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.

Wiki's

Positive:
- Allows for large amounts of student input
- great for group work

Negative:
- Altercation of information in a negative way
- Personalisation of wiki is limited
- embedding of you tube clips, voki's, games ext. is limited

Interesting:
- requires collaboration of students working on the same wiki.
- Teachers can monitor the students accessing and contributing to the wiki

I would use the wiki in two particular ways. The first would be as a discussion board between students on a given topic.and the second as a group exercise for students to collaborate and design a wiki that is informative.

Websites

Positive:
- able to embed interactive educational video's, games, pictures, voki's and other digital tools
-reliable Source of information
- Teacher controlled website
- Students are unable to modify page

Negative:
- students are not able to give feedback on line
- no student contribution to the page
- used more as a learning tool rather then an interactive on line activity

Interesting:
- Interaction is through on-line activities, different compared to blogs and wiki's


A website could be used as a whole way of giving extra information on a unit of work. Websites allow for different pages which can have different topics for each week. Teachers would be able to submit online activities for the students to be completed at home, or during school. Rather then having an open discussion like wiki's, or feedback via comments on blogs, Websites are a direct link to information for students to harness.

Pages could also be designed that target advanced students and ones that are falling behind. Elaboration using videos, games, text, and links to helpful websites would target students who require extra help and direct them in the direction of clarity. In the same sense, documentaries and text giving deeper thought on the subject could be given to more advanced students. The website allows this as it gives clear and concise information on subjects for students to access in after school hours.  

Websites could also be created by the students for the teacher to view. This could be a great task for students in senior years of primary school to complete. Students could be asked to create a website on a given topic and would be required to design one that is informative and interactive.

Websites are a great tool for after hour learning and in class learning. Although they don't offer the interaction that blogs and wiki's do, they offer a different type of interaction that allows for extra learning for advanced students and "catch up" work for students falling behind. The link below directs you to a simple website i designed using weebly that gives information on the inventor Nikola Tesla.

http://thegreatnikolat.weebly.com/

Digital Tools: Blogs

Positives: 
- Allows for student feedback/comments on topic
- Gives an opportunity for students to share ideas\
- Doesn't allow for inappropriate altercations

Negatives: 
- Doesn't allow appropriate change on students behalf
- Doesn't give the viewers the freedom that wiki's do
- one opinion
- Not as good for group work as wiki's

Interests: 
- Breaks confidence boundaries. Students who are shy can voice there opinion
- For school, Blog posts would need to be short and too the point. Long blog posts tend to dishearten the students from reading them
- Allows students to read/review/ catch up on work done during school.


In and out of the schooling context, blogs are an excellent way to share information. It allows for students to read/review information, given by the teacher, after schooling hours are over. . By using a blog, teachers can select particular information and elaborate for students who are struggling. Students can access the blog and provide feedback for the teacher whether or not the blog post helped. 
Blogs also have the potential to revolutionize homework. Teachers can post information on their blog in many forms that engage and induce thinking into the students. Posts can be in the form of text, videos or photos. By doing this, Teachers can prepare the students for lessons to come and also monitor the views on there blog. This way they will be able see which students are using this tool to their benefit and which are neglecting the tool.
Personally, I find that if a blog is bland, it is uninteresting because it doesn't catch my eye. I cant imagine how a student would maintain the attention to read a blog that has a boring lay out. This, however is not the usual case for blogs as they allow for almost full customization, and allow the posting of videos, voki's, and other interactive media.
The interaction capacity is limited by the media content the blogger decides to post and the viewers inability to change the web page. This can be seen as a positive though as the teachers are in full control of the content being posted for the access of students.
Blogs are a great way to express information, ideas and interest for all internet goers to see. My ideas for their use in the classroom are just a few of many constructive possibilities. When I become a teacher, blogs will be used for engagement, homework and student feedback, so that I can maximise their potential.
Blogs are a great way to express information, ideas and interest for all internet goers to see. My ideas for their use in the classroom are just a few of many constructive possibilities. When I become a teacher, blogs will be used for engagement, homework and student feedback, so that I can maximise their potential. 


Blogs are capable of great customization compared to wiki's. This customization allows for a relation to form between the layout and design of the blog to its content. This increases the appeal of blogs and makes them look more like a website rather then a blog.

De Bonos Hats and mobile phones in the classroom.

Upon first thinking about the concept of primary or secondary students being allowed to have mobile phones in the classroom I wondered what the world had come too. My initial thoughts were all negative. Firstly, they would be a distraction to the students rather then an aid.  Phones allow easy access to social media, games, cameras and other applications that students would be more interested in then classroom activities. I could see students constantly checking there phones for messages and updates on there phones.
These are the first of other problems that I could see occurring in schools. Other negative attributes that would have a connection with phones be bullying, theft, misuse of cameras and misuse of the internet.

This negative thought process which I underwent was the first thinking hat in the thinking strategy of de Bono's hats. I read about the hats and the process in which they allow thinking and i decided to apply this thinking strategy to the idea of Mobile phones in the school classroom. I felt that i had already made my mind up about this subject, however the thought process de Bono's six hats give gave me a deeper and broader thinking. 
The Hats made me look at the what positives that could arise by allowing students to have mobile phones in the classroom. I realised that they were in fact great engagement tools, helped with research and provided aid in subjects such as maths and science. Mobile phones, and in particular smart phones, allow students access to cameras, calculators, weather forecasts, stop watches and applications that encourage learning. A great application that i have on my phone is sky view. This free application allows you to locate all the constellations in the sky along with telling you the history of the stars. I could see this application being used from classes in grade three, too grade seven class'. With these positives, I found myself  wanting mobile phones to be allowed into the classrooms. However the positives don't eradicate the negatives in the notion, therefore solutions must be schemed.
Two ideas which I contemplated was firstly the implementation of a monitoring system which allows teachers to veiw whatever the students is veiwing at the time on their phone. This would be accessed by a computer and would be a similar program to what schools have implemented on laptops and desktops. The second was the idea of a wi-fi system that blocked the use of games, their telecommunication reception and applications on phones. The wi-fi could only be unlocked by the classroom teacher at times that the teacher required.

The use of the de Bonos thinking hats was quite remarkable. It allowed me to think broader and actually think about the use of mobile phones in the classroom rather then focusing on the negatives. I still believe that the safety and well being of students is at hindrance with the introduction of mobile phones however, with the correct modulation and implementation of schemes, mobile phones could be used as a great I.T.C tool for teachers. Until these solutions have been properly investigated and implemented, I believe that mobile phones should stay at home.