Reflective synopsis

The dawn of technology in classrooms is an exciting time and is a new era that will change the way teachers do their job.  From my teaching experiences in the classroom, the "old school" method of teaching seems to be on the outs and at the forefront, pursuing the banishment of old methods is technology. I.C.T tools come with their own negatives that range from breaching the laws of copyright, student safety and the possibility of being  more of a distraction then a learning aid. They do though, have the potential to express and deliver information through learning design in ways that were never thought possible. The potential is only limited by the teachers creativity, allowing the teacher to conduct a lesson which appeals to many different learning styles. Throughout the term I have explored many different I.C.T tools which has enabled me to see the growing importance of e-learning and how I could use it within my music teaching career.  

Technology is a growing phenomena in today's society. In 2009 it was estimated that 31% (891,000), of children in Australia aged between 9-14 had there own mobile phones (A.B.S. 2013). This constant, ever changing relationship students have with technology is still growing according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2013), and because of this, it is important that teachers are able to incorporate e-learning into their classrooms in a positive way. A huge positive that I have noticed with my participation with e-learning is that it is able to provide a single learning experience that cators for all three learning styles from auditory learners, visual learners and kinaesthetic learners.  My idea was supported by Kruse (2002), who continued to write that it also offers the ability to target the specific needs of learners. By developing an on-line learning lesson plan which targets no specific learner (advanced or low academic level), the educator is able to provide information that enables the student to complete the lesson self-paced. Kurse (2002), writes that this is a huge benefit as advanced learners are able to avoid frustration of some lessons by overlooking the information that is redundant while novice learners are able to thoroughly re-read/ practise ideas that are of difficulty to them.
One I.C.T tool that has established itself as a great presentation creator is power point. Power point offers a wide range of animations, flexibility and personalisation which enables the user to create unique displays. The extent that power point can be used is surprisingly underrated. Power point is able to be transformed into a game by creating buttons that link to specified slides containing relevant information. In other words, Power point can be used as an off-line Quizzie. Both of these tools are great at giving students facts, and getting them to recite information. These two tools require a low level thinking order on blooms taxonomy (Clark, 1999). Due to this, I would be using these two tools as questionnaires at the start and end of each term. They would be used as profiling tools to enable me to see what academic level the student is working at and to see if the student has improved or not. Both Quizzie and power point are good for repetition and reinforcement. These two characteristics are key to the learning theory of behaviourism (Mcleod, 2007). Specifically, I would these in my music teaching to get the students to remember key concepts such as music notation, scales, progression of notes ext. 

An I.C.T tool that I have been accessing recently is wiki's. Wiki's are a great on-line social constructivism tool. They allow for the user to share ideas and concepts with each other, and possibly create new ideas. It is a fundamental Idea in the social constructivism learning theory that learners are able to learn greater knowledge through the support of others (Atherton, 2011). Wiki's are a great platform for this as students can undergo group work while at home. The thought process wiki's require is limitless as the motivation level of the student will determine what level of thinking is being done. The participation in a wiki requires the participant to obtain and understand knowledge in order to give their opinion in a wiki, however it is not limited to this. The higher order thinking will come to the student through the gathering, analysation and evaluation of information. You could get the students to create a wiki and ask to provide information on a given topic, however the drawback to this is the accuracy of information students are obtaining on-line. The notion of students gathering incorrect information from the internet is not new and, I believe, the teaching of finding correct information is paramount to ones schooling career. The connectivism theory supports this and suggests the the teacher becomes more of a teaching architect, directing and scaffolding learning (Siemens, 2004). Siemens (2004), writes that it is more important to identify how and where to find knowledge than it is to know. In my learning context, I would use wiki's in conjunction with my creation of numerous blogs, websites and Glogsters. The wiki would remain as a discussion board for the students to evaluate their found research. I would give the students on-line I.C.T tools that I have created that contain accurate information except for one fact/concept. It is then up to the student to decipher what is true and what is incorrect in their discussion on the wiki. I would set this task as weekly homework for the students to complete on-line. This weekly activity would get the students thinking at a higher level on the revised blooms taxonomy, teach them the content, and teach them the importance of gathering information from a wide range of sources. Clarity would need to be given on the key idea of the task so that students understand and are able to decide what information is correct and incorrect. The use of wiki's and blogs are not bound to this and I can see my use of them expand as I continue to use them. 

