E-Learning

I have been watching a few videos on teacher tube, looking at the possibilities for creating a claymation project with primary students. This brief video gives a run down of what is required to get started as well as looking at the animation styles you may like to use. I hope to look further into the use of claymation with children and would be interested to know if anyone has any success stories they could share

Download Video: Posted by ddaniel at TeacherTube.com.

I had a bit of a laugh when I read the cartoon posted on Linda’s page. I had a similar situation at my practicum school yesterday when I was listening to students read in a reading group. The word ‘walkman’ was used in the story and the child reading was having trouble because they didn’t know what a walkman was. I had to explain to the children that a walkman is a little bit like an iPod but not many people use them anymore. I offered to bring one in and show the kids which they were very excited about. Wow! I would never have thought my walkman would be such a collectors item.

In response to a posting by Amy on the benefits of teachers sharing resources and ideas, I thought it would be appropriate to share some links I found whilst doing some research into podcasting. I have found a school in the United States that have embraced technology with students producing their own podcasts. Willowdale Primary School has their own website with links to information on podcasting as well as a section showcasing student work. I am a big believer in students having a platform to showcase their work as it provides a motivator for students in increasing the quality of the work they are doing as a result of a wider audience. I would recommend you check out some student work samples on the showcase section of the school website.

I have just watched a Teacher Tube video produced by Dorothy Bird from Point England School in New Zealand. She gives insight to the way in which podcasting is used by students at the school. Some key features of their podcasting is the fact that students are podcasting about books they have read and because students have been so keen to podcast, they in turn have been increasing the amount that they are reading. Students are also encouraged to work collaboratively in the production process of podcasting. The video runs for just over 8 minutes but is a good rationale for podcasting with primary students.

Download Video: Posted by kpetv at TeacherTube.com.

For our first assignment in our E-Learning subject, Linda and I created a LAMS unit on the media. In the unit, students were to create a news story in the format of either a blog, a podcast or an Imovie. Michelle has found a resource that would certainly enhance our LAMS lesson. It is a newspaper clipping generator that allows you to write a news story like the one below. I would recommend you read Michelle’s newspaper story as well as having a look at Linda’s effort also.I know I would of loved this when I was at school. Well, actually, I would have to say I love it even now! Click on the thumbnail below to read my article.

At my practicum school, I have been sitting in on Computers lessons with a year 4 class. I have been finding it interesting observing how different students interact with technology. At the moment, students are learning how to use e-mail. There have been a variety of responses from the students. Some children have really embraced the idea of e-mail and have thoroughly enjoyed sending electronic messages to their peers in the school and also family and friends outside of school. Some children though aren’t as enthusiastic, in fact I had one student say, my friend is sitting just over there, I would much prefer to go and talk to him instead of sending him an email. I too feel that there are times when it feels a bit funny sending someone an email when I could just as easily phone them or go and visit. In saying this though, I certainly enjoy the benefits of e-mail and I think it is a skill that is important for students to learn. Next week, children will be sent a task on email for them to complete and send back to the teacher via email along the same lines as Jenni’s son who also funnily enough is in year 4. I will be interested to see how the students respond to this task next week. I will be also interested to see what the teacher decides to ask the students to complete for her.

I was interested to read Linda’s thoughts on student motivation after trialling podcasting with students she tutors. Technology in this instance as well as in the case of Jenni’s son in year 4, has proven to be a motivator for students engaging in learning. I feel that for students to learn they do need the motivation to do so. I think it is wonderful that Linda took the risk with the students she was working with and gave podcasting a go with them and I am sure that many other students would be interested in such experiences. Each individual students will be motivated by different stimulus, it is up to us as teachers to find out what will help our students achieve their best and for some students this will be enhanced by the use of technology. I would recommend also that you read Jen’s comments about an article she read on the six C’s of motivation, which are choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning and consequences. I’m sure you would agree that this is a good basis for motivating students.

This is an interview with Geoff Elwood from Etech on the Channel Seven Sunrise program. Geoff talks about a research project that is underway in Victoria. A school in Victoria has issued students and teachers with Ipods and are looking at the benefits of using this technology to enhance learning. The project has the backing of the Victorian Education department as well as support from Apple. Similar projects have been undertaken previously in Scotland, Beijing and Arizona with positive results. Geoff points out that from research undertaken so far that the use of the software with students has enhanced their engagement. I don’t own an iPod myself and in fact have never really used one so I am not fully aware of their capabilities. One concern I have is that there would be students who are from families that would not be able to afford the purchase of such technology. It is fine if there is funding available to issue students with the required technology though if some students had access and others did not, this could create inequity amongst students. I would also be interested to hear your thoughts on how this technology could be used in a primary setting.

Firstly I would like to say how enjoyable it has been reading, viewing and listening to the postings on fellow student’s blog pages this week. Over the last couple of days however, for some reason when I access my blog using the Internet Explorer browser, which I am using for this post, I have no tool bar to add links and format the text etc. Strangely though, when I log in using Firefox, I am able to add links and format text etc. I thought I was going crazy last night when I was trying to insert a link and I couldn’t find the icon to do so. Today I decided to log in via Firefox and I was able to though it seemed to be a lot slower connection. Anyway what I am trying to say is that sometimes when using technology, it can be quite interesting as to why sometimes things work and at other times they don’t. I would like to know if anyone else in the blogesphere are experiencing strange occurances like me in my blogging experience. Happy blogging and have a good weekend!

I have listened to the podcast on Amy’s blog page as a result of reading comments from Linda Miles about the podcast. I agree that Garage Band was a very user friendly program that I feel students would be able to utilise in the classroom. I was excited about using Garage Band myself and I am eager to explore the other possibilities of the program. I had a conversation with the Computers teacher at my practicum school who is hoping to have students use Garage Band to create their own soundtrack for a Claymation project that they are working on. I will be interested to monitor the students progress and hopefully learn some more skills myself.