Reflective Synopsis

Technology is everywhere and inescapable, so why try?  Why not embrace it, benefit from it, increase your students engagement and learning by using it?  Information Communication Technology (ICT) is now ever present in today’s society, and therefore classrooms.  We explored a range of different types of technological tools in this course.  I found that technology is an excellent tool to use in the classroom to engage students and to help them learn.

Having to explore these technologies made me realise just how many things my students and I can do with technology. I thought of ideas that I couldn’t have done before or hadn’t thought of before because I didn’t know about, or hadn’t used the platform that would allow me to do it, or hadn’t had to thoroughly think about how my students or myself could use technologies to engage and increase learning in a classroom.  The tools that I explored had a range of uses and a range of features that they included or could be included to them.  Most technologies had the function of being able to upload videos, images, sound and text which are important features of technologies.  I loved all that you could do with these technologies and that the possibilities were endless.  However, there are so many uses not being utilised I believe due to teachers not knowing about all technologies available and only using certain technologies for a basic purposes, not realise all the possibilities that they allows us.  I will definitely be using technology more in my classrooms and trying to learn about as many new tools and their purposes.  I first need to ensure that my students and I are using safe, ethical and legal practices by talking to the students about what is appropriate to have online.  Technology is a fantastic tool to use in the classroom and it needs to be utilised more and in more varieties of ways.

I would use most of the tools, if not all, again in my teaching practice, depending on what I want to achieve.  One of the tools I liked the most was the Prezi, mainly for its zooming feature as this can be a real problem in classrooms, not being able to see the image or text clearly, and an alternate presentation tool.  It was great that there were several different tools that could be used as a collection of work samples for students, teachers and parents to see with the ability to make the presentation private.  These tools included Prezi, PowerPoint, Glogster, websites and even ZooBurst.  Most of these being online also allow them to be accessed from anywhere and stored online.  I found the Glogs fiddly; however, I think they are great tool to create simply an online, digital form of an assignment as there are numerous templates making it easy for students to use.  GoAnimate is another fantastic tool.  I believe that it would bring such confidence to students as the end result looks so impressive and well done and it is a quite simple program with so many features to decide from.  It is a great tool for teachers to show to students to engage them or to teach them information, for students to create to make them interested in learning, to create as a marked assessment and more.  The possibilities are endless.  I did not know that PowerPoint had so many uses; I will now definitely be exploring these and using it more.  The endless benefits and functions of these tools are many.

The SAMR model “aims to support teachers to design, develop and integrate learning technologies to support high levels of learning achievement” (Department of Education and Training, 2015).  There are four stages of the model that increases when technology is utilised more to benefit learning.  Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model is as followed “Substitution: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with no functional change.  Augmentation: Technology acts as a direct tool substitute, with functional improvement.  Modification: Technology allows for significant task redesign.  Redefinition: Technology allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable” (Department of Education and Training, 2015).  The SAMR model can be used in many different ways.  It can be gradually built up as a task or certain sections of it can be used at different times in the classroom.  It is a way for teachers to look at their learning experiences and make them more beneficial for students by using technology.  Using the SAMR model in my weekly blogs pushed me to come up with better ideas and made me think about where in the model I previously worked from.  It is a model that I will use in the future to better help me plan.

Teaching seems to be moving away from behaviourism, where students are taught explicitly from the teacher one topic at a time until it has been adequately understood, to social and cognitive constructivism (Moodle, 2015).  Social constructivism is present and supported through using online tools specifically tools such as wikis and blogs as it allows students to learn from each other and to work collaboratively with one another, and it is not just their peers that they can connect to but people from all over the world (Moodle, 2015).  In cognitive constructivism “students learn by discovery and experience” when “the teacher facilitates the learning of the individual by providing an environment in which active assimilation and accommodation can occur” (Moodle, 2015).  Technology helps this by students having access to knowledge in countless places that they can find and explore themselves.  Technology helps to teach students in alternate ways that help their learning.

