Reflective synopsis.

What is e-Learning?

Fundamentally e-Learning is the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to engage, extend and enhance learning. For effective e-Learning: teaching and learning must be enhanced through instructional design which is pedagogically sound, flexible and innovative. (Learning Theory, 2013). E-Learning is increasingly important for 21^st century learners, for whom ICTs are becoming integral to social interaction and every-day life. The learners of today are digital natives and are likely to more effectively achieve learning outcomes when ICTs are used to engage, extend and enhance their learning experiences. This synopsis will address the core ideas of: legal, safe and ethical online practices; learning theory and; effective digital pedagogy.

Legal, ethical and safe online practices.

Skilling learners to work legally, ethically, and safely must be an ongoing priority in the ever changing online learning context. Working legally and ethically is a vast responsibility for both learning managers and learners alike. Learning managers are governed by various laws and policies including those pertaining to copyright/intellectual property, information sharing and school network usage. Learning managers need to stay up-to-date with these laws to protect themselves and their students. Copyright infringement is an important aspect of working legally and ethically, essentially ALL work must have its source acknowledged unless it belongs to you. I have only recently realised that this includes every seemingly-trivial tid-bit found on the internet. It is essential that students be made aware of their responsibilities as early as possible, especially due to the ease at which we can screenshot and upload just about anything. A major consideration of e-Learning managers must be the safety of their learners. Students are at risk of physical danger, harassment and bullying, loss of privacy and ever increasingly damage to their reputation. There are many online resources for learning and teaching about reputation management. A very basic strategy that I model for online safety is the use of a pseudonym- that’s right Ema Nymton really is “Not My Name”.

Learning theory.

The four “base” learning theories are Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and Connectivism.  Behaviourist principles state that learning is achieved primarily through practice and positive reinforcement (you may be familiar with Pavlov’s dogs, this is an example of early behaviourist principles being developed). Low level content knowledge is learned well by this approach but higher order thinking is not particularly well developed, in the next section on pedagogy I will demonstrate my incorporation of behaviourism principles into the planned teaching of low level mathematical concepts. Cognitivism is the view of learning as a mental process. This is my personal favourite topic of learning. I relish in the new information coming out of brain sciences especially the info I previously blogged about here. Constructivism (you may know of the well renowned constructivist Vygotsky and his zone of proximal development) works on two principles 1. Learning is social and 2. Learning is scaffolded by more knowledgeable others. Connectivism is the “theory for the digital age” proposed by George Siemens, it deals with the concept of networked learning and states that the ability to learn is more important that the knowledge itself. For further reading on Constructivism and Connectivism see my de Bono’s Hats blog.

Effective digital pedagogy.

In developing pedagogies for e-Learning it is important to be aware of the aforementioned engage, extend, and enhance aspects. As stated in the SAMR model (which is explained in simple terms here) it is not an effective digital pedagogy to substitute or augment a learning task with the use of technology. For most effective learning with ICTs, the task needs to be completely redefined or at a minimum- significantly modified from what would be possible without the technology.

For my teaching of Mathematics I incorporate the technologies of Khan Academy which enable five pedagogical approaches: 1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking. The “flipped classroom” supports Bloom’s Taxonomy by allowing for the rote learning of basic concepts to occur at home (incorporating behaviourist principles including the awarding of merit badges for “desired behaviours”). The higher order thinking skills are then developed in the classroom with meaningful teacher guidance. Learning managers have access to a variety of statistics including how students spend their time and whether students are struggling, proficient at or mastering topics. 2. The facilitation of collaborative learning. Students engage in an online environment with access to students and scholars from around the world for conversation and posing questions. 3. Supporting students in knowing how they best learn. Students have access to visual and audio content which can be watched/listened to at their own pace. 4. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves. While learning managers can scaffold learning paths and goals for students- the students can also choose to follow their own interests, achieving merit badges and “leveling up” along the way. 5. is supportive of the development of strong group identity. Students can be grouped into classes of any size and each student contributes to the achievement of the class as a whole.

I have posted about my use of Google Earth/Maps here.

Conclusion.

E-Learning is an important aspect of teaching and learning in the 21st century with the potential for positive achievement of learning outcomes. Legal, ethical and safe practices need to be followed by learning managers and students alike in order to minimise the risk associated with online activities. Effective digital pedagogies need to be grounded in learning theories and informed by the various frameworks and taxonomies in order to achieve the learning outcomes. 

Implications for my future practice.

I will be incorporating e-Learning into my teaching practices with great care and planning. The SAMR model will inform the tasks I set in that I will be very cautious of substitution and augmentation, instead I will actively plan for modification and redefinition of tasks. I expect that I will have students using technologies of which I am unaware and (within a setting of legal, ethical and safe practices) I will encourage my students' exploration of new technologies to achieve their learning outcomes. 

Lessons learned/Significance of my exploration and ideas. 

I have realised that the various technologies have great potential, provided I am competent in their use. E-Learning requires a great deal of research and practice on the learning manager's part, especially considering the rate at which new technologies are developed. I have learned a great deal of new skills in my exploration of various technologies. 

Animations and Simulations

This week's Digital Technology group consists of animations and simulations.
For my History students I have chosen to investigate the Google earth/Google maps technology.
I've created a virtual tour for ancient history of Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Near East.

Essentially this technology allows students and teachers to view any location on earth- on their screen or smart phone- immediately!
Users can save locations, add Placemarks, add a selected region (within a user drawn polygon), create paths, insert images to particular locations, create tours, and many, many more features. Users can also choose "layers" to view which include: oceans, other users' photos, 3D buildings, water bodies, weather etc.
Together Google Earth and Maps allow for teachers to take their students on virtual excursions around the world to view relevant locations, buildings and populations. The incorporation of "street view" completely transforms the task of learning about the Colosseum. This new technology allows you to walk your students through the arches of the Colosseum, and thereafter explore for themselves the smoothness of the marble, let them wonder at why small specs of marble remain scattered across the structure, hope they will inquire on the topic and suggest they guide themselves to the Palazzo Barberini to conduct their own investigation when the do. Students can explore the Colosseum's hypogeum and imagine which crevices temporarily housed the lions? Where did they keep the giraffes? Was this really water tight? What is that? This aspect of the technology accommodates the Redefinition aspect of the SAMR model.

SAMR Model:

Teachers could use this technology as a simple substitution for happy snaps or encyclopedia photos, they could augment a task by having students view an object or location from a variety of angles, weather conditions, or times of the day. Teachers could redesign a task by having their students discover how many churches, rivers or mountains exist within a location then discuss the possible reasons and implications for the people who settled there. Or, Teachers could have students "visit" various locations across the globe- have them zoom in and out to identify large-scale geographical features and the intricate differences in the textures of building materials then seconds later have them on the other side of the world investigating a different civilisation in order to compare the two, thus completely redefining the task.
For an Ancient Civilisations lesson I have created the guided tour below.

View Larger Map

Week 5 reflection

Microsoft PowerPoint 

PPT allows for most of the standard Microsoft tools. Students can embed video, audio, images, text... the list goes on and includes the embedding of other Microsoft-friendly documents, and for some of the non-compatible documents students can simply convert their documents at freepdfconvert and other similar online resources.
Students can create hyperlinks, animations, effects, design elements, etcetera etcetera etcetera. I could go on for pages and pages about the functionality of PPT but suffice it to say the possibilities are VAST! The technical ability of individuals is not a barrier to using PPT, with its simple to follow interface, digital natives and immigrants alike are catered for, and able to be extended with very simple instruction.


From Bloom's Knowledge through to Evaluation, tasks can be structured to engage all levels of thinking. Students could be assigned a PPT presentation to view in order to learn new knowledge.. or... Students could be assigned the task of creating a mathematical problem, for example:  find the indefinite integral of (the cosine of (theta minus u squared) ) divided by (the tangent of the square root of (a plus b))  this problem has only one solution but a variety of methods to obtain the solution. Students could create an interactive PPT for their peers where a choice must be made about what step to perform next, a choice between correct and slightly incorrect answers (Marzano and Pickering's "non-examples" from the Dimensions of Learning) to each step, and choices about which formulae to use for each step.

Most of what I would have students do with PPT falls short on the SAMR model, as Augmentation and Modification, however, including links to online math forums and programs such as Khan Academy "ups the ante" into Redefinition- having instantaneous access to peers and tutors from around the world would be inconceivable without the technology we have today. That technology which is easily embedded in the PPT software.

As discovery based learning is especially effective in mathematics, and problem creation COMBINED WITH problem solving is favourable to problem solving alone- the creation of interactive ppts where students create their own problem, then attempt to lead others to solve it in an engaging way, including non-examples of solutions (see example here) culminates in very effective learning.

Reflection.

So I've chose to reflect on the Video digital tool.
Prezi specifically.
Students could produce a prezi which is little more than a substitution for paper and pen, however with direction, students might produce a striking visual display. Their prezi can organise content in a way that would not be possible without the zoom, flip and effects features, thus augmenting and modifying the task.
Furthermore students can collaborate with other people across time and space- maybe a Formerly know as "pen plal" in the UK or India, Russia, Time zones are irrelevant as is distance. This considerably redefines the task.

Prezi.

Prezi:


If nothing happens above click here

Voki

Meet Bruce. I've created a monster. Oh no, He's coming out of my screennnnnn ddddddddddkjfcnv bvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh

Picturesque?

"I used to be really BIG."

"But then Em used MobaPhoto and now I'm really small.. Feeling rather suppressed actually. I wish she hadn't belittled me so much, I feel diminished, I'm not even half the image I used to be. Totally slashed, undervalued and minimised. Oh, how grand I used to be, I was always fashionably late the the party- taking so long to get ready as I did. Now I'm the first to arrive, looking desperate, eager even. Just a poor little photo of a mountain, that's all I am now. I used to be Picturesque, but convenient is what they call me these days."

Picture credit: By Hannes Röst [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Woah. The Man done shrunk me, Peace duuude." 

Picture credit: Federico Stevanin via FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

A blog about blogging on a blog, for future bloggers.

Blog. Remember when you were young (or, like me, a few minutes ago) and you would repeat "toast" or some other mundane word what felt like a million times.. until it lost all meaning? I do... Blog Blog Blog! And it's called Semantic satiation, such a fascinating phenomenon. 
I now suggest a laugh until the word "blog" doesn't make you giggle numbly. I'll be typing it a bit in this blog. You giggled, didn't you?!. Seriously, just click here to reset your mind with a little laughter.

Blogs and their affordances. 

My personal reflection

I find blogs to be a fantastic tool for learning. For students like me who learn well by writing, blogs can allow for a sense of anonymity and comfort in publishing work to be critiqued. I am able to publish my understanding of a set reading without feeling the vulnerability that usually accompanies writing on topics about which I'm not very knowledgeable. For my students this can overcome some of the "fear of failure" barriers to learning and producing work.

Blogs, while allowing for anonymity, allow too for ownership of work. Anyone can comment, critique, make suggestions, agree or disagree, but the work remains a product of the blogger's making. Blogs may reflect the blogger's personality- the blog may be comical, serious, or anything the blogger wishes. The individualistic nature of blogs could encourage engagement with set activities, I find it much easier to write blogs when I am able to insert quirky snipits like the above fine print, when I lose interest in the educational content I am able to stay somewhat on task by personalising my blog, then when the light bulb reappears I'm on task just enough to get right back into it.  And, let's face it, it's so much more fun finding this than going off to do the dishes when I get bored.

 

Blogging and SAMR

Blogging could be underutilised as a simple substitution for a workbook, a digital version of pen and paper. Allowing reader comments is essentially a substitute for passing one's book around the room, the exception being if one is fortunate enough to receive comments from people they would not have had access to outside of the internet, more knowledgeable readers or people from across time and space, for example. Such fortune moves blogging up the SAMR scale into augmentation. The ability and ease of linking in blogs has the potential to bump it up the scale further, in this way blogging might classify as modification as it allows for the significant redefinition of the task. The volume of viewers who are able to access, view and comment on a piece of work which would not have been published without the implementation of a blog modifies the process but is not a completely inconceivable process without the technology, not until the concept of followers is introduced. Managing followers, allowing subscribers, blocking persons who "misbehave" incorporating advertising, etc. was inconceivable prior to the blogging technology which completely redefines the task of writing.

 

 

 

Found at: http://www.thethingswesay.com/luck-is-what-happens-when-preparation-meets-opportunity/

de Bono's Hats wiki- Reflection

Mobile Phones wiki. The forum combines a combination of Social Constructivism and Connectivism. 
The forum task is Constructivist in the way that we were to read other (potentially more knowledgeable) students' responses then produce our own response from a combination of what we know and what we had learnt from the responses already contained therein. A permanent text-based record of the forum was created, also allowing for video, audio and image submission, this can be viewed in the future to consolidate learnings (there may be a little of Cognitiveist thinking in this aspect, we can reinforce our memory by re-viewing the forum at a later date thus taking the learning from short term to long term memory.) The wiki forum was also Connectivist in the way that for some of de Bono's hats students must use their skill in finding knowledge in order to complete the response. For example, I knew that a reputable, peer reviewed source could be found in the CQU Library's DISCOVER IT! I used my skill at research to find the statistics and psychological references I required, eg. 93% of Australian Youth, between 16 and 24 years of age, used mobile phones. 

Benefits of participating in this wiki and others like it include being able to draw learnings from peers, this is also a drawback- if I am on the wrong track and my peer is also, we may reinforce each other's erroneous thinking.
I personally don't like wikis as a tool for learning, I am yet to pinpoint why, they just don't sit well with me- I must still be wearing de Bono's red hat. Potential issues include the accidental deletion of other students' contributions.

For my Math students the potential for deleting someone else's work could be quite an issue, however with enough instruction and care a wiki could be a fantastic tool for a modelling and problem solving group task- beng able to input mathematical symbols would be helpful, although a strong and accurate vocabulary would be developed if symbols were not possible. For example "to the power of three" would not be adequate and students would have to use the more appropriate "cubed" if they were to avoid confusion. 

A range of perspectives were supported because in a forum each person can post a response when they are ready, there is no talking over each other. Every person contributes their own perspective, at least under the red "feeling" hat if not everywhere else as well. The use of de Bono's hats fascinates me. I think there is great benefit in purposefully addressing only one type of thinking or one perspective of an argument at a time, methodically working through de Bono's 6 thinking hats allows for a broad evaluation of one's own thinking and reasoning, without being emotionless (red hat). I will personally use this as a problem solving activity and I will definitely incorporate it into my teaching- Especially for History. 

Pedagogy.

When it comes to my pedagogy, I barely know where to start, I have no idea of when I'll stop, or if indeed I'll ever stop developing my pedagogy, and the middle bits are a bit fuzzy... 

What I have established is that I have a different pedagogical approach for junior and senior students.
I respect (most of) senior students' choices about learning, whereas I expect junior students to complete the tasks I assign them generally in the time I allocate. I expect all students to take responsibility for accessing me when they need additional help (eg. with homework tasks they have had difficulty with.).

I strongly believe that there are no bad students- though poor teachers exist in abundance. I believe that if I am disrespectful to a person (irrespective of age or perceived social position) then I cannot realistically expect that they will view me with a respect conducive to learning. I believe (and have experienced one young lady proving my point) that the nicest of people have bad days, foul days, rude days, and downright disgusting days- I try to not take these days to heart and instead show kindness, nurturing and understanding.

I believe that discipline needs to be consistent and fair whilst taking into consideration the individual student's needs. A challenging task indeed.

I have found that BOLD gestures can work well for my small stature, and I have found that some days boldness achieves little more than feeding a negative atmosphere. Sometimes it is best to pick ones battles, so to speak. I turned an obnoxious classroom which had me about to lose my mind, into a classroom straining to hear my every word by whispering to the handful of on-task-students that the following content would be on their exam in two weeks time. I proceeded to speak in the lowest voice I could manage for the remainder of the lesson.

I would like to develop the practice of running a flipped classroom where students access a "lecture" type instruction at home to develop knowledge. In this way students can pause, replay and fast forward the content, hopefully ensuring better comprehension. Salman Khan explains the concept here. With the knowledge and comprehension somewhat dealt with, class time can be used to attain the higher order thinking processes. Students have access to, and can be guided by, me when they're attempting to apply, analyse, synthesise and evaluate the concept.

I would like to develop a climate of comfort, order, and acceptance in my classroom which enables students to access each other in their learning also.
I expect students to respect each other and allow for one speaker at a time, however I do not believe that a quiet class is an prerequisite of a learning class.

I believe that students who are engaged in an activity will actively seek learning.
I will whenever possible have an entire list of exercises or questions relevant to the lesson displayed for the whole class to see. This is to be a scaffolded list, ranging from very simple questions through to very high level extension questions. This list is numbered so that students can (with my guidance) determine their individual expected level of work. The list is not intended as a list of hurdles- students may start where their own ability dictates. Ideally the list would be colour coded for difficulty level, however I do not like the concept of Green, Orange and Red- Red almost always means stop.
 
My classroom will be as comfortable as possible, shoes may be removed (observing OHS), there will be "positive" decor whenever it is in my control and I endeavour to have a relationship with my students which allows them to discuss any barriers to learning that they may feel exist, day to day or longer term.

While being flexible and approachable and having a level of patience I was previously unaware of, I have clearly defined and articulated boundaries. Students will show respect first and foremost for themselves through their language, dress and conduct. Students will respect the property of others including that of the school. Being the best one can be is an aspect of respecting one's self. Consequences (often defined by the institution) are the alternative.

Thoughts about WEEK1's readings and ICTs in learning.

Okily Dokily Folks. 

Let's start by setting our clocks back a little, ok a lot, so that we may pretend this post is being written at the end of week 1. I'll give you a moment... Done?   OK. 

So, week waa-ha-ha-n: Oh Em Gee. I am positively exhausted. Getting into the swing of things really shouldn't have taken me this long- especially on account of not actually having had a holiday, I was never out-of-the-swing of things so to say. But here we are at the end of *week 1*, check your clocks if you don't believe me.
I found the readings this week to be incredibly interesting, no joke, I'm actually a bit of a nerd like that- But you'll keep my secret, I know you will.

Brain Imagery Probes the Idea of Diverse Intelligences. MRI scans show that human abilities come in many combinations. By Grace Rubenstein 

The above reading was fascinating. There is great benefit to the learning manager to have proof, through brain imaging, that different domains of "intelligence" (such as Mathematics, Reading, Music, Personal relationships and, Athletics) are independent of each other.
The Dunce, dunce, double D, who cannot learn his ABC and who often sits in the back corner distracting his peers throughout your history lesson may be a most gifted and engaged mathematics student. This reading, for me, emphasised the importance of respecting all learners as individual, holistic beings with diverse strengths, weaknesses and above all- the ability to improve within a setting of non-judgemental teaching practices. The practical indications on learning management reiterate my personally held belief that there are no bad students only poor teachers. We, as LMs, can help our students by designing lessons which introduce a concept through a learner's strength then challenge them through a domain they struggle in. By this strategy the LM will be helping the learner to engage in the concept AND to develop his/her weaker domains.

Edutopia Webinar: How the Brain Learns Best

Strategies to Make Learning Stick

(there's a transcript for those of us who either prefer reading or are time poor)
Dr. Judy Willis makes the point that learning won't occur if learners think they're going to get eaten by the teacher, or was that the little fox's fear?
Seriously now: The pre-frontal cortex is where conscious, reflective thought occurs. Learners take in information in the form of sounds, sights, touches, etc. Not all of the information we take in makes it to the pre-frontal cortex. Early in its journey, the information reaches the Reticular Activating System (RAC). The RAC is the filter which determines what information will pass further into the brain. In the same way as the rest of the Animal Kingdom, the human RAC has a top priority of ensuring survival. The RAC notices threats and sends them on the fast track to... everywhere, subconscious everywhere so that we can rely on reactive instinct, this means the end of the line for any potential learning. In the absence of anything threatening, the RAC will notice the novel and curious, sending it further toward the conscious pre-frontal cortex.
From the RAC information is sent to the Amygdala (if, like me, you incorrectly remember the Amygdala being referred to in a popular 1998 film, see here for proof of our error). The slightest discomfort (stress, unhappiness, anxiety, boredom, tight knickers, concern, frustration, etc.) will sent any info to the reactive brain once again, where the instinct I previously mentioned has us humans react in one of three ways: fight, flight or freeze. (Dr. Willis draws the parallel to Oppositional-defiant, ADHD and total disengagement-petit mal seizure style respectively.)
The Practical implications for teaching include keeping students comfortable, relaxed and curious, or *lightbulb* ensuring a "sense of comfort and order". For more detail, go on and read the transcript. :)

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?   

As for Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, it is a fascinating chat, highly recommended by this pre-service teacher. HOWEVER: I'd like to share two anecdotes in response.
1. ICTs can be a harsh mistress. For a recent Practicum I had an amazing Grade 9 statistics and probability unit planned, incorporating one of my favourite online Math tools: Khan Academy. My first lesson began with my being blocked on the school network from my "coach"'s account due to its link to a Facebook address. All the lessons I had planned, saved and linked were inaccessible. Thinking on my feet, and having already done the groundwork, I quickly set up another account and gave the students a tutorial on how to set up and join their own accounts to it, while the students were off-a-joining I endeavoured to use my mobile phone to access and link the lessons to my new (school accessible) account. Once all set up I walked my students through their first task, a Math pre-test. And then my lesson fell apart. The school Internet was too slow to allow for the use of the site, some laptops had viruses, some ran out of battery and some students really didn't know how to use their laptops at all. I went home to rethink my entire unit plan. ICTs need to be incorporated as a regular tool for learning, from the start, not just as a novelty.

2. Fear of failure. A mentor of mine conducted a survey of her classes ranging from grade 8 to grade 12. The survey had students answer one question. "Have you grown up doing any of the following, or anything similar? Going camping, playing outside without adult supervision, exploring, adventuring, being "wild" in the outdoors-y sense". The results were compared to the instances of homework being attempted for each student. My mentor found a bilateral symmetry to the comparison.
->Those students who answered yes, took risks and tried to complete their homework, whether the tasks were challenging or simple, the students attempted the questions even when they were unsure of the answers. Consistently.
->Those students who answered no, did not take risks and did not attempt their homework unless the tasks were simple and the students were sure of the answers. Consistently.

That evening I told my son to go play outside then sat to read a book, inside. If this blasted degree wasn't so intensive I'd dust off the tent this weekend too.

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are subject to change. Change may occur as a result of any stimuli. Stimuli include but is not limited to: experience in the "real world" of education (in the case of the above opinions this may well be any contact with the "dunce"), further reading, and contact with real life registered teachers (hereafter referred to as the "big kids"). The big kids often scoff at my learned theories, at times I've come to agree with the opinions they've formed through experience and at other times I've written myself a mental note to never, ever let myself be so dragged down by the profession that I allow such detrimental mindsets to take a foothold in my teaching philosophy. 

Tester McLeister

Dear Mr Explorer,

Its not me its you.
I tried to make this work, I even gave you another chance (at the insistence of my lecturer that I should entertain multiple browsers), alas, it is not be be. I feel restricted; Your overbearing ways have given me reason to browse elsewhere. The truth is I was never truly yours, you were simply the easiest option- given that my university thrust you upon me without any thought for my efficient internet browsing preference. I am not ashamed to admit that I have found love elsewhere: Chrome, he treats me so well. His mind is not cluttered and he allows me to go on about my business without needing to be placated every other minute.

Best wishes, well not really, but that is the thing to say.
Ema Nymton.
P.S Chrome doesn't get upset when I use other browsers, there's none of that "Have you been using a different browser? I thought I was your default. Show me everything you've been doing elsewhere!" It's overbearing nonsense and I'm glad to be rid of it. Chrome and I are open like that, He doesn't even mind that I sometimes like to have Mr. Fox up at the same time. I also love the way they're always competing for my affections, it makes a girl feel wanted.

Any way, enough chat, you get the picture. 

x Em.