Group 4 - Animations.

I chose to look at Text2Mindmap.  This reminds me of the visual thesaurus that I often use.  I recommend it to help children see the connection between synonyms.  The search word was display and if you click on any of the synonyms, its synonyms will appear and the web continues to expand.  Click on the photo below to see this product in use.  It allows a free trial. 

This is the simple mind map that I created from Text2Mindmap:

Some paper mind maps can get very messy.  If you run out of room and need to start again, the whole thing becomes a very laborious.  With this website, students are able to see the mind map almost instantaneously and make adjustments as they need to.  Concept maps are a great way for students to retain declarative knowledge (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).  I would use a digital mind map once students have annotated their paper mind map to the point where it is becoming difficult to read.

SAMR
Substitution	Students record mind map as they would on paper.
Augmentation	Students edit mind map as new information comes to light.  This is done in real time.
Modification	Students define the levels in the mind map by colour.
Redefinition	Students’ mind maps are layered to look for patterns and differences.  Mind maps are published to a public forum for discussion.

References:

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. (with Arrendondo, D. E., Paynter, D. E., Blackburn, G. J., Brandt, R. S., Moffet, C. A., Pollock, J. E., & Whistler, J. S.). (1997). Dimensions of learning: teacher's manual. (2nd ed.). Alexandra, VA: ASCD

Happy Birthday Zoe

There's this girl that I knowy
Her name is Zoe
Her idea of Nirvana
Is a nice ripe banana.

Presenting the present presentation.

 Powerpoint.

In my last prac I used PowerPoint as a Big Book so that all the preps could see the pictures and words clearly.  I wrote the story myself, pulled photos off Google Images and lumped it all together on the big screen.  This is the only time that the story will see the light of day and I doubt Preps care where the pictures came from.  For this reason I did not acknowledge the source of the photos.  My moral compass doesn't define this as a breach of copyright.  I did not gain financially from the venture and the owner of the photos did not lose anything.  I'm not sure what the law would say.

Used correctly, I think PowerPoints (PPT) are a great way to share key ideas and or images with a class.  I feel sorry for children having to peer at a normal sized story book while the teacher reads the book.  Again, there are copyright issues to consider if transferring a book to a PPT.  

PPTs are a great tool for children to investigate.  It works offline, is fairly stock standard with word processing programs, there is a Mac and PC version and children can save their data to a USB stick and work from various computers.  PowerPoint can be used as fancy scrapbooking or as sophisticated as a virtual museum (Keeler, n.d.).  There is the option to go from basic black on white to fluro flashing fonts.   For these reasons, PowerPoint would be how I would introduce presentation tools in the classroom.

I appreciate the idea of 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 size font (Kawasaki, 2005).  I like PPTs to be simple and I always choose black writing on a white background.  I have red and green colour deficiency and sometimes I have troubles seeing certain font colours on certain backgrounds.

The following PPT is one that I made for SOSE last year.   While it lacks the sophistication of a Virtual Museum (Keeler, n.d.) it is clear and crisp.  The purpose of this PPT was for students to be given an overview of a topic and to be able to click on links to help activate their thinking on the topic.  It was designed to be read by students independently.  Perhaps that is another use for PPTs, leaving instructions for students to follow.

I've embedded the PPT in my wiki so I know that the links in the PPT will work.  Click on the teabags to find out more.  My goal for the week is to investigate Slideshare in more detail and see if that would have been a better option.

Prezi.

Or as I like to call it, PowerPoint on a roller coaster.  I suffer from motion sickness and don't always enjoy watching Prezis.  I don't think people use it to its full potential so what we really see is a PowerPoint with fancy transitions.  I see Prezi as a way to challenge the more computer literate of the class or for the students who want to have a more visual representation of the links or journey within a concept.  Prezi would enhance learning as there is already a template in place but students can make decisions on how to place their information.  Students would learn that communication is sometimes non-linear and semiotic (Winch, et al., 2010).

I'm not overly competent on Prezi yet and this reminds me of something our art lecturer said.  Teachers often don't teach art because they are not confident at art (Dinham, 2011).  Teachers need to be aware that their skill level, confidence and knowledge base can influence what tools they do or do not teach/utilise in the classroom.

The following prezi was made for this course.  I fell in the trap of choosing the pirate theme because I wanted it to look like a journey.  When I had finished making the Prezi I realised that the theme was out of place.   I see this as one of the dangers of presentation tools, people spend more on prettiness rather than content.

Glogster.

Glogster?  What is that?  Bear with me while I do a quick bit of research.

Off to a flying start...

After spending some time trying to add graphics and text I put this in the "I'll get my kids to teach me how to use it."  This is scrap-booking on a screen.  Screen-booking.  I may have just coined a new word.  You heard it here first.

This is where I have to think beyond my needs.  As I said in PowerPoint I like black on white.  I don't usually jazz up my presentations in many ways.  Glogster reminds me of a single page website where all the information has to be put onto one page.  I see a danger of a page filled with animations, banners, pictures, videos and a bazillion different fonts.  But I assume that in time these would fade away and the glogs would become more content driven.

