Week 4

Just to let everyone know...................QUIZZES done!!!!
BEFUNKY!!!
I like the BEFUNKY!! What a great little tool to have students engage with. Great for projects and manipulate their photographs. I chose my black & white wedding photo; and as you may see I managed to add some color.
I have a few photo tools on my mobile and I must say I really like this one. The most important thing I found when "playing" with it is to press the APPLY button when you have made changes to any image.
As I found, I love the black & white effect adding the color to enhance certain features. You cannot see them but my eyes are violet; they are usually hazel!

Features:

• Drag the photo to where you want so you can work on it
• great for black & whitew
• change brush size to work on smaller areas
• enlarge image by sliding the history bar across
• wrinkle remover works a TREAT!
• before dragging photo ensure you are not about to change anything otherwise it will give you color in the wrong spot.

I will keep playing with this ones because you can go into the effects tab and manipulate color, saturation etc. LUV IT!

Click on the image and you will not find one wrinkle............yes! I can look like I am 20 again. 

MOBAPHOTO................

I went in and had a play.............with MOBAPHOTO. Yep easy. I chose a couple of photos and re-sized them Simple. I went back into the properties section of the image and checked the sizes. Yes, they were different. Dimensions went from: 1504 (w) x 2256 (H) > 512 (W) x 768 (H). Will be great for students for projects. The benefit I found was a time factor: less time waiting for an image to upload. The negative I found was the initial download. It gave an option of external mirror 1 or 2. What does that mean?

I don't know if anyone else has had a problem but I just realised that if I don't tab down to the next line after the last word it will change my font. Do you know how frustrating that is to just figure that out????????
I read through half and skimmed the rest the Global Imperative: Report of the 21st Century Summit. OMGoodness.........why can they not just say,
"Todays youth are more in tune with the technology side of things than we are. We as teachers need to be able to learn it, engage with it and then teach it to our students. The 21st century learner already has the language and the ability to use these technologies and are waiting for teachers to teach them in a digital world. They are the Digital Natives and we as Digital Immigrants need to teach it to them or they will get bored". That makes sense to me!!!! There are so many reports for this and that and they are all saying the same thing!!!! Teachers GET WITH THE TIMES!!!! Am I right????

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkGaPZHJEUU&feature=youtu.be
 My first attempt at moviemaker and upload to youtube..............................ever! I must say; I am happy with my creation. The hardest bit was uploading to youtube. Once I figured that out it was ok. Safety when uploading anything to youtube is important. I was careful with what I included into moviemaker.

 

Week 3

Thank you Angelina for a great lecture last night. We missed you to Jacqui. I must say we have a pretty good bunch in our lecture! Makes it even better to come to uni.
I learnt heaps last night again! The Macs in the collaborative room are awesome. I want one!!!!
It was great to discuss the perils of technology; safety, legalities and the general ethics of being a part of this online community. We have two girls. They are both aged 12 (no they are not twins). When we first bit the bullet and purchased a PC my hubby sat Dany down (we didn't have the other one at that stage) and discussed with her the dangers of the internet & if she wasn't sure of anything to come and ask. It has paid off. Moshie Monsters was a site Dany played with & she had a friend request supposedly from a girl. When Brad sent this "girl" his mobile to get her mum to ring him we didn't get a response. Funny hey!!! Dany realised then that it can be dangerous if not monitored. The girls both have Ipods and they are also checked by Brad. So far so good. They haven't twigged yet that when they message each other on their Ipods that it comes through to my Iphone. Their Ipods are connected to our email address. Another way of BIG MOTHER watching!!! To say we go to the extreme................YEP: for the safety of the girls is paramount! Facebook is another thing I will decide when they will sign up. One will get it before the other; it's a maturity thing!!!
Ethics are another thing that everyone should address. Some people behave quite poorly; Facebook! It's amazing to see a post & you look for it again & it is gone. Yes I have been guilty of certain posts however through the guidance of my hubby (he is a very intelligent man) I watch what I post. I don't want it to bite me in the arse!!!!! Can I say that????
I unfortunately have a bit to catch up on due to sickness last week & over the weekend! I will be pulling my finger out & addressing the activities set for the last couple of weeks.............after I wash the dye out of my hair.........

