Glogster

http://catnei.edu.glogster.com/glog-of-tech/

This week I made a Glogster. Previously I'd never explored the tool and the only time I'd ever seen one was when I looked at another elearner's Blog: http://heidislearningspace.blogspot.com/
What is Glogster? And does it have a place in the classroom?
Glogster is a website which enables you to create multimedia posters online. Pictures, videos, text, graphics and music can be added with a surprisingly large amount of flexibility. The posters can be kept private or shared with a global audience. I was so excited! I could see so much opportunity for this site in education! It even has an EDU section especially for educators.
It's free, it's possibilities are vast, it enables creators to be creative, it could be used as a way of presenting information or as an assessment task. My Glogster is above, I created mine to be about technology and education, because I thought that would be appropriate. But to see the potential of Glogster I've included some Glogsters made by others and found on the Glogster data base (see below).



While it does have a lot of good points, there are some cons. Another elearner was frustrated by it and believed it didn't suit his learning style (see http://hamishbowden1.blogspot.com/2011/08/glogster.html) but also pointed out that it is very easy to spend a lot of time on the aesthetics without much regard to creating content. For this reason I believe that their use should be limited and not a regular activity to be done in every lesson. It could be an activity reserved for those who are early finishes or as a motivating tool or reward (eg. "If we get all this work done today, next lesson we will spend creating Glogsters about the novel we are studying"). It could be used as an assignment task for art, IT or even English. For English units that feature poetry, films or novels a Glogster could be created about a theme central to the literature to help consolidate learning as to what a theme is and also to begin analysing texts.
Presenting Glogster about topics to the class could also be a way of incoparating Glogsters into learning. In some instances Glogster could replace OHT sheets, Powerpoints or whiteboard use and accompany a learning manager as the main presenational tool.
When creating a Glogster it is still important to consider copyright issues and privacy issues. All works should be correctly attributed to their creators/owners and text should not be copied en mass. Privacy is an important issue as once these Glogsters have been shared they are public access and can be re shared through other sites by random people: as have two of the Glogsters on this Blog. Names, addresses, schools, photos and even birthdays should not be shared publicly on applications such as Glogster and this needs to be considered when creating public Glogsters.

Photobucket

The advantage of using Photobucket is that it is so easy to convert photos in whatever you want. Html? Check. Direct link? Check. Want to email it? Sure!
It's so easy to share what you've created using Photobucket. But it is not faultless. It was noticeably slower to load than Picnik and in comparison to Picnik there did seem to be less editing options. Realistically, both sites could support learning in similar ways - they are very similar. I did like Picnik's privacy options though. Using them both in conjunction to get the desired effect is plausible, but complicated and would take a lot of effort. I did find Photobucket user friendly and as it was the second of the two editors that I tried I believe that the over all result was better on Photobucket.

Flickr and Picnik

As you can see, these images are very different to the originals! And the options on Picnik were vast! Unfortunately a lot were restricted to those who paid, but it was a reasonable membership fee ( I even considered joining). What you get for free, however, is a quality website that allows you to upload photos and edit them using extremely simplistic and easy to operate tools. It was so user friendly that I was even creating using the "advanced" option by the end. You could probably even guess what order I edited these photos in - I was certainly a lot more confident by the third!

The site was fast to load and offered some great options. But was it educational? Or could it be used in a way that was? I see its potential existing for lower grade levels and high school English, art and even drama. Photographs can convey many messages, sometimes hidden. If students wanted to create something relating to a theme I think this would be a great place to start. I really surprised myself by seeing value in this activity, especially seeing how damn time consuming it was!

Flickr, Photobucket and Picnik

Today I explored online photo editing. It's great because it is free (or at least has free versions) and a fun way to engage visually with a topic. I've actually used Photobucket before when I was a lot younger, but either I've forgot what I used to know or it's changed quite a bit because it seemed nearly as unfamiliar as Picnik and Flickr. Either way I used all in an attempt to convey different emotions using the same photo as a base. I'm not hugely artistic, so I just tried to use different effects and experiment. I picked three photos. One of a church that I took in New Caledonia, one of an Emu in A.C.T and one of two toys from home. The originals can be seen above. I'm going to upload those edited on Picnik through Flickr on a separate post and those edited on PhotoBucket on a separate post.

