Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
FYI
A great new feature had been added to BrainPOP UK: The FYI.
This will provide additional information for each subject and will act as an extension to Tim And Moby's movies. To help launch this new feature BrainPOP asked for help with creating a movie showing FYI being said in as many different and creative ways as possible.
At the same time, I had been working with a group of p6/7 pupils on a digital movie making project. When the children heard about the BrainPOP request they decided that that would be a great focus for part of the project. They worked extremely well together to plan the movies and completed all three in just two afternoons. When they discovered their contributions would be included they were very excited. They have also won a six month BrainPOP UK subscription for the school.
Below is the final BrainPOP movie, we hope you enjoy watching!
This will provide additional information for each subject and will act as an extension to Tim And Moby's movies. To help launch this new feature BrainPOP asked for help with creating a movie showing FYI being said in as many different and creative ways as possible.
At the same time, I had been working with a group of p6/7 pupils on a digital movie making project. When the children heard about the BrainPOP request they decided that that would be a great focus for part of the project. They worked extremely well together to plan the movies and completed all three in just two afternoons. When they discovered their contributions would be included they were very excited. They have also won a six month BrainPOP UK subscription for the school.
Below is the final BrainPOP movie, we hope you enjoy watching!
Friday, 13 August 2010
sweetshop awe
Seven years old and standing in the sweetshop surrounded by jars of temptation. The decision is the hardest choice you have had to make all week and a week is a long time when you are seven. You have your favourites but how do you choose?There are bright colourful sweets that promise to be taste like a Willy Wonka taster trial with bells and whistles and there are the hidden gems that don't look promising but have more depth than you realise.
After being asked which blog platform would be best to use with students I am standing in the virtual equivalent of a blog shop surrounded by promises of ease of use, fuss free set up, support, moderation and so on. How do I choose my favourite? Surely it's blogger, you may ask as that is where I am posting this? Yet that would ignore the other platforms that offer variations for users. I asked on Twitter what others use and have come up with a list of popular choices.
As the blog is for educationalist use I am including Edublogs, Creativeblogs and Glow Blogs (Scotland only). Wordpress, Blogger and Posterous are the favourites from my twitter network.
Edublogs - Edublogs is described as "safe, secure and reliable" and has many features beneficial for educational use including a guarantee of no adult content. This feature not only provides safety for young users but it also means it is less likely to be on the blocked list in schools which is an eternal hazard when using anything web based. The downside is that the free version is limited in features: you do not get mobile blogging, video embedding or plugins which all enhance the blogging experience greatly. The main benefit is the secure environment and this will be more appealing to those who are wary of blogs.
I have two examples of edublogs and how they can be used: the first is from @drewburrett and can be found at http://drewburrett.edublogs.org/
Creativeblogs - Creativeblogs are another educational blog provider. They provide full set up and training in your school with follow up support and further training. The set up and training that they provide sets them apart from other providers. As the blogs are only available for education you need to contact the CreativeBlogs team to set up a blog. You can do so by emailing john@creativeict.co.uk or you can find him on twitter @HGJohn
Creativeblogs are hosts of wordpress and as such have all the word press features. (also see wordpress)
An example of how Creativeblogs can be used can be found on Joanne's page http://joannec23.creativeblogs.net/
Glow Blogs - Glow blogs are also wordpress based blogs. They can sit inside glow and only be accessed by people within the same establishment, all glow users or anybody depending on the privacy setting chosen. Many schools in Scotland are now using Glow and the incorporation of blogs will encourage their use. Like other educational targeted blogs, using glow blogs can provide reassurance for those who are wary of using blogs in education. (Also see wordpress)
An example of a glow based blog will be added here shortly.
Wordpress - wordpress can be set up as an online blog through wordpress.com, through a webhost or under your own domain. Wordpress has many advantages and additional features which make the blogging experience as unique as you wish. Tagging and categories are also very easy to use on wordpress. It is very reliable and simple. In the words of Bill Lord wordpress seems "idiot-proof". There is a great mobile format and posting both blog entries and comments is straightforward. Wordpress is more than just a blogging tool and can be your own webspace with multiple pages. You can also back up your wordpress blog.
Example wordpress blogs:
2Simple - http://2simpleblog.wordpress.com/
Bill Lord - http://lordlit.wordpress.com/
Posterous - Posterous is so easy to set up it's unbelieveable, all you do is send an email to post@posterous.com and they send you your blog link. That is it. The format is simple and there are also additional features including tagging and a mobile version.
Examples of posterous blogs -
Blogger - Blogger has many features that I like and draft blogger has improved my blogger experience with new features such as the stats area which is something that was quite lacking from the site. The main benefit of blogger is the google intergration for all things google related. Tagging is a feature that I under use on blogger and I find it just plain annoys me at times. Speaking from experience if you add third party widgets to your blog you can end up with hours of unravelling to recover your work.
examples of blogger blogs (apart from this one obviously)
Maybe the solution is Ip Dip...
Where do you blog? Do you use one of the platforms mentioned or another?
Monday, 14 June 2010
The Endless Adventure
This post is based on a Games based Learning (gbl) project, using Endless Ocean 2, that I was able to implement during my recent placement.
Background of placement
This placement was a three week block based in the nursery. There was a two week block in the same school in February. As the school that I was placed in had a morning only nursery I was also placed in a primary 3 class in the afternoons.
The school is situated in a deprived area with high levels of unemployment, drug and alcohol misuse and crime. Many of the pupils have a difficult home life. The area is undergoing regeneration with support from The Coalfields Trust. The school encourages parental involvement and is currently developing more ways to extend this. Parents are very supportive of the school and the local community holds a very high opinion of it.
Consolarium Visit
As part of our ICT elective we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of using games based learning to support and enhance learning in the primary school setting. The potential for developing motivation that mirrors intrinsic motivation in pupils through the use of games based learning is something that I believe strongly in. While this is not something that I have always been aware of; I was never adverse to the use of alternative methods to provide children with a stimulating learning experience. Yet as part of my own learning experience I have discovered a love for the use of technology.
Game format
Endless Ocean 2 follows a storyline with characters searching for the solution to 'The Mystery of the Song of the Dragons'. The use of a story as opposed to the exploration element of Endless Ocean 1 had both positives and negatives.
