Embedded Task Four - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... Commenting and Collaborative Learning
Communication is key; is that not the saying? And indeed, in a world of digital media and world wide connections, the ability to communicate or at the least leave your thoughts is essential. To be considered, is the commenting ability on our blogs and collaborative versus cooperative learning.
Commenting is a common function of most websites, especially multi-user sites such as YouTube, Twitter or Facebook. However, with great power comes great responsibility - the ability to comment has both its "thumbs up" and "thumbs down". In fact, many social media sites such as Facebook are structured upon communication via posting comments on people's original content and the back-and-forth it ensues. Therefore, the commenting section of the blogs should work in a similar way, should it not?
When at the hands of busy, stressed university students, apparently not - I honestly will state that many of my comments were posted on my days off, way after the original posts were uploaded. Therefore, commenting back-and-forth Facebook-style became not only time-consuming, but less likely as more assessment piled on top of us. Perhaps this is one of the drawbacks - time-consuming. Also, as stated in one of my past uploads, blogs do have limits. But they do also have their benefits.
In relation to the commenting, the benefits and drawbacks are as follows:
Benefits: Drawbacks:
*constructive criticism *harsh comments
*informative views *spamming comments
*exposure to topics/ opinions *arguments available
*able to discuss items *anyone can comment
*can delete comments *anyone can get a Google account
*needs Google account to use
Personally, my experience with this course and the technology it has presented has been varying. To begin with, I was unsure of the technology integration - I was a dirt and books kid, not a TV and video games kid - but with the range of different technologies, I began finding pieces of technology I felt comfortable with and able to use within the classroom. As a creative teacher, I always loved the idea of using cameras and video cameras in the classroom - the chance to actually do this is brilliant!
The item to consider this week was not a piece of technology - though you could use technology to support it - but two learning styles: collaborative and cooperative learning. By definition, both learning styles are part of group work, a skill developed by necessity during the educational years. According to Weimer (2013) there are 5 things students can learn through group work:
1. They can learn content, as in master the material.
2. They can learn content at those deeper levels we equate with understanding.
3. They can learn how groups function productively.
4. They can learn why groups make better decisions than individuals.
5. They can learn how to work with others.
I agreed, when I read this, that students could build these skills - but only if the group work (and the group itself) were constructed carefully with close attention during the work. Otherwise, we receive the mess that is memorable of everyone's high school career. In that case, how do we create our tasks that allow students to get the most out of it? And is it then, after its creation, collaborative or cooperative?
According to Morrison (2012), cooperative learning is classed as a 'divide and conquer' approach, whereas collaborative learning is working together to achieve a common activity goal, building off each other in the process. Applications such as Skype and GoogleDocs become essential in the collaboration process. Often the two can be combined in activities, but in the end, sometimes the individual activities are the best.
Overall, I have found both the topic for the week, the commenting section of my blog and my personal experience with the course thus far entertaining and enlightening. Until next week, for the mamma-jalamba of blog posts!
Morrison, D. (2012) Online groups - Cooperative or Collaborative?, Retrieved from https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/online-groups-cooperative-or-collaborative/
Weimer, M. (2013) Five Things Students Can Learn from Group Work, Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/five-things-students-can-learn-through-group-work/
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Friday, 24 April 2015
Assessment One: Embedded Task Five - Reflection On The Practical Use Of... Interactive Learning.
Embedded Task Four - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... Interactive Learning
Pew-pew! Pew-pew-pew! Though reminiscent of the arcade, the sound of gaming shall echo through the classroom once again, at the hands of the student... but for an educational purpose this time, instead of a digital distraction.
Though early primary years offered typing tournament styled games intended to form and increase a student's skill in touch typing, secondary schooling offered little in the way of educational gaming. With the demand in young individuals for technology, and thus gaming, students would personally source their own - which often would not be educational. Because of this, a blanket ban fell across all games.
However, with the heralding of the technological age, interactive learning seems to have a second shot in the educational setting. Interactive games can now be used in order to teach students or to focus them before and/or during a lesson. One example of this is Sheep Dash, a game in which your reaction time is tested as you tranquilise the sheep dashing across the field.
Sounds easy? Not really. I dare you to try it.
But it is useful for engaging and entertaining students during the waiting periods of a lesson. Finished early? Challenge the students. Waiting for half the class? Have some fun! You could even make it into a friendly - and loud - competition on free dress days.
