Monday, July 27, 2009

Google Maps and Google Earth

Hello Bloggers!

Today we have been using Google Maps! This is an interesting site for mapping with many possibilities for use in the classroom. Have a look at this map and then read on to see some of the ways which this great learning tool can be used!



View My Map in a larger map

These world wide mapping tools are an incredible resource in the classroom. The software is downloadable from the internet for minimal cost. Students could use this mapping program to get great satelite images of not only their town and surrounding areas but many places around the world. It could provie great learning opportunities for SOSE and Science learning as well as Mathematics mapping and other applications. I think this resources is very easy to use which would allow students of early ages to access the software and use it with minimal need for teacher assistance. This particular e-Learning tool could be used to provide great learning exploration opportunities for students to choose places relevant to them to help maintain their engagement in the learning, as supported by Keirsley and Schneiderman's Engagement Theory.

Please have a go at using the software and let me know if you are thinking and or using it in your classroom, it would be great to hear how you are using it!

For Google Earth click here.
For Google Maps click here.

Cheers, Pete

Monday, July 20, 2009

Vodcasting and YouTube - Video in the Classroom

Hello bloggers,

Today I have been using pictures, sounds and videos to create a vodcast. This is done by using a movie make program such as Movie Maker to create a short video. The great thing about vodcasting and creating videos is that students have the opportunity to see the instructions or tasks they are being given. Vodcast can be created on vertually and topic and will provide a great engaging learning resource for students. Vodcasting could also be used for assessment of students learning in that they could be involved in creating a video of them demonstrating particular knowledge identified throughout the unit of work.

Programs such as Movie Maker are simple to use and would be easily accessible for most year levels. The movies students create could also be used to get students to evaluate their knowledge and refine their thoughts in ways which would otherwise be difficult without video evidence.

To enbsure student safety with these uploaded videos students would need to be informed of the expectations of the content of the video and the consequences for inappropriate behaviours using the programs.

Video resources in classrooms are becoming an excellent method of engaging students in the learning taking place in the classroom and could be used effectively in each of the areas of the Learning Design Construct. I think vodcasting and video resources in lessons are a great source of engagment for students.

The following is a short film created by my small group to quickly show some of the possibilities of vodcasting and Movie Maker programs. Please let me know if you have used vodcasts in your lessons, it would be great to here how they have been successfully included to enhance learning.




YouTube and other Video storage sites on the internet contain many great resources for learning in schools. There are so many great videos out there which would be great for use in the classroom. YouTube is one of many sites which contain countless videos posted by people around the world. While there are many videos that are not suitable for students to view these sites are full of great information and I would encourage you to investigate some of the videos and how you could use them in your classroom. A great resource for teaching videos if TeacherTube.
Go and have a look, and be amazed!!!

Cheers, Pete

Podcasting as Learning Tool

Hey bloggers!

Today we have been podcasting! Podcasting is an excellent tool for learning. Students and teachers are able to use this tool to record and make available information for other people to listen to. Essentially a Podcast is an audio file uploaded to be made available in a format which can be used with MP3 players. This learning tool is easily accessible for students of all ages, with minor teacher input for early years students and will give students the opportunity to listen to teachers podcasts or podcasts of their peers and to reflect on their learning. Podcasting could provide an excellent method of assessing students knowledge in a medium relevant to them (Engagement Theory). Podcasting would also be very useful as a step-by-step instruction resource for students with learning difficulties or who benefit from audio learning opportunities. I think podcasting will be a very effective learning tool in any classroom.

Please click on this link to sample a short podcast created during the lecture.
http://reversingthenorm.mypodcast.com/index.html

Hope you enjoy!!!
Cheers, Pete

World of WIKIs

Hello bloggers,

I have been exploring the world of WIKIs in this last week and I like what I see. I think Wikis are a great learning tool for students. Not only can they be used for structuring research but they also have the potential to be very valuable assessment resources. WIKIs provide an easy to use website style learning tool with which students would be able to interact with, monitor and effectively use to complete learning tasks. WIKIs have a vast range of classroom uses but the one I found most interesting was its potential as a progressive assessment and direction tool for teachers to use to gain a better understanding of a students knowledge on a particular topic and, where required, help the student to direct their learning in the appropriate way. Using WIKIs in this way will help to construct learning experiences according to the Learning Design Framework. These WIKIs can also be password protected to ensure student safety from outside sources.

Click here to see the simple WIKI I have created.

Click here if you wish to create your own WIKI at WikiSpaces.com.

I think WIKIs will be a classroom learning tool for my future classroom. Again it would be good to see the age limitations of this learning tool in the classroom.

Cheers, Pete.

Delicious Learning Tools and Google Reader!

