A journey to success

Well I'm sure I am dragging out my goodbyes to this subject however here is a digital story made to support my final reflection!

Final Reflection

Well as you probably guessed from the last post I have now finished my class Integrating Learning Technologies which was of course the driving force of this blog, however before I signed off I felt I had more to say!

As a requirement of my course I have completed a final culminating statement that will not be posted here due to it official use. However I mentioned the aspects that of this course have been important to me and I just thought I'd add to it!

Through this course I am pretty dam impressed with myself, for someone who only uses facebook because I got told off from my friends for not using it, I have gone on to write a weekly blog (sometimes more than weekly), make two official digital stories (one and two)  (some extra with home pics), develop a wiki with my friends to share our university resources, I have podcasted, and vodcasted and am even now contemplating buying an iPad! In my final statement I mentioned that learning technologies are not a possibility they are the reality and the future and I remember hearing a statement similar at the beginning of the semester but did not truely believe it! Now through my own learnings I know this is very much the truth and I also no that by not staying up to date and providing my students with experiences similar to mine (over this semester) I will be significantly disadvantaging them and myself professionally!

I can safely say now I acknowledge their potential be it in regular classroom activities, for special needs, professional development, for motivation or even assessment. I am excited to teach with them and about them, I am excited to learn so many new skills and I am proud of how much I have learnt!

Thanks to this flickr'

3,2,1 Action

Well this was my first v-log I hope you liked it!

Who's too cool?

Reflecting back over this semester I have learnt a great deal, about technologies and learning technologies. I mention them separately because they are not one, I can not think of one technology that was only designed for educational purposes or to 'learn' on or with. However, as educators we use technology, how and why do we? Over this last week I was fortunate enough to read the article Too Cool For School? No Way! by Mishra and Koehler which introduced me to the TPACK model. TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge, what a mouthful right? Well simplified this model breaks down how teachers should use technology in the educational arena. As pre-service teachers we are both learning both pedagogy (teaching style) and content (what to teach) however as beings of the real world to we everyday immerse ourselves in learning about technology. The TPACK model suggest that as teachers we should have a great understanding of how the content, technology and pedagogy will all intersect as one. I could not agree more with fellow blogger Kate's idea that too often we are overwhelmed with the new fancy toys that we do not know how to use them to their potential. My learning about the TPACK model was greatly supported by fellow class mates Belinda and Kate's presentation.

Thanks to this flickr'

I'll be your best friend?

Well to conclude the national cyber safety week I thought I would share with you a new website that similarly to fellow blogger Belinda has recently been introduced to me. 


I'll be your best friend?! is a term frequently used on the primary school playground. However, today that playground is moving to a cyber world and I have to ask the question if these primary school students are still throwing around friend requests in this world? This is just one of the many worries I would have when taking a class into the cyber world via their computers. As adults we have an understanding of the level of security that is needed when we are on the web, do children? Do they also understand the idea of virus and many other issues that we just take for granted?

Well budd:e is a online website designed by the government to teach students about such issues as the ones mentioned above. Whilst looking over it I think it may well teach me a few things, the website is set out in a child friendly design that allows students to complete tasks that will ensure their 'cyber safety'. Whilst I was reading about this fantastic sight I was also intrigued to find out that it can be provided as a package included two activity based learning modules, this is definitely a program that I wish to implement when I have my own class! 

do you have the magic e?

So has anyone noticed these days everything has an e in front of it email, elearning, eteaching, well now I bring you ePortfolio. This term was recently brought to my attention through an article well almost a guide by Helen Barrett. It focuses on the traditional concept of students making portfolio's of their work but like most things these days making it electronic! 


Barrett's article mentioned a very interesting trend that is occuring, ePortfolio's seem to be growing in popularity among high school education however it is in fact in primary particularly in lower primary that portfolio's are normally seen, kindergartens' making scrapbooks of their learning to take home each term. Why is it that in the technological world we are not all embracing the e in front of everything!


Jane Logan, Janna Weber and myself analysed this interesting topic and have represented our ideas in a presentation which will be shared for you all to look at. 


The most significant aspect of ePortfolio's for me was the fantastic opportunity it provides students with to reflect on their own learning and recognise, their own achievements and set their own goals for future learning. 

