November 6

Added a translation tool

Just updated the blog with a translation page, so now you can read me in lots of other different languages (if you can read any). Since the only other languages I speak are computer languages, I wouldn’t mind some feedback in comments as to how accurate the tool is.

Click on the “Translate” page above.
Thanks to: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/translate-your-blog-into-different-languages?replies=2 for providing the workaround for wordpress, and http://www.teach42.com/ for their 30 days to a better blog series for suggesting this. I love it!

Category: Stuff I'm doing | 1 Comment on Added a translation tool
November 4

links for 2008-11-04

  • Learning For Sustainability Home – Learning For Sustainability
    Learning for Sustainability is a partnerhsip website linking NSWTAFE New England Institute with the Liverpool Plain Land Management Committee, the Namoi CMA and the wider community . It is part of an Innovative E-learning project under the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. This site is evolving and is being built collaboratively. This site is currently set to be open to the World Wide Web for all to see but only members who join and sign into this site are able to edit and contribute to discussions.
    (tags: sustainability science tas design emergingtechnology)
  • YoYo Games | Home
    Make your own games
    (tags: gamemaker games)
  • 20 Education Technology Trends to Watch « Global Progress
    The discussion moved from what really is an online learning opportunity to revealing a myriad of styles and approaches. Leaders expressed concerns about a lack of rigor and an absence of teachers in one example. Yet, others emphasized the extended one-on-one time and authenticity provided by incorporating social networking and web 2.0 tools
    (tags: integratingit technology trends)
  • SCIL // Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning
    Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning has sought to facilitate successful, transformational, ICT-related pedagogical change into the core of classroom practice in a K – 12 school in Sydney, Australia. This paper outlines the success of SCIL as a research and development unit, from its inception in 2005 through
    (tags: ictint integratingit)
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November 3

Go Animate

Have been checking out GoAnimate for the last hour.

I read about this on http://www.teach42.com/ a blog that I’ve just recently discovered, that I’m loving. At the moment, I’m trying out their “30 days to a better blog”…but more about that later.

Since I have a fair amount of knowledge in Flash, I approached GoAnimate quite skeptically. After about 10 minutes fiddling around with their very simple interface, I think that it may be a great animation tool for those that know absolutely nothing (and don’t need to) about the technical skill of animation. I’m definately planning on implementing this into my Year 7 Technology (Mandatory) class, but also see it as a very simple tool for effective implementation of ICT into any curriculum.

I’ve done some claymation in class to teach complex problems, and have found this really easy to do, and very motivating for students. The best tool for this is JPEG Video, which is a free program that takes a sequence of images (for example, from a camera) and automatically pieces them together into an AVI.

Some ways to use this in the classroom involve:

  • Digital Storytelling: English, HSIE, technology, Science, really any subject that involves any kind of narrative.
  • Idea Communciation: A tool for presenting an idea that may (hopefully) stimulate conversation by students. Eg, “create a video presenting safety issues in the workshop”
  • Responding to ideas: You could create a video log, responding to each others animations.
  • Awareness Programs: Students could create awareness programs for relevant issues, such as health issues for PDHPE, Environment in Science, TAS, HSIE
  • Interpretation of texts: Converting different texts in English to an animation. This could also be used for fairly fact based texts by presenting them in an unusual way.
  • Mise en scene: Creation of animation helps in the understanding of setting the scene.
  • Drama: creative interpretation

Advantages:

  • Students can collaborate on ideas.
  • Great for literacy skills
  • Students plan out their animation before creating. Allows for development of storytelling/narrative skills.
  • It’s very motivating. Students get really excited about it.
  • You avoid the inevitable “But I can’t draw!” Comments
  • Good for kinesthetic students that need to move things around to understand concepts

Overall, aside from being a little slow (on my connection), Go animate seems like an excellent tool for students and teachers, as they don’t need to know anything about animation, and is extremely easy to use.

For comments: What experiences have you had with animations in the classroom? Do students find it motivating? Is it a good learning tool?

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November 3

links for 2008-11-03

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November 2

links for 2008-11-02

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October 31

Our E-learning meeting: Attitudes to technology

We had our E-learning co-ordinator come out from the big bosses today. Lovely guy, quite knowledgeable on the e-learning stuff. Like the old one, he was also good about acknowledging other people’s work publically, which I see as a sign of good leadership.

What I thought was quite funny though, was the meeting with one of our co-ordinators, who obviously thought that the meeting was a waste of time, in his arrogance, tone and body language. E-learning guy talked about wikis, and the other guy asked “I’ve seen wikis before, and really…I haven’t seen anything useful for them in the classroom”.

Fair enough.

E-learning guy: Well, you could construct a collaborative essay response, so that each student built on an answer to an essay, until you had an exemplar.

Me: I use it for collaborative summaries, where each student gets a section of the topic they need to summarise and post.  I know you do this in the classroom already, Co-ordinator guy, is just an easier way to do it.

Co-ord guy: So what you’re telling me is that I can more easily do it on paper with better learning?

Me: Well, I use wikis, becuase it means that the better kids can also build and comment on the weaker sections, without targeting particular students.

Learning MeetingHis attitude after that totally changed. He crossed his arms across his chest, and steadfastly refused to be involved. It was funny to me, because while E-learning guy was presenting stuff that would still centre classroom focus around the teacher, he was fine, but when it was more student centred, he put his hands up and went “Bad Learning!” and “Hard”.

I consider him a good teacher too, so it was a funny thing for me to observe. How do we react to these sorts of attitudes?

Image from Flickr/ Creative Commons

Attribution: http://flickr.com/photos/maebmij/

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October 29

links for 2008-10-29

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