There are excellent benefits that come with using technology in the classroom effectively, with countless ways that technology can be used and explored.  Technology is here to stay, and teachers need to embrace it wholeheartedly. 

Reference List

Department of Education and Training,. (2015). The SAMR model: engage in deep learning and authentic contexts. Classroomconnections.eq.edu.au. Retrieved 28 August 2015, from                 https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-     technologies.aspx

Moodle, (2015). Managing E-Learning. Know your learner .CQUniversity. Retrieved on                 28 August 2015 at https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=101648

Reflection Five: Animations and Simulations

Introduction

This week we looked at animation and simulations.  I have chosen to look at ZooBurst an online 3D pop-up book creator and GoAnimate an online program that allows people to easily create animated videos.

Safe, ethical and legal practices:

Teachers need to ensure that students are using safe, ethical and legal practices.  As pictures can be uploaded onto both of these digital tools teachers need to ensure that students do not put pictures of themselves or their peers on their creation.

ZooBurst

Technical Aspects:

ZooBurst allows users to create ten page 3D pop-up books.  Users can add images (backgrounds, props, characters) onto the page and adjust their size accordingly, with users being able to upload their own images as well as using the sites, and add text as both the actual story and dialogue of characters in speech bubbles.  The background colours and the page colour can also be edited to suit the story.  This tool is a good basic book creator, with the 3D aspect of it making it appealing to younger readers.

Uses:

-Students can create a ZooBurst as a class project for their younger sibling/s or a buddy in a younger grade

-Students can upload story images that they have drawn themselves as the only image on the page and then type in their story text

-Teachers may create a ZooBurst to engage students, it may or may not be related to a topic they are working on as it could be a book about a topic that gives information about something that they are studying in a fun way (narratives, medieval history, famous Australians [being able to add your own images will help with this], animals, inventions, etc.) or it may just be to get students attention and focused.

-Students may make a book with facts about what they have learned in class, or a narrative with facts interspersed within (a penguin trying to find it soulmate, waiting out winter, or hunting, feeding their baby penguin, the story of Ned Kelly, facts about something historical or about animals, etc.)

-Students have to create a narrative as a part of an English assessment and then make it into a ZooBurst to make it more engaging and be a Technology assessment as well

-Students must find their own image to create a ZooBurst as a research and technology task

-Students or the teacher make a ZooBurst to showcase work samples to the students’ parents by uploading images of work to be the images in the book and writing where the storyline would go what it is and how they created it (would make it private if the students created it and then they could just log on and show their parents, or password protected if the teacher made it).  Several could be made for the variety of subjects or some could be combined as it only allows for ten pages to be made.

-Students upload work samples as the images and then write reflections in the text section.

-Students can create a pop-up book on what they did on the holidays as long as no-one is in the pictures (would be a good activity at the start of the terms to get them back into work while being interesting for them)

Plus	Minus	Interesting
· You can use images from your computer · Fairly easy to use · Can search for images · Online storage and access · Can change the size of the images and move them around · Has a section for the story text underneath the book page meaning that there is more room to add things to the book page · There are speech bubbles that you can put dialogue in that may or may not be written in the book text · Can access other books created on the site · Only displays your nickname for your books helping with internet security and safety · Can set who can view the book as only you, public, or people can only access it with a password, making it safer for students	· There are boundaries to where you can put the images · The images are not of the highest quality · Only ten pages can be made · The background and page colours can only be block colours and there is not access to a gradient of colours to get the exact right shade · Need internet to access it	· It is a 3D pop-up book as opposed to just a regular one

SAMR Model
Redefinition	Students write their stories in the text section and add images from ZooBurst as well as images from other sources online or ones stored on their computer to create a pop-up story book including dialogue in speech bubble from the characters in the story.  They can make their book public so that they can get feedback (comments) from their peers and others and then edit it accordingly to improve their storyline.  Students could also peer edit by viewing the finished copy and making notes to give to their peer on what needs to be corrected.
Modification	Students write their stories in the text section and add images from ZooBurst to create a pop-up story book including dialogue in speech bubble from the characters in the story.
Augmentation	Students upload images of pictures they drew for a story and then write the story in the text section.
Substitution	Students upload images of pictures they drew for a story with the story written on the images.

GoAnimate

Technical Aspects:

GoAnimate is an online tool that allows users to create videos.  There are four different types of animations that can be made; business friendly (normal, coloured animations, range of backgrounds and props that aren’t just related to business), whiteboard animation (each animation is drawn in a whiteboard style onto the video), business as visual (graphs) and common craft (which users need to subscribe to use).  For each scene locations (business friendly), backgrounds (whiteboard animation) or backdrops (business as visual) can be chosen.  Alternately, the user can create their own by adding characters and props.  There are a large variety of props, characters, actions, expressions, poses, music, sounds (mic recording, uploading a file, adding text to speech and noises), transitions, vidgets (graphs, only in ‘business is visual’) that can be added to each scene that are accessed in the program, as well as being able to add you own images.  When creating a new scene the user can either add the previous scene again or create a blank one.  GoAnimate is a great program to create animations simply and effectively.

Uses:

-Students can create advertisements for technologies that they have had to create as class projects.

-Students can create videos showing important graphs and data researched relating to assessment (geography, math, science and history reports and speeches)

-Students can create videos for assessment pieces that talk about/show facts about the topic of study

-Teachers can create videos as an alternate way to share information on a topic with students

-Students can create a video as part of a Technology assessment piece

-Students can create a narrative for an English assessment piece and make an animation out of it

-Students can upload pictures that they drew for a story and then do a voice over telling the story or type in the text

-Teachers can make a short animation as a starter for a story that the students have to write in class as an inspiration (or they have to include the scene somewhere in there story)

-Students or teacher s create a video including what the class has been doing, work samples of a particular student (for students to look back on, for students to write reflection in in the video or in a book, for students to show their parents, etc.), excursion photos (no pictures of students) and holiday pictures ((no pictures of students or private)

-Students can create a story video to share with their peers, siblings, parents, buddies, etc.

-Teachers create videos as a way to engage students

-Teachers create videos to show the students how to do something, or rules for an activity

-Teachers create a video instead of/additional to using a poster (what need to be included in a narrative story, what should be included in an informative report

-Students create a video as a fake business pitch for an assessment piece

-Teachers create videos to show routines

Plus	Minus	Interesting
· You can use images from your computer · Fairly easy to use · Can search for images, actions, emotions, etc. · There are dozens of backgrounds/locations/backdrops that can be chosen meaning the user can just use that if it is fitting or just add one or two characters or props, or change the wardrobe and accessories of the characters · Having pre-made locations or backgrounds can give users inspiration on what they want to make the video about or an extra scene that they can add · Has a large variety of props, characters, actions, expressions, poses, music, sounds, transitions, vidgets (graphs), etc. · Can change the size of the animations and move them around · Can add text · Can add voices or voice overs by using a mic recording, uploading a file or adding text to speech (can change the accent and person) · Has links to websites where you can hire someone to record dialogue for you · Can participate in a free trial if you only want your students  to use it for one class activity/project · Having a range of different types of animations means that the online tool can be used for a variety of things · Can set it as public or private · When you add a new scene it automatically adds the new scene as exactly the same as the previous unless you click add blank scene meaning if you just want to add, remove or change a few thing in the next scene it is much quicker and simpler than starting all over again · Users can also copy a scene and use it in a blank slide further along in the video if they want to use the same setting · AutoSaves to ensure that work is not lost and then lets you choose if you want to edit from the auto save or what you personally saved · Online storage and access	· May be too complex for young users · Need internet to access it	· The ability to use the exact same scene when creating a new one is great and a time saver

SAMR Model
Redefinition	Students create an animation by adding locations, characters, props, actions, poses, emotions, noises, maybe music, transitions and adding voice overs so that it is now an animated video as opposed to essentially a slideshow.
Modification	Students upload images of pictures they drew for a story, adding additional props, some sounds and then telling the story by creating a voice over.
Augmentation	Students upload images of pictures they drew for a story and then write the story by using the text feature.
Substitution	Students upload images of pictures they drew for a story with the story written on the images.

