Synopsis of e-Learning

Hello bloggers,
I would like to leave you with a link to my Wiki site where I have included a powerpoint of my reflective synopsis for this course. I have also attached a summarising table outlining these tools with a focus on the negatives and positives to them in terms of pedagogy. The final post in my wiki is some comments I made to your blogs which I have also reflected on. This course has been informative and most enjoyable. Good luck to you all.

Dorris - Tiffany
'If you think you can't, you can't'.

Wiki Here

Interractive Whiteboards

If within my classroom I am previleged to be provided with an interractive whiteboard, I will certainly be excited and use it daily. I have briefly used this form of technology within a school for disabled children and was most impressed. Within a particular lesson the students had learn't how to use the whiteboard which was guided by the teacher. The interraction was fantastic! Without this form of technology these students would not be able to participate with this form technology learning as the majority of these children are unable to use a mouse and computer.

Below I have listed some useful tips in reference to using Interractive Whiteboards.

Horses for courses
Choosing a whiteboard really depends on the needs of your school. Most whiteboards are either operated by a finger and have a soft surface or by an electromagnetic pen and have a hard surface. Both types have pros and cons so visiting other schools to see which will suit you best is a great idea.

Location, location, location
Consider if large windows require blinds for sunny days and the height of those viewing the board - children and staff. Remember that a board and extra equipment will require as many as six power sockets nearby.
Think about the area around the board. On either side of the board, I have two waist high units, one is for my laptop so I and the children can type onto the board while looking into the class. On the other is my visualiser or document camera. This allows easy access to the board, but is flexible and allows for other approaches

Get to know your new board
The installation company should offer you basic training on the software which operates with your board. Consider whether this software offers the tools and resources to enable you to teach effectively. Look around and see what is available before deciding.Accept that, although initial gliches may happen, they are often easily rectified

It's not a flip chart, so don't pretend it is
Don't be tempted to settle into a routine of creating a series of slides for you to talk about. If you would not have done it with traditional resources, don't do it now. Try to justify the learning aim of each slide

Make sure your lesson is interactive
Think about where it is appropriate to make pages, or slides, interactive. This could involve children coming out to manipulate some text or a diagram, or typing directly into the PC/laptop. A good, whizzy maths game with things flying around and going bang at the beginning of a numeracy lesson, will certainly get your children's attention

Images, images, images
Images are powerful learning tools. The software which runs on your board will allow you to import saved images from your computer or copy and paste images from the web. I try to start every lesson with an image which the children can make some kind of emotional connection (Teachers.TV, 2009).


References
Teachers. TV, 2009, Interractive Whiteboard top tips, Retrieved 18th August, 2009, from; http://www.teachers.tv/ict/whiteboardtips

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Personal Experience
At CQUniversity for the past three years I have been accustomed to using and interracting with our Blackboard site which is an example of a LMS. Our Blackboard site provides weekly information, lectures, manages our assessment requirements, details our weekly readings, allows for communication forums and is a fantastic opportunity for collaborative learning.

With this great experience in mind I am keen to use this form of technology within my classroom. Using a Learning Management System in the Classroom does not limit students to using the site alone at home; they can use it in a computer equipped classroom by a group of students and teachers.

How can this work in the classroom.
The teacher is able to give some lessons via the LMS that they may have not have been able to cover in class and students who were away can easily catch up on what they may have missed. At any time thge teacher can guide the direction of group converstaions by posting questions to the topic for students to respond to. Students are able to follow the teachers instructions and add their notes and later return to see if other students have added to their opinion.

