Week 7

The Australian Curriculum in ICT

The readings for the week were focused on The Australian Curriculum, specifically ICT. Below is a summary of the categories and requirements of students:

Categories:

·      Applying social and ethical protocols and practices.

o   Intellectual property

o   Information security

o   Personal security

o   ICT and society

·      Investigating with ICT

o   defining and planning information searches

o   locating and accessing data and information

o   selecting and evaluating data and information

·      Creating with ICT

o   Generating ideas, plans and processes

o   Generating solutions to challenges and learning area tasks

·      Communicating with ICT

o   Collaborating sharing and exchanging

o   Understanding and applying social protocols

o   Applying techniques or strategies to ensure security of information

·      Managing and operating ICT

o   Using ICT efficiently and ergonomically

o   Selecting hardware and software

o   Understanding ICT systems

o   Managing digital data 

There were no presentations this week as we were given the opportunity to work on our group assignment video for LA1. 

Week 6

Reading 1- Leading ICT in Education Practices

o   Based on their recommendations and the aforementioned literature, this toolkit proposed a framework of strategic planning processes that encompasses six strategic dimensions that TEIs need to focus on:

1. Vision and Philosophy

2. Program: Curriculum, Assessment, and Practicum

3. Professional Learning of Deans, Teacher Educators and Support Staff

4. ICT Plan, Infrastructure, Resources and Support 

5. Communications and Partnerships

·      Parent/school communication- blogs, class website, skype sessions/interviews.

·      Professional development communication with other teachers. Setting up a supportive network with other new teachers. Such as the Beginning Teachers Network.

·      Parents can be a great resource for supporting what is happening in the classroom e.g. for excursions or donating computers/books to the class.

6. Research and Evaluation

·      Assessment- report card comments.

·      Screencast o matic – recording tool when using web browsing, also records the voice over. Useful for PD videos.

Two presentations this week. Games in Learning and Thinking Digitally

·      Games in learning- using games for assessment.

o   Can be used as an observational tool

o   Used for formative assessment, e.g. mathletics.

o   Not so much for summative assessment.

o   Educational games need to implement assessment to allow for teachers to utilize these games properly. E.g. printable assessment overviews.

o   Example- who wants to be a millionaire.

·      Ours- inquiring with ICT.

·      Early Years ICT- animated classroom using moviemaker

o   Creating a stop motion movie.

o   Future shots- competition allowing students to make their own stop motion film.

o   iClone5 – using characters in a virtual world. 

Week 5

The tutorial started as usual with a discussion about the weekly readings. A summary is shown below.


The Smart Classrooms Digital Pedagogies ICT expectations for students: 

• having the ability of touch typing. Should it be taught as a part of english or ICT? It is a development of a specific skill. 
• teaching students how to use a mouse- the correct use.
• finding information- by using databases and search engines properly and efficiently. 

Skills that students in QLD are expected to develop:

• inquiring- using search tools, using ICT for research. 
• creating- making videos, games or books. 
• communicating- using emails, podcasts or blogs. 
• ethics- cyber safety. 
• operating- being able to print and save documents, use a mouse. 

NET Standards for Students: 

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts 

The first part of the second hour was spent looking at the iMovie software. Dr. Zagami showed the class how to record video and edit it using the software. Additional add ons were available such as adding music, text and themes to the video. This is relevant to our Learning Adventure 1 which requires us to make a short movie about a selected topic. 

Presentations followed the movie making tutorial. Again, my group was the first to present and continued our topic of Operating with ICT. The rest of the group presentations were as follows: 


Google tools- Google Sketchup

•        Need to install onto computer
•        Functional with google earth.  Students can put their buildings onto google earth and they can see where they put them.
•        Engage visual learners
•        Exclusive websites for teachers.
•       Initially focused on teaching autistic students, who are visually and spatially gifted.
•        Students are able to design their own buildings and layouts easily.
•        3D modelling- can be used for animation/short films.

Early Phases of ICT- the animated classroom

•        Students are exposed to animation texts every day
•        Can use stop motion animation sequences
•        Can be used across the whole curriculum
•        Equipment needed- art supplies, digital camera, software
•        How to create an animated classroom- 
•     step 1- idea or design brief
•        step 2 – brainstorming/planning
•        step 3 – storyboard
•        step 4 - making models and steps
•        step 5 - capturing the photos
•        step 6- putting the sequence together
•        Students can pick their favourite story and make it an animated story
•         Teaching students how to make their own animations we are teaching them how to deconstruct the texts which they see in every day life, e.g. movies such as finding nemo.

Games in Learning – Science games for kids

•     Games in learning for specific curriculum areas
•        Good tools to use in the classroom without needing direct access to the subject. E.g. plants, animals.
•        Provides a safe learning environment, kids are not told that they are wrong.
•       Useful resources for teachers

One to one – Cyber safety

•        Can include- bullying, inappropriate content, digital footprint, netiquette etc.
•        Staying legal
•        Keep personal details private
•        Know how to block people, tell someone you can trust, call kids helpline.
•        Keep evidence of cyber bullying, e.g. screenshots.
•        Know how to ‘escape’ from websites.
•        Different websites that are useful for teachers to utilize to ensure that their students are well informed. 

Week 4

Tutorial 4 began with a group discussion about the required readings for the week. This discussion should have been beneficial as a group discussion of ideas although it was obvious that many people either did not complete the readings or they were not engaged in them. Personally I found the readings for the week to be quite extensive and wordy and although I completed them I did not feel as though I could contribute to a discussion about them. I have provided a summary of them as shared on GoogleDocs: 

After the discussion the presentations began. 

Early Phases- 

• Introduction to the only 2 clicks website at http://www.only2clicks.com/home.php?cat=526697
• discussion about the website and its uses in the classroom with the students. 

One to one- 

• for this tutorial this group focused on how to implement the one to one program in schools. 
• schools need to develop a plan of attack detailing a financial plan for how you will get the laptops and also  a task force should be identified which includes admin, students, parents and community members. 
• avoid isolation- how will the one to one program fit with other technologies used within the school (it should complement the existing)? 
• maintenance plans and strategies for this. can utilise the skills of the tech teacher or students, senior students, parents etc. plan for upgrades. 
• policies procedures and guidelines e.g. acceptable use policy, theft and loss, social networking guidelines, security procedures etc. 
• just start get in and use the software and test it out. 

Games in learning-  

• motivating, fun and engaging. 
• example website shown http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/index.htm http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/  
• disadvantages - differing skill levels of the students, system failure, access and time management.
• useful game consoles such as xbox kinect and wii. 

Google tools- 

• google translate. free online tool that translates 57 languages, sentences, words, pages, books and websites.

Mobile learning- 

• apps in the classroom. 

Programming and computational thinking- 

• focus on programming. using microsoft windows logo. http:..www.transum.org/software/logo/ <-- a simple website for students to use to learn basic programming skills. 

Week 3

I was unable to participate in the tutorial today so I do not as yet have information regarding the topics covered by group members.


I looked at the Horizon Report which was to be studied as one of the readings for the week and have summarised it as follows:

• Horizon.K12 is a project that applies the process developed for the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project to the identification of trends and challenges relevant to elementary and secondary learning institutions, and to clarifying key emerging technologies that are sure to impact the sector.

 Key Trends:

• The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators.
• As IT support becomes more and more decentralized, the technologies we use are increasingly based not on school servers, but in the cloud.
• People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.
• The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing.
• Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate and succeed.

Significant Challenges:

• The demand for personalised learning is not adequately supported by current technology or practices.
• Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession.
• Economic pressures and new models of education are presenting unprecedented competition to traditional models of schools.
• A key challenge is the fundamental structure of the K-12 education establishment- aka “the system”.
• Many activities related to learning and education take place outside the walls of the classroom and thus are not part of our learning metrics. 

Also I know that a guest speaker was to be present at the tutorial, Amanda Marrinan. Amanda is a Year 2 teacher who encourages her students each year to continue the tradition of blogging about their daily experiences in the classroom through the use of a blog which was created by a Year 1 class back in 2007. Amanda uses the blog as a way of communicating with the parents of the students regarding what they are learning each week and important dates to remember. Each of the students have their own blog which they can share their ideas about what they have learnt in class. 

Week 2

During the tutorial for Week 2 as a group we went through a few of the google applications, such as blogger, docs and sites. 

A brief discussion was held about the prescribed readings for the week which were on the following topics:

• Smart Classrooms Framework
• ICT Certificate
• TPACK

The second half of the tutorial was designated to group presentations. A summary of each of the groups topics are as follows:

Early Years- 

• technology is interactive, engaging, educational and is all about play.
• children are exposed at an early age (digital native) to technologies such as ipad, wii, kids laptop, meccano and robots. 

One to one- 

• this group focused on the One Laptop Per Child initiative.
• described as learning for learning.
• they are durable and light weight. 
• these laptops support learning through doing. 
• there are more than 4,000 students in Australia that are benefitting from this initiative. 

Games in Learning- 

• this group started off with an interesting quote- "If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow", John Dewey. 
• games need to be implemented in the classroom to engage the students in learning through the use of wii, xbox kinect, etc. 
• benefits --> repetition helps learning, encourages individual and collaborative learning and it is motivating for the students. 
• disadvantages --> differing skill levels of the students, system failure/power outage, language barriers. 
• why implement? to keep up with the needs of society. So that teachers do not get left behind by their students. 
• games are how kids learn, it is not just busy work! 
• games can be incorporated through the use of interactive web pages, web quests and consoles.

Google tools- 

• Google is no longer just an online searching tool, it now provides images, news, blog sites, scholarly articles, etc.
• there are numerous free online tools supplied by Google such as docs, movies, powerpoint.

Mobile Learning-

• is technology that is portable, e.g. using mobile phones, laptops, GPS devices, etc. 
• it encourages both independent and collaborative learning and also increases confidence and attention within the classroom. 
• gives students the opportunity to bridge the gap between mobile literacy and ICT literacy. 
• is an effective way to access information any time, any where. 

Programming & Computational Thinking-

• is an approach to problem solving that incorporates digital technologies with human ideas. 
• allows us to formulate problems in ways that allow us to use computers and other tools to solve them. 
• programming is the language used to create programs that tell computers step by step how to solve the problem, e.g. beebots. 

Week 1

The first tutorial consisted of an introduction to the course and also a presentation from developers at The Learning Place.


Dr. Zagami provided us with an interesting presentation about ICT covering the following topics:

• flipped classroom approach
• expertise areas:
• thinking digitally
• early phases of ICT 
• one to one
• games in learning
• google tools
• mobile learning
• virtual worlds/augmented reality
• programming and computational thinking
• LA 1 and LA2
• ICT Certificate
• Different ICT devices
• Games, online games and virtual worlds 

During this initial lecture we split into groups and chose a topic from the expertise list above to present to the class over the 8 week period. I am in a group with Hayley and Kelly and our topic is Thinking Digitally. I am not sure at the moment what that is exactly but I'm sure that I will be an expert at the conclusion of the course!