Group 2 Technology - Video

To demonstrate my competency in a Group 2 Technology - Video I created a very short video in Windows Movie Maker on the topic of Rainforest Destruction. It includes a voice recording, images, music and animated slides. I have referenced the images used and the music at the end of the video.

The voice recording, I will mention here, unfortunately cuts of the last word (eco-system) so in future, I would make sure you could hear all words clearly.

I have also used this video in my Glogster (see http://heidislearningspace.blogspot.com/2011/07/glogster-week-4-activity-reflection.html)

I am going to analyse the use of videos in education using a PMI Analysis:


Positives

• Appeals to auditory and visual learners
• Easy for students to make their own videos with software such as iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. This software provides scaffolded learning (Carrington & Robinson, 2009, p. 18)
• Videos can be become a "reusable elearning resource...they can, for example, be used by a number of instructors teaching the same course or by instructors teaching different but related courses" (Waterhouse, 2005, p. 66)
• Easy sharing of videos on sites such as YouTube

Waterhouse (2005, pp. 114-115) summarises below key advantages of short video clips:

• - Introduce the instructor of a course, a guest speaker, or key points in a new topic
• - Summarise key points
• - Hear or see highlights of a guest speaker's presentation
• - Enhance course materials in music courses
• - Teach pronunciation in a foreign language course
• - Demonstrate hazardous processes and procedures, for example, firefighting methods and techniques
• - Capture activities that are physically inaccessible to students, for example, expeditions and field trips to remote locations
• - Re-create real-life situations, either through role playing or by capturing actual events
• - Hear from acknowledged experts who make brief comments or express opinons relevant to topics covered in the course
• - Clarify abstract concepts insensible to human perception, for example, the propagation of sound waves or the mechanics of nuclear fusion or fission

Minuses:

• Privacy issues
• Students/educators may not reference correctly leading to legal/ethical issues such as copyright infringement
• Video recording devices can be expensive
• Safety concern with students accessing inappropiate material online
• "Embarassing photos and videos are common-weapons of cyber-bullies, and students are as likely to target adults as they are fellow students" (Brooks-Young, 2010, p. 81).
• Students can become bored with mono-tone presentations
• Files can be large or bulky and rely on bandwith

Interesting:

• "A survey released in June 2008 by Nielsen Online shows that kids ages 2 to 11 watch an average of 118 minutes of online video each month, and those ages 12 to 17 average 132 minutes viewing online videos per month" (Brooks-Young, 2010, p. 79) .
• Videos are now interactive such as BluRay movies which have interactive commentary throughout the movie

How would you aply these to your teaching context?

I would apply videos in the classroom first and foremost to both engage visual learners and to concrete understanding of concepts. For example, if you were teaching about antartica and talking about the extremely cold climate, the vast array of ice, and the type of animals that made it their habitat, you could then follow these discussions with a video making this information visual.

I do believe it is beneficial to both be told about information and then to see it in action, and video is a great tool for this.

I do also believe video has its place and can't just be shown for no reason as this does not aid to learning.


Learning Theories Underpinned:

I believe videos are foremost a cognitive constructivism tool, in that they aid the individual's understanding of a topic by applying visual and audio stimulus.

They can become a social constructivist tool, when classmates construct a video together.


References:

Brooks-Young, S. (2010). Teaching with the tools kids really use: Learning with web and mobile technologies. California, US: Corwin

  

Carrington, V., & Robinson, M. (2009). Digital literacies: Social learning and classroom practises. London, UK: United Kingdom Literacy Association


Waterhouse, S. (2005). The power of eLearning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age. Boston, US: Pearson Education, Inc.

Scribble Maps

I experimented with the Scribble Map techonology powered by Google and I must say I am very impressed at it's functionality and I absolutely love it.

I remember the days in primary and high school, when I would photocopy a map or print one from online, and then 'grab out' the pencils, rulers and highlighters to highlight different areas of interest on a map. How times have changed, you can now do all those things and more with Scribble Map.

