Assignment 1

Managing E Learning Tools Reflective Synopsis

As students within schools develop their own new and exciting ways of learning, we as teachers have to try to follow. One way in which students these days are learning is through computers or ‘E Learning’. This can be done in a variety of ways with students interacting with each other, finding resources and being able to connect to the whole world with a click of a button. Nothing is impossible for these students and teachers need to harness this and use it to their advantage. Some of the types of programs and styles that students can learn through are Power Point presentations, concept maps, videos from the internet and by using strategies such as the Big Six. A lot of the time these types of styles can be used together to get a group of learners to the desired outcomes. This reflective synopsis will have a look at how students learn through these programs/styles in the subject areas mainly of Physical Education and sometimes of Technology.
For so long now Power Point presentations have been used as a supportive tool alongside lectures and formal presentations. It has been used as a tool to try to get the students a little bit interested in what the speaker is saying. If this is the case then why aren’t teachers using it to fully engage the students of today? Students of today like to learn through edutainment which is just as the word says, learning through entertainment (Rapeepisarn,. K, Wong,. K W, Fung,. C C, Depickere,. A, 2006). Watching a Power Point is a lot more entertaining than sitting down and listening to someone who gives you the same information verbally.

In Physical Education teachers can use power points to enhance the learning of students by giving them a step by step demonstration of a specific movement. In years past teachers have demonstrated on their own body with a theory of ‘near enough is good enough’. The students are not getting an exact understanding of what it is that they have to do to get the movement correct. By using pictures and or images from the internet on Power Point will allow the teacher to give the students an exact demonstration of the movement (Stover, E., 2010). By using Power Point in this manner you will also be able to support what it is that the students are learning. The Power Point’s can later be up loaded to a sight such as Wiki or a blog in which the students will be able to review the lesson (Stover, E., 2010). This in itself will help to support the students learning. The students will be able to reflect on the lesson at a later date and will be able to see what they have learnt and what they need extra work on.

Using Power Point will have the student ‘fixated on the presentation, anxiously anticipating the contents of each slide’ (Pearce, M,. 2009). Research show that teachers who use power point effectively can capture and hold a class’s attention week after week (Voss, D., 2004). Power Point’s also allow the teacher to walk around the room and engage personally (one on one) with students without disrupting the learning of other students as well as not having to stay at the front of the room (Voss, D., 2004). It facilitates the learner by engaging them in a way that they are happy to learn while including vital information.

Power Point has a lot of other uses within a school community as well. To see this please visit the blog posting entitled Power Point. Power Point has endless purposes in school and can be used from the simplest purpose of a reminder of what is happening each day to doing work place health and safety lectures with it.

Another Learning tool that students can use to enhance their learning is concept maps. This is a way of organising connections between new ideas and ideas you already have. When a student is organising a concept map they have to think about the relationships between the words and where they fit in with each other (Johnston, C., N.D.). As teachers we should be using concept maps to get the students thinking about a subject. This can be used in technology studies. In a junior wood work class you could start with a middle balloon of joints and then going out from there the types of joints then the tools used to create the individual joints. In senior school students can use concept maps to get a bit of an idea of what they are going to design and build.

This can help to support learners by getting them to see that learning how to use a tool has a direct relation to joints or what tools and material students will need to complete a job (Johnston, C., N.D.). In effect it is supporting the students learning by giving the students some scaffolding from which they can work and learn (Silander, P., Sutinen, E., Tarhio, J., 2005). It can enhance students learning by getting the students to think more in depth about what it is that they are trying to achieve and the processes that they are going to use to get to their end destination. By using concept maps teachers can scaffold and get the students into higher order thinking (Bloom, B., 1956).

In years past technology studies has been seen as a rowdy classroom where students go to ‘bludge’. By using concept maps we can transform the classrooms into a place for higher order thinking (Bloom, B., 1956) and getting students to become self motivated as well as self directed in their studies. Concept maps can be used widely throughout schools and have varying capabilities in different classrooms.

In so many schools these days any web sites that have too many images on them are blocked by the schools to help keep the students on topic for the lesson. But with students now learning more and more through the web shouldn’t the schools open up the web to the students for usage as they see it (Hendrick, G., 2009)? I have described in my blog posting, Images, how teachers of physical education can use images from the internet in the classroom but students can also use images to help them with their studies.