Distraction - At times the story got in the way of the exploration. This caused me more frustration than it bothered the pupils and once passed the initial tutorials this became less of a problem.
Focus - Despite the story distracting from the main focus of my intentions it also sparked motivation in some of the pupils. Again, for me this highlights the individual learning styles of each child. Some were simply engaged through the explorations while others thrived on having a structure to follow in a storyline.
Planning
When planning I had the use of the teacher's previous planning and assessment schedules. This led me to identify a series of appropriate curriculum for excellence outcomes which I then broke down into smaller targets. Many of these were generic targets in relation to literacy and health and wellbeing. With the list of outcomes that related to the needs of the children in terms of progression I created a curricular overview for the three week block. Using the overview in association with the work the children completed I then made both weekly and daily plans.
The reality
With the structure of the placement not being focused on the primary 3 class it was difficult to achieve as much as I had planned. There are several reasons for this; the class had 3 non contact slots per week during my afternoon sessions; I overplanned in relation to the time available and I had to ensure that the focus of my workload was on the nursery area of my placement.
The pupils did benefit from the project in a variety of areas. My focus was on literacy, however, the class gained a great deal of experience in group decision making and found that they respected a democratic process when presented with choices. To begin with they would vote on a decision and argue against the result, after discussing the need to respect the choices of others they began to accept the decisions reached.
The game play was planned for a maximum of two twenty minute sessions per week. During the game play sessions pupils would take turns reading the instructions and the story, they would take turns using the controller and they would record certain things in their log books. The use of log books mirrored the use of a log in the game. If there was a word that they were unsure of they would record this in their log book and research it following the game play session. They would also record how they were feeling periodically and this was an individual choice task. The final instruction for recording during the game play was to record details of creatures that they encountered during the game.
The majority of the game play sessions were minimally led and I only intervened to highlight important facts or pose questions for recapping on experiences. The class were fantastic at developing their own aims and leading their own learning. This links well to my personal educational philosophy in my belief that teaching is so much more than passing on facts from one generation to another. A learner who is in control of their own learning is more likely to engage fully and I believe that a teacher has a powerful influence in encouraging this from an early age.
I had concerns that the game play would need to be limited to whole class sessions due to the distraction factor of a group using the wii when others would be doing other tasks that may be seen as less exciting, yet as time went on I realised that this was not the case (at least for this class). Although I did not have the opportunity to introduce this idea I believe it would have been able to have been implemented after the first fortnight.
In the classroom we set up a display area for art work, log books and other project related material. The class took the lead again in developing this and created the display themselves.
We had two paradise fish arrive during the final week for a visit. They now live at home with me. The children relished the responsibility of caring for them, with many of the children not having had a pet previously. When the fish arrived they came with a note for the children:
Hello Marine Adventurers
The fish were a big success and reinforced my opinions on the benefits of having a class pet.
The surprise
The reading ability of the pupils was highlighted in a different way than had been during group reading sessions with reading books. Pupils showed a different ability in decoding with some demonstrating an ability above that which they would normally display. There were also pupils who struggled with the language when it was least expected. The class teacher commented on the value of the reading activities within the game. The environmental language also encouraged exploration of language through the recording of words within pupil 'log books'.
What next?
Hopefully my next placement will allow time to integrate gbl into my planning. The further I progress with the course the more responsibility I will have to implement my own strategies. I understand there are some concerns relating to the use of gbl on behalf of some schools yet I do believe in the great potential when managed carefully; but this is true of any teaching strategy and resource.
Now if only the Consolarium had summer interns for students ;0)
Background of placement
This placement was a three week block based in the nursery. There was a two week block in the same school in February. As the school that I was placed in had a morning only nursery I was also placed in a primary 3 class in the afternoons.
The school is situated in a deprived area with high levels of unemployment, drug and alcohol misuse and crime. Many of the pupils have a difficult home life. The area is undergoing regeneration with support from The Coalfields Trust. The school encourages parental involvement and is currently developing more ways to extend this. Parents are very supportive of the school and the local community holds a very high opinion of it.
Consolarium Visit
As part of our ICT elective we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of using games based learning to support and enhance learning in the primary school setting. The potential for developing motivation that mirrors intrinsic motivation in pupils through the use of games based learning is something that I believe strongly in. While this is not something that I have always been aware of; I was never adverse to the use of alternative methods to provide children with a stimulating learning experience. Yet as part of my own learning experience I have discovered a love for the use of technology.
Game format
Endless Ocean 2 follows a storyline with characters searching for the solution to 'The Mystery of the Song of the Dragons'. The use of a story as opposed to the exploration element of Endless Ocean 1 had both positives and negatives.
Distraction - At times the story got in the way of the exploration. This caused me more frustration than it bothered the pupils and once passed the initial tutorials this became less of a problem.
Focus - Despite the story distracting from the main focus of my intentions it also sparked motivation in some of the pupils. Again, for me this highlights the individual learning styles of each child. Some were simply engaged through the explorations while others thrived on having a structure to follow in a storyline.
Planning
When planning I had the use of the teacher's previous planning and assessment schedules. This led me to identify a series of appropriate curriculum for excellence outcomes which I then broke down into smaller targets. Many of these were generic targets in relation to literacy and health and wellbeing. With the list of outcomes that related to the needs of the children in terms of progression I created a curricular overview for the three week block. Using the overview in association with the work the children completed I then made both weekly and daily plans.
The reality
With the structure of the placement not being focused on the primary 3 class it was difficult to achieve as much as I had planned. There are several reasons for this; the class had 3 non contact slots per week during my afternoon sessions; I overplanned in relation to the time available and I had to ensure that the focus of my workload was on the nursery area of my placement.
The pupils did benefit from the project in a variety of areas. My focus was on literacy, however, the class gained a great deal of experience in group decision making and found that they respected a democratic process when presented with choices. To begin with they would vote on a decision and argue against the result, after discussing the need to respect the choices of others they began to accept the decisions reached.