Learning Theories
This form of discussion through collaborative learning succinctly alligns with the learning theory of connectivism. Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical. (Siemens, 2004)

Principles of connectivism:

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. (Siemens, 2004)

References

Siemens, G, 2002, Connectivism, A learning theory for the digital age: Retrieved 18th August, 2009, from: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Provide content and activities via the LMS
Give students access in the classroom
Use the LMS assignment facility to see who has not finished exercises
Use the LMS for assessment
Does it work?
Used for two short intensive courses for public servants
To be used for courses in 2008/2009
Issues
Requires well designed, computer equipped classrooms
Requires good LMS (Moodle used)
Assumes computer skills for students and teachers
Will drive a demand for remote e-learning

e.Portfolio

A portfolio is a systemic and organized collection of work and assessments that documents a person’s efforts, progress and achievements. They can be used for education, career, and personal goals. They can be both formative or developmental and summative in nature.

The Classroom Context
Within the classroom context integgrating a portfolio based tool can have many uses from students developing their own unit of work, students and teacher adding to their portfolio as information and data is collected, collating evidence and also for reflection purposes. As students are developing their portfolio (which could also be developed over the course of a term or year) it allows them to reflect not only at the end of the unit but during the development of the topic. The portfolio can show the teacher whether the students have grasped the concepts

As a pre-service teacher
The professional portfolio in my opinion would be very effective when I come to the time of looking for my first teaching job. The Professional portfolio can map my journey of learning and provide a comprehensive description of my professional life and achievements. It can be a reflective, purposeful, analytic, and developmental way to demondtrate my abilities. it can also be used to summarise the sort of teacher I believe I am. I look forward to starting my new portfolio and believe by incorporating such ICT's, I am displaying enthusiasm and capabilities with modern technology.

RSS = Really Simple Syndication

What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is a way to easily distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and sometimes content to a wide number of people. It is used by computer programs that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading.

What problem does RSS solve?
Most people are interested in many websites whose content changes on an unpredictable schedule. Examples of such websites are news sites, community and religious organization information pages, product information pages, medical websites, and weblogs. Repeatedly checking each website to see if there is any new content can be very tedious.

What information does RSS provide?
RSS provides very basic information to do its notification. It is made up of a list of items presented in order from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title describing the item along with a more complete description and a link to a web page with the actual information being described. Sometimes this description is the full information you want to read

Tying it all together
Here is a diagram showing how the websites, the RSS feed XML files, and your personal computer are connected:

The diagram shows a web browser being used to read first Web Site 1 over the Internet and then Web Site 2. It also shows the RSS feed XML files for both websites being monitored simultaneously by an RSS Feed Aggregator. (Software Garden Inc., 2004).

How could this tool be used in the classroom?

As a Learning Manager I feel that this tool would be best used for managing and controlling information that the students are working on.With an aggregator, we can "subscribe" to favourite sites, including blogs, wikis, news sites, etc. and be notified when students have added new information to those sites via the RSS. .I prefer to use Google Reader as an RSS/Aggregator because it is easy to setup and use and gives me access to many other useful tools from my access point to ... calendar, iGoogle, documents, maps, photos, and much more. This tool as it seems may just lighten the load for teachers who are wanting to observe the students and know when and how they are interracting and contributing to the given topic. At the click of a button the teacher can identify who had contributed and whether they have been doing the recommended readings.

References:

Software Garden Inc, 2004, What is a RSS?, Retrieved 15th August 2009, from; http://rss.softwaregarden.com/aboutrss.html

Oliver's Learning Design Framework-Situated Learning

In 1999 Prof. Ron Oliver, a researcher in ICT learning, came up with a learning design framework for ICT learning environments that is still being used to develop high quality courses for the VET sector and education. (CQUniversity,blackboard, 2009).


Situated learning encourages learners to construct their own meaning from knowledge and information in the learning process and places an emphasis on interaction and socialisation
among learners. The application of this approach to learning suggests the
need for a revised framework to reflect the processes involved in flexible
and technology-based learning. (Refer to diagram). In such a setting, the critical elements
now appear as the content, the learning activities and the learning supports (figure 1). While these three elements still reflect aspects of the separate stakeholders, they emphasise more the activities of each in the learning process.

These elements provide a strong framework for
instructional design, and highlight the importance of planning specific roles for learners, the teacher and the technology in the learning
environment.

