Assignement Two : A theme park Adventure

Exploring the four groups of digital technologies for me was like being a kid in a theme park. The first group, the blogs, wiki's and web pages were the park itself, the lay out of the park and the other groups of technologies like the rides and stalls. Discovering each technology was exciting and thrilling but also scary and frustrating. Initially I was hesitant and unsure of using the technologies but by working through each one, my confidence grew to where I was keen to get on the next ride. Each technology led to another; each application had more aspects to learn, more ways to utilise in schools or for personal or work use. Just like a kid in the park, I often didn't want to stop playing, finding some of the technologies a little addictive, especially the ones involving imaging and with creative outcomes like Glogster (educational version) or Zooburst . Others were fascinating and mesmerising like Google Earth where you can take a virtual tour or choose to star gaze. I can imagine that given the resources, both financial and educational and a conducive school environments, utilising these technologies for primary students' education has the potential to engage and inspire students and school communities in a world of learning that is meaningful, constructive and fun.

The technologies require critical thinking as students need to observe, understand and analyse what is happening, plan and decide what to use, how and where. Then they need to engage with the technology and do the activity; utilise what they have created and establish how they will communicate this with the desired audience, publish it and then await review and feedback and maybe reassess and alter the publication to accommodate the feedback. Quite a process. (McLoughlin and Marshall 2000) discuss that technology use in education is not just about the delivery of information to students rather it is about scaffolding the learning tp assist students to construct their knowledge. Keeping this in mind and ensuring there is an educational purpose ICT's are a vital part of the learning process to prepare today's students for active participation in a global community.

My journey through the exploration of the four technologies is documented on my blog - Mezza's Blog which includes examples of technologies I have tried and references to other websites and documents that I discovered on my way. During this adventure I also created a webpage and a wiki, at both of these sites you can find the evidence of my learning of ICT's. Some aspects of the webpage - Mezzalearning  and the wiki -Mezzas wiki are rather rudimentary and require refining, some are okay; I found the experience of creating these challenging, time consuming and rewarding. Whilst creating these sites I kept in mind how utilising these technologies might feel for primary school children; I plan to keep in mind the;

• frustration generated when some aspect of the technology doesn't work
• elation felt when things work and you publish something that is uniquely yours
• time consuming nature of the tasks when you are not familiar with the technology
• need to scaffold the learning, keeping tasks and developmental process within the capabilities of the user initially and then extend them
• need to work within the availability of the technologies, equipment and resources within the school environment
• need to assess the students capabilities prior to using the technologies as many may be more familiar with using the technologies and less hesitant whilst some students may only have access at the school
• legal, ethical and safety issues inherent in using these technologies.

Further analysis of the elements of the four technologies can be found in my blog postings that are appendages to this posting. The following discussions centres on the ethical, legal and safety issues and the four technologies I think I will most likely use and be able to use (resources) in my teaching practice. Whilst they are my favourites, each technology I explored had merit and excitement, laced with creative potential and if available to use, would enhance student learning.

Using technologies raises some legal, ethical and safety issues for the users of the net and educators need to be aware of the issues especially with school children. Some websites include `safety hints' and rules on their pages that outline directly the precautions a user needs to take, for example the Tate Online Kids Gallery has `Tate Kids Online Safety'. Schools often conduct cyber safety workshops and advice for teachers, users and parents using the Australian Government safety guide (you can view it here at cyber {smart}), The rules are based around these issues;

1. keeping the users identity safe from predators, or others with ill intent, or unwelcome marketing (not sharing personal information)
2. keeping people from exposure to inappropriate material
3. keeping safe from bullying or harassment
4. theft of information or ideas, plagiarism, poor attribution to original material
5. believing everything on the net is true and factual.

The Stay Smart Online Website is a comprehensive website that outlines the issues and has programs for all types of users. In the section for teachers and schools it has programs the students can work through to increase their awareness of safety issues. Being aware of and making students aware also, and putting into place the appropriate safe guards as outlined in the `Stay Smart' website will significantly help teachers ensure students stay safe whilst using the web.

There are several resources  for information about being safe on the net (as mentioned previously) and others like Bianca Nolan  (2011) created a very useful ready guide for copyright and communication implication of uploading on a blog or wiki. It can be viewed here on her blog page Bianca's Blogging experience.

Blogs
Digital technologies Group One
The blog underpins the current course in ICT's that I am studying and is the launch pad for discovering and examining the other technologies. The benefits and drawbacks of using a blog are examined in this PMI and again outlined in the examination of Group one technologies in Appendix One and also found in my blog (Mezza's Blog). Blogs enhance and support modern day learners by being a platform for

• creating a personalised work space reflective of them as individuals (or collaborative work unit)
• summarising and reflect knowledge the students have already and acquired through using the blog
• comparison and contrasting various issues/topics/resources
• utilisation of various other technologies within the blog space
• thinking, planning, analysing and editing. Creating, publishing, sharing their learning. 