The game play was planned for a maximum of two twenty minute sessions per week. During the game play sessions pupils would take turns reading the instructions and the story, they would take turns using the controller and they would record certain things in their log books. The use of log books mirrored the use of a log in the game. If there was a word that they were unsure of they would record this in their log book and research it following the game play session. They would also record how they were feeling periodically and this was an individual choice task. The final instruction for recording during the game play was to record details of creatures that they encountered during the game.
The majority of the game play sessions were minimally led and I only intervened to highlight important facts or pose questions for recapping on experiences. The class were fantastic at developing their own aims and leading their own learning. This links well to my personal educational philosophy in my belief that teaching is so much more than passing on facts from one generation to another. A learner who is in control of their own learning is more likely to engage fully and I believe that a teacher has a powerful influence in encouraging this from an early age.
I had concerns that the game play would need to be limited to whole class sessions due to the distraction factor of a group using the wii when others would be doing other tasks that may be seen as less exciting, yet as time went on I realised that this was not the case (at least for this class). Although I did not have the opportunity to introduce this idea I believe it would have been able to have been implemented after the first fortnight.
In the classroom we set up a display area for art work, log books and other project related material. The class took the lead again in developing this and created the display themselves.
We had two paradise fish arrive during the final week for a visit. They now live at home with me. The children relished the responsibility of caring for them, with many of the children not having had a pet previously. When the fish arrived they came with a note for the children:
Hello Marine Adventurers
We heard that you are exploring the ocean for your project with Mrs H and we wanted to come and visit you for a week.
We need to be given a tiny pinch of food every day and Mrs H will need to clean our tank out on Friday when we leave.
We have never been to a classroom before and we are looking forward to watching you do all of your class work.
We don’t have names but we thought that maybe you would be able to name us. Mrs H has a blue box for you to put suggestions into for our names. If you write one name on each piece of paper then put it into the box Mrs H will have a draw to choose our new names on Tuesday.
Thank you for letting us stay in your classroom.
Fish
The surprise
The reading ability of the pupils was highlighted in a different way than had been during group reading sessions with reading books. Pupils showed a different ability in decoding with some demonstrating an ability above that which they would normally display. There were also pupils who struggled with the language when it was least expected. The class teacher commented on the value of the reading activities within the game. The environmental language also encouraged exploration of language through the recording of words within pupil 'log books'.
What next?
Hopefully my next placement will allow time to integrate gbl into my planning. The further I progress with the course the more responsibility I will have to implement my own strategies. I understand there are some concerns relating to the use of gbl on behalf of some schools yet I do believe in the great potential when managed carefully; but this is true of any teaching strategy and resource.
Now if only the Consolarium had summer interns for students ;0)
Saturday, 12 June 2010
module completion (but not the end of the blog)
Personal Digital Literacy Development
“Creative Pedagogy taps into your students creative wellsprings to make them more aware of their innate intelligences…Merged with technology, creative pedagogy provides stimuli through multiple media” (Carlson, 2004).
Children grow in such a way that without measuring them sometimes it takes you to stand back just to notice the change. The same may be said about my personal progress in the ICT module, my development has taken a steady progressive route that has enabled reinforcement of existing pedagogical aspects and the development of more innovative principles that can be applied to my professional practice. There has been a strong sense throughout the module of highlighting the difference between the ability to use a subject or tool and the understanding required to embed that subject or tool into practice. This point is highlighted within a report from Futurelab on the integration of commercially produced games in education. The report discusses the variation between teachers who were game literate and the teachers who were curriculum literate.
“Where teachers were experienced in the subject/ curriculum area they were addressing, they were able either to appropriate only those game elements that would support their teaching… or to scaffold students’ use of the game appropriately…there were a minority of teachers who were perhaps more fluent with the game than in the relevant curriculum… [their] lessons didn’t go as far in addressing their stated learning aims” (Sandford, Ulicsak, Facer, and Rudd, 2006).
As the report describes curriculum literacy can be more influential than the format of teaching. In a world where children expect instantaneous responses the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning can have a profound difference. The balance between pace, challenge and meeting the needs of the learner can be coupled with differentiation and cooperative working groups to link together both learning and psychosocial development through the use of technology.
During the module a further element that has been evolving is the concept that technology learning and skills development can often occur implicitly within other curricular areas. The animation and digital movie making tasks provide perfect examples of the cross curricular practice that is achievable; within the larger module group there were a number of smaller working groups consisting of 4/5 students. Each group chose a different theme for their personal projects relating to multiple areas of the curriculum. Any teacher created resource can be easily manipulated to suit a desired purpose but the real benefit of using a resource such as a wiki is to foster student ownership (Tonner, 2010). Within the primary school this may be achieved in a number of ways. A teacher may choose to create a resource that pupils will access in order to enhance their learning through interactive media, the teacher may create a foundation area where pupils will add information under certain headings and under instruction or the teacher may choose to allow pupils to create their own area focusing on a particular topic, perhaps following a class project. The later description, although being the most lengthy is perhaps the best format for allowing pupil ownership of a project. When working collaboratively there is room for individualized contributions within a wiki.
Children are exposed to technology on a daily basis and, whether they have the equipment in the home or not, children are drawn towards technology. “For a large number of young people exposure to computers begins at home, at an early age” (Vekiri, 2010) In a classroom of 28 pupils it would not be uncommon that if a problem occurred with the interactive whiteboard you would suddenly find yourself surrounded by approximately 26 ‘experts’ all willing to provide a solution. When any student displays this enthusiasm and confidence in their ability then the obvious choice would be to capitalize upon this as a motivational factor.
When planning for implementation of any lesson careful consideration must always be applied to resources and their suitability must always be critically assessed. If you are planning a literacy lesson with a poetry focus you would not plan to use a calculator. When planning to use technology within a lesson it must be appropriate for the purpose, the progression of the students and beneficial to the completion of the task; the needs of the learner should always override the desire of a teacher to use any resource. ‘‘Nobody wants to use technology to recreate education as it is” (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994, p. 256, cited in Girvan, C & Savage, T. (2010)).
Variety in activities will ensure that skills developed in any learning experience are transferable and integration of technology should allow for this.
The module layout encompassed a range of tasks that were designed to develop us personally and that could be implemented into our teaching practice. We were to keep a reflective log of our experiences in each input and in relation to any other relevant material. This was to be published via Blogger™. Whilst reflecting on our own experiences we were also encouraged to read the entries posted by our peers and comment on these in a formative manner. For me personally the benefit of maintaining our personal blog has been structured upon reflective practice. During placement reflection is a critical element of our learning journey and practice in this area has provided me with a clearer focus on which to reflect. Reading the work of others and having the opportunity of insight into their personal experience of the same event enables a greater clarity when planning for differentiation and learning styles with a class. This form of empathy for other learners highlights the fact that your experiences can be very different from those of others and this is dependent on many contributing factors; previous experience, prior knowledge, historical viewpoints, cultural differences, variety in learning approaches and willingness to embrace new things are just some examples of influences on personal experience. It is important that teachers recognize and incorporate many of the theories surrounding learning styles and learning theory (Gardener (2006), Klob (1975), Butler (1988), Sarasin (1999)). The nature of learning needs to focus on the learner as the core. Without the learner the process would be pointless, Christensen, Horn and Johnson (2008, P.39) state that
“Student-centric learning opens the door for students to learn in ways that match their intelligence types and at the paces they prefer by combining content in customized sequences.”
Technology allows there to be a regime where students can have individual and personalized learning plans, devised by themselves in conjunction with the teacher as the “guide on the side not a sage on the stage”
In discussing the use of virtual worlds Girvan and Savage (2010) reiterate the fact that the use of technology should bring an extra element to the teaching and learning:
“ there is a need to consider which pedagogical approaches can provide an opportunity to do more than recreate the traditional classroom by leveraging the unique characteristics and potential that the technology can offer.”
There are many tools available for collaboration but many of these could be termed asynchronous (Tonner, 2010). For true collaboration real time editing is essential for users to benefit from instantaneous reactions and participation. Without the real time function there is a danger of users switching off and becoming disengaged. An example of a real time collaborative tool would be PrimaryPad™, this is a tool that has a writing area and a separate chat area. It is now widely accepted that conversation is beneficial in the classroom therefore it is only logical that conversation be possible in a virtual classroom. The Vygotskian perspective of the Zone of Proximal Development (Kyriacou, 2009) and the extension of this with Bruner’s scaffolding metaphor are relevant in the area of Collaborative working as the onus falls on the student to progress with the aid of both the teacher and their peers within and beyond the collaborative working group.
As children are drawn towards technology, in particular new technology, and the fact that the world is becoming more technologically driven on a daily basis educators have a duty to capitalize on these in order to spark motivation in their students. The motivational and engaging element of technology is not entirely focused on technology itself. The delivery method and the presentation of a particular tool is the selling point for students if they are to continue to be engaged beyond the initial ‘wow’ reaction. It is not necessarily the tools that promote engagement but a myriad of effective, comprehensive planning, clear curricular links, an enthusiastic approach and a relevant context.
The possibility of extending learning beyond the classroom confines is a reality. It always has been, to a certain extent, but developments in mobile technology enable more opportunities for comprehensive and active learning, with the support of technology such as handheld learning devices. There are less barriers in learning for those who may not meet the traditional persona of the pupil. The thread of inclusivity for all is very strong when using a multi-pronged approach to teaching and for pupils who may struggle in a traditional learning environment this is more important. Developing contexts for them to construct meaning can often take untraditional formats. A prime example of this would be the increase in games based learning projects in schools throughout Scotland and beyond.
Games based learning incorporates a mixture of both contextualized learning and the tools that pupils choose for their leisure time. Popular examples would be Guitar Hero™, Nintendogs™ and Myst™. When introducing a console game into a classroom it is very probable that the majority, if not all, of the pupils will have had experience of the game play. An outsider may view the pupils as the game experts while the teacher could be considered the curriculum expert. It is when these two concepts marry that collaborative exchange and synchronous learning between the educator and learner takes place. For pupils the process of discussing the game with the teacher and other pupils will increase their metacognition and awareness of their own learning journey, from experience in the classroom this can stimulate pupils into leading their learning rather than being led in their learning. Gee (2007) describes the “Psychosocial Moratorium Principle” in relation to games based learning and a real life context for learning.
“Learners can take risks in a space where real world consequences are lowered.”
Risk is a vital element of life and experience of calculated risk taking will provide skills necessary to make judgments regarding risk taking in the future. The immersive nature of gaming therefore becomes a safe place to experiment with risk.
Linking back to the earlier analogy of development going by unnoticed, I would say that while I was enthusiastic about the use of technology and willing to try tools in practice, I was naive in the supporting evidence to substantiate this. I still am greatly unversed in the theory and current research as the field is so broad and moving at such a pace yet I have a much better understanding of the need for theoretical influence and the extent that research informs practice both explicitly and implicitly. Critical evaluation and the rules of engagement are the areas in which I have developed greatest during the course of this module. Critical evaluation of resources, activities and tasks and personal critical evaluation and reflection have been an underlying theme of the module which is something that I would say is highlighted within my blog. Rules of engagement, how students engage with their learning, how they are motivated (intrinsically and extrinsically) and the resulting effect that this can have on enjoyment during the learning process and on retention rates are all areas that I aim to research further as a result of my experiences within the module.
“Unless students (and teachers, for that matter) are motivated, they will reject the rigor of any learning task and abandon it before achieving success” (Christensen et al, 2008, P.7).
References and Bibliography
Butler, K. A. (1988) Learning and Teaching Style: In Theory and Practice. Columbia: Learners Dimension
Carlson, G. (2004) Digital Media in the Classroom. San Francisco: CMP Books
Christensen, C.M., Horn, M.B. & Johnson, C.W. (2008) Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. New York: McGraw Hill
Gardener, H. (2006) Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books
Gee, J. P. (2007) What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Girvan, C & Savage, T. (2010) Identifying an appropriate pedagogy for virtual worlds: A Communal Constructivism case study in The Journal of Computers and Education: 55: 342-349 Available via www.elsevier.com/ locate/compedu
Accessed (19/04/2010)
Kolb, D. (1975) David Kolb on Experiential Learning. Available via http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm accessed (19/04/2010)
Kyriacou, C. (2009) Effective Teaching in Schools Theory and Practice (3rd Ed) Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd
Sandford, R. Ulicsak, M. Facer, K. & Rudd, T. (2006) Teaching with Games Using Commercial off-the-shelf computer games in formal education Bristol: Futurelab
Sarasin, L. C. (1999) Learning Style Perspective: Impact in the Classroom. Madison: Atwood Publishing
Tonner, S. (2010) Social Media Tools. ICT elective module, School of Education, Social Work and Community Education, University of Dundee.
