ICTs and Placement - NearPod

On my first day of placement, I had to attend a staff meeting.  The purpose was to witness a presentation by my schools CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) Department on Literacy.  Their presentation was run through a class set (plus optional personal extras) of iPads using software called NearPod.

Nearpod is clever little software.  It allows for interactive presentations and collaborations.  The example I saw today started with typing a response to a question.  The teacher could select from the answers submitted and display it back across all synced devices.  The next page allowed for an image (or multiples) to be circled.  Throughout all this, the teacher's software can monitor remotely how far along each synced device is, and what answers are being submitted.  A Cloze exercise comes up, and words can be dragged into gaps.

I didn't get to play too much with this software, so I came home and had a quick look.  It works on iOS, Windows, and Android - meaning no limitations!  Being an app, as opposed to a website, it becomes more possible to restrict unwanted usage in the background - but it still needs WiFi to connect the pads for the presentation.  Sessions can also be run distance, according to the website....  Homework activities????

https://app.nearpod.com/#/presentation?pin=MOCYF

Synopsis – Week 6

Trying to pull the themes of all of the last 6 weeks (plus Easter break – but who had time to break?), we need to go back to the theories in week one, and find how it all ties in with the different types of ICT.

Going right back to week one, we have Rubenstein and his multiple intelligences – or Gardner’s theory, but Rubenstein liked it.  In 2009, Rubenstein wrote about how brains were individual, but could be prone to change by making the various regions develop and grow.  The multiple intelligences are like “multiple gears that are spread out across the brain”, that “work together through intricate networks”.

As we move through the various ICT tools, we find technology exists that can stimulate and reach various parts of the brain simultaneously.  You don’t need one tool for listening, one for spelling, one for maths – INTEGRATION becomes keys.  GIS type exercises allow study of cartography, geography, and sometimes statistical analysis.  Geocaching demonstrated a Phys.Ed style approach to geography, especially with the EarthCaches.

The Lanphier article (2014) I referenced back in blog 1 stresses this too – how a simple thing as music can cross the borders of the thinking regions – the analysis and patterns reader, the creative genius, the listen and emulate, and the physical responder – and stimulate multiple or ALL sections simultaneously! 

ICTs allow for a Cognitivist’s paradise – multiple experiences for those multiple minds.  As each part of the brain is triggered, the potential to move information from short- to long-term increases.  Throw in some Social Constructivism – sharing of experiences and ideas-, and Connectivism, - implementing 21^st century resources within the classroom – and you have the basis of an expert ICT program.

The SAMR Model is an effective way to establish the development of your ICT program (Puentedura, 2009).  As you move through the 4 levels, the ability to form these crossovers occurs.  The first stages – Substitution and Augmentation – are rather limiting in providing cross-curricular or cross-intelligence experiences.  However exposure to these helps develop comprehension skills needed for Modification and Redefinition, where we use the ICTs to improve or extend on a basic skill.  It is especially within this area, that the ability to integrate multiple strategies, styles and elements comes into play.

These multiple intelligences got tested in some of my projects over the last few weeks.  For example, http://q9708050.weebly.com/ was a Weebly website I set up to introduce people to the world of Geocaching (as ICT as it gets, perhaps?).  A very basic website, it had images and maps, news articles, and YouTube clips.  While the text was more than capable of doing the job, it was hoped that the incorporation of the extra media helped other intelligences.  Making a Podcast, video or blog gives a new motivation to a research topic.  In addition, the need to be able to represent the found information in a transformed presentation (data to speech, research to video etc.) helps to have the information unpackaged and repackaged within our heads.

For me personally, I loved playing around in the virtual museum PowerPoint displays.  Gone are the old slide shows of old that are the new presentation favourite in some higher learning classrooms.  A seamless integration of video, audio, pictures, data, and self-guided interactivity create a highly stimulating environment that is engaging and supportive.  I enjoyed my first outing (http://1drv.ms/1HdJ1QY) that I went and created a second for another subject’s assessment.  I used PowerPoint to embed a piece of sheet music with audio samples, videos, and interactive pages with quizzes and answers as a Literacy and Numeracy tool.

This, to me, sums up the vitality that is E-learning.  Gone is the need for a Physics book AND Geography book and and and….  Through the power of technology, it becomes possible to create learning activities that are MORE than just read-and-regurgitate.  By delivering the content in multiple ways, you create learning possibilities for students who might not have been reachable through the classic education paradigm.  The ability to reach and engage every student in a manner that is best suitable for him or her, we create better learners, better results, and – with hope – the ability to create lifelong learners.

Of course, we would be remiss if we didn't highlight some of the pitfalls associated with ICT.  For example, a classic occurrence on social media is the inability to completely interpret emotion behind text.  Gone are the facial cues, visual signs, pheromone guide.  It becomes so easy to take things the wrong way in group communication.  Also with the internet littered with dank and dismal content, someone always has to be alert – not just to what the kids are looking at, but at what the kids are doing that can be viewed by others.

