Reflection

I have never had such a relationship before with my computer. I go to bed with it every night and wake up to it ever morning. Who needs a partner anymore when you can spend so much time with your computer. Seriously though although I have reached my frustration levels many times during the experience.

I have enjoyed this learning journey. The use of a blog to record this journey has been rewarding. I look back over what I have done and feel I have accomplished so much in a relative short time.

I will use and share what I have learnt. I have already used one of my new found skills. I used Flicker as a slide show for children to use as stimulus while making clay insects. During this time children would stop and watch the screen making comments and conversations with peers on what they were seeing. One child yelled at me “Troy blue nama (ant)”. They were able to make connections with the images and their world. This experience was an “active learning experience” the input they are hearing and using language such as body parts, six legs, antenna. They are feeling the clay and seeing the photographs. The process involves making an insect and communicating with peers. The output is the final product should display some of the elements of an insect such as three body parts or six legs.

I used Voki as a whole class experience where children were chosen to work on the Interactive White Board (IWB) to create an avatar. Children sat eyes glued to the IWB. They assisted each other to create sentences which were typed by myself. Further lessons will have the children attempting to type and/or record their sentence.

I am planning on using VoiceThread to have the students record the stories of Elders this would be the ultimate direct meaningful experience. Family is so important to these students and so are their stories. For them to be able to capture this in a way that is not hinged on the ability to use and understand English makes the task even more meaningful.

During this assignment I visited the sites of many of my peer’s blogs. I posted comments on a few after discovering that I had to download Mozilla Firefox to be able to comment on peers blogs.


Reference:
Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence, (2000), viewed 23rd of August 2009, from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/howdoes.htm

EPortfolio

Wow what an awsome way to show off your credentials. No longer do you need to update the paper portfolio you can sell yourself in a new and exciting way. I have only just touched the surface as I explored the site but I can see that I will be spending a lot of time adding to it. One of the major advantages I can see is that you can access this anywhere and at any time. It also provides the perfect tool to apply for jobs with. How much would it make you stand out from others.

As for use in the classroom. It would be useful in a mainstream senior class for a resume builder. Anyone got any ideas for its use with Indegenous ESL students?

VoiceThread

VoiceThread allows you to upload photos, documents or video and comment in 5 different ways. I used it to upload photos of some of my favourite sports and commented on what I do in these areas. The photos were easily uploaded and I used the computers inbuilt microphone to record my comments.

VoiceThread would be the ultimate way for children to record their stories and that of their Elders. Photographs of the past and now could be used to tell dreaming stories, talk about country and teach traditional methods of doing things. This could all be done in first language (Warlpiri).

Reference:
http://voicethread.com/#home
http://voicethread.com/about/

File Storage

Media fire enables you to store, share and file files. It allows you to access files from any computer anywhere. Files can either be accessed only by the person who uploaded it or can be shared publicly.

In a school environment this site would be useful as it also means that large files such as pictures can be stored in Media Fire instead of on the schools limited storage space. Another use is for teachers to easily share resources.

At a class level it would be useful to store items for children to have access to in an ideal environment this would be both at home and school. It would allow students to collaborate on group projects.

These are a collection of my favourite personal photos
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=0d4fa8f07097663fe7ba8e3c6e11ce20e04e75f6e8ebb871

WebQuest

WebQuest is "A well-designed WebQuest combines research-supported theories with effective use of the Internet to promote dependable instructional practices" (March, 2003)

At first glance I was unsure as exactly what a WebQuest was. After reading through and examining the examples it became clearer to me what a WebQuest is. It is a scaffolded research tool that gives the participants the chance to answer open entered questions.

I searched the bestwebquests site for ideas of how I could use this sight with ESL children I found the chocolate cookie example which is more at the level of students at my local school. I imagine the time taken to create a WebQuest would be huge. To warrant this effort this would have to be a long ongoing experience for the students. One advantage I can see would be that for those children who attend irregularly they could just pickup where they left off.

References:
http://collier.k12.fl.us/weblessons/cookiewq/index.htm
http://tommarch.com/writings/wq_power.php

You Tube

"YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos, and view them in MPEG-4 format." The site is easy to navigate however the sheer volume of videos on each topic can be overwhelming. To find the exact video to suit you needs can be time consuming. I try to view ones that have been viewed the most and have high star ratings. I also use the function that provides related videos.



As I have previously stated not all students at my local school would have seen the ocean. You tube opens a whole new under water world. Attached is one clip that I will be showing the year 4/5 class.



The use of this site would be fantastic in any classroom. Children would have access to videos from and about the whole world. This site is blocked across NT schools as a sensory measure. The potential to view inappropriate videos is their however isn't it our job as educators to give students the skills required to function in the real world and make judgment calls for themselves?


Reference

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SKPB_enAU312AU312&defl=en&q=define:YouTube&ei=HquLSr78LJLatgOivJW4CQ&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

http://www.youtube.com/

ClassMarker

ClassMarker is an online testing service that allows you to enter questions for an online test.There are a variety of options when making the test. It caters for questions that are true false answer through to essay answers. It allows the test writer to make comments based on a correct or incorrect answer. I will be using the attached quiz to test prior to the commencment of my unit and at the end so the results will tell me what my students have learnt.

http://www.classmarker.com/embedded_quizzes/?quiz=24e62e070096a02503c04175d5d017c4