Barrett, H. (2010). Balancing the Two Faces of ePortfolios. Educação, Formação &

Tecnologias, 3(1), 6-14. [Online], disponível a partir de: http://eft.educom.pt


Thanks to this flickr'

And the silver goes to?

I am often worried as to how I will go about integrating technologies in the classroom and prac didn’t really ease that worrying. I really hope to teach the infants and that is were my concern lies, how do I integrate technology in a kindergarten classroom when more often than not they take the whole lesson to log on to a computer. Over the last couple of weeks we have been lucky enough to have Glynis Jones speak to us, when I voiced this concern she very wisely told me to wait and see. Later in the class she showed us a video of the Victorian based school: Silverton Primary School, this video opened my eyes and I think most of the class’. I have never before seen a school that has one learning place, I personally don’t know if I would be suited to this type of school but sessions like this I think would be fabulous. The way in which Silverton have integrated technology is amazing students learning is entwined with technology the principal has not opted for just getting each classroom a IWB he has provided the students with a technology rich environment with varying sources of technology. This video I think goes a long way in teaching pre-service teachers such as myself ways in which we can successfully implement technology in our classrooms.

So what would you do?! Copyright ©

Whilst talking about the ethics involved with technologies in schools we were posed with the question:

If you had a fantastic software but only 5 licenses and you had 10 computers would let the children suffer or break the copyright laws?

Well, let me tell you this caused a great discussion in our classroom that is filled with pre-service teachers. There were obvious answers of I would just copy it, others saying I would do what I could to fund the others and if not the children would miss out and lastly there was the group; I wish I wouldn’t but yes I’d copy them.

Copyright laws are often the ones we forget, how many times do you search an image on google and just use it yourself? How many times do you watch a copyrighted dvd. This issue really got my attention as I feel I am a very moral person and would never in a million years dream of shop-lifting. However, if you’ve ever used a copied version of photoshop or others are you really doing the same? In the eyes of the law you are, why does it often not feel like it among our own morals though? Is it because no one can see you doing it or because you feel you paid enough to even get one license?

Why do the generation of today feel that it is ok to steal software when we are completely against stealing physical goods?

Thanks to this flickr'

Is it possible not to divide? + - =

Well after 3 weeks away on prac this morning's lesson was a great way in which we were all able to raise our observations and queries regarding integrating technology into the classroom. I found speaking about the digital divide extremely interesting looking more broadly at the divide in schools between students that have access to a variety of technologies at home and school and those that don't, to the the teachers who want to learn and develop their skills in using technology and those that don't, but even more interestingly looking exclusively within our very own classroom. In an open discussion my peers and I reflected on our individual experiences on prac and using technology, the divide was obvious for example in my own experience I have now been fortunate enough to go to a school that had an IWB and one that didn't this has widen my perspective whereas other students haven't been able to even experience having any technology in their classrooms and the others have only had technology rich experiences. At uni we are all supposed to be learning how to become teachers on an even keel yet in a class of about 30 there was already a digital divide. Is this giving us a little preview into just how easy it is for a digital divide to be created and just how hard it is to avoid?

Thanks to this flickr' 

THE END...

Well the end of prac has arrived and to my disappointment I was unable to implement my new skills of learning technologies. My kindergarten class had not had a lot of experience with technology and were not comfortable even with their regular computer lessons, in the classroom our computers and internet were down for the whole time, which left me solely with a IWB (which as I have mentioned in a previous blog) so I attempted to develop my skills and allow my cooperating teacher and students guide my learning.


This challenging experience allowed me to personal understand the trials and tribulations to integrating learning technologies in the classroom. Ultimately, this encouraged me to devise a plan of how to increase my opportunities to use technologies in my future prac's. I intend to use a new learning technology with each of my coming prac's such as: creating a class blog of our learning experiences together, developing digital stories and using curriculum based software in regular class activities.


Despite not being able to show off my new skills, I had such a fantastic experience on prac that I have organised to return to my class continually throughout the year so who knows I may well be able to show them my skills after all!

Get SMART...

