links and text can be added to complement the topic being covered. It provides the chance for teachers and students to work together and construct knowledge as a team. Unlike websites, which I believe are suited more for teachers manufacture and instruction for the class. I believe Glogsters would be a great tool for students to use to explore, construct and document their learning as it transforms student learning and provides the opportunity for students to reflect and incorporate their own learning style into it.

Group 4 Technologies 

Please visit Week 5 – Google – Maps, Earth and Documents

Group 4 technologies include a variety of different ICT tools and are best referred to as miscellaneous tools. The tools that were available to explore but weren’t limited to included animations and simulations, interactive learning objects, Adobe Flash, concept mapping, online timelines and Zooburst. The tools I chose to explore were Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Docs.

Google Maps and Google Earth are similar in a way as they both provide the ability to look at and study different locations around the world. Due to the highly specialised nature of these tools they can provide great enhancement to students learning experiences. The MyMaps option gives students the chance to create their own personalised maps where they are able to embed images, videos and descriptive text to make the content exciting and engaging. It also gives them the option to share their work online making it also a useful collaboration tool. 

Google Doc is an easy to use online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor that enables you and your students to create, store and share instantly and securely, and collaborate online. (Google Docs, 2011) The versatility of Google Docs and its practicality make this another great tool for use not only in the classroom but outside as well. It provides the students the opportunity to collaborate and work on assignments together without having face to face contact in the comfort of their own home. This makes it especially handy for students that may be sick or on holiday but still want to contribute to the groups work. It also provides an online service for saving documents that you are able to access from anywhere that can be saved as a public or private file making it a great back up tool.

Conclusion

After reflecting on the use of ICT tools in the classroom it is easy to see that the implementation of these tools into the classroom is essential in ensuring our students are prepared for the contemporary world in which we live. Students live in a technological world where information and communication technologies (ICTs) are

integral to everyday situations. (Queensland Studies Authority, 2007) ICTs allow for flexibility which enables Learning Managers to provide a variety of learning experiences and learning outcomes and enables them to incorporate appropriate pedagogy and scaffolding to support these experiences.  Learning Managers must however always ensure the correct legal, safe and ethical practices are followed to ensure the protection of students. I look forward to continuing this journey as an online Learning Manager.

References

A Global Imperative. (2005). The Report of the 21^st Century Literacy Summit. San Jose, California. The News Media Consortium

Glogster Poster Yourself EDU. (2011). Retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/

Google Docs (2011) Google for Educators. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html

NetSafekids. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/netsafekids/internet.html

Queensland Government DET Education. (2004). Productive Pedagogies Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/newbasics/html/pedagogies/pedagog.html 

Queensland Studies Authority. (2007). Information and communication technologies: Cross-curriculum priority. Retrieved http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/early_middle/qcar_ccp_ict_yr3.pdf

WEEK 5 – GOOGLE – Maps, Earth and Documents

Everytime I sit down at the computer and search for something the first place I head to is the Google Search Engine as I find it the best place to start when I am looking for something or researching information for assignments on the internet. I have also used Google Maps on several occasions to get directions on somewhere I am wanting to go and finding out how long it might take me to get to my destination. Until doing some further reading I did not realise that Google Maps also allowed you to create your own maps with the feature to add positioning markers, polylines and polygons as well as embed images, video or text. This would be an invaluable tool to use in the classroom when undertaking subjects requiring this type of assessment or knowledge such as navigation lessons in maths and geographical themed lessons. 

Another feature of Google is Google Earth. This was my first time using Google Earth and believe that using this together with Google Maps would provide exciting learning experiences for the students. Google Earth gives you the opportunity to zoom into just about anywhere in the world giving satellite images and complete 360⁰ panoramic street views allowing users to view cities, houses and historical buildings, maps, terrain, 3D building images and even mountains such as Mt Everest. This is definitely something I would consider using as a Learning Manager as it provides the chance to explore different parts of the world, view areas that were subject to widespread natural disasters and even explore the moon, mars and sky which would be great for subjects such as astronomy right from the comfort of your home or classroom.

Finally another feature of Google that I explored was Google Docs. This was also something I didn’t realise was available even though I was a regular user of Google. It is a data storage service that allows you to save documents and gives you the ability to be able to access them from any computer that has internet facilities. It gives the option of being able to save privately or publicly. If saved publicly it gives other users the chance to edit or add to making it an excellent collaboration tool. It has similar features of a wiki but allows multiple users to be editing at once creating a great learning together environment. This is definitely something I will start using myself as I think it is also a much better way to back up information instead of having to remember to take my USB stick with me everywhere. Google Docs would have certainly been handy to know about when I was doing a group assignment earlier this year externally through another university. It would have saved our group a great deal of time as emailing back and forth was extremely time consuming and it would have enabled us to share the workload more evenly.