Reflection 5.1 - 5.3 Presenting Tools
Having worked for the federal government since 2002, boy oh boy am I familiar with the almighty powerpoint presentation. As the training delivery method became more "virtual", not only did we still have to suffer over-worded slides, we then had the joy of a 'hook-up' where the on-line presenter showed zero enthusiasm talking to 30 different people in 20 different locations. I appreciate learning and development in a career don't get me wrong. But I believe sometimes business, organisations, government departments - get the delivery all wrong. The need to be seen to be informing our staff, to avoid litigation or meet mandatory requirements or whatever, is missing the point (pun intended of course).....time is valuable and we need our viewer to see, hear, learn what we are presenting. Otherwise, what is the point? (oh gosh sorry, pun intended AGAIN). I watched this clip below. I gather this David Phillips wrote a book about not killing people via powerpoint. The clip is a bit hard going to be honest as I am not sure I find presenter very authentic (harsh I know), but his key messages did resonate for me..... So what I took away from the above clip was this: * One message per slide * Contrast - white background is THE worst * Size matters - the brain will gravitate to the larger object / text * Don't talk at the same time as expecting the text to be read * No more than 6 things / words / items on the slide. Below is my very basic powerpoint:
And I have set up a public prezi .....see below.....
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Reflection 4.3 Video
Write a reflection that documents your exploration of video use and creation. Then think of your pedagogy, and content. How could the use of student generated, and student accessed video be supportive of learning in your own teaching context? Use the SAMR model (as usual, and for the balance of your explorations of technologies) to propose the use of video (both learner-accessed, and learner-generated) in your own classrooms at each level of the model. In this exploration, you may wish to assess a range (your choice) of tools for video production as well as video resources online. Ok so world of drama here. I got one phrase for you: locked out of iTunes! I had fun making a little i-movie. I will be keeping that one for myself as it has lots of pics of my kids and I am not sure I am comfortable putting all that on display. As I have mentioned before, I don't even facebook. I will provide my little snippet below. Baby steps and all that. Openshot looks great, easily created and edited and FREE. I think realistically, anything that can be created from our mobile device and quickly uploaded is the winner. All the editing programs I would certainly need lots of time to explore and anticipate to do just that. When I think of videos with impact my mind goes to this one below. Oh how I wish I had seen this when I was a teenage girl, obsessed about my weight and disengaging with all forms of sport.
This Girl Can is an initiative in the UK, funding by The National Lottery and developed by the government body Sport England. Please look at their fabulous site here.
Along this vein, I found this Australian ad for Samsung about the amazing Laura Geitz. The style Laura uses shows the use of ICTs within the ad itself. The format would be great in a classroom situation, getting the students to create their own video on their 'inner strength'.
This type of project would work perfectly in the learning area of Gender and Identity for year 11 subject of Social and Community Studies. See more detail from QCAA here. I would be particularly focusing on the learning experience of "communicating the outcomes of inquiries related to the construction of gender and identity ". (QCAA)
Reflection 4.2 Podcasts
Write a reflection that documents your exploration of podcasting. Then think of your pedagogy, and content. How could the use of podcasts or audio recording be supportive of learning in your own teaching context? Use the SAMR model (as usual, and for the balance of your explorations of technologies) to propose the use of audio (both learner-accessed, and learner-generated) in your own classrooms at each level of the model. Podcasts....podcasts? I think that is what those groovy "Hipsters" drinking their "Chai Lattes" listen to. Hmm.... let's see shall we? As I explored the topic of podcasts I learnt a lot. I had been wanting to dabble in to this world for a while to be honest. Two Triple J announces I love, Myf Warhurst and Zan Rowe have been talking about their latest podcasts and I believe they might even be top of the podcast sales / downloads as I type. You can listen to their podcasts Bang On here. My fellow student Erin in her blog, rookiesblog.weebly.com shows a catchy clip about not being scared of podcasts. It certainly gave me confidence....and a giggle. Then I discovered an awesome podcast tailored especially for kids! See info about The Beanies below. I had a play with Audacity. And boy have I spent some time on trying to get this audio in to here. Thank goodness for youtube. I learnt how to send it from Audacity to Soundcloud which weebly likes. Phew! Have a listen below to yours truly and my memories of when Oodgeroo Nunuccal visited my high school in 1988. Oh such a privilege was wasted on this one at that time. Yet alas, all things come full circle and here I am in 2017 making my own sound clip about it. I wanted to edit it further and put a recording of Oodgeroo herself reciting one of her poems on the end, but I am running out of time. So instead please visit here to experience that. (source: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia) And finally, my SAMR. I have again used a HASS junior secondary Civics and Citizenship class - year 8 to be specific. (See here for details from ACARA for the full curriculum detail.)