But let’s not let the worst of the world hold us back.  If e-learning holds the keys for the next generation, we need to be pioneering safe and effective ways to use it in the classrooms – when we get there!

References:

CQUniversity Australia (2015), EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design: Study Guide. Retrieved from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=15637, accessed 20 April, 2015

Lanphier, DJ (2014), Here’s a Surprising Look at What Music Does to Your Brain.  Retrieved from http://mic.com/articles/89655/here-s-a-surprising-look-at-what-music-does-to-your-brain, accessed 20 April, 2015.

Queensland Government (2013) The SAMR Model: engage in deep learning and authentic contexts.  Retrieved from https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx, accessed 20 April 2015

Rubenstein, Grace (2009), Brain Imagery Probes the Idea of Diverse Intelligences.  Retrieved from http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2tQutL/www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-brain-research,  accessed 20 April 2015

Week 6, Reflection 5 - Mobile Tech

Meet my Lenovo Yoga 2

I bought this on special last week from JB HiFi.  It's got a 16gb hd, a puny processor, and runs Android operating systems.

I bought it specifically for my teaching pracs - excuse me, Embedded Professional Learning experiences.  Why would I do something like that?

It started back when I was working with EQ as an Instrumental Music Teacher......

I started with EQ in 2007, after a number of years with Catholic Education and other user-pay programs in the Gladstone area.  I knew the Rockhampton coordinator from brass band - Mrs Jeanette Douglas - and she asked if I was interested in relief contract work for 6 months.

Fast forward to 2010, and I am still with EQ, and loving it.  Computers have made their ways into the mainstream class, along with IWBs - but Instrumental Music, to my dismay, hadn't quite made the leap.  The teachers preferred books, paper and phone calls over digital files, tablets and emails\texts.  I had horrible handwriting (had is a bad word... I still have bad handwriting!), so I always looked for a digital shortcut - including the admin side of my job, tracking instruments by serial numbers, rolls, reporting (OneSchool reporting was just being phased in).  

Then I saw an add for this:

http://www.asus.com/Tablets_Mobile/Eee_Slate_EP121/ 

I had already decided I was against Apple, due to the lack of functionality crossover between it and the PC - still the most common device en masse, I believe - and these feelings were reinforced, when at a conference, a Mac fan's files weren't congruous for instant exchange.  We were looking at an Excel type file that had further enhanced a document prepared by one of the state co-ordinators for rolls and OneSchool reporting. 

I had already starting playing around with the file, with the help of what little code I could get from the Mac version, when my wife allowed me to purchase the above Asus - a first attempt at putting Windows on a tablet.

It was pure love, for me.

I was able to tweak my file more, to run better on the tablet with a stylus.  I could hand-write straight into Office programs (Word, Excel, etc) and it  could translate my scrawl.  My Excel sheet was "tick-and-flick", and had a database of all my schools' instruments, assignments, automatically generating completed loan agreement forms and tracking progress, summarising all my results into the OneSchool reporting template.

Outside my personal use, my students loved it too.  OneNote Journal came with a manuscript stationary, meaning the kids and I could draw straight onto the tablet in music - handy when some of my classrooms weren't actually classrooms!  In 2011, my local region participated in a trial run of the new Bruce Pearson text Tradition of Excellence, which came with an upgraded Interactive Environment.  This environment was a digital version of the book, with videos and worksheets.  Kids who didn't have their books didn't have to stress - I HAD ALL OF THEM, plus the videos (thanks to mobile phone hot spots at times, as not all my classrooms had WiFi).

Sadly, at the end of last year, my tablet died.

I could have gone out and bought a new Asus - the latest model is a laptop, with a detachable screen that has it's own i5 processor and 128gb hdd, in addition to the laptop base's 500gb.  But that's $1300 - money my wife wouldn't let me spend.

But when this came along, the price enough for me to take a gamble.  Especially now Google Drive has a near perfect facsimile of the Office Suite; in addition to other apps that help it do the job my old Asus did.

 In regards to the replacement of paper, my Lenovo does the job - albeit a smaller screen.  7" vs 12.1" on the Asus is a tough beat!  But it makes it lightweight, portable - and probably easier to keep as a simple system, whereas a PC would be running everything, and getting messy.

With the purchase of a stylus (I am using a Jot Classic - supposedly one of the most precise on the market), handwriting kicks in too - and not just in Word.

This is me marking up a PDF.  I can handwrite straight onto it like paper, or I can leave notation marks (see the little yellow and white bubble boxes?).  Just like leaving a notation on a standard Adobe pdf, except I can handwrite mine - and the tablet transposes it into font.  This example here is my notes from a committee meeting.  I just jot my notes over the agenda and other documents, come home and copy\paste into a minutes template I use.  I intend to be doing a similar process with my observations and other forms I need to complete while on prac.

