16 Digital Natives

Penguin Website

There are some interesting videos on the Penguin Website:

Martin Dean – The Australian Curriculum, what does it mean for you?

Tye Cattanach – iPads, E-Readers and Electronic Whiteboards – new technologies for encouraging reading

Penguin Website

Macbeth - Wordle

Layout seduces writing

Why do people like to write some things and not other things?

I have noticed that the layout and the ease of writing something makes people want to write some things more than others. Social networking sites usually become successful from their ease of writing on them and of course popularity. But I am not going to look at popularity now, I am going to look at layout.

For our studies at university in various subjects we have been given tasks to create a portfolio and particiate in discussion boards. However the layouts and ease of using these primative blogs and forums are very inefficent (except for ICT which allowed us to make this blog ^.^). If you come up with a cool idea, by the time it takes to get on to the supplied blog or forum, the idea has gone. Additionally, just to read through the posts is tedious and annoying because they don't follow on to each other and take up only a small portion of the screen that is hard to view.

On the other hand, social networking sites (E.g. Facebook) have layouts that encourage you to write on them as soon as you log in. They have a big text bar that yells out, "Write something! Write something!" Additionally, all the text from the previous bloggers flows smoothly after it and groups together to make reading it an enjoyable and exciting experience.

In conclusion, I think that universities should be more open to allow students to use other social networking sites for their assessed projects or improve the acient sites that they currently use.

The impassable wave of computer games

Many students these days are addicted to computer games. There is not much we can do to stop our students from playing computer games instead of doing their homework. We can try, with great effort and even make some small victories... There must be a better way.

From growing up along the Southern coast of Victoria, I was able to experience the awe of the powerful waves that come up from the Southern ocean. If confronted with a huge wave coming at you, and you tried to fight it to retain your footing, you would just be picked up and thrown to the bottom and washed around like a washing machine. I found that if confronted with an impassable wave it was much better to join it and surf it into the beach.

After reading (Beavis, 2008), I was inspired to write this. As teachers, I think it would be better to combine some of the students homework with the computer games that our students are playing rather than attempting to stop them. I do not suggest that we promote computer game addictions and force students to play computer games if they are not allowed to or don't want to. I just suggest that we work with students that already have a computer game addiction. Teachers can find out in a supportive manner what computer games students are playing and develop some English tasks to go along with their games that will improve their English skills. If you can't beat them, join them!

Let's surf this impassable wave of computer games into the beach of literary success!!!

Eg. Write about your current quest in WoW. Cover these questions when you are writing about it.

Who is it about?

What is happening in it and what do you need to do?

When do you need to do it and how long will it take?

Where is this quest and where do you need to go?

How are you going to do it?

Why do you need to do it?

Also a small possibility. Some of these tasks may trigger a gestalt moment in the student to help him/her realise that he/she is wasting a lot of time playing computer games for no real purpose. If a student is able to realise this on his or her own than this would be much more effective than an authorive figure constantly tryng to drill this into a student. If a student figured this out, a teacher would have to only agree, "Hmm, that makes sense Tom. I agree, computer games do seem to waste a lot of time and money and you do not get anything real back from them."

Beavis also talked about incorporating computer games into classes (2008).

Reading:

Catherine Beavis (2008) 'Paying attention to texts', English in Australia, vol 43, no.1, pp. 23-31.

My Comment

Link <-- Click here to link to Ruth Chambers' blog

I agree, ICT is a great tool for language learning. I especially like the programs with voice recognition software. When I was teaching ESL in South Korea. One of the schools I worked at, DYB Edusol, developed an online educational system where the student could learn the new vocabulary and practice their pronunciation online for homework before class. When the students came into class they already felt confident with the new vocabulary and were more eager to talk about things using the new vocabulary. I believe these kinds of education systems and programs are great because they removes the shame factor from students making mistakes in class in front of fellow classmates. If students are able to feel confident speaking the target language, they can enjoy learning it and reach higher levels. It is amazing how fun learning can be these days!

Teaching Resources

Here are some of the teaching resources that I have created. These are linked to my Google documents that I have made public. If you click on the link, they should download for you.

Year 8 Science
Sound
Group Project on Sound
Jeopardy Sound Review


Year 9 Mathematics
Linear Graphs
Land Sale PPT Instructions
Land Sale Activity Worksheet
Overview of Linear Graphs

Probability
Compound probability worksheet
Design a Gambling Game
Play money


Year 11 Physics
Motion - Unit 2
Momentum, Work, Energy and Power Exam


Year 11 Mathematical Methods
Rates of Change / Calculus
Inquiry based approach to Calculus

Year 12 Physics
Sound - Unit 4
Standing wave applet
Waves in open and closed pipes
List of Physics applets

ICT in VELS Blog

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an innovative and new area of education. It is extremely young compared to most other areas of education that have had centuries to master. Therefore there are many fun and inventive ways that teachers are currently interpreting the ICT domain on the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).

