I've been having a change of heart about e-books. Much as I love the real thing, I have really been enjoying reading through ibooks. I don't like reading on-line on my main computer, maybe it's something to do with the set up, but curling up on the sofa with my ipad has been lovely. I like being able to change the font and the font size, I like the little bookmark feature and that it tells me how many pages are left in the current chapter. I really like the fact that the next part of a series I've been reading is available to download now rather than waiting until August for it to come into the bookshops (and it's cheaper to buy online). I love the back lit feature, so even if the room isn't brightly lit, I can still read clearly. Best of all, I'm going on a trip this weekend, and I'm taking 5 books with me that aren't going to weigh down my hand luggage.
I'm not giving up my beautiful hard copy books, but I definitely have room in my life for some very convenient and practical e-books.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Monday 30 May 2011
Final thoughts......maybe not...
I've been putting off writing this post. I'm not saying I've taken to blogging like a duck to water (some weeks I've felt like I was drowning), but I have enjoyed the whole experience and I'm sorry that my structured blogging experience has to stop.
What have I loved?
1. Playing with all the toys:- widgets, gadgets, newfeeds, tags, books, vokis, digital storytelling, wordclouds, embedding. You name it, if I managed to control it - I've loved it. It probably means I'm a control freak deep down (maybe not so deep down), but I can live with that.
2. Getting to know my classmates better. In a class, it's not possible to interact with everybody and we do tend to mix mainly with the same few people. Blogging has enabled me to read other peoples thoughts, views and ideas and to interact with them through comments.
3. Along the same vein, learning from my classmates. Thinking how long it took me to research the topic each week - to write and post my own blog, to then go to 5 (or more) other blogs and read something new, or a different perspective was a brilliant use of my time - it really showed me the value of collaborative learning. Some people are pretty quiet in class - I wish they weren't, they know so much and have really great ideas. Blogging has taught me to have great respect for my classmates.
4. Learning about how to use the technology to improve my teaching (I also think I learnt more about social constructivism and how to apply it on this course than I did in the whole of last year). Not just the toys, but normalising the technology so the pedagogy would take precedence.
5. Reflecting on my own thoughts and learning style, especially when I've then looked at another blog and found something I've thought was a brilliant way of looking at something.
Here's the downside, these are the things I didn't enjoy so much:
1. I have felt quite self-conscious, blogging did not come easily and I've found it hard to find my 'voice', I've therefore used my blog to explore and reflect on the themes of the course and to familiarise myself with the technical side of things.
2. It's really time-consuming.
I feel I have changed my views on blogging. I was quite apprehensive about it to start with and not sure what I would gain but I really feel that I have learnt so much through blogging. As a tool for reflecting on content and a medium for gaining technical skills, I have found it very successful. I will definitely try this with my students. I have already introduced a kidblog to my science students and although they have needed a lot of support, they have engaged well with it and it has been useful for recapping and providing a record of what they have learnt.
It's difficult to think what I would do differently if I were starting to blog now, as I have a whole new perspective and set of skills and I am happy with the journey that brought me here. Maybe, be not so apprehensive next time...
So, I think I might try to continue with my blogging, reflecting and playing with new technologies, even if it's just for my own benefit - but I will miss those classmates who decide not to continue.
What have I loved?
1. Playing with all the toys:- widgets, gadgets, newfeeds, tags, books, vokis, digital storytelling, wordclouds, embedding. You name it, if I managed to control it - I've loved it. It probably means I'm a control freak deep down (maybe not so deep down), but I can live with that.
2. Getting to know my classmates better. In a class, it's not possible to interact with everybody and we do tend to mix mainly with the same few people. Blogging has enabled me to read other peoples thoughts, views and ideas and to interact with them through comments.
3. Along the same vein, learning from my classmates. Thinking how long it took me to research the topic each week - to write and post my own blog, to then go to 5 (or more) other blogs and read something new, or a different perspective was a brilliant use of my time - it really showed me the value of collaborative learning. Some people are pretty quiet in class - I wish they weren't, they know so much and have really great ideas. Blogging has taught me to have great respect for my classmates.
