Yeah!!!! Funny - I have tried for several years to push myself to use technology - data projectors, then PowerPoints, eventually into Movie maker, wikis, delicious, etc... but as a non-digital native, it really is a push for me. The first review I ever had on "Rate My Teacher" was from someone in my religion class where the kids just knew technology was rarely my friend - I rated three out of a possible 5 stars and the comment read "thinks she's up with the technology" - well, I am not really and don't pretend to be, but if I can keep pushing myself, and if I can walk others through trying, taking risks, having a go - if i can ask a student for help when I don;t get something technical - then I am at least being human and accessible - and I am modelling myself as a lifelong learner for students and staff. I will never proclaim to be technically proficient, but I am keenly interested in and passionate about exploring ways to use technology in the classroom, particularly as it aids the top end of the Bloom's spectrum - creating, collaborating, engaging, critical reflection.
I have certainly learned new and valuable skills that I can use personally - ie the iGoogle homepage, or the interlinking of other tools - bookmarks loaded onto delicious., Google reader with links to great blogs to stimulate my thinking. I have a Twitter account now, and a blog - but most importantly have not only a few more tools, but some great links to useful sites, and to other passionate connected educators.
As Michael Fullan says, the learning is the work - it is not just the tool, or the fun, or the colour, or the play - but the learning connected to technology. As long as we ask ourselves WHY we are using these tools, as long as we plan for their use and integrate the tecnology and tools in order to enhance the learning, we are on our way.
Thanks for the opportunity!!!
Saturday 19 November 2011
Module 10
Another quick one as I was introduced to wikispaces several years ago - first when I had to use it as part of discussion posts for a course through Canberra Uni - and later through Michael Pate when he shared how he used wikispaces at Emmaus for their transition program.
I love wikispaces - not as neat and clean as Edmodo, but it is quite versatile. i have now used for three year-end prorgams for year 10 both at Delany, and next week at DLSA. Also used wikispaces for a Year 7 unit of work on "Journeys" last year - student groups had their own pages, and the whole form was on the one site. Kids could see each other's work, all the course materials and links were posted, and kids could even upload their final projects/digital stories to the wiki. The fact that it can be accessed as an educational site is even better. I find wikis better in this respect that Edmodo when students are working on a project collaboratively as it is a bit like each group having their own whiteboard/creative space.
I have also used wikis for Year 12 SOR for discussion space and links/uploads, and this year introduced Year 9 RE to wikis for their iLearn project. The teachers involved mastered how to use the space quickly as well. Interestingly, a colleague of mine who was interested in wikispace for HIS yr 12 SOR introduced it - and the kids complained about why they needed to use the wiki when other teachers were using Edmodo. As I have explored various formats, and learning to discern which format is best suited to which purpose - and the interconnectedness of everything on the net makes it easy to start with one platform and provide links to another...the best of all worlds!
I love wikispaces - not as neat and clean as Edmodo, but it is quite versatile. i have now used for three year-end prorgams for year 10 both at Delany, and next week at DLSA. Also used wikispaces for a Year 7 unit of work on "Journeys" last year - student groups had their own pages, and the whole form was on the one site. Kids could see each other's work, all the course materials and links were posted, and kids could even upload their final projects/digital stories to the wiki. The fact that it can be accessed as an educational site is even better. I find wikis better in this respect that Edmodo when students are working on a project collaboratively as it is a bit like each group having their own whiteboard/creative space.
I have also used wikis for Year 12 SOR for discussion space and links/uploads, and this year introduced Year 9 RE to wikis for their iLearn project. The teachers involved mastered how to use the space quickly as well. Interestingly, a colleague of mine who was interested in wikispace for HIS yr 12 SOR introduced it - and the kids complained about why they needed to use the wiki when other teachers were using Edmodo. As I have explored various formats, and learning to discern which format is best suited to which purpose - and the interconnectedness of everything on the net makes it easy to start with one platform and provide links to another...the best of all worlds!
Module 9
Another are worth exploring. Got myself a Facebook account last year to keep in touch with friends and family in America. Have been located by a few students who have asked to friend me but I politely decline and explain the boundaries required. Has been a great place for sharing thgouhts and photos, though - our students went overseas last year for Mary MacKillop's canonisation and set up a page to record their thoughts and travels, so it was great to see that site used and shared appropriately.
This year we had an ICT staff development day - and on that day, a young second year out shared with us here experiences using Edmodo to engage student in her classes, and keep them linked in with documents and presentations. It looks very much like Facebook, so the teachers and kids took to it really quickly. We then ran an info night for parents to show them how we were using Edmodo and to help them get connected to their children's learning with parent accounts. We only had about 11 parents turn up, but they all appreciated the opportunity - and we plan to continue this process next year as a means of better engaging parents in their students' learning.
This year we had an ICT staff development day - and on that day, a young second year out shared with us here experiences using Edmodo to engage student in her classes, and keep them linked in with documents and presentations. It looks very much like Facebook, so the teachers and kids took to it really quickly. We then ran an info night for parents to show them how we were using Edmodo and to help them get connected to their children's learning with parent accounts. We only had about 11 parents turn up, but they all appreciated the opportunity - and we plan to continue this process next year as a means of better engaging parents in their students' learning.
Module 8
Can cheat a bit on this one as I was fortunate enough to be working with Daniel Sandral the other day and showed him how as a result of this course I had set up an igoogle homepage. He suggested adding google reader as a gadget - so he walked me through the steps, and I now have three feeds coming through - Hey Jude (Judy O'Connell), Bluyonder (Greg Whitby) and my own!
I must admit that over the past week since I've had the google reader feature on my homepage, I have enjoyed flicking to the two blogs and reading what these respected educators have to say. Good brain food!
I must admit that over the past week since I've had the google reader feature on my homepage, I have enjoyed flicking to the two blogs and reading what these respected educators have to say. Good brain food!
Module 7
Happy days - nearing the end here. Even though I have been a big user of delicious for four years now, courtesy of our teacher-librarian, I found it useful to have a look at the new features. Also took the challenge of importing my bookmarks to delicious, so now I won't loose them (wish that feature was there a year ago when I changed schools and computers!)
Found Melinda Nunn's blog and had a look at some of her reflections - a great way to see what other teachers are doing/learning reflecting on.
Delicious is one of the tools I recommend to students in year 10 as they undertake their preparation for year 11/12 - a great way to not only store all their own suggested sites, but a great starting point for searches as rather than searching all of the net, they can search through delicious and find things others have already found useful enough to save. I make the kids get their own delicious accounts on the spot. Our TL also used to encourage the teachers to link to her delicious and she had a library delicious account set up so kids could go through library homepage and access suggested links forwarded by their teachers - makes for a great course reference from year to year as well.
Found Melinda Nunn's blog and had a look at some of her reflections - a great way to see what other teachers are doing/learning reflecting on.
Delicious is one of the tools I recommend to students in year 10 as they undertake their preparation for year 11/12 - a great way to not only store all their own suggested sites, but a great starting point for searches as rather than searching all of the net, they can search through delicious and find things others have already found useful enough to save. I make the kids get their own delicious accounts on the spot. Our TL also used to encourage the teachers to link to her delicious and she had a library delicious account set up so kids could go through library homepage and access suggested links forwarded by their teachers - makes for a great course reference from year to year as well.
Module 6
Flickr and Copyright/Creative Commons. Have got myself a Flikr account and actually uploaded a few photos that have no people in them, and are my own just for a go. From a trip to Melbourne earlier in the year.
This was actually a great module given the work we will be doing with Year 10 in the next week or two (All My Own Work, especially the copyright section). The creative commons "get creative" video was good as I have heard the term "creative commons" often, and even put links to creative commons materials on wikis before when kids were doing projects, but I didn't really understand how it worked. Now I do - a bit better, anyway. And given what I have explored this afternoon, I'll be able to run that session more effectively. Would also be good to get our teacher librarian involved. When the boys do their research and prepare their presentations, I think we will require at least two items in their final presentations taken from creative commons sourced material, and require appropriate bibliographic referencing/attributions of course.
Don't know if I will use Flickr myself for publishing photos (or maybe just not yet) but knowing how to locate items on Flickr will be great, especially when getting boys to create their own works. This module was quite useful!
This was actually a great module given the work we will be doing with Year 10 in the next week or two (All My Own Work, especially the copyright section). The creative commons "get creative" video was good as I have heard the term "creative commons" often, and even put links to creative commons materials on wikis before when kids were doing projects, but I didn't really understand how it worked. Now I do - a bit better, anyway. And given what I have explored this afternoon, I'll be able to run that session more effectively. Would also be good to get our teacher librarian involved. When the boys do their research and prepare their presentations, I think we will require at least two items in their final presentations taken from creative commons sourced material, and require appropriate bibliographic referencing/attributions of course.
Don't know if I will use Flickr myself for publishing photos (or maybe just not yet) but knowing how to locate items on Flickr will be great, especially when getting boys to create their own works. This module was quite useful!
Friday 18 November 2011
Module 5
Have this year challenge myself to explore both Prezi and Glogster.
With Year 9 Religion and the iLearn project we completed at DLSA, students had to complete various tasks related to the 10 Commandments and Beatitudes. All their work in groups was recorded on wikipages. At the end of th project, students had to complete a Glog as a reflection on what they had learned in the unit...students had to include one video upload, one audio upload, and document what they had learnt about how the unit helped them develop better understanding of their relationships with themselves, others, their God and their world.
Lessons learned - not all kids had their work previewed before Glogs were saved and linked to the wiki...one group had a great cartoon video uploaded about the 10 Commandments - but as I viewed it, realised it wasn't exactly kosher - was actually a critique of 10 Commandments by an atheist group!
Lessons learned - generate passwords for kids and then issue them yourself - for wikis and for Glogster. Double check everything that goes up - before final save. Keep copies of the kids passwords for yourself. Ensure kids do all the "learning work" or foundational learning before giving them access to Glogster or they will spend far too long on the look of their glog than on the substance...
Used Prezi as well - haven't saved it public as need to check that the photos I uploaded are okay re: copyright - so have used it in meetings at school in draft form - was on Northern Beaches Christian School and their approach to 21st century learning.
With Year 9 Religion and the iLearn project we completed at DLSA, students had to complete various tasks related to the 10 Commandments and Beatitudes. All their work in groups was recorded on wikipages. At the end of th project, students had to complete a Glog as a reflection on what they had learned in the unit...students had to include one video upload, one audio upload, and document what they had learnt about how the unit helped them develop better understanding of their relationships with themselves, others, their God and their world.
Lessons learned - not all kids had their work previewed before Glogs were saved and linked to the wiki...one group had a great cartoon video uploaded about the 10 Commandments - but as I viewed it, realised it wasn't exactly kosher - was actually a critique of 10 Commandments by an atheist group!
Lessons learned - generate passwords for kids and then issue them yourself - for wikis and for Glogster. Double check everything that goes up - before final save. Keep copies of the kids passwords for yourself. Ensure kids do all the "learning work" or foundational learning before giving them access to Glogster or they will spend far too long on the look of their glog than on the substance...
Used Prezi as well - haven't saved it public as need to check that the photos I uploaded are okay re: copyright - so have used it in meetings at school in draft form - was on Northern Beaches Christian School and their approach to 21st century learning.
Module 4
Podcasts and Vodcasts! Don' really get how to use Audacity but maybe I am just phobic...must be all the technical stuff around uploading, file formats, etc that I still see as a foreign language. That said, I have used digital storytelling a couple of times with students. Inspired by Michael Pate, formerly of Wollongong and now at Emmaus Catholic College in Kemp's Creek.
Michael had worked with Marco Torres, and his presentation inspired us to have a go at using digital storytelling (first year with MovieMaker, the next year with iMovie). Year 10s were completing All My Own Work, but through exploring a theme and creating a project in teams, thus demonstrating application of the AMOW modules. teams had to brainstorm, research, document plans and bibliographic details on their wikipage, then create a movie about their topic - 2009 was "Making a Difference" - social justice opportunities globally and locally, 2010 was on variations around "Success" - definition, recipe for, etc. Kids took to it with so much enthusiasm that post Year 10 grad, when they had to complete the transition program, we had kids arriving at 7:30 to get access to library/laptops - and adding to wikis at 11:30 at night.
Digital storytelling, combined with good pedagogy around planning, big questions, collaboration and appropriate use of ICT tools makes for great engagement in learning! Using a similar approach this year with Year 10 at DLS Ashfield - theme this time is "Esto Vir" - school motto and exploring how seeking justice and/or good scholarship can contribute to the boys being the best they can be - good luck to us!
Michael had worked with Marco Torres, and his presentation inspired us to have a go at using digital storytelling (first year with MovieMaker, the next year with iMovie). Year 10s were completing All My Own Work, but through exploring a theme and creating a project in teams, thus demonstrating application of the AMOW modules. teams had to brainstorm, research, document plans and bibliographic details on their wikipage, then create a movie about their topic - 2009 was "Making a Difference" - social justice opportunities globally and locally, 2010 was on variations around "Success" - definition, recipe for, etc. Kids took to it with so much enthusiasm that post Year 10 grad, when they had to complete the transition program, we had kids arriving at 7:30 to get access to library/laptops - and adding to wikis at 11:30 at night.
Digital storytelling, combined with good pedagogy around planning, big questions, collaboration and appropriate use of ICT tools makes for great engagement in learning! Using a similar approach this year with Year 10 at DLS Ashfield - theme this time is "Esto Vir" - school motto and exploring how seeking justice and/or good scholarship can contribute to the boys being the best they can be - good luck to us!
Thursday 3 November 2011
Module 3
Google docs... have actually used this twice now! Once, to plan a PD session remotely with Marietta Taliana, and a few teachers from DLSA, and more recently to collate the combined thoughts of the school executive on our initial "Vision for Learning" day.
Set up and invited all the members - but had difficulty with some members at school accessing using their school emails, so everyone now has a gmail account.
There were 4 documents set up - with headings for teachers, student, parents and community and culture and environment. As we sifted through various framework documents, surveys, external data, internal data and our Lasallian pedagogical frameworks, we were able to record on the documents at the same time what we were each extracting from the bigger picture as relevant to our circumstances here. having everything recorded as we went meant that no one had to type later, no recoding from the white board, live comments could be projected onto wall, and the document could be saved and printed for use in the afternoon session.
Need to also explore other aspects of google forms, etc, for use in the classroom...
Set up and invited all the members - but had difficulty with some members at school accessing using their school emails, so everyone now has a gmail account.
There were 4 documents set up - with headings for teachers, student, parents and community and culture and environment. As we sifted through various framework documents, surveys, external data, internal data and our Lasallian pedagogical frameworks, we were able to record on the documents at the same time what we were each extracting from the bigger picture as relevant to our circumstances here. having everything recorded as we went meant that no one had to type later, no recoding from the white board, live comments could be projected onto wall, and the document could be saved and printed for use in the afternoon session.
Need to also explore other aspects of google forms, etc, for use in the classroom...
Module 2
Got lost in the links this afternoon! Have steered clear of blogging, reading them, creating them as I feel why would anyone want to read what I have to say? (Although some may say with my American heritage, we yanks always have something to say!)
But did the first blog, and onto the second. And in the meantime, got a twitter account which I have also been resisting...and that's where the time went - found my LOP friend Jenny on twitter, and from there, Mick Prest, Adla Coure, Simon Crook, Jude O'Connell and Stephen Heppell. Still haven't worked out the hash tag thing yet, but will before next week as need this for a forum I'm attending on Strengthening Parent and Community Engagement.
On Jude's page, one of her entries divided up web tools - and whilst I have slowly been sifting through what to use when and for what purpose, her categorising made lots of sense. So I will dip in to twitter on occasion as a means of getting links to more good stuff, and have found a couple of full on blogs that pique my interest as well.
But did the first blog, and onto the second. And in the meantime, got a twitter account which I have also been resisting...and that's where the time went - found my LOP friend Jenny on twitter, and from there, Mick Prest, Adla Coure, Simon Crook, Jude O'Connell and Stephen Heppell. Still haven't worked out the hash tag thing yet, but will before next week as need this for a forum I'm attending on Strengthening Parent and Community Engagement.
On Jude's page, one of her entries divided up web tools - and whilst I have slowly been sifting through what to use when and for what purpose, her categorising made lots of sense. So I will dip in to twitter on occasion as a means of getting links to more good stuff, and have found a couple of full on blogs that pique my interest as well.
Module 1
An email reminder from Greg has prompted me to actually record and complete some things in a very short time period!!! Have been working with lots of Web 2.0 tools but there is SO much out there that the more I am aware of, the more I can use, sift through, and share with others in my role.
Had a browse through the 25 tools site and am reassured that there are so many elements that are part of my teaching life already, so not quite so daunting a task! I liked the looks of snagit or jing for image capturing - with all the PowerPoints I put together...and forays into Prezi, should be a useful tool. Have still not used Dreamweaver either, although have heard it is quite good.
With the videos on Web 2.0, it seems almost so commonplace now to work in an interactive manner that it is hard to remember what Web 1.0 was like!
One thing I liked was the LiveBinder as a source for linking all these digital bits a pieces together. I tend to keep lots of things bookmarked, but the tabs on Livebinder would make organising my digital life much simpler.
Through wikispaces, I have a few other useful sites saved as reference for myself and for sharing with others: educational origami - technology and bloom's combined (http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/, Wissahickon School District's eToolBox (http://etoolbox.wikispaces.com/), and cooltoolsforschools (http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/) where a massive range of Web 2.0 tools are referenced and linked by category.
Had a browse through the 25 tools site and am reassured that there are so many elements that are part of my teaching life already, so not quite so daunting a task! I liked the looks of snagit or jing for image capturing - with all the PowerPoints I put together...and forays into Prezi, should be a useful tool. Have still not used Dreamweaver either, although have heard it is quite good.
With the videos on Web 2.0, it seems almost so commonplace now to work in an interactive manner that it is hard to remember what Web 1.0 was like!
One thing I liked was the LiveBinder as a source for linking all these digital bits a pieces together. I tend to keep lots of things bookmarked, but the tabs on Livebinder would make organising my digital life much simpler.
Through wikispaces, I have a few other useful sites saved as reference for myself and for sharing with others: educational origami - technology and bloom's combined (http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/, Wissahickon School District's eToolBox (http://etoolbox.wikispaces.com/), and cooltoolsforschools (http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/) where a massive range of Web 2.0 tools are referenced and linked by category.
Monday 28 March 2011
First Go...
HI - signed up for course at start of year, but have really just kept postponing getting an account - but have been inspired by seeing what others have done already, so here goes!
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