This is the least favourite of the presentation tools mentioned in this blog so I'm going to apply De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats to help me understand it better.

Hat	Response
Black – Judgement	Not all children enjoy making things pretty.  Requires a flair for visual arts.  Glogs may be overpopulated with images, animations and videos.  Requires internet access
Blue - Process	Is this a replacement of the “poster assignment” where children are marked partly on presentation and partly on content?
Green – Creativity	Students learn how to use non-linguistic cues, semiotic cues and non-linear literacy to convey information.
Red – Emotion	It doesn’t appeal to me but this may change once I become more confident and knowledgeable with the website.
Yellow - Positive	Students learn to convey information in one page.  Students increase their digital literacy skills.  Students are able to work in groups or individually.  Everyone has access to the same website allowing for equity.
White – Facts	Technology is everywhere and children need to develop computer skills.  Glogster can be as simple or as compex as the child wants.

References:

Dinham, J. (2011). Delivering authentic arts education. South Melbourne, VIC: CENGAGE Learning.
 

Kayasaki, G. (2005).  Retrieved from
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html

Keeler, C. (n.d.) Retrieved from
http://christykeeler.com/EducationalVirtualMuseums.html

Winch, G., Ross Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy. Reading, writing and children’s literacy. (4th ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Sharing the love...

This week I thought I'd look at reposting something that someone else put on the web.  At the bottom of most articles/videos is an array of icons so you can share other people's work to various forms of social media.  I don't even know what all of them mean.

Reposting is something I never do as I already believe the internet is a sea of mediocrity and we don't need to clutter it with something that someone has already posted.


This is different though - this was made by my friends Zoe and Michelle

and I'm in it.

Week 4 - Supersize me please.

We bought a Mac because of the one cast metal case - perfect for travelling.  One day we found our then 4 year old standing on the Mac to get a little bit higher - both survived the experience.  Macs are designed to make life simpler.  If I want to resize a photo I let technology do it for me.  I remember on the PC having to go through a few complex steps but not anymore.

Here is a photo of a good looking rooster that I know.

This photo measures in at a whopping 9.7MB.  Is that equal to a phone book, The Encyclopaedia Britannica or some other tome?  It's hard to say.  I found conflicting information on the internet about how much text 9.7MB is equal to.

After playing with the photo in iPhoto, the generic photo program that comes with Mac, I was able to drop the photo down to 66KB.  While he's still a good catch the photo has become pixellated, that is we can start to see the individual pixels that make up this picture. 

One way to get around this problem is to display the 66KB photo as a thumbnail.  Here the photo looks sharp again.

I have seen pixellated photos used deliberately, such as wall hangings, and accidentally, such as small images put into PowerPoint presentations.  The latter look unprofessional and generally have a watermark in them showing that the person has just ripped them off Google Images.  If teachers are going to use photos they should take the time to source sharp images that are the correct size.  Just as you wouldn't give students a poorly handwritten handout, why use dodgy images?

Voki.

I haven't used Voki in the classroom yet and I'm not sure about its application.  I prefer face to face contact and I would probably record myself somewhere in costume rather than use Lee's (Australia) voice.

The process was very simple to do and the price was right.  I would have to put on the six thinking hats to help me get past my dislike of things being over animated and two dimensional.  Perhaps this would be a good tool for students to use to help them become more creative.  I once saw a talk on Moodle which was all Voki and it was very difficult to watch.  For this reason I would only use it for short bursts, perhaps just to give some simple instructions.

Video.

As a family, we've uploaded several videos to YouTube over the past three years.  Some for travelling and some just for fun.  We found the iPod fantastic for this as we could film something and it would send it straight to YouTube without us having to do any fiddling.

My kids asked about stop-motion photography such as Sean the Sheep and many other children's show.  Thinking of the "give a man to fish..." quote I decided to show them how to fish.  We made our own stop-motion video.  This was edited with iMovie, the standard film editing software that comes with the Mac.

In regards to media, I like the idea of children creating more than they consume.  I think making movies is an important part of (digital) literacy and all children should be taught how to create entertainment, whether it's an app, storybook, movie, film clip etc, it doesn't really matter so long as they are creating something and going through that process of editing and improving.

As I said with Voki, I would feel more comfortable recording myself, or someone else, in character presenting the information I wanted the class to know.  I feel it would be more engaging if students saw familiar faces on the screen then some animation.  Perhaps it would change to teacher/student relationship if they saw certain teachers in costume or disguise.  I would use film for students who are generally shy in front of the class.  This way they can record in private and still present in public.  I would also use this method when it wasn't necessary for the class to see the presentation - then I could mark at my leisure.  Other benefits of film is incorporating people or places not part of the school

YouTube has several features for any unauthorised use of music.  One option is that the video is not played.  Our friends in Germany cannot watch one of our movies due to the music we added to it.  Another option is the video is played but the sound is muted automatically.  Most common is the popup ad that usually happens about ten seconds into the video.  This is denoted by a yellow mark in the time bar at the bottom of the video.

