Friday, March 29, 2013

Paving the way for creativity using ICT

This interesting article story (CLICK HERE for first article story) written in the star newspaper about how a guy as young as 15 was able to develop games which were of demand as part of a hobby from his bedroom and how from there was scouted by Yahoo and even offered him a job after graduation. Its really inspiring that how we as teachers should be there to cultivate these 21st century children in using ICT starting from young as they grow older and learn more, with the basics they had previously would eventually be able to come up with greater ideas/ games/ technology for the future. Also I liked this 2nd website where the creativity in people could even come up with inventions like a game using excel spread. (CLICK here for article link).

References

From bedroom to boardroom: UK teen turns tech millionaire. (2013). Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2013%2F3%2F27%2Freutersworld%2F1303270638-from-bedroom-to-boardroom-uk-teen-turns&sec=reutersworld#.UVKbNOHlPKY.facebook

Excel spreadsheets turned into video game. (2013). Retrieved March 28, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21938171

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Week 4 : Stickman fun

It's week 4 and I'm barely surviving! Jst finished Assignment 1 and now here comes Assignment 2!! I was introduced to this website once more, as I've tried it before some time ago. This ‘Draw a stickman’ tool  allowed me to draw a stickman and many other interesting objects. If your stickman is really good, they even offer you your character on many merchandises you may want to buy it on e.g. T-shirt.  Here are some images that  I captured during the creation of my stickman. Episode 1:
                          








 Episode 2:


go here to try one today!: draw stickman
Marilyn posted about the stage of zero to three as the stage children would start understanding that drawings are made of lines and starts naming what they drew.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Week 3 Reflection/ TPACK

Ok, honestly at first I didn't quite get this TPACK thing.. tea pack?? but after reading what's on the study desk and reading my friend's - Vicky's  & Erica's blog about what is this TPACK all about now I understand slightly better.. TPACK or rather (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) illustrates the types of knowledge that we hope to acquire in our teacher training and be able to develop as the technology changes.
In the TPACK, it focuses on 3 types of knowledge as it can be seen in the image below.


1)  Content knowledge 
- The teacher needs to discover the goals of what sort of subject is to be learned or taught.

2) Pedagogical Knowledge 
- Teacher has to set out appropriate teaching strategies, methods, how to mange a class, how students learn to acquire knowledge and acquire skills in order to obtain the goal. 

3) Technology Knowledge 
- Teacher needs to plan which technologies to use according to the context of the classroom, resources available, classroom management and child's level- appropriateness


TPACK is something that I could use to start developing my technological pedagogical knowledge right now and continue to build as I continue through my journey as a student and as a teacher in future. Being a reflective practitioner, I should acknowledge where my weakest area is and also use my strengths to expand my knowledge. Each part of the TPACK is important and should match up to support each other. You can learn more about this through his link: TPACK

Reference: TPACK [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://randysresources.wikispaces.com/TPACK

Assignment 1 Part B

I had quite a lot of fun in the process of making my online artifacts and stating my What and Whys. Now click and be prepared to be mesmerized by what this lovely educational website has to offer! The title of the web post is " <<CLICK ME >>. The name of this website says it all! I have created it for the purpose of educating people and creating an awareness of the Benefits of using ICT in the teaching context.  It has been a tiring week for me as I tried to complete this alongside with 2 other assignments and working in a school at the same time, so I really hope you would take time to watch every video and read everything posted! 

Thank You sooo much!!

ToolBelt Theory

This a rather late post.. but better late than never.. Toolbelt? The one's some plumbers or electricians wear around their waist? Nah.. This is a different toolbelt! This toolbelt talks about a framework which guides us how to achieve the end goal using a step by step process. It just like a teacher assisting us as it teaches us how to analyze task,using our own skills and capabilities and with the help of an appropriate range of available tools.

