Recent Changes

St Lukes Anglican College in Bundaberg became wireless network this year, in part because the majority of students had a mobile device, either a smartphone, ipod touch or a tablet. The cost of the ipod touch is comparable to the cost of a scientific calculator that was on my book list when I went to school. The school is also well equipped with interactive whiteboards yet some of the teachers simply attach a small projector to the tablet they are carrying allowing them to project onto any wall at about a fifth of the cost of an interactive whiteboard. In our environment where we need to be responsive and accountable for learning we need to take risk of untried methods and use the tools that are accessible and which keep students engaged.
Prezi
ResorceResource Sites
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com
http://digitaltoolsforteachers.blogspot.com/201...chive.html

in week 2.5.
National Science Week - Professional Development Day
St Lukes story
St Lukes Anglican College in Bundaberg became wireless network this year, in part because the majority of students had a mobile device, either a smartphone, ipod touch or a tablet. The cost of the ipod touch is comparable to the cost of a scientific calculator that was on my book list when I went to school. The school is also well equipped with interactive whiteboards yet some of the teachers simply attach a small projector to the tablet they are carrying allowing them to project onto any wall at about a fifth of the cost of an interactive whiteboard. In our environment where we need to be responsive and accountable for learning we need to take risk of untried methods and use the tools that are accessible and which keep students engaged.
Prezi
(insert blurb about prezi)
Resorce Sites
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com

When we consider ICT we think of the computer but not about robotics. Strange considering we are communicating with the computer and interacting with the robot. Programming the robot helps children develop critical and creative thinking. They learn to problem solve and examine how they think when teaching the robot and debugging errors (Papert, 19xx). Children problem solve collaboratively however it is in this environment where genuine student teacher collaboration occurs. Papert asserts that the teacher does not need to pretend as the debugging problem will be unique to both parties. The child will learn through what the teacher does rather than what the teacher tells. Robotics is not free like the other ICT discussed but it does create an engaging hands on way to discover Mathematics, Science and Technology whilst developing problem solving skills.
MP3
This is from the Improv group. They are all about spontaneous fun. Check out this social experiment where hundreds of people are directed by the instructions from a MP3 file.
Social Networks
Facebook

Here you will find the thought provoking activities undertaken in week 3.
Blog
(I have created a blog and made a coupleI am not yet into the swing of postings.a blog. It is now time to analytically considerhas someinteractive element in that people can comment but it does not have the pedagogical usemultimedia ease of this ICT.a wiki of website. In fact I will usethink I prefer to have a SWOT analysisblog as my scaffold.)part of a website. That will promote discussion.
Wiki
(This week we get to create a wiki. I seem to have jumped the gun.)
The Youtube video is courtesy of Common Craft. The example clearly highlights the advantages of using wiki as a collaboration tool over common place ICT such as email. The collaborative approach easily translates to student based activities in and beyond the classroom.
(insert link to blog SWOT)
Website
Weebly is company that helps people to have a web presence, quickly and easily. They offer free sites for pages and blogs and the tools to individualise your space. You can include elements like; videos, photo galleries, maps, forums, contact forms, surveys and much more. It is just as easy creating the website as it was creating a wiki or blog. Even though there are more elements that can be added in the website.
The website is predominantly a one way medium. It does not offer the same level of interactiveness that a blog and especially a wiki will allow. Whether student or teacher the use of the three ICTs (blog, wiki or website) is so similar that the knowledge of using one is transferable to the others. As a teacher, the choice of which tool to use is dependent on the outcome you wish to achieve.
This is a link to my Weebly website (it is still under construction).
(how can students use a static website to express their creativity?)
Skype
Skype is an ICT that allows people to communicate via the internet instead of the conventional telephone. The software is free and the calls are free. The appeal of Skype to learning managers is twofold. Firstly it is free and secondly it can visually bring the world into the classroom. The challenge in using Skype is the level of planning and coordination you need to do beforehand. The delegation to class experts should alleviate this. Unlike the wiki and Facebook, this ICT does not teach the student how to learn but rather engages them to learn. Should students propose the use of this tool I would happily facilitate its use. Click here to view my Skype PowerPoint presentation in my wiki. To share the presentation with you I had to sign up to SlideShare, an online community for sharing presentations. Uploaded presentations can be embedded into other online presence or accessed from SlideShare rather than the computer it was created on. The presentations can be made public which will give you the opportunity to receive feedback for improvement. It is yet another free method of sharing information.

Resorce Sites
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com
http://digitaltoolsforteachers.blogspot.com/201...chive.html

Six Thinking Hats
Mobile Phone Activity
http://fahe11001bundaberg.wikispaces.com/Mobile+Phones+WikiThis week we used De Bono's six hats to discuss the validiof mobile phone in the classroom.
The group activity can be found here.
My relection of the activity is posted in my blog.
The Northwest Tree Octopus
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/This is why students need to evalate critically the sources on the internet.
What do you make of the Tree Octopus?
Thought Provokers
We need to develop some type of philosophy of how we are going to teach in this space. The thought provoking questions are:

Prezi
(insert blurb about prezi)
Resorce Sites
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com

Here you will find the thought provoking activities undertaken in week 2.
St Lukes Anglican College in Bundaberg became wireless network this year, in part because the majority of students had a mobile device, either a smartphone, ipod touch or a tablet. The cost of the ipod touch is comparable to the cost of a scientific calculator that was on my book list when I went to school. The school is also well equipped with interactive whiteboards yet some of the teachers simply attach a small projector to the tablet they are carrying allowing them to project onto any wall at about a fifth of the cost of an interactive whiteboard. In our environment where we need to be responsive and accountable for learning we need to take risk of untried methods and use the tools that are accessible and which keep students engaged.
Prezi
(insert blurb about prezi)

YouTube
Eric Frangenheim (2006), outlines that teachers spend 80-90% of time in the lower order behaviours of Blooms Taxonomy rather than developing the higher order behaviours.Teachers argue that collaborative learning approaches and using ICT take up more time and effort (SITcas). There are ways that teachers can increase their class time and use it more effectively to guide and shape higher order behaviours by using ICT. The Khan Academy is an online space that utilises YouTube video to teach the mundane one size fits all learning that is the, remember, understand and apply behaviours. Students work through the exercises and videos at their own pace, stopping and rewinding when needed. The classroom is then transformed into an energised, student driven, motivated, fun and thinking environment.
LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robotics
When we consider ICT we think of the computer but not about robotics. Strange considering we are communicating with the computer and interacting with the robot. Programming the robot helps children develop critical and creative thinking. They learn to problem solve and examine how they think when teaching the robot and debugging errors (Papert, 19xx). Children problem solve collaboratively however it is in this environment where genuine student teacher collaboration occurs. Papert asserts that the teacher does not need to pretend as the debugging problem will be unique to both parties. The child will learn through what the teacher does rather than what the teacher tells. Robotics is not free like the other ICT discussed but it does create an engaging hands on way to discover Mathematics, Science and Technology whilst developing problem solving skills.