Teaching and Technology: A Student Teacher Perspective

Amy was the last to present and introduced us to 3 interesting and innovative websites she discovered while searching the fantastic Web 2.0 resource www.go2web20.net.

The first website, Fotoll, was a website on which users could create and monitor polls on basically anything they desired. The second site, Kerpoof, was a sort of interactive community site where users could create an avatar, and then chat with others or create movies and stories etc, using pre-constructed scenes, characters and objects. The third site, Pikikids, allowed registered users to create comic strips and add speech and thought bubbles to pictures.

Of the three sites presented, only the final one held any real manner of promise to me. The first two really didn’t seem to hold any educational value, and although users of Kerpoof could create movies, as stated they were rather closed off with their options, and the other aspects of this site were undesirable, such as the chat, where students could get off task easily. Not to mention the safety aspects of who children could potentially talk to through this medium (screened or not).

The only real issues I had with Pikikids were the fact that you could not create comics without an account, and the fact that you could browse sites like Flickr for the images to use in your comic strip. Although the account issue is not a major one, it would just have been nice for there to be the possibility to create the strips sans account, avoiding the hassle of having students create their own, which require an email address.

While the presentation was an interesting one, I just didn’t feel my attention to be captured by anything show to us, especially not in the sense of finding anything I could use in a classroom setting. Nonetheless, Amy should be congratulated on her work. It can be hard to go last, you did a great job.

When Adam and Joel introduced us to Google Earth in their presentation I had used the program only a handful of times. I thought I knew a little, but as I was to discover, there were plenty of features I was not even aware of.

At first glance, Google Earth looks like just a software rendered version of your standard globe of the Earth. It is so much more than that. Not only can you change views to look at satellite and more conventional map images alike, you can also view many places in major Western cities from the street. You can search from a vast database of locations to pinpoint residential locations, but services and common building types, and then get directions from one place to another. Students can plot the various routes from their home to their school, with seemingly relative simplicity and ease.

Get bored of looking at the Earth? Well that’s where it gets cool. The program also has a “stargazing” function, where it takes your Earth location and turns the view to the skies, portraying the stellar view from anywhere on the globe. Students can then search for constellations and can find easy links to websites with all sorts of fantastic facts, pictures and information on them, no searching required.

This tool truly is fantastic and excites me as a new way to look at the world. I think that Society and Environment, Mathematics and Science teachers everywhere will love to explore this technology and discover how they can use it in their classroom to spice up students’ learning and bring them into the technological world they are yearning to discover. I can’t wait to learn more about this tool and how I can use it in the future. Thanks guys!

One of the biggest and most immediate issues we face with computers in the classroom is the issue of safe browsing and searching. Kym and Tracey aimed to present our class with a selection of the options currently available to help try and ensure that when students go to search on the internet, they don’t come across harmful or inappropriate content.

While the websites we were shown, including Zoeybot were interesting and certainly seemed aimed at younger people, they didn’t really strike me as being anything that stood out as a decent way to ensure browsing and searching was safe for students. I did think that KidZui showed some promise, however I wasn’t entirely convinced and the requirement of membership to access full features made it less desirable than if it had all been free.

Unfortunately, I am yet to find any website by itself that successfully moderates searches for students, and even the firewalls that many schools employ can in some instances hinder rather than help. I think that at the moment the best way to teach students from the internet is to find the websites first yourself as the teacher and give specific access instructions as to what can be visited during computer researching sessions.

I definitely can’t wait to hear more developments in this area. I have no doubts they are coming, and am sure that some already exist which work quite well. I don’t yet know of these however, and any information anyone has in regards to sites or systems they recommend would be greatly appreciated.

Chris and Rob had the task of presenting to us on the subject of ‘clickers’. Before, I didn’t really even know what a clicker is. Now, I kind of want a set for my classroom.

The brand of clickers which got representation by the boys was Turning Point, designed to be 100% compatible with Microsoft systems. But you’re probably still confused, because I should explain. A ‘clicker’ is a nickname given to the keypad component of an Audience Response System (ARS), as seen in the picture at the beginning of the post. By using a clicker, a person can respond to multiple choice answer polls, without a word, at the ‘click’ of a button.

The applications for this technology, within the classroom are exciting. Not only can the polls be added to PowerPoint presentations, they can also be used in their own right and, with the proper receiver, it is even possible to conduct such polls anywhere with the use of a portable, wireless receiver. How do they work? Well, teachers can pose a question with a range of possible answering options. Students then select which answer they believe to be correct or most appropriate for themselves on their clicker; and the software does the rest. You can then view the results on a projector screen publicly, or privately later on your computer.

Although their is an obvious limitation put on these clickers based upon the fact that they only work with multiple choice polls, I’m excited by the prospects they bring to the classroom situation. One issue I have is the price tag, although when you look at the bigger picture, the price is not one that is unreasonable. While in the Primary classroom, there may be some limits to their effectiveness, from high school and beyond I think they have wonderful prospects to create interest among students who are bored of the same old ways. But don’t get me wrong, I still want some for my classroom. I mean hey, the less paper wasted with quizzes the better, and I can kiss that red pen goodbye! (Although I would never use a RED pen, and there would obviously be other marking work to be done..)

