Reflective synopsis

According to the University of Queensland (2010) eLearning is the term given to the teaching and learning with the use of World Wide Web technologies. It is more than just using computers it can include the use of a variety of web, mobile and personal computer-based tools (University of Queensland, 2010). The use of ICTs in the classroom is very important as it supports students through their learning journey in an interesting and engaging way. Learning through ICTs can also be linked to the engagement theory as it is based upon the idea of creating successful collaborative teams that work on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside the classroom (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999). This is relevant to ICT use as many of the tools can be used to communicate with people outside the classroom such as other schools.

According to Edna (2010) using ICT as a tool for learning enables students to:
• efficiently and effectively access digital information to assist with investigating issues, solving problems and decision making
• produce creative solutions to support learning and develop new understandings in areas of learning
• communicate, share and work collaboratively in local and global environments
• understand the legal, ethical and health and safety implications of using ICT and their responsibilities as users and developers
• develop new thinking and learning skills to support learning.

As I am Early Childhood focused the tools that would be appropriate to this age group would be vastly different to those that high school students would use. The main focus of Early Childhood education is learning through play in play-based learning. Therefore, tools that allow students to explore and create would be excellent for use within my context.

In an Early Childhood classroom this may look like:
• Students taking pictures/videos with digital cameras of the work they are doing in the classroom.
• Posting information on the web such as on weebly or wikis.
• Using vokis for many different purposes such as communicating ideas to the rest of the class
• Using voice recorders to record voice-overs for different activities such as powerpoint
• Blogging: younger students may need assistance with the writing aspect while they are still developing their literacy skills

There are some barriers and limitations that may be encountered when early learners are faced with some of the ICT tools. One limitation may be the reading level of the students. Many of the students in prep are unable to read or write many words; therefore a blog with lots of writing may not be suitable for them. However, they may be able to collaboratively create a blog in small groups or the whole class and the teacher can assist them in writing a blog entry for the whole class/group. Early childhood students are often still developing their fine-motor and manipulative skills so this may be another limitation when using some of the tools; for example when using digital cameras, voice recorders and even some of the tools online. I have also elaborated on this idea of barriers to eLearning on my blog about Google maps.



Children in early childhood love to explore, create, play and discover and eLearning allows children to do all of these things. They can take virtual tours of museums and get a feel for what they are like without actually having to go anywhere. They can connect with authors of children’s books such as Paul Jennings and read his blog entries and even ask him questions. They can create meaningful, real-life, and relevant ICT products that transform learning from what used to be restricted to the confines of the classroom to endless opportunities to discover the outside world. Learning through ICTs can also cater for the needs of many different learners and their learning styles. I have named a few tools in my blog that I believe would be useful not only in my context but that would be relevant to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences as they allow for many different learning styles to be targeted. I have also commented on one of my peers blogs about the importance of ICTs



I have selected four tools that I believe are particularly important and relevant to my context as an Early Childhood educator. I feel these tools have influenced my views of teaching the most and believe they will have an especially positive impact on my teaching abilities in the future.

Concept Maps

The first tool I have chosen is the use of concept mapping with online tools such as bubbl.us and text2mindmap.com. A concept map presents the relationships among a set of connected concepts and ideas to display how your mind “sees" a particular topic (White, 2010). By constructing a concept map, you reflect on what you know and what you don't know (White, 2010). White (2010) also illustrates how concept mapping can allow for ‘deep’ learning as the students are looking for the underlying meanings and connections and are personally involved in the learning task. When children sort their ideas into concept maps they are using their higher order thinking skills (Bloom’s Taxonomy) as they analyse the information. They do this by examining and breaking up the topic into its component parts (ITC Publications, 2009).
A concept map is a dynamic tool that can be used in many different ways in the classroom. I have written a blog entry that describes several ways that I think a concept map could be utilised in the classroom.

PowerPoint

The next tool I have chosen to analyse is PowerPoint. PowerPoint is a wonderful tool for learning in both a student and teacher-directed situation; it can add a new dimension to learning allowing teachers to explain abstract concepts, while accommodating all learning styles (teAchnology, 2010). Used properly, PowerPoint can be one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information ever known (teAchnology, 2010).
PowerPoint could also be used to develop digital portfolios displaying students work over a period of time. Photos, audio and work samples can all be included on the PowerPoint and would be a wonderful tool for parents to view the progress of their children. Students can also get involved in developing their own digital portfolio and can feel a sense of achievement when viewing all of their best work samples in one place on a document they have created.
On my blog I have also covered some other factors that make PowerPoint a great resource.

