What Do Kids Really want?

A fellow blogger Jacina Walker posted this video on her own blog. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Jacina for finding this!

Cheers, 

Toni

Voki Avatars in Learning Design

There is a website called Voki, used to create the avatar above, which specialises in creating voki avatars.  The website describes itself as a "free service that allows you to create personalised speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile and email messages". 


Avatars for teachers?
These avatars can be used in many different ways in the classroom. I am already getting excited with the number of ideas I have for this resource! Teachers can create and use avatars to introduce courses or topics, include in blogs, wikis or emails that assist students to complete classroom tasks, assessment items, homework tasks and larger tasks that require several steps. Vocal prompting from  avatars may help students to check they are on the right track, understanding the questions properly and gain clarity of the tasks at hand. 


Through choosing different characters (animals, anime, politicians and other random selections) you can easily personalise avatars for every purpose! Telling stories, sharing facts, instructing, providing direction are all great uses for avatars in the classroom! With changing accents, backgrounds and characters you can even make a smiley face in front of the Eiffel Tower speaking with a Japanese accent! Many are the possibilities!


Avatars for students?
What are the benefits of students using this resource to create their own avatars? A great deal of relevance would be in reflecting their views and responses to learning tasks/experiences.  The use of avatars could encourage group work, commenting and reflecting on learning experiences and peer use of the resource. When used for authentic tasks, making use of real life problems and solutions in group situations that benefit others the learning experience begins to utilise the Learning Engagement Theory created by Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman.  The theory uses three components to encourage and engage learners. These are Relate, Create and Donate. The theory is basic but essential; learners in group settings, creating something that is of particular use and then donating it to someone else that will benefit from it. Through doing this, students see more purpose in the activities and are more likely to become and continue to be engaged in the learning. When combined with Lynch's 8 Learning Management Questions, the learning experiences developed should be planned according to what the learner already knows, what they should know by the end of the lesson and how they best learn, making sure to check they have arrived at the end of the learning experience.  Classroom activities using voki avatars could easily be planned to incorporate these theories. When engaged, learners take responsibility and ownership of their learning ensuring a deeper understanding of the content. Therefore, students are further encouraged to become independent learners.


This tool may encourage students of all learning styles to write, be creative in their responses to tasks, use audio effectively and create an accurate visual representation of their characters, engaging them in the learning. As the Voki site is user friendly, free and easy to navigate, primary students would not need much help in creating avatars. The process would of course need to be monitored. The great thing about these voki avatars is that shy students, ESL students, vocally impaired students or simply those students who find it hard to express themselves will gain an easy way of sharing their opinions. Students can also create avatars to express different points of view, for example creating avatars to resemble characters from a story book which share their thoughts on the major events in the story.


Feel free to comment, especially if you want to share any of your ideas!

Using ICTs to Support & Enhance Learning

Entering the course ICTs for Learning Design this semester, I knew a bit about using the internet for personal recreation and how to find my way around the web. Being a regular Google searcher, facebook junkie, myspace user (for my music website), email reliant, online shopper etc. I am well aware of proper netiquette and how to get what I need out of my computer!

So to extend my knowledge as a part of the course I created a professional blog here on Blogger, a Wiki through WetPaint, a professional teaching e.portfolio through Mahara CQU and an RSS aggregator through GoogleReader to manage my blog subscriptions.

I found the process of setting up these new technologies straightforward and simple with one exception for Mahara which I accidently signed up for the wrong account...  outside of the CQU domain.  Oops... But all has been resolved through a quick email.

Blogs for Learners
I had heard about blogs before. How they were useful for writing up personal web logs and information on various topics.  I had even read some but had never considered the possibility that I would create one for educational purposes. I began thinking about how blogs can be used for my education and reflection. My blog would become a great place to express ideas, reflect on my learning and interact with fellow bloggers (students and other influences). Blogs would be important for not only my educational purposes but for the students I would eventually be teaching. The ease in setting up a blog and commenting on others is very encouraging when thinking about Primary aged students as well as Secondary. Obviously the content in the blog would change with audience but the ease and usability would remain.

The accessibility of a blog would be of use in everyday classroom activities and also for directing learning for assessment. As a teacher I would be able to provide clear instructions, links and useful content for my learners to develop high quality work through both independent and collaborative learning situations. Ease of communication through commenting, reflecting and personal blogging would allow students to provide feedback for their peers, receive appropriate answers and for teachers to monitor what work is being completed and the quality of it.

Scot Aldred, our lecturer for this course provided a perfect example of a blog used to tutor a Math student, allowing more time to complete activities without face to face contact. Commenting and reflection are key to effective communication.

Also, this example of a child's creative writing are displayed in a blog. Children take pride in their work especially when it will be published. Blogs can be shared or kept private, so showcasing student work may be effective in the learning process.

The following website makes some great points about using blogger in the classroom.

