Week 3 - Power Point and Prezi

This week has been an interesting week, as not only has the learning tool we have had to explore this week been incredibly useful but it has seen me look at Power Point in a different way. Before this course I had used Power Point on a weekly basis after starting this degree I have had the pleasure of working with young males in reading support with which I have used PowerPoint to help them explore topics which motivate them. A specific example has been with a young man who I have helped create a profiling template with which he uses to profile a different wrestler each week as he is madly into W.W.E Wrestling.

Many people fall short with PowerPoint and expect students to be able to use the software without scaffolding learning. I can see from my experience with this young man, that every step must be explored to a certain point before the bug bites and the knowledge that is know about the program takes over and the creative energy starts to flow. I think the biggest sole problem I see with teachers using PowerPoint at the moment is the purpose for its use. This was the first thing that hit me when I was starting the profiling activity. After I explained my idea to the young man he turned to me and said "why?" and I thought to myself well its a good question. I turned to him and said "You are an expert on a topic, which is wrestling, I am someone who wants to know more about wrestling, this PowerPoint is going to show me all the information I need to know".

As soon as I said the word expert he looked at me and smiled as if to say "damn right I am". With that the motivation and need for powerpoint knowledge became unquenchable. I think the moral of this weeks blog is to make sure the purpose of the use of PowerPoint is purposeful without a reason for engaging with the software it's just another "thing" the students do.

Week 2 - Weebly

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with and edit websites through my previous employment. I've used programs such as Front Page and Publisher but both have been extremely touchy and often resulted frustration. In visiting the weebly I was expecting a similar experience but much to my pleasant surprise I found this web based application extremely easy to use and manipulate

Strengths:
Engagement, ownership of technology and experience
Very easy to create, modify and update
Brings collaborative learning out of the classroom and into the world
Interactive! and enjoyable for students using different forms of media

Weakness:
Would be hard from a classroom management point of view if students were to create a website themselves, keeping them all together without students going ahead or falling behind
Addictive - learning my fall by the way side in replacement with enjoyment



Opportunities:
Collaborative learning furthered, students work with and support teacher can learn in and outs from each other through experimenting
Brings multimodal texts from home to school - improved opportunity for engagement


Threats:
Parental views on students creating content which can be viewed outside the school?
Without clear reason for use, may just be another "good" but not productive thing for students to do on the computer

See my website below, just did some basic experimenting and added some pages
http://elearningbyjustin.weebly.com/index.html

Week 2 - Making a Wiki

My Wiki! Click to Visit

For me, Wikis have always symbolised the meaning of collaboration. Like any collaborative piece of work a wikis ownership boasts no singular person whereas blogs are similar but rely on a hierarchical style of contribution. It is this group mentality of a wiki and the ability to contribute even the smallest piece of information that gives people a great sense of effective contribution.

One of the most successful Wikis out there has been the Wikipedia a wiki which has been developed as an encyclopedia. This wiki alone boasts 14,000,000 pages of shared and contributed information from around the globe and is a shining example of the power of collaborative websites.

Using Wiki Spaces, was incredible easy. I was able to embed gifs and a teachertube.com video in a matter of seconds. The ability to quickly and easily change and update information on the fly gives wikis a valued place within the classroom. I think the biggest difference between a blog and a wiki at the moment for me is the ease of use. To allow your students to use the site and to use it well, the removal of problematic things such as HTML coding I believe is the winning point when we compare a wiki and blog.

According to Geekgirl.com the biggest problem facing many people who build a wiki is they do not have a clear goal for the wiki. Rose states that many of the wikis do not work not because of technical or skill shortages but because the "reason for collaborating via a wiki has not been clearly defined". Thus when considering the use of a wiki at school we must consider this purpose for the use of a wiki. As with most new learning that students face, we will face the question, "Why are we doing this?". So that is my question to my followers! Why do you think a wiki is useful and who would you use it in the classroom?

A Useful Link below showing Wikis currently in use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wikis

Week 1 - Overview

This week I have explore a program which helps to design a concept map created on Bubblus. This program allows for key points or words to be easily moved, and linked to label and connect ideas. The program allows for colours and is very interesting as it allows students to build knowledge about dim 3 processes of classification. Brainstorming can be seen to be the key use of this tool, it is a virtual representation of the strategy and allows students to see how their ideas come together. I believe this is a wonderful tool for the early years in helping students to develop and scaffold their ideas in a way which allows them to pick out the important parts.

Welcome to My World

I am very much a digital native and have grown up and used technology on a daily basis. Blogs, and forums are part of my weekly routine. The information presented I believe is some of the most vital information when considering a topic as you are able to view many different opinions and ways of thinking without being caught up in the confrontation of the varying opinions. It is this sometimes anonymous way of sharing information which attracts people to the use of a blog. They are able to get their point across and share information from their own personnel point of view quickly and easily.

From an educational point of view, blogs provide an opportunity to allow students the agency to share and contribute information in a less confronting and often more productive way. The ability to have resources and other important information available to students is another fundamental success of blogs. However it is the ability of having the information presented in a way which appeals to students and from an author that they know which provides the personal appeal in which students can relate to the information provided. Blogs are more than a personal diary they are a direct reflection of a person, the style, content and overall message that a blog provides is a window into a person's world. Welcome to mine!