More on YouTube: SWOT

YouTube is an online video clip data base, with content that is largely user generated. Clips can be searched for, found and/or uploaded by a user. But is it appropriate to use as a learning tool in Australian classrooms? Well, I approached this question with my vision blurred by negativity (I had my black hat on).
Many schools filter access to websites and YouTube is on the "no viewing list" at some schools. Though it could be argued that it is counterproductive to restrict students' access to YouTube. I myself wonder why schools block some websites that students most probably have free access to at home - shouldn't schools be educating youth about the Internet instead of dictating its usage? I'm beginning to realize just how complex the topic of elearning is. The safety of learners is a primary concern for a lot of schools and no one wants to risk exposing them to inappropriate material - which can be done with the click of a button on the Internet. Not to mention the possibility of allowing "bad guys" contact with students - which could pose a significant risk in some situations and is every parents worst nightmare. Lawful practises also need to be considered and I'm exploring the legal ramifications (and loopholes) that the Internet presents.
One case that caught my attention was "Porn Day". Because YouTube relies on user generated content it can be susceptible to abuse. On the 20th of May 2009 a large, organised group of users uploaded a very large amount of pornographic and explicit material without declaring it and attaching tags such as "Jonas Brothers". See http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/05/4chan-ebaumsworld-carpet-bombing-youtube-with-porn-videos.ars
YouTube users as young as 12 accessed explicit material by pure accident.
This was just one incident and possibly represents a worse case scenario. To get a wider view of YouTube's potential as a learning tool I conducted a SWOT analysis (with help), seen below.

Strengths
User friendly
Students can watch critical points several times
Videos can be paused for note taking
Cheap, easy access to media
Access to videos from all around the world
Videos can be re watched as many times as necessary
Searing for clips is fast and easy
Clips can be creative
Weaknesses
Not all information on YouTube is reliable
YouTube is dependent on Internet connectivity
Slow downloading can be frustrating
Clips are not interactive
Not all videos to appear in a search are relevant to topic
Clips can be bias
Opportunities
Watching clips could be given as homework/revision
Helps students to become global citizens
Students could use YouTube as a way of presenting assessment
Clips could be watched as a class then discussed
Talent can be recognised through YouTube
Collaboration of information and ideas
Networking through YouTube
Students can contribute to online database
Threats
Copyright issue
Can be issues with privacy invasion
Not all videos are child friendly
Government censorship means that it isn't always accessible to learners

There are a lot of great opportunities to use YouTube constructively as a learning tool. I believe that using it as a homework or a revision task has great potential, so long as URL is given so that there are no mix ups with students watching the wrong videos. Clips would have to be reviewed by the teacher prior to showing the students or recommended to them to ensure all material was appropriate. Realistically I believe that asking students to create films is a possibility although I don't believe that YouTube has to be involved in the process - the films can simply be made and never shared. YouTube could be used for ideas and inspiration in this instance. I also think that setting clips as homework is a possibility but certain circumstances need to be considered for that to work - do all students have access to the Internet with enough downloading capacity to utilize YouTube, etc. Watching clips in class could be used as a "hook" or introduction to a topic or an interesting way to consider alternate opinions on subjects.
After considering all aspects of YouTube I certainly can see it as a valuable learning tool when used successfully and my attitudes toward it have certainly become more positive!

Wordle

Just a few thoughts on Wordles (presented in a Wordle!). It's an interesting way of displaying opinions and thoughts. In Wordles more common words appear larger than the less common words, so they display the information in an almost graph like manner with an emphasis on more common words or dominant ideologies and themes.