Reflection 4.1 Images
Write a blog reflection, identifying the learning purpose of a) using images/visual representations created by others, and b) learner-generated images/visuals. Then think of your pedagogy, and content. How could the use of images/visuals be supportive of learning in your own teaching context? Use the SAMR model (as usual, and for the balance of your explorations of technologies) to propose the use of images/visuals (both learner-accessed, and learner-generated) in your own classrooms at each level of the model. Wowsers! There is so much to cover this week. Honestly, it was scary seeing the weekly content pages....read this, try this, watch here, reflect there. Then the page with the header declaration stating that to read and try everything - not even "Super Student" could complete - be selective. Aaaaah......audible sigh of relief. Audible....audio.....did someone say audio? You will hear (pun intended) me on that one later. Taking into account Bob's wise words, let's be one of those that does listen to music shall we? Courtesy of triple j, here is Julia Jacklin singing 'Don't Let the Kids Win' live, a haunting song about youth and how we lose so much as we "grow up", we forget about the truly important things....
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFbJ_x3CJbY
Now let's talk about images. The power of an image. What is says. What it can be interpreted as. What is can be misinterpreted as. Photo: Jamie Lorriman Images for learning = powerful! The impact of seeing, interpreting, digesting an image is so very powerful. The photograph above is an example of the power of an image. A world-wide reaction followed the posting of this image after the recent terror attack in London. The haters sure did hate with this one. In case you missed it, there was an outcry that a Muslim woman casually walked and mobile-phoned past an horrific act of terror and human suffering. But a large number of rational voices also came to the fore. Namely the photographer himself, Jamie Lorriman, saying he would not assume what was going through the lady's mind, and neither should people who were not at the scene. “To assume she was ignoring someone is impossible to know, the look on the woman’s face, she’s horrified, she’s in the middle of a traumatic situation." (source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation) See that story here. In a classroom discussing what we see and how it is perceived, how that can be used for good or for bad, makes for fantastic topic analysis and understanding. Now let's flip it. Let's get the student to create the image. The power of selecting or creating an image, sharing it, explaining it, in my mind is a fantastic way to learn. This explanation below of visual literacy is undoubtedly the evaluating and creating end of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. "Visual literacy is the ability to see, to understand, and ultimately to think, create, and communicate graphically. Generally speaking, the visually literate viewer looks at an image carefully, critically, and with an eye for the intentions of the image’s creator. Those skills can be applied equally to any type of image: photographs, paintings and drawings, graphic art (including everything from political cartoons to comic books to illustrations in children’s books), films, maps, and various kinds of charts and graphs. All convey information and ideas, and visual literacy allows the viewer to gather the information and ideas contained in an image, place them in context, and determine whether they are valid." I had a play with popplet. As an example this could be a fantastic tool for collating all the images from a trip to Pumpkin Island as part of the subject of Tourism for year 11. See here on the QCAA website for a sample of work that could certainly incorporate a bit of popplet action.
Now for my SAMR. Yippee! I worked out how to incorporate a blooming table! I can not tell you my level of happiness. Small things as they say. Anyhoo, all I had to do was download a free 'simple table' app from the top of the weebly editing process. Happy Days. So this SAMR is following on with the Year 11 Tourism theme.