In conclusion, it is naive to think that technology is a hindrance to classroom learning. I.C.T tools are great in schools as they offer themselves as great engagement tools and vocal points for learning design. Learning managers should learn to capitalize this as I.C.T tools are able to appeal to all the learning styles at the same time. My experience and investigation of different e learning tools has been positive and has given me insight into the highly beneficial opportunities that come with using I.C.T. I look forward to broadening my understanding, knowledge and creativity in order to invent and implement lessons that move away from the stagnant 20th century style teaching, and into the ever engaging 21st century. 

Reference list 

- http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/d4cbec5b5b78b7c5ca25779e001c4770!OpenDocument accessed: 17/08/2013. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013. Children and mobile phones. 
- http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/constructivism.htm#ixzz2cOgvY3GI. Atherton J S (2011). Accessed: 19/08/2013. Learning and Teaching; Constructivism in learning 
- http://www. e-learningguru. com, 2002 - labsel.pesarosviluppo.it. Accessed: 16/08/2013. Kruse.K, 2002. The benefits and drawbacks of e-learning.- http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html Clark. D, 1999. Accessed: 15/08/2013. Blooms taxonomy of learning domains. - http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html Mcleod. S. 2007. Accessed 17/08/2013 Behaviourist approach. - http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm Siemens. G. 2004. Accessed 16/08/2013. Connectivism, a learning for the digital age. 

Mobile Phones

The technological age we are coming into is a great period for teachers. I always thought I would be an "old school" teacher in the sense that I would not be using much technology in my classroom. After looking at I pads though, I realise how foolish I would have been to shut out an item of great teaching potential. Below is a P.M.I chart that come across as very one sided. 

Positives: 

- Interactive

- light and very mobile

- accessability to internet and shared learning sites

- Great variety of applications that are free

- Inexpensive

Negatives: 

- Possible cause of distraction

- Monitoring of its use is required and difficult to do in higher grades. 

Interesting:

- teachers can overlay notes onto selected on-line, shared documents as side notes, reminders, reference points ext.

- Applications designed for learning are available from kindergarten English and maths to grade school science, maths and English

- Appeal to all learning styles. Auditory, kinaesthetic and visual learners

- "Expands students creativity and intellectual curiosity of students" - Malik Burnett.

The last interesting point came from a third year medical student in North Carolina. His suggestion gave me a relative idea to the curiosity of the student. I have found with myself that if a new subject is given to me in an appealing way, I will engage myself in the activity until it is complete. If my curiosity is grasped by the concept and extra information is given, I will submerge myself in the learning material. Ipads have a lay-out that has that "X-factor" which grabs the users attention and curiosity. They also give students the opportunity to research further by means of downloaded applications/books and on-line investigations.

The only Major draw back that I could see would be the distraction potential smart phones and Ipads have. The readily available access to the internet is on such a grand scale that it can be a scary thought for teachers to give there students that power. this can be solved with the blocking of websites and monitoring the students using them.
The other minor drawback is the cost but this is easily debatable as a brand new 16 gigabyte Ipad costs $540 to buy outright ( Apple, 2013). 

The high level of accessibility to information grants I pads and iPhone great relevance and potential in the classroom. Not only does it give access to the internet and interactive games, but also allows for teachers and students to record and reflect on gathered data in the classroom. This is done with the readily available photo and video camera that is available on almost all mobile phones, smart phones and Ipads. These two tools can be used in Art and science for the benefit of both the teacher and the student. Other free applications that come with all mobile phones is the calculator and stopwatch. Both of these tools can again be utilised in a science lesson, and, can give aid in mathematical lessons. Smart phones and Ipads are one step ahead of other mobile phones though as they have the accessibility to applications that give a greater level of interactiveness with the students.

Applications are great as they appeal to many different learning styles. They are very visual, require engagement from the user and, give audio directions if needed. These three factors appeal to auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learners. A great application that I have found and use regularly that fits perfectly into the higher grade science curriculum is the "Sky View" application available for iphones and ipads. This application allows the user to view the current location of the constellations, the moon and the sun. It also gives facts on selected items and gives what time the Sun or Moon will be at that location. 

             ( http://kmiahali.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/skyview-for-iphone-review-give-away/) 

At the start of the day you could use this application to take a screenshot of the current location of the sun and it locations predicted location at the end of the school day. AT the end of the day we could see if the prediction was correct. Students could also then research the speed at which the earth is revolving and calculate the distance the Earth has rotated during the school day. 

Mathematical application have also been designed for students who are struggling with their times table. A highly recommended application for students learning their multiplication tables is "Ultimate times tables". This application allows students to undergo four different types of tests that include multiple choice, beat the clock, factor test and a regular test. All are great tools to fine tune the learners quickness, accuracy and confidence in their multiplication tables. 

