Synopsis

Over the last five weeks I have studied information communication technologies (ITC’s) and their effectiveness in a learning environment.

The first week was most daunting with the introduction of new technologies I was yet to explore. Toward the end of week five I was feeling confident in the use of all tools and was able to analyse their effectiveness through the use of SWOT’s, PMI’s and Blogging.

The purpose of ITC’s in education is to engage today’s learners through a medium they are familiar with, Prensky states “Today’s students – K through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age” (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Prensky, 2001). It is important to engage students through digital pedagogies, it’s equally important to ensure the pedagogies used produce a productive learning outcome.

What is E-Learning?

E Learning is the process of learning or teaching using any electronic medium. Derek Stockley training describes E Learning as “The delivery of a learning, training or education program by electronic means. E-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material, E-learning can involve a greater variety of equipment than online training or education, for as the name implies, "online" involves using the Internet or an Intranet. CD-ROM and DVD can be used to provide learning materials. E-learning can be "on demand". It overcomes timing, attendance and travel difficulties” (Derek Stockley 2003).

As Stockley points out E Learning is not limited to a formal teaching environment and can be accessed at anytime, this creates a broader learning environment.

De Bono and Wikis

Early in the term we were introduced to Edward De Bono’s Six thinking hats scaffolding and were instructed to participate in a class Wiki using the hats as a basis for a conversation about mobile phones. I think De Bono's six hats is a useful scaffolding tool as it allows people to take on a number of different "thinking" roles and promotes people to think in ways that may not have otherwise. Using it to direct learning within a Wiki was highly successful as it created dialogue and forced participants to look at the issue from six different perspectives. After completing this activity I drew a “hats map” and wrote a quick summary on my blog. The six hats would be a useful scaffolding tool to use in the classroom with students, or for personal use when planning a learning experience, as it requires you think about the benefits, cautions, facts and process’s  of a particular idea or activity.

Group One Technologies

The first group explored was Blogs, Wiki’s, and Websites. The greatest learning experience for me was the blog. I feel this was because it required me not only to present my thoughts but display them visually and to analyse my work, creating higher order thinking. As someone with a strong visual arts background I found I could use the blog as my “visual diary”, recording what I see, how I use web tools and what benefits they could have for others.

The blog has endless possibilities and would be a productive way for students to record their ideas and thoughts on certain topics. It’s potential is furthered in that students can upload images, links, audio and film and share them with other students across the world. I think communicating through a blog is preferable over Weebly’s and Wiki’s because there is less anonymity involved, blogs can be set up so only other users can make comments creating greater ownership of ideas.  

Group Two Technologies

Group two technologies involved the exploration of video, audio and images. My favourite was the audacity program; it has such a broad range of use’s both in and out of the classroom. On its own it can be uploaded as a pod cast but the great thing about the audacity program is that you have the potential to edit and manipulate your sound file. Pod casts can be used in a number of ways to enhance a students learning, teachers are able to record their classes so that students can listen to them again when needed. The draw back of using only audio is that it caters to the audible learner; however with audio files you have the option of embedded them into Voki’s, Blogs or even Prezi’s combining them text and images to cater to a larger audience. Through exploring the use of audio in learning I came across a page located on the Aussie Educator site, which lists useful pod casts and tips on how to create your own.

Group Three Technologies

Group three technologies focused on the use of presentation tools in the classroom. I did a direct comparison on the use of Prezi and PowerPoint. PowerPoint can be used successfully to enhance learning; Research shows that animated bar graphs used in PowerPoint can result in positive speaker evaluation (Parker, 2001). In order to use PowerPoint to its full potential its important not to depend on the technologies, PowerPoint should not be used as a substitute to face-to-face interaction and speaking with students. The program does have the ability to address multiple learning styles through the use of embedding video, audio and images but the bullet-point templates it provides can become tedious and pointless to the learner if they are not accompanied by other elements.

In comparison Prezi gives the creator a lot more freedom in terms of type, image, audio and visual manipulation and presentation.  On a whole Prezi has a lot more “wow” factor than PowerPoint, its cutting edge, easy to use and you can access all your Prezi presentations online. I feel that Prezi is a little harder to use than PowerPoint but this may be because I have been using PowerPoint for a long time. I still feel its important to rely on the content, just because the presentation looks great it doesn’t mean it contains the essence of what you are trying to communicate to your students.

Group Four Tools

Group four tools were more of a self-directed exploration of some of the great things the world-wide-web has to offer. I was particularly taken by Google maps; the discussion it created during the collaborate classes was very insightful. Colleagues suggested it for use of in class excursions; using it to look at Egypt’s pyramids, or explore the Great Wall of China. Other suggestions including using it to explore site the class may visit for school camp; then determining the terrain, feel, look of the site and listing what supplies they may need. The possibilities are endless and I’m looking forward to implementing some of these ideas into my own classes. As an Art teacher I think it would great to use to see where famous artists lived or the galleries that contain their work.

E Learning has opened up the classroom to a range of new possibilities, children can now see other countries, talk to children in other continents and explore their own creativity in a myriad of ways and all from the safety of the classroom. The Internet does hold potential dangers such as adult content, and possible predators and it is important as teachers that we educate and protect our children from these. Students are now engaging in more technology throughout their everyday lives and its important that teachers keep ahead (or up to speed) with these so we can engage them on a level that is current, entertaining and educational.   

References

http://internetsafetyeducator.com/cyber-bullying/

http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/reference/general/podcasts.html

http://derekstockley.com.au/

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, Digital immigrants, Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf