It is very interesting to be involved in such a time of upheaval in education. To witness the growing dependancy on the temperamental and unreliable world of online technology... To have access to the rapidly changing and growing world of online tools, and have ideas and resournces literally at your finger tips.
It is interesting, and scary and exciting the way our world is changing.
Do we have enough room in our classrooms and our timetables to fit in all this...?
I can see immense value in some of the many tools we have encountered during the Web 2 course. I have utelised and will continue to use Facebook, Cloud computing, Blogs and many of the other tools that this course has opened up. But I do see the value in ensuring that students do not become overly dependant on technology and forget the use of pen and paper and their own learning and imagination in favour of someone elses ideas. Plagiarism in the classroom is increasingly becoming the staple of some of our students.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Module 10
On the Ning Nang Nong.... hmmm... memories of year 5 poetry come flooding back.
Okay. Nings and Wikis
Watched the Wiki video and could not help but think..'Right, very useful if planning a camping trip... but teaching English and History????' Maybe I could use it for students recording notes for lectures.. but beyond that...
Nings looked to have potential. I did enjoy visiting the English Companion Ning... I even joined up. It looks to be an interesting collegial site with hopefully useful opportunities to network and share ideas. This one I will persist with... wonder if there is a comparable Ning for Ancient History...?
How can Web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?
For all students? I am not 100% convinced that it can improve outcomes.
For many students, particularly those who are inspired by electronic resources, definately there is a lot online to be inspired by. I am looking forward to incorporating elements of my Web 2 course in both class lessons and in assessment tasks, particularly with seniors.
Okay. Nings and Wikis
Watched the Wiki video and could not help but think..'Right, very useful if planning a camping trip... but teaching English and History????' Maybe I could use it for students recording notes for lectures.. but beyond that...
Nings looked to have potential. I did enjoy visiting the English Companion Ning... I even joined up. It looks to be an interesting collegial site with hopefully useful opportunities to network and share ideas. This one I will persist with... wonder if there is a comparable Ning for Ancient History...?
How can Web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?
For all students? I am not 100% convinced that it can improve outcomes.
For many students, particularly those who are inspired by electronic resources, definately there is a lot online to be inspired by. I am looking forward to incorporating elements of my Web 2 course in both class lessons and in assessment tasks, particularly with seniors.
Module 9
To quote the Aussie artist Vanessa Amorossi
"Things get cut and blocked out
But better things that really matter that get left out
Oh such an addiction running through my head
Always got to find myself some new best friends
I’m giving you my name just write it down
Or we can take a pretty picture of me now
I think you’d be surprised at all my friends
And all the videos of me cause I like to dance
Rumours written on your page
Facebook pictures that you hate
Misconception of your words
Good is bad haven’t you heard
It’s just gossip
Ye ye ye ye
It’s just gossip"
I love this song and wonder if kids actually listen to the message when they sing along.
I truly see twitter as a waste of space and a danger for kids.
I also see the danger in facebook...
That said used correctly these can be valuable tools as well. I keep all my business dealings on facebook, and have found fewer and fewer people are updating business websites and do more of their communicating on facebook. It is quick and easy to see what your 'friends' are doing.
I also found a use for it with the year 12's who had finished their year at school but were still revising for the HSC and not checking their school email. I simply created a revision page and sent them links. They were able to visit and complete daily activites, ask questions and share ideas...
here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ms-Marsays-Ancient-History-Page/214126051983185
"Things get cut and blocked out
But better things that really matter that get left out
Oh such an addiction running through my head
Always got to find myself some new best friends
I’m giving you my name just write it down
Or we can take a pretty picture of me now
I think you’d be surprised at all my friends
And all the videos of me cause I like to dance
Rumours written on your page
Facebook pictures that you hate
Misconception of your words
Good is bad haven’t you heard
It’s just gossip
Ye ye ye ye
It’s just gossip"
I love this song and wonder if kids actually listen to the message when they sing along.
I truly see twitter as a waste of space and a danger for kids.
I also see the danger in facebook...
That said used correctly these can be valuable tools as well. I keep all my business dealings on facebook, and have found fewer and fewer people are updating business websites and do more of their communicating on facebook. It is quick and easy to see what your 'friends' are doing.
I also found a use for it with the year 12's who had finished their year at school but were still revising for the HSC and not checking their school email. I simply created a revision page and sent them links. They were able to visit and complete daily activites, ask questions and share ideas...
here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ms-Marsays-Ancient-History-Page/214126051983185
Module 8
I am afraid I have to be negative about this..
