Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cuddles The Dog



Avatars and Learning Styles

An avatar enables users to express themselves using their own or computer generated voice by means of a talking character. Your avatar can be developed with personal or fabricated attributes using a variety of identities, characters, animals and much more.(Voki). There are many avatar programs available, for the purposes of this assessment I have used Voki.

Felder and Spurlin (2005) state that students have different strengths and preferences in the ways they gain and process information. This is known as 'Learning Styles'. One of the many challenges in education today is the ability to cater to an individuals learning style. Providing an environment that allows students the opportunities to learn in a manner to which they are comfortable, is difficult, but may provide a foundation where intended outcomes can be achieved.

The implementation of avatars in conjunction with other mediums such as narrative writing could be an excellent tool to encourage the engagement of students from all learning styles. This would allow an individuals strengths to be utilised in one or many areas of the learning process.

Springwood State school incorporated the use of avatars into literacy lessons. The year two students created their own books which were bound and utilised in the library. The students then developed their own avatars to record a virtual report of their book. These avatars where then downloaded onto their digital portfolios. Visit Springwood State School web site to view how Springwood Primary used these avatars.

By providing an interesting twist to the process of learning, students engage in the challenges of creating their own avatars and adding their own personal attributes. The applications and possibilities of this technology is endless, and I personally can not wait to introduce this strategy into my future classrooms.

Regards

Kellie

Reference

Felder, R., Spurlin, J., 2005. (citing computer references. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/ILS_Validation(IJEE).pdf

Sunday, July 26, 2009

RSS Aggregators and Me (Really Simple Syndication)



The challenge I set myself in my second posting was to download an RSS Aggregator and Google Reader. This task was not as challenging as I predicted and is a really successful tool for monitoring blogs and websites.

It is amazing how a concept so simple can feed information from your favourite blogs/websites and collate it in a manageable web page. The conjunction of these two programs provide opportunities to view the latest blog posts, edits and comments from a central area, and eliminates wasted time trolling and searching the blogs. Time is precious.

The applications of this software in class related activities is integral to the successful use of blogs as a collaborative and individual learning tool in the classroom. Google reader allows the teacher to receive posted information from students' blogs. This is an important tool required to manage, monitor and interact with the students and their tasks.

The acquisition and building of knowledge through the use of non-human appliances (Siemens, G., 2005) relies heavily of the right people connected in the right context. A student or individual feeds personal knowledge into the social network where others can read, reflect and learn. Google reader allows the fluid transition of knowledge in a social network and eliminates the process of searching through unwanted information.

Happy Blogging,

Kellie.

Reference:

Siemens, G. (2004). Citing computer references. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivesm.htm

Amazing Blogs

Blog - Short for Web Logs. (The Engagement Theory)

The creation of a blog was challenging and at the same time extremely rewarding. There is nothing quite like accomplishing a task which was presumed out of your reach.

For the purposes of E-Learning the blogs are used as a form of personal assessment, however I have found them an important collaborative learning space. 'Blogging' not only gives space to write the important details of my learning journey, but allows the opportunity to extend my learning by reading and commenting on other blogs. This profoundly increases the ability to retain information and my journey is engaging, interesting and rewarding.

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), discuss the idea that collaborative learning should be based on tasks which are meaningful and have an authentic focus. These tasks can be based on the principles of relate-create-donate. The use of Blogs as a collaborative tool within the classroom promotes the use of the engagement theory, effective collaboration, interaction between students and teacher, engagement through technology, and opportunities to reach learning outcomes with an authentic focus.

Seeing the blog in action has reinforced the prospects of using this technology in the classroom for various KLA's and strands. Blogs are an excellent tool for reflective journals, creative writing, scheduled assessment activities, extended class interactions and much more.

Kellie

Reference:
Kearsley, G., Shneiderman, B., (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from
http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Sunday, July 19, 2009

My Experimental Journey

Over the past week I have been constantly testing out De Bono's blue and green hats (De Bono, E. 2004). The blue hat for organisation of thinking has played an integral part in the construction of my blog and deciphering which information to incorporate and inform of my technological journey. The green hat of creativity and ideas is guiding me through a labyrinth of what is previously unsourced technological information, and assisting in building basic foundations for understanding what is possible.
As you can see I have accessed the 'Spell with Flickr' page and managed to control my first screen dump. I further challenged myself by using the Office Picture Manager to crop and make adjustments before posting the E-Learning logo onto my blog. This may seem like a small step to many of you, but I find it an enormous achievment and can not wait to play with the other programs provided by Jacqui and Linda which are listed on my blog. If anyone has some other fantastic sites to visit, please do not hesitate to let me know. My next accomplishment will hopefully be the download of 'Google Reader'.
I am now beginning to fully comprehend the theory behind connectivism, and as Siemens (2004) states, "new information is continually acquired and the ability to draw conclusions between what is important and unimportant is challenging." We live in a knowledge era and a time of great gains in technological know how. The best way to cultivate your knowldege and keep abreast of what is important is to be involved and social network, by both giving and receiving information. We are in the beginning of accomplishing this by contributing to the processes of the forums and blogs.
I hope your journey so far has been as rewarding and interesting as mine. I look forward to reading your entries into your own blogs and appreciate any feedback or comments.
Talk soon,
Kellie

References

Siemens, G. (2004). Citing computer references. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivesm.htm

Debono, E. (2004). Citing computer references. Retrieved July 18, 2009, from
http://www.edwdebono.com/debono/sths.htm

Monday, July 13, 2009

WOW my first Blog!

It has taken me two days but I have finally managed to get my blog up and going. I have had a few hiccups along the way such as accidently deleting it and am sure when they say 'Only five minutes to create your blog', this is code for five hours.

At the moment, however, I am feeling a sense of achievement and excitement that I have conquered the first of many hills and obsticles to come during my trek to the summit of the E-Learning journey. There are no guarantees of absolute success, but only a guarantee that I will gain previously unattainable knowledge which will undeniably be beneficial in my present and future learning journeys.

Unfortunately there is the possibility that I will never access or see this blog again so lets all cross our fingers that I have been successful and there will be tears of joy and not frustration when I try to relog on.

I am enjoying reading the blogs created by fellow students and am slightly relieved to see that I am not the only self proclaimed technologically illiterate person trying to achieve the impossible.

Catch you all soon and look forward to ready more of your blogs.