The pros of this style of a setup in the class extend further with internet functionality.  My OneDrive allows me to increase my storage capacity to 1TB - although there is an option to insert a 128gb mSD card in the back.

Total benefits - a word processor, a text book, an internet device, a popular smart device, and paperless study tool in an affordable, lightweight body.

The cons - need power (although this one appears power friendly for the time being) and internet (although there is capacity to insert a microSIM card), plus a stylus (starting at around $15).  Would they become a distraction in class?  Is there a way to govern who can put apps on, and what apps?

Interesting - Using Chrome as the internet client on this and my PC, my passwords, bookmarks and internet history carry over.  If managed properly, this could also be a very helpful tool.  I would then be wondering if an Android operating system on a PC\Laptop could create a management environment to control app usage and so forth - maybe one  day I'll get to investigate!

Week 5 Reflection 4 - Powerpoint and Google Maps

Running late!!!   Aggghhhhh!!!!  Stupid Australian National Band Championships, and commitments.  Oh well, guess I'll have to wear the penalty.

When looking at the group 3 tools, I had the added advantage of seeing other class member's results, and my wife's professional experience.  Rebekah is the Reliability Engineer at Drayton, an open pit coal mine owned by Anglo American in the heart of the Hunter Valley's horse and wine country.  It is her daily activity to prepare data on equipment usage, repair stats, oil qualities (an indicator used to help prepare for up and coming maintenance disasters).  More often than not, these presentations are aided with a display of some sort.  So - what better resource and reflective tool than a professional?

Before opting for PowerPoint, I had a look at a sample Prezi as designed by classmate Mischa Freeman.  While I could not fault her content, and I admired what the software tried to do, my wife commented that the constant zooming - in her field, anyway - would get annoying or cumbersome.  For me, it was PowerPoint with special transitions.  I don't doubt I could play with it more, but it didn't captivate me as something I needed to understand better.

I wanted to look into PowerPoint because it's a tool that is used often - and sometimes poorly, in my experience.  I sat through 4 days of lecturers trying to present data to us at the Residential School, and they all made it look so painful!!!

But I must say I am glad I looked.  I loved the links to the virtual museums.  So much so, I wanted to have a go.

I decided, after starting, that I'd cheat - I almost covered part of my reflection in the design of the PowerPoint.  What PowerPoint?  THIS PowerPoint!  As you'll see as you run the show, I've covered three levels of PowerPoint usage - each at varying levels of SAMR.

1. Basic Level - Palm Cards for the teacher
2. Secondary Level - Integrated Presentation System.
3. Tertiary Level - Complete Immersion.

Level one is barely a substitution.  Sure beat writing things up, and having something to refer to when presenting to the class is always helpful.  I've seen some samples of this where people just have the title - just as a reminder as to where you're taking the conversation.

Level 2 becomes an augmentation of the traditional teaching tools.  It's a text book, and the old TV on a wheelie trolley with a DVD (or VCR for older people), and instant references to the Internet if needed.  

I personally feel that at these levels, these are teacher-driven tools.  They make TEACHING easier -but do they help learning?  I suppose they could, when you consider the relationships of test and words simultaneously and other theories (see last week's blog) - but still, the power4 is lying with the teacher to use these tools to guide the learning, and not allowing students to explore the content.

Level 3 is the virtual museum level.  It allows for student driven exploration of a digital environment.  The content is still there, but it's delivered in a way that allows for a little bit of independent reaction.  Personally, I feel that this sits on the border of Modification and Re-imagination on the SAMR chart.  In my slide show, the integration comes from the map - you can select your region (click a blue arrow) and the slide show takes you to the relevant pages.  Obviously, you can go back and add more and more content.

I showed my wife my presentation, and while she liked the integration, she stressed a simple point - as a display tool, you need to limit the amount of data on a slide.  Slides, in her experience, work better with accompanying documents.  While I see her viewpoint (and I mentioned that she is one of a small number of women her field, therefore the short precise information is less about effectiveness of PowerPoint, and more about the learning style of males), I think that she is sticking with the substitution and augmentation of the ICT within her workplace.

Give her a few years of new teaching skills to develop her new colleagues, and she'll change her mind - just as she's done within her office to the older workers.  :D

Bonus Reflection - Google Maps in the Classroom

I made a comment last week about trying to integrate the Geocaching map into my Weebly website.  I reflected then that Google would only let me put one pin in.

I was wrong!  Google has a GIS design system!  GIS (Geographical Information Systems) are used to overlay maps with data, or rather:

 ...to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.

I've worked with GIS software for previous assessment at CQUniversity, where I did a report of integrating real estate trends and census data with school enrollment data to track school populations, looking for trends and predicting the needs of infrastructure and staffing. I proposed that if we monitored school catchment areas for population trends, we'd see in advance the need to adjust staffing, or invest in extra classes; thus limiting the need to put catchment restrictions on school registration.