4. Learning about how to use the technology to improve my teaching (I also think I learnt more about social constructivism and how to apply it on this course than I did in the whole of last year). Not just the toys, but normalising the technology so the pedagogy would take precedence.
5. Reflecting on my own thoughts and learning style, especially when I've then looked at another blog and found something I've thought was a brilliant way of looking at something.
Here's the downside, these are the things I didn't enjoy so much:
1. I have felt quite self-conscious, blogging did not come easily and I've found it hard to find my 'voice', I've therefore used my blog to explore and reflect on the themes of the course and to familiarise myself with the technical side of things.
2. It's really time-consuming.
I feel I have changed my views on blogging. I was quite apprehensive about it to start with and not sure what I would gain but I really feel that I have learnt so much through blogging. As a tool for reflecting on content and a medium for gaining technical skills, I have found it very successful. I will definitely try this with my students. I have already introduced a kidblog to my science students and although they have needed a lot of support, they have engaged well with it and it has been useful for recapping and providing a record of what they have learnt.
It's difficult to think what I would do differently if I were starting to blog now, as I have a whole new perspective and set of skills and I am happy with the journey that brought me here. Maybe, be not so apprehensive next time...
So, I think I might try to continue with my blogging, reflecting and playing with new technologies, even if it's just for my own benefit - but I will miss those classmates who decide not to continue.
Friday 27 May 2011
Living in the Past....?
I loved this weeks lecture, I was so challenged, so many new horizons and opportunities were opened up. My favourite genre of writing/reading is scifi and this week I felt like I had stepped straight into one of these books - my version of an augmented reality. However, it did also make me feel like I was living in the past - that I didn't know what many of these new technologies were, never mind how many of them are with us right now!
There seem to be two schools of thought as to where all this technology is leading us:
1. Slow down, we don't know what we're doing!
2. Bring it on!
Where am I?
Somewhere in the middle I think. I believe that change and 'progress' is inevitable but it is a double edged sword and there are danger and privacy issues to be considered and addressed. I think that ignoring these technologies would put me and my students at a disadvantage. It is already happening and being informed helps me use the technology and to be aware of the dangers. I need to make sure I have a balanced view and don't get carried away with all the positive possibilities without considering the negatives.
Three of the digital technologies particularly intrigued me:
Augmented Reality
I can see some really great applications for teaching and learning with this technology, particularly in science and society and environment. The overlay of old photos on modern scenes was a very motivating and engaging application. This video shows how Bing Maps are using augmented reality. This would be a brilliant way to bring S&E (for example) to life.
Cloud Computing
Many of us are already using some form of cloud computing (all your Facebook stuff isn't actually stored on your computer). This article from 'How Stuff Works' explained it really clearly and also explained many of the concerns associated with cloud computing. I think this concept could be a boon for schools in terms of making technology more accessible for students, costs could possibly be less, hardware would be less bulky and more mobile, software glitches and problems would become the responsibility of the server and greater processing/data storage power may be more available.
Virtual Worlds
This was also a very exciting concept. I joined Second Life to see what it was all about (my original choice of avatar was limited to bimbos or a man, which was a bit off putting), it was easy to join and download but I need to do some more exploring. For schools though, this is a great tool for collaborating with a wide community, interacting with ideas and information that may not be easily available in their own locality. I can see it having increasing relevance for remote and distance learners particularly.
I need a lot more processing time to take all these concepts in and think about using them in the classroom, but I feel that they hold some exciting possibilities. Real-life has looked a little old-fasioned and mundane since Tuesday, maybe I need an ipad to augment my reality.......
There seem to be two schools of thought as to where all this technology is leading us:
1. Slow down, we don't know what we're doing!
2. Bring it on!
Where am I?
Somewhere in the middle I think. I believe that change and 'progress' is inevitable but it is a double edged sword and there are danger and privacy issues to be considered and addressed. I think that ignoring these technologies would put me and my students at a disadvantage. It is already happening and being informed helps me use the technology and to be aware of the dangers. I need to make sure I have a balanced view and don't get carried away with all the positive possibilities without considering the negatives.
Three of the digital technologies particularly intrigued me:
Augmented Reality
I can see some really great applications for teaching and learning with this technology, particularly in science and society and environment. The overlay of old photos on modern scenes was a very motivating and engaging application. This video shows how Bing Maps are using augmented reality. This would be a brilliant way to bring S&E (for example) to life.
Cloud Computing
Many of us are already using some form of cloud computing (all your Facebook stuff isn't actually stored on your computer). This article from 'How Stuff Works' explained it really clearly and also explained many of the concerns associated with cloud computing. I think this concept could be a boon for schools in terms of making technology more accessible for students, costs could possibly be less, hardware would be less bulky and more mobile, software glitches and problems would become the responsibility of the server and greater processing/data storage power may be more available.
Virtual Worlds
This was also a very exciting concept. I joined Second Life to see what it was all about (my original choice of avatar was limited to bimbos or a man, which was a bit off putting), it was easy to join and download but I need to do some more exploring. For schools though, this is a great tool for collaborating with a wide community, interacting with ideas and information that may not be easily available in their own locality. I can see it having increasing relevance for remote and distance learners particularly.
I need a lot more processing time to take all these concepts in and think about using them in the classroom, but I feel that they hold some exciting possibilities. Real-life has looked a little old-fasioned and mundane since Tuesday, maybe I need an ipad to augment my reality.......
Monday 23 May 2011
Thursday 19 May 2011
Information Overload
Unfortunately, this is a concept that seems horribly familiar. Sometimes, it's a case of I have so much to do I don't know where to start. Other times, it's a case of doing only a bit of everything and none of it well. I looked up the concept on Wikipedia - really interesting, especially the idea that information overload is not new, just the terminology:
"As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes." –Denis Diderot, "Encyclopédie" (1755).
Clay Shirky describes modern information overload as 'filter failure'. His view is information overload is not new, it's been a fact of life for centuries: get over it.
What has changed, is that technology is delivering the information in a way and in volumes that we haven't quite worked out how to filter effectively just yet. Also, that technology has developed in a way that is changing social norms. Now, the introduction of a widespread technological innovation almost always changes social norms but this time the rate of change has been very fast and is visible because we haven't adapted quite as quickly as the technology has developed and spread.
This is quite a long video but Clay Shirky also makes some very pertinent points about privacy regarding social networking and collaboration using the internet/Facebook, themes that we have been discussing in recent weeks.
So, where do teachers and 'information overload' come together (and I'm just talking about technological information overload)?
I think our role is three-fold:
1. To teach students about the technological tools available to them to help them filter their information (folksonomies, RSS feeds, Network filtering).
(This is a word mosaic I made using ImageChef - ironically, this potential teacher couldn't seem to import her tagcloud from Delicious).
2. Extending critical literacy. Helping students develop metacognitive strategies to be clear about what they are looking for and to extend their concentration span.
I also note that the school we visited this week also makes use of software to stop students being distracted by non-essential websites (it's called Self Control and I know it is available for Macs, not sure about MS). The students switch on 'Self Control' when they have work to do, set a time limit and the sites to block and just get on with it. Apparently, it's very popular and helps with focusing.
3. The point that Clay Shirky makes about how social networking has changed social interface and notions of privacy also affects us as teachers. We've touched on it in terms of cybersafety etc but I think that Mr Shirky has made me see that it's a much bigger picture. Social norms are changing/colliding with the advent of social networking and students may need help developing strategies to deal with it - how to filter their own information - at source (you don't have to post every little though that pops into your head) and using the filters available to them on the social networking sites.
In terms of managing my own information overload (not just technological); this year I've cut down on the number of my other commitments and try to make conscious decisions about what to prioritise. However, it does come down to what's engaging, and I probably spend far too much time on this unit and the other ones suffer..... If anyone has any other handy tips, please feel free to share.
"As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes." –Denis Diderot, "Encyclopédie" (1755).
Clay Shirky describes modern information overload as 'filter failure'. His view is information overload is not new, it's been a fact of life for centuries: get over it.
What has changed, is that technology is delivering the information in a way and in volumes that we haven't quite worked out how to filter effectively just yet. Also, that technology has developed in a way that is changing social norms. Now, the introduction of a widespread technological innovation almost always changes social norms but this time the rate of change has been very fast and is visible because we haven't adapted quite as quickly as the technology has developed and spread.
This is quite a long video but Clay Shirky also makes some very pertinent points about privacy regarding social networking and collaboration using the internet/Facebook, themes that we have been discussing in recent weeks.
So, where do teachers and 'information overload' come together (and I'm just talking about technological information overload)?
I think our role is three-fold:
1. To teach students about the technological tools available to them to help them filter their information (folksonomies, RSS feeds, Network filtering).
(This is a word mosaic I made using ImageChef - ironically, this potential teacher couldn't seem to import her tagcloud from Delicious).
2. Extending critical literacy. Helping students develop metacognitive strategies to be clear about what they are looking for and to extend their concentration span.
I also note that the school we visited this week also makes use of software to stop students being distracted by non-essential websites (it's called Self Control and I know it is available for Macs, not sure about MS). The students switch on 'Self Control' when they have work to do, set a time limit and the sites to block and just get on with it. Apparently, it's very popular and helps with focusing.
3. The point that Clay Shirky makes about how social networking has changed social interface and notions of privacy also affects us as teachers. We've touched on it in terms of cybersafety etc but I think that Mr Shirky has made me see that it's a much bigger picture. Social norms are changing/colliding with the advent of social networking and students may need help developing strategies to deal with it - how to filter their own information - at source (you don't have to post every little though that pops into your head) and using the filters available to them on the social networking sites.
In terms of managing my own information overload (not just technological); this year I've cut down on the number of my other commitments and try to make conscious decisions about what to prioritise. However, it does come down to what's engaging, and I probably spend far too much time on this unit and the other ones suffer..... If anyone has any other handy tips, please feel free to share.
Monday 16 May 2011
Wikis promote collaborative thinking
Just a little note. I had an interesting example of how wikis promote collaboration today. I was showing a group of students how they could contribute to a wiki and asked for a sample sentence in their own words to insert. A sample was offered by a student. There then followed a great debate amongst the rest of the students about how to word the sentence for publication. It only took a few minutes and the sentence went through several evolutions but the class came to a friendly consensus. The sentence was grammatically correct and although the message was the same, the amended version was more sophisticated than the original. Now, I know this took place in class, but it was the wiki that inspired the debate and the fact that the sentence was going to be online. It was really interesting to listen to the discussion, follow how the sentence evolved, why the students thought some combinations of words sounded better than others and how some of the students learnt from each other.
Sunday 15 May 2011
On Line safety
I 've had a few goes at voki's and movie making (I've been having so much fun). I still need quite a lot more practice and the voices are sometimes an issue but I can really see how engaging they could be for students. They also require quite a different skill set in presentation ideas. Here's a little one I made earlier today. It's brief and does not address all the issues to do with online dangers for young people, but I'm still learning!
Friday 6 May 2011
Digital storytelling
I had a go at this, it was a little more difficult than I thought it might be, but I really enjoyed the process and I can see how it could be really engaging for children. I suspect that some children will always prefer to draw their own pictures.
My Mum is Magic on Storybird
My Mum is Magic on Storybird
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Social networking sites
I'm re-evaluating these, rapidly.
I signed up for Facebook about 4 years ago, but quickly lost interest. I think this was because I saw the whole medium from my cultural perspective as a digital immigrant. It seemed very 'me, me, me' oriented and a bit self-indulgent. I also felt some of the posts were pointless. To me, if I was going to spend time composing 'writing' to be published, then I should have something to say. I therefore only checked in occasionally and most of my communication was via private messages to various friends (and I might as well have used emails/letters).
Skip forward to 2011 and I decided to give it another go and look at it from a fresh perspective. These are my new observations:
1. People's online personas often reflect their 'real-life' personas. For example, a certain teenage boy I know is not famous for his verbal communication skills and his online communication reflects this. He posts pictures and videos, 'likes' lots of stuff, does quizzes etc but most of his written posts are very short sentences. At the other extreme one of my friends has probably the best facility with language I've ever known. In her own words she's 'a very punny person'. Her Facebook picture was this for a while - it really made me laugh.