Copying files, photos, videos off the internet is quite simple and there are many free sites that will help you remove the music from YouTube clips.  I think students need to be made aware that just because the item doesn't come from a shop, someone still spent time and energy to create a product and we should not take as we please.  Stealing is stealing.

Many schools now ask parents to sign media release forms and having children on publicly accessible videos is something that the school would have to specify in their media release forms.

Substitution	Students substitute a class presentation/performance with the inclusion of a PowerPoint in their presentation/performance.
Augmentation	Students record their presentation and include some visual or audible effects.  This may include transitions and/or music.
Modification	Video is published to public forum, such as YouTube, where viewers are able to comment on the product.
Redifinition	Students use NearPod to create interactive presentation as well as elements of iMovie.

Week 3. Wikis, Blogger and Weebly

In the beginning the great god Dot Matrix created Web 1.0 and it was good.  However, it was static and controlled by unknown owners of websites.  Dot Matrix worked with MS-DOS, a demigod with an acronym indecipherable by mortals, to maintain a passive internet full of one way communication.

After the great dotcom crash, where loosing money was easy-PC, Web 2.0 rose from the ashes and brought forth Wikipedia, YouTube, blogging and other platforms that allowed two-way, dynamic sharing of information and ideas.  Collaboration was the new buzzword.

Weebly.
I've used Weebly before to make my own websites and for a science assessment piece.  If you would like to see this amazing HD type assessment piece then click on the photo below.  The website utilised Bloom's Taxonomy.  I have hidden the CREATE tab from public view as I may like to develop the idea in the future.

The affordances of Weebly to educators are:

• the basic site allows for many themed templates
• insertion of video, photos, forums and files
• ability to hide certain pages while still maintaining the content
• the website can only be edited by password holders meaning that teachers can be confident that content will not be altered (either deliberately or accidentally) 
• password holder can see how many unique visitors are viewing the content

I would certainly used Weebly in the future for the above reasons.

 (Ahmed, 2012)

Wikis.

Wikis are considered a web 2.0 tool that allows various people co-construct and edit information on a website.  The term 'wiki' come from the Hawaiian language meaning quick.  I have used wikis several times for university, mainly as a log of meetings and to show the input of groups members for group presentations.  I am yet to be convinced that the majority of wikis are not from the stone age.  I find them clunky and lacking in intuitive technology.  

The wiki below was created purely for this course.  I asked some friends to contribute to it and someone has put One Direction as my favourite band.  Perhaps allowing anyone the chance to edit the material is one major downside of wikis.

The affordances of wikis for educators are:

• asynchronous communication
• multiple users
• don't have to wait for other user's responses before editing content
• possible to see previous drafts (paper trail)

(Clinebell, Thomas, & Sedbrook, 2012).

Blogs.

Blogs are used for people to maintain an online diary, or web-log, containing opinions, musings, links to other sites.  While we were travelling in 2011, we used a blog so that our family in Australia could keep up with our activities.  Visitors to our blog were able to leave comments and we in turn could write back to these people.  Below is a link to our travel blog of Chile in South America.  Click on the photo to read about our adventures.

The affordances of blogs to educators are:

• the adopt a connectivist approach to learning
• content can only be edited by password holders
• students can enter comments which can be hidden till the end or published immediately
• posts can be created ahead of time to come online automatically at a certain time/date
• information is automatically stored chronologically and displayed in a file
• Blogger is owned by Google and therefore linked to powerful resources
• numerous layouts and themed templates to use depending on students' interests or subject being studied
• videos can be embedded allowing for flip lectures

Garcia, Brown, & Elbeltagi, 2013).

The SAMR model.

	Wiki	Weebly	Blog
Substitutuon	Replaces synchronous conversations with asynchronous ones.	Replaces notice board, blackboard, TV monitor.	Replaces paper diary, journal, portfolio.
Augmentation	All students can edit work in progress immediately.	Includes links to other media and data.	Comments can be added from anyone.  These can be made public, deleted or remain private.
Modification	Can compare evolution of ideas by reviewing drafts.	Teacher is able to provide all necessary information to save students aimlessly searching the web	Students are able to link other blogs to their own.  Can add content from various sources
Redefinition	The final product is published for the Creative Commons as a collaborative piece	Students adopt a framework, such as De Bono’s Thinking Hats or Bloom’s Taxonomy to create their own website on a topic.	The blogger responds to the comments and provides feedback on the commenter’s blogsite.

References:

Ahmed Atta, A. (2012). Web 2.0: A Movement within the Learning Community. Information Management & Business Review, 4(12), 625-631.

Clinebell, S., Thomas, D., & Sedbrook, T. (2012). Helping Student Teams Work Collaboratively through Using Wikis. Journal Of The Academy Of Business Education, 1316-40.

Garcia, E., Brown, M., & Elbeltagi, I. (2013). Learning Within a Connectivist Educational Collective Blog Model: A Case Study of UK Higher Education. Electronic Journal Of E-Learning, 11(3), 253-262.