RSS Aggregators 
Creating my RSS aggregator was an easy process because I already had a Google account. Therefore, using GoogleReader  seemed to be the most obvious choice. RSS aggregators basically collect all the blog information from the blogs you wish to follow (keep up to date with) and send it to you, instead of having to check for new material yourself! I didn't know this was possible, being new to blogging myself. But this makes it even more easier to manage.
For more information on how this works see the video:


Wiki's for Learners
Similar to blogging, Wikis provide a great online resource for learners. My initial thought when setting up my own Wiki was that using Wikis for student projects requiring collaboration and all student input would be perfect. You may have used or heard about a massive Wiki called Wikipedia.  This site is basically a collaboration of knowledge to provide worldwide info. Very much like an online encyclopedia. Students could create their own mini informative websites, use Wikis as portfolios - showcasing work and assessment journeys. A great thing about Wikis is that they provide an environment where sharing and learning is the focus. I would suggest that using Wikis and blogs to stimulate learning encourages communities of learners to interact, share tools and provide constructive feedback.



All online resources can be used as effectively, if not more, as those we are familiar with in schools. (Books, pencils, etc.) The question about effective learning remains the same - the tools should not be used for the sake of it.... learners should be provided with purposeful learning experiences as demonstrated in Dales Cone. If students see and understand the importance of the tasks, they will be able to dive deeper into the learning experience. The online community of learning would be very effective in the Relate, Create, Donate aspects of Greg Kearsley and Ben Shneiderman's Learning Engagement Theory.

It has been a very interesting and exciting learning journey so far. I am excited to see what technologies will inspire me next!

Using E.Portfolios in the Primary Classroom

Hi Everyone!

I have been thinking a bit about the relevance of the e.portfolios in the primary classroom (particularly because GDLT students are required to have one through a site called Mahara). In amongst thoughts and strategies to use this particular tool I remembered something!

When I was in primary school each student had a folder that showcased their best work, drawings and test scores etc. This was our work portfolio and we took pride in adding our work to it. As the teacher kept it in a store room, we were not allowed to keep it after our schooling had been completed. I'm sure it would be very interesting to look at it now and reflect on my learning from that time in my life, if I had it!

To me, the e.portfolio is a much better way of organising our students' work rather than having to store everything in physical folders. Instead of each child having a folder, you can upload the files into a site like Mahara, where students would be able to share this work with others through at the discretion of the teacher, parents etc.

Also, the students can use e.portfolios to complete assessment tasks, reflect on their learning journeys through blogging etc. whilst creating their own personalised "views" to make their sites look unique. What primary aged student wouldn't love having their own website!? Through Mahara students may create their own blogs, resumes, upload pictures, word documents and other artefacts and include links to other blogs they may wish to remember. Although some of this takes a little navigating, the classroom tasks would define how much the students need to understand about using their e.portfolio.

There are a few problems with the physical folder portfolios such as the one I had: you cannot share it with people, cannot take it home and it is not really the property of the student though it is their work. Students may be able to feel more ownership of their e.portfolio sites. I'm sure this would empower them to take great pride in their work. In contrast to myself, those students may also be able to have access to it after their schooling.

E.portfolios are a great way for primary students to demonstrate, reflect on and present work and achievements in ways that suit each individual.

Regards,
Toni

Response to Social Capital Youtube Video

As a part of the first topic in ICTs for Learning Design, students were asked to watch the following video and comment on the validity of the speakers ideas about social capital and family values in today's children.

This is my response, please feel free to comment or reply! Happy reading!

The speaker made several valid points regarding the changes in social capital and family values and the effect they have on student learning inside and outside of the education system. 20 to 50 years ago children were more socially interactive and involved in the community, whether through simple interactions and incidental learning, or through discussions with and participation in, or at least involvement in, the wider community. Children were engaged in a large variety of learning experiences, both incidental and purposeful, in everyday life, which are not as evident in the current community environment. The importance of these social learning experiences is supported by Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory, in which he theorizes the fundamental role social interactions play in a child’s cognitive development.

I also agree with the speaker’s ideas about the change in family values. Many children are now growing up in broken or dysfunctional homes that do not share the same values, beliefs and standards previous generations were based on. This change in family values has placed extra pressure on the education system to provide learning experiences that not only provide contextualized curriculum based learning but that also involve students in understanding appropriate social and individual values.

I also believe that these changes in social and family values have changed the way behavior management is view in schools. In previous generations teachers received a great deal more support from parents and community members when it came to monitoring student behavior and learning. These days teachers receive less support from parents to correct misbehavior and often find that parents side with their children which leads to further and often more serious incidents of misbehavior.

I think the speaker has made a number of very good points about how changes in social capital and family values have influenced the need for continual change in the way children are taught in schools. With students coming from such diverse cultural and social backgrounds pedagogy must be developed to create the best learning opportunities and environments possible for each individual learner.

Regards,

Toni

Introductory Blog

Hey fellow Bloggers!

My name is Toni. I am currently studying the Graduate Diploma of Learning and Teaching (GDLT) program at Central QLD University to become a primary school teacher. I have previously completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Music at Southern Cross University, majoring in Vocal Studies. I am a singer/songwriter/performer and singing teacher who loves learning and sharing knowledge with other people.

As a part of the GDLT I am studying an ICTs for Learning Design course. Throughout this course I will be blogging my research and thoughts. Please feel free to comment and provide feedback on things you find interesting.

Happy Blogging!!!