Assessment 1, Synopsis

The learning benefits of 21st century interactive teaching techniques are easily recognised when thought of in a comparative context to more obsolete teaching practices such as text books and directly dictating from the chalk board. Some advantages include ease of learning and an increased interest in the subject matter for students. The interactive properties of modern day teaching tools far outweigh the standardised format of text of the yesteryear. The obsolete nature of such standard techniques used in today's technological society would greatly diminish the students’ prospects in terms of career and social progression. As technology has evolved, so has the younger generations need to utilise such technology in all aspects of life, including their learning environments. Easy access tools such as Wikipedia, Google earth and image capture programs have taken the place of Encyclopedias, Atlases and Photo Albums. These new learning tools allow the modern day student to defer attention away from the strenuous nature of acquiring information from older style texts. Two hours of searching through an encyclopedia for information can now take two minutes of typing and mouse clicking. This obviously increases the productivity of the student and allows better time management and decreased stress levels, and a less likely probability of procrastination. So in theory tomorrows breed of student should be better educated and better versed in technology.

E-Learning is commonly used in terms of distance education because of its ease of access across the globe. However, the interactive properties of E-Learning have gained popularity in the educational environment because of its attractive format to the younger generation. Tools such as the voki avatars and Google earth add a sense of entertainment that can be incorporated into the education process. To be able to offer the students a relative means to learn in a technological medium that they are familiar with and stimulated by, shows the evolution of learning over the last few decades.

In my personal opinion, the Voki Avatars would offer the most positive benefits of blended learning, by mixing interactive learning practices with the more standardised forms of learning such as text books and direct dictation. Blended Learning is a blending of different learning methods, techniques and resources and applying them in an interactively meaningful learning environment (C.R Graham, 2005). These blended learning practices allow all the positive aspects of both standard and new age techniques to be incorporated into the same educational processes. Voki Avatars allow the students to select an animated character based on appearance and voice tone, in order to project any form of information necessary. Their customizable format is entertaining and allows a certain personalization with the learning experience which is important for student development as well as the learning progression.

It could probably also be said that of the interactive techniques discussed on my blog the image file and storage (Flickr, Image Manipulation, File Storage) may offer the least benefit in terms of educational progression. These image filing systems allow a more public viewing booth for images, which can be manipulated to project a certain purpose or outline. I can’t see many situations where it would be a necessity for a student to use such a tool. Eliminating unnecessary steps in education is also important because simplicity gains time and interest from students.

In conclusion, the techniques of interactive learning need direct application into classrooms now!!!! The benefits can be seen plainly when theoretically adapted to this modern technological age. E-learning’s impact has been seen throughout the modern world already, and harbours the likelihood of taking over the educational world if financially viable. E-Learning pioneer Bernard Luskin argues that the "E" must be understood to have broad meaning if e-Learning is to be effective. Luskin says that the "e" should be interpreted to mean exciting, energetic, enthusiastic, emotional, extended, excellent, and educational in addition to "electronic" that is a traditional national interpretation (Bernard Luskin , Casting the Net Over Global Learning, 2002).



REFERENCES:

Graham, C. R. (2005). "Blended learning systems: Definition, current trends, and future
directions.".
Nichols, M. (2008). E-Learning in context.
Bernard Luskin , Casting the Net Over Global Learning, 2002.
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Voice Thread

I have discovered voice thread to be highly useful in every aspect. To have the flexibility of uploading photo's or video's as well as commenting upon and allowing others to comment upon them is great as one's understanding and opinions of video clips/photo's are able to be seen and discussed within this program. This type of learning is quite rare, to be able to both upload videos/imagery as well as discuss publicly with others about these particular things is a new process which if embraced well can be used to encourage student collaboration and personal thought processes.

Using Music from the web

Music plays such an important role in development. It often evokes ones emotions and portrays ones emotions and feelings. Often music with or without words has an involvement upon a persons personality and their lifestyle. By using INCOMPETECH a teacher would be able to engage students emotionally and audibly with learning, as well as using many other learning aspects. The music file which I had downloaded was of an African/Zulu genre and portrayed emotions of suspense and intensity. If a teacher were to incorporate this type of music with learning of culture or important issues a student may find it easier to engage or recall their learning experience better as they had used many senses to stimulate their initial learning.

Media Fire

To make files accessible online using media fire is a brilliant idea in globalising learning and teaching resources. This type of technology would be handy to use where teachers can upload documents for students to access at their homes. Also this technology may be useful for businesses, where many documents may need to be sent to employees. Instead of sending them via email, posting the document via media fire may prove to be quicker ratehr than sending multiple emails.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=73f261f508987db3d8f14848abf485dde04e75f6e8ebb871

Slideshare

Using slideshare was found to be quite simple and quite interesting. The simplicity is quite appealing and it's useability is vast. This tool allows for interactive learning at home online as well as at school. As it is simple to use teaching students how to make and upload presentations would be a breeze. Not to mention an ingenius way of interacting and stimulating personal student learning.