Vekiri, I. (2010) Boys’ and Girls’ ICT Beliefs: Do Teachers Matter? In The Journal of Computers and Education: 55: 16-23 Available via www.elsevier.com/ locate/compedu
Accessed (19/04/2010)
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Zooburst
Today I found a new toy.
It is a digital storybook creator, named Zooburst, that allows the user to create and read 3D pop up books.
It also uses Augmented Reality to bring your book to life. To use zooburst you will need a web browser (I use google chrome but Safari, IE and firefox are also compatible), a webcam and a marker.
I created a sample book which you can view above. To use the Augmented Reality aspect you need a marker which you will find here. (Rather than printing the marker it is possible to use it on the screen of your iphone/ itouch etc)Then click webcam mode.
The potential for use in the classroom to develop many areas of the curriculum beyond literacy is what really excites me. Pupils love trying out new things and the quirkiness of this tool is a sure way to engage learners who may not be stimulated by the thought of traditional class work. Variety drives pupil motivation and if a tool such as this will enable motivation and progression while being relevant then why not use it? Zooburst recognise the potential for classroom use and this is an extract from their FAQs page:
"In the very near future we will be releasing a "class management" feature inside ZooBurst that will allow teachers to set up classes, create assignments and set up usernames & passwords for your students. In the interim you can always log into ZooBurst on behalf of your students. ZooBurst will allow you to access your account from multiple computers at the same time, so if you are in a computer lab simply log into the site for each student and have them create their own books" (Zooburst)
My sample book is not very exciting and I have only added basic graphics but I wanted to see how easy it was to create a book. See what you think for yourself.
{Edited} zooburst example is now on the right hand side of my blog (main page)
It is a digital storybook creator, named Zooburst, that allows the user to create and read 3D pop up books.
It also uses Augmented Reality to bring your book to life. To use zooburst you will need a web browser (I use google chrome but Safari, IE and firefox are also compatible), a webcam and a marker.
I created a sample book which you can view above. To use the Augmented Reality aspect you need a marker which you will find here. (Rather than printing the marker it is possible to use it on the screen of your iphone/ itouch etc)Then click webcam mode.
The potential for use in the classroom to develop many areas of the curriculum beyond literacy is what really excites me. Pupils love trying out new things and the quirkiness of this tool is a sure way to engage learners who may not be stimulated by the thought of traditional class work. Variety drives pupil motivation and if a tool such as this will enable motivation and progression while being relevant then why not use it? Zooburst recognise the potential for classroom use and this is an extract from their FAQs page:
"In the very near future we will be releasing a "class management" feature inside ZooBurst that will allow teachers to set up classes, create assignments and set up usernames & passwords for your students. In the interim you can always log into ZooBurst on behalf of your students. ZooBurst will allow you to access your account from multiple computers at the same time, so if you are in a computer lab simply log into the site for each student and have them create their own books" (Zooburst)
My sample book is not very exciting and I have only added basic graphics but I wanted to see how easy it was to create a book. See what you think for yourself.
{Edited} zooburst example is now on the right hand side of my blog (main page)
Sunday, 9 May 2010
VoiceThread Tutorial
This is an introduction to creating a VoiceThread that I have made for the Voices of the World project. It will be used for the May task which is based on the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.
The completed VoiceThreads from each participating school will be similar to the example below and will be posted to the May map which will be made available on the project wikispace.
The completed VoiceThreads from each participating school will be similar to the example below and will be posted to the May map which will be made available on the project wikispace.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Highland Fun and Games [based learning]
Today I had my hair curled but not at the hairdresser, I was also told that I definitely had green eyes, my nose was not a triangle and even though I was big I could be small today just like everyone else but everyone else didn't need to be small because they could choose to be big but today I was going to be small.
To put this all into context for you I had set off this morning to visit a nursery class in an Aberdeenshire primary school that has been using Wii Music as a learning context. After a rather typical journey I arrived just in time to help create a mii for me. Telling the children that I had not made a mii before led them to give me a wonderful tutorial on how to create your own character on the Wii. Did you know that your mii can look like anything you want it to?
"It doesn't need to look like you as long as you can find it in the mii plaza." (C, age 4)
Behind the scenes the planning and organisation that has gone into this project has undoubtedly aided it's success yet there has been the flexibility for the children to lead their own adventure. The game may have been Wii Music but the learning that has evolved has focused on collaborative working, turn taking, numeracy development and environmental language exposure. The areas of the game that an older child may often choose to skip through proved to be some of the more popular areas for the nursery children with their favourite activities including watching the video replay of their jam session and creating album covers for their dvd within the game. (It should be noted that the curricular links given are not limited and there are many further links that are relevant) The jam sessions themselves provided the perfect opportunity for immersive role play during which the children enjoyed being rock stars choosing their preferred instruments, most popular were the electric guitar and the drum kit. The children became experienced at identifying the various instruments used within the game and learned musical terminology and vocabulary. The teacher noted that the development of rhythm and tempo were areas that did not progress well despite this being the obvious expectation that one may associate with such an activity.
Something that the nursery I visited demonstrated very well was the home school partnership. Parents were informed throughout the project and provided feedback (via forms) sharing their experience of their child's progress. The staff created visually stimulating displays consisting of photographs and key words relating to the learning experience and information was added to the children's 'learning stories' books which provide a snapshot of some of the experiences each child has encountered while in the nursery setting. The children also completed feedback sheets using the traffic light system (which is used throughout the school) and comments scribed by staff. All but two of the children chose green to represent their enjoyment of the project where green symbolised "really enjoyed it", the two other children chose orange, representing "it was ok". In terms of class feedback this in itself is pretty impressive and demonstrates the enjoyment provided by the use of the game.