In the classroom, the ability to modify a map to place your OWN waypoints, census data, trends and other data onto a geographical display could come in handy, especially as a geography and history teacher.  Draw in old borders of ancient realms.  Plot sites of volcanoes and earthquakes.

I said at the time of my GIS course that it could become a powerful tool in the classroom in multiple subjects too - evolution of music genres as each style advanced into the world.

Regardless of how it's used, I stand by my opinion at that time.

Week 4 Reflection - Images, Podcasts

Before I started on the week's engagement activity, I started on some readings.  I found some interesting, and relatable snippets.

From Pedagogic Potentials of Multimodal Literacy (Walsh, 2009).

A recent report in the United Kingdom (Bearne et al, 2007) has shown that children of all ages are more likely to access digital rather than print-based texts outside school. This research has implications for the use of texts inside school. We need to consider what type of pedagogical shift is needed to incorporate the textual shift that has occurred and the underlying digital cultures that are embedded within multimodal communication. 

From Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning (Stansbury, 2008)

Based on the work of Richard Mayer, Roxanne Moreno, and other researchers, the Metiri Group report synthesized a list of learning principles for multimedia:

* Multimedia Principle: Retention is improved through words and pictures rather than through words alone.

* Spatial Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near each other, rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

* Temporal Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.

* Coherence Principle: Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.

* Modality Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.

* Individual Differences Principle: Design effects are higher for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners. Also, design effects are higher for high-spatial learners than for low-spatial learners.

* Direct Manipulation Principle: As the complexity of the materials increases, the impact of direct manipulation (animation, pacing) of the learning materials on the transfer of knowledge also increases.

Therefore, students engaged in learning that incorporates multimodal designs, on average, outperform students who learn using traditional approaches with single modes, the report says.

The first article spoke to me personally. TOTALLY ME! I love books and reading, but when it comes to research, computers get me to MORE information, the RIGHT information, and FASTER! Notable exception is when CQUni bookstore has a back-order on my Literacy and Numeracy e-book!!!!!!!!!

The second reminded me of a resource given to me by Joy Ganter, a principal at Glenmore State High School when I started there.  It was a list of tips on teaching and working with boys in the classroom.  One point that stays in my mind in particular is their preference for short, precise data. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person but I know I HATE scouring through pages of academic papers trying to find a point. Whether it's my attention span, or not, I feel I respond better with specific, laid out, factual points. Give me data, I am sure I can come up with your analysis!   Reading these descriptions, I cannot help but associate with a number of these principles, and this fact.  Delivering the data in the quickest, most effective way for it to take - rather like the modern pharmaceutical industry!

Resizing Images

This is the original Image, taken with a 20 megapixel camera phone.

This is a resized image, using Mobaphoto.  I reduced it to 300 pixels width, with proportional width.  The origianl has been reduced in size and dimensions.  The original was 1.72MB and the new is 10.2KB.  I have resized numerous images in the past using various programs including Coral Paint and Photoshop.

By the way, this is Reilly - our adopted Alaskan Malamute, and my study buddy (although he is resenting my study today - he wants noms!).

Flickr

In this modern age, we stumble across another issue of ICT - Password management.  Flickr no longer offers account options for Google and Facebook.  You MUST sign up for a yahoo account.

Yay............ :(

Anyway, once we get past this hurdle we start uploading pics, and setting privacy restrictions (do you\I have full rights?  Well, Reilly is my dog, I took the photos, so.....).  Do we want albums?

I think, with Flickr, you have to decide what you're using this for.  If you have a gmail account, you have Google Drive.  If you have a Hotmail account, you have OneDrive.  iPeople have their Cloud.   Even Asus have their own version!   The biggest drive for these sites is to provide online hosting for large amounts of data.  It makes it easier for blogs, with next to no data stored on that particular server; rather the heavy data (pictures\movies) is stored elsewhere, with a reference code embedded in the blog.  As it was an exercise for the week, I created the account and set it up.  But I doubt I'll make any effort to maintain in.  Between Facebook, my Onedrive and Google Drive, I have enough capacity for online photo to last a lifetime.

This is my Flickr piccy.  Note that it's only a link.  Why?  Because Blogger (Google) and Flickr (Yahoo) won't play nice.  Because Flickr is a Social Network of its own, its content is not accessible without membership - which Blogger no longer has.  The links Flickr produce cannot be used by Blogger.  The images cannot be embedded either, because Blogger is looking for specific code, which Flickr does not produce automatically.

Flickr, in my opinion, is too haphazard to use in the classroom.  So much drama!  Embedding pics from the sites I mentioned earlier should work.  But when I try using Onedrive, it's the same problem.  Is it because the sites wish to load the pics within THEIR environment?  