During my second semester placement teaching block at a school with amazing students, I used the time to experiment with the implementation of some new kinds of projects. I was teaching a year 8 science class on the topic of sound. The students were organized into groups of three and had a choice of one of three projects; make a music video, poster or presentation on the chapter about sound. This gave students the chance to use ICT, if they wanted to, to create something engaging. In turn, enabling them to learn about the topic on sound through the process of creating it. And finally communicate their project to their classmates.

There are three dimensions in ICT VELS and I believe this project touched on all of them. They are ICT for visual thinking, creating and communicating. The standards can be view at:

VELS ICT Standards

http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/downloads/vels_standards/vels_ict.doc

ICT for visual thinking

Students are able to use and learn visually through the use of ICT such as Power Point presentations, computer simulations, interactive programs and many other things that can be used on netbooks or projected onto a screen in a classroom.

Some schools and classroom may lack projector facilities. However with modern innovative technologies that don’t break the bank too much, an enthusiastic teacher can overcome this with a mini usb projector. A mini usb projector runs off two usb 2.0 cables and does not require any external power. Very portable! An example of one that I bought can be found here:

Innocube – mini usb projector

http://www.innoio.com/sun25/en/product03.php

( I bought this one for about $170 but there are cheaper ones for as little as $100. )

Additionally, if you search for “mini usb projector” you will find many on the market. However I have not been able to find any in Australian computer/electronic stores.

ICT for creating

This mainly focuses on students’ use of technology to create things. This could be students making presentations, music video or any other project that a teacher can dream up. My year 8 science project on sound is a good example of this, where students are able to work together in a team to share their skills to create a music video or presentation. The poster was not as much ICT based however many of the posters used images from the internet.

ICT for communicating

This covers many forms of communication that can be viewed in ICT VELS. This covers things from blogs, online projects, email, search engines and computer presentations. An example is the groups presenting their projects to the class to communicate with the aid of technology.

In conclusion, ICT in education allows for exciting fun new projects and rich learning experiences that can be enjoyed by all. There are many new technologies being created every day and hopefully our students will be creating them too.

Science Year 8 Sound Projects

My students had two weeks to do their group projects. When I observed the presentations of their projects, I was just blown away at how talented my students were. The projects were done at home and two of the three choices relied heavily on the use of ICT, the music videos and presentations. Some of the students were so proud of their music videos that they uploaded them on YouTube.

I would like to show an example of one but I am having trouble finding the YouTube link for it. Hopefully you will be able to see it soon.

^.^

Using ICT in year 8 science - Sound

Sound Project

Due date: Wednesday 31^st August 2011

 

Choose one of the options. Form a group of three. Work on the project together for homework. Some class time will be given to work on it but most of this should be done for homework. Meet with your group members at lunch time or after school.

Option 1 – Music Video

Make a music video using vocabulary about sound ( i.e. wavelength, frequency, compression, rarefaction, amplitude, crest, trough ). Save it as a video file with sound and bring the file to class on Wednesday 31^st of August. The music video should be 3-5 minutes long. This will be viewed by your fellow class mates. Must be a G or PG rating.

Option 2 – Poster

Make a poster about this unit on sound. Use images, diagrams and writing to communicate what this chapter on sound is about. All your group members will present your poster to the class on Wednesday 31^st of August. Your group will be required to explain everything on your poster in less than 5 minutes.

Option 3 – Presentation

Make a PowerPoint presentation about this unit on sound. This will be presented to the class by your whole group on Wednesday 31^st of August. Each group member should talk for at least 2 minutes and the whole presentation should be less than 10 minutes.

Week 2 - Slideshow movie

                                                               Korean Folkvillage

I made this slideshow movie in my ICT workshop last week. However at the end of class when I tried to produce it, the program crashed. So, I just remade it on my baby netbook. It actually runs moviemaker faster than the university's desktop computers! Additionally, when I initally produced it on my netbook it defaulted to a large file size. To enable me to upload it here, I produced it again with a lower resolution.

This slideshow movie is of the Korean Folkvillage. The folkvillage has lots of old-style Korean houses and tools. Also while I was there they performed a traditional Korean wedding. I went there with my Korean class to learn about traditional Korean culture. It rained a lot when we first arrived but it turned out lovely later in the day.

Week 1 - New blog

Today I created my new blog in my ICT class. This blog will be about ICT in education.