Tata for now (TTFN)
Maz
ETHICS & SAFETY
The safety of my learners whilst they engage with digital technology is of the up most importance. The students need to engage with ICT's ethically and productively to maximize their development of the various digital tools. Whilst students are within a school environment it will be relatively easy (I hope) to monitor. Our girls have just been accepted into Unity College here in Caloundra and they were expected to sign a form which stated they would not engage in any unacceptable behaviours whilst engaging with ICT's at school. This included downloading unfavourable websites, knowingly uploading viruses, playing games etc.I like this and I believe it should be brought into all schools and parents & students should be made to re-sign every year.
Safety is a major issue with students who engage with ICT's. Teachers need to ensure safety is an ongoing component of ICT's as technology is forever changing. There are many malicious websites and people, whos sole desire is to inflict harm whether it be physical or mental to our students. What we teach the kids at school will hopefully transpire into the home. However in saying that it is also up to the parents of these kids.
Unfortunately many students post material onto the World Wide Web not fully understanding the consequences which may follow. Students need to be taught and ensure they understand that if they post nude photos of themselves, especially if you are female there are all sorts of ramifications that will befall them: bullying, labeling (tart, slut), cyber-bullying, stalking. In the future, how students engage with technology may even have detrimental effects toward them looking for employment. Students must understand that what they do now and how they engage with it will only benefit them in the long run. Cyber-Safety!
 

ETHICS  (how one conducts themselves online)	SAFETY (yourself and others: friends)
Understand it is a right for all to use	Do not post all your information: full birthdate, location, bank details
Use common sense: if it doesn’t feel right don’t post it	If you don’t know people don’t befriend them
No malicious content: you will be found out and dependent on severity may be charged (consequences)	Watch out for your mates
No swearing? Watch what type of language you use for certain sites	Do not post information of parties: they can invite the undesirables who’s sole purpose is to create trouble
No provocative photos: can be detrimental for future (employment)	Do not befriend online then arrange to meet
No bullying: you will get caught out and consequences will be harsh	Make sure security is enabled on computer
No stalking	Do not respond to emails from people or companies you do not know
BE NICE	Do not post provocative photos
CYBER COURTESY!!!!	CYBER SAFETY!!!!

Depending on what year level you are teaching there will an element of "how far do you go as teacher to teach your students about Ethics & Safety on the net". It wont hurt to start early and make the kids aware that there is a code of conduct required for engaging with the online community and the safety element is there to protect themselves and their friends.

These are links to a Wix account. It was an assessment for Science Curriculum & Pedagogy in Term 1 where we had to create Digital Task Cards for certain year levels. It was only suppose to be a duo but because I didn't have a group (i was away sick) we made it a trio! Task cards 3&4 are the ones I created. I thought they were quite good for someone who had never dreamed of creating anything. You are welcome to have a look. 
 http://www.wix.com/sharonmorriso8/science#!task-card-3
 http://www.wix.com/sharonmorriso8/science#!task-card-4
I have checked the links and they work.
I found it very daunting at first. I didn't know where to start, how I was going to do anything. Creating a Voki was the easy part. I did work out that there needs to be at least double space between the words when inserting text otherwise the words flow into one another. Actually choosing what I wanted as an avatar was also a bit difficult because I kept changing my mind. A woman changing her mind: NEVER!
VOKI:

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
Great Graphics	Code is difficult to embed: not very clear to understand	Different dialects
No sign up	Language is robotic	Varying avatars to use
No fee	Language flows no breaks in between unless you tap spacebar at least 3 times
Anyone can do it

