Podcasting

I have to admit I have been holding off blogging about podcasting. For starters, even after listening to the tutorial about podcasting I was still confused about what a podcast really was let alone how I was supposed to implement it in the classroom and secondly, when I tried to create my own podcast it seemed so easy and worked fine...until I tried to embed it into my blog! It is still lost somewhere in cyber-space, so for now I will just investigate what it is and how I could use it in my context and will save the creation until after some further discussion with fellow bloggers.

From my internet searches I have discovered that a podcast is a digital recording of a radio broadcast or something along the lines of an audio, that can be uploaded to the internet ready for downloading onto a personal audio player. This information almost had me finish this blog then and there as I don't have an ipod or MP3 player so I was about to deem this tool 'not for me' until I read that all you need is a computer and an internet connection!

Being an auditory learner I am suprised I had not thought of using this tool earlier. There is a podcast for everything and everyone. I found a great website www.buzzle.com that gave me some interesting ideas for using podcasts in the classroom context.

Using Podcasts in a classroom context:

• Use it as a tool for students to practice their vocabulary at home
• Have students practice their second language using a podcast
• Have students create their own podcast to interact with other students or teachers
• Program parents computers to automatically capture the schools broadcasts
• Create student interviews on a podcast
• Record sounds of things and places and use it for a listening skills lesson or to simply enhance a lesson
• Podcasting allows teachers to turn a once deemed distracting divice into an effective learning tool that is viewed by students as 'cool'!

While I do think the above points are viable, to me I think this tool may be one that often gets used for the sake of using the tool and not for the sake of learning. In saying that I would love for someone to prove me wrong!

Google Earth

Google Earth just keeps getting better. It is constantly updating itself and adding new and exciting applications and ways for using it. To the left is a screen shot of what the google Earth site looks like. Interestingly it is actually called Earth.google. I think this is one tool where on first introduction students just need to be let loose and allowed to explore on it and find their streets and houses and friends places etc. before any explicit teaching of or with it is attempted. To the best of my knowledge no advertising appears on this site ( I certainly haven't seen any on my google Earth) so it is relatively safe to allow students to explore on their own. Of course there is always the risk of inappropriate content appearing from the time the google photograph was taken but this is so small and teachers just need to mindful of this and on the lookout.

Teachers downloading google Earth should also make use of the site google Earth for educators which provides a comprehensive list of ways to use google earth in the classroom including suggestions for each key learning area and lesson plans.

Some of my favourite ways to incorporate this tool into the classroom are:

• Exploring literature through google earth, flying between places mentioned in books. My Prac class is currently studying Australian animals so I am looking forward to doing Possum Magic by Mem Fox with them. You can check this out on Google Lit Trips here.
• Using real time coordinates to demonstrate distance calculations in a maths lesson
• Studying Earthquakes using google Earth layers to study tectonics

I'd love to hear some other interesting ideas on how to use this tool in the primary classroom!

Gizmos as a learning Object

Today I discovered Gizmo's! What an amazing tool!

Gizmo's are a learning object or online simulation that can be found on www.explorelearning.com. They are specifically designed for maths and science for grades 3-12 and have been created as a way to offer deep conceptual understandings. The founder of explorelearning.com, David Shuster, explains that Gizmo's were created as a way to " Take a difficult concept and create an environment where kids can experiment, visualise and draw conclusions about the maths or science involved". This online tool does cost money, however it allows you to sign up for a free 30 day trial which I have done. In this time you have 100% access to all the simulations and you can use them in your classrooms. I have done a SWOT analysis on this tool to investigate it further. I think this might be one tool I will be forking out the cash for!

Strengths

• Easy to use for both students and teachers
• It is supported by frameworks such as Marzano's Dimensions of Learning
• Includes an assessment section for each simulation
• Answers to questions on each simulation provide further detail and in depth feedback if answered incorrectly.
• Provides visually authentic problem solving and inquiry based activities
• Each simulation provides lesson information and key vocabulary
• Allows you to search for key terms
• Professional Development and training is available for teachers on how to get the most out of this tool.
• There are 450 Gizmos to choose from

Weaknesses

• It costs money to join and set up
• Some of the simulations take away from the real deal. For example, there are push/pull experiements and observation Gizmos such as 'The life cycle of a seed'. Personally I feel these experements and inquiries are much better to do as a hands on lesson with real materials to make the experience more authentic. I also feel young children need to be able to physically touch and manipulate some things when learning mathematical or scientific concepts. On the other hand, often time or resources are limited or unavailable so in this case the simulation would be an ideal alternative.

Opportunities

• These learning objects can be linked and integrated with other KLA's
• Will work in with most curriculums
• Teachers can create an online classroom where they add favourite Gizmos or commonly used simulations
• There could be potential to add learning objects from other key learning areas in the future.

Threats

• As it costs money, other sites which provide free learning objects are likely to be more drawn upon
• It currently only provides Gizmos for two key learning areas

I urge you take the time to have a look at this site and try a free 30 day trial. If you have already investigated this tool I am keen to hear your thoughts and ideas on it.

Incredible Images

Images! There is so much that can be said about the use of images in the classroom - whether the students are using a digital camera to create an image or browsing one of the many free websites to select an appropriate image, using images in the classroom is essential. Our classrooms are becoming increasingly dominated by visual learners and according to Sankey (2002.), visual images are becoming one of the most common forms of communication.

When thinking of images for use in the classroom it is important not to limit your thinking just to visual art. While of course visual art plays a major role in the classroom, images have so much more power beyond this KLA. Have you thought about using images when planning for the NAPLAN literacy topic "Persuasive Texts"? What about the all important diagram that explains your science observation? What would data collection be without a graphical representation? And how can our students really understand the impact of poverty when studying SOSE if they cannot see what it looks like?