I signed up for Facebook about 4 years ago, but quickly lost interest. I think this was because I saw the whole medium from my cultural perspective as a digital immigrant. It seemed very 'me, me, me' oriented and a bit self-indulgent. I also felt some of the posts were pointless. To me, if I was going to spend time composing 'writing' to be published, then I should have something to say. I therefore only checked in occasionally and most of my communication was via private messages to various friends (and I might as well have used emails/letters).
Skip forward to 2011 and I decided to give it another go and look at it from a fresh perspective. These are my new observations:
1. People's online personas often reflect their 'real-life' personas. For example, a certain teenage boy I know is not famous for his verbal communication skills and his online communication reflects this. He posts pictures and videos, 'likes' lots of stuff, does quizzes etc but most of his written posts are very short sentences. At the other extreme one of my friends has probably the best facility with language I've ever known. In her own words she's 'a very punny person'. Her Facebook picture was this for a while - it really made me laugh.
This image can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cole007/3489041070/in/pool-1017996@N25/ along with some other very amusing variations. Her posts consist of witty observations about current events (in her life and on the news) and links to expand on them (she's also a technophile). 2. Communication - this is where my ideas have changed the most. I don't have to write anything deep and meaningful every time I post something. The way I now use Facebook is to keep in touch with family and friends (mainly abroad). The medium is more like to face to face conversations than written ones and one word answers are sometimes quite sufficient. If I meet someone for coffee or ring my mum, our conversations are often not particularly deep and many comments are what I would previously have considered inane written down on a social networking site. eg: 'there's not much happening'. I now have no qualms at all about posting status updates saying things like ' it's a beautiful day..'. I particularly like the 'like' button, it's the equivalent of an amused 'hmhm' in a verbal conversation and I think a valid form of communication/connection, these types of comments are often the oil on the wheels of social relationships and connections. In fact, communication on social networking sites is often more creative than verbal and written communication. I can post a picture that perfectly expresses how I feel about something. Or a video from Youtube of a shared memory to connect with someone. This program was my brother's favourite T.V. show when he was 5. I only have to hum the tune to make him smile. I can post this to him and it says volumes. 3. Friends - I am actually very specific about who I am friends with on Facebook. As said above, I use it for family and friends whom I don't actually see very often and this form of communication lets me keep closer to them and more frequently than email, letters and phone calls. However, looking at the number of friends other people have it looks like I'm in the minority in more ways than one. Most people have friends numbered in the 100's. I don't think I could keep up with that. So, clearly other people use social networking sites either a) more extensively than me and/or b) in a more casual way and are linked to more people. As a generalisation, it seems that younger people (under 25) have a lot more 'friends' than those of us who are not that young any more. I am watching this with interest as I think it has interesting implications for the social dynamics of society. 4. Ads - I have quite a lot to say about the ads and links to ads but I will keep it to: I don't think they add much to the experience. Would I use social networking sites in an educational setting? If so, then how? I think the biggest barrier to using them in an educational setting is the terms and conditions of use. For example, Facebook does not permit anyone under 13 years of age to join (i.e. anyone who is truthful). This effectively rules out most of the Primary School years and I also think it's inappropriate for teachers to be friends with their students. (There are lots of educational applications otherwise, opportunities for social learning, data gathering, technology applications etc). However, there is also a need for primary school students to be educated about how to use social networking sites along with general internet use, particularly in the realm of cybersafety (in all it's forms) and critical literacy. In this respect social networking sites are no different from some of the other tools we've looked at. |
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Information Literacy
The following is part of a reflection I did on a lesson last year. I played the video to some year 1's as part of a motivation for a cooking lesson - 'where does pasta come from?', most of them had an idea but there was a range of answers. After viewing the video, all but one child (and he wasn't too sure) agreed that pasta grew on trees - even the ones who had actually made pasta previously using flour and eggs! I actually found this a very powerful lesson for me that we need to be extremely careful about what information we present to students - that they trust us a sources of information and that students need to learn to be critical very early on. The lesson did have a happy ending - we used it as an example of how students need to trust their own knowledge, to be critical of information and to check other sources for verification. It was also very motivating - it generated lots of questions and inquiry - I've never seen year 1's so interested in cooking pasta!