The warning on the demo video "It's addictive so be careful" says it well.
Suposedly a 'time saver' these functions RSS and Google Reader will end up wasting too much of my precious time. Being a teacher, having a family and running a home business mean I have very little time and I will not use that to subscribe to having myself flooded with information I did not ask for.
I am going to stick to the 'Old Way' thankyou very much
The warning on the demo video "It's addictive so be careful" says it well.
Suposedly a 'time saver' these functions RSS and Google Reader will end up wasting too much of my precious time. Being a teacher, having a family and running a home business mean I have very little time and I will not use that to subscribe to having myself flooded with information I did not ask for.
I am going to stick to the 'Old Way' thankyou very much
Module 7
Social networking.... so not what I thought it was...
I really like the idea of delicious... I often find things working on my home computer which I save as bookmarks, but when I do the same search at school, cannot find them. This will be very useful at making sure I do not lose sites between computers.
Still... I do not really use the social networking function associated, for the most part I really don't care about what other people do. Nor am I a 'web stalker'... that follows other people.
I really like the idea of delicious... I often find things working on my home computer which I save as bookmarks, but when I do the same search at school, cannot find them. This will be very useful at making sure I do not lose sites between computers.
Still... I do not really use the social networking function associated, for the most part I really don't care about what other people do. Nor am I a 'web stalker'... that follows other people.
Module 6
Well... this one is right up my alley, having actually found flickr before this course.
Being an Ancient History teacher and living so far from 99% of the sites we study this is one I have come to rely on for images of ancient sites, like photographic tours of Pompeii and Herculaneum... not to mention all the other sites we study.
I also use flickr in English to find images to prompt writing sessions.
On issues of copywrite... I recently had students create websites about characters they admire and one page needed to be of photos. Because they obtain so many images for google students were required to cite the address of the site from which they obtained the images underneath, as well as credit the photographer if they could find the details.... I wish I had considered sending them to flickr for that too..
Being an Ancient History teacher and living so far from 99% of the sites we study this is one I have come to rely on for images of ancient sites, like photographic tours of Pompeii and Herculaneum... not to mention all the other sites we study.
I also use flickr in English to find images to prompt writing sessions.
On issues of copywrite... I recently had students create websites about characters they admire and one page needed to be of photos. Because they obtain so many images for google students were required to cite the address of the site from which they obtained the images underneath, as well as credit the photographer if they could find the details.... I wish I had considered sending them to flickr for that too..
I am so proud of me...
I am actually using this stuff in assessments.
I have incorporated blogs and podcasts into one of the senior assessments for next year as a trial... will see how we all go??
I have incorporated blogs and podcasts into one of the senior assessments for next year as a trial... will see how we all go??
Module 5
Moving on... finally...
Some interesting functions explored in module 5... the standout being the bubbl.us function.
I can really seeing this being a good visual tool for initial brainstorming in new units, but can also see its use when it comes to encouraging students at senior level to brainstorm over thei assessment topics.
Prezzi is another issue... I spent several hours futilely attempting to utelise this tool. It looked so much fun and so much more interesting than powerpoint.... it looked.... in reality it took far too much time for basic use, time I do not have to prepare for a very simple presentation, so my students will have to continue to suffer Powerpoint.
Interestingly I did encourage my seniors to utelise this function when doing their recent tutorials, thinking most would be able to do better than I can... after all aren't they the internet generation???? NO WAY.
We only got one of 7 groups present using Prezzi, the rest gave up when the function lost their work or failed to load or save... so for now I am staying clear.
Some interesting functions explored in module 5... the standout being the bubbl.us function.
I can really seeing this being a good visual tool for initial brainstorming in new units, but can also see its use when it comes to encouraging students at senior level to brainstorm over thei assessment topics.
Prezzi is another issue... I spent several hours futilely attempting to utelise this tool. It looked so much fun and so much more interesting than powerpoint.... it looked.... in reality it took far too much time for basic use, time I do not have to prepare for a very simple presentation, so my students will have to continue to suffer Powerpoint.
Interestingly I did encourage my seniors to utelise this function when doing their recent tutorials, thinking most would be able to do better than I can... after all aren't they the internet generation???? NO WAY.
We only got one of 7 groups present using Prezzi, the rest gave up when the function lost their work or failed to load or save... so for now I am staying clear.
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