They're also so easy to use! I can imagine asking students to create them as an activity to express dominant themes in texts that we read in English classes or even in a statistical class in mathematics to display data collection. Alternatively I could create one to display to the class, although that is less personalized and interactive. They do require access to the internet and computors though, which may be unjustifiable to a school with limited resources. Also I doubt Wordle really encourages critical thinking, or thinking at a deep level. Certainly creating a Wordle does not require the analysis, synthesis or evaluation of its content especially considering that all that is required to create them is the copying and pasting of words.

There is certainly a place for Wordles and they are a fun, light hearted way of considering text but whether they are a valuable learning tool, well, how about making one and seeing for yourself? Available at http://www.wordle.net/

YouTube

This week I collaborated with a range of other university students, particularly "BLMers" and e-learning students, to create a YouTube clip/video about YouTube. Kingsley and I considered how visual media could be used in a classroom with a focus on YouTube.
Some of our recordings wouldn't convert to the format we needed them to be in and neither of us had video editing software so we had to have a back up plan and improvise a little when we put it all together using a Microsoft Powerpoint. Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't except any file that Powerpoints can be saved as or converted to, so while we learnt a lot from our project I can't share it with you.
I can (or should be able to) however, share a brief part of unedited video from our evaluation, as seen below:




As seen above, Kingsley and I can see merit in YouTube as an educational tool. However, it is blocked from student access by Queensland Education and therefore its practical applications in the classroom are restricted.
Some uses for YouTube in an educational context without allowing students direct access from their student accounts include:
+ Showing a clip to the whole class as a hook
+ Showing a clip to the whole class then discussing
+ Embedding YouTube into presentations (eg. PowerPoint)
+ Setting specific URL as homework/revision for students to view at their leisure
It is extremely important to understand safe, legal and ethical practises when using YouTube as an educational tool. I believe that all clips should be viewed by the learning manager before being shown to the learners. YouTube is an online data base of clips, but videos exist outside of YouTube as well. I think having learners create video presentations is a great way to get learners enthusiastic about a topic and enable them to feel empowered by the ITC. This would allow them to benefit from a multi-media tool without exposing them to some of the risks that exist through YouTube. Teachers have to understand privacy laws and seek permission if they wish to share such videos with the wider community and understand that videos (or pictures) should not be shot using privately owned cameras without prior permission. They should also be stored on EQ owned property in accordance with law.

Week Three Review

This week I explored some e-learning tools. I created a wiki and a website. I didn't really like the wiki, I found that the lack of free visual options was really restricting and deterring. I like to personalise the look of things I create!
I really am exploring different technologies as this course goes on. It's not really structured - which is unfamiliar and strange to me. Usually I would prefer everything to be organised into categories and to just be told what to do. The freedom of my learning is so overwhelming that at times it works against me - paralysing me, inundating me with the vastness of what is out there to learn. I'm learning to break up what I learn into manageable pieces.

Weebly as a Tool

Today I created a website through weebly:

http://compulsorywebsite.weebly.com/

I set up mine to be about mathematics - because I'm planning to be a math/English teacher and wanted to begin looking at exactly how e-learning tools could be used in my classroom.
I've been spending a lot of time today constructing it and I would like to reflect on the some good points and bad points of creating a website for learning and also consider how and when they would be useful in the classroom. I'll do this through a SWOT analysis:

Strengths
Available to everyone
Can include interactive components eg. games, calculators, etc.
Learning Manager can know what the site is about
Learning Manager can create a site to suit their needs
Learning Manager can model good online behaviour through the site eg. acknowledging sou res, abiding by copyright laws, appropriate language
Weebly is user friendly
Students can work on it individually or in pairs or groups
Allows students to be creative

Weaknesses

Restricted by limitations of technology

Personalizing the Weebly can be expensive - the better layouts aren't free

There is limited opportunity for students to interact (online - feedback options are limited) with others or engage in critical thinking

Can be bias and unreliable

Students can get caught up in the athetics as apposed to the content (I certainly did!)

