MODULE 10

Wikis can be used in the classroom to promote and encourage higher order thinking. They allow users such as a Luddite like me who can only be described as technologically challenged

MODULE 10
Originally uploaded by luddite2008

to create Wikis, edit them, add photos, videos etc. The pedagogy supporting this Web 2.0 tool includes promoting team work, creating a resource that allows differentiated learning experiences, and it has joint owndership between the teacher and students. Because students are doing some of the editing, hopefully we are encouraging literacy skills and moving students from the simple act of copying and pasting.

The Wetpaint site offers many ideas on how to create and develop a Wiki - I will be spending a few more hours exploring these possibilities.

I am in the process of developing a Wiki to help my Year 12 Legal Studies revise for the HSC. Click on the link and email me if you want to join this private site. My idea is to involve all students by allocating tasks and then encouraging collaboration. By the end of the time, I hope the students have collaboratively created model answers to all the sections of the exam.

Hopefully this will encourage higher order thinking on Bloom's digital taxonomy map. Many of the iLE@RN skills are also addressed-communication and collaboration, questioning and reflection.

Another practical consideration is that students can access the Wiki as a homework activity - getting around the problems of internet speed that are plaguing our schools at the moment.

This course has opened a range of new possibilities for the Luddite - I will be revisiting them frequently in an effort to enrich the learning experiences of our students while exploring Web 2.0. Such exploration involves risk taking and moving beyond our comfort zones and admitting that as teachers we are becoming facilitators and partners in the learning experience.

MODULE 9

Networks on the web can take many different forms and have both positive and negative aspects. I have used some of the learning paths in Scootle with my Year 7 students while exploring rainforests. Comments by other teachers and content provided by others is an excellent way to collaborate and share.



I am still trying to get my head around social networking sites like Facebook and have not yet felt the need to tell everyone what I am doing every minute of the day via Twitter. I tried to view the slideshow on Getting Started with Facebook but it had been removed!






I would like to learn more about second life and online identities. Our students love to play games on the internet and as teachers we need to explore ways to enhance learning using this technology. Could this be the next Web 2.0 course??? As the Luddite nears the end of this course, I am keen to continue on this steep learning curve in an effort to at least keep up with our digital natives and find new ways to engage them and encourage higher order thinking without them actually realising it!

What many teachers do not realise or maybe do not want to contemplate is that there is a shift in the power balance in the classroom. Teachers and students are becoming partners - no longer is it a one way flow of information - we have to teach each other!!

my first glog | Glogster

my first glog | Glogster

Shared via AddThis

MODULE 8

Bamboolzed by too much information!! Or do I just like playing with the flickr toys??

MODULE *
Originally uploaded by luddite2008

I have subscribed to the ABC feed on my blog and now have enough information to wake up to each day. I can see that RSS feeds can sift information as required but I am not sure I have enough hours in the day to go through everything.

I could get lost in the Directory of RSS feeds.

For our students I can see the potential to include RSS feeds into their research on particular topics or when using wikis.

The more a luddite explores Web 2.0 the more potential to use the many tools and encourage higher order thinking for our digital natives.

MODULE 7

Another password, another Web 2.0 tool!! Thank you for the template otherwise where would the luddite explorer be!!

luddite2008

15 billion web sites to explore!!! How to do it?? Social Booking marking sites like delicious offer one type of solution. Instead of being tied to one computer, we can tag sites and come up with some semblance of order in the chaos. As teachers we can help our students organise their research by encouraging the use of these websites.

Looking at other particpants blogs is another way to spend a few days!! Commenting is another way to spend the holidays but it is great to read other reflections and learn from other journeys along this long and complex trail.

The words to remember are COLLABORATE, SHARE AND NETWORK.

And the significance of the photo?? I just like playing with the flickr toys and Tasmania is a great place to visit in January.

