Sam’s Online Journal

This online journal is a requirement of the Computer’s major subject for primary education course at UTS. The various responses found here are my comments about specific readings, my experiences in Practicum and any other interesting issues I come across.

Eduweb

November 2nd, 2005 by · 1 Comment · Practicum

This is a really cool thing I discovered on Prac :-o . I don’t know about everyone else but I had never heard of this before. It is just like publishing on the internet, except you can only access it on school networked computers because it is actually part of the intranet.

Every student has their own page and at the moment they are only publishing their school work. It hasn’t yet become a virtual journal type thing yet, but my co-operating teacher really liked the idea.

I was shocked when I first saw it ’cause I thought it was part of the internet and the class I was with was posting photos of the students on their ‘home’ pages as well as personal details like their address and date of birth etc. But I was soon put at ease when the teacher explained it was part of the intranet.

Prac

October 13th, 2005 by · 11 Comments · Practicum

Well my class have been to the computer room probably once this year (prior to prac starting). They are booked in to the computer room every tuesday morning from 9am to 10am but the teacher never takes them because they can not be controlled. There are 31 year 4 students in this class and they are all the students at the “lower end” of the grade. The school itself isn’t that great, the entire area is socially disadvantaged and this shows in the students.

Since I have been there we have used the computers once so the students could type up their “My Holiday” stories in word and experiment with the fonts, sizing, colours, borders and clipart. The lesson worked okay with the two of us there. I was amazed at how many students didn’t have computers at home and how many didn’t know how to use one, even to do something simple like turn it on. It was an enlightening experience! ;-)

Response to Troy’s Google Earth

October 8th, 2005 by · 1 Comment · Comments

This sounds like an amazing site. Just on Troy’s description I can see it has an amazing potential for use in the primary classroom. Obviously it could be used to show students Paris or Iraq or anything to do with geography. But I would also love to use it with students who have pen pals in other countries. It could really show the students what life is really like, taking their understanding out of the abstract and into the concrete. 

This is a fantastic site Troy! 

Response to Lily’s Social Bookmarking

October 8th, 2005 by · 1 Comment · Comments

Hi Lily,

Lily wanted to know what this comment mean: Social bookmarking tools also share this characteristic: the more they are used, the more value accrues to the system itself and thereby to all who participate in it.

This is a very interesting comment. When I read it (though keep in mind I haven’t read the rest of the article yet) I take it mean that the value of the system will increase as more people use it, not the resources themselves that are being bookmarked. Sort of like a community. The more people that come into the community, the more jobs they bring, the more money they bring for further development and repairs, the more ideas they bring on how to improve life. That sort of thing.  In terms of the internet and perhaps this system, popularity may bring with it that ability to upgrade, to develop better, faster links and services etc.

Response to Oanh’s thoughts on Think Quests

October 8th, 2005 by · 2 Comments · Comments

I think that this has enormous potential. Just from your description I can already see how this could be used for presenting group assignments. I think this is a tool that could very well replace Microsoft PowerPoint in terms of presentation.

For a teacher it provides quick and easy access to amazing resources that kids themselves have already learned from previously. We know it works!!

This is a great resource Oanh!

Resources for Keeping Up to Date

October 8th, 2005 by · 1 Comment · Computing Tasks

For this task we were suppose to rank each resource according to our own preferences and find at least one more resource. This is what I ended up with:

Rank of 1 (Low Priorty)

  • Professional Learning Community forums
  • Teacher Radio

Rank of 2 (Neutral)

  • Colleagues / peers from UTS
  • Membership of Professional Association
  • Paper or web-based e-learning journals
  • Teachers’ weblogs
  • Magazines (mass media)

Rank of 3 (High Priority)

  • Teacher colleagues in school
  • Conferences 
  • List-servs / email newsletters
  • Teacher Success Story sites
  • Newspapers
  • General teaching sites

These are the two resources I found:

Teacher Portfolios: Individual teachers create these portfolios to keep records of all their knowledge (existing and new. Most begin these whilst at university. I gave this a ranking of 2 and said it should be free.

