Image, Video and Audio

This week we have been asked to look at three different technologies. They are looking at an image and using the correct program to re-size the image. We have also been asked to look into creating an audible podcast. The last technology we have been asked to experiment with is a video.

The first technology that I have tried and tested is mobaphoto. With this technology it allows you to choose an image from your personal files or you can choose an image from the internet. I chose one of my personal images. From this I then selected to re-size, which does not mean the actual image, I am re-sizing the megabites that are in the image so it can then fit into a smaller area, for example a small usb. I found this a little bit difficult to use, but I then went and looked through the technical manual and followed the steps. I think that this technology could come in use when teaching, it would be used to teach students how to re-size images to fit them into a smaller context.

Hey this is my very first voice recording that I have done. I found it really easy to do. I also think that this could be used in the classroom. Students could be given separate tasks and instead of having the teacher to explain the task they could have the voice recording so the students can flick through themselves. Students could also create their own voice recording to go with an assessment piece.

http://68574.podomatic.com/

I have also created a short video clip. I have just used my laptop and used the webcam to take a short video of my backyard. This is the first time I have ever used my webcam as a video recorder. It was very easy and simple to use. I can see how teachers could incorporate this into their lessons. Teachers could create video clips of examples to show the students or even get the students to create their own video that would match in with assessment pieces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp10zPTBfWA&feature=youtu.be

Exploring with a Wiki, Blog & Website!

Hello Everyone.

This week for our reflection we have been asked to create our own wiki's and websites. The two programs that I used to create my online tools were wikispaces and weebly. In my wiki and website I have wrote down my thoughts on the programs and what I liked about them, here are the links.

Wikispaces: http://emilylangleyhasawiki.wikispaces.com/home

Weebly: http://emilyhasaweebly.weebly.com/

The other thing we were asked to talk about was our blog and how we are finding it. So far I have found the blog very easy to navigate through. All of the settings are easy to change, it is quite simple to add in a picture or a youtube clip, as I have done a few in my previous posts. I believe that using a blog in a school setting would be quite easy to do, the children would be able to navigate through the blog themselves. The students could discuss what they have learnt throughout the term and how they view that learning experience. Anything could be created with the blog it is up to the teacher and what they see would work for their classroom. Also as teachers are now being asked to add more ICT's into the classroom, something very easy and simple to use could be a blog. The blog could be related around a learning topic that is going on in the classroom. As I personally want to teach kindergarten I would use a blog to bring up some simple objects for the students to learn about. Maybe put it on the interactive whiteboard so when the students click on each shape it could take them to an online activity that is related to the shape. I would also do a similar things with numbers.

(http://afghanpenlog-en.blogspot.com.au/)

De Bono's Six Thinking Hats

This week we have been asked to participate in an online activity. The activity asked us a question "What do we think about mobile phones in the classroom?" From this question we were then asked to write our answers in a collaborative wiki. But before we could answer this question we were asked to think about our answer from different perspectives. To help us think from different perspectives we used De Bono's six thinking hats. There are six thinking hats and all of the hats have a different meaning and colour. De Bono's thinking hats are often used in the classroom to get students thinking outside the box or from another perspective. De Bono's hats are not just a tool to be used with children they can be used with adults, which was shown in this activity. I personally found that from using De Bono's six thinking hats it makes you look at the question from many different perspectives, not just your own. I decided to go with my first preference which was the green hat. The green hat makes you look at the question in a creative way. I then decided to choose the white hat, which makes you look at all of the facts around the question. From doing this I got the opportunity to look at two different sides of the question.

(http://www.mindmapinspiration.com/six-thinking-hats-mind-map-paul-foreman/)

By putting our ideas and thoughts onto a collaborative wiki it allowed all of us students to see not only one opinion but many different opinions. I think this was a great idea as again it opens your mind up to many different perspectives and allows you to read some ideas that maybe you wouldn't have thought of yourself. As someone who has never used a wiki before, I found it very easy to navigate and to put in my thoughts on the question. I believe that social constructivism links in with De Bono's thinking hats. Social constructivism relates to students being able to interact with one another to help them through their learning journey. It also relates to the teacher being supportive and scaffolding lessons so that students can get the support they need. Believe it or not there is also some theory behind the use of a wiki. The two theories that I believe stand out are constructivism and connectivism. I have already spoke about how constructivism is when people are able to collaboratively work together, but this only works if there had been scaffolding by the teacher or person who is in charge.

(http://www.inspiration.com/blog/2011/06/constructivist-theory-inspired-learning/)

Now connectivism is all about being able to use different types of technology in many different ways. In a classroom situation for example, some people believe that teachers or students should know everything. Well that is not the case, the important thing is that teachers and students know where to look and what to use to find information on topics that are unknown. Because we are becoming a very tech savvy world it is important that people are able to use technology to help them find answers. A wiki is a great way of understanding how to use technology to help you find answers to the questions you are unsure of. That is what I believe connectivism is all about.

(http://preetisingh65.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/connectivism-and-social-learning-in.html)