LA1

Wk 8

This weeks’ progression has come I leaps and bounds.

It has been a very stressful week.

However I am looking forward to Prac !!

LA1 link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNnHGIedzU

It's all coming together

Wk 6

Since the first week we have been learning how to effectively use ICT’s in the classroom.  It has taken me a few weeks to really understand how this is done.  Technology is not simply an ‘add on tool’ so that we can say we are “technology savvy teachers” and feel better about our selves. It is also not simply a fun thing we can use from time to time as time filler. This is only time wasting!

This course has taught me that technology needs to be incorporated in the planning of our lessons, in order to really support learning outcomes, just as it has been incorporated in the planning of our learning adventures. I know this LA1 has really made the necessary integration of Pedagogy, curriculum and technology clear to me.  This thinking aligns with the TPCK model. (Koehler & Mishra, 2008) and this thinking has now become my way of thinking.

In the tutorial this week we had the chance to discuss what groups had planned so far for the LA1. It was great to hear other people’s ideas and progress. This really gave our group a clearer direction of the path we were on. I am really looking forward to seeing all of the other groups’ videos, so please share them. Our group met to start making our words on pages come to life through the use of Xtranormal. Our group's ideas are really beginning to come together. This week has really helped me in understanding how we will incorporate a literary focus within our learning adventure. Working in groups is definitely a challenge when you have a million things going on. I don’t think I would have survived if it weren’t for Google Groups and Google Docs.

When speaking to my Prac teacher about ways of incorporating ICT’s in the classroom, she seemed eager to hear my ideas. I think my excitement is rubbing off on her. It is so great to be able to share my new knowledge with someone else.

References:

Koehler, M. & Mishra, P. (2008). Introducing technological pedagogical content knowledge. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York City, NY.

Progress at Last!

Wk 5

I was so proud of my self in the tutorial this week!

I finally feel like I am making progress, real progress.

This week I learnt to

1) Use IMovie to record and edit video footage

2) Use Go Animate

3) Use Voki

4) Use Extra Normal

5) Use Animto

These are all fabulous tools that I can use not only for my Assessment video, but also in the future classroom.

This week I hit a wall, as I discovered my assessment partner had left the course. I was in panic mode, and Jason calmly suggested to me that I put out a notification on Google to find a new group.

Well, thank god for Google groups! I found a new group.

I met with my new group to have a meeting this week. We came together to discuss our plan briefly and to provide me with an update on what had already been done. My group was using Google Docs also to communicate, share information and add documents as they were created for our assessment. It would not come as a shock for me so say that we had decided to use Google Docs as our technology for our assessment. Using the program my self on an assessment really reinstated, just how great Google Docs was as a device to provide communication and collaboration in learning. We were collaborating, anywhere, any time, on line. It was great!

During the tute we looked at approaches to learning.  This was interesting to me, as it really linked in with a previous course I had done on Behavioral approaches. The lecture really allowed me to take my previous knowledge and apply it within a technology context. Each week it is becoming more obvious to me, how curriculum, pedagogy and technology are intergraded. (TPACK)

Balance seems to be the key.

References

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.