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

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.

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 "The Ooohs.. & Ahhhs..in Technology for Early Learning" <<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 21^st 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

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

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.