Animations and Simulations

Well I have just finished my first "initial observations" of a bullfrog without feeling sick. Basically I dissected the froggy in cyber space! This simulation is found at http://www.froguts.com/flash_content/index.html and is one of the many online simulations from this site you can bring into your classroom depending upon the age of your student to enhance learning in biology and the environment. I did show this to my 8yr old son who was really engaged and managed to find all the organs with ease, he thought it was so cool.
According to Howard Gardner(1975) multiple intelligences is a theory that caters for students of various learning abilities. He goes on to state that there are eight different intelligences including: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic. By using these simulations and animations you would be fulfilling the needs of most learners.
'Explore Learning' also offers the world's largest library of interactive online simulations for math and science education. They call these simulations Gizmos. All these simulations and animations encourage students to use exploration and inquiry. They can be a stimulating tool for small group work, individual exploration, and whole class instruction using an LCD projector or interactive whiteboard. Being web-based they can be accessible not only in the classroom but anywhere there is internet connection. Can you imagine dissecting a frog using McDonalds WiFi connection? :) The possibilities are endless.

References
Gardner, H.(1975).Multiple Intelligences: Accelerated learning in practice - how to develop and access multiple intelligences. Retrieved 11 August, 2009 from http://www.gp-training.net/training/educational_theory/multint/multint.htm

Ken Robinson talks creativity

Sir Ken Robinson is a fantastic speaker this is a must watch for everyone :)

Image Manipulation and Picnik

It is like the heavens are opening up, behind one door is another and so I keep finding more and more toys to play with on the internet :) Wow I thought these programs were kept secret for the professionals. What am I talking about its official I am now a professional photographer. I can actually turn any photo into a creative work of art. Gone are the days of cutting peoples heads off, 'Hey I will just go to Picnik and find one'. Oh and who needs a facelift? I will just erase the wrinkles at the click of my mouse, could it be that simple? Well my friends I am here to inform you it is.
Picnik is a team of entrepreneurs and software developers who are dedicated to produce 'real software for real people'. Upon entering the Picnik site this is obvious as it is very user friendly and the graphics are very nice on the eye. You instantly feel creative and as long as you know how to upload a photo you are in business.
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He wants a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. He argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers (TED, 2006). Using tools like this in the classroom or encouraging our students to use these at home can unleash creativity and create an exciting learning environment.
I uploaded a photo that I took of my children on NYE from the NSW Parliament. I turned it into a Polaroid style photo and smudged out the edges to make it all that like bit more crazy. After changing the photo I felt instantly creative and felt the need to get out the camera and take some more to see how I could manipulate them on this site.
Check it out at www.picnik.com

References
TED Conferences (nd). Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity expert. Retrieved 11 August, 2009 from http://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson.html

Flickr and Creative Commons

A Rainbow Sunset
Originally uploaded by Senrab4

I love Flickr and all it has to offer. It is very easy to use although for a digital immigrant (Prensky, 2001) as there are not a lot of instructions to follow. I think you just need the courage to have a look around the site .You can use Flickr to organize your photos, share your photos with friends and family online, form a group, look at other peoples photos and creativity.
There is so much content available on this site and the images are endless. Take a look at the beautiful sunset taken at the old pier Bridport, Tasmania uploaded by Senrab4. To get this photo I searched sunsets and up they popped, of course you must be aware of copyright when you are using someones photo.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that offers online users flexible copyright management tools for original work. They offer a variety of licences that creators can apply to manage their copyright in the online environment. Each tool offers its own specific protections and freedoms. The tools available are all free and take the hassle out of the traditional copyright laws (Creative Commons, nd).
One thing is for sure I will be spending my spare time trying to upload all my photos onto this storage space to free my computer memory, although unless I pay the $24.95 per month I will be only allowed to upload 100MB per month.
I am not sure whether you could access this program within Education Queensland Schools however as a Learning Manager I will be keeping my eye on this site as there are so many creative photos that I will be sure to use in my class, of course using the correct copyright laws.