    (http://louiseduncan.global2.vic.edu.au/files/2011/06/Screen-shot-2011-06-06-at-10.11.28-PM.png) 

Another great feature which it has is the progress button. This shows the learner which questions they have answered incorrectly. In conjunction with this, the application has a "where should i imporve" button. This is great for teachers to see where their student are struggling and gives direction to the student to help them turn into self-directed learners. 

I thought that i would be very "Old school" in my teaching methods, however i can not deny the great learning and teaching potential that smart phones and Ipads have in the classroom. They are both great tools to be used in the classroom and not using them would be a waste. If i have the facilities and opportunity,  I will definitely be using them in my classroom for their affordance. As Michael Coghlan said, "Students use their mobiles so much, it is like breathing to them, and the come to school and it is cut off is like stopping them breathing, they don't get that air. I just think that is rather fraught" 

Week 4 reflection: Multi Media. Flickr Voki and, Windows media maker.

As a future teacher, i wanted to explore all of the new on-line multimedia websites that i would learn about in this weeks activities. This week i aimed to use three of the tools to create an on line lesson that anyone could use to learn one of my favourite songs on guitar. The implementation would depend on the viewers willingness to participate and, as this is my first on-line guitar lesson, I have know idea what the results will be like.

Images: Flickr.

In order to explore the wonderful world of images located on the internet, I signed up to flickr. flickr allows for people to share photographs in a manner that ignores the laws of copyright with the users consent. Prior to this experience, I had never been on tumblr  or instagram or any on-line photo sharing community. I didn't know what to expect in regards to educational purposes I could harvest from this website.
I did note that the website was very easy to use. i was able to upload images with out any trouble and navigation between photos was also easy. Users are able to comment on each others photos, however this is
the most interactive part of the experience. I was able to search Flickr for pictures that would interest me and found some unique and rare photos.
For the first part of the on-line lesson I wanted to use images to display the different chords that were involved in the song. This would be used as preparation to get the learner ready for the upcoming lesson. I used Flickr to get different photos of chords that gave a degree of clarity that my photos did not. This was good because some of my uploaded chords were unclear as to my finger positions.
Flickr could also be used for different subjects across the curriculum. This includes science and art were photographs can be uploaded for the sharing of information.

Audio: Voki

Voki's are a  great engagement tool. Not only are they easy and fun to make, but they offer a wide range of modifications so that you can create a personalised voki. The creating of your character is just as easy as uploading or recording your voice. The creativity is awesome for students to use and engage with. I used the voki in mine as an animated Jimi Hendrix saying one of my favourite quotes about pushing yourself and achieving goals. I couldn't think of how else I could fit it in to my on-line lesson, how ever I believe that voki's offer as a better tool for the student to make. Students could research historical figures and create a voki that recounts there historical achievements. 
One draw back though is the computer generated voice. When typing in what you would like your character to say, the annunciation is incorrect at times. To correct it, you must type the word in phonetically. This is bad because it has the potential to cause confusion regarding spelling with younger students. The possibility of students learning incorrect spelling is present. In the higher grades of primary school, students could learn how to write phonetically and the flaw could be used as a small English lesson. 

Video: Windows Movie maker

This part of my experience was going to be the core of the learning. The video targeted people who were absolute beginners at guitar. One of the negatives i learnt early about using a video as an education tool, is that you don't have a measure on the learners prior knowledge and experience. Because of this, i found myself explaining every little detail. Another negative that i found with the process was that the construction of the video was very time consuming. Although these are slight draw backs, videos have great potential for use in the classroom as they are great sources of knowledge and understanding. Along with this, teachers are able to keep videos that they make themselves or there students make. Creativity can be easily applied by the user to there video through windows movie maker. Because of this, I believe it would be a great tool for students to use to create there own videos as it offers a range of editing tools that will engage both the advanced and beginner video editors. Factual videos that students make will require the students to aquire and analyse gathered information in order to make the video. Another engageing purpose that the creation of videos allow is there ability to include every student in the process. This will give shy students the chance to express themselves on camera. This can also be seen as a negative though as it may cause extra shy students to not want to participate at all.  

The Pentatonic blues scale

 

All the notes in the E minor pentatonic. The thick line indicates the nut of the guitar neck.

If one was to enhance their playing ability, they would practice playing these scales. Scales are key to the learning of guitar as they increase finger position speed, improve picking technique and, gives the learner a greater understanding of which notes sound better with each other. 

how to play hey joe by jimi hendrix

Jimi Hendrix Voki

Five Chords of the guitar in first position

 A different view of the G chord. Image from Flickr. Photo by Dale M Moore.

Another view of the d chord. Image from Flickr. Uploaded by user detbuzzsaw.