I will be analysing the use of Scribble Maps in an educational environment using a PMI Analysis;

Positives:

• Easily embeddable into other websites, for example Blogger or Wiki (with customisable width)
• You can publish your map to a jpeg format
• You can insert images, YouTube videos, markers, animations and many more
• You can draw lines, circles and text 
• You can create a Legend to assign to your map (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• You can assign time ranges and time stamps to elements (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• You can stylise (personalise) maps (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• You can use your own image as a map (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• You can upload spreadsheets
• You can add 'heat' to maps to represent climates around the world (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• Completely flash based, so can be seen anywhere, for example on a computer or an iPad (Scribble Maps, 2010)
• Ability to hide ads
• Free

Minuses:

• Learners could become overwhelmed/distracted with the level of customisation that is available to them
• Learners would need to know the boundaries of what is acceptable to be placed on the map, as it could lead to a privacy issue
• To use the full range of features, you need to pay for a Pro membership.

Interesting:

• Utilises the already popular Google Maps as it's mapping platform
• Innovative utilisation in school assignments
• It will allow educators, such as those who teach geography and history, to show how things might have looked and changed from past to future (Stotland, 2011, p. 1)

Also, for future reference; the below is an instructional video from Scribble Maps:

How could Scribble Maps be applied in your teaching context?:

The possibilities of using Scribble Maps in the classroom are endless. Any time that calls for referring to a map or geographical location, you can utilise Scribble Maps.

Here are just a few examples of how you could use it:

• Recording as a class your trip/adventure to a destination. You could upload videos, pictures, points of interest and commentary. This could be shared within the classroom or on the class blog or wiki.
• Using the time feature, show the colonisation of British colonies in Africa and the rest of the world, by placing links on the map and historical information and references.
• Ask students to utilise the technology in their presentation of an assignment on a given country/continent
• Highlight to students the differences in culture around the globe by use of embedded pictures, links or videos

Learning theories underpinned:

Using Scribble Maps encourages both a connectivism and constructivist learning approach. By using a map, and connecting sets of information on a geographical interface, you are using a connectivism approach. Building on your maps as a class uses a social constructivist approach as together you are building knowledge based on each individual's own experiences etc.

References:

Scribble Maps. (2010, December 25). iPad supports - upgrading your widgets [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

Scribble Maps. (2010, June 29). Legends in scribble maps [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

 

 

Scribble Maps. (2010, June 11). Time mapping in scribble maps [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

Scribble Maps. (2010, May 27). Scribble maps now has styled maps [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

 

 

Scribble Maps. (2010, May 3). Self made maps [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

Scribble Maps. (2010, March 1). Heat maps [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scribblemaps.blogspot.com/

 

 

Scribble Maps. (2010, January 20). Scripple maps pro beta demo [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlU-mVuQSQk&feature=player_embedded#at=160

Stotland, R. (2011). Online map tools: scribble maps. Retrieved August, 8, 2011, from http://teamawesomer2011.wikispaces.com/Scribble+Maps

References (used for creating Scribble Map):

Constable, L. (Photographer). (2010). Darren and Tamara Corr have settled into life in the Pioneer Valley after leasing the popular Pinnacle Pub [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2010/10/27/couple-couldnt-go-past-country-hotel/

  

Fitzgerald, G. (Photographer). (2000). Teemburra Dam [Photographer]. Retrieved from http://www.sweetwaterfishing.com.au/Teemburra.htm

  

rauri76. (2010, July 22). TubingCacheCreek.MP4 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_hzHHhiMMw&playnext=1&list=PLEC66DCA13E85D0B2

  

TheNeri88. (2010, April 27). Finch hatton gorge swimming [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMIbdc8ocY

Week 3 - Dangers & Benefits of Using Blogs in Schools

The following is a PMI Analysis on the dangers and benefits of using blogs in schools;

Positive

• Posting of resources, lessons and homework
• Keeping parents up-to-date on class happenings
• Sharing of schoolwork with peers, parents and the community
• Students' can collaborate on projects and get feedback from others
• Students' can keep a reflective journal
• Students' can use a blog for assignment construction (i.e. post a new blog entry when new information is found, or complete their assignment in sections (per blog posting for example), similar to the style that is being conducted for FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning.
• Can be password protected to ensure privacy
• Provides a platform for higher order thinking using critical analysis tools such as SWOT, de Bono's Six Thinking Hats & PMI