Wiki’s

A wiki is a type of website that allows visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content (Department of Education, 2010).
Wikis encourage group social interaction and collaboration and support communication allowing users to contribute at a time, and from a place that suits them (Department of Education, 2010). Many students find that their learning is most effective when they are actively involved in the construction of their knowledge (Department of Education, 2010).

There are so many great uses for a wiki in a classroom and I have created my own wiki to display how they could be used to inform students of their assessment task. This is a very rough example and has obviously just been made to give you an idea of the possibilities.Wikis are a great and exciting way for students to learn in the classroom in a very engaging way. My peers have made many fantastic points about the benefits and uses of wikis and one in particular that I have commented on is this one.

Blogs

Blogs are virtual diaries created by individuals and stored on the Internet; they generally consist of text and images (Edna, 2010). Blogs are located on websites which enable people to join as members and create and publish their blogs and diary entries (Edna, 2010). Blogs can be viewed either by the general public or select groups of people such as children in a classroom. Blogs provide a communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom (Edna, 2010). There are endless opportunities to the different types of topics that students can blog about and they are improving their literacy abilities as they progress. They feel a sense of achievement as their writing is going out to the public and being read by other people. I used a tool called tagcrowd to display my thoughts and what I believe are the most important factors of blogs and what makes them such a great tool.


References

Department of Education. (2010). Wikis in the classroom. Retrieved August 25, 2010, from http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/wikis/#value

Edna. (2010). What is a blog?. Retrieved August 25, 2010, from http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/school_theme_pages/blogs

ITC Publications. (2009). Framework for Thinking at Different Levels. Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia:Author

Kearsley, G. & Schneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

teAchnology. (2010). PowerPoint in the classroom. Retrieved August 25, 2010, from http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/powerpoint/

University of Queensland. (2010). ELearning@UQ. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from http://www.elearning.uq.edu.au/

White, H. (2010). How to construct a concept map. Retrieved August 24, 2010, from http://www.udel.edu/chem/white/teaching/ConceptMap.html

Google maps...

Google maps has always intrigued me and I think it would be an amazing tool when used in a classroom. It is so much more than the normal maps that are in most classrooms. You can zoom in on specific areas and look at satellite images. This would be fantastic if the class was doing a SOSE topic on the landscape or climate of different parts of the world. They can compare the sizes of countries and comment on the surface and terrain. With a google account they can even add their own photos that they have taken and pin them onto the map to show a close up view of that area and can even write a description about it.

As I am early phase focused it is sometimes difficult to find ICT tools that younger learners can easily navigate through as their fine motor skills are still developing and they may not know how to read or write substantial amounts of information just yet. However, google maps would be perfect for them to use and they would really enjoy it. There are many many ways that google maps could be used in the classroom you could brainstorm all day. It could be used on an interactive whiteboard for a discussion with the whole class. I have included an image below which displays a student using google maps on an interactive whiteboard as I think it demonstrates how much of a rich resource it could really be in a classroom.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4540299823_119b659aba.jpg

E.Learning so far..

I have created a concept map to show what I have taken from E.Leaning so far and to demonstrate what a great tool bubbl.us can be to group ideas and information together. I love using concept maps as it allows me to understand information more easily and I also find it easier when you need to revise information as it is right in front of you instead of in a big chunk of writing where you have to read through the whole thing again.

I think bubbl.us would be a great tool in the classroom to use for many different purposes. It could be used at the beginning of a unit to find out what the students already know about a certain topic or it could be used at the end to demonstrate what they have learnt after their summative assessment piece. The fact that it can be done on a computer and not just on paper will make it even more engaging for the students. They can easily edit, change the colours and save it for future reference.

Blogging...

I was shown a really interesting tool in today's tute, it's called TagCrowd and I have an example below. I think it is a really creative way to display the key ideas about a certain topic and why they are important. As you can see I have talked about blogs and all the important things that I believe that are related to them and what makes them such a great learning tool.

TagCrowd could be used in the classroom by giving students a topic and getting them to put in the key words that relate to that topic, just like I have done. For example you could get students to write all the key words to do with mammals. They could either post the TagCrowd image on their blog/website or even print it out to display around the classroom.

blogs connect connectivism creative digital fun gardner ideas individual interesting learner students

created at TagCrowd.com