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Showing posts from 2011

Technologies and trends 2012

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There are many new technologies being used in classrooms today: social networking, online teaching, class blogs and wikis, podcasting, interactive whiteboards, and mobile devices. Based on Gartner, Inc. Predicted top 7 strategic technologies (related to learning) and trends for 2012 Media Tablets – no single platform and owner provided. IT systems need to be adaptive to accommodate multiple platforms. Student and educators acquire their own tablets and bring them to school. From point and click to touch, gesture and speech – services need to design new user interfaces. Students and Educators employ apps on their tablets rather than internet browsers on PCs. Contextual and Social – services gathers and employs information on the user to personalise information and interaction. Online courseware personalizes  learning. Learning Management Systems adapt Facebook like capacities. Internet of Things – services based on sensors that are connected to the internet to

AADES Tasmania Reflection

AADES Tasmania Reflection Online Learning is and will continue to be the significant Change Agent in Teaching and Learning Practices To bring change do not be realistic Change the mental boundary to "it can be done" Change will involve a complexity of technologies - not one solution fits all. If Online Universities can accommodate over 400,000 students how will Senior Secondary Schools accommodate a growth in student numbers? NBN will reshape the classroom This is the Knowledge Era: Decisions made today will effect our participation tomorrow Social Networking, Free & Open Content, Open Classroom are the future Entitlement (right to participate) + ubiquity (cloud) = disintermediatory (goodbye middleman)

iPAD & ANDROID APPS and Blooms

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Part of a 21st Century Teacher's mission is to relate innovative technology with their teaching practices. Perhaps the most commonly accepted teaching and learning pedagogical methodology is the Blooms' Taxonomy. Blooms has been revised in the digital era. Across the world, many educators have made considerable efforts to related Blooms with online learning, web 2.0, 3.0, and industrial revolution 4.0. Blooms and Moodle Resource link   Blooms and Web 2.0 to 3.0 Resource link Resource link Blooms and Industrial Revolution 4.0 Resource link Resource link Educators across the world can adapt new technologies and adapt teaching and learning practices through what is a globally connected effort to be relevant and effective.  Can schools - more importantly can Educational Jurisdictions keep up with societal change? Can Bloom's keep up? One-off sponsorship You Tube

Texting Technology Thinking

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Whilst writing has existed for many centuries the association of writing as technology is relatively new. The question is - How do changes in technologies influence knowledge & influence thinking? Chisel and Stone Reed pen papyrus roll press and vellum typewriter and paper keyboard and computer screen TXT Mobile writing technology is now the first choice in today's youth and how is it changing thinking? 14% done in class!!! Educators are caught in this change. Students are wanting to write but in a technology that is not designed for essay writing. Mobile Keyboards are changing to accommodate fast Mobile TXTing Software for touch screens Technology changes thinking. Allow it to change thinking in your classroom New technologies create cultural disturbances. Every new technology gives us two things — promise and consequence. The promise attracts us towards technology and encourages us to adopt it.  AI writing One-off sponsorship

iPADS & Convergence Culture

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iPADS are now an important learning tool within the 21st Century school environment. Schools need to view creative media as one of the key "learning corner stones" of the contemporary classroom. Classrooms should enable students to express their cultural situation, their stories and knowledge expressions whilst employing creative technologies such as iPADs. This need is well stated  by  Henry Jenkins re: "Convergence Culture". If you don't know Henry Jenkins play this video; A relatively new animation media app for the iPADS enables students to self express in an immediate and rewarding manner. The app looks fun and engaging. The app is called Blush Undivided Video. Check out the app via YouTube There is a change in who develops the content. It is important that students are engaged in creativity via "content creation". Rich media content development should not be the sole domain of the teacher. iPAD apps and the convergent culture are hel

Constructivist Learning and Moodle

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According to Dougiamas (1998) as shown by the diagram above, the learning theory we call constructivism is a collection of several learning theories that continue to be developed.  Some of these theories (Critical (Kincheloe, 2008) and Cultural (Hutchison, 2006))  are more connected to the idea of constructivism as a philosophical/epistemological concept.  Moodle is built on the constructivist theory of learning and in general, this aspect of Moodle is ignored. It is easy to overlook the theory and focus on Moodle as an object or a tool. Designing “how to” Moodle courses are easy to manufacture, easy to measure, and easy to assess but they are deficient in the development of a constructivist learning environment. It is important that online courses are not “content dumps” with little application to learning processes other than reading and remember. The following slide “Future of eLearning Moodle Moot 2011” offers some insights to enabling a constructivist learning environment Ign

Time and Distraction reflection

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Time and Distraction reflection Reflection on competing needs Plan to Plan Start the day with a 10-minute planning space Delegate to technology Use technology effectively to cut out duplication and repetition Use a variety of memory-based approaches Hearing, Text, Visual and Tactile Enable Planning Learning Planning processes Remove Procrastination Self reflect on organizational practices Develop a can-do mindset I Can't Get My Work Done: An hour per day of distracted time translates into $10,375 of wasted productivity per person per year, assuming an average salary of $30/hour.  That is more than the average U.S. driver will spend this year to own and maintain a car, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA).  Toggling between multiple applications/windows/tabs/items on the desktop contributes to the problem of distraction, along with using multiple devices at the same time.  45% of survey respondents keep at least six items open simultaneously,

TPACK overview

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Participatory Learning

Participatory Learning There is no question of whether teaching and learning via online environments is a priority. The actual question is related to the implementation of participatory online learning environments. The employment of ICT in society is moving from a technical application that enables interaction with knowledge to a cultural expression of participation. Today's students are immersed within the internet technologies. On large their preferences are to be ‘Connected and Mobile’. Their interfaces are built on ‘personalisation’. Their online participatory environments include social media, media rich creation sites, media flow platforms and game based collaboration. The employment of traditional teaching and learning practices are increasingly becoming less effective at engaging students and motivating achievement. Successful 21st Century educators are those who can learn how to, partake within and create participatory based online learning environments.

Jonus: a sad story

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Jonus: scene 1 slide 1 Jonus works in an office. He has worked in this office for 20 years. He wants more but he doesn't know how to get more. Jonus feels anxious and threatened. Jonus: scene 1 slide 2 Jonus would dwell on detail. The detail would observe him. For hours Jonus would stare and ponder. Stance could feel the coldness. It worried her. It took her concentration. She new things were visualizing and as they appeared to become real Jonus looked more and more dangerous. Jonus was now disappearing into himself daily. Stance could hear water, feel heat and feel weight. She knew it was anxiety. She had to take action. Jonus: scene 1 slide 3 Into his mind did Jonus leap. His rock was safe. The river flowed strong. The flames were growing. Impending doom. Impending fear. Anxiety glassed his lungs. There was nothing to do but fall. The time is now. It was to happen. Jonus was lost from control. He needed to sleep. As long as the river flowed he could sleep. Sleep