Minus

• If not password protected, there is a risk of privacy breaches
• If a student or teacher has used third party material, and it is uploaded without adding password protectoin and restricting access to teachers, students and parents, they are breaching 'Fair' use copyright laws.
• Potential for cyber bullying

Interesting

• EduBlogs provide a blogging platform purely for education. http://edublogs.org/why-edublogs/ - Have a look at this video for more information.

Resources:

Copyright Advisory Group. (2008). Smartcopying: the official guide to copyright issues for Australian schools and TAFE. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/1

Edublogs. (2011). Edublogs. Retrieved from http://edublogs.org/

infinite thinking. (n.d.). Blogger ® in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.infinitethinkingmachine.org/stuff/Blogger.pdf

Digital Natives & Immigrants (Marc Prensky) & PMI - Week 1 Wiki Activity Reflection

Yesterday, Shannon and I had to collaborate together on a Wiki activity, which required us to read an article written by Marc Prensky, 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants' (for those of you who don't yet know, a digital native is someone born into our digital frenzy world with the operation of mobiles, laptops etc. second nature and a digital immigrant is someone who is foreign or immigrant to technology). From this article we were asked to further examine under the PMI approach; positive, minus and interesting.

On a side note, I found the below YouTube video to be a nice introduction to what is a wiki?

This week's wiki exercise could be seen as similar to the Jigsaw approach (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique) for further information & see diagram below; http://www.maryborougheducationcentre.vic.edu.au/successforboys/resources/pdf/planning_core/planning_activity5.pdf)

Jigsaw Approach

The differences however, were that Shannon and I were given a segment (in this case 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'), we were to dissect the information, and to report back to the class online by adding our information to the Learning Theories Wiki. So instead of having both home groups and expert groups, we only had a home group.

This strategy could be useful in our own teaching context, if utilised correctly, as it relies on the student's ability to be an active constructivist in their learning. Of course a student's ability to be a constructive learner is influenced by the teacher's enabling of the student. Teachers can equip their student's with the right scaffolding tools and mediums in which to use them, to support collaborative social understanding and interaction with others.

The act of reading and presenting back information online can be better than in a classroom if the activity is designed properly and the task given to them is clear. That way students are able to utilise scaffolding tools combined with social interaction to collaborate with each other and share ideas, to eventually interalise the new knowledge.

A constructivist approach does support individuals with different learning needs, as the students are learning together in a collaborative approach. The knowledge can be documented collaboratively online in forums, wikis, blogs etc. so that each student can build upon the other's learning. Each student is also given the chance to contribute, opportunities that are sometimes lost in a classroom context.

As mentioned earlier, knowledge from this task was scaffolded using the PMI Analysis tool. It was used to dissect the article and seperate it into the following categories; plus, minus & interesting. This technique supports greater analysis as it asks the reader to think about/analyse the text on a deeper level, by triggering the reader to examine all options before making any decisions.  You can also use the PMI tool to grade a text. For example, if every plus was graded +5, every minus -5, at the end of analysis, the text would have a grade that could support or reject a decision. This technique could be a useful strategy with my own learners as it encourages students to analyse on a deeper level as well as being a useful scaffolding tool for collaborative learning. A PMI tool could also be particularly effective in a Wiki as it allows each student to contribute to the list.


References:

Commonwealth of Australia. (2006). Planning guide: Activity sheet 5: Expert jigsaw. Retrieved from http://www.maryborougheducationcentre.vic.edu.au/successforboys/resources/pdf/planning_core/planning_activity5.pdf


ramitsethi. (2007, Mar 2). Pb wiki - What is a wiki? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmByB0sIPog&feature=player_embedded


Wikipedia. (2011). Jigsaw: Teaching technique. Retrieved July 7, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigsaw_(teaching_technique)