However, when I changed to HTML mode on Blogger, I realised I might need to eat my words.  Look!  A Onedrive pic embedded on my blog!!  So, can I do it with Flickr?

Yes I can!  The size becomes a bit of an issue, though....

But Flickr gave me tools to fix that.  But, as I said - it's still trying to maintain that Flickr environment.  Why not just give me my pic?

Where does this fit within a SAMR model?  I found an interesting an idea on Pinterest.  Until I read this, I would have said using a photo is not a method of transformation: It doesn't allow for task redesign, or the creation of tasks previously inconceivable.

I freely admit I was wrong.

Podcasts and Video.

While, I think I covered my ability to use this tech last week, I didn't reflect - so I will now.

References

Arrington, Karen (2015), Tech Tips: Dr Seuss AppSmashing Fun! Retrieved from http://tvstechtips.edublogs.org/2015/03/25/dr-seuss-and-app-smashing-fun/ 31 March 2015

QUniversity Australia (2015), EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design: Study Guide. Retrieved from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=15637 25 March, 2015

Stansbury, Meris (2008), Analysis: How multimedia can improve learning.  Retrieved from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/03/26/analysis-how-multimedia-can-improve-learning/

 31 March, 2015

Walsh, Maureen (2009) Pedagogic Potentials of Multimodal Literacy.  Retrieved from http://www.acu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/195676/Chapter_3_Multimodal_Literacy_M_Walsh.pdf 31 March, 2015

Week 3 - Weebly Reflection

Fiddling around with a few techs this week, not just the required ones.  First, have an explore of q9708050.weebly.com

This Youtube clip I filmed with Snagit.  A 15 day trial is free.  Gamers probably have their favourite screen capture software (I do have Asus GamerOSD, but can't use it for the love of me).  I also had Arcsoft Webcam Companion 4 in case I wanted to film MYSELF at the same time, but Snagit didn't like trying to capture dual screens.

I found an online SWOT generator at I-swot.com to help generate my thinking processes.

This is far from complete, but served as a launchpad for my thoughts as I started preparing for this blog.

The biggest issue I have with using things like Weebly is they dictate so many terms to you.  This MUST go here!  These must be one of 3 sizes!  These are your font choices!  This is great if you're a newbie, but what if you're not?  An example of a site I helped get started before I moved can be found at www.capsilver.org.au.

As I mentioned in my vlog, the top picture on the landing page I would've happily swapped with a map.  Because my map was an image (screenshot) I could've technically changed the picture over.  But what if I was using a Google Map?

Speaking of Google Maps - why not Bing?  Why not Google Earth?  Why not any other GIS (Geographical Information System)?  Geocaching.com uses MapQuest, which is not supported by Weebly.  Weebly also favours Youtube over other video hosting sites - which is probably best, with the current obsession with (*gag*) iDevices.  Will this prove to be an issue?

Weebly does have a lot going for it too.  It is easy enough to use - I spend about 45 minutes on it, while talking to my wife, and eating dinner.  Not sure which was more mentally straining!  The templates on offer are various, and exciting - if you're that way inclined.  It sucks being colourblind - such things are wasted on me!

How effective will this be in a classroom?  It depends on multiple factors:

• School Policy.  Does the school allow such sites to be used?  Is the network configured to allow all the content through?  Some schools have active blocks on Youtube and other "social" sites that could diminish the Weebly site's effectiveness.
• Bandwidth.  What is the Internet connection like where you are?  What is it like where the kids are (because you'd hope they use this tool at home as well as in the class, wouldn't you?)?
• Content.  Weebly allows for forums and comments.  But could this become a hindrance in the class?  Will students use it effectively and wisely?
• Access.  I neglected this in my SWOT, but it does stand to reason that the ICT needed to use a website may not be readily available.  Will you need to fight for access to the computer lab?  Is the internet available at home?  Will it be as effective on an iPad or tablet as it would a PC\Laptop - because the tablet computer is fast becoming a dominant Internet device in most homes!

But the beauty of it - imagine a hub of resources!  Just like CQUni students have Moodle, with links to assessment help, CROs, study guides and other references - WITHOUT THE NEED TO SCOUR THROUGH MILLIONS OF PAGES OF TEXT!  Saves the students time when studying.  If you look after your Weebly, you could use it every year when teaching this subject, updating it as technology changes (Youtube goes 3D!!!!!  Virtual mapping!!!).  Websites could become a powerful teaching device - when complemented with other learning opportunities.

Opportunities is the key word, though.  Learning needs to provide students with the opportunity to explore their learning world, to find the information for themselves and make it memorable and relatable (like this blog is to me).  If the website is just data, then it serves no purpose to you or the class.  This would be the trickiest hurdle when contemplating Weebly in the classroom, in my opinion.

