Reflections

<rant> To start on a negative regarding the iLE@RN video, I absolutely disagree that the ‘e’ in elearning comes from anything other than electronic.  We can wax lyrical all we like about the changes in learning, but it is this information age that has facilitated this change.  I don’t believe the term elearning can transcend it’s origins. 

“Computers are not the focus”.  Isn’t that contrary to the content of the course . . . the whole course is about new technology.  Absolutely, elearning is engaging and evolving, and it is about embracing and enthusiasm.  What is engaging though?  What is there to embrace?  It’s the new tools driven by the technology!!!!  Electronic tools.  Later the video goes on to say a key to the model is the ability to access information anywhere, anytime.  How?  With the use of technology!

I should temper my rage, as I do understand the next point.  The focus should be the “learning” and technology merely the tool used to achieve this goal.  I absolutely agree with this statement.  But as the major point of differentiation between these new learning practices and past learning practices is the incorporation of technology, technology is clearly the catalyst for the change in practice otherwise it would just be called ‘learning’ and not ‘elearning’!   The focus, in all truthfulness, is learning how technology can enrich the teaching and learning environment for both teachers and students. </rant>

Having gotten my negative out of the way, I should state I find the iLE@RN  model to be sound, and I particularly agree with the idea that “I” am in charge of my learning.

I found the digital adaption to Blooms Taxonomy to be very helpful.  In terms of programming, the taxonomy could be used to place useful tools and Web 2.0 activities with the correct content.  It’s quite easy to see from a programme if a task calls for evaluation or creating, and so using such a taxonomy would enable the programmer to include specific examples for ICT integration.  Much better than doing an activity just to tick the ICT box!

Overall, I found the process interesting and motivating.  All these tools are at my fingertips, and whilst I’m making use of some, I really am missing out if I’m not making the most of many others.  I aim to be more active with my Delicious network and to try out a Ning for an extended period of time.  Scootle should hopefully worm its way into my lessons this term.  Also, Bubbl.us will definitely be my first port of call for my next mind map.

Even some of the tools I (at first blush) discounted turned out to have some potential when considering the ideas of other bloggers.  For instance, Jay’s Module 6 Blog (which I commented on) regarding the use of Glogster.

This isn’t really the end of the Web 2.0 process, just the end of mandatory posting.  The really challenging bit of the course is keeping all the positive aspects going when no one is monitoring.  Hopefully I can meet that challenge.

What role do you see for using Web 2.0 tools in your own life as a learner and a member of online communities?

I already consider myself a fairly keen user of some aspects of Web 2.0 but it never hurts to refresh, keep up to date, or think about new approaches.  Personally, I love new technology, and this holds me in good stead for relating to students.  One student said in an email to me, “I’m asking this to you sir because you seem pretty up to date with computers”.  This is the kind of impression I wish to create as an educator technology-wise.  I don’t know everything, but I’ll try pretty much anything and experimentation with new methods doesn’t bother me (if, and when, it fails).  I can’t imagine my use of Web 2.0 technology would do anything other than expand and grow, I just need to get into the habit of trying new things.  Quite a challenge at times!!

Nings: I have not come across Nings before, and so was surprised to discover that they are, in essence, customised social networks.  This is a fabulous idea!  It takes the advantages of tools like Facebook, Wikis, Delicious, etc, and allows network members to share and embrace these aspects of Web 2.0 together.

Obviously privacy issues arise when using Nings in a classroom setting, and these would have to be dealt with, but as a tool used purely for professional development or enrichment I think the benefits are clear.

Wikis: Wikis are an excellent collaborative tool, and prior to this course commencing I was already planning to create a Wiki in my Year 12 Mathematics Advanced class for questions and answers for revision purposes that anyone can post to.