Before I commence with this blog I would like to clarify that I do understand that a SMART board is not the end all and be all of technology in a classroom however it is a way in which to show technologies and share them within the class. Anywho I had my last day of prac today, which was very upsetting, I became very attached to my class, however the point of this blog is not my emotions it is in fact to let all of those who read this blog know that the staff at my prac school were very helpful and provided me with two great documents today the first was

o   Great Sites for using the SMART board

and the next was

o   Integrated Technology Lessons (for a year 2 class)

I have not yet had a chance to go through all of the websites but as soon as I do I will but them up on my blog, I was just a bit excited to let you know I had them.

As for the Integrated Technology Lessons, it is unit of work aimed at slowly and efficiently integrated technology in the computer classes; it aims to develop the students understanding of technology by using programs such as:

o   Word

o   Kidpix

o   MSDino

and several more, it has been a great support and I think will come in handy in the future. 

Thanks to this flickr'

You can walk the walk but can you talk the talk?

Whilst running around trying to find the big book version of The Gingerbread Man that I had been working on with my kindergarten class, another member of staff suggested looking at Talking Books on Youtube and said that she uses it with her kindergarten class. I didn't use the gingerbread talking books as the questions I had created were based on the version we had been reading, however I did take a look at the talking books which were great. At the present time kindergarten at my prac school have begun a unit on fairytales, among the staff the school pretty much has a big book version of the majority of traditional fairytales yet I thought that talking books might be a good way to finish off one of these stories to allow the children to see there are sometimes two or more versions of any one story I intend on showing my class the gingerbread talking book in tomorrows class I will let you know how it goes.


On a side note I have thoroughly enjoyed prac and am sad to be leaving!

It's Story Time

I know that using technology in the classroom is not just about the IWB but I still am amazed at just how well it is used within primary schools! Having had a blackboard at my last prac school going to a school with an IWB in every classroom was a bit of a surprise. Within my kindergarten classroom the IWB is used nearly everyday for our phonics lessons, handwriting lessons, maths and well everything! I am going to see if I can get hold of SMART notebook to see if I can compose a lesson of my own to use on the SMART board. 


I thought I should fill all my readers out there (i know who you are) what my class has been using the interactive white board for:


abc reading eggs (great phonics and sentences)


Letterland (phonics and handwriting: this does have a website but we are using the bought program)


Johnnie's Maths page (for simple maths games)


But the one that I most enjoyed may not be the most innovative or interactive use of technology but both me and the children loved it. It had been a bit of a crazy day and the children had just come back in from lunch as kindergartens they were wriggling all over the place so my teacher settled them down and went to Storyline Online. This is a site by Screen Actors Guild Foundation and is simply famous actors reading wonderful picture books, the class was captivated we then incorporated a bit of comprehension and phonics into the lesson, but this was definitely a crowd pleaser.


Enjoy all and I hope prac is going well for everyone!

Thanks to this flickr'

It's all systems...CHANGE!

I found it a challenge integrating technology in my prac as the school I am teaching at has recently changed their system and is of course having a few teething problems however I am trying to get what I can out of it. Today I went along to a computer lesson which was interesting due to changing over to the det system the kindergartens all had a new and confusing login...it took the whole lesson just to log on. This allowed me to witness first hand the challenges of one fitting in a computer lesson but two actually achieving in the computer lesson as this kindergarten class was confused in finding the @ symbol and understanding the the keys are capitals but the teacher wanted them to type lower case, I am hoping to see a lot more in my next class as I am sure this lesson was a challenge due to the recent changes!

Thanks to this flickr'

PRAC!!!!

The first day of prac exciting, I couldn't wait to meet the little kindergartens that I would teaching for the next three weeks and just as expected they were delightful! 


The thought of using technology in a kindergarten classroom had seemed daunting at the beginning of the semester however as the weeks have gone on I feel much more confident. When I arrived in my classroom I was surprised to see an IWB and asked the teacher if all the classrooms had them and yup they sure did, considering at my last prac all I had was a blackboard, this was a good start to a technology based practicum. The teacher used the IWB with nearly every lesson the students were engaged through phonic songs and games and I will be using letterland in my first class which I am looking forward to. I am a bit wary of conducting a whole ICT lesson (my co operating teacher has suggested) however I will give it a go and let you know how I get on! 

Thanks to this flickr'

Does building games result in learning?