After reading through Choy Yee's blog post about the tool belt theory, I agree with her whereby she mentioned that with the convenience of the ICT tools in this 21st century where everything is just a click away. With the internet everything is available for children, if they do not know something they coud easily type and look it up in the Google search or other search engines. With all the resources and activities children can be engaged online, educators need to upgrade their tools to prepare for the development of ICTs in the classroom. As educators, now our job is to teach the children how to use the current tools, and teach them how to learn to use future tools (Socol, 2009). By doing so, we are preparing them to be able to use the technology that will be around in next decade, even if we aren’t there for them anymore.

Reference: Socol, D. I. (2009). The toolbelt universal design: Education for everyone. Retrieved 2013, March 20, from http://speedchange.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page_2046.html

Friday, March 22, 2013

Digital Cameras


A picture paints a thousand words.
- Chinese proverb-

The quote tells of the benefits of using pictures to convey more than what words could tell as it is dependent on the creativity of the person looking at it. Children are said to be visual learners in Gardener's Multiple Intelligence, as they are able to learn from what they see and associate into a new knowledge. Therefore that's where the camera comes into action! You can also check out my fellow classmate Vicky about the cameras

Digital cameras are easy and fun to use and they offer teachers nearly unlimited opportunities to engage students and to incorporate technology into their curriculum. Children too have always found a fascination in different objects or materials around their environment. By providing them a digital camera, teachers can encourage children to go taking pictures of interest. Digital photography is hugely useful for incorporating in children's learning or for documentation purposes as this video shows some great ideas on how it could be implemented inside the class such like this video suggests some great ideas to do so. The teachers can also compile these photos and post it on an online sharing file or blog about the experiences like Matt Gomez blogs here. For more information on how Cameras play a part in learning you may like to refer to here.

Reference:  
Boy with camera [Image]. (2010). Retrieved from http://onthegowithamy.blogspot.com/2010/05/camera-kids-cant-break.html

Friday, March 15, 2013

PLN & it's Usefulness

Building a personal learning network (PLN) is a great way to engage people within the same field or interest where they exchange ideas, share resources, collaborate and get inspired. Teacher connections can be made with various web tools. I have been developing a number of websites that have been of great resource for developing new ideas and collecting resources online to implement in my classroom.














Twitter (EDE 3100 list): This website is where the group of EDE 3100 students can come together to tweet their updates of how they felt about the class activities, talk about the class, share pictures & share websites.

Facebook groups (segi) &Facebook groups (EDE3100): This 2 groups online in Facebook helps students of the same class come together to share information, updates, ask questions and act as an community to help each other in different areas one is lacking.

Google + Educators: Educators from all over the world come together to connect with one another and share resources or useful links for their lessons etc.

Pinterest:
I personally like to use this website to gain new ideas and learn new things here and repinned the pictures that have links to websites that teach me how to make certain things that could be done in my class.

Blogs: Incredible sources of information that allow educators to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics.Common blogging applications include Blogger, Wordpress, Edublogs and TypePad

Flickr:
Flickr is one of the most popular photo sharing sites on the web and it is one of the most community oriented photo sharing sites available. With Flickr I can search for ideas on lesson plannings on a particular subject or topic. I can also post my photos so that others can see it.


Social Bookmarking: Used for storing, organizing, and sharing bookmarks online. Popular sites such as Delicious and Diigo allow you to add descriptions as well as categorize each site using tags. Educators can even join groups and receive email updates when new bookmarks are added.

Week 2 Reflections

Things I have learnt this week: How using digital/ technology tools such as a camera can be used to teach their lessons - take pictures as evidences, facial experiments, to make photo book etc. I was amazed by all the types of activities we could implement just by using the digital camera. When asked about whether the camera could be used for lessons, most of us probably did not think of it originally until we were shown the video of some of its usage.

In the roles of teachers in 21st century in teaching and learning With the world changing and being technology enhanced, so must we incorporate such technology and educate  our students. Children nowadays are being spoon-fed into decision making and solving problems by adults who unconsciously help them when the need arises. However, in preparing children for the future, adults instead should learn to take a step back and allow the child to make his/her decisions and solve problems. In ICT, the teachers are also preparing them for future creativity. Teaching the foundations of ICT and implementing suggestions of skills where the children can manipulate with and eventually one day may be able to invent something we adults may not have thought of before

I am now more aware of the benefits of PLN or Personal Learning Network  for educators and children. This was something new to me even as I learn how we are to use tools that helps the individual connect with right people, deconstruct n reconstruct new knowledge/ideas.
Personal learning network is basically the collections of resources, connections, sharing and learning to reconstruct knowledge.

Tool belt theory- the need to use the right tools in teaching children to analyze tasks using their own skills and capabilities and forming their own decisions about them.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Watching TV - Advantages vs Disadvantages for Young Children

Are the children nowadays being literally brain washed into sitting in front of the TV for hours refusing to be disturbed? and wanting to have their meals in front of the TV too? These are some concerns most parents may be facing in this digital era. TV surely is capable of becoming an item of addiction if not controlled or given a set time frame to watch their favourite shows. On the other hand, TV too can be beneficial for entertainment and educational purposes. This is something we as adults should take time to ponder about their advantages vs disadvantages.The TV can also play an important part in children's learning despite the having all the other media sources  available for usage in the classroom context.

Advantages
I came across this (2nd picture) while scrolling through my Facebook wall and found it rather true. I had not realized a few minutes ago that these cartoons that I used to grow up watching had some sort of lessons behind it's storyline. TV also can be beneficial if the right programs or educational shows are available for children's viewing only such as Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer etc. Children's Language of vocabulary too improves as they learn to  pick up new languages or improve on the languages they already know. Moreover, some of these cartoons on TV, also teach good habits and moral values in the stories told. TV channels such as Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet etc could be used as ICT resources by the teachers in the classroom to expose children to the other parts of the world.

Disadvantages
Of course, with its advantages the TV also has its disadvantages. If a child spends too much time watching television every day, then he/she may become lazy and could make them forget about their responsibilities/ work needed to be done. Moreover, if a child sits too close to the TV screen too, it may affect his/her eye-sight. It is thus very risky for the young children who has a tendency of sitting very close to the television set. A child who has been sitting all day watching TV can become unhealthy because of the absence of exercise, which eventually can lead to obesity. 



A New South Wales Child Health Survey in 2001 revealed that 40% of children between 5 and 12 years old reportedly watched an average of 2 hours or more of television or videos each day.
It is also recommended that children under 2-years-old do not watch any television and that those older than two watch no more than one to two hours a day of quality programs as these first two years of life are considered a critical time for brain development. 

Television and other electronic media could replace children's inert need to explore, play and interact with parents and others, which in return encourages learning and healthy physical and social development. Therefore, it is important to find the right balance of time spent watching TV and for educators to understand how to fully utilize it by using it for the purpose of educating the child with it as a resource tool.

Sources:

Childhood, awesome childhood...[Image]. (2012). Retrieved from http://9gag.com/gag/2967039

Market Publishers Report Database. (2011). The Childwise Trends Report 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://marketpublishers.com/lists/10384/news.html

NSW Government Health. (2012). Childhood Obesity. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from www.health.nsw.gov.au/obesity

TV nowadays. [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://9gag.com/gag/6741213?ref=fb.s

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Living in the 21st century- Digital Life



Source: historyteachers. (2013, February 18). Digital Life [video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0-7YAxxDY