Monday 11 April 2011
Instant Messaging
I thought I'd have a little experimentation with this before I blogged about it. So, I'm on Facebook and I saw that my friend who lives in the USA was online. I quickly flicked her an instant message and this is how the conversation goes:
Me: Hey, Adda, How's it going?
Adda: Are you at home?
Me: Yep, just got in from a girls night out
Adda: Get the phone ready, I'm going to call you
Me: ready
End of IM conversation
Start of 'phone conversation.
So, how do I judge the success of my IM? I suppose it shows me a couple of things; first of all, the purpose of my IM and the medium I chose to access the IM through is primarily social, and I got in touch with my friend - so yes successful. Secondly, communication needs - there is a lot of information gained by facial cues, tone of voice, pacing of speech, incidental speech noises etc that get lost through IM so straightforward IM seems to be at a disadvantage for social conversations - therefore not so successful.
I also had a quick check with some young people I know (and I know that makes me sound absolutely ancient, but I wanted to check whether IM use was a generational thing). A few years ago msn was the bane of my life, particularly with teenage daughters in the house, however I suddenly realised I never hear about msn any more. Asking them about it, the answer was 'Nah, it's more of a younger persons thing, I use Facebook chat', so I asked an even younger person and that answer was 'Nah, prefer to skype or facetime'. So, msn was out, but other forms of IM were very much in use. Further questioning revealed some interesting things about the way IM is used between my family and their friends (some of those things are synthesised below).
Now, I know my sample size isn't exactly massive but IM seems to be evolving into something a bit richer, with the advent of technology to allow visual interaction as well. How do I then apply some of my findings to it's use in education settings? I've had some initial thoughts:
1. It's useful for quick questions and information between students and teachers (but only if you have the technology to back it up). It needs planning, the teacher has to inform students when they'll be online, and students have to take that into account, particularly if doing homework.
1b. Therefore, it's useful for teachers to assess the effectiveness of their instructions/teaching - if everyone needs the same help/clarification then that could be an area for change or further teaching.
2. It also needs a specific purpose, so probably good for remote learning with the teacher in the background to assist and clarify with online units (again planning and co-ordination considerations apply).
Looking at the post Rom made about technology for teachers, I suspect that is a place where IM could evolve in education, particularly in relation to remote teaching and learning.
3. Between students for questions, clarification and co-operative learning.
I think I may have overlooked this third application of IM in education before speaking to people who are using it, it seems to be more common than I realised.
So, sadly my age was showing in my use (or lack of) and my assumptions about IM. My family use it extensively for educational purposes between themselves and their peers - and value it's use.
Me: Hey, Adda, How's it going?
Adda: Are you at home?
Me: Yep, just got in from a girls night out
Adda: Get the phone ready, I'm going to call you
Me: ready
End of IM conversation
Start of 'phone conversation.
So, how do I judge the success of my IM? I suppose it shows me a couple of things; first of all, the purpose of my IM and the medium I chose to access the IM through is primarily social, and I got in touch with my friend - so yes successful. Secondly, communication needs - there is a lot of information gained by facial cues, tone of voice, pacing of speech, incidental speech noises etc that get lost through IM so straightforward IM seems to be at a disadvantage for social conversations - therefore not so successful.
I also had a quick check with some young people I know (and I know that makes me sound absolutely ancient, but I wanted to check whether IM use was a generational thing). A few years ago msn was the bane of my life, particularly with teenage daughters in the house, however I suddenly realised I never hear about msn any more. Asking them about it, the answer was 'Nah, it's more of a younger persons thing, I use Facebook chat', so I asked an even younger person and that answer was 'Nah, prefer to skype or facetime'. So, msn was out, but other forms of IM were very much in use. Further questioning revealed some interesting things about the way IM is used between my family and their friends (some of those things are synthesised below).
Now, I know my sample size isn't exactly massive but IM seems to be evolving into something a bit richer, with the advent of technology to allow visual interaction as well. How do I then apply some of my findings to it's use in education settings? I've had some initial thoughts:
1. It's useful for quick questions and information between students and teachers (but only if you have the technology to back it up). It needs planning, the teacher has to inform students when they'll be online, and students have to take that into account, particularly if doing homework.