If I as a mature student found it difficult to embed a code how would the younger students feel? I persevered and won, but I also had the sense to "google" how to embed a code. It worked eventually! I don't remember it now, I will have to "re-google" it. This as a learning tool will create great looking projects but it will also allow the students to explore their creative side. I forgot to put in the PMI table time as a minus. You will spend too much time playing with it to get the right avatar!
WIX:
Although our wix was created by another student, we all had to participate and create our own cards. That was fun and interesting in itself because me personally I navigated the website on my own trying to work out as I went. The finished product (my task cards 3&4) turned out ok. My one downfall was that I kept changing the page, which in turn changed all the other pages. I have since signed up for an account but as yet have not been able to create a website because I realised one needs to watch the video. I can see this being used in schools maybe not in the lower level, to possibly as a whole class use it to demonstrate their skills at using ICT in a global environment as this is published on the internet. It could also be set up as link to parents to view various projects students have been engaging with. The one best feature I found was pages could be added to scaffold students learning.
The Wix website builder is used by all; from photographers, musicians, sports people, event planners, everybody. It's a fantastic business tool and I believe it would be a wonderful tool to support students learning not just with the KLA's but to also strengthen their use of ICT's.
 

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
Easy sign up	Must continually save before publishing	Everybody uses it
Can upgrade to a customised level: fee required	Step by step instructions needed
Large range of categories to explore	Online community can view wix
Video to watch (a must)
Different layouts
Fonts
Add buttons to pages
Add animations
colourful
Can add a blog
Add music
Different parts of page can be edited

Week 2 Lecture

A little more comfy with my blog this week. Have figured out how to keep my same font, thanks again Kat we do need to clone you a couple of times over. I am going to attempt to link a few things this week; I don't know what it might be however I will think on that! Wordle might be the go............

see ya

I wordled........................about Danyellah!

It is Saturday and I still feeling very poorly! How do some of these people do it when they feel like crap? Anyway will have to try & get something done. I signed up for Prezi before the bloody cold really set in and that was as far as I got. Need nurofen + and lots of it; that will help!

Okidoki back again feeling like I can take on the world with all this Nurofen.............my hubby was an instructor in Karate & he would always say " make pain your friend"! Hah, not me I will use Nurofen thanks. 

I tried to follow some blogs before and could not work out how to add. With the help of Nurofen I have successfully added bloggers to follow! Follow not stalk.............now to begin my journey back to study! 

Thought I would share..................................I am working on Expert Group 2 for Global Science & I used the snipping tool. What a fantastic little gadget! I can see this small but wonderful little gadget being used in the classroom especially when the kidlings might be constructing an assignment. I could make that my new best friend. 

TPCK!!!!
Ok I am reading through this TPCK document & I  must say........................it is doing my head in! From what I can gather and please anybody give me some insight into it, it's about teachers having the skills, understanding, knowledge and the right attitude to integrate technologies into their teaching of content; and allowing for the dramatic and ever changing new advances in technology. Whoopsa have to go and pick up the kidlinks!!!

Bloom's Taxonomy!

Ok! I am sitting here trying to digest all the information I just read into my head. I am going to use the constructivist approach and "mish & mash" it all up into one big ball of info. Now the way I see it and I am quite worldly with working etc is that you have the three domains: Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor (psycho; that's me at the moment)! In normal peoples speak that is Knowledge, Attitude & Skills. We function in this way daily however we don't often assign the "intelligent" names to this way of functioning because we don't know which names they are; did I make some sense to that???. When I was reading through Bloom's Taxonomy I was quite surprised because we all have and exhibit/exercise those three core domains. Before deciding to embark on my learning journey I was one of the managers who worked for Kmart. Now a lot of you out there probably think "wow what an easy job". Far from it!!!! When I look at those domains I had to have the Knowledge, Attitude & Skills to perform effectively in my role from building my rosters for six weeks to planning a toy sale in July and to running the store on the weekends. 