Another fun website for educational games is EdHeads, in which numerous games lie in wait for students to play. Personally, my favourites from childhood were the knee and hip surgeries, but there are many more to explore.
Other sites I have discovered are:
At a later date, I would love to fully explore these sites, as well as some more interactive learning tools like text2mindmap, mapping and GoogleDocs as per the idea of the NMC Horizon ideals.
Pew-pew! Pew-pew-pew! Though reminiscent of the arcade, the sound of gaming shall echo through the classroom once again, at the hands of the student... but for an educational purpose this time, instead of a digital distraction.
Though early primary years offered typing tournament styled games intended to form and increase a student's skill in touch typing, secondary schooling offered little in the way of educational gaming. With the demand in young individuals for technology, and thus gaming, students would personally source their own - which often would not be educational. Because of this, a blanket ban fell across all games.
However, with the heralding of the technological age, interactive learning seems to have a second shot in the educational setting. Interactive games can now be used in order to teach students or to focus them before and/or during a lesson. One example of this is Sheep Dash, a game in which your reaction time is tested as you tranquilise the sheep dashing across the field.
Sounds easy? Not really. I dare you to try it.
But it is useful for engaging and entertaining students during the waiting periods of a lesson. Finished early? Challenge the students. Waiting for half the class? Have some fun! You could even make it into a friendly - and loud - competition on free dress days.
Another fun website for educational games is EdHeads, in which numerous games lie in wait for students to play. Personally, my favourites from childhood were the knee and hip surgeries, but there are many more to explore.
Other sites I have discovered are:
- http://www.csitheexperience.org/webadventure.html
- http://www.darfurisdying.com/index.html
- http://quizlet.com
- www.learner.org
At a later date, I would love to fully explore these sites, as well as some more interactive learning tools like text2mindmap, mapping and GoogleDocs as per the idea of the NMC Horizon ideals.
Thursday, 9 April 2015
Assessment One: Embedded Task Four - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... PowerPoint.
Embedded Task Four - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... PowerPoint
Death by PowerPoint; that's an interesting epitaph to be written on your gravestone - but as far as using PowerPoint in the classroom, it is a sharp point. At what point does trusty, old PowerPoint become a dull, overused tool? And how do we change it so that it becomes fun and engaging again?Answer? Adaptability and creativity. Let's explore that, shall we? At its simplest, PowerPoint is a set of digital pages with which you can relay information to your students - white pages, black words and students taking notes. Death by PowerPoint, indeed. No wonder students are metaphorically giving up the ghost, and engaged learning alone with it.
But, through the use of PowerPoint's more technical tools, your PowerPoint lesson can be reanimated to life. Creativity and coding are your only limits in designing, texturing and colouring your slides. Links can be embedded, videos and audio attached to slides and pictures easily inserted for educational or aesthetic purposes. The standard bold, italics and underline font apply, as well as shadowing and strikethroughs. Charts, ClipArt, WordArt, transitions and animations add flair to an otherwise dull presentation.
However, PowerPoint's tools can be abused. Imagine the cringe-worthiness of badly placed pictures and audio, not only for you, but for your students - it's almost like telling a joke and not receiving a single laugh. One I distinctly remember - and not for a good reason - is the awkward, 70's television show reminiscent clap track. Bright and bad clipart, sharp background colours and illegible wording -either because of colour or size - are the bane of both the teacher and the student.
Therefore, overall, if the capabilities of PowerPoint is not abused, the low-level technology can become another tool in your arsenal. However, I must reiterate it is low-level and does not rank high upon the SAMR scale. But, in using this in conjunction with other higher ranked activities, helps support the learning of your students.
For this task, I created a hypothetical lesson plan for an English class and the PowerPoint I would use. This PowerPoint, hypothetically could be used for either a grade 9 lass first learning the subject matter or a grade 11/12 class re-learning the subject matter for assessment. Keeping in mind the ability to abuse the technology, I used simple transitions and clear lettering. Activities are included in the PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Demonstration - Literature Lesson
Students are often tasked with creating a PowerPoint to supplement their orals for assessment. However, like teachers, they have the ability to abuse the technology. Either through laziness or ignorance, students often simply pick a design, write on the slides, perhaps place a few pictures and think they are done. Finished. A+. That is not the case. Rather, we need to teach students the same - the correct use of PowerPoint.
In the end, PowerPoint remains the trusty, old Microsoft presentation tool that every 90's kid used to mess around with in accordance to Paint. But with the new decade, it has the ability to rise from the ashes like a phoenix and become much more at our hands.
Friday, 3 April 2015
Assessment One: Embedded Task Three - Reflection On The Practical Uses Of... Multimedia.
Embedded Task Three - Reflection On The Practical Uses of Media.
A pictures worth a thousand words... and I have two of them! Or rather, I have a neat little collection of them from my trip to Japan, run through a free photo editor by the name of BeFunky. Pretty funky right? Ahem. Moving along.
Introduced - or rather reintroduced - this week were the concepts of images, audio and video within the classroom. For I am a creative and sarcastic soul, my mind immediately jumped for the idea of involving videos within the classroom and curriculum. In my own school days - and university days, if we are to be honest - I adored the creative tasks in which I could create multimodal pieces.
Videos are one simple piece of media that can blossom under the craftsmanship of a student. Ranging from threading images together under a musical beat to the entire process of writing, filming, editing and publishing a masterpiece of a short movie, the possibilities for the students' creative output is near endless.
Videos are easily single authored for anyone with some time and creative - camera optional - however, it is also a multi-author platform with a little more time and planning. Privacy is also wide ranging, from having a simple home movie which no one but you, friends and family see to something posted world wide on YouTube.
Editing your videos is a virtual playground of customization - with music, text, subtitles and transitions, you can make your video into a one of a kind masterpiece. Or adjust it to follow the style of one of your favourite directors. It's your time to shine!
In the modern age of technology, filming is as easy as whipping out your phone, taking the footage and uploading it to an online editing suite. The proficiency lies here, in how well you can manipulate the editing software. Publish to YouTube and you're done!
Of course, if you are attempting to look like Hollywood, you may need to hone your skills on some amateur videos first!
An example of this type of technology at work is the assessment I've come across in the past. During high school, I took a Film and Television class and as typical for that type of class, we had to produce short scripts and films as a few of our assessment. In one, I had to create a short movie using the technique of surrealism. In university, we were tasked to create a short film in any chosen genre.
After completing these sorts of assessment myself, I firmly believe they are of a MR quality on the SAMR scale. It challenges students to go above and beyond the average for the grade and with it you can set even more challenges: early finishers get to create a blooper reel and show both to the class etc.
I am sure as I move throw this course, I'm going to reassess and add more to my list of video assessment and activities because I love them so.
A pictures worth a thousand words... and I have two of them! Or rather, I have a neat little collection of them from my trip to Japan, run through a free photo editor by the name of BeFunky. Pretty funky right? Ahem. Moving along.
Introduced - or rather reintroduced - this week were the concepts of images, audio and video within the classroom. For I am a creative and sarcastic soul, my mind immediately jumped for the idea of involving videos within the classroom and curriculum. In my own school days - and university days, if we are to be honest - I adored the creative tasks in which I could create multimodal pieces.
Videos are one simple piece of media that can blossom under the craftsmanship of a student. Ranging from threading images together under a musical beat to the entire process of writing, filming, editing and publishing a masterpiece of a short movie, the possibilities for the students' creative output is near endless.
Videos are easily single authored for anyone with some time and creative - camera optional - however, it is also a multi-author platform with a little more time and planning. Privacy is also wide ranging, from having a simple home movie which no one but you, friends and family see to something posted world wide on YouTube.
Editing your videos is a virtual playground of customization - with music, text, subtitles and transitions, you can make your video into a one of a kind masterpiece. Or adjust it to follow the style of one of your favourite directors. It's your time to shine!
In the modern age of technology, filming is as easy as whipping out your phone, taking the footage and uploading it to an online editing suite. The proficiency lies here, in how well you can manipulate the editing software. Publish to YouTube and you're done!
Of course, if you are attempting to look like Hollywood, you may need to hone your skills on some amateur videos first!
An example of this type of technology at work is the assessment I've come across in the past. During high school, I took a Film and Television class and as typical for that type of class, we had to produce short scripts and films as a few of our assessment. In one, I had to create a short movie using the technique of surrealism. In university, we were tasked to create a short film in any chosen genre.
After completing these sorts of assessment myself, I firmly believe they are of a MR quality on the SAMR scale. It challenges students to go above and beyond the average for the grade and with it you can set even more challenges: early finishers get to create a blooper reel and show both to the class etc.
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