1b. Therefore, it's useful for teachers to assess the effectiveness of their instructions/teaching - if everyone needs the same help/clarification then that could be an area for change or further teaching.
2. It also needs a specific purpose, so probably good for remote learning with the teacher in the background to assist and clarify with online units (again planning and co-ordination considerations apply).
Looking at the post Rom made about technology for teachers, I suspect that is a place where IM could evolve in education, particularly in relation to remote teaching and learning.
3. Between students for questions, clarification and co-operative learning.
I think I may have overlooked this third application of IM in education before speaking to people who are using it, it seems to be more common than I realised.
So, sadly my age was showing in my use (or lack of) and my assumptions about IM. My family use it extensively for educational purposes between themselves and their peers - and value it's use.
Saturday 9 April 2011
Weird
I've signed up for the twitter thing and that's been going ok, just learning how to use it, navigate through the system, trying to filter (information overload at the moment) etc. BUT - I've gained a follower! Now, I think that's a little odd - I've only been on a few days, I've not tweeted at all, I don't even live in the same continent as my follower - there's nothing to follow - I feel stalked.
Thursday 7 April 2011
Microblogging
This could be the answer for everyone who doesn't have time for macroblogging (is that the right term - spell check doesn't like it, pah, it makes sense to me so I'm using it). Most of my 'prior conceptions' about microblogging (oh, spell check doesn't like microblogging either - I feel vindicated) has been formed by various media reports of which celebrity is saying what. So I've had the impression it's a bit pointless and inane - this has been backed up (in a very social constructivist manner) by the opinions of my family and peers. However, I've signed up to twitter (and this really went against the grain) and I've followed some of the links - wow! Lo and behold I found some stuff I really liked and was interested in (conceptual change in action). I particularly liked an article in the Huffington Post about 'Innovation' in schools, it reminded me of Trudy's capstone talk about the importance of creativity in education and all the stuff we did last year about 'teaching to the test'.
Now, it's taken me a whole paragraph and I'm not telling you how long, but more than half an hour, to say all that and Sir Ken Robinson did it in 2 (rather short) sentences on twitter - he's obviously a lot busier than I am (and more techno-savvy)....
P.S. I had lots of fun learning how to add hyperlinks
Now, it's taken me a whole paragraph and I'm not telling you how long, but more than half an hour, to say all that and Sir Ken Robinson did it in 2 (rather short) sentences on twitter - he's obviously a lot busier than I am (and more techno-savvy)....
P.S. I had lots of fun learning how to add hyperlinks
Saturday 2 April 2011
Back to Blogs
I'm enjoying reading other people's blogs and learning their ideas. An extension of Madison and Lexie's comments about big brother (don't want to scare you any more girls, but..). These blogs are a useful way to monitor people's thinking and thought processes, so for teachers in a classroom situation you can use them for assessment.
Most of us seem to be leaning towards social constructivism as an effective teaching and learning theory. If I connect that with the video by Sir Ken Robinson we saw in Aboriginal Education about changing the paradigm of education - the old system was set up several hundred years ago to prepare people to work in an industrialised society and was based on transmitting knowledge that people needed to know to function in that society. Since then, the nature of society has changed and the collective knowledge of the world has increased exponentially. The primary school curriculum is looking pretty crowded to me these days and the focus in teaching seems to be shifting towards stimulating and getting students to reach their potential - teaching students how to think and not in a big brother way, more how to process, connect and use information - to develop critical literacy in all the subjects.
(I know you can get the video from webct but I really liked it and I wanted to try embedding so here it is:)
Therefore, I can see how blogs can be a useful tool for assessing how our students are thinking, processing, connecting and using our lessons (and whether we are stimulating them to reach their full potential).
Blogs are also an example of collaborative learning, I've learnt tons from other people's blogs. I can see an application of this in the classroom - by students following each other's blogs they can learn from each other. This doesn't have to be just from the student's in your own class either, you can collaborate with another class anywhere in the world to get a different perspective.