I have previously blogged about the Constructionist theory, however, I feel I need to mention another article I have read by Yasmin B. Kafai who talks about the constructionist theory in terms of children building there own games in particular video games. The article is called Playing and Making Games for Learning, and speaks about how just being a responder to a game even if it is an educational game the learning outcomes are not as high as if the students had actually participated in the building process. By building a video game a child or student does not only need to know how to interact with a computer but how to program it. This concept provides so many opportunities for a broad range of skills to be strengthened.

As Kafai mentions video games are becoming increasingly more apparent in everyday life, and the concentration that a child has with the computer whilst playing these games is rarely seen in any other context. To use this information to our advantage as teachers we should provide opportunities for students to immerse themselves in not only playing games but building them too.

We have all heard the learning can be fun and we learn whilst playing but now children can build the fun and the play. 

Thanks to this flickr'

Kafai, Y. (2006).  Playing and Making Games for Learning: Instructionist and Constructionist Perspectives for Game Studies. Games and Culture,  1(1), 36-40.

Technology can provide the support!

Whilst following Matthew Kearney’s blog I came across an interesting post focusing on technologies being able to support special needs students. Along with most people I am aware of the amazing things that technology has done for may special need students over the years, however I was thinking of things such as wheelchairs, not iPods and iPads. It was not until I watched this powerful video that I did not see the potential these new technologies provide. This particular video focuses on how iPods and iPads provide students with Autism a way in which to comminicate in their own way and involve themselves in class activities in way they may not have previously been able to.

This video is thanks to A. Paratore

A Good night in with your fellow educators!

I found through the subject Professional Experience 3 at Uni I have been immersing myself in readings that relate to using technology in the classroom effectively. I found it fascinating so far, for someone who thought they were pretty good with technology I now know how little I knew seven weeks ago!

I found the most recent assignment we had to complete was very helpful it ensured that we know how to assess all these fantastic e-learning resources and do not just choose the pretty ones or the ones that have the most gadgets! I found it very beneficial and hope you do to, so this is why I am sharing it with you! Here is my video with Janna.

Zebra, Kerpoof, a storybird what do these have in common?

Well, no a zebra did not go kerpoof with a bird…these are just some of the sites that took my fancy on Monday. Our class was devoted to listening to our peers and what e-learning resources they had discovered, and how the could contribute to meaningful learning in the classroom.

I must admit that I have been a little worried as to how I will use my new knowledge of technology in my up and coming prac as I have kindergarten and I think something like a digital story may be going overboard, however when I was shown the site roythezebra.com I thought a-ha I can use this. It is a fantastic site that was explored by Jane Logan and Belinda James and has some wonderful literacy activities that I look forward to using.

Kerpoof was another site that was explored by my fellow classmate Kate La’Peyre which is a e-learning resource devoted to learning through creativity allowing students to draw, paint and even make movies. In the short time that I was shown this site I saw some great possibilities and look forward to researching it further and one day soon, using it!

Lastly Katie Martz and Erica Sereni presented a website storybird.com which is essentially a website that allows children to write short stories that are inspired by pieces of art. The site allows student to share and print their stories as well creating a very collaborative learning experience, this was another site that I will not shy away from in my prac.

Thanks so much to everyone for a great lesson, I learnt so much!

It's Time To Hit The Beach?!

I have many happy memories of playing on the beach and building sand castles with my dad, and I’m not talking your average sand castles…these were epic they had tunnels, towers and slides for a tennis ball! But little did I know that I was learning.

The idea of the constructionist learning was pioneered by Seymour Papert, however I have learnt about it by reading an article by Idit Harel who speaks about constructionist learning through the analogy of constructing sand castles. The idea of constructionist learning is that children can learn whilst playing, doing, creatively and unexpectedly. Yet, constructionist learning is not limited to constructing with concrete materials it can be used via technology as well. Idit Harel talks about a couple of e-learning resources that allow students to continuously build on, reflect on, share and extend on. This is an idea that truly needs to be applied within classrooms and I’m going to do my best at doing so!

A reflection of my own learning!

Harel, I. (2003). Sand castles go digital. Retrieved August 4, 2006 at: http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html

Our special guest

Today in my professional experience class we had a special guest. So I prepared my self for a guest to be standing in the Mac Lab, however when I arrived Carmel (the guest speaker) was up on the big screen via Skype, I was a little impressed. 