Further reading
For more information I have attached a link to this framework. This reading is very informative:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158791990200205

References
Oliver, R. (1999). Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education, 20(2), 240-254.

Learning through Webquests.

What is a WebQuest? A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning. This means it is a classroom-based lesson in which most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web.

Beyond that, WebQuests:

• can be as short as a single class period or as long as a month-long unit;
• usually (though not always) involve group work, with division of labor among students who take on specific roles or perspectives;
• are built around resources that are preselected by the teacher. Students spend their time USING information, not LOOKING for it. (Educational Broadcasting, 2004),

While WebQuests can be applied to a wide range of topics, they aren't equally appropriate for everything. You wouldn't use a WebQuest to teach the times table. In other words, don't use WebQuests to teach factual pieces of information.
The best use of the WebQuest format is for topics that are less well-defined -- tasks that invite creativity and problems with several possible solutions. For example a technology unit may require the students to conduct an investigation. With a Webquest students are able to explore the topic, map out the required processes and USE the information to solve and reflect on the investigation.

With a technology unit based around a Webquest, collaborative learning skills should be encouraged and modelled by the teacher. With this in mind Johnson and Johnson (2000) have selected some critical aspects of what a successful cooperative learning environment should look like. They include:

• Positive interdependence
• Promotive Interraction
• Individual and group accountability
• Interpersonal and small group skills
• Group Processing

Webquests encourage these attributes and challenge the thinking patterns of our learners. I have looked at several webquests constructed and guided by teachers and they have clearly shown how effective this form of learning opportunity can be for our students. I also feel that organisation and planning is a must for this tool to be effective. It would be easy for the children to become confused if the steps are not explicit. Organisation for this type of learning experience will vary depending on the availability of resources. I believe it is how these resources (even if limited) are utilised that inform the success for the students' outcomes. Below I have provided a link to some video's that show how student outcomes can be met by using a WebQuest in the classroom: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub4.html

WebQuests and Constructivism:

Constructivist authentic learning environments are defined as those learning
environments whose design is consistent with the principles of the more recent constructivist tradition on how people learn. As Herrington and Oliver (2000) point out, such learning environments typically provide authentic contexts and activities,access to expert performances, and support multiple roles and perspectives. In addition, such environments also support collaborative construction of knowledge and promote reflection and articulation. Finally, such environments may include coaching and scaffolding by the teacher and provide for authentic assessment of learning within tasks. With this in mind, using a constructivist approach to frame our planning, for example a WebQuest, the principles of constructivism are adhered to. Within a Webquest students are creating multiple perspectives and and at the same time collaboratively creating authentic learning experiences.

These authentic experiences succinctly line up with the 'Learning Engagement Theory' which has a group, project and authentic focus. This theory refers to learning environments and how our students need to relate to real-world, authentic problem-solving and then donate the solution back into the real world. This donating approach forms a rich task for students in which they can be engaged in authentic and real-life situations. (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1998).

The constructivist view of learning has its foundations in Piaget (1975) who believed that learning is not transmitted passively, but attained through well-defined stages by active participation of a learner. Vygotsky(1980), presented similar ideas but focused on the importance of socio-cultural activity in learning in addition to introducing flexible stages of development. (Zualkernan, 2006).

References:

Educational Broadcasting, 2004, Concept to classroom; What is a Web Quest? retrieved 17th August, 2009, from; http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index.html

Dodge, B, 2001, International Society for Technology in Education, 5 rules for writing a great webquest. Retrieved 17th August, 2009, from; http://edWeb.sdsu.edu/Webquest

Central Queensland University. Course studyguide: Engagement Theory: Retrieved 10th August, 2009, from; http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=134

Zualkernan, I. A. (2006). A framework and a methodology for developing authentic constructivist e-Learning environments. Educational Technology & Society: Retrieved 17th August, 2009, from: http://www.ifets.info/journals/9_2/16.pdf