PowerPoint

Hi Everyone,
Here is the video that I located on Youtube.
Courtesy to: Youtube (NASA Water cycle Video)

YouTube Video - Water Cycle

Hi Everyone,
This is a video that I found on YouTube. Take a look. It gives you a look at how evaporation, condensation and precipitation all work. This would be great to show a year 3-7 class as it shows fantastic and easy diagrams to follow to ensure that everyone understands how the process works.

YouTube is a great educational tool as it allows a learning manager to show the class a video about the subject content that they are learning. Many students are visual learners and need to 'see' the task or tool before they can actually comprehend it. This is where youtube is great. It is also very simple to use and it would be easy to teach another person including staff members how to use it.






Thank you,
Bridie Willis

Courtesy to: Youtube for using the Video

iMovie for Week 5

Hi Everyone! 


I hope that everyone is enjoying this course as much as I am. I am finding it more and more interesting and beneficial as the weeks go by and this week (week 5) has been really fun and has engaged me!


'iMovie' is a fantastic movie making program which allows you to add photos, videos, songs, podcasts, sound effects and transitions etc at the touch of a mouse!  After exploring these settings and creating my own movie, I have found so many beneficial uses for it educationally. I did create an imovie however, it did not upload unfortunately. I will keep trying to upload it.

Benefits for Education Purposes:
- easy to use
- easy to teach to students, staff and even parents
- at the touch of a button you can change and alter settings such as backgrounds, sounds, add podcasts, songs, photos, transitions etc. 
- fun way of presenting information to students
- students could create an iMovie to accompany their assignments 
- great homework task (create an imovie for homework!)
- can upload to blogs etc easily
- students can personalise their own iMovie


Disadvantages:
- not all students will have access to a computer
- students may not have this program


I look forward to being able to utilise movies for educational purposes in the classroom. I believe that it will engage students, as it is visually appealing, interactive and engaging for all aged students. Students can also make these themselves either at home or at school which is a great bonus for both teacher and student. Utilising movies in the classroom is a great use of ICT's which will further benefit the child in so many ways including becoming more familiarised with media and technology, engaging students into classroom work and for them to explore the possibilities in education through assignments and homework tasks. 


Thanks and warm regards,
Brid








Courtesy to: pakpoint.com for using the iMovie picture.

Courtesy to: Apple for discussing the program "iMovie". 

TuxPaint Program - Great!

Hi fellow bloggers,

I have just had a look at some of the suggested websites from the week 4 email. I clicked on the link for "TuxPaint" link and found an amazing site! 


The positives of this wonderful website:


- allows students to create their own painting (web-based) - creativity
- allows for younger students to interactively learn colours - creativity
- allows students to make pictures for math subjects (counting, groups of etc) - mathematics
- Allows for students to highlight words in text - language and english
- allows students to express themselves through an interactive paint and drawing tool
- allows students to personalise their own work
- allows students to create stories through illustrations
- allows students to utilise a wide range of tools
- allows for students to become more familiar with the use of internet and ICT's in education
- allows for development in coordination
- allows for students to use at home and at school
- sound affects when using tools


There are many more features and advantages on this website, I have only named a few.


Kind regards,
Bridie


Courtesy of http://www.tuxpaint.org/screenshots/ 
Courtesy of flagstaff.k12.az.us for using the image

Podcasting - Benefits and Uses!

Hello again everyone,

I am posting a blog today about the great benefits of Podcasting! 

According to the "Department of Education" 2010, a podcast is an audio or video file archived on the Internet in such a way that it can be automatically accessed by a personal computer, downloaded and transferred to a portable MP3 player. 

With the increased access and desire for innovative technology within classrooms, podcasts have become (and will grow more and more) a very accessible and useful ICT. Websites, radio programs, television programs etc post podcasts to the internet for people to listen to their topic of interest. In this case, for educational purposes.

The majority of students understand what an Ipod is and many of these students own an ipod. A podcast can be easily added to an ipod, which then, allows the students to listen to this audio file. A podcast would be a fantastic idea (provided all students had an ipod/computer/mp3 player) to broadcast information to the class. 

For example, if the class had a student 'website', 'blog' or 'wiki',  the LM could post specific and appropriate podcasts on these, for the students to then download to their chosen destination to listen to. This information could be a mixture of the LM discussing the classroom topic along with professional opinions from radio or television media. It would be a different experience from the general way of teaching. Very creative and exciting for the students!

Podcasts could also be shared within the classroom. Audio clips of a radio program or television show/program could be played straight to the class. This would allow students to listen to professional perspectives and other points of view.

Finally, podcasts are an easy way of communicating information in an innovative way. Students could even create their own podcasts! I see them as a positive pedagogy for the future!

Kind regards,

Bridie

Reference: Department of Education 2010 Podcasts in the Classroom. Accessed from:http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/

Courtesy to: Apple for discussing the Ipod

Courtesy to: techsuave.com for using the podcasting image

Flikr

Hi Everyone,
Welcome to week four of the term! These weeks have gone so fast!


In this blog entry I would like to comment on how 'image resizing' is essential within a classroom context. I believe that all modes of educational ICT's such as PowerPoints, websites, blogs, wikis etc, to keep students engaged and interested, require some level of visual stimulus.


I know myself that if I do not have images or some type of visual cue whilst watching a PowerPoint etc, I become quite unengaged and unfortunately miss parts of the information. I am a strong visual learner, like many, and to attain the engagement of this style of learning, often images, tables, pictures and graphs are essential.


However, sometimes these images that the LM require to use are in a format or size which is impossible to use on something like a PowerPoint etc, therefore, a program such as Flikr is essential. I am happy that I have made myself familiar with Flikr, to ensure that I am keeping up to date with technology so that I can become a great learning manager for the future.

Kind regards,  
Bridie






References: Picture courtesy of: mypcisrunningslow.org
Courtesy of Flikr (discussing Flikr)
PowerPoint belongs to Windows (discussing PowerPoint).