References

CQUniversity Australia (2015), EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design: Study Guide. Retrieved from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=15637 25 March, 2015

CQUniversity Australia (2015), Geographical Information Systems: Study Guide. Retrieved from http://onlinemedia.cqu.edu.au/media_request.htm?file=cqu/courses/geog19021/2013_t2_geog19021_sc1372036644&start=00:00:00.0&end=00:00:00.0&formats=16&pcontext=30805&econtext=22940 25 March, 2015

www.geocaching.com

www.i-swot.com

q9708050.weebly.com

maps.google.com

http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwlsSoBRDoid2ihqnjjlISJABZoG9-LkEE-wFe1IAIdYfupki1EOCEVka9ubaI9S_aduyrEBoCpzrw_wcB

http://arcsoft-webcam-companion.en.softonic.com/

Week 2 - E-Learning Design Principles

When covering the learning materials in week 2, I personally felt there was a potential gap in the information provided. A huge assumption is being made with interpretation of "higher order thinking".

So I googled it. Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/article/higher-order-thinking) said this:

Higher order thinking is thinking on a level that is higher than memorizing facts or telling something back to someone exactly the way it was told to you. When a person memorizes and gives back the information without having to think about it, we call that rote memory. That's because it's much like a robot; it does what it's programmed to do, but it doesn't think for itself.Higher order thinking, or "HOT" for short, takes thinking to higher levels than restating the facts. HOT requires that we do something with the facts. We must understand them, infer from them, connect them to other facts and concepts, categorize them, manipulate them, put them together in new or novel ways, and apply them as we seek new solutions to new problems. Following are some ways to access higher order thinking.

I also found this image on Wikipedia:

Right! So now I feel better about this, I can move on.

First up is the classic conversation we all had during residential school: "What is Pedagogy?". Moodle's answer is succinct and simple, but then allows depth development with the pedagogical principles.

1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking
2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important
3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best
4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in real life contexts
5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge
6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves
7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges
8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity.

Translating into "common language", I get:

Taking basic memory recall and developing interpretation using Higher Order Thinking skills.
Allow the sharing of experiences to find multiple ways to say the same thing, in order to get an understanding that is personal and able to be related to.
Teaching in all learning styles
Allowing for learning that involves the discovery of the answer, not just what the book says.
The relationship between the students and the knowledge is relevant.
Let the students help guide the learning process
Does not infringe on personal or cultural processes.
Creates a generation of thinkers who are aware of how this fits into modern society, and any implications. 

Is this common language? Some of this, I felt was already in common language to begin with (such as 3,5 and 6). But hopefully, by breaking it down, I make my own understanding personal and relevant... oh wait, did I just use pedagogy on myself?????

An Example of Good Pedagogy?

For 10 years, I worked with Education Queensland in the Instrumental Music Program, plus with numerous community groups. When working with kids, it was always my goal to give a why to the how as often as possible. But, with limited class time (half an hour a week makes things very hard; more so if practice becomes an issue!), delivery of any content has to be concise. The tools of my trade became mnemonics, visual references and repetition of simple definitions that never varied. this doesn't seem like good pedagogy yet, though - it's almost rote memory.

Until you see the kids grow up with it. 

I got to watch a lot of my young students continue into high school bands. Higher Order Thinking comes into play now, with kids regurgitating those rhymes and mnemonics, forming their own interpretation of the music. It takes a long time to get there, but taking the knowledge from the most basic and mundane, and creatively using and interpreting it to create something artistic like music - it was watching this slow, sometimes painful process that made me love teaching.

Blooms Taxonomy and SAMR

My first encounter with Blooms was during what used to be called PP2 - my second Practical Placement when I first entered my B.Ed(Mus). A "supervising teacher" (mentor teacher in current parlance) told me I needed to incorporate it more. I'd never heard of it (I found out later I was supposed to learn in my 4th year - yet standard B.Ed students learn about it in their first year. I was behind, and not getting anywhere.

In essence this image (right) is the same as the one I posted earlier from Wikipedia. This image does two things differently:

It provides a list of key words and common activities that would be useful when looking at planning towards implementation of this taxonomy. 

Being a circular shape, all pieces are equal, and are non-linear. There is no set teaching sequence for cognitive taxonomy. As the study guide says, 

Good teaching does not always introduce the content, and then work in a linear way to creating a product. It is often a process of introducing student-held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, and then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge and creating as the culmination of learning. 

SAMR involves 4 levels of tech use: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition.

Substitution is used as a direct tool substitute with no fuctional change. 

Augmentation is the implementation with functional improvement. 

Modification is where task redesign occurs; and 

Redefinition is where new, previously inconceivable tasks becomes available. 

The examples used of elementary word processing replacing a typewriter (S), gaining experience with the use of templates and spellcheck (M); evolves into the use of spreadsheets (A) and online marketing tools and social media (R) is very relatable. But I can even see another, more relevant model.