These days most people own a digital camera in some way, shape or form. Whether it is a regular, compact “point and click” camera, a digital slr camera or even the camera that comes standard in most new mobile telephones, we’re all taking photos and at the end of the day, when we run out of memory space, we need somewhere to store them.

But Online photo sharing is so much more than simple online storage of digital images. Websites such as Flickr provide users with not only a place to upload and keep their photographs, but a community through which they can interact and share these photos with the world. Unfortunately, more often than not, these services come at a price; and unless you are willing to pay, your access to the features available on these services is drastically reduced. But one provider which maintains a high standard of quality to their free account holders is Photobucket.

Photobucket allows free users to create as many albums as they desire, and although their are restrictions on image sizes/qualities and overall storage allocations, the services predominantly remain available for all users, not just the select few with professional accounts. “But why should I sign up for an account?” I hear you ask. Well, as teachers, online photo sharing services such as Photobucket provide us with the ability to store photographs and images for use in classroom teaching, as well as document classroom and school events and achievements. But that’s not where it ends.

Some of the additional features of Photobucket include the ability to create slideshows, photo stories and scrapbooks using digital images and videos taken straight from your account. Additionally, you can also edit photos, tag them with information regarding where they were taken and who they are of (if anyone) and adjust and manipulate them using Photobucket’s editing software. Another neat feature is the ability to create group albums, where multiple users can contribute images with a common theme, with the option to make such albums both private and moderated.

These features open up the possibilities for use in the classroom. Students can create photo stories or slide shows for presentations or even assembly items. They can create project covers or book covers or even stories using the scrapbooking feature and the best part is that each application is easy to use and almost completely internal, ensuring minimal technological fuss.

While Online Photo Sharing websites would not normally be considered tools for use in lessons, at least as a teacher’s resource they can be very handy, and there is no doubt that with proper care, they can be used to deliver unique and modern lessons for a younger and more technologically savvy generation. Why not sign up to Photobucket and explore some of the websites features for yourself?

Ask a great number of people if they have an MP3 player and they might look at you funny, responding with, “Do you mean an iPod?”. This is testament to the enormous success of Apple in marketing their range of portable media devices, all under this name. There are actually a great many other companies that make equally impressive products in the MP3 player range, but most of these are overlooked by consumers who are bombarded with Apple advertising. This post, however, is not about that side of the world of MP3 players.

Denise bravely presented solo on the topic of MP3 players and their uses in the classroom setting and it was an interesting presentation indeed. While it can be expensive to purchase a class set of iPods or other MP3 players, the possibilities that exist when this option exists are quite numerous.

MP3 players are commonly thought of for their ability to store and playback increasingly larger numbers of audio (usually music) files. However, as Denise pointed out, there are many other things which these devices can be used for. Podcasts, one example introduced in the previous presentation, provide a fantastic medium for replaying important information that has been shared in a lesson. The fact that you can make your own could lead to such uses as the self-creation and subsequent listening to of study notes for exams (in older students). With some of the newer MP3 players also being able to playback visual files, videos and graphics can also be displayed, ushering in ideas such as flash cards, quizzes, and other uses.

The best part of all of this is that it allows students to be mobile with their learning. They can listen to a lesson as they walk home; do a short quiz on their iPod after dinner; go through some flash cards and practice their times tables on the school bus to school. There are just a whole bunch of different avenues that are opened up and to go into them all would take quite a while.

The major issues highlighted were the cost of implementing this technology classroom-wide, especially when opting for the iPods which generally retail in the hundreds of dollars; not exactly cheap. Another issue with the iPod in particular is that you can only sync these particular players with a single computer at a time, and changing this can be very complicated. You also have only one option of software through which you can communicate with the device, iTunes. These are certainly issues that can be gotten around or worked with, however I think it would be interesting to have learned more about some of the other options out there, such as LG, Creative and Samsung. Each of these brands offers similar devices to the iPod. What are the pros and cons?

Whatever the choice, I think that MP3 players, like other electronic devices, are going to start making more of a mark on the classroom and I definitely want to make sure I know how they can be used in an educational setting so that when they become a classroom staple, I’ll be ready.

Podcasts are a fantastic innovation that are seemingly taking over the internet. For those unfamiliar, a podcast is a series of audio (and in some cases video) files which are distributed over the internet for playback on computers and portable media players. During their presentation on podcasts, Christie and Sarah took us not only through the range of websites where podcasts are most commonly found, but also introduced our class to one of the programs used to create podcasts, Garage Band.