Optical+Illusions

View more presentations from katemate09.

Illusions powerpoint with slideshare

Optical+Illusions

View more presentations from katemate09.

Google Earths Properties

Google Earth is an unbelievablely powerful learning tool that can take a student to anywhere in the world with just a few mouse clicks. Its ease of use and appealing format makes its interactive learning properties very positive. In terms of geographical positioning it is probably second to none for any free download software. For a student to actually be able to look at a satellite image of the Pyramids or the Great Wall of China is in itself a very powerful learning motivator over the alternative uses of standard texts. Most of the worlds well known landmarks have pictures and historical information available about the area via one mouse click. Which once again shows the advantages in terms of student learning with interactive software in comparison to being "force fed" information. Using this tool for learning is quite beneficial as it also engages students visually and interactively with their learning. Which stimulates many types of learning rather than one specific type of learning.

Wikipedia Interactive Learning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Learning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_learning_environment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_whiteboard

The above is a list of easily accessible online resources through wikipedia search.

The advantage of having online resources such as wikipedia readily available, are in my opinion paramount to a students 21st century learning capabilities. Wikipedia allows a student easy access to an extemely large database of volumised, comprehensive information. However, even though the content is governed heavily, there is room for factual error in comparison to standardised texts.

Student Quiz

http://www.classmarker.com/teacher/edit_test.php?test_id=60215

(The above URL is for a student quiz)

I obviously havent tested this quiz out on any actual students due to me actually stll being a grade 12 student myself!! However, I can see the interactive benefit of such a learning medium. Multiple choice questions are a great way to test knowledge and create a critical thinking idealogy for the student.

Autism Podcast

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=57537841&id=106761520

(Click the above link for the available Autism podcasts)

Possible uses for podcasts may include the ability to stimulate students with audible or visual learning capabilities. Podcasts cater for students that may respond better to these types of learning practices. By providing a varied range of learning tools you can increase the probability of targeting a wider range of students learning needs. A podcast can involve a few aspects of the learning pyramid. The obvious involvement is the audio visual aspect. However, some podcasts may also offer demonstration and/or stimulate points of discussion. Therefore, podcasts can reach a vast range of information retention benefits for students.

Fun with Flickr!!!!!!

After numerous upload attempts, I was eventually able to successfully blog a personally uploaded photo from flickr. I found the experience quite time consuming for the amount of benefit this process has contributed to this blog. However, I understand the importance of te process and I'm sure that with further experience this process will be seemingly easier. The use of this genre of blogging may pose to be very useful in teaching, in particular with creating student interest in regards to collaborative learning.

gftgdrf
Originally uploaded by Katey Matey

Integration of 21st century technology and learning

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1244&title=Mp3_players_and_learning

Hey Everyone, this is my URL for my created test. http://www.classmarker.com/quiz/?test_id=58875. The quiz I created was quite small and quite general, with gained knowledge and experiece I may be able to add more questions to this quiz and make it more interesting for those who participate in the quiz as well as myself.

Karate!!! :P

Fun in bed
Originally uploaded by guioconnor

It is quite interesting to see others experiences. A picture tells a lot about ones learning and experiences. Often a picture can be interpretted in many ways and links well with the old saying 'pictures speak louder than words'.

CUTE PUPPIES-(adorabel!)

CUTE PUPPIES-(adorabel!)
Originally uploaded by ilovepopstar-JB

I love how most of the online programs are interrelated and so very easy to set up. I have had fun searching for photos to add to the blog. I have found it quite simple to navigate around the website. It would be a great tool to use in a school setting and would encourage students to collaborate and stimulate their online learning abilities.

Hey all,
I have just started using Google reader and have set up an RSS (Really Simple Syndication).I have found that the RSS tool is very useful as it shows all members posts in the same spot, therefore no navigation necessary to find assorted posts and blogs.

This very useful tool saves users the time and effort spent trying to search for news and blogs. etc. The RSS program brings news and blogs to the user and therefore saves valuable time. KateMate.

Get a Voki now!

Hey Everyone,

I have been experimenting with Voki and have created my very own Avatar. This would be a great educational tool to use in schools, children would interact with digital technology more and stimulate their learning. The only downside to using this application is that when typing in speech there is a limited amount of text that can be typed. By increasing the allocation for where text can be inserted the avatars uses in schools could be limitless.

As students are digital natives rather than digital immigrants the need for online and digital interactive help and discussion is extremely important in keeping students engaged in their learning rather than becoming enraged towards their learning. Not only would this type of learning engage students in the classroom it would also be useful at home for homework useage. Students could then be encouraged and positive towards completing homework rather than viewing homework as boring and uninteresting. Kate Mate.

My first ever blog post!!! :P