The use of the Wii was limited within the nursery but not during a session. The area containing the wii became another context area for the children and in this way it was not limited but rather the days when the wii was used became the control method. I believe that this kept the interest in the game as the children were excited when the wii was out rather than it becoming just another area.
There was also time for whole nursery activities when everyone would gather together as a group to watch aspects of the game and discuss progress. All children created their own mii and were able to identify their character from the mii parade. This was extended by the children drawing a black line representation of their mii. The level of detail in each drawing from children who were both 3 and 4 demonstrated a clear stimulation and motivation for the task. The awareness of self involved in creating the mii characters is an area that I had not considered when introducing the Nintendo Wii into a class or nursery setting yet it is also an area that holds a great deal of potential for first time use.
Prior to my visit I had the opportunity of accessing the glow group for the school which included the planning materials and evaluations. I am particularly grateful to everyone that helped me in arranging this visit and to the school and staff for letting me visit. The idea of learning being multi-dimensional (Muschamp, 2010)was the motivating factor for why I arranged the visit. The information available through glow could only provide me with so much information but the experience of witnessing the children engaging with the technology provided an insight than cannot be described on paper. I have learned a lot personally about the practicalities of GBL in a real context in an early years setting and along the way I have also learned a lot about the potential of glow. Next steps for me include my own wii based project which begins next week...
"It doesn't need to look like you as long as you can find it in the mii plaza." (C, age 4)
Behind the scenes the planning and organisation that has gone into this project has undoubtedly aided it's success yet there has been the flexibility for the children to lead their own adventure. The game may have been Wii Music but the learning that has evolved has focused on collaborative working, turn taking, numeracy development and environmental language exposure. The areas of the game that an older child may often choose to skip through proved to be some of the more popular areas for the nursery children with their favourite activities including watching the video replay of their jam session and creating album covers for their dvd within the game. (It should be noted that the curricular links given are not limited and there are many further links that are relevant) The jam sessions themselves provided the perfect opportunity for immersive role play during which the children enjoyed being rock stars choosing their preferred instruments, most popular were the electric guitar and the drum kit. The children became experienced at identifying the various instruments used within the game and learned musical terminology and vocabulary. The teacher noted that the development of rhythm and tempo were areas that did not progress well despite this being the obvious expectation that one may associate with such an activity.
Something that the nursery I visited demonstrated very well was the home school partnership. Parents were informed throughout the project and provided feedback (via forms) sharing their experience of their child's progress. The staff created visually stimulating displays consisting of photographs and key words relating to the learning experience and information was added to the children's 'learning stories' books which provide a snapshot of some of the experiences each child has encountered while in the nursery setting. The children also completed feedback sheets using the traffic light system (which is used throughout the school) and comments scribed by staff. All but two of the children chose green to represent their enjoyment of the project where green symbolised "really enjoyed it", the two other children chose orange, representing "it was ok". In terms of class feedback this in itself is pretty impressive and demonstrates the enjoyment provided by the use of the game.
The use of the Wii was limited within the nursery but not during a session. The area containing the wii became another context area for the children and in this way it was not limited but rather the days when the wii was used became the control method. I believe that this kept the interest in the game as the children were excited when the wii was out rather than it becoming just another area.
There was also time for whole nursery activities when everyone would gather together as a group to watch aspects of the game and discuss progress. All children created their own mii and were able to identify their character from the mii parade. This was extended by the children drawing a black line representation of their mii. The level of detail in each drawing from children who were both 3 and 4 demonstrated a clear stimulation and motivation for the task. The awareness of self involved in creating the mii characters is an area that I had not considered when introducing the Nintendo Wii into a class or nursery setting yet it is also an area that holds a great deal of potential for first time use.
Prior to my visit I had the opportunity of accessing the glow group for the school which included the planning materials and evaluations. I am particularly grateful to everyone that helped me in arranging this visit and to the school and staff for letting me visit. The idea of learning being multi-dimensional (Muschamp, 2010)was the motivating factor for why I arranged the visit. The information available through glow could only provide me with so much information but the experience of witnessing the children engaging with the technology provided an insight than cannot be described on paper. I have learned a lot personally about the practicalities of GBL in a real context in an early years setting and along the way I have also learned a lot about the potential of glow. Next steps for me include my own wii based project which begins next week...
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Sighs
Ahhhhhhhhh time to slow down for a day or two.
What a busy week it has been. On Monday night the presentations of the INSITE project were scheduled to run from 6:30pm EST and Rebecca and Myself participated via the 99chats tools that we had been investigating during the project. I still have doubts over the possibility of using the tool anywhere near children but can see the possibilities for higher education and business. I think the element that was most exposed during the course of the project is the idea that using a tool because it is there is pointless. Sharon always tells us to only use something if it is beneficial to learning and appropriate for the intentions. I struggle to justify any form of appropriateness in the 99chats tool due to a severe lack of moderation which leaves children exposed to highly inappropriate content in the form of abusive, derogatory and unsuitable language use.
This is a link to the wiki area where the project work has been posted. The lessons that I planned were the secondary lessons for the Great Debate and Our Future Teachers. The lessons can be found on the wiki page. I am not experienced in secondary education and I have never planned with American Standards so if you get a chance to look at the lessons please let me know what you think.
On Tuesday night I attended my first ever Teachmeet. For those of you who do not know what a teachmeet is I think this clip explains it far better than I ever could:
As I mentioned in an earlier post I did not just attend the TM I presented at it. What I didn't share previously was what I was presenting on. I had decided to talk about PrimaryPad and googledocs and their potential for classroom use. Being slightly insane when I signed up I also decided to do a second presentation on global Classrooms although I limited this to the Voices of the World project.
The Teachmeet was streamed live and a copy of the live streaming section containing my presentations can be found here. The other two sections of the evening can be found here and here.
On Wednesday I attended a conference at the university that focused on professional practice and research. Not only was this extremely informative, I also helped with two presentations during the day.
Now with all this happening you would never know that I had two assignments that were feeling rather lonely and neglected sitting in my dropbox [clicking this link and creating an account will give us both extra storage space] needing nurture and lots of development (in terms of word count they fell around 85% short!) By 12 midday, much to my shock, I had finished them both and before I could change my mind and edit some more I headed off to Dundee and submitted them both.