Using blogs, where the learning is well structured and supported by sound learning theory, has the ability to transform learning by making the learning student focused and student driven. It can be engaging and enjoyable - not like school work at all! I could envisage using blogs in the classroom primarily in two ways;

1. as a classroom blog to showcase work and classroom events and activities and share this with parents and the school community and to journal the classes journey through the year
2. for particular class lessons, for example a science project examining the solar system; Students could reflect on their learning, use google earth & sky to visit planets, utilise other websites like NASA for information and experiments.

Podcasts
Digital technologies Group Two

Although podcasting was initially tricky and requires more equipment, I think it is an invaluable learning tool for primary school education. Podcasts can be used by both the students to present their work and by teachers to deliver lessons or instructions. They can be played on various media and repeated, stopped and shared to enhance learning. They are also a creative forum where photos or videos can be included to enhance the audio content. A SWOT analysis of pod casts can be found in my blog at this posting: analysis of podcasts. I think blogs have the potential to transform learning because they take the learning out of the traditional classroom and the teacher becomes more of a collaborative partner and facilitator of the learning process.

I would use podcasting with a class to enhance thee students reading and speaking skills; Students could write a story, record it, design a photo/picture gallery to go with the story and then publish it. The skills involved in this sort of project are huge and it can be just as easily used by younger grades as older ones. As with all teaching/learning the learning activity needs to be structured, supported by sound theory and scaffolded to enable the student to achieve and move through the required tasks. I would also use podcasts for messages and notices in class wiki's or webs pages. More information about podcasting (and other group two technologies) along with the opportunity to view my own attempts at podcasting can be found in appendix two Group Two Technologies.


Powerpoint
Digital technologies Group Three

Power point is the stand out for me in this group of technologies as I believe it has many uses and is the `workhorse' of this group. Using power point for lesson planning provides a platform from which lessons can evolve, develop and be shared. I have outlined the benefits of powerpoint in blog posting entitled Group three technologies, (Brennan 2011). Please refer to Appendix Three for a more detailed analysis of power point and a discussion of how I have used powerpoint in my role as School Based Youth health Nurse with high school studetns. There are also useful sites for using powerpoint in the classroom.

I would utilise powerpoint most as a teacher because

• most classrooms have the facility to use powerpoint with projectors and laptops
• lessons are easily stored and retrieved using digital storage devise
• preparing lessons using powerpoint requires the acquisition of knowledge that can be transformed into a presentable style and I find in this process I gain a workable understanding of the information I am presenting. It allows for clarification of thoughts, plans, objectives and outcomes of the lesson.
• it is interactive and interesting for the student and can be stopped, started and can go backwards. The lesson can be printed off if need be. Shared
• Include video, audio and other media to enhance the presentation

Concept and Mind Maps
Digital technologies Group Four

Novak and Carias (2008) describe concept maps as a "...truly a profound and powerful tool' and that "... one begins to see that a good concept map is at once simple, but also elegantly complex with profound meanings." This is why I like concept maps; they are an effective tool for planning and for clarification of ideas, thoughts & concepts, to take notes and problem solve. The other reason I think they are a valuable tool is because they can be used by all age levels, by groups or individuals and in a variety of situations. Please refer to blog posting group four technologies for examples of concept maps along with a more detailed discussion of its uses. I would use concept maps for teaching and learning for myself to plan and organise ideas for lesson planning and I would teach the concept tool to students initially so they could grasp the simplicity of the tool and then use it to plan and organise their own work. I would initiate concept mapping at the beginning of project work for both groups and individuals to direct their work and develop their thinking.


In conclusion then I think it is about balance. The balance between;

• virtual experiences and real experiences
• sitting at the computer and being physical
• doing work and day dreaming
• thinking and producing
• working collaboratively and alone
• typing and writing
• creating a poster on line and one by hand

and the final underlying defining one is the balance between resources available, teachers ability to impact ICT's and the need to teach here and now with what they have at hand. It is a fun theme park.

Appendix List

1. Brennan. M, (2011) Group One Technologies Mezza's Blog.  Retrieved 15th April 2011 from  http://mezzas-learning.blogspot.com/2011/04/group-one-digital-technologies.html

2. Brennan. M, (2011) Group Two Technologies Mezza's Blog. Retrieved  15th April 2011 from http://mezzas-learning.blogspot.com/2011/04/group-two-digital-technologies.html

3. Brennan. M, (2011) Group Three Technologies Mezza's Blog. Retrieved 15th April 2011 from http://mezzas-learning.blogspot.com/2011/04/group-three-technologies.html

4. Brennan. M. (2011) Group Four Technologies Mezza's Blog. retrieved 15th April 2100 from http://mezzas-learning.blogspot.com/2011/04/group-four-technolgies.html



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