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.

The very first blog!

So here is the very first blog. My name is Lydia Coulson I am a student at UTS studying to become a Primary Teacher. After leaving school in 2007 I spent a year travelling around Europe and a year working back in Australia. I had applied to Uni in 2007 however I was unsure I had made the right decision. Now I can safely say that I had not, I had applied for media and communications. I was under the impression that because I had wanted to be a teacher from a very young age, it couldn’t possibly be what I really wanted…strange huh?! So I worked in a day care centre to make sure I was about to make the right decision! And now that I’m here I am, and am finding it to be one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done. As far as this blog goes I have never blogged before and I fear that I may ramble on, I am quite good at that, however I will try my best to not bore you.

I have worked with children since I was 14 and love it! I work as a nanny and in the local IGA to fund my life and uni experience!

As for Learning Technologies, I always thought that I was very up to date with technology (this is mainly because at home I’m the only one in my family who knows how to use a computer!). However once I leave the safety of my own home and am surrounded by the latest technology I fear I’m not as up to date as I thought, I hope that this subject will provide me with the knowledge to better support myself in my career and the students that will be in my classroom.