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That’s better!
Lol, I just realised that Hype and Seek is on Elizabeth St. I was playing with the map embedding and irritated by little aspects of Wave and the amount of hype surrounding it, i typed Hype into the embedded Google maps search bar and it came up with that place name, I thought the name was clever so set a pin and it just so happens to be on a street with my name What a coincidence.

somehow (not precisely sure) it’s embedded, however, the dodginess of edublogs means it’s kinda cut off on the rhs, i’ll experiment with the embed code to see if i can make it narrower

https://wave.google.com/wave/?pli=1#restored:search,restored:wave:googlewave.com!w%252BcGmITNm2C

<script
  type="text/javascript"
  src="http://wave-api.appspot.com/public/embed.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  var wave =
    new WavePanel('https://wave.google.com/wave/');
  wave.setUIConfig('white', 'black', 'Arial', '13px');
  wave.loadWave('googlewave.com!w+cGmITNm2C');
  wave.init(document.getElementById('wave'));
</script>

Please make a link to this student’s blog in your blog

I commented on Paulo’s Google Wave CEGSA page because I was interested to find out what people were going on about when referencing the nouvelle vague of communication.

Link

a. Draw in Word and/or use Voice Thread, and annotate an ECG line of how your thoughts and learning changed during your participation in this topic.

This chart represents my level of understanding about computers in regards to learning opportunities in the classroom throughout the subject. Initially I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of everything Web 2.0 out there, that I needed to know what a Moodle was and how to create a Wiki, but I soon realised after a few weeks into the topic that I had a lot to learn. As Peter and I began fiddling around with the CEGSA Wiki and generating ideas for the Integrated Learning Plan I began to feel confident about my abilities to integrate ICT effectively in the classroom. Once the presentations for the different Web 2.0 tools began I started to feel gradually overwhelmed by the amount of tools around that I had no idea about.

I began to see only shallow links in terms of integrating the tools presented into the classroom and feel disheartened about any of them actually being useful. I think that incorporating many of those tools would feel like a token effort to add some extra ICT into the classroom. Many of the manual drafting skills that used to be the only way to work are not being taught to students these days in favour of faster, easier and low skill level computational tasks. I think that teaching children how to format their own posters incorporating design elements and doing their own lettering and neat, legible handwriting is an invaluable skill to teach. Students who cannot write legibly because they only really type at both school and home is a phenomenon only evident in the last generation, due to an overuse of computers where manual skills would do just as well, but take longer.

Upon completing the Integrated Learning Plan my abilities to see which tools should be used and when in the classroom improved and I felt good about completing the subject because of the new knowledge I now possess about certain tools and how to use them in classroom activities.

b. What did you find most valuable about the topic and why?

The QT and NTSE-S standards and the unit planning template. These aids made me consider factors about classroom planning that I had not previously considered. I found them immensely helpful.

c. How could the topic be improved?

Less required dot points for formatting etc… or less content requirements for the time given. An immense amount of time was taken up with the fiddling and formatting, these tasks would have been hugely quicker and easier had they been assessable on paper. It would have taken less time to do more word count equivalent work assessable in traditional formats, yes the new wiki skills are valuable, but more time needed to be factored into the fiddling side. (arguably a student effort/time problem, but I think majority of students would agree)

d. What new knowledge and skills will you try to incorporate into your teaching practice?

I will endeavor to incorporate certain aspects from different web tools into my classroom to increase student engagement levels and to be more ecologically sustainable by creating more web-submittable assignments.

I thought this was quite a good Quality Teaching Framework checklist document, thought I’d share it with you, dear reader. Link

a. Describe what you have learnt about planning an inquiry-learning unit and how this new knowledge connects with your prior understandings and experience. In particular, reflect on your thoughts when aligning the desired outcomes with the assessment tasks and learning plan (e.g. was the planner valuable and easy to use and why or why not?).

Planning an inquiry-learning unit looks easy on face-value. Looking at the planning document makes it appear that all one needs to do is to fill out the boxes and that will ensure success. It’s easy to fill in the boxes, but the content within requires alot more deep thought than I first realised. I think that the planner format encourages the teacher to think about their planning to a deeper level than they would have necessarily done without it. I had a pretty good idea of what I planned to do and how it would play out in the classroom, but upon fitting that into the planner I discovered gaps in my planning and opportunities to improve upon the content. I usually end up creating the assessment tasks, then end up slotting them into a learning plan and then check to see that the required learning outcomes have been fulfilled. Following the planning format enables me to work in a more forwards fashion which utilises key outcomes as the foundation of the program, not the afterthought. http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYgAi9ZhbNMuZDZnZm5qal80ZHc4NHdiY3Y&hl=en

b. How did you self-rate your culminating assessment task and what did you learn from using the QT framework? (E.g. which elements did you find easy or difficult to incorporate and why?).