<soapbox> One thing I don’t understand regarding  the education sector’s perception of wikis is the general dislike of Wikipedia as an information source.  Yes, anyone can edit the information, but the vast majority of material is excellent, its almost an encyclopaedia organism. It branches out and grows so rapidly.  Yes, it is true students may have to cross check what they find on Wikipedia with other reputable sources, but don’t discount this resource.  The time of heavy bound volumes of Encyclopaedia Brittanica (though they do look magnificent) is long gone.  Embrace it, don’t erase it!! </soapbox>

This photo has been altered under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence from the original posted by orangejack and available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangejack/531760448/sizes/m/

Ben’s efforts in promoting Scootle have meant that I have encountered this resource before, and whilst I have not yet integrated it into my lessons, I have been planning to do so.  Term 3 is the time!

The familiarity of many students with social networking sites does offer some potential for use in an educational context.  I might address each of those we explored separately:

Second Life:  I think largely in my subject areas an integration of Second Life would be largely tokenistic or forced.  The only one area I could think of as relevant is using the Second Life community as a microcosm for society and then perhaps working out a legal system for the Second Life community.  This tangential application probably requires a reasonably in-depth knowledge/exploration of Second Life and the time required would probably make such an idea prohibitive on the weight of syllabus material to cover.

Facebook: Whilst, the dangers of Facebook are apparent there can be a wealth of useful information on the network.  In Legal Studies I directed the students to look at a page on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Customary Law.  The page contains excellent links to recent articles concerning customary law.  These sorts of resources I think are where Facebook may prove useful in an educational setting.

Twitter: I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of the tweeting phenomenon.  The concept I believe was created more as a professional tool to comment on more meaningful things, but I would be surprised if Billy’s breakfast being cold really is going to be useful in the classroom.  As with Facebook, there are undoubtedly going to be some serious, well-meaning groups not full of frivolous information which could be useful.  I may explore these some time in the future.

This is the module I have been most interested in, because although I’ve always thought RSS feeds could be useful I have never been motivated to go and explore them until now. 

The idea feels a little like iGoogle but for predominantly text-based content.  That is, all your regularly visited news/information sites in one easy to digest gulp!

I think the most difficult thing about using a reader to check your news is breaking the habit of flicking through favourites and just logging in to the one service.  I know myself I have a particular order in which I check my regular websites.  It is almost like a computer ritual, as soon as Windows finishes logging on, I go through my process.  Change is difficult, but I perhaps it’s for the better, I feel I should persevere. 

I believe if I were to incorporate this into my ICT use, it would be to try and get feeds from websites that give me syllabus relevant content, that I would usually use a search engine to find. Using the idea of letting the material come to me, staying up to date may become less labour intensive.

I was actually a fledgling Delicious user prior to beginning the course, as one my ICT integrator friends told me about it and encouraged me to use it.  At its very simplest level I find the idea of having portable bookmarks incredibly useful, it is much easier than having a word document saved with a series of links on a USB drive or some other similar setup to achieve the same result. 

However, the social side of ‘social bookmarking’ is the part where the greatest potential lies.  The ability to share these links with known collaborators allows you to build an enormous number of resources simply by adding like-minded educators to your network.

I find the Delicious tagging system to be very convenient when the browser plugin is installed.  This is one of the strengths of the Delicious tool.  If bookmarking to Delicious is no more difficult than bookmarking to your own favourites list, then the social bookmarking tool is much more likely to be used.

I am also planning to try out Google Bookmarks, which is part of Google’s quest for world domination . . . err, I mean, part of their commitment to providing a total package within one Google account.  Seeing the enormous number of logins to various Web 2.0 sites we have required, I can see the attraction of using one existing Google account to replace having to access many of these functions.

On a little side note, despite Google’s self professed slogan of “Don’t be evil” I am reminded of a quote from a cartoon I used to watch as a teenager, Pinky and the Brain (about a megalomaniac mouse and his sidekick). 

Pinky: Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight? 
The Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world.

Below is my first attempt at a bubbl.us mindmap. I found it very easy and quick to use, simple to export to jpeg and therefore quite a useful tool. I quite often use mind maps with classes when first introducing a topic, for instance, with Year 7 Religion when thinking about the different aspects of prayer. This is a tool I could quite happily integrate into my lessons.