Comparison:

GoAnimate has much better visuals than ZooBurst and you can add sound in numerous ways to it to enhance the animation and engage an audience.  Both programs are online animations that allow people to tell a story by adding visuals/images/animation and adding text.  They both allow the creator to use their own images.  GoAnimate allows for moving images though as opposed to stationary objects that just pop-up when the page is turned.  GoAnimate already comes with backgrounds/locations and while you can use images as background in ZooBurst the quality isn’t the best and it is a lot easier to scroll through the ones on GoAnimate.  On GoAnimate these backgrounds/locations are also already made up of several props and characters that you can choose to keep or diminish, then build upon.  GoAnimate is more of a diverse animation tool as opposed to ZooBurst.

Evidence of Technology:

ZooBurst book: http://www.zooburst.com/zb_books-viewer.php?book=zb01_55cdfdb23a678

GoAnimate video: http://goanimate.com/videos/01Ntrug9B6ps?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent

PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster

Introduction

The technologies explored this week are presentation tools; PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster. 

Safe, ethical and legal practices:

Teachers need to talk to their students about safe, ethical and legal practices when creating these technologies.  Two of these tools are online and publicly accessible (Glogster can be set to private, and Prezi can too if you upgrade) which means that students need to be conscious of what they put on there.  This means that teachers need to ensure that their students do not put photos of themselves and others on their presentations for anyone to see and ensure that they don’t write anything identifying on their presentations, talking to them about why this is important.  They also need to talk to them about including images, video and sounds that are not their own and telling them that they must acknowledge whose property it is, both online and in their work that is not published online.  Teaching your students about safe, ethical and legal practices on the internet and when creating work is essential. 

PowerPoint

Technical Aspects:

While most people use the most basic form of a PowerPoint, there are many functions and actions that it can do to help improve a presentation that are overlooked.  People may just use it for putting on the slides a lot of text, few key images and maybe a few transitions.  However, it can be used for much more.

On PowerPoint you can add to your slides; images, videos, text, sound, transitions, hyperlinks, shapes, links, charts, tables, music.  This can increase how much is learnt from the PowerPoint and engage the audience more.  It also means that you can use PowerPoint for more than just the standard presentation.

Uses:

-a way to present and share information (class lessons, lectures, assignments, statistics)

-a platform to create books with

-a place to create images

-a way to display classroom routines and activities

-a place to display images for writing prompts

-a program to store images of a field trip, holiday, class tasks, students work, experiments, etc.

-Great way to show/ access lots of videos

-Can edit images (colour, brightness, size, background)

-Can create charts straight onto PowerPoint from data in Excel

-Can use it to easily access links to show your students by hyperlinking, or documents or sites you need to be able to get to regularly

-Teachers can record audio or videos of instructions (or written) for whole class work or for group activities that could be put on a tablet at the groups table

Plus	Minus	Interesting
· Simple to use · Can add transitions, backgrounds, animation, videos, images, audio, word art, text, shapes, charts, hyperlinks · Can insert whole albums of photographs · Can edit images · Countless ways to use it · Can save it in numerous different forms · Easier to flick through slides for a class lesson than scroll through a Word document · Most people own PowerPoint · Fairly easily accessed in schools · Can set timing or click manually to go to the next transition or slide · Can create slide notes · Can be used by kids of all ages · Easy to find information on how to do something	· Can’t insert Apple recordings straight onto it · Can’t upload to a blog · Video and audio does not always work on online applications	· More uses than just basic text and images

SAMR Model (A student)
Redefinition	Cutting down the text into dot points and including a few images.  Writing in the notes section to prompt them.  Including graphs to portray information.  Including videos both that they recorded of either them speaking, perhaps an engaging introduction, or acting out what is being said in the presentation, and videos on the topic that they have found online, to engage the audience.
Modification	Cutting down the text into dot points and including a few images.  Writing in the notes section to prompt them.  Including graphs to portray information.  Recording them talking and making it a voice over.
Augmentation	Cutting down the text into dot points and including a few images.
Substitution	Writing a whole presentation into a PowerPoint.

