A word about ethics

Today we learnt about ethics and about what we can and cannot do with the internet in the classroom. We are not aloud to put photos of any children onto the internet unless we have the permission from the school and from the childs parents or caregivers. Also if we use any information off the internet then it has to be referenced properly.
We also learnt about all different pieces of technology that we can use in the classroom.
Firstly there was all different pieces of hardware that are available for the teachers use. These included cameras to take photos of childrens work to put into a portfolio. These photos can also be upload into a folder on the computer. We can also use a voice recorder which could be used to add sound files of the children speaking into their portfolio along with the photos off the camera. A webcam can also be used for children to see into places where they wouldn't normally be able to see. For example looking at what is growing in a drain pipe. They would be able to point the webcam up the drain pipe to get a closer look.
We also learnt of some low tech sloutions which work just as well. Some of these low tech solutions include an indexed A5 folder with a tab for each child to store their work. This would be helpful when it comes to parent teacher interviews as all of the childs work will be in one place. This is also really easy to carry around as it isn't too big. Other low tech solutions include software such as word, powerpoint, excel, publisher, outlook, frontpage, expression, movie maker and photo story. With movie maker it is possible to start with a still image to make your movie.
iTunes is also good to use for free music and videos to use in the classroom.
Paper based resources are sometimes just as good as computer based resources. Templates can be formed for letters, posters, class lists, check sheets, reading logs and stickers. Once a template has been made for these things there shouldn't be any reason to need to make another one.
There is some specialist software available for teachers use which assists in learning reading skills. The specialist software includes: Text helps read and write gold which scans and turns texts into mp3. Lexia Learning systems is a god programme for the starting point of reading. Dragon Naturally Speaking v10 enables us to speak into the computer and it will turn it into text. Finally Text Aloud turns text into speech (www.nextup.com)
There are some fun programs on the internet available for our use in the classroom. These include, rastorbator which turns photos into posters and blows them up to life size.

Thursday 13th August

Today we learnt how to create a powerpoint presentation. It was based on children's books. We used Microsoft powerpoint to create the powerpoint. We added animation and different sounds to make our powerpoints more interesting. Once we were shown how to do something it was easy to understand and then do ourselves.
We would be able to use Microsoft Powerpoint in the classroom in many different contexts. It would be especially useful for step by step instructions on what to do as we wouldn't have to keep writing them up on the board.

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for classrooms-Will Richardson

Summary of the reading:

1993-Internet went from a text and numbers based research tool for the few to a colourful, graphical world of information for the masses. The content of the internet was limited.
As access spread, connections became faster and more and more web designers and authors set up shop on the internet.
By the end of the 20th century the internet was seen as an essential communications and research network connecting people around the globe.

2006-More than 25 million blogs had bee set up on the internet.

We are still in the process of expanding how the internet is used.


Internet and Education- Schools have been slow to adapt to these new tools and potentials. The internet has the ability to radically change what we assume about teaching and learning, especially if the students have the ability to reach beyond the classroom walls.
"Todays students of almost any age are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy. They prefer to access subject information on the internet where it is more abundant, more accessible and more up to date." ( National Educational Technology Plan, 2005)
Children are creating content in ways that most adults haven't yet tried.

March 2005-Technology has become "an indispensable tool in the education of today's students"

97% of students believe strongly that technology use is important in education.

The fastest growing age group for using the internet is 2-5 year olds.
Todays students may not be well suited to the more linear progression of learning that most educational systems employ.

Students are more open to the ways of new technologies, schools by and large are not.

Weblogs, wikis, rich site summary (RSS), aggregators, social bookmarking, online photo galleries and audio/video casting are amoung the technologies that promise to change the way in which we teach and learn.

Thursday 30th July 2009

Today we had a lab session. We got given the chance to go outside and work in groups of 6 to record some footage on the changing of the seasons using a video camera. Once we had recorded all of our footage we imported it into iMovie on the mac computers and edited it so that we only had the parts that we wanted in our movie. Once we had edited it we were able to add in sound effects and music in the background, create subtitles or title pages for our movie and create different transitions between each shot.
This was the first time that I have ever used i Movie and I found it really easy to figure out what to do.
Children in the primary school classroom would be able to use this program to edit movies in most of the curriculum areas. For example in drama they could record a role play that they might be doing or in english they could record any news reading or presenting that they may do.
I think that iMovie is a good program and it is well worth while knowing how to use it so that children can also use it in the classroom.

Monday 27th July 2009

Today we learnt what a delicious account is, what a wiki is and what a blog is. We got the chance to create accounts for all three of these. A delicious account is a website where you can bookmark all of your favourite websites so that you can access them even if you are on a different computer. We created a wiki in groups of three so that we can all communicate easily and each person in the group has access to contribute to discussions within the group.