I have never really been one to download podcasts, although I have benefited from them in the past. This has been more to do with not prescribing to any source of podcasts or really doing in researching into the huge number of recordings out there in this form; rather than lack of understanding of where they can be found or how they can be used. Indeed, now I am more tempted to pursue this form of media and take advantage of some of the content that is out there (of which there is a lot).

While it was certainly interesting to be introduced to some of the more common platforms from which podcasts internet-wide can be searched for and accessed, this was not the part of the presentation which impacted me the most. I mean, I can use a search engine to find out this information. No, Garage Band was the mention that grabbed my attention. I am not usually an advocate for Apple products, however I cannot deny the usefulness of this one. Garage Band makes recording podcasts, or indeed any other audio files, ridiculously simple. It even has preset sounds which you can add to your podcast!

The implications for using such a program to create podcasts in the classroom are fantastic. Students can use this (or other) programs to create their very own podcasts which can then be uploaded to the internet and accessed by other students, teachers and members of the public in such a way that gives them ownership over their own learning, while making it fun at the same time. An example of where this is already taking place can be seen in Orange Grove Primary School where students use podcasting technology to enhance their learning.

Whether it be in the creation of podcasts, or merely just the listening to them, this technology has the potential to re-shape the way we teach and learn. The ability to take lessons outside the classroom, into the home and community has some very impressive implications as it encourages students and teachers alike to view education as an experience which is not just confined to the classroom.

Oh, by the way. Did I mention that you don’t have to have an iPod to listen to podcasts? No, all you really need is a computer with an internet connection. Although these days, some people don’t even need that.

SMARTboards have been covered relatively extensively this Semester for me between my Technology & Enterprise unit and this one. So by the time this presentation rolled around, I already had a basic idea of the technology that was being played with. Sarah and Kate helped to extend this knowledge quite well.

We were taken beyond the basic controls into the more advanced features available with this very useful technology. Features such as the ability to record a SMARTboard session for later playback, complete with audio I was unaware of through my own playing and experimentation and I was grateful for the introduction.

SMARTboards are without a doubt the way of the future. The possibilities that are opened up to teachers through this exciting new medium are almost endless. Although it is only possible for one person to manipulate the board at any one time, the range of different activities that you can create, and that are already available through galleries and websites is incredible. I’m looking forward to stepping into a classroom which has this technology available, as I will almost definitely take full advantage of this if possible.

I can’t wait to see where this technology goes in the future.

The next innovation topic covered involved something I have previously heard discussed, but never really explored for myself: Google Docs.

The girls actually created their presentation using Google Docs which apparently led them to quite a few difficulties and frustrations, which was a shame. This unfortunately led to more negatives being drawn regarding the technology than positives and while I don’t want to detract from the information shared on the topic, I believe this led to some of the features of Google Docs being overshadowed or even overlooked.

While I would agree that this technology is far from perfected presently, it is important to note that Google Docs is still in the beta phase of production. While using the provided templates and attempting to work from the online-stored documents can often prove hazardous, tedious and downright frustrating, it is important to remember that this is only one function of Google Docs.

You can also upload documents you have made locally to the servers, which can help to avoid some of the frustrations the girls encountered in creating and executing their presentation using the online version (which has less usable features than Microsoft Office products do). This feature can be used to create a more centralised storage location for working documents and allow greater accessibility for these files by the author/s.

Google Docs is definitely a space to watch for me. I believe that with time this tool will develop into one which will be used in classrooms across the world. I personally think private, school-based servers would be a more optimum choice for document holding and sharing, however this option is not always open and where this is the case, well, Google Docs could just be the answer.

Presentation number two was in regards to the two most popular social networking websites on the World Wide Web to date, and it started out with a rather fantastic video clip. I think what made it fantastic was my knowledge of facebook and the features which were being represented and taken off within the video clip.

Social networking sites have become increasingly popular since the rise of such websites as MySpace and Facebook. What the girls highlighted in this presentation which I was previously unaware of was just who is behind these large communities filled with many an unawares internetian publishing all sorts of information without a care in the world as to who might be able to access or use this data (or sell it perhaps?). Some of the people involved in these ventures surprised me to an extent and I think I am now a bit more wary as to exactly what I advertise to the world about my personal life and self. Although, I should mention that I was already one of the more careful ones of us out there.

While there were some inventive ways discussed by which students could use these websites for educational purposes, such as creating a MySpace profile for a fairytale character, I personally believe that there are other methods which can be used more effectively for these activities which are equally technology-based.

While I am a member of both of these websites, and use them for personal use, I just don’t really think that they should be involved in the classroom in an official manner. I see nothing wrong with using such websites to communicate with past or even present students, however this should also be done carefully as we need to remain good role models and the content of some people’s facebook and myspace pages leads to questions about what they portray to students as appropriate behaviour during school hours and what they get up to when school is no longer in.

All this being said, I will not completely throw these types of websites on the “never use in class” pile, but rather watch their development carefully and reconsider as new advances come to light. Who knows, they may come up with something that could be much more suited to classroom use in the very near future!