Hopscotch, 5 stones, skipping, hide & seek, pretend cooking and even spontaneous plays we used to play as kids are now being replaced by computer games, ipad games or even PSP games in this digital world, where children of today communicate via facebook, twitter and etc.Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and even the Internet (Prensky, 2001).Therefore parents often question at what age is appropriate in exposing children to technological devices. As we now live in the technological era,children are exposed to technology ever since they were born. Those born at the start of this century, have been labelled as the “Net generation” or, more descriptively, “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001). They live in a world with bountiful digital devices such as television, iPads, camera phones, iPods, MP3, and interactive video games ever since they were born. Such devices now enable them the privileged of watch television, listen to their iPods, sending text messages, and playing games on their iPads– all at the same time. Therefore, a current issue often found parents and their children all engaged in their electronic devices even during meal time. It is commonly found nowadays at almost everywhere where such devices act as a babysit tool and minimized social interactions. However, I believe that starting children young on these electronics too can be beneficial for them with the help of the adults in guiding or limiting their usage such as teaching them how to explore some basic features of the computer and how to move the mouse for that of younger children. Additionally, using the iPads or digital cameras too may help in young children's education as these helps them in collecting information for making their own story books etc. Technology not only can help children in learning things better, but it can also help them learn better things. (Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin & Means, 2000). What do you think?

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”. In On the Horizon, October 2001, 9 (5). Lincoln: NCB University Press.

Roschelle, J., Pea, R., Hoadley, C., Gordin, D., & Means, B. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. The Future of Children, 10(2), 76-101. Retrieved from, http://ctl.sri.com/publications/downloads/PackardChangingLearning.pdf

Monday, March 4, 2013

How Safe are you in this Digital age

http://www.takethislollipop.com/
I dare you to take and try this lollipop website! give it a try..

By now you should be terrified/scared/shocked/surprised looking at some of your personal information on Facebook being accessed by some strange looking guy who is after you. I did an experiment by challenging my friends to try it out to only hear how frightened they were (thinking it was real).

Well your idea of a lollipop is most probably something colourful that is swirled into a round shape and taste sweet. Little did you know that these informations you place online, are not quite safe to potential stalkers who will try hunting you down. It's quite a scary thought that although my profile settings for facebook (as I thought it was rather safe) is blocked off to public viewing to a certain degree, they can still view some pictures tagged by my friends and even try to google where u stay.

The internet has now increasingly become part of our daily life, providing a way for us to socialise, shop, transact and even do business online, which means we are sharing more and more personal and financial information online. In doing so we potentially expose ourselves to many of online risks which we need to be aware of and properly manage. This is reality! and many others, especially children who over-share these personal informations might fall prey to these sort of potential harm of being stalked or in worse cases kidnapped/ raped or murdered. It's quite a scary reality that such crimes have been happening lately especially in this digital age where one can so easily leave behind a trail of thoughts which will live on the web forever. That is why it is important that we better understand how to stay safe and secure on the internet and educate children and others about such things. In conjunction to cyber security, recently the Australian Govermant has initiated a National Cyber Security Awareness Week which will be held from 20 to 24 May 2013.





Source:
 Australian Government Department of Education. (2013). Awareness Week. Retrieved from
http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/awareness_week

FriendlyScreens (2011, February 24). Do you really have a private life online? (social network privacy loss due to friends)[video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e98hxHZiTg

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Weekly Reflections 1: 2/3/13

Today being the first class of this subject, I was really excited and looking forward to learning about ICT. At the beginning of the class,Ms. Ng our lecturer got each and everyone to do a brief introduction of ourselves to remember the faces of some of our classmates which we may or may not know. It was only later that the class started to "warm up" to the new websites and programs we could use as a form of digital resource for using later on. Firstly, we explored and was exposed to the wonders of presenting ideas in a sort of mind mapping tool with many designs and templates for individuals to explore and create their presentations. Ms.Ng got each group to do a presentation based on the topic of "Why Wouldn't You use ICT in your teaching?" using the Prezi web page. We discussed on some disadvantages of using ICT in our teachings as you can see in the Prezi presentation below. Today, I have also learnt by using the Glogster website to create a poster-like image. Overall, today's class was very interesting for me as I was able to explore these new resources.