Need access to computers and Internet

Oppertunities & Possible Uses in a Classroom Setting

Blogger could be used as a way to pressent assignment tasks. Students could link to information, critic each others work and embed numerous technologies (Weebly can incoperate other components). Weebly could be used to share information: a class or school Weebly could be set up as a way of comunicating with parents and/or students. A topic Weebly could be created (by the learning manager or school) and the Weebly address given to learners to allow them to construct the meaning of their learning online. Web quests are another oppertunity with Weebly.

Threats
Students may fore go learning other skills in favour of web learning

All content needs to be considered before being posted

Learners need to stay on task, distractions threaten Weebly as a tool

Safe, Legal & Ethical Practises

The safe and legal ethical practises when using a Weebly are simular to other online spaces, such as Blogger and Wiki. Pictures, videos, text, etc need to be refferenced if unoriginal. Sites need to be monitored for appropriote behaviour. Rules need to be established within classes to regulate the usage of Weebly. Learners should remember that once uploaded things can be very hard, if not impossible, to recall entirely. Learning Managers need to educate students on safe practises. Personal information should not be shared on public online spaces.

Week Two Reflection

How will what I have learnt this week benefit me as a future educator of mathematics and English?

Wikis: This week I've learnt more about wikis. I've considered their use as an education (or educator's) tool further. I believe that wikis are a great way of communicating and collaborating.
I'd like to consider some of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats/risks.
Some of the positive aspects (or strengths) of wikis is the ease of using them. With the click of a button you can contribute text, photos, links and html. Others can add to what you've added or simply enjoy the wiki's content. One of the most famous wikis is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia built on wiki technology and can be edited by anyone. It is a wealth of information. However, the reliability of this information is doubtful at times. While Wikipedia functions to ensure reliability the best it can it is subject to falsification from its anonymous users. This brings me to the weaknesses/risks of wikis. They can be edited to say whatever a user desires and therefore can be subject to inaccuracies. Useful information can be deleted (although this is retrievable) by users as well. Despite this, I believe that their are opportunities for wikis to be Incorporated into education. For example a group of Learning Managers could create a wiki then share their creative ideas, ideas about how to teach something, lesson plans and behavioural strategies. Students could use them in a similar way; using wikis to share their knowledge and build on others knowledge. They could also be used to present assessment tasks but the learning manager must keep in mind how easy it is to delete other's work or take credit for it! Because of this wikis may not be an ideal online space to present assessment tasks, perhaps blogs or other websites may be more suited for tasks when taking credit for certain work or ideas (either as a group or an individual) is important. They are a great place to compile and share information and I believe that their greatest potential lies in whole class discussion/collaboration. It is important to consider the safety of learners and the legal and ethical obligations of the learning manager in this process. They need to be educated and aware of how online information is easily viewed and shared by other users and for this reason they should be wary of revealing their full names and never elude in detail to where they live or what school they attend. Posting photographs of themselves or others needs to be carefully considered and closely monitored. Indecent photographs and/or photographs with school logos, mottoes or uniforms should not be posted on such online spaces. The learning manager should be aware of adjustments made on Wikis to help ensure the safety of learners. Students (and learning managers) should also avoid giving details of future events to avoid potential confrontation from unwanted strangers. Past events can be discussed, however. Pictures, videos, etc sourced from external sources should always be acknowledged as belonging to another and learners should understand, to some extend, the importance of copyright laws and ramifications. Some material or text, such as explicit videos, photographs, texts and/or rude language including swearing or put downs are inappropriote and students need to understand this. Learning managers need devise appropriote rules that encompas safety and legality and explain these to students to ensure safe, ethical and legal online practises.

Mobile Phones: While I have considered a lot of interesting and creative ways to use phones in a classroom this week I still believe they are more of a novelty than an essential learning tool (although the same could be said about most ITC and therefore I should try to be more open minded). I think that using mobile phone use as a rewards system may be an achievable way of using them in educational circumstances. Though some of the available applications accessible by smart phone could be extremely useful as a learning tool - but for a lower grade level as they often seem to target simple concepts.

Thinking Hats: In English it is common to have to consider things (poems, novels, short stories, newspaper articles, etc) from different points of view. So this tool could be very useful to me! However it would probably not help me a great deal when teaching mathematics: "Alright children, put on your red hat! How do you feel about long division?"