Reflection 3.3 Websites
Write a blog reflection, identifying the functionality of your website. Then think of your pedagogy, and content. How could your website be useful for teaching in your own teaching context? Use the SAMR model (as usual, and for the balance of your explorations of technologies) to propose the use of websites in your own classrooms at each level of the model. As mentioned in the previous site, my experience with set website form is with weebly, which is extra fabulous in that it is a blog also. The fixed website would be a great tool for the information that needs to be "concrete". This would apply from the perspective of teacher or student user. According to QCAA: "What is Social and Community Studies all about? What are your personality traits, your strengths and weaknesses? What are the influences on your personal identity? What skills do you need to function efficiently, effectively and positively in your current and future life roles as a family member, student, worker and citizen? Social and Community Studies allows you to respond to these questions through developing important ‘life skills’ — the personal, interpersonal, and citizenship skills that are at the core of the subject. It will help you to develop responsible attitudes and behaviours, establish positive relationships and networks, and encourage you to be an active and informed citizen who can participate effectively in the community. " Websites are the perfect forum for a student to display, develop and analyse such a subject goal. The previous two subject content examples would work fabulously in the web format, either the final presentation of inquiry or the 'story line' of the line of social or community studies that have taken place.
Reflection 3.2 Wikis for learning
Write a blog reflection, identifying the functionality of your wiki. Then think of your pedagogy, and content. How could your wiki be useful for teaching in your own teaching context? Use the SAMR model (as usual, and for the balance of your explorations of technologies) to propose the use of wikis in your own classrooms at each level of the model. So the wiki setup was fairly simple using the instruction sheet. After the appealing look of weebly, I find the look of wiki not as user-friendly. The other down-side to wiki that I have now experienced first hand doing the GDLT is where someone in the group accidentally deletes or changes an important shared document / item. This would mean in a classroom setting going over rules and etiquette and getting perhaps the students themselves to have a list of wiki rules to have on the site and reassess on a regular basis. I imagine that will change with more familiarizing. Watching the clip below gave me a great idea for using wiki in my classroom.
My mind went to St Brendan's College. The students on each Thursday assist with "Eddie's Van" where meals are given to those in need. It is in co-ordination with St Vincent de Paul. I think it would be a fantastic project for the students to co-ordinate the Eddie's Van requirements using wiki. Looking at senior Social and Community Studies syllabus on the QCAA site, one of the learning benefits is that: "the development of citizenship skills helps you to become an active and contributing member of society and allows you to understand and empathise with different perspectives, and within various social contexts".
(https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/senior/snr_social_comm_14_sas_guide.pdf) So the co-ordination part of the project would be made so much more stream-lined, just like the camping trip co-ordination in the clip above. It would move in to redefinition once we add in the aspect of real-life social investigation and the sharing of thoughts and possible solutions or improvements. The ICT in this case would redefine how the students provide assessment on their social and citizenship investigation. Reflection 3.1
This activity asks you to reflect on your learning about blogs. How could you use blogs in your teaching context? This blogging business has been a steep learning curve for me the last three weeks. For a person that does not even use Facebook, I have honestly struggled. The anxiousness that I have felt with public sharing, albeit only to our professional student and staff GDLT body, has been constant. But just as I will ask my students to 'stretch' themselves, I have pushed through my comfort zone and am feeling more and more confident with each reflection on this blog-o-mine. When I first set up this Weebly blog, apart from being totally absorbed in the pretty set up options, my first error was that I set up the first couple of pages as web format, not blog format. At the time I perceived this as a boo-boo, however now as I reflect back to my week one, I see it as unintentional discovery of the added function of weebly. It can be web page and blog! Which is fabulous for the class setting, where stand-alone pages regarding assessment content for example, can sit unchangeable. Then the blog pages can be commented on and added to. In my head, I see my year 10 Civics and Citizenship class doing a group blog (so each person is added as allowable contributor in weebly) on the topic of industrial relations in Australia. Where the blog space is about a workplace and each contributor has a different role: employer, employee, apprentice, apprenticeship centre, Fair Work Australia. And from here the students have to research and detail the rights and responsibilities of each role. From there the options are endless. Posing different scenarios, changing of roles etc. I would link this in to the ACARA year 10 curriculum guidelines: Citizenship, diversity and identityThe challenges