This lesson prompted me to reflect upon my prac last year, I had forgotten that my class had infact had a video conference with a famous author. The author spoke to not only my year 2 but five other schools were involved too, the students were so excited and loved seeing themselves projected up on to the big screen, however they soon calmed down and listened intently. We had shared question time at the end of the session two students were selected and in a big voice asked the questions. I found this a great experience the students felt as though they had an excursion however it only took an hour out of the school day, by no means does it replace having a real guest or going on an excursion but it does provide a great and different experience.


However today's guest speaker was not with us to speak about video conferencing but digital story telling and how to intergrate these into the curriculum. Carmel provided us with a great insight into teaching students how to develop their own digital story. Carmel's visit today was a very valuable experience and I intend to put her methods into practice in my next prac, I do have Kindergarten though so wish me luck!

I just want to thank my fans

Well last week in class we began developing our very first digital story, well I thought about it I nervously went about finding photos to procrastinate actually using video software. However today nearly a week on and I am happy to report that I plucked up the courage to develop my first digital story, you must forgive me for a couple of mistakes it seems to have cut off the last 2 seconds of speech that I am going about fixing, but I was too excited to wait so I thought you could see this version too!

I truly believe that my mac helped me achieve this video, similarly to Miss Kate I have made the switch recently from a PC to a Mac. I did not realise until this class that I was not using the mac to its full potential, it provides software such as PhotoBooth, iMovie and Garage Band that are simple to use and really effective. I look forward to developing my skills further! 

 

TED...

TED no not your lovable bear that you dragged around for the first four years of your life but a innovative website. TED Talks was set up by a man surprisingly called TED and is a site that’s tag line is “Ideas Worth Spreading.” I was shown this site by my boyfriend who come across it at a conference, he directed me to a video “Let’s use video to reinvent education” by Salman Khan. This twenty minute video goes on to show us how video’s can advance student’s learning by providing a source of information which can not only be used in the classroom but that is accessible at home to assist with homework.

Similarly to Youtube this site provides a list of links that relate to the subject you a currently looking at and may also be of interest to you, which has led me to a TED talks conversation; “How can we empower kids to reshape the education system” that you can not only read but can also leave your comment.

TED is clearly a new innovative site that will allow not only teachers but also many other professionals to work collaboratively and ‘share ideas worth spreading.’

Web 1.0, 2.0 What's Next 3.0?

Today I’m going to talk about Web 2.0 and its opportunities for the classroom. However, I feel that before I talk about web 2.0 I should get you up to speed. Web 1.0 is the read only web, this made all users of the web consumers of information. Whereas the Web 2.0 which was first used in 2004 is known as the read/write web, where we as the users can not only gain information but provide information by writing the web, sounds full on I know but we’ve already been doing it for the last six years so we should be experts…right?

Web 2.0 involves the sites in users, such as yourself, can contribute something; for example Blogs such as this one, Wiki’s, Podcasts, Social Media and many more so how can these be useful and successful in the classroom, well, after reading an interesting article by Richardson “The Educator’s Guide To The Read Write Web” I have discovered the opportunities that using Web 2.0 in the classroom provides. For many years’ students have created work to hand into the teacher, it is often put up on display or even taken home and showed to the parents. Web 2.0 allows all students to publish their work, as Richardson states, “the awareness of even a small audience can significantly change the way a student approaches writing and other school assignments. It’s the difference between handing a piece in to a teacher and publishing it.” This idea of the audience providing motivation that was not there before was also noted in one of my previous blogs. It is important I think to mention that this not the only advantage using Web 2.0 has in the classroom, it opens the door to a new community for students. A community full of experts in their given fields, it provides the opportunity for students to engage themselves in online conversations with such people, and work collaboratively not only with these experts but with other students in their class and in the world.

Richardson goes on to suggest that by using Web 2.0 students can create online, interactive portfolios that can reflect their long-term learning, this is a fantastic tool for teachers to easily assess the learning and understanding that has occurred and for the students themselves to be aware of their learning.