What I have learned this week is that I do not know the meaning of pacing myself but I do know that every now and again a little madness won't harm me as everything is good in moderation.
(Maybe some day I will share the story of my giggling with you all on the ponderings blog)
For now I NEED SLEEP
buenas noches
What a busy week it has been. On Monday night the presentations of the INSITE project were scheduled to run from 6:30pm EST and Rebecca and Myself participated via the 99chats tools that we had been investigating during the project. I still have doubts over the possibility of using the tool anywhere near children but can see the possibilities for higher education and business. I think the element that was most exposed during the course of the project is the idea that using a tool because it is there is pointless. Sharon always tells us to only use something if it is beneficial to learning and appropriate for the intentions. I struggle to justify any form of appropriateness in the 99chats tool due to a severe lack of moderation which leaves children exposed to highly inappropriate content in the form of abusive, derogatory and unsuitable language use.
This is a link to the wiki area where the project work has been posted. The lessons that I planned were the secondary lessons for the Great Debate and Our Future Teachers. The lessons can be found on the wiki page. I am not experienced in secondary education and I have never planned with American Standards so if you get a chance to look at the lessons please let me know what you think.
On Tuesday night I attended my first ever Teachmeet. For those of you who do not know what a teachmeet is I think this clip explains it far better than I ever could:
As I mentioned in an earlier post I did not just attend the TM I presented at it. What I didn't share previously was what I was presenting on. I had decided to talk about PrimaryPad and googledocs and their potential for classroom use. Being slightly insane when I signed up I also decided to do a second presentation on global Classrooms although I limited this to the Voices of the World project.
The Teachmeet was streamed live and a copy of the live streaming section containing my presentations can be found here. The other two sections of the evening can be found here and here.
On Wednesday I attended a conference at the university that focused on professional practice and research. Not only was this extremely informative, I also helped with two presentations during the day.
Now with all this happening you would never know that I had two assignments that were feeling rather lonely and neglected sitting in my dropbox [clicking this link and creating an account will give us both extra storage space] needing nurture and lots of development (in terms of word count they fell around 85% short!) By 12 midday, much to my shock, I had finished them both and before I could change my mind and edit some more I headed off to Dundee and submitted them both.
What I have learned this week is that I do not know the meaning of pacing myself but I do know that every now and again a little madness won't harm me as everything is good in moderation.
(Maybe some day I will share the story of my giggling with you all on the ponderings blog)
For now I NEED SLEEP
buenas noches
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
our FINISHED animation
This is a sample animation that we made using DigiBlue cameras and a lot of patience.
For more on our animation task see this earlier post.
For more on our animation task see this earlier post.
Voices of the World
After much persuasion I have managed to get Sharon to agree to let me lead the Voices of the World project for the foreseeable future.
Voices of the World is a project that was set up to connect children in classrooms worldwide. The use of voice to do this posed two benefits
Voices of the World is a project that was set up to connect children in classrooms worldwide. The use of voice to do this posed two benefits
- children will be able to relate better to other children when hearing the spoken word rather than the written word; this makes the other schools seem more real
- children will be able to develop an appreciation for the different languages, dialects and accents around the world (Tonner, 2007)
The community has been established for almost three years at present and many of the first members are still active participants. It is the responsibility of the leader to create monthly tasks which are posted for completion by members with their classes. At the end of the month tasks are all submitted to the leader for posting on the wikispace.
I have been in the role of leader for almost a month now and I am enjoying it greatly. Everyone that I have spoken with involved in the project is very enthusiastic and I hope to try out some new additional elements within the community. To achieve this I have created an additional area with an introductory task related to the monthly task. We have 6 classes creating 2 acrostic poems collaboratively. All 6 classes are contributing to both poems and the poems are going to be tri-lingual.
Following the recent announcement that ning will no longer operate a free service we are investigating alternative hosting for the teachers' area of the project.
I will be posting more on my experiences with Voices of the World so keep a watch for further updates.
I have been in the role of leader for almost a month now and I am enjoying it greatly. Everyone that I have spoken with involved in the project is very enthusiastic and I hope to try out some new additional elements within the community. To achieve this I have created an additional area with an introductory task related to the monthly task. We have 6 classes creating 2 acrostic poems collaboratively. All 6 classes are contributing to both poems and the poems are going to be tri-lingual.
Following the recent announcement that ning will no longer operate a free service we are investigating alternative hosting for the teachers' area of the project.
I will be posting more on my experiences with Voices of the World so keep a watch for further updates.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Teach Meet Student Edition
There is nothing like a sneaky blog entry when I should be writing an assignment so here goes...
Tomorrow (20/04/2010) I am attending a TeachMeet in Aberdeen. This will be my first time attending a TeachMeet and just for the fun of it I have signed up to present while I am there. As the old adage goes "in for a penny, in for a pound".
A TeachMeet is an informal gathering of educationalists and the purpose is to share experiences, ideas and discover new things or in the words of the descriptor:
"This is an informal gathering of those who want to share cool ideas they have tried in their classrooms."
The Presentations last either 2 minutes or 7 minutes and you have an allocation of 1 minute to set up. This being the case (and the fact that once I start talking I often forget to pause for breath or indeed stop at all) I signed up to do one of each; a 7 minute presentation and a 2 minute nano presentation. I am pretty well decided on what I am going to talk about but as I am not 100% sure I'm not going to tell you right now. (Although it wouldn't take a great deal of detective work to find out)
and we get back to the issue of assignment procrastination... Why is nearly anything else just so interesting when distractions should be most unwelcome?
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
World of Wikis - WoW
Prequel: If you are reading this without knowledge of our project this is a brief introduction to what we were aiming for. For our ICT elective we had to create a digital movie and a resource to accomany this. As a group we chose the theme of Dundee as a city study then narrowed this to focus on school trip venues in and around Dundee. We created three short digital movies and these were incorporated into a wikispace designed around our theme. Our wikispace was designed for teacher use and there are elements that may be used with pupils.
We are definitely a group now and even though there have been issues a plenty we did achieve a great deal and I think this was evident during the presentations. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and most commonly linked to reflecting on improvements that could have been made over the course of a project. With hindsight it is probably even clearer that we took on a big project, bigger than was necessary, and with a bigger project put more pressure on ourselves in terms of workload. We also had a few minor trust issues with completion times for allocated jobs and when working with student teachers neurotic can sometimes be a good adjective to use, although controlling is a milder description. It was often difficult to hold back and not take over the entire project, see earlier entry on this. Some people just work better when deadlines are forming imposing shadows over them and some people hyperventilate when those same shadows begin to highlight the work that is still to be completed. While these reactions can cause friction it is important to take a step back and learn from each other. To understand is sometimes more important than the actual task (in this case task completion was essential), if we can develop both our understanding of how we work and learn and how others work and learn and relate the similarities and differences then the learning itself is more meaningful.
To transfer this to a classroom you may link to the concept that skill development can be more productive than knowledge development. In my opinion they go hand in hand: with the development of skills you will build upon knowledge, as you build upon knowledge you practice skills. The idea of "acting as a sensitive guide" is highlighted by Myhill and Warren (2005); through having the experience of reaching a solution as a learner when working in groups you are provided with an ideal opportunity, as a student teacher, to experience when intervention is needed and when the teacher needs to encourage pupils to reach a solution with limited intervention. Being able to hold back rather than step in as a teacher is an essential skill for us to foster.
What we did manage well was developing links with other agencies through the visitors attractions that we filmed at. These were Sensation, RRS Discovery and the Botanic Garden, all Dundee. The people that we met and worked with were incredible in helping us with anything we needed and Sensation, in particular, set up exhibits for us to film at. We cannot thank everyone enough for their assistance. To be able to begin to build links that will be beneficial in both our teaching practice and our future classroom practice is invaluable. There are many resources available but having a guide in choosing the most appropriate, from a specialist in a particular field, cannot be measured.
The rollercoaster of production has also provided a real sense of ownership of the project for us as group members and with this in mind we have a pride in our finished work. That is not to say it is perfect, I still develop a twitch when thinking of the audio, but it is ours.
If you would like to have a look at our finished work, including the videos I am attaching a link
We hope you enjoying viewing our work.
Friday, 26 March 2010
INSITE and 99chats
We are involved with a research project run by Purdue University in Indiana. The project aims to create a resource bank of web based applications and the application that we have been assigned to work on is 99chats.
At first look I am not sure about the use of this application as the main page is unmoderated which using my teacher point of view would not be suitable for using in a classroom, however I have created an account that will not be shown on their chat directory and I am posting a chat room here to try. Please try it out below, you do not need an account to use just type in a nickname for yourself.
At first look I am not sure about the use of this application as the main page is unmoderated which using my teacher point of view would not be suitable for using in a classroom, however I have created an account that will not be shown on their chat directory and I am posting a chat room here to try. Please try it out below, you do not need an account to use just type in a nickname for yourself.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
EM(+R) = L
"Blah Blah Learning"
The above is a quote from Brian McLaren. As part of our elective we were able to visit the LTS Consolarium today to extend our experience of games based learning. Out of context the above quote may mean very little, but for me it says so much. Brian was talking about games based learning and the point he was making was that it is not about the games that are being used it is about the learning that is taking place.
In many, many schools throughout Scotland the Consolarium team are working with teachers and their classes on a wide variety of learning activities. They are using various games consoles in order to do this including as the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 and handheld devices such as the PSP and the Nintendo DS.These are the projects that excite me as a future teacher. I have mentioned in my other blog that I was extremely lucky to have been given a great opportunity on a previous placement to try something new. The project that I had developed followed the concept of games based learning with a class that had no previous experience in this area. Prior to this I had known GBL was an area that I found interesting but the actual experience put it into a much clearer perspective. Watching pupils take control of their own learning, showing motivation that I had not witnessed from some of them previously and extending their learning far beyond what was planned really put games based learning and motivation into context for me personally. The nature of Curriculum for Excellence is a fantastic spring board for what can be done across all curricular areas given the right medium.
None of this is to say that any game would be suitable for education and another fantastic thing to see today was the Consolarium team talking about planning topics using a game. The process of linking to areas of the curriculum while looking at a resource is something that occurs in my mind most of the time. The ideas come, the excitement bubbles and you know that this is what pupils will experience if given the opportunity.
As with any planning the learning that will take place must always be relevant to the pupils needs at a particular age and stage. We need to address progression, no matter how much potential a resource has if the pupils will not progress then we must leave that resource and find a different one.
The next phase of excitement today was hearing about the potential for Mario Kart Wii in the classroom. For one of our last assignments we had to create a context for learning addressing the principles of Curriculum for Excellence in a cross curricular nature. The context that I used was Mario Kart Wii! The planning that I submitted followed practically the same ideas that Brian discussed.
Sometimes I forget that not everyone is aware of the potential of games for learning and that not everyone is aware of the developments in this field. Yet in Scotland the momentum is gaining speed and (here comes the biased statement) Scotland is definitely among the leaders in the development of this wonderful source of motivation and engagement.
Recently I heard someone comment that engagement and motivation do not equal learning and while this is true I would argue that they do make the process of learning both more realistic and more appealing for all involved. As a teacher it is much easier to spark an interest in your pupils when you yourself have an enthusiasm and passion for what you are doing.
Currently, in our course, we are between two blocks of our nursery placement. The school where I am placed has a morning only nursery which means I spend the afternoon placed in a P3 class. I had been planning to use the Nintendo Wii in both areas and had thought that Wii Music would be great to use in the nursery and Endless Ocean would be a perfect introduction to GBL to use with the P3 class. I have Wii Music but not Endless Ocean so while at the Consolarium today I was very cheeky and asked to borrow a copy of Endless Ocean 2. Luckily for me Brian agreed to loan me a copy which means you will be hearing much more from me about it come May.
*I apologise for the distinct lack of theory to support this post. Theory should underpin everything we do yet sometimes I like to post directly from my thoughts and experiences and there is also the fact that I am extremely distracted by the planning for Endless Ocean 2. Just incase you haven't guessed EM(+R)= L - Engagement x Motivation (+Relevance) = Learning*
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