Embedded Task 2

Hi all,

This week I was able to explore the vast number of uses for blogs, websites and wikis.
However for this task I chose to further my understanding of blogs and how they can be useful to teachers in the 21st century.

There are a number of different ways that I have observed in incorporating the use of blogs into classroom curriculums. Blogs can allow teachers to post questions, ideas, strategies etc. And have other teachers post comments and read each others ideas and teaching methods. There is also a range of settings present which can help to add features to your blog, as well as a variety of settings to make your blog safe but popular at the same time. There is also an opportunity to post a multi author blog which could allow for a group of teachers to post about various techniques for engaging learners. To aid with confidentiality and copyright there are also a number of privacy settings present. You can also customise the blog and change its title etc. It is also important to consider just what information that is in your blog as it has the potential to be viewed by people across the world, and to ensure that blog entries are easy to read and follow. I found the blogger website relatively easy to use, and it only takes a small amount of time to get used to the features of the website. Experience is not really needed to operate this site, however it would be helpful.

By using blogs in the classroom, it can give the students the opportunity to read each others work, however the privacy settings would need to be in place to avoid plagiarism for example. Blogs can also work on improving students educational outcomes as people can comment and provide tips and suggestions in order to improve their work. In my opinion this is a great way to share and learn new perspectives that might not have been at the forefront of your own learning. The use of blogs could potentially be used to support activities such as online collaboration between two classes studying the same unit of work, as the students would share study techniques as well as different ways to learn and construct suitable answers and ideas on the content.

To incorporate these learning activities into my classroom there are a few methods that I could use. The most straight forward method would be thaw when my students are studying anatomy in health and physical education. By using blogs the students could share diagrams and answer questions that I have proposed to them on their blog. This particular activity resembles the SAMR model  of redefinition, modification, augmentation and substitution. At the augmentation phase a series of small tests could be presented to the students for completion, then I could myself provide each student some private feedback on their blog. At the substitution level the blog could contain sources and forms of information that the students will need to answer a series of questions. To modify this task the students would have to provide an overview for the class about each of the body systems. Lastly to redefine the task I could have the students draw diagrams and label them correctly for a different class to use and also for their own private study. Through the use of blogs it would hopefully allow my students to become creative learners. Through the use of modern technology in classrooms it gives teachers and students an unlimited number of ways to further their learning as well as allowing teachers to engage in their students learning.

I hope this provides for interesting reading
James

Assessment 1 Embedded Task 1

Hi everyone,

Whilst reading over the course materials for this week, I came across the de Bono's hats activity. I found this particular activity intriguing as the learning theory was quite different as it made me think of the different issues and perspectives  in relation to the mobile phones in classrooms debate. My own personal experiences of prac teaching make me feel as if students having their phones next to them in the classroom is distracting. I feel as if the wiki activity worked positively as it gave me the opportunity to reflect on my thoughts on the activity topic and this is also a reflection on its design as well. I can also see that this particular activity can be differentiated to accommodate the different learning techniques across a range of learners.

The learning theory behind this particular activity was to, in my opinion, think outside the box and consider several different ideas and opinions about the subject matter. This can be related to the SAMR model as this learning technique has been modified to incorporate the use of technology (Modification) as well as using technology as a direct tool substitute with functional improvements (Augmentation). The purpose of this activity was to make students think of and acknowledge the different thinking behind the different hats and the questions that they posed. The questions were specific to the different colours of the hats to identify the different thinking techniques that were necessary to answer the questions. Referring back to the SAMR model, the questions were continually being modified and created through the use of technology (Redefinition) as well as some questions being directly substituted and not changed (Substitution). The pedagogies within this activity have been included, in my opinion, to teach the content most effectively, again with the range of questions that they pose.

The value of the scaffolding for this particular activity is that it allows for higher order thinking to answer the questions, and through this I was able to identify my own perspectives on the mobile phones in class question. The purpose of this particular scaffolding is to make the various questions be the primary purpose of the activity and to encourage thinking in relation to the questions. My learning outcomes in relation to this activity allowed me the opportunity to identify my outlook on the mobile phone issue as a result of the scaffolding of the activity.

Thanks,
James.

Week 2 Reflection

Hi Everyone,

I found  the learning activity which was the design of the wiki page quite interesting and intriguing. This particular task influenced my thinking as I was using numerous perspectives in order constructing my opinions. I feel as if the purpose of the task was met as I was gaining different ideas and gaining alternate perspectives of the tasks. It was fairly clear that the documents that were a mix of the SAMR and Blooms Taxonomy. The task combined both documents and gave a demonstration of the lower order thinking  of Blooms Taxonomy necessary to be able to analyse and implement these  ideas in the classroom. The SAMR model went on to outline the restructuring of new ways to teach the content with the aid of technology. And also on how the use of technology allow for significant task redesign, as well as acting as a direct tool substitute with functional improvements.

Thanks, James

Week 1 Reflection

In this weeks lesson we were asked to complete a series of activities. The first one was to using the program flipgrid, to identify ideas from different documents and identify some of the ideas and pedagogies that teachers face when teaching. Another activity that we completed was to design and start our blog for this class. I have also learnt some valuable skills in order to incorporate these technologies into my teaching.