I had a band of staff so my attitude to the way things were done and prioritising were always on show. My skills were built over 23yrs of blood, sweat and tears (literally) and there was always room for improvement especially with the advancements in technology (we used to hand write our rosters then we did them on the computers).

Hopefully I haven't bored you all to death with my rambling. I am still digesting the information and probably will for a while. Once I work a way to work things (TPCK & Bloom's Taxonomy) I think I will feel a little more at ease. 

Mobile Phones:

Contributing to the wiki was I must say an ok experience. Using the six thinking hats by De Bono allowed for a structured easy way to participate. Loved it; thank you! You can see what other members have added using it as a check on your own understanding on a topic. The six thinking hats are going to be my new friend because they allow for "thinking" that may not naturally occur; I am talking from experience. I am a very black hat type of person! I look for negatives and what ifs first. However I did manage to add to the other colored hats because it was presented to me in that way. I still believe there is no place for mobile phones in the classroom! Not with all the technology already provided within a classroom environment. 

Week 1: E Learning

Week 1: Going in with closed eyes!!!!!

What a great lecture! I learnt so many things, even ones that I should have known however before that I learnt how to set up a blog account with a touch of help from Shelley: thank you:) Well this is my first blog ever! I had a small amount of trouble getting back into my blog page but...........I persevered and won!

I discovered the word "hardware" does not only consist of Iphone, Ipad or computer; there is the TV, digital camera printer and many more. Then I discovered software is what you go into on the internet: for example banking, Facebook and so many more. Life will be so much easier now! I must have been living under a rock! Connecting all the dots throughout the lecture I realized I was actually quite ICT savvy. I have used sites like Glogster, Voki & Wix for an assignment for Science last term and although finding it a little challenging at first to navigate, perseverance and a bit of swearing helped to finish on time.The website for Voki I knew about as my daughter Danyellah used it to create a Voki for a Gr7 assignment and no she wouldn't help me except for, "you need a HTML code mum", as if I knew what that was.

Ok! This is me out for now as I don't know how much to write at the moment. I am sure I will find out. I am going to enjoy this course because I do like to find things out and play with even though it may take me a bit longer. 
Caio for now:)

I am back to blog again...6/7/2012 Friday: 

Okidoki:) The last couple of hours have been very trying! In between yelling at my child because the music was up a tad loud to hanging out the washing hoping it will dry today to reading about Learning Styles, Multiple intelligences, Digital Natives & Engage me or Enrage me. My head still hurts!!!! Bring on school next week where I can study in peace! Love my child really!!!!! My plan of attack is to try and digest everything this week very slowly or else I will turn into a raving lunatic. I completed engagement activities 1,2,5,6,7 found Marc Prensky's readings very helpful. 

I learnt a new words whilst reading: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Legacy & Futures content & Edutainment. There are a few words I still need to familiarise myself with: hypertext, powerdown, genomics & nanotechnology. I am a Digital Immigrant who is slowly learning. Kids really these days have the world at their fingertips. Technology is here to stay & our kids will reap the benefits.
Learning Styles:

I took the learning style questionnaire finding it very interesting because some of the questions asked were similar to questions previously asked. I would have liked a third multiple choice for some of the questions because I know I am a bitsa this bitsa that!!! 

The Visual aspect did not surprise me at all. I like to see...........and I like to have it written in front of me. I find it difficult to read from the computer and if I do read from it I also take notes. Right this very minute I am reading from the Learning Styles & Strategies that I downlaoded after I did the questionnaire. I am learning though. Last year I printed everything off. At least now I have saved alot into my USB. 