MODULE 6

Firstly go to my first glog. Creating it was quite an experience!! Like so many of the Web 2.0 tools you have to get your head around what you are trying to do as you do it!! What is a glog? How do you create it?? Why do you create it?? First, of course I had to create ANOTHER ACCOUNT AND ANOTHER PASSWORD!! Then of course I went to Youtube to find a series of videos on What is a glog and How do you create one!! Of course there were numerous young girls with american accents telling me how easy it was and of course you want to poster yourself!! (I am a 53 year old luddite with grown up children - do I want to poster myself??)Then I set about creating a glog about well I am not sure - I think it is about my journey so far into the world of Web 2.0!!

Our digital native students love creating things so I can see many uses for glogs and the mind mapping tools. Teachers could use them to present information and prepare assessment tasks for students that require some higher order thinking skills to be dispayed via a glog.


Animated Icons

MODULE 5

A DIFFERENT WAY TO INTRODUCE DONOGHUE V STEVENSON IN YEAR 12 CONSUMER LAW OR YEAR 10 COMMERCE!!

I found this video on YouTube and my Year 12 Legal Studies students loved it (although as usual the slow internet speed hampered my original ideas and the lesson ended up being a a race as to who could upload the video first!!)

Digital Story Telling presents so many possibilities I don't know where to begin. Podcasts, Vodcasts, Enhanced Podcasts - all these offer students to use a range of higher order thinking skills. In planning one of these students need to start with a mindmap of all the points they wish to include, then they need to create a storyboard to sequence their ideas and after this write a script. If they are presenting an enhanced podcast they need to sequence the photos or images with the written word and after that maybe add music. This is Bloom's taxonomy in action!! Such presentions allow students to effectively work in groups by allocating tasks and encouraging collaborative learning.

Such presentations could be used for fieldwork, for revision at the conclusion of a topic or for senior students preparing for final exams - to mention a few! And GarageBand is very easy for students to use and teach each other and the teacher!!

MODULE 4

THIS IS CALLED IMPLODE
Originally uploaded by luddite2008

I wanted to explore flickr but I imploded!!

Exploring flickr, like many other Web 2.0 explorations, is time consuming, rewarding sometimes and at others incredably frustrating. As a luddite, I am always a bit sceptical about these things, but can see many ways to use Flickr and all the other "bits".

Our students, who have grown up with the internet and digital cameras, mobile phones, ipods etc etc.. are quite comfortable and even aspire to make themselves "clickable", 24 hours a day and have no qualms about telling the world about themselves and showing everything.

As educaters, we need to make them aware of their digital footprint and ensure they understand the notion of copyright. However, copyright as we know it is undergoing a transformation and re-invention. Teachers and students need to help each other work out what copyright, creative commons and digital footprints mean in the 21st century.

MODULE 3

Google has entered our language and is expanding it's meaning beyond a search engine. The many forms that google has entered into has enormous implications for learning and how we use ICT. With the advant of more free online software applications such as google docs, we can log onto any computer, anywhere and access a range of our own and other people's resources and encourage our students to learn in collaborative way. Google docs are very similar to the software we are already using but paying for so it is not very difficult to learn how to use it. The main limitation at the moment is access to and internet speed in our schools. To wordprocess, develop presentations and use spreadsheets online at the moment would create practical problems due to the speed of our internet connections but I am sure that will improve soon!!

MODULE 2

Creating a blog using blogger was easier than others I have used, especially uploading photos and videos.
I have used blogs in the classroom and find the first thing I need to reinforce with the students is that what they put on the internet is their digital footprint and it was remain there forever, so it is important to ensure comments are appropriate. In Legal Studies students give themselves a name relating to the subject such as Chief Justice Dom and post comments using this. They post comments to motivate each other and reflect on tasks done in class such as oral tasks. They have access to the blog at home and one of the postive comments I have received is they like the links I have provided to sites such as the Board of Studies.

MODULE 1

Time to explore the world of Web 2.0

I have tried to ignore it and hope it was a passing fad, but YouTube, Facebook and all that stuff is here to stay. We have to face it - our students want to learn in a different way and we as teachers have to adapt or we become obsolete or luddites.

We have to become Web 2.0 explorers or we will go the way of the dinasour.