We as teachers can transform the classroom from a teacher centred learning place to a place where we tell the students what is to be learnt and, with teacher direction, the students can learn in their own ways/styles. If this is by looking up images on the internet to better understand some text that they are reading who are we to stop them (Green, D., 2006)? In a physical education room we can enhance students learning by getting them to look up images on the internet and getting them to label body parts or a particular movement. If the students are not getting what it is that we are trying to teach them they can then go and have a look for different images that mean more, or that they understand better (Green, D., 2006). Images from the internet can be connected to Power Point’s (that we looked at earlier). Teachers can use images from the internet to create a PowerPoint presentation to show students the muscles of the upper torso or of the quadriceps. This is just one way that images can support the learners.

We can also support the learner by looking up images so that students can also get a deeper understanding of what it is that they are learning. If we give a student a verbal description they may get the basics and can sort of get a vague understanding but with a picture they not only get the specifics they also get a lot of background information that helps them get an even better understanding (Green, D., 2006). It goes back to the old saying of a picture is worth a thousand words but we as teachers just don’t seem to want to use pictures.

The final strategy that we will look at is the Big Six. This is explained in detailed on my blog posting entitled The Big Six. We can use the Big Six in the classroom to enhance students learning by getting them to improve the way that they think about what they are learning. It sets down six easy to follow steps that get the students to think about what, where, when, why and how (Eisenberg, M., 2007). It is a strategy that allows any student to “handle any problem, assignment, decision or task” (Eisenberg, M., 2007). It can be used from prep right up until you have finished your learning.

The Big Six can be used in every aspect of life and can help with lifelong learning (Eisenberg, M., 2007). In physical education it can be used for every aspect. It can be used to support what the students are learning with relation to physical movement. It can also transform a typically boring topic such as energy systems into a great collaborative learning lesson by getting the students to look at the information in different ways. This is one way that we can teach students a skill that they can use in their life as lifelong learners.

By using the four programs/styles that have been discussed we, as teachers, can not only change the way that students learn but also the way that student’s think and the amount of work that they can cover. We have only touched the very top of the iceberg here as there are hundreds of different styles and program’s out there that are better tools to help students learn then what is being used at the moment.

Appendix

Comments, please click on the hyperlink to see the comment in context.

Comment on a Voki posting

I agree with you. I can see how this may be used to insight younger students into learning but I believe that older students will find them immature and as a result will not learn through them.

I like the idea that you put forward about letting people express themselves. I have found that a lot of the middle phase learners do not like putting an idea forward if it is different to what the rest of the class is saying. By using a Voki they can put their ideas forward and it will almost feel like the idea came from someone else, someone that they are a lot more comfortable with. This would make them feel quite secure and as a result we may be able to get more students to start voicing their ideas.

Comment on PowerPoint

Before doing this lecture I only saw PowerPoint as a supporting aide as well but now I can see that it can be used for much more.

For ITD it can also be used an introductory for junior school students on safety in the workshop and safety for certain tools. It allows the teacher to make a PowerPoint that is to the point, has all of the information necessary and takes half the time to show the students. You can also give the students a copy of the PowerPoint instead of showing them a video once and expecting them to remember it.

The old videos that they show students are boring and half the time the students do not watch them anyway. By using PowerPoint you could make something that is bright, colourful and that will catch the students attention as well as something that they will remember.

Comment on PowerPoint

I think that PowerPoint have a lot more to give students as well. I believe that PowerPoint’s can be used to support learning. For years teachers have been saying that math and English are just boring subjects and that we just have to get through them but why can't we use PowerPoint to make the lessons more interesting and interactive?

We can use images to support what the teacher is saying or even use the PowerPoint as the teaching tool for the lesson. This is the way that our students are learning now and we have to try to catch up.

Comment on Power Point

Kyah said...
I like the examples you have up here for using Power Point in the classroom. I love using Power Point, as a teacher and a student. There are so many different opportunities for Power Point to be implemented in a class that it's a little disheartening to see that it's actually used so infrequently. I also really like your closing statement about handing the control to the students and I think this is exactly what a learning experience should be like for a student; having a feeling of trust, responsibility, and pride for their work.

Comment on blogs

ME - I agree with what you have on your concept map 100% but I believe that there are some other great advantages of blogs. I believe that most people are looking at blogs as a collaborative learning tool that all students can look at and comment on but I believe that blogs would be a great way or putting down concepts and strategies that worked well for a particular student as well as putting down information in their own words and ways so that they can use blogs as a study tool as well as a learning tool.

What do you think?

M Lawrie - That is definitely a fair comment. An expanding concept map is a good method for students to believe they are learning, but also an excellent method to recap prior learning. The collaborative nature of the tool could also have the effect of multiplying all students' knowledge bases and providing alternative points of view.

