Module 10

Blooms
The use of all of the programs leaned in the Web2.0 course fits in perfectly with Blooms Taxonomy. Each program can be used to meet one or more of Blooms cognitive objectives. It is amazing that a concept such as Blooms, developed years ago, can be updated and applied to this generations learning needs. Programming technologically through the use of Blooms Taxonomy may be a challenge to the teacher who is learning about the world of technology, but extremely beneficial to the learner, who has grown up in a world where ICT is a normal part of every day living. Our school has begun to change programming into the Understanding By Design (UBD) format, which follows Blooms Taxonomy... now we have lots and lots of new ways to fulfil those objectives!!

Final Reflection
My Web 2.0 journey began with a group of friends and colleagues every Thursday morning before school. It ended with me in my study, between feeds, sleeps, smiles and all the other things a newborn brings up! Each module has opened my eyes to a new world, a new way of teaching. The Web2.0 course has enriched my understanding of different programs available to all teachers and students. These programs are interactive and fun, and allow for a rich teaching environment. It has brought me up to speed with the new computer language - a language that I had only heard about before, but never actually understood. Words like "Wiki" and "Blog" were foreign and (or so I thought) so far advanced that I was scared to explore them. Now I feel much more confident using a wider range of programs to achieve different outcomes. I guess the hard part now is re-programming myself to use these programs to suit the needs of the students, even though it may seem challenging at first.
Web2.0 assists in the learning outcomes of all students by tapping into lots of different skills and learning styles. The programs tap into the learners creative and academic side. Programs such as Second Life provide an experiential platform for children to learn from. So many aspects on what is known and what still needs to be explored can be developed through programs such as these. For the teacher, programs such as GoogleDocs and Scootle save a lot of time and energy previously put in by individual teachers. A program such as Scootle brings social networking to a whole new level; teachers are able to share their experiences, resources and internet links with other colleagues.
We used to view the internet as a platform of endless possibilities - we spent hours and hours and hours looking up information and links on the internet and then recreating something to suit the learning needs of the classroom. Now using one or more of these programs we are able to communicate those ideas through different mediums that are not only easy to use, but are inspiring for the learner to be a part of.

Module 9

Scootle
Finally! An idea that has incorporated all of the ideas we have been learning about on this course. One website that captures everything - networking, sharing of websites, pictures, files etc., without having the stress of logging on to each individual website!

Second Life
Love it!! Second Life brings teaching into this generations style of learning. Our kids are growing up in a world of technology; games on the computer and games on the TV. This program taps into this generation by teaching them in a world in which they are familiar. I love the fact that you can use this program to teach (for example) Kindergarten about the snow - most of the kids at our school have never seen snow, only in pictures. So to have a program that not only shows them snow, but the different things we can do on the snow (ski, ice skate etc) is incredible. This applies to the older grades as well - taking a tour of an Asian country is by far more interesting than seeing pictures in a book. The world is your oyster with this program. Now all we have to do is have the time to learn how to program the idea that is suitable to our needs.

Twitter
Twitter is a means of connecting with your friends on a day to day basis without having to send individual emails to all friends about what you are doing. Twitter lets the user read updates about their friends' lives as they happen. It has opened the world of connecting with celebrities and other people who once would have been "off limits" to the common person (for example, Kevin Rudd has a Twitter account).
As a Facebook fan, I see Twitter as another Facebook... except with Facebook you can learn more about your friends through sharing of pictures, writing on walls and individual emails. I have not signed up to Twitter as I feel that Facebook is enough social networking... there is only so much computer time in a day (or as I'm discovering, there is only so much computer time in a week!!)

Module 8

RSS - another great idea!
I have to admit that I had a hard time trying to figure it out. I found the Google Reader update icon but it wasn't orange and I couldn't add pages I wanted to on the list. But with a lot of clicking and trying to work it out I finally did it and am glad I did!
RSS is a way of streamlining all of your favourite websites and adding them to one page. The RSS feeder lets you know what updates have been made to the page. It shows how many updates have been made on that site as well. The purpose of it is another time saving program - instead of going into individual pages to see what changes have been made (if any), it will show you (through the use of bold writing) if there have been any changes and how many. Once you view the changes, the list "un-bolds" itself until further changes.
Genius!

Module 7

Delicious!
What a great idea! What will they think of next? Delicious is a bookmarking function that you can access from any computer... Fantastic considering it was always hard to do research at home, find a few good sites, email them to my work email, then access them at school. Either that or work on the classroom computer, then go into the computers in the staffroom, and have to Google to find the same sites again. Very time wasting...
Not only can you access your bookmarks, but you can access and share bookmarks with friends or colleagues. I love this idea! Sites for teachers are endless, and you can spend hours just sorting through the good and the bad, the relevant and the irrelevant. At least this way you know the sites that have been Bookmarked are worth visiting.
The internet really has changed from the user being a passive user to a role that is active and useful to a whole lot of people!

Module 6

Bubble.Us

Finally! A tool that would be suitable for use in a classroom of Infants all the way through to a university level. Bubble.Us can be used in a classroom to determine the student's understandings of a topic through pre and post testing.

The tool is easy to use and visually easy to read. When I do brainstorming on the whiteboard the student's ideas become muddled up because of space issues - this tool allows the user to move the "Bubbles" and "sub-Bubbles" to a space that fits, and gives the options of changing colours to give clearer grouping options.

Glogster

What an amazing tool for both teachers and students to share their knowledge and understandings of a topic!

What comes to mind though is the issue of equality. Although the program is a free tool, students who have access to a computer are more likely to have a greater knowledge on how to use the program, therefore being more confident to import things like videos, pictures, animations and sounds. One of the first things that I thought of when I saw an example of a document created on Glogster was how impressive it looked - far more interactive than a cardboard poster! - but then my thoughts turned to those who weren't confident users of both the program and a computer. Teachers need to be mindful of focusing on the content of the document, and not be drawn to the impressive links (videos, pictures, animations and sounds) that have been uploaded onto the document. By doing that, I actually wonder how much a student knows about the topic - do they know how to use the program more than they actually understand the topic? The topic of access to computers is once again an issue that needs to be addressed - obviously a very costly and time consuming issue, but one that will affect the future of our children.

Having said that I just tried to use it and it is actually very simple to use! What will they think of next? :)

http://renandem.glogster.com/edit/glog/?action=glogs_create

Module 5

I remember about a year ago asking my husband what a Podcast is. He thought it was to do with something about listening to a radio program but after it had broadcast on air. I was a little confused with his answer, wondering why anyone would want to listen to something on the radio after it had been on air? What was the point?
It wasn't until I watched the presentation on Podcasts that I was able to understand the full idea of podcasting and it's benefits. Podcasting and Vodcasting inspires the student to move past trying to please the teacher in order to receive a good grade to challenging the student to publish for a global listening audience. Podcasting information inspires the student to be as creative as they can, using different forms of digital media. Podcasting is inspiring, creative and interactive and is a powerful tool to use in the classroom.
YouTube is something I am familiar with, both on a professional level and a social level. I have used YouTube in my teaching for various activities. One of the activities included a small group of seniors students who were learning about Public Speaking. As one of the lessons I played Martin L. King's "I Have A Dream" speech to inspire them to create their own speech about an issue they are passionate about. I have also used YouTube in my own classroom as a means of digital storytelling. I have used YouTube when conducting or participating in Professional Development sessions as a way of reinforcing different concepts. When it comes to Education, YouTube can be used in so many different ways.
I have used iTunes before as a way of downloading songs onto my iPod. I find it amazing how you can create files or folders on the computer, then transfer them to the iPod, so that the songs are still categorised. One folder for relaxing music, one folder for the gym, one folder for entertaining, one folder for kid's music... the list goes on!
I have recently become a mum. My kindergarten students watched me grow and change, and they always had questions to ask about my pregnancy. I visited Seniors classes as part of their Health lessons to talk about my pregnancy and how the baby grows. I have now been inspired to create my own video with little Emmanuel as the star as a way of reconnecting back to the children, so that they can see him and see the different movements he makes and the things he does during the day. When I have completed it I will be creating a Vodcast (or perhaps even on YouTube??) for them to view it on. Something I can say I've never done but am up for the challenge!! I will post the link here when it is done... stay tuned!!

Module 4

Flickr. I spent the morning browsing through Flickr trying to work it out. Although I managed to upload photos onto my account, I don't think I have truely unlocked all of the options Flickr has.

Copyright issues on Flicker are huge. People posting photos of themselves or others may seem harmless... However, many things can be done to exploit those pics. Take, for example, the article "Flicker vs. Free Speech". A picture of US President Obama was taken, then altered by a student to make Obama's face look like that of Heath Ledgers face in the movie, The Dark Knight. It was later altered again by another group and put onto Anti-Obama posters.

What photos are acceptable according to copyright and what photos are not? "The Commons" page on Flickr is a page designed for people to share photos according to common interests. Whilst this is an amazing tool for bringing like minded people together, it also brings up copyright issues. In their "The Commons" statement, Flickr state that they can not take responsibility if the photos may be used for other purposes, and can not guarantee that the photos will not be reproduced by others. In other words, upload photos onto Flickr with the knowledge that the photos may be used in many different households and workplaces by many different people.

One of the "safe" options that I used for my Flickr account, was to share the photos with friends that I invited. My photos are not open for the public to see. Whilst this means that the comments directed to my pictures will be minimal, at least I wont have strangers looking at my pics!

Here is a sample of what I put up - me with my growing belly...