Hey bloggers,

Second week into E-Learning course and I'm continually confronted by new learning tools. I feel I am getting heaps from this course already. I have been using Delicious.com as a book marking tool for the sites and blogs I have been frequenting. I am finding that it is very easy to use simple to understand.
I think this learning tool has great potential in the classroom. If students can be taught how to use this resource I think their learning could be enhanced and made more effecient due to the readily available internet resources able to be stored on the site, creating great learning support and resources for completing tasks as outlined by the Learning Design Framework. This site would make navigating through research material much easier, and safer, for students, which would be especially beneficial to the students with greater learning needs. I think this tool has a lot of potential for use in the classroom. It will be interesting to see which year levels will be able to successfully use the site to navigate their learning more effectively. Please share any of your experiences.

Another RSS site I have been using is Google Reader. This site is great for keeping up to date with blog and news posts. A RSS like this would be great to help students keep up to date with their teacher's and peer's blog positings and support materials. The following YouTube clip explains the uses and set-up of a reader very well. I hope you enjoy!



Cheers, Pete

Blogs as an E-Learning Tool

Hello bloggers,

This week I have been reading into and using Blogging as a learning tool and I am begining to see how this form of learning tool could become very useful in the classroom.

This particular blogging site is blogger.com, and can be reached by following the link.

The processes involved in posting, and commenting on, blogs is relatively simple which could prove to be useful for students of lower grades as well as the upper grades. Due to the blogs accessibility it could be very useful in helping to direct learning for assessment or even general class topics. Students would also have the opportunity to ask more direct questions to their teacher through the comments section of the blog, along with posting their interesting findings, this will help to direct and encourage higher order thinking from the students and thus provide more effective learning experiences.
I think there are many ways in which the use of blogs could be incorporated into learning and it will be interesting to try some of these methods and see how the students respond to this learning tool. Some interesting uses for blogs in teaching can be found here.

Look forward to hearing how everyone else feels about blogging as a learning tool!

Cheers, Pete

Monday, July 13, 2009

Temperament Test

Hey bloggers!!!

Just completed the temperament test. It was different. The results of the test showed that I am an idealist. The following dot points have been copied from the following site and sum up the core characteristics of the idealist temperament.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

All Idealists (NFs) share the following core characteristics:

  • Idealists pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic.
  • Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom.
  • Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials.
  • Idealists make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders.

I guess i agree with the information which the test highlighted about me. This data will be very useful when deciding on groupings in classroom situations. Some students will work better with particular peers then others. This data can be used to help to inform group learning experiences.

Cheers, Pete


Learning Styles


Hey bloggers,

These are my results from a learning styles test I have completed from 'Free Learning Styles Online'.
These results would be about what i expected from the test, but it is interesting to see it all in one graph.

Style Scores
Visual 17
Social 16
Physical 17
Aural 18
Verbal 15
Solitary 15
Logical 15

It would be good to use this resource in my classroom to gain a better understanding of my students preferred learning styles. By combining their results on a collaborative class graph I would have an easily accessible student learning style reference. This graph and the information it displays will help me to consturct and design learner specific learning activities for my students to complete in the classroom. Knowing these preferred learning styles and using them to enhance my learning experience plans will hopefully result in better overall outcomes for my students.
This is an excellent resource and learning tool for the classroom. It is easily accessible and easy to complete. The learning style test also comes in a downloadable excel format which is easy for younger age students to access and understand. This excel format also comes with a text-to-speach option which allows younger students to listen to the questions and then respond by typing either 0,1, or 2 in the appropriate box. This is also an excellent resource for students who have learning difficulties.

Hope you enjoyed the blog.
Cheers, Pete

First Blog for E-Learning

Hello bloggers,

My name is Peter and this is my first blog. As a part of our e-Learning course at CQUniversity we are required to create blog entries detailing the list of e-Learning tools identified by the course resources on the CQU Moodle site. These entries will include a brief analysis of the e-Learning tool and how they could be used in the classroom in accordance with the Engagement Theory and Learning Design Framework as identified below.

The following link will take you to an article from the CQU Moodle site resources and i believe it explains the Learning Design Framework in an excellent, easy to read, way.

This next link will take you to another site from the CQU Moodle resources and provides a great deal of information on the Engagement Theory. I found it a very interesting and relivent reading.

This theory and framework, if used and embedded appropriately, can help to create meaningful, accessible, learning experiences for all students. By choosing an engaging, relevant learning focus, providing multiple methods of learning and ensuring appropraite levels of learning tasks, resources and learning supports for students, teachers can plan and teach effective and interactive units of work. The following blogs will discuss a variety of tools which could be used in units and lessons to enhance students learning.

I am looking forward to an interesting term in e-learning and discovering how to use and embed ICT's into my classroom teaching and planning.

Cheers, Pete