Take a look




References

Creative Commons Australia and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. (nd) Retrieved 10 August, 2009 from http://creativecommons.org.au/about

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from
http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky/Digital Navites/Digital Immigrants/Part1.pdf

Powerpoint

Did someone say Powerpoint? This has become the new 'it' word around Uni and you cannot possibly get through a presentation without the backup from one. The question is are they a distraction or a tool to use during teaching/ presentations. I think the answer lies within the individuals learning style.
Felder(nd) states that "students take in and process information in different ways: by seeing and hearing, reflecting and acting, reasoning logically and intuitively, analyzing and visualizing". To overcome these different learning styles the educator needs to find a balance of teaching methods such as; verbal, using ICT's, books, videos, authentic assessments etc. If this balance is achieved, students will be taught partly in a manner they prefer, which leads to an increased comfort level and willingness to learn. Therefore a happy classroom environment :) So yes powerpoints do have a place in education as well as the workplace.
Personally I found this powerpoint tutorial boring so I skimmed through the process partly because I am an avid user of the powerpoint already and wasn't really learning any new tricks, it did however remind me of the process. I think this tutorial would be a great tool to use for the beginner and will keep it on hand to use as a future Learning Manager.
It is fine to know how to use all the incredible features of a powerpoint however you also need to be educated in how and when to use them. As too many fade in and outs and twist and turns could have the audience going batty. My experience with using powerpoints is to hook the audience in at the start with a clip, avatar,caption or picture then progress through the slides with minimal text so as not to take away from the speaker. The powerpoint can act as a reminder tool for the speaker and also give the audience the key topics of discussion.
Personally I love the odd powerpoint and I think they are a great way to teach the visual students in our classroom which is probably all of them. You can check out the powerpoint tutorial at: http://www.actden.com/pp/
Best of luck

References
Felder. R (nd) Learning Styles. Retrieved 11 August, 2009 from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html

E-Portfolio Mahara

Mahara: to think, thinking and thought. Well I am still doing that and although I may have been one of the few who had no trouble setting up her E-portfolio I did forget one important step.....Bookmark the link......oooopps. So after smooth sailing I hit my first speed hump :( I did manage to recover after a history search and a few clicks of the button I was back in action :)
From what I can gather about Mahara is that it is a type of electronic portfolio that you can use for networking, a resume builder, online communities (collaboration)and a place to store some of your special work that you have developed, a little like an art folio. This online portfolio allows you to store up to 100MB. As this is open source software it must be hosted by a sever - NetSpot an Australian owned business who specialise in educational Web hosting. 100MB of storage will set you back $5 per year :0
Prensky (2001) states that Digital natives have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, mobile phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Hence the reason why we as Learning Managers need to keep up to date with e-tools such as Mahara. Maraha would be great to use for student portfolios. Students/Teachers would be able to gather work from the student and upload into their portfolio from their first year at school and transfered to different schools even through to University and beyond. This would take over the need to have hard copy portfolios that tend to take up so much office space in schools. My only thought with this would be who would over see the portfolios ? Would the schools ? I think it is a possibility of the future one that I am excited about.
Until next time

References
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from
http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky/Digital Navites/Digital Immigrants/Part1.pdf

Voki Avatars

Hi all,
Well I never new I could have so much fun with a virtual person her name is Sam. My children even sent their cousin a koala- gram for his birthday using this application. Which was very user friendly considering they are only 8 years old. The Voki website is great and of course free, so it is a great place to start and learn about this E-tool. I realised you can only add a small amount of text to the application so I went searching for another application. I discovered Oddcast another E-tool application that is not free. I did sign up knowing that I would get 15 days free subscription and then I could cancel before I was charged the $20US per month. This particular one gives you alot more variety and you can add alot more text. This site is definately worth a look at www.oddcast.com .
Voki Avatars definatley have a place in educating digital natives (students) of today as promotes a sense of connecting with their virtual world. They can also add to the engagement of online learning for these students who are becoming more and more a networked student. Connectivism according to Siemens (2005) discusses how students of today are learning more through their network of other learners on line. These students are connected through online E-tools and can share information via these sites. Voki Avatars could be used in the virtual classroom site as the teacher or instructor to help facilitate the learning journey.
Bye for now

References
Siemens (2005) Connectivim: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved 2 August, 2009 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm