Reflective Synopsis & Comment List

Technology
Technology is always moving faster then we can keep up with, children of today have grown up with these technologies and master new ones quickly. The world I grew up in was totally different to that of todays. While I was in high school there were no computers in the classroom and any power point, iPods, mobile phones, wikis or blogs. As a future educator it is imperative that I maintain a grasp on new digital technologies being used in the classrooms of today and stay one step ahead of the students.

The many tools and products available to the teacher using ICT makes choosing the tool for the job a difficult decision. Robyler believes that the first step in design with ICT is to determine the relative advantages of using the ICT tool. Learning as a digital experience can be a different challenge for the teacher as instructional designer and often requires the Learning Manager to see what happens first, then asking questions later (Smith, Lynch, & Knight, 2007, p.51).

Technology, expressly the computer and the Internet, has opened up new possibilities for schooling. Due to these advances universities and schools can now educate students anyplace and at anytime. There are a number of ICT offered to teachers that help engage the students, where it was not possible as in my time at school.

Images
Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.” (Berger, 1926)

Images in the manual arts classroom can be a very powerful tool. By showing students a number of images then asking them to analyse, interpret and evaluate the images will invoke higher levels thinking. In the design phase of the manual arts project, images can help students analyse and evaluate four of the seven elements of design: points, lines, shape, forms, colours, tones and textures. Not only can students view and analyse digital images to provoke higher order thinking in the classroom. Students also have the ability to create their own images using a digital camera. In the classroom students are able to take photos of their project at different stages, at the conclusion of the project the students are then able to create a power point presentation or a digital video which can be a component of their assessment (Sievers, 2010).

According to JISC, (2010) digital images can be used in the classroom in the following ways to enhance learning:
• To inspire discussion of a topic, looking at multiple aspects and contexts.
• To enforce and extend language and common terms of the object being discussed, using subject-specific terminology.
• To categorise within a subject discipline and potentially build reference collections for student project work and research.
• To teach diagnosis and treatment.
• To lead onto extension exercise tasks, e.g. research and source other images of that topic.
• To stimulate students writing a story/poem about that image - enhancing creative and language skills.
• To encourage team work and foster collaboration and the sharing of learning experience.
• To encourage students to become independent learners.
• To encourage critical thinking skills (e.g. describing a photograph from many different viewpoints)
• To illustrate case studies (e.g. where text may prove to be slightly ambiguous an image can define points)
• To enhance visual communication skills (e.g. decoding the message from a photograph)
• To document an event and analyse practice (JISC, 2010)

PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a high-powered software tool used for presenting information in a dynamic slide show format. Text, charts, graphs, sound effects and video are just some of the elements PowerPoint can incorporate into your presentations with ease. (ACT360 Media Ltd, 2009)

I find that PowerPoint presentations are my favourite of all the ICT tools, this tool not only allows you to display written text but the ability to imbed digital images, movies, graphics, animation, and figures. I find by using these in the presentation helps keeps students engaged especially visual learners like myself (Sievers, 2010a).

Like all ICT tools there are advantages and disadvantages when using power point in the classroom (Sievers, 2010a). By embedding digital images, movie maker and graph carts. Power point becomes more than just a way of presenting information but allows students to become in engaged and enhance learning. By displaying images then breaking for discussions leads to Blooms Taxonomy of higher order thinking which will aid in the learning.

Concept maps
Concept maps were developed in 1972 in the course of Novak’s research program at Cornell where he sought to follow and understand changes in children’s knowledge of science (Novak & Musonda, 1991).

According to Wikipedia, (2010) concept maps are graphical tools used for organizing and representing knowledge. The concept maps are used in a manner to represent associations between images words and ideas in a structured form. These maps start with a key idea, word or phrase which are associated to another and linked back to the original word or idea. Concept maps are constructed to reflect organization of the declarative memory system, they facilitate sense-making and meaningful learning on the part of individuals who make concept maps and those who use them.

The use of concept maps is ideal for the design phase of projects in the manual arts classrooms. This gives the students a focal point in this phase which can be quite difficult of some. Once the focal point has been established, ideas can flow quickly, be built on and shared by others (Sievers, 2010b).

Concept Mapping has many advantages such as: the fitting of ideas together allows for convergent thinking; it allows you to define a central idea; indicates relative importance of each idea; allows for linking among ideas; it’s easy to add new information as it comes to you; helps you see complex relationships among ideas; shows gaps, contradictions and paradoxes in the material. All this adds up to concept mapping being a very powerful learning and evaluation tool (Business Training School, 2010).

Blogs
Blogs are becoming an important part of modern classroom learning. Blogs can be used by students to communicate with other students from different schools around the world on a common subject matter. They are able to comment on each other’s work and keep a record of the conversations for future reference. This can then become a one stop shop where all their information can be kept and stored for quick retrieval. Not only can the blogs be used to communicate with other students but also outside agents e.g. In the manual arts classroom students can establish blogs with outside experts to discuss design and manufacturing ideas on their projects and follow recommendations made by the experts (Sievers, 2010 c). These types of discussions lead to the use of Blooms Taxonomy by
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, choose, conclude, critic, decide, evaluate, judge.

Synthesis: compose, construct, create, design, develop, integrate, invent, make.

Analysis: characterize, classify, compare, contrast, debate, deduce, diagram application.

Comprehension: conclude, demonstrate, discuss, explain, generalize, identify, illustrate, interpret, paraphrase, predict, report.

Knowledge: count, define, describe, draw, find, identify, label, list, match, name, quote, recall (Fasso, W 2010).


Teachers are able to follow and monitor student progress and conversations with each other and keep a sense of order. As April James discussed in her blog titled “Blogs in the classroom” teachers are able to monitor issues such as plagiarism and cyber-bullying. If the blogs are not monitored cyber-bullying could become a real problem and distract from the learning it was intended for (James, A 2010).
Normal copyright regulations apply for online use. Therefore the use of copyright images and materials are restricted according to the owner's wishes. This is important for you, the facilitator of learning, as well as your students. You should model and teach ethical and legal behaviours (Fasso, W 2010a).

I believe Blogs in the classroom are a modern adaption of the school of the air, where students from remote areas would conduct classes via two way radio with their teacher. Blog are a great tool to be used in the classroom to engage students, however if not monitored a number of negative issues could arise and divert from the learning intended (Sievers, 2010c).

Conclusion
I believe the generation of today are becoming too heavy reliant on digital technology, with iPod’s, face book, texting and twitter. Young people are starting to lose a very invaluable life skill which is face to face interaction with other people. I have a friend who is a paramedic, who often mentors student paramedics. He says that the paramedic students of today are fist rate when it comes to declarative and procedural knowledge, however when it comes to face to face interaction with patients, they cannot relate to them even on a basic level.

The above digital tools are here to aid us as future educators, if used correct can create a wonderful learning environment of engagement and connectedness for all students. These digital tools are only as good as the people teaching them in the classrooms, with that in mind as educators need to keep developing their own skills in the above mentioned areas and other technology advancements. Teaches still need to establish strong teaching strategies that are not reliant on ICT alone to reach and teach students.


References

ACT360 Media Ltd. (2009). Power point in the classroom. Retrieved 28 November 2010 from: http://www.actden.com/pp/

Berger, J. (1926).John Berger quotes. Retrieved 14 December 2010 from: http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/visual_image/

Business Training School. (2010). A Lesson in Concept Mapping. Retrieved 16 December 2010 from: http://www.business-training-schools.com/bus/a-lesson-in-concept-mapping.html

Fasso,W, 2010. Week 2: Blooms Taxonomy, lecture notes, FAHE11001 Managing eLearning, CQUniveristy, Rockhampton

Fasso,W, 2010a. Week 2: Legally, Safely Ethically, lecture notes, FAHE11001 Managing eLearning, CQUniveristy, Rockhampton

James, A. (2010). Blogs in the classroom. Retrieved 9thNovember 2010 from: http://aprilljames.blogspot.com

JISC Digital Media. (2010). Practical Ways to Use Digital Images in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved 28 November 2010 from: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/stillimages/advice/practical-ways-to-use-digital-images-in-teaching-and-learning/

Novak & Musonda, (1991). The origin and Development of concept maps. Retrieved 10thNovember 2010 from: http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/Origins.html

Sievers, S, 2010. Digital Images, viewed 30 November 2010 http://s0173781.blogspot.com/2010/11/digital-images.html

Sievers, S, 2010a. Powerpoint, viewed 30 November 2010 http://s0173781.blogspot.com/2010/11/digital-images.html

Sievers, S, 2010b. Concept maps, viewed 16 November 2010 http://s0173781.blogspot.com/2010/11/digital-images.html

Sievers, S, 2010c. Blogs, viewed 9 November 2010 http://s0173781.blogspot.com/2010/11/digital-images.html

Smith, R., Lynch, D., & Knight, B. (2007). Learning management transitioning teachers for national and international change. Frenchs Forest, Nsw: Pearson Education

Teachnology. (2010). What’s good about power point? Retrieved 10thNovember 2010 from http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/powerpoint/

Wikipedia. (2010). Concept map. Retrieved 9thNovember 2010 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map


Comment List

Ashleigh Reid- http://ashjourney.blogspot.com/
• Digital tool 10: Digital video (30 November 2010)
Comment left: 14 December 2010
• Digital tool 9: Podcasting (29 November 2010)
Comment left: 30 November 2010
: 14 December 2010
• Digital tool 3: Wiki (11 November 2010)
Comment left: 30 November 2010
• Frameworks (11 November 2010)
Comment left: 16 November 2010

Wiki's

Wiki’s are an open format which people are able to exchange ideas or discuss a number of topics via an internet wiki. The example given of a wiki in uses in our lecture was of a number of people planning a camping trip. Each person would add to a list the equipment their needed for the trip. After this was established each member would list what equipment they had and tick it off the list and so on and so on. In education this can be a great tool for students to discuss a topic presented and share ideas with each other. The only problem with using wiki’s in the classroom is that it is open to anyone and information can be changed or altered to incorrect information. This can lead to students sabotaging each other’s work.

Duffy and Bruns (2006) list several possible educational uses of wikis:
• Students can use a wiki to develop research projects, with the wiki serving as ongoing documentation of their work.
• Students can add summaries of their thoughts from the prescribed readings, building a collaborative annotated bibliography on a wiki.
• A wiki can be used for publishing course resources like syllabi and handouts, and students can edit and comment on these directly for all to see.
• Teachers can use wikis as a knowledge base, enabling them to share reflections and thoughts regarding teaching practices, and allowing for versioning and documentation.
• Wikis can be used to map concepts. They are useful for brainstorming, and editing a given wiki topic can produce a linked network of resources.
• A wiki can be used as a presentation tool in place of conventional software, and students are able to directly comment on and revise the presentation content.
• Wikis are tools for group authoring. Often group members collaborate on a document by emailing to each member of the group a file that each person edits on their computer, and some attempt is then made to coordinate the edits so that everyone’s work is equally represented; using a wiki pulls the group members together and enables them to build and edit the document on a single, central wiki page.

Reference
Duffy, P. & Bruns, A. (2006). The use of blogs, wikis and RSS in education: A conversation of possibilities. Proceedings of the Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, Brisbane: September 26.Retrieved December 2010 from
https://olt.qut.edu.au/udf/OLT2006/gen/static/papers/Duffy_OLT2006_paper.pdf

Digital images

Images in the manual arts classroom can be a very powerful tool. By showing students a number of images then asking them to analyse, interpret and evaluate the images will invoke higher levels thinking. In the design phase of the manual arts project, images can help students analyse and evaluate four of the seven elements of design: points, lines, shape, forms, colours, tones and textures.

Not only can students view and analyse digital images to provoke higher order thinking in the classroom. Students also have the ability to create their own images using a digital camera. In the classroom students are able to take photos of their project at different stages, at the conclusion of the project the students are then able to create a power point presentation or a digital video which can be a component of their assessment.

According to JISC, (2010) digital images can be used in the classroom in the following ways:
• To inspire discussion of a topic, looking at multiple aspects and contexts.
• To enforce and extend language and common terms of the object being discussed, using subject-specific terminology.
• To categorise within a subject discipline and potentially build reference collections for student project work and research.
• To teach diagnosis and treatment.
• To lead onto extension exercise tasks, e.g. research and source other images of that topic.
• To stimulate students writing a story/poem about that image - enhancing creative and language skills.
• To encourage team work and foster collaboration and the sharing of learning experience.
• To encourage students to become independent learners.
• To encourage critical thinking skills (e.g. describing a photograph from many different viewpoints)
• To illustrate case studies (e.g. where text may prove to be slightly ambiguous an image can define points)
• To enhance visual communication skills (e.g. decoding the message from a photograph)
• To help identify emotions and mood (e.g. from documentary evidence)
• To document an event and analyse practice (JISC, 2010)