Assessment in school when I attended was hand-written, sometimes moving into the realm of word-processing (S). Word processing allowed for fonts, borders and spellcheck, to create visually appealing work (M). At university at the start of the century, word processing was the standard, but the more recent evolution meant digital submission (A). Finally, this blog presents the use of the same facets and skills in a new, previously unheard of medium- the blog (R).

The links between Bloom and SAMR are probably more relatable in the first diagram. The dirgram physically demonstrates "higher" level learning on the page. SAMR does the same, with the exploration and higher level processes producing a technological embrace.

De Bono and the Mobile Phone

I participated in the DeBono Wiki in Group 3.

De Bono's thinking hats are coloured-coded thinking processes:

information known\needed 

feelings and intuition 

judgement 

optimism 

creativity 

management of the thinking process. 

As a group, Group 3 liked the idea, but were very much aware of how much potential there was for phones in the classroom to be negative, and the amount of technology in our lives having excessive impact. While I stay rooted in the idea that this is the way of the future, there still need to be checks and balances - I made the joke myself about my lack of physical activity impacting my weight.

Group 3's participation in the wiki demonstrates social constructivism, learning through shared experiences and feelings. Through this, there are elements of presenting the facts (behaviourism). This one activity, or the use of one mobile phone app in a classroom are neither elements of cognitivism, but if used as one of may approaches to teaching (as our lecturer has), could change this fact. The use of the wiki, and the use of a mobile phone in the class, are both examples of connectivism.

The issuses of working legally, ethically, and safely online in the class.

As a coda to the week, a list of reference sites for ethics and etiquette online are included. These are all enforced by EQ\DETE's Code of Conduct for teachers (and other bodies have something similar, I am sure). For me, the key line is:

All teachers work within policies that are developed from legislation. Whilst the ongoing consideration of safety potentially limits the freedom of online exploration, it must be adhered to and well managed. 

References

Anderson,L, and Krathwohl, D. (2000). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher-order_thinking 16 March 2015

CQUniversity Australia (2015), EDED20491 ICTs for Learning Design: Study Guide. Retrieved from https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=263 16 March, 2015

De Bono Thinking Systems (2013) Six Thinking Hats Retrieved from http://www.debonothinkingsystems.com/tools/6hats.htm 16 March 2015

Thomas, Alice, and Thorne, Glenda (2009) Higher Order Thinking. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/higher-order-thinking 16 March 2015

Week 1 - Learning Theory and e-Learning: A Reflection

Let's get one thing out there.  This is not my first rodeo.

I did 3 years of my B.Ed before Mum had her surgery, and then came back to start a BLM but couldn't get it to fit in with my IM job.  So it's no surprise that some themes pop up in this program/course/degree that I have a familiarity with.  But sometimes, like a lot of times with learning, it never completely sank in, or I just didn't have the means to absorb it properly.  Maybe my life experiences weren't helping (a little big of assimilation there Mr Piaget!).

For me, when I think about learning styles, I always believed in the past you had to be focused on one.  As if everyone had only one way to learn, and a teacher had to teach multiple ways to cover your way.  But I know, even in myself that this isn't the case!  Yes, I prefer to read - but sometimes I need to experience, and get my hands dirty.  Even when reading fiction, my wife comments that sometimes I start making faces  and moving my hand around, as if trying to physically manipulate something to understand it better.

So, it was a welcome relief to read the start of Rubinstein Brain Imagery Probes the Idea of Diverse Intelligences (http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2tQutL/www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-brain-research) to finally make that point clear to me.  Maybe had been made before, but I had somehow missed it.  Maybe it hadn't been taught to me in multiple learning styles???? ;)

The Gardner theory of Multiple Intelligences makes sense to me from my music teacher background.  Playing an instrument is a complex process at times, and needs to be broken down for people (myself included) in multiple ways, explaining it thew RIGHT way that fits into different learning styles, as well as trying to line it up with Piaget's previous schema\experiences.  

One could argue it's a big like writing an assignment.  To prove you have the data to an assessor, you have write the point\argument multiple ways and times: Say what you're gonna say, say what you're saying and say what you've said!  Saying the same thing multiple times allows for the data to be manipulated in ways to be best comprehended by readers.

Rubenstein also talks about brain architecture, and how "intelligence has no single address in the brain".  To reinforce this, I found a second article depicting musician's brain MRIs during performance of various musical genres.  Have a look at http://mic.com/articles/89655/here-s-a-surprising-look-at-what-music-does-to-your-brain!  A final musical reference in Rubinstein (I admit I love how music and musicians help demonstrate these issues so profoundly!) is the reference of the area of the brain that controls the left hand in string players.  I am a brass specialist, and woodwind multi - most of which have a strong right-hand dominance.  However, after my wedding, I commenced on a journey to learn bass guitar.  My biggest hurdle to date has been the training of my left hand.  It is far from the independence level needed to play a bass as efficiently as I play, for example, a contrabass tuba.