Children need to be taught to be visually literate. They need to know the power images can have in persuading, influencing, evoking emotion and explaining. As Cameron Gibson said in his blog about images "A picture speaks a thousand words" and students need to know why this is the case and how to use it to their advantage. Can you imagine a world with no images? No colourful pictures in your storybook, no paintings on the walls, no photographs to explain the words and no image to describe the advertisements. Students need to know and understand images and accessing them on the web is a quick and easy way to find some of the most useful, thought provoking, incredible images.

I found two images that caught my attention on istockphoto. I feel these two images could be used in a number of ways in my current year 4 prac class and would provide for much discussion and debate.

I also found the below image from earthwisevalley.org and it is taken from Jeannie Baker's book 'Where the forest meets the sea' . What a wonderful book for amazing images and lots of her artwork can be found on google images.

What's the hype about skype?

Skype is definitely an essential tool for any primary classroom. It is a FREE software program that can be downloaded to your computer and allows you to make FREE voice calls anywhere in the world to fellow Skypers. If you have a camera attached to or embedded into your computer then you also have the added benefit of being able to see the person you're calling. This tool is really straightforward. It is simple to download, sign-up for and use, making it ideal for all age groups. I believe if your student can use a phone, they will be able to use this tool.

Being an avid traveller, this tool has allowed me to keep in contact with friends and family abroad and interstate. It has also proved beneficial from a university context as one lectureer chose to contact and communicate with us via Skype as he was frequently travelling.

From a classroom context, Skype can be used in a multitude of ways that promote collaboration, authenticity and open-mindedness. From communicating with students abroad about a particular topic to listening to an 'expert' discuss information, Skype is an invaluable tool to have in the classroom.

Pauline White has conducted a good SWOT analysis of this tool and has included a useful website about ways to use Skype in the classroom. I have had a further conversation with Pauline regarding this tool and you can view this on her blog by clicking here.

Happy Skyping!

Websites for the classroom

I have just created a website using weebly. Although it is still in its very basic form, unlike some of my fellow bloggers I found this quick and simple to set up and best of all it was free! If I had some more time on my hands I can see how this tool could consume you as you play with the various settings and designs and add pages etc. Have a look at my website here.



I suppose I have always thought of websites enhancing learning through the students navigating and discovering specific sites on the world wide web or as students being the 'finders' of information. Unitl now I hadn't thought of how websites could be of use if the students were being the 'creators' of their own sites or presenters of information.



In my prac classroom at the moment, year 4 are about to start writing reports on a chosen Australian native animal. Creating my own website has made me realise that this would be an exciting , creative and informative way of getting the students to report on their chosen animal. Similar to a report each page could represent a different aspect of their animals life such as its habitat, adaptations and food. Students could then learn from their peers websites and unlike a written report, add on or change information even after their work has been marked. It would be an ongoing learning tool. In addition, websites also have to ability to be interactive such as the webquests we built in SOSE last year.



In terms of having the students search for information from given websites or even search for appropriate websites, is a learning tool initself. It takes skill and knowlegde to be able to effectively search the web for specific websites. Thankfully and at the same time unfortunately, Education Queensland has security systems in place that protect students from inappropriate material. The down side of this in the classroom is that often perfectly educationally sound websites are often blocked and this can become frustrating for both teachers and students. Despite the frustrations, the World Wide Web is becoming an integral part of our culture so it is important that our students know how to be critically literate users of it and I think as future teachers we have a responsibility to show them how.

I thought I'd a quick PMI on use of websites in the classroom:

Plus

• Can be used as researching tool for students
• Students can be the creators of information
• Can be used by teachers as a way of managing their classrooms i.e. communicating with parents, news letters, homework tasks and assignment information etc.
• Can be a way for students to present information as well as access and gain information

Minus

• Inappropriate content needs to filtered.
• Security settings in the home must be set
• Can be difficult to find what you are looking for

Interesting

• According to Internet World Stats (2010), 1,966,514,816 people in the world use the World Wide Web. Yet how many teachers use it in the classroom?

Digital Video

Personally I think digital video is a must for all primary classrooms. There is so much both the teacher and the students can do with it. Recently I took a maths lesson on data collection. As the students were also doing a unit on 'impacts on our native wildlife' I thought the maths lesson was a good opportunity to integrate the unit. I decided our data collection would be a hands on collection of rubbish around our school which we could then graph and analyse. However I needed a good hook to engage the students and make the connection between rubbish as a threat to our wildlife and collecting rubbish for a maths 'data interpretation' lesson. After hours of searching for the 'right' thing, I finally decided the best option was to create my own hook. A quick MovieMaker with powerful images and emotive music brought some of the students to tears (this was not my intention!). The students couldn't wait to get outside and begin collecting rubbish and not only did we classify the rubbish, graph it and interpret the information but the students were able to hypothesise, predict and discusss information pertaining to the graph. This also led to further discussion about the types of rubbish we found and how each category had a different potential for harming our wildlife. All this information and knowledge from a year 4 class developed from one simple 2 minute MovieMaker.

Just as pointed out by Kearney & Shuck (2006) my own short MovieMaker allowed the students to observe, enhanced and encourgaged communication, provided opportunity for the students to analyse and promoted critical reflection. I can only imagine the enormous benefits gained from the students producing a digital video themselves. What a great way to promote ownership of their learning and encourage creativity. I really feel with digital video the opportunities are endless. I look forward to hearing your comments and applications of this wonderful tool.