It appears to me that ideas for Web 2.0 in the classroom are endless, however, I do believe they will have their challenges such as the issue of privacy and even challenging traditional teaching methods yet, the advantages seem to outweigh the negatives.

But watch out everyone I’ve only just got my head around Web 2.0 and apparently Web 3.0 is already upon us. 

Lights, Camera and Action

Whilst reading an article on digital video in the classroom I decided to take notes on what I felt was relevant…man do I wish I hadn’t I soon was on to two pages and then three. I was writing down the advantages for both the teacher and students some of which were: digital video allows differentiation of teaching and learning according to student’s abilities and learning styles and personalities. Digital video encourages self-expression and creativity. Digital video can be used to develop social skills, communication skills, negotiation skills and many more. I stopped and then glanced down to the bottom of the article and realised this was written in 2003. Now that doesn’t seem too long ago, especially in regards to some of the texts we have to read for university, some have that real old book smell that you just gotta love, but I thought in regards to this subject, integrating technology, digital video it seemed pretty old. We live in an extremely fast paced world these days particularly when it comes to technology, but if digital video provided all these opportunities imagine how much better it is now!!! It’s not as expensive, the software is better and we as teachers should be better equipped for this style of learning, it’s about time we let the students tell the story of their learning film star style!

Tweet Tweet

During class last week we were asked to sign up to Twitter, again reluctantly I did so and was completely overwhelmed and confused within a few short seconds. However, similarly to Gemma a fellow student teacher I was pleasantly surprised the professional potential that a social networking site such as this one possesses. I am now successfully following at least eleven of my fellow student teachers and following three teaching websites, one of which has just allowed me to watch a very quick Youtube video on teaching the 3 and 7 times tables. It seems that Twitter is another environment teachers can find themselves sharing resources, strategies and ideas in. I must admit it’s also fun to catch up with my uni buddies too!

ICT...I Can't Think?!

I can’t think of how I could successfully implement ICT into my classroom. Well I can assure you after watching Suzie Vesper’s slide show you will be spoilt for choice.

As members of society we understand that technology (not only computers themselves but also the software they provide), are the future, however, as educators are we fully aware of how to provide the most positive learning environment, in this department. After watching Suzie’s slide show I am now aware of the variety of ways ICT can be used and how they can benefit the traditional lessons, I particularly liked her suggestions for literacy lessons using voice thread, I feel it provides students with a different motivation than in previous years, it also provides students with an idea of an audience that is that someone will here their recount, or their poem it almost gives them a purpose. 

To blog or to pod?

I have to admit I was skeptical about the whole blogging thing? Why should I blog, what on earth does this have to do with learning to teach children? However whilst coming to terms with the fact that maybe blogging and podcasting (or perhaps podding…no?) are becoming norms I decided out of interest to see if they exist in the dictionary and to my surprise they do, a blog, to blog and even the blogger!

So first things first I need to pick up my game and quickly, who knew I had been left so far behind? The second thing is I need to see the potential a blog or a podcast can have within my classroom, whilst reading part of a given literature I felt myself becoming excited by the ideas and possibilities that blogging and podcasting could provide my students with. This literature spoke about due to the format of blogs, children/students can use this online space as a type of journal, this got me thinking of how I would like to use it, perhaps setting weekly tasks that a given student would reflect on their favourite part of the week. This brings me back to an early post I have made regarding how we know if what our students are learning is meaningful, the blog and podcast provide a new and exciting way for students to show you as the teacher and even a wider audience such as parents and grandparents what they are learning and thus this interactive software can be used successfully as an assessment tool. I do not believe for a second that this could be its only purpose it is just a little to late for my brain to get all excited with ideas, however I shall expand on this I am sure, I really hope I do anyway. 

Are teachers scared of learning something new?

We are surrounded by technology everyday, even now I am sitting at my computer, the majority of us depend upon it. However why are we so reluctant to use technology in our classroom’s. Whilst reading a blog "Don’t Hesitate" I found out some of the statistics regarding teachers and how they use technologies, or even if they do. What I found most shocking is that even the teachers who knew how to use technology generally only used it for admin purposes, and not within the curriculum. Are teachers scared of learning something new? Even though it is the primary goal for their students. It is vital for teachers to stay up to date with technology, it is no good any more preparing students for a world that existed 10 or even 5 years ago, the world has adapted to technology but will you as a teacher? I found a YOUTUBE post put it perfectly when stating that the issue is no longer if technologies will be used in the classroom, it is how they will be used. I was pleased to find out that this issue has been noticed by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, they are funding a project to provide pre-service teachers such as myself the opportunity to learn how to implement technology appropriately and effectively alongside the curriculum, allowing our students to learn in an “interactive, technology rich environment”, which I believe is essential for equipping the future generations for the world. 