Mobile Phones in the Classroom - Yes or No?

Should mobile phones be allowed in school? Could they be used as tools in the classroom?

To fully understand the issues and complexities of this problem we examined the issue through six different perspectives using Edward deBono's thinking hats. For those who are unfamiliar with the thinking hats http://www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/Hats/hats.htm explains them.

We were encouraged to research the issue before editing the relevant wiki. I decided to research for the black (negative perspective) hat and the white (information) hat. My research introduced me to a wide range of evidence regarding mobile phones and was not limited to two perspectives. One particularly interesting website I found was https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AclS3lrlFkCIZGhuMnZjdjVfODgzZnNucW5zZGM&hl=en_GB&pli=1
This site featured 30 different ways of using phones constructively in the classroom; my favourite included participating in polls, creating a photographic scavenger hunt and using smartphone applications to partake in interactive learning games.

But because of our campus wiki, my research wasn't all I had access to by the end of the day. Many people had added different perspectives to the wiki. Overall (blue hat thinking?) researching this topic independently before collaborating to create one source of information was an interesting way to learn. It was a way to construct our own knowledge and meaning through our experiences (constructivism!).

So should mobile phones be allowed in the classroom? Well, my personal opinion is no. While they're novel maybe we shouldn't force students to be even more dependent on their phones! I think there are plenty of other ITC tools that would perform to the desired standard while having less negatives. But maybe one day they'll be a place for phones in the classroom...

Multiple Personality Test

I know that this activity was from last week but I thought I'd go back and complete it.
Online quizzes appeal to me for several reasons:

• They don't waste paper


• You don't have to circle things, colour in dots: the computer remembers your answers!


• Computer marks the data


• They can be accessed online from anywhere


• They can be secured or public access


• There are many online quizzes with different functions and characteristics


• Time restrictions can be easily reinforced


• You have access to Internet while doing quizzes
  

However there are downside:

• They can be time consuming


• Long quizzes can be frustrating and/or boring


• Not all can be saved to come back to later


• Power outings can ruin assessment quizzes


• Assessment quizzes have to be structured in a way that anticipates the participant to Google answers


• It can be easy to accidentally click the wrong thing or scroll down and change your answer unintentionally.
  

Online quizzes could have many useful applications to an educator. Profiling learners through such online quizzes (where there's no opportunity to cheat) would be a useful. The learners may be excited about interacting with digital technology whilst at the same time the teacher would collect valuable information about the learner and the ways they best learn. As a future mathematics teacher I would also like to note that online multiple choice mathematics quizzes would be a great tool for advanced students as an extension of their learning.

Reflecting on Week One

My fist week of E-Learning meant a big learning curve for me (and I'm sure it was for a lot of my peers as well!). I was introduced to wikis and blogs but more importantly I have begun to consider how information and communication technology can be implemented into learning environments.

Another thing I've been thinking about is copywright laws (this was prompted by the email we all recieved through moodle). I copy and paste images into my assignments all the time as do my peers. However my knowledge of the legal implications of such actions is extremely limited. Surely people breach these laws frequently; half of my friends' facebook pictures have been taken from somewhere else. the internet really does open up opportunities to steal others hard work or get products for free - downloading music and pirated videos, plagerizing people's research and so on. So should there be a larger emphasis on educating students at school about the legal ramifications of their online actions? After all, while ITC has great potential to make life easier and more convienient it also makes commiting crimes easier too.

Well I'm sure we're going to be considering technology from all perspectives in week two using thinking hats to evaluate cell/smart phone usage.

My Mind Map

I decided to create a mind map online about my current knowledge of E-Learning tools. Hopefully I can add to it my the end of the course! Already I've added "Blogger" to my knowledge since starting the course, so I'm on the right track!


This was a simple process once I got the hang of it and I can certainly see how this technology could be useful to me as a future learning manager. I love graphic organisers and this is so much neater than what I could have achieved by hand! Mind mapping in itself is an excellent tool to use in classrooms for brainstorming and adding onto others ideas.