I would rate the culminating assessment task as a 4/5 because it aligns mostly with the QT framework as well as the ISTE standards for the most part. The majority of the Performance Indicator categories along with the QTF Dimension are covered in the whole ‘Is home where the heart is?’ unit. Truthfully I didn’t really plan around the frameworks, I did, however, examine them and alter my planned outcomes and assessment tasks to more closely align with both systems. I believe that the unit is the better for being modified to better suit the two systems. Certain elements in the ISTE Performance Indicators I believe aren’t really applicable to this particular unit such as spending time talking about safe, legal and responsible se of ICT along with the exhibition of leadership for digital citizenship. I’m sure it would be possible to incorporate these factors in some way but I feel it would be a token effort that would detract from the educational outcomes of the unit as it is currently planned. Currently, no considerations have been made for differentiation regarding students on NEP assessment or those with ESL backgrounds. I guess these considerations should be factored into the end product.

c. What did you learn from designing the stages of your inquiry activities and from designing your two individual lesson plans that integrated ICT.

That ICT should never be included as a token inclusion. The teacher needs to pay careful attention to make sure that coherence and clarity are sorted out before attempting to get the students on the inquiry path to learning. Time for logging in and getting started needs to be factored into the lesson plans along with instructional time and saving/logging out time.

a. Which tool did you investigate and who did you work with?

I chose the ICT tool ‘Google SketchUp’ and I worked with Peter Fletcher. Here’s a link to our page. http://cegsa.editme.com/GoogleSketchUpwhatis

b. Do you think the tool is of value in your teaching practice? How and Why or why not?

I do believe Google SketchUp could be a valuable tool in my teaching practice. In Art and Design, SketchUp can be used to pre-visualise 3D artworks, teach spatial awareness, save material wastage through the ability to test out designs for flaws before physically producing them.

c. Explain the positive, minus and interesting points of working collaboratively with others.

Working collaboratively can be positive when your partner has strong points where your weaknesses lie or has interests in areas that don’t interest you so you can divide the workload according to interests. If you don’t do the work that doesn’t interest you, it can mean that you fail to develop in that area and it continues to be an area of weakness. The main issue I have with collaborative working is the ever-present imbalance of workload. One team member always ends up doing the bulk of the work which is good for the person doing less I suppose but irritating for the one who does the lion’s share of the work. I’ve found both gender and age to be interesting variables re:group dynamics. I have found mature-age women tend to take a leadership role whereas most other people want to remain non-committal to avoid shouldering the bulk of the workload.

d. Reflect on how your workshop went: Did things go according to plan and did participants achieve your intended learning outcomes? Why or Why not?

I believe our workshop was relatively successful. I had made notes to announce what the planned outcomes of the workshop would be but forgot to state them at the beginning. Majority of participants ended up creating a house of some description, with many going further than was demonstrated by incorporating many components and additions to the basic house form. I was disappointed to find that no-one uploaded the .jpeg of their house to their blogs, I did see many people save the pictures to the desktop but unfortunately didn’t upload the picture. I think that the combination of written, visual and audio instructions made it relatively easy for participants to follow the prompts to create their house.

e. What other tools have you learnt about in this topic and do you think these have potential to enhance learning and teaching? (incl. your blog)

I have learned about many tools and have issues with quite a few of them, some of which I see enough benefit in to possibly use them in the classroom. I would use Photostory, Windows Movie Maker, Screentoaster, wikis, Google SketchUp/Earth/Docs/Sites, Moodle and blogging in the classroom (among others) I think it easy to include technology for the sake of it however so would endeavor to ensure that my use of technology in the classroom is warranted instead of being a token effort to incorporate ICT. The majority of the tools presented in the workshops do have the potential to enhance learning and teaching. The way this is usually achieved is by taking a classroom activity and making it more engaging and individualised by doing the same process in a different way on the computer. I would not use Glogster, TubeChop, Bubbl.us, ToonDoo or Voki because I either question the educational content of the application or believe that other applications exist that perform the same function in a better way.

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