to and ways of sustaining a resilient democracy and cohesive society (ACHCK094) Just like Bob, it has dawned on me that I need to change my inner thought patterns. What could be possible in the classroom? How can ICTs enhance the depth of understanding for my students? Can I develop a pedagogy that is not narrow? I am absolutely going to have to disorientate myself and my GDLT is just the beginning. Looking at the SAMR model, it is not enough to simply use ICTs for substitution or augmentation - that is too narrow. How can I utilise ICTs for modification or redesign or further still; for redefinition? How can SAMR widen the learning experience for the students? Using the revised version of Bloom's Taxonomy that is the six 'doing words' of; remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating, provides the framework for teachers to get the students to that higher end learning, which I am sure we all agree is the goal post. I took it all with me when I looked at the ACARA site. I focused on HASS for junior secondary and zoomed in on Civics and Citizenship for Year 7 curriculum. I looked at this using SAMR and Bloom's revised Taxonomy as point of reference. The knowledge and understanding descriptors can be linked to Bloom's knowledge and comprehension levels. The curriculum descriptors for Civics and Citizenship skills include: questioning and research; analysis, synthesis and interpretation; problem solving and decision making; communication and reflection, and these can all be placed in the high levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, namely analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Learning key concepts of a subject is undoubtedly important. This forms the foundation of the learning. Using ICTs in the enhancing category of SAMR is not a negative. To get the learning to the next level to assist analysis and evaluation, ICTs play the most important of roles. As an example the potential for a cultural exchange experience utilizing skype where the students get to ask a member from the particular culture being studied a set of prearranged questions and then develop a news presentation clip for the school newsletter. This is the higher end stuff of Bloom's Taxonomy and is undoubtedly in the SAMR transformative section. I travelled down the google rabbit hole and look at the gem example of the transformative nature of ICTs in education I found! The source is from the ACCE - the Australian Council for Computers in Education. ***************************************************************************************************** Digital Dreaming Project - Jason Evatt Paul Sampson This presentation will outline a body of work in ICTs that has evolved over the past four years at Yarrabah State School, an all-indigenous school approximately one hour drive from Cairns. This project has used ICTs to record a number of Traditional Stories of the Gungganyji people (the traditional inhabitants of the area) and then turned them into computer animations using student art, voices and music as well a contracted artist/programmer. These animations are currently being embedded into an interactive literacy software package for the students at the school. This software is being designed & built by a team of teachers at the school and Version 1 should be complete by the conference date. This product will be showcased at the stage it's at. The presentation will outline the processes that have been followed through each phase of the project and give an insight into the software & hardware used as well as the skills of the people involved. It will be accompanied by a student performance of traditional dance & music, presenting one of the animations. Empowering Youth to Record their Culture. Young people are excited by technology and they are quick learners. The Digital Dreaming Project is all about the preservation of Indigenous culture, so we arm kids in Indigenous communities with the tools to record and document the traditional practices taught to them by their Elders. When we put cameras into the hands of the eager young people of Mornington Island, they went wild, taking photos of everything from cooking, traditional dance and Country. In some communities this sort of technology is not readily available, so the enthusiasm levels are extremely high. One of Farley's goals is to be able to leave at least one camera in every community she visits, to encourage the continued recording of culture. If you would like to help make this dream possible, please contact us. source: http://www.digitaldreamingproject.com.au/mission I have done this week back to front. I am still working on my table for the 'My Experience of Pedagogy'. My memory has to go back a long way! To be continued......
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Maya Angelou // "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can be kind...and fair and generous...occasionally. But to be that thing time after time, you have to really have courage."
photo by Nitch / CC BY James Baldwin // "The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated."
photo by Nitch / CC BY Anne Frank // "How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day."
photo by Nitch / CC BY Bob Dylan // "When I watch the news, I realize that the world is run by those that never listen to music."
photo by Nitch / CC BY Bob Dylan // "And it dawned on me that I might have to change my inner thought patterns...that I would have to start believing in possibilities that I wouldn't have allowed before, that I had been closing my creativity down to a very narrow, controllable scale...that things had become too familiar and I might have to disorient myself."
photo by Nitch / CC BY |