Reflection on Wiki Activity

Learning in the 21st Century: Wiki Activity

Yesterday , Kingsley Caldwell and I took part in a wiki activity which required us to view two YouTube clips and summarise the positive, negative and interesting points of these clips in a PMI chart. There were different components to this task and today I wish to discuss three of these components.

Firstly the use of YouTube; an online system of sharing video clips with any one on the Internet or a select group of Internet users. Many people are aware of YouTube, its purpose and how to navigate it at a basic level. But today I wish to contemplate how YouTube can be used as an effective learning tool.

In a classroom setting YouTube can provide near immediate access to stimulus relevent to curriculum based subjects; for example when teaching students about cyclones the footage of a cyclone can be quickly retrieved from the Internet through YouTube. This clip can be shown to the class as a whole and possibly dissected collaboratively by this class. It also can be viewed by individuals in their own time (given they all have access to computers and Internet) enabling them to re-watch critical points, pause the video to take notes or fast forward through irrelevant parts of the clip. Furthermore, clips available publicly can be viewed at leisure outside of the classroom as homework or revision. YouTube provides students with the opportunity to engage visually and audibly. There are negatives, of course, to YouTube including the impracticality of ensuring all clips are "child friendly", the massive amount of available clips means that finding relative footage can be tedious and YouTube clips alone fail to give students a chance for interaction. Hopefully I will discuss YouTube further at a later date, for now I wish to move on to working collaboratively.

For this task it was advised that students form pairs to create the PMI chart. Kingsley and I worked together on this after collaboratively viewing the required YouTube clips and this was of benefit to the both of us. The opportunity to share ideas and to discuss 21st Century Learning meant that we got to consider more aspects than we would have if we'd been working alone. We have had very different life experiences and therefore our viewpoints on issues also differ. It was interesting and beneficial to consider his opinions on past, present and future education after viewing the clips and not just my own points of view. I believe that together we constructed a PMI chart that was of higher quality than what I could have produced on my own.

Lastly, I would like to reflect on the process of editing a wiki page. This was a new experience for us both. We were the first of the Gladstone cohort to edit our PMI chart onto the page and being the first it was very daunting having nothing to compare our work to - I'm the type of learner who likes to see a clear example of the completed task that I've been asked to do. It will be interesting to view others PMI charts and gauge whether this quick graphic organiser of information provides the same quality of learning experience as watching YouTube clips, reflecting on them and summarising important points into positives, negatives and interesting perspectives did. Either way I very much look forward to viewing others PMI charts along with their reflective blog entries!

Introducty Post

Hi my name is Courtney. I'm a student enrolled in Central Queensland University's BLM (secondary schooling) program.
I look forward to learning about technology and how technology can be used as a teaching and learning tool.

To start learning about technology I completed the learning style test, an optional activity for this week with results as follow:

ACT <--> REF : ACT 5
SEN <-->INT : INT 9
VIS <-->VRB: VRB 3
SEQ <-->GLO: GLO 1

Interpreted this indicates that I have a mild preference for verbal and global learning and a strong preference for active and intuitive learning.
As I have previously completed this test I was unsurprised by the results. this year many fellow students and myself have become very consciously aware of our learning preferences as well as their importance and impact on learning through this and similar tests.

The variation between my learning style and that of those around me was noticeable in not only our test results, but in our behaviours and methods of study. As a future learning manager myself it is crucial that I am aware of such differences in preferences and am able to cater for all my learners needs.

I believe information and communications technology can be extremely useful when implemented correctly in today's classroom. Furthermore I believe that as professionals we all have an obligation to our learners and to society to adequately prepare students for their future. To best do this I believe we should utilize available technology to not only aid in preparing students for the digital world but to meet their individual learning preferences in a way that would be impractical without the assistance of digital technology. With the information and communications technology currently available we are better equipped than ever before; why not use this to our and our learners' advantage to achieve better results more effectively?