Some of the best lessons I've had, and taught in a band environment, have come based on a surprise - where the relevance has been ambiguous at first, causing heightened alertness; as opposed to the dull routine of rote teaching, or didactic education.  The use of the RAS as a filter must be the basis of learning theories - I see instant relevancy to both Gardner and Piaget.  The personalisation of the lesson as it passes through here is tied with the information making it to the amygdala. 

Let's bring all this home with ICTs.  Using technology can allow us to achieve nearly all of this. 

• Learning can be arranged to use all learning styles and intelligences
• It presents options for incorporating different experiences that students have had
• It presents surprise and advertising, stimulating the RAS and amygdala.

As I think about possible uses of ICTs that demonstrate this, I remember my recent Christmas trip north.  My wife and I enjoy a hobby known as geocaching - essentially 21st century orienteering.  Through the use of a GPS and the internet, or a mobile phone app that ties these two things together, a person can locate hidden treasures, or caches in locations.  An advanced form of geocache is an EarthCache - where you do not get to claim the find, until you submit to a form of testing about the cache area.  This is usually within the areas of history, geology and geomorphology.  Over Christmas, my wife and I travelled from the Hunter Valley in NSW, to Gladstone Qld.  Along the way, we stopped for some caching to break up our trip.

At the Maidenwell Falls, within the Bunya Mountains, was an EarthCache (http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4DZYT_maidenwell-granite) designed around the geology of the vicinity.  The website\app gives you details about granite in general.  However, to achieve the find, you have to observe the site and use the generalised information to form the SPECIFIC knowledge of the area.

The ICT (GPS\app\internet) presented a hands on method of accessing data.  The data was interpreted by a visual experience (by being at the site - but alternatively, in a classroom, Google images would have pictures), and the learning becomes more student directed, as opposed the teacher-directed education.

Curious about geocaching, btw?  Check out my pictures on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/calle138/media_set?set=a.10152247127532947.606662946&type=3), as well as some introductory videos made by the Geocaching.com website, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YTqitVK-Ts.

How is this different to older methods of teaching?  Having just sat through 4 days of 3 hour lectures at the start of my Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching, I can easily see again how easy it is for attention to wander.  Next to no variance in vocal pitch, minimal body movement and certain peer situations (we're talking teenagers here... this is always gonna come up!) leads to the imagination wandering, behaviour to slip, and sometimes a state of semi-consciousness.  All of these are situations where information stops being processed, or limits the efficiency.  While we are all adults, and it was only one week - the same cannot be said in a school.  ICTs become a tool to help provide learning opportunities that engage the student, and their learning needs.

Next up on the viewing schedule is Sir Ken Waterhouse.  I've seen him present on TED before, and I like what he has to say.  Within the first three minutes is a major "truth bomb" - No one knows what the world will look like in 5 years, yet we're educating children to live in it.  He then moves on to stress the importance of creativity.

Parents often have embarrassing stories, comparing and contrasting their offspring.  Mine are no different, commenting of the difference in imagination between my sister and myself.  My sister had dolls, but didn't know how to play with them, especially on her own.  On the other hand, I was often engaged in solo bouts of Lego wars.  It's funny now to see my nephew as an imaginative, creative being, full of fun and life - and my sister learning to cope with him!

The concept of academic inflation makes sense to those of us advanced down the line of progress - but explain that to a year 10 student, insistent that he can just drop out of school and get an apprenticeship.  Gone are the days that people can just fall out of school, and get this trade despite being illiterate, or have a learning disorder - such as my father in law, a dyslexic who barely attended high school.  How many people are out there with a Bachelor's degree and are still unemployable?  Look at the CV09 degree!!!  In a few years, the Grad.Dip will evolve into a Master's degree.  Schools like Rocky Grammar are still treating the Masters as if it's a gold plated ticket to academic excellence - but it's really only becoming the new Graduate Diploma.

So, what's this mean for schools of the future?  Will basic education evolve into 15 years of school?  Or will we be expected to cram more into those 12 years?  I refer you to the above - we don't know what the future of education  - the future of the world - has in store for us!

Behaviourism (Objectivism):  a "just the facts, ma'am" approach to learning.  Based on repetition
Cognitivism:  Shaping the delivery of the content through multiple experiences.  This lines up with the concept of multiple intelligences, and teaching content for each of these.  It would be the hope that the information is passed from short- to long-term memory in the process.  Learning occurs through each of the senses.  It is hoped that the outcome is a big-picture understanding.
Social Constructivism:  sharing ideas and experiences to gain better understanding.  My interpretation is that this builds on Cognitivism, taking the experiences from singular, to multiple interpretations, reshaping the ideas  more and more.  By trying new things, students form their own knowledge.
Connectivism: Finding understanding in supplementary resources and taking this new knowledge back into the classroom.  Considered a 21st century approach, as the supplementay resources include Youtube, TED, Facebook and other online media content.