Digital Video

I loved creating a movie!! It would be something that students would love to see a lot in the classroom. It would invite them to learn and expand from the information in the movie. It would be a great opportunity for students and teachers to have a play around! It's a great technology for students and teachers to access to where they can create their learning in a movie!
It's another way for students to learn by watching a movie of some kind that will allow them to learn more about the particular subject. It's a great communication tool for teachers to use instead of having a whole class lesson, this would be available for students to listen to when they feel ready to listen to at a deadline. (teacher may want an discussion with the class about the particular movie so a deadline may be set).

Using digital video is a great way to set up classroom particularly over the internet or linking it to a blog where students still have the ability to learn with or without the teacher being present. Digital video is another option for home schooling or students who live out in the country and have no access to a classroom or teacher where they can attend to learn. For students who may have missed the class for a particular reason and the class being recorded on video, they have the opportunity to watch it due to teacher linking it to an email or website. Digital videos may be a great way to record a play that has been done by students and having the backup of the video, students can look back to help expand their learning or discussion within the class.

I used the movie maker on the computer. Windows Live Movie Maker, and it was very easy to use. There are different things you can do to be creative and make it interesting! You can add images, music, text or include your own voice to make the movie. There are so many you can do it create your movie. The more interesting you make it, the more the students would watch and learn about a particular subject!

Reference:
* Teach and Learning, "Meaningful digital video for every classroom", 2004. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/2166

Podcast

My Link to the podcast link http://nay-19au.podomatic.com/entry/2011-07-30T21_30_34-07_00

After doing some research on what podcast is and how it can be useful in the classroom. I didn't really like the information I read about podcast. I learnt that podcast will be another useful technology tool for students to use. Teachers might not like the idea of using podcast as it's almost like running a radio station in the classroom but it is something that students might use outside the classroom! Podcasting is a option where teachers and students can record a story or a page from the book where it's recorded and can be listened to. Podcasting is another option where the class can be recorded as 'notes' and can be listened to at a later date where they can look back and help with their learning for exams or assessments.

While researching about podcast, I found some information about how teachers and students can use podcast, how they can improve their skills. Interesting, with what they came up with! It's interesting to see that you can add different things to the podcast after recording the audio. You can add photos! I didn't have a go at adding photos because I felt nerve wrecked with the finished audio podcast afterwards!

I haven't used podcast before although I use Itunes a lot and I often see podcast on itunes and the ipod. I needed a run through with how to use the podcast. I went into itunes and found a few to listen to but there wasn't anything about how to record your own audio! I went through moodles and I noticed there was an tutorial on how to use podomatic software. I found it very useful. It was very straight forward and nerve wrecking to hear the sound of my voice or watching how high the voice wave go!

Reference:
* Department of Education Western Australia, 'Podcasts in the classroom.' 2011. Retrieved from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/
* PodOmatic Inc, 'Podmatic', 2010. Retrieved from http://podomatic.com
* EdTechie:Resources for teachers, "Using Podcasts in the classroom, 2008. Retrieved from http://edtechie.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/by-sandy-scragg/

Voki

Voki

My Voki link: http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=4180877&height=267&width=200

I had a lot of fun creating my voki person. It's a great way to be creative and use your imagination of the particular person. The voki person you have created, you have many options on how you can create the voice regarding the information you wish to speak about.You have the option of using your own voice or using a voice created on voki but you text what you wish to be said! It's a great way to put something different on a website for the students to listen to that will show them another way of learning!

Using voki in the classroom, is probably a great way to introduce yourself to the class or introducing what the lesson or assessment will be about. It's a great way for students who are shy, to be creative and have different voice from another country. It's possibly another great way for students to attempt learning another language through voki. I believe voki isn't a useful tool to use in the classroom very much.

Reference:
Voki, 2011 Retrieved from http://voki.com
Teach Web 2, "Voki". Retrieved from http://teachweb2.wikispaces.com/Voki

Reflection: Technology in Classroom

Technology is always going to change because there is always going to be something better and bigger to add to the long list of technology. But little did we know, or should I say digital natives knew this would happen but digital immigrant didn't see the light of technology hitting the classroom, but I always knew computers and mobile phones would somehow be placed in the classroom but not wiping out the blackboard and books!

Using technology in the classroom would be a great opportunity for the students to help teach the teacher, yes you heard right, about how to tackle the challenge of using technology. Teachers may tackle lots of training in using technology but I believe there will be some day where teachers will shake their head and not know what they have done. Students come to the rescue!

I believe students will tackle learning a lot more if technology is used in the classroom because technology is all about being creative and using as many digital tools as they possibility can to encourage the children to learn! Students aren't going to want to do a lot of reading from the blackboard, they prefer to talk!  Depending on the individual, the teacher needs to use different learning styles to have the class interested in the subject that is being taught.

The one thing that does concern me the most is, what happens when the electricity and back up battery on Ipads, computers, etc is out? How do teachers continue to teach the class without too many distractions from the students of saying "Oh, but I wanted to listen to that discussion" or "I was looking at the diagram." That is one thing that is needed to be taken into consideration when using technology in the classroom.

I do believe there would need to be guidelines as to how the students use the mobile phones or Ipad in the classroom but I believe it would be a win win situation with students and teachers using different technology in the classroom to learn.

So from generation to generation our classroom is changing, (Baby boomers-small blackboards; Gen x-blackboards and books; Gen y-Books and technology; Gen z-technology!).How will it be in the next generation? Classroom on the internet?? Who knows!

Uploading photos

My Flickr Photo Upload

Uploaded original photo onto Flickr

Colour and resize photo from Mobaphoto

Creative Photo from Picnik- http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome

Flickr is like facebook, except you are just using it to upload your photos. It's an online photo organisation where anyone can have an account to access to the photos on Flickr. However, you have the option to allow who sees the photos that is uploaded on your photo organisation account. You have the option for your photos to be private where only a percentage of people see it or you allow everyone to see the photos that is uploaded. It would be great for parents to download photos to see what their child has been learning in the classroom or have participated in an extra curriculum activity in the school.It's also another option to make newsletter of the class about what they have been learning or a good way to do an assignment where they are able to take photos and learn how to change the photos to make it suitable for their assignment.

Flickr, like many websites, you have the option to add an caption that tells the story of the photo. The photo itself, may tell a story but it's not as good as the person who owns the photo can be the storyteller of that particular photo. I notice on Flickr there is another tool you can use to display the photos which is a great tool for displaying it in the classroom for the students. Instead of using powerpoint which is very time wasting, you can use Flickr to create a slideshow for your photos.

As may have you noticed, the bottom photo is purple. I used the Mobaphoto software where you can change the photos as you wish, colour or size!. I thought I have a go and see what the outcome of few photos I played with and it was interesting although it's something that I wouldn't recommend for all photos to be played with, to be a little creative!

Picnik was a lot of fun! It's a great way to be creative with your photo by adding different things to the original photo. It's like scrapbooking or doing a photo collage which would be great for an assignment! Once finished with the creation of the photo, you have the option to place your photo onto another website, again as your wish for people you like them to see the photo. Great for learning in the classroom, seeing before and after photos.

Reference:
Flickr 2011. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com
Mobaphoto Software, 2011. Retrieved from http://mobaphoto.mobatek.net/en/
Picnik 2011, Retrieved from http://picnik.com

Word Cloud

Word cloud is another way to find a definition of a word without using the dictionary. The students work together to find out what they think a particular word or subject means to them. They are being creative by brainstorming different words as a group to understand the word or subject. Using different word clouds, students have the ability to create different shapes and colours using the words that they develop in their brainstorming session.

I absolutely loved using the word cloud. It is so much fun and great to be creative. There is no right or wrong word to put in the word cloud especially if you're focusing on a particular subject. Every word goes in there somehow! I tried using all the links on word cloud which can be found in wiki but I like this as it's fast and creative. It would be great for students to learn from the word cloud because they can see the words there but not know what the subject is about exactly.

It's an great way for a small group to work together to jot down some words that relates to a particular subject and create it into a word cloud. A tool where they are able to work in groups or individually where they can improve their literacy skills by developing new words. Word cloud is a little difficult but it's good to have some time to play around and see what students can create using the word cloud which would be excellent to use for an assignment or brainstorming on particular subject.

Reference:
* Word it out, 2011. Retreived from http://worditout.com/word-cloud/37150
* Oxford University Press, "Gems on the web-What is a word cloud?" 2010. Retrieved from http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2010/06/16/what-is-a-word-cloud/

'My frustration on technology' reflection

I am a week off from doing my first assessment and I think I will do okay because the written side of things, I cruise through it but when it comes to the practical side, I get frustrated! I have been trying to put few videos from youtube onto my blog and I am having no success whatsoever! I was successful once, well early on in the peace but since then I have forgotten how to do it! Why isn't every website simple like facebook?? I mean, I'm a whiz at facebook!! How is everyone doing with linking you tube to their blogs and wikis?! Any advice would be greatly apprepricated :)
Wow, 4 weeks have gone by and I have learnt a lot. I have come to realise that technology will soon become a part of the everyday learning class and I am brave to learn everything. I have grown up with technology because it's something I have always loved using! But being in a classroom with a computer is well, let's say strange. I have grown up with the blackboard and white chalk so is that going to walk out of the classroom altogether? Interesting especially when the baby boomers have lack of experience in technology, I guess we are all going to be learning something on a daily basic. But isn't what life is about, learning something new. Good luck for assessment 1 :)