Prezi

“Prezi motivates students to learn more science as they create presentations for their classmates…. The social aspect adds a new dimension to brainstorming, collaborating, and editing a group project: Students don’t have to be in the same place or even the same class.” (Campbell & Williams-Rossi, p.54, 2012).

Technical Aspects:

Prezi’s are a digital presentation tool that is alternate to the usual PowerPoint.   Instead of moving from slide to slide like you would in a PowerPoint you move from frame to frame or picture to picture or frame to picture and vice versa.   You can add text, music, videos, PowerPoints, shapes and highlight. 

The key feature that Prezi has opposed to PowerPoint is the ability to zoom in and out.  The zoom function is probably its best feature as it has a very large zooming ability.  The zooming feature means that you can make images or text in your frames small and zoom into the whole or part of the image or text.  Due to the zoom function you can have the view show the entirety of the presentation and then zoom into the next section you want and then you can either move on or zoom in or out to show the wider view or how it links or a more focused snapshot.  You can also make frames within frames, like a subsection due to Prezi’s ability to zoom.  The zoom function means that you no longer have to strain your eyes to see tiny text on a presentation or image.

Uses:

-A way for teachers to zoom in on certain parts of an image or text that they want to show students

-A presentation tool –information, reports, experiments,  assignment presentations, images of a field trip, holiday, class tasks, students work,  experiments, etc. (some of these would need to be done on an upgraded account so that it could be made private and just used to present to the class)

-A way to share information with others online or in the classroom

-A way for students to show their learning journey (work samples)

-A place where the teacher can create a presentation on a private Prezi of the students work for a specific task and show it to their students

-Students or teachers can access other peoples Prezi’s to gain information or show examples of how a task should be done

-Used to create a presentation collaboratively by multiple people

-Can be used to show the links between information by drawing lines to link them or putting frames within frames to show that that piece of information is a part of that

-Can be used as a concept map, life cycle, this event lead to this event, food web, brainstorm tool, etc.  by drawing shapes to link the frames together

-A visual map of events (eg. frames of several decades with the years inside of them, going through one decade and the years in it then moving back out to the next decade and then going into their years)

Plus	Minus	Interesting
· Fairly simple to use · Can zoom right into certain pictures or text · You can add text, music, videos, PowerPoints, shapes and highlight. · Can go to the same frame or image multiple times · Lots of templates to choose from (which you can further edit the colours of and add or take things away) · Can be accessed and edited from any computer with internet, meaning you do not have to worry about saving it to a usb and having that or your computer with you to edit it · Saves automatically, meaning you can’t lose your work · Can be edited by multiple people, meaning it can be used collaboratively for group work and assignments or a whole class task	· Can be seen ad accessed publicly (unless you upgrade) (internet safety) · Needs the internet to work	· Can zoom into even the smallest of images

SAMR Model
Redefinition	Having a frame for each continent or country it affected and then zooming into the frames inside of that overarching frame being a certain country or town or aspect that the war affected- injuries, food, economy, events that took place in that country, etc.  Or having each frame as an aspect of war and the inner frames that it zoomed into as the countries to show the differences between what happened/ what people did in different countries.  Including images, videos, statistics that can be zoomed in on.
Modification	A mind map of the different events that happened in World War Two and the affects that they had, drawing lines between the frames to show any links and zooming in and out to see the full picture.  Inclusion of images.
Augmentation	A presentation about what happened in World War Two with written points that a student would verbally say and a few key images that showed what happened.
Substitution	A presentation about what happened in World War Two with just written points that a student would verbally say.

Glogster

Technical Aspects:

‘Glogster’ is a poster making platform that makes what are called ‘Glogs.’  It can be used on computers as well as iPad’s.  Images, videos, audio files, graphics, text and documents can be added to the ‘Glog.’  The backgrounds (walls) can be changed as well as the usual text editing (colour, font, bold, etc.).  A teacher can have a Glog and then add students to his/her class/classes.  “Glogster appeals to students who are visual learners by allowing them to create their own poster.” (Lightle, p.8, 2011). Glogster can be used for numerous different functions for both students and teachers, with multiple different templates prepared to be used. 