Computer Software:The example of this resource that I found was Teacher Talk by Kay Toliver; it is meant to inspire teachers to try new approaches in mathematics. I gave this a ranking of 3 and said the school should provide this for the teachers. The advantage I saw of this is that teachers can take this home, or do it in school when they have the time (for example during RFF lessons).

Teacher Professional Learning

October 8th, 2005 by · Comments Off · Computing Tasks

Well I am now a member of Tapped In but I have not yet made a posting because when I logged in on Sunday (my only day off) there was no one in the chat rooms. To me, this points out one of the downfalls of online chat rooms. Not everyone is able to successfully and regularly use them due to their timetables. My days off obviously do not coincide with the times when other teachers are busy chatting. I will try again later, but it wont be till after prac!

Week 8 Activity Three

October 8th, 2005 by · 1 Comment · Computing Tasks

We had to compare two of the sample AUP’s to the one we created with our group in the wiki.

Kangaroo Flat Public School

  • *I like the use of a creative heading. It removes the usual stigma of a formal policy being tedious and boring. The yellow background however can be distracting and make the text difficult to read.
  • *I like the idea of having both the child and their parents consent to publishing students work on the internet. That solves any future issues that may arise about privacy etc. It can also serve as a tool for showing parents what the student has achieved and the high value placed on their work.
  • *I do not agree with this statement: Student information (as above) shall be posted ONLY WITH TEACHER AND PARENT PERMISSION, when this is necessary to receive information for instructional purposes. I’m sorry but student information should never be posted!
  • *Some of the points could be misunderstood. At the very beginning it states that the following are the rules and regulations, and then it has a whole list of points such as this one: Making personal attacks on other people, organizations, religions, or ethnicities. At no point does it say this is prohibited. AUP’s should never assume anything. All points should be stated explicitly.

Bayswater Primary School

  • *I love the layout. Its colourful, engaging and it allows an individual to view the exact section they need to know about.
  • *Again its fantastic to see that the parent and the child have to consent to use of their work, names etc.
  • *Its very succinct. I much prefer to have a short, simple list that provides guidance about what can and cant happen then try to wade through fifty tedious points to find the one I need.
  • *The headings make it very easy to read as well.

Learning and Leading with Technology

October 8th, 2005 by · Comments Off · Response to Readings

This is an article about Online Community Groups and the use and benefit of Tapped In to create these environments.

*I love the fact that a transcript of the discussion is emailed to all participants immediately. The teachers are there to build on their knowledge, keep their skills and understanding up to date and a transcript would provide them with an excellent way to remember and give reference back to. It would also allow them to remember to whom they were chatting with if they wished to look that person up again.

*Tapped In allows students to have online discussions as well. But the best part, and most important, is that other members of Tapped In cannot join these discussions unless invited by the teacher. This is extremely important because it is very easy for any person to join an online professional community forum. People in these communities may indeed not be teachers and this tool allows classroom teachers to keep out any unwanted guests. Of course for this to be successful, the teachers themselves have to be careful not to presume that everybody is who they say they are.

*There are times through out the year in Tapped In when you can talk to experts for example like Bernie Dodge about WebQuests. This would be a great opportunity if the children in the classroom were also able to talk directly to Bernie Dodge, or any other important e-learning contributor. Of course for this to happen you may have to make an appointment because it may be very difficult to answer questions from students from all over the globe in one session.

Reference: Bull et al. (2004). Tapped In. Learning and Leading with Technology, 31(5), 34-37.

The “Little Girl” Learning Metaphor

September 21st, 2005 by · 13 Comments · Comments

The image of the little girl walking alone along the beach is an excellent metaphor for e-learning. The internet allows children (and adults) to wander freely and perhaps aimlessly … searching. Sometimes however it can all seem to much and I think the large flock of seagulls engulfing the little girl represent how the big world can overwhelm a child. Ontop of this obvious metaphor there is the less obvious issue of protection. The flock of seagulls which I mentioned earlier represent the vastness of the internet, I think they also represent the secretive nature of the web. Behind every site, person, search engine there are numerous sites and people that should not be revealed to children. The boundlessness and openness of the internet can leave children unprotected, that is where we, as teachers, can help the students and protect them.