Is that all technology can offer?

I am studying to become a teacher therefore I am learning how to teach and what to teach growing young minds, but how do we now if what our students are actually learning is meaningful? This week I read a very interesting journal What is Meaningful Learning? (Jonassen, D., et al) he speaks about learning being a natural process but for students to learn they must be engaged; this is where technology comes in. Often I find we believe that by sticking children in front of an ‘educational video’ they will find this exciting and be interested and as a result learn, however is that all that technology can offer? No, Jonassen et al recognises that in the classroom technology is used as almost a replacement teacher, “where the students role is to learn the information presented by the technology” just as it is with the teacher. However technology has the potential to engage students and challenge them to think constructively, solve problems and complete research tasks for themselves. I particularly agree with Jonassen’s idea that students should teach the computer to represent what they know rather than memorise what the computer knows. You can see that a student has truly learnt something memorable if they are then able to represent it themselves, technology provides this opportunity.  It is time we see that technology has more to offer than animations, or games on the internet that can occupy a class for a spare five minutes but instead it is a “vehicle for exploring knowledge”.


Jonassen, D. et al (2008). What is meaningful learning? In D. Jonassen et al.(Eds).Meaningful learning with technology. 3rd Edtn. pp1-12. Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, N.J.


Thanks to this flickr'

Resources, Resources WhereFore Art Thou Resources?

Is it just me or is the world wide web a little too wide?! When set the task of finding an 'educational, innovative, interactive' website I thought no worries that will be fine, we have all heard of Mathletics and websites similar however I found this task harder than I had first anticipated. The world wide web is full of...well...rubbish I found so many sites that I felt children would have enjoyed, very jazzy wow game sites but none that really struck me as educational, innovative and interactive, I found many of them lacked the educational value. I guess what this blog is really about is how do we go about finding the good ones? I'll let you in on a secret it's ok I'm allowed to tell you! We were informed about a site called Delicious today and know not the magazine (although some great recipes in there for whoever is interested) but a bookmarking site. Delicious I suppose can act like a search engine for teachers, when used correctly, it enables you to see what other people have bookmarked in similar areas. Although I was very reluctant to join another site, I'm a bit anti "joining websites" I feel that this site will be able to support me considerably in my quest to search through the big world wide web!

Thanks to this flickr'

Technology friend or foe?

I have to admit that I am part of the group that feels as though technology is effecting how children learn, and not in a good way. I feel that we see way too many young children sitting on their Nintendo DS’ and playstations and that they are missing out. I used to have so much fun playing outside in the mud, exploring the world by being in it. However I have read an article that has shown me how technology can be used to inspire children to be more creative. Maybe in the past I was a little naive, not all technologies make children the passive participant. In this particular article a young girl Alexandra used a piece of technology known as a cricket, to support her learning she was able to use this technology alongside a variety of other materials, that enabled her to explore her world and design a very impressive “Marble Machine”. Alexandra was completely captivated by her project and used the cricket to solve practical problems, and expand her scientific thinking.  Alexandra was able to test out her own ideas and make changes due to her results, showing evidence of learning.

As teachers I think we have a difficult task ahead of us; we have to find ways to combine technology with everyday learning, ensuring that it does not take over students own thinking but supports it and allows more room of exploration and expression. It is important that we see the opportunity that technology gives us, in this particular article it displayed how technology can be used to support learning through playing and through designing. We as teachers must lead the way implementing these technologies in a positive manner. 


Thanks to this flickr'


Resnick, M. (2006). Computer as Paintbrush: Technology, Play, and the Creative Society. In Singer, D., Golikoff, R., and Hirsh-Pasek, K. (eds.), Play = Learning: How play motivates and enhances children's cognitive and social-emotional growth. Oxford University Press.