References

JISC Digital Media. (2010). Practical Ways to Use Digital Images in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved 28 November 2010 from: http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/stillimages/advice/practical-ways-to-use-digital-images-in-teaching-and-learning/

Multiple intelligence

Above are my results after taking the multiple intelligence test. (No surprises there)

Digital video

Above was my first attempt at producing a digital movies, this was for my art class.

The use of digital movies in the manual arts classroom can be of great benefit in many ways.Students can take digital photos and movies of their project at different stages and produce a video clip at the end of the project as part of their assessment. This will give students opportunities for higher level thinking when producing their own digital video clips. This would also be useful when conducting safety lessons, the teacher or students can take a digital video of students working in the workshop and then construct a video clip and analyse any safety concerns or hazards from the clip.

Powerpoint

Powerpoint is the new and improved version of the good old Over Head Projector (OHP) which replaced the blackboard. During my school days the blackboard was the tool which teachers used to display all information. When I started my career as a fire fighter all lessons were displayed on the OHP. I thought this was fantastic and a big leap forward in technology. Later on in my fire fighting career I became a trainer and taught all my lessons using powerpoint presentations.

I find that powerpoint presentations are my favourite of all the ICT tools, this tool not only allows you to display written text but the ability to imbed digital images, movies, graphics, animation, and figures. I find by using these in the presentation helps keeps students engaged especially visual learners like myself. The other advantage of using powerpoint is the ability to print out the lessons before you have delivered it. I found this of great benefit when attending university lectures, as I would print out the whole lecture before attending with the remarks columns next to the slides and make my own notes next to the printed slides.

The only negative I can find and it is a big one is people tend to put too much text onto the one slide, this then becomes death by powerpoint. I have attend many of these types of lectures (manly in the fire service) and find myself starting to fall asleep or day dreaming.

Below are advantages and disadvantages when using power point in the classroom according to Teachnology (2010).

What's Good About PowerPoint?
1. PowerPoint is fun to watch and fun to make.
2. Used correctly, PowerPoint can accommodate all learners' needs.
3. It has a spell-check function! Something our black boards and overheads lack.
4. It motivates students when used in moderation.
5. It motivates staff.
6. PowerPoint allows you to reflect on your lesson and correct any needed changes. Finally, you can create the perfect lesson!
7. Imagine to be able to print out what you did in class for students that were absent. Better yet, turn the accountability on to students and post your presentations on-line.
8. PowerPoint is not hard to learn. Our technology staff rates it a "B+" for ease of use. It should take about one hour to learn the basics.

What's Bad About PowerPoint?
1. Content can sometimes take a back seat to flash. Watch-out for triple "P."
2. Computers crash, networks go down, viruses can plague computers! Always have a back-up plan!
3. Overuse can bore learners and diminish PowerPoint's effectiveness.
4. Classrooms need large monitors or projectors to display presentations. Make sure your technology plan furnishes this. With simple TV-out cards or VGA-TV converters, this can be easily accomplished.
5. A successful presentation can take several hours to develop. (Teachnology, 2010).

References
Teachnology. (2010). What’s good about power point? Retrieved 10thNovember 2010 from http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/powerpoint/

Concept maps

Concept maps were developed in 1972 in the course of Novak’s research program at Cornell where he sought to follow and understand changes in children’s knowledge of science (Novak & Musonda, 1991).

Concept maps are graphical tools used for organizing and representing knowledge. The concept maps are used in a manner to represent associations between images words and ideas in a structured form. These maps start with a key idea, word or phrase which are associated to another and linked back to the original word or idea.
Concept maps are constructed to reflect organization of the declarative memory system, they facilitate sense-making and meaningful learning on the part of individuals who make concept maps and those who use them.

The use of concept maps is ideal for the design phase of projects in the manual arts classrooms. This gives the students a focal point in this phase which can be quite difficult of some. Once the focal point has been established, ideas can flow quickly, be built on and shared by others.

Above is a concept map i have constructed using the bubblus web site.