Glogster I found to be quite an impressive tool though I mainly would see uses for it amongst the younger years.  For instance, my ComicLife (a program well worth checking out) Edmund Rice Comic Strip for Year 7 could be altered to an Edmund Rice Glog quite easily.  I was interested to see if the maths teachers thought of any potential uses for Glogster, so I checked out their blogs.  The consensus seems to be that it would have a limited usefulness, except perhaps with the younger students.  I commented on Jay’s blog, as he produced a nice trigonometric curves glog, but the question remains as to whether the product is worth the input.

Just below Module 1 in my blog is a very poor and short attempt at a Vlog I did in 2008 as my first experiment.  As I mentioned there was a syncing problem that appeared somewhere between recording and publishing the Vlog, but I think the idea is clear enough. The vlog refers to a digital storytelling experience my students had whilst I was on Practicum in 2008.  They were required to record footage and stitch a video together using software to achieve a goal. (The subject was Year 9 IST).  I would use Vodcasting or Podcasting again in a classroom if and appropriate situation arose.

I have been tossing around for some time the idea of creating some short Vodcasts which would record the process for solving some routine Mathematical problems.  It might be a project for next holidays!!

As for YouTube, I have used this resource frequently, and the students will almost always watch a YouTube clip no matter the topic.  The length of the clips is often ideal.  TeacherTube is a related concept with more of an educational focus, and as the material on that site grows, I’d expect to be using that more frequently that I do currently.

Below I’ve embedded a YouTub clip similar in content to those presented in Module 1.  Some of the statistics are astounding!!

NB: After about 300 tries at embedding I realised Edublogs has gone very corporate and restricted the ability of free bloggers to embed these types of videos, so we might have to make do with a link instead. I think edublogs might just lose my patronage once I’ve completed the course reflection . . .

Flickr is not a resource I would envisage using greatly with my classes unless I was looking for images I may incorporate into my lessons.  However, having some experience with Creative Commons material on Flickr (earlier in my blog there are quite a few CC images to which only an attribution licence attaches).  It could provide me with some material to discuss copyright and plagiarism with my students.

Things like study skills, “All my own work” and referencing lessons have or should be getting through to the students that passing off another’s work as your own is academic misconduct.  Perhaps to some the idea of just copying and pasting images would clearly fall under these principles, but to others the connection may not be so obvious.

I can see the potential for Flickr use in Visual Arts, Construction, LOTE, etc, but within Mathematics and Legal Studies the use would most likely be incidental at best.

Below is a travel photo I took in Positano that I uploaded to Flickr.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, the existence of this blog is evidence of my prior involvement in using blogs in a learning environment.  I think from that previous experience I would first like to comment on the difficulties in their use.

• Requiring students to blog should not be accompanied by any expectation on the teacher’s part that the use of the medium alone will be a motivating factor.  A topic is not suddenly interesting because of the fact that your feelings about it will be publicly viewable.  In many circumstances, the blogging should be accompanied by an expectation that there will be some interaction between the student’s blog postings and those of other students to allow for the cross-fertilisation of ideas and the development of a deeper understanding.
• Students should feel free to give their true feelings on a topic, but obviously some moderation is required.  You don’t want a series of posts to just be a whinge-fest, but at the same time there is little value in a blind approval of the topic or content because that is what the students think you as the teacher may want.
• The ‘undying’ nature of the “digital footprint” the students may be leaving should always be covered before commencing the blogging activity.

In terms of how I would use blogging in the classroom, I’d imagine more uses in Legal Studies than Mathematics.  Perhaps a task where students had to find online media articles on a particular legal issue, link to them in their blog and highlight the interesting points raised in the article, whilst commenting on other’s blogs also.  That way students build up a series of resources with attached analysis on a particular legal issue.

In Mathematics I could see it perhaps as a way of evaluating my teaching of a topic, by having students post on what they particularly did or did not understand in a unit of work.  The public nature of the blog may be an issue there of course, and would be something I’d need to consider prior to implementation.