The Sensing & Intuitive section surprised me a little. It wasn't that far out it was a 5 on the sensing scale I know I also lean toward the intuitive side. I suppose it is all in the wording of the questionnaire? I would use this in my classroom because it will give me a great starting point to know my learner. Below are my results:

Results for: Marie Rac
  ACT                  X                                REF
          11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      SEN              X                                    INT
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      VIS      X                                            VRB
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                              <-- -->

      SEQ                          X                        GLO
           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11
                            <-- -->  

Trying to digest everything; I think to truly understand how the kids prefer to learn will depend on how we as teachers gather information on them however it does not stop there. Observing the kids at what they do & how they do it will give even a greater insight into how they prefer to learn. Catering to all the diverse student needs will be challenging at first but as time goes by and we become more entrenched in our profession, it will get easier (hopefully)!!!!!

Multiple Intelligences:

Whilst performing this activity I discovered (flavor word at the moment) what the terms Interpersonal & Intrapersonal mean. Who would have thought that after learning for a year and a half that I only just get it!! I have just tried to copy & paste my results but........it won't work. It was interesting to see the results because depending on the way the questions were worded it spat out a result you know that your value should be higher. Anyway it gave me food for thought as to where I need to develop further. Another great tool for the kids obviously dependent on year level. 

Ok enough of the ramblings of an old woman. I still have to cook dinner because I think I could be charged with neglect if I don't. Bye for now.............

Maz! 
I am so glad I read the Sir Ken Robinson text on Do Schools Kill Creativity? Notice I read didn't watch. Didn't matter I could see by reading the text that this man is quite intelligent & logical with a sense of humour. He is right in what he was saying though; I notice that with our kids I try and push toward a particular field when in reality I should let them be and express their creativity. I want them to be the best they can be and if they aren't lawyers or doctors who cares however that is not going to give them a green light to slacken off!!!!!! 
I have created an account with Bubbl us. I love it!!!! Easy to use & colorful. I like to create a mind map when trying to nut things out and this is perfect. At least when I make a mistake I can just delete that tile. Beautiful!!!!!! No more tree cutting for me. This is great for the kidlings; more so a middle to upper primary tool. Luv it!!!!!!!!

Hello

Well it's Tuesday today and I had to ask a fellow student Kat why my font had changed when I posted my blog. Kat made it look so simple to fix. Thank you for fixing my font on my blog. I will try to promise not to screw it up again! I haven't tried to get back into Wordle yet. 

I went into the soundz website ( I think that's how it is spelt) and had a listen to some of the sounds. That was as far as I got. I will go that little bit further and actually downlaod a sound and play around with it.  

I was asked today would I consider doing E-Learning as a flex student! My answer to that was a definite NO as I prefer to have the face to face contact with the lectures, the room etc. There's that visual component! I know it suits many people but not for me. I know one day it may have to happen. 

Can't wait for tomorrow nights lecture:) I know what I learn here can be put to good use in my other subjects.  

Ahhhhhhhhh........................I worked out Wordle!!!!! Yay. I had to remove the older version of Java and install a newer version. 

That's all for now!!!
Mind Mapping: Tony Buzan 

I thoroughly enjoy creating a mind map but...................let me tell you, they looked nothing like Mr Buzan's! What a genious!!!!! I was and probably still am until I do my next one, one who does straight lines however I did start to use color weeks back. That video was awesome. Can you imagine the kids you know when you give them the tools, creating a mind map? The possibilities are endless because they get in have a go and don't really care if it looks wrong or if they can't draw. Me if I do one and I make a mistake I screw it up and start again; or if my writing isn't quite the way I want it I will START AGAIN!!! You are able to put down on paper what you are thinking and as you continue thinking you think some more until you have created this wonderful thing called a Mind Map. The message I got out of that video was that mind mapping allows the freedom to express your thoughts and creativity and you can create it in color. There is only one rule: it has to be curved lines not straight. If we all create a mind map in this way we could all be geniouses like Da Vinci, Darwin etc. There were a few names to that list but I forgot the rest...........thank you!!. My ramblings retrieved from watching the video three times:         

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MlabrWv25qQ.