Comment on Images

Kyah said...
Wow, I love your idea of using that photo in a PE class..!I don't think it's ever crossed my mind to try that. I'm not doing PE myself but I think that it's a great idea and I may borrow it for my own electives if the chance arises. =)

References

Bloom, B., (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: the classification of educational goals. Handbook 1:cognitive domain. Chicago: Longman books

Eisenberg, M., (2007), What is the Big6? Retrieved Aug 24, 2010, from http://www.big6.com/what-is-the-big6/

Green, D., (2006), Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning. Retrieved Aug 23, 2010, from http://www.academiccommons.org/files/image-report.pdf

Hendrick, G., (2009), Web 2.0 site blocking in schools; strategic ICT advisory service. Retrieved Aug 22, 2010, from http://www.educationau.edu.au/sites/default/files/SICTAS-nsi.pdf

Johnston, C., (n.d) Concept Mapping. Retrieved Aug 13, 2010, from http://tlu.ecom.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/concept_maps.pdf

Rapeepisarn, K., Wong, K W., Fung, C C., Depickere, A., (2006), Similarities and differences between “learning through play” and” edutainment.” Retrieved Aug 4, 2010, from http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/993/1/Published_Version.pdf

Silander, P., Sutinen, E., Tarhio, J., (2005), Advanced Multiple Representation Concept Maps For Constructing Shared Conceptual Artifacts. Retrieved Aug 19, 2010, from http://www.iadis.net/dl/final_uploads/200509L001.pdf

Stover, E., (2010), What Are the Benefits of Using PowerPoint and Slide Presentations in the Classroom? Retrieved Aug 16, 2010, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5008796_using-powerpoint-slide-presentations-classroom.html

Voss, D., (2004), PowerPoint in the Classroom; Is it Really Necessary. Retrieved Aug 13, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520839/

Videos Off the Net

Also in week 5 we were asked to look at ready made videos. One of the best sites to find ready made educational videos is Youtube. You can pre watch the video before the class and have set questions or activities that you will do after watching it. It is simple to plan and the students respond very well to it. Using videos is also a good way to settle students into a class especially straight after lunch where some students may still be hot, sweaty and very fidgety.

Above is a short video taken from Youtube that shows the students how to do a simple warm up exercise to prepare them selves for a training session where they will be shooting at the goals. This is just one of thousands of educational videos that can be found on youtube. Videos can allow students to see what has to be done before doing it, it gives them a point of view from someone other then the teacher and they get a professional to tell them how to do it with out leaving the classroom.

This video can be used just simply as a time filler for a junior school class, can be used as an example of what the students are going to do in a middle school class and gives the students of upper school a starting block to create their own sport exercises for a training session that they may be having to plan. Videos can be used for a number of reasons depending on the age of the students, their cognitive and physical abilities as well as the subject that you are trying to teach. The students are constantly learning through videos at home and it is about time that we as teachers started to use them in our classrooms.

This is just a short soccer bloopers role for you to have a bit of a laugh at.

Glogster

In week 5 it was all about the video. How can we use videos in a classroom to teach or support what we are teaching. We learnt about a lot of exciting sites that allow us to make or use videos in an educational way. Some of these sites we could make our own clip and add auditory to it or pick a handful of photos or pictures to make a short clip out of. Some of these sites included Animoto, Glogster, Claymation, blabberize, Xtranormal and Goanimate. Each of these sites allows the user to do something a little bit different.

We can use videos that we have made, in a classroom, to arouse the students attention levels. If the teacher walks to the front of the room and starts to speak the students don't listen because it is what happens every other day. If the teacher walks up to the front of the room and says to the students everyone watch this video and we will have a class discussion on it at the end they will immediately engage the students in 2 ways. The first way is that the students will say 'yes a video' and they will be keen to watch it and the second is that they already know what will happen after and will subconsciously pick out key points to talk about with the class later.

We can also use video to show students information that we may not be able to give a physical demonstration of. If the PE teacher can not do the Frisbee Flop or a science teacher is talking about the way that two substances react violently to each other and can not show it to the students a video is the next best thing. It also allows the teachers to bring a professional into the classroom with out that person actually being there. The teacher can fast forward, rewind and pause the image at certain points to talk to the students or to impress a safety feature or technique to the students. It is an interactive way for students to learn.

On the side bar is a page that I created using Glogster that a school may use on an invitational night where they have perspective students for that schools sports program or a page to show students how much fun can be had for both boys and girls by doing sport.