Uses:

-Create timelines for books, history, events, science experiments (growing plants)

-Create a science experiment report

-Create a report for an assignment –history, geography, sport, science, travel, book, english, field trip, etc.

-Create a fact/information sheet - to share with other students to improve their knowledge, as a revision sheet that the students create, made by the teacher to share with their students, as an assessment or classroom task

-Create a news report

-A place to access students work samples as Glogs, or documents in Glogs

-A place where students can view each other’s work

-A place where other Glogs can be accessed (Glogpedia)

-Create a presentation of your own work, a student’s work or several pieces of several students work over a range of different tasks or the same one

-A place to have access to the projects of all of your students

-Students can create a portfolio of their work

-A place to share images of a field trip, holiday, class tasks, students work,  experiments, etc. (some of these would need to be made private and just used to present to the class)

-Teachers can upload information about class or assessment tasks –information, examples, documents (task sheet, criteria sheet)

-Teachers can make a Glog with extension activates, information and links on it for early finishes and high students, or students who want to extend their learning at home

-Teachers can create glogs that have tasks on it that would be accessed in group rotations so that it would not have to be explained and they would have all the information

-Teachers can make glogs that have the homework tasks on it

Plus	Minus	Interesting
· Fairly simple to use · Can insert documents, images, text and video · Can set to private so that others cannot see students work to ensure internet safety · Multiple pre-made templates to give people ideas and make use much easier · Can access other people glogs to gain knowledge from · Allows teachers to create classes · Multiple uses (some listed above) · It can always be different with the countless backgrounds, images, templates, etc.	· Fiddly · Can’t resize images and text by adjusting the width and length separately · Is generally public · Can only access online	· You can access ‘Glogpedia’ which is a resource filled with other people glogs

SAMR Model
Redefinition	Students create several glogs for their assessment piece from research that they did on Glogpedia and the internet.  They have a timeline of the historic event that took place with images and videos as one Glog.  The write a history report on another, and create a Glog with links to other glogs and research.  They create a final Glog with other images and videos that they found that were related to the topic where they analyse what is happening in the image or video and what relevance it had to the historical topic.
Modification	Have students look at other glogs to get more ideas to research on reliable websites and then writing their reports on their Glog, including images and videos that they found in their research.
Augmentation	Having students write their reports on a Glog as a block of text and including a few images.
Substitution	Having students write their reports on a Glog as a block of text.

Comparison:

There are similarities and differences between the three tools.  Each of them are presentation tools where you can insert text, images and videos.  Glogster and Prezi are both online tools, whereas PowerPoint can be, but it is more used for just on a computer.  Glogster and Prezi can both be public or private.  Music can be added to both the Prezi and the PowerPoint.  Glogster is a stationary program but Prezi and PowerPoint move from slide to slide.  They can all be used to share and gain new knowledge.

Evidence of Technology:

PowerPoint: http://technologywithkids.weebly.com/managing-e-learning.html

http://sarshaelearning.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/powerpoint.html   (where I have posted the link and talked about making it)

Prezi: https://prezi.com/g-u2myuohtkd/my-e-learning-journey-thus-far/

http://sarshaelearning.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/prezi.html   (where I have posted the link and talked about making it)

 Glogster: http://sarsha66.edu.glogster.com/sarshas-ramp-experiment/

http://sarshaelearning.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/glogster.html   (where I have posted the link and talked about making it)

References:

Campbell, L. O., & Williams-Rossi, D. (2012). The way they want to learn. Sci Teacher, 79(1), 52-56.

Glogster EDU,. (2015). Glogster: Create and Explore Educational Content Online. Edu.glogster.com.                              Retrieved 12 August 2015, from http://edu.glogster.com/

Lightle, K. (2011). More than just the technology. Science Scope, 34(9), 6-9.