Most of us seem to be leaning towards social constructivism as an effective teaching and learning theory. If I connect that with the video by Sir Ken Robinson we saw in Aboriginal Education about changing the paradigm of education - the old system was set up several hundred years ago to prepare people to work in an industrialised society and was based on transmitting knowledge that people needed to know to function in that society. Since then, the nature of society has changed and the collective knowledge of the world has increased exponentially. The primary school curriculum is looking pretty crowded to me these days and the focus in teaching seems to be shifting towards stimulating and getting students to reach their potential - teaching students how to think and not in a big brother way, more how to process, connect and use information - to develop critical literacy in all the subjects.
(I know you can get the video from webct but I really liked it and I wanted to try embedding so here it is:)
Therefore, I can see how blogs can be a useful tool for assessing how our students are thinking, processing, connecting and using our lessons (and whether we are stimulating them to reach their full potential).
Blogs are also an example of collaborative learning, I've learnt tons from other people's blogs. I can see an application of this in the classroom - by students following each other's blogs they can learn from each other. This doesn't have to be just from the student's in your own class either, you can collaborate with another class anywhere in the world to get a different perspective.
Collective intelligence
I'm having a little trouble accepting the term "Collective Intelligence" as applied to wiki's being examples of them. It's not altogether clear to me whether the term is being applied to the process or the product. Groups and teams working together may have a collective intelligence and what they produce is a result of that collective intelligence. Therefore, wiki's such as wikipedia are examples of products of collective intelligence, not intelligences in themselves.
Similarly with the 'voting' system used by Google, it seems to me that the resulting ranks are products not processes and as such are examples of 'the wisdom of crowds' but are not actually wisdom itself. One could argue that the construct of the voting system negates the collective intelligence of it's users as it's structure is rigid - one vote from a popular website inflates the importance of a secondary site and there is no evaluation process to determine whether the 'vote' was worthwhile or not.
So, thinking about all this in relation to collective intelligences in education.....as collaborative tools they have enormous potential and fit in beautifully with social constructivist theories of learning. The example Mark showed us in class where the students essentially built up a textbook was amazing. On a small scale, the collective intelligence of a group of students to build a class wiki has many of the same social constructivist advantages as a group of students doing any group piece of work, plus the advantages associated with using ICT in the classroom - for example, students always seem very motivated and engaged by computer work. It also has some of the same disadvantages - domination by the strongest member, access to computers, both at school and in the home. One of the biggest advantages and disadvantages is the skill of the teacher using it as a tool, the type of task set up, the time allocated, the way the groups are organised etc.
On a larger scale, it allows for global participation - a massive extension of 'pen pals' and of course the use of collective intelligence products such as wikipedia are already widely used as a starting point for many education projects.
Similarly with the 'voting' system used by Google, it seems to me that the resulting ranks are products not processes and as such are examples of 'the wisdom of crowds' but are not actually wisdom itself. One could argue that the construct of the voting system negates the collective intelligence of it's users as it's structure is rigid - one vote from a popular website inflates the importance of a secondary site and there is no evaluation process to determine whether the 'vote' was worthwhile or not.
So, thinking about all this in relation to collective intelligences in education.....as collaborative tools they have enormous potential and fit in beautifully with social constructivist theories of learning. The example Mark showed us in class where the students essentially built up a textbook was amazing. On a small scale, the collective intelligence of a group of students to build a class wiki has many of the same social constructivist advantages as a group of students doing any group piece of work, plus the advantages associated with using ICT in the classroom - for example, students always seem very motivated and engaged by computer work. It also has some of the same disadvantages - domination by the strongest member, access to computers, both at school and in the home. One of the biggest advantages and disadvantages is the skill of the teacher using it as a tool, the type of task set up, the time allocated, the way the groups are organised etc.
On a larger scale, it allows for global participation - a massive extension of 'pen pals' and of course the use of collective intelligence products such as wikipedia are already widely used as a starting point for many education projects.
Monday 21 March 2011
Blogs in Education
My initial use of this blog is making me think very carefully about what I say. Would younger students be so reticent? Perhaps I could use it to encourage students to think reflectively or from a literacy viewpoint to be careful about their grammar use - this seems very boring and not exactly innovative! Maybe a class newsblog as opposed to a traditional newsletter to encourage writing skills and literacy....I shall continue to ponder on this....
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