Clog Blogs

This is a podcast of my final views of the e-learning subject. It really has been an enjoyable experience!

e-learning-overview

Image made available under Creatice Commons 2.0 Attribution.

Image can be found here.

-KD

What role, if any, do you think a robot teacher could have in a classroom?

This was the thought-provoking question Monkey Scribbles posed after writing about the new robot designed for Japanese skills. Personally, a robot teacher wouldn’t be able to be successful in a classroom. this is what the article suggest, however, that it was not meant to replace the human teacher, but act as a tool to help in the classroom. I think though, it would be quite distracting and just add to teacher pressures, by having to control the robot anyway. It is, i believe, a novelty that would quickly wear thin and become a burden. Wouldn’t it be easier to leave the robot at the door?

Made available under the Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution

Image available here.

-KD

Here is an audio podcast on my final thoughts of e-learning.
Enjoy!

Reading this new technoligical development on Monkey Scribbles produces a mixture of feelings. The entry discusses the process of retrieving and researching library books. What to expect?

“…books will be stored tightly in metal racks in an underground vault…”
and how are we to access these resources? simple.
“…By a monorail running “vertically through the building to deliver books” that are searched for and selected by the computer system.

It amazes me how fast society continues to advance. For one thing, i find this such an efficient and much more easier way of retrieving books as experience shows, finding a book amongst the many call numbers can take forever and your resource always happens to be missing.

However, i guess i’m just an old-school fan at heart and love the feeling of manually going through shelves and shelves of books and looking for my resources and finding others in the process.

–AM

Image used under creative commons attribution license 2.0 found here.

Over the mid-semester break we were given a task that involved designing a technological-based task and implementing it with two or more children. My task involved the use of an online web log ‘blog’ as a form of documenting progress of students by having the two children create an entry where they discussed such things as:
- what they learned in class
- difficulties
- improvements etc..

As such, the outcome of the task was very positive and i found it very effective in enabling the children to go over what they learned in class as a form of revision. The two children were very excited to use a new technological medium of recording information and were even more curious when given the opportunity to ‘decorate’ their pages and explore its settings on their own.

During presentation week, i was very interested and intrigued by the many innovative tasks that some of my fellow peers had observed and designed. Some of which i found to be very interesting was the use of SmartBoards and the use of ‘Vodcasts’ in the form of  a news report which i believe was observed by Lene.
Like my fellow Clog blog partner, i had never used such an innovative tool and even more, hadn’t actually seen it in action. I went on YouTube to see the hype surrounding it and was very shocked to see the new and somewhat ‘advanced’ capabilities SmartBoards have. i definitely hope there will be one in the next school i go to!

Attached is a video i watched on YouTube to help me understand more about SmartBoards. The school is St Therese Primary school from Mascot. They have SmartBoards in a couple of classes and the students definitely seem very excited and enthusiastic using the innovative tool!
SmartBoards in the classroom – St Therese Primary School, Mascot.

–AM

Monkey Scribbles posted an interesting blog about the increasing popularity of iPods being used in the classroom for school work. In reaction to the thought provoking question “Why is there an assumption that all students today are “technologically savvy” when it appears that this is not necessarily the case?” I also have to wonder why todays students are being assumed to be “technologically savvy”. Generation Y also has this assumption placed upon them. Before beginning this e-learning class, I considered myself to be technologically illiterate, but felt it was assumed I would be quite savvy.

I believe there is a general assumption of this savviness because of the rate that technology is changing and the availability of it within the society. Though it is quite available, in reality I believe many students are largely influenced by older generations, such as their parents, hence do not have the opportunities or desire to become technologically savvy. 

-KD

The article referenced in Monkey Scribbles’ post is: 

Perkins, M. (January 2009). Homework is fun on a touchscreen. The Sydney Morning Herald – Weekend edition: Education.

While reading aandf’s blog about mobile phone being put to ‘good use’ in the classroom, I had to stop and think about why teachers would want to use a mobile phone for education. Yes I agree with aandf’s idea that mobile phones today do have all the capabilities that could be put to use inside the classroom, but at the same time I am hesitant for the simple reason of losing control. Mobile phones, especially in the wrong hands, can cause great damage with all the new capabilities they are able to have, as recently seen in the media with ‘sexting’ and ‘text bullying’. Engaging them into the classroom, would be allowing educators, and people who can minimise these harmful by-products, to give children opportunities for them to occur.

It is not to say that future generations shouldn’t be able to incorporate them into the classroom, it may become the most effective and constructive way to teach and for children to learn. At this present moment, however, mobile phones should be left for use outside the classroom and for the purposes they were invented for, social communication.

-KD

Image made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence

In response to Frances, reactionary post: LAMS BAHHHHH she brought to my attention some negatives of using LAMS which in all honestly, i hadn’t given much thought on as i was much more wrapped up in the process of creating this ‘engaging’ task. Although i am strongly in favour of this software seeing as it an excellent means of conducting a lesson i couldnt help but be phased by some of the things discussed. For one, i strongly believe that using such a software is definitely time consuming as much of my time (during the creation of the innovative tasks) was used figuring out ways of linking technological based material (i.e. videos, music, websites etc) and using them in a meaningful manner, as well as, understanding the sequence of things in general.

LAMS is definitely a tool i would love to use in future lessons, however, careful considerations will have to be taken so as to ensure a balance between different mediums and ensure that this technological tool is used in a meaningful and relevant way.
Attached below is a video i found on YouTube discussing LAMS as a ‘…fundamental innovation in education’.
As much as creating a LAMS task can be time consuming and frustrating at times, i think the positive aspects definitely outweigh the negatives.

(2007, LAMS introduction video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vihvpfXw_C8)

Over the mid-semester break, it was interesting to see the innovative programs and activities available to enhance the learning outcomes of students. There are thousands, if not millions of educational and fun activities available over the net, but it occurred to me at what stage do programs stop being innovative and become the norm or plain tradition?

I did a short activity with a student using wht i thought was an innovative activity called Kids Zone. My student also thought this was innovative, however when I returned to class after the break, it was evident that programs like this one are now becoming the norm. Other students were using newer, more exciting technologies such as the SmartBoard, which i have yet to experience and play with. From the discussion it was clear that at this point in time, SmartBoards are the innovative moment and activities like mine have been, so to say, “moved on.” But with the rate of invention in this day and age, when will the next innovation come around?

I believe it is not necessarily the program, activity or technology that society states is new and innovative, but the response it makes in the user. Students unfamiliar with Kids Zone, and in a few years, mart Boards, they will still be innovative in their own way. The new and unfamiliar user will have a chance to explore, learn and discover what the activities, programs and technologies have to offer. 

- KD

Social Networking is a phenomenon that has taken society by storm. It is hard to meet someone these days who hasn’t made or used a networking site such as Facebook or MySpace. However Lamb and Johnson (2006) discuss their use within the primary school. They have noted that though there aren’t many social networking sites designed for younger people, primary schools have adopted the social networking craze to keep students, and other members of the community informed through things such as their ‘intranet’.

However, issues arise with social networking sites when it comes to safety issues. It is important that children are supervised, whether it be by a teacher or parent, and more so, students should be directed to educational and productive sites. 

Lamb and Johnson also discuss the ability of social networking sites to develop multi-tasking skills in young people. Though it can be argued the multi-tasking can cause poor productivity, it also makes the new generation have the ability to manage many things in both the online life, and also their reality.

Image made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution.

Image available here.

-KD

Reference:

Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2006). Want to be my friend? What you need to know about social technologies. Teacher Librarian, 34(1), 55-57.