Question Four

Component one





A graphic organiser such as a mind map assists the student in organising material and making sense of the facts. Tuning in to the logical/mathematical, linguistic and spatial intelligences of the student group (Bochner, Duchesne and Krause, 2003, p 201), a mind map such as the one I have prepared, sets out simply and logically the important events and people in the life and times of Tiberius Gracchus. Some passages of history can be complicated, so maps such as these can help present information in a linear of organised fashion. This tool is also effective for essay planning or for just simply to get a good overview of what can be an avalanche of information.

Compnent two

AIM: To answer this question as a collaborative group using the links below...
Explore e-learning This is a catalogue of resources for Teaching Maths and Science in Secondary schools http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspResourceCatalog This is a site that provides a wide range of activities based on Gardner's multiple intelligences (fantastic site!) http://surfaquarium.com/mi/intelligences.htmThis site provides a number of very useful sites in relation to Gardener's MI with ideas for the classroom and the use of ICThttp://hometown.aol.com/abctagteam/multiple_intelligences.htmApplying Bloom's Taxonomy in the classroomThis gives you concrete leads....but how do you use it in the ICT environment?http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htmThere are a number of different sites that link you into research on e-learning and current trends. This site won't provide you with an immediate answer but it will help you begin collaborating with those who are researching in this field.http://www.ncsl.org.uk/networked/index.cfmConstructivist learning theory...don't forget that you are basing all this work on this theory. This is a good summary for you and not too technical.http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.htmlThis site from Bradford England goes through the various intelligences and gives you possible activities in ICT to use to develop particular intelligences. While it is way beyond our technologies it is good to know because schools are getting these resources. There are also an increasing number of these technologies available as free software.http://www.bradfordschools.net/content/view/226/182
Tools and resources provided by Intel for free to support collaborative student centered learning. Online thinking tools are active learning places where students engage in robust discussions, pursue investigations, analyse complex information and solve problems. Resources for 21st century teaching help teachers play a critical role in facilitating learning activities and posing questions that take student thinking deeper.http://www.intel.com/education/tools/index.htm
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Google gadgets for your webpage- just for fun
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open&source=gghp.
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Compant three

Component four

In this article, Helga looks at the adaptation of computers as a cognitive and Meta cognitive tool.
It found interesting her assertion that there are two types of tools. Those that work for us e.g computers and those that work with us e.g. pencil. Tools will not produce learning as student is required to think to learn. However they can assist students to think and learn effectively. They will extend the brain capacity of students by being a storage space for information learned or found being able to be retrieved quickly. Computer programs assist in helping the student to develop cognitive and Meta cognitive strategies’ in thinking and problem solving. The responsibility of learning had shifted from the teacher in the classroom and more onto the student. And for computer programs are to be effective they must be simple to use and not require more effort than the methods that they endeavor to replace.

Explanation


I have chosen four components from my course blog. I will evaluate each component against the theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner and Gardener.

1.An graphic organiser
2.A link to another blog
3.A photo display
4.A information piece with picture.


Component One is a graphic organiser would suit Gardeners theory of multiple intelligences. It demonstrates by lending itself to several intelligences such as special, mathematical. Graphics also suit Piaget and Vygotsky in that they require thinking on the part of the creator. Meta cognition id required to make one of these maps. It does not lend itself vey well to Bruner’s theories although it could be used an essay framework to the student would be organising their own learning strategy.


Component two would fall into Vygotsky and his social and cultural learning theory. I have added a link from another blog to highlight the collaborative nature of learning. We can all eavesdrop on other people’s ides and learn from them.
The link also looks at the peer assisted learning strategies of Piaget. My colleague is allowing me to use her website to get some interesting information from her research. Others can also contribute to this learning activity. This website has links to other useful websites that appeal to other intelligences that might be used in learning such as games and quizzes this would consistent with Gardiner’s theories and the links will lead me to more links and discovery of new information and methods of learning will be opened up to me this is what Bruner meant by discovery learning.

Component three is a photo display. It allows the student to see more visually interpret the information bearing given and to make sense of it (Piaget) the visuals might also be personal and being shared with the group brings in the social interaction and cultural influences in the learning process (vygotsky) in the searching for relevant visuals we are taken to worlds and ideas that we might never have imagined allowing us to form our own ideas (scheme) about the subject (Piaget and Bruner). In looking at the photos the students will need to use several intelligences to interpret their meaning such as special, Visual,etc.

Component four is an information piece. The reader is required to acquire and analyse the information in order to make sense of it. (Piaget and Vygotsky) I have added visuals to cater for other intelligences (gardener) these might be able to give an indicator about what the article is about. As it was a research piece it in a way can be seen as a Bruner inspired learning activity as it required me to gather information.

I have constructed by blog to cater for all learning theories and styles. I have researched the major players in learning and teaching and how they can be influenced by technology. As I have constructed this blog I have endeavoured make it interesting not only to me but to the reader. I have chosen components of technology that stimulates; promotes collaborative learning; peer learning ; Links that take me onto new and interesting things to know; I have tried to make it informative ; and colourful (where necessary) a; I have added games so that the reader can be active in hearing what I have to say. The audio and video lend highlight information and enhance information that I have put in the blog. I can honestly say that I have not devoted myself totally to one theory whilst constructing my blog. All theories are useful and have influenced my one way or the other depending on the message that I was trying to relay to my reader.

Question Three

When I commenced this course I had no idea that there was such a thing a Digital natives and immigrants. I admit I have been sceptical of ICT in classrooms and their effectiveness simply because I have seen that it did not work.
I realise now that it is not the ICT in the classrooms, but it is the way in which they are integrated into the teaching and learning of the student that causes the problems and probably gives the medium a bad name. (to the digital native with a heavy accent)
Teachers can be well served by technology in the classroom provided that they use it a tool just like any other tool such as whiteboards and books. The mistake that I now know was being made was that the teacher was trying to get the technology to do the teaching for them and notuse it to compliment their instructional role.
ICT is necessary in the schools. They can accommodate all of the learning theories
The behaviourist theory can accommodate by games. That can be used in collaborative team exercises. They interact with the student and give feed back. They can be informative and interesting and hold the students attention.
In the cognitive theories Piaget and Vygotsky both acknowledge the collaborative nature of learning. Vygotsky theory of social and cultural influences in the learning process lends itself nicely to the ICT integration. Collaborative learning activities such as web quests and Wiki quests allow the students to research a topic together in class in real time or at home or wherever using the internet as a tool for them to communicate with each other and speak to the information being collected.
Even the humanists can get ICT to work for them. They can use it for activities such as simulations that allow the student to enquire and make connections with the world around them and the topic at hand.

On line learning definitely has a place in schools. They allow students time to work when it suits them (within a framework of course) they can prioritise their work, and collaborate with other students in the school or world wide. It allows them to be more creative and access information readily and now, not when the library opens. The student can be in touch with other students and the teacher long after the school bell has rung.
Using the net ,blogs texts and all other multimedia is simply talking to the students in the language that they understand and in using tools that they are used to just like pen and paper was to us.

Question Two

Prensky is saying here that students are not rebeling against the relevance of the information that is being presented to them but instead they are not being engaged in the learning process. We are using models of teaching in our classroomss that were barely useful in the 1950-onwards as they were models of the 1890's. Student sneed to communicated to in a langusge that they understand that id multi media. In a exercise in socail construction the ICT can be used as useful scaffolds to assist students in the learnin g process. Teachers should attempt to incorporate ICT into their lesson plans and make the information gathering of the students fast interctive and benficial as well cuch in terms of relevance to them as learners. Students should be co authors of their learning not merely passive recepticles of knowledge. ICT can be used as scaffolds helpng the student to the next level. They cater for the differnt learning styles as in Gargeners MI. Such as visual, spacial and interpersonal experinces. Students need to be stimulated and connected with the world around them. they are of the Now generation and do not want to wait for information to be given to them. Use of technology will help the student achieve much more tin the learning astake much more than the immigrants ever could because the natives have the tools that can help store information frior them to re use at another time. itis ann extension of their brain. They still need the builing blocks of knowledge .they still need to know things but the way in which it is delivered is the key to them remaining engaged in the learning process and hence achieving their goals.

Question One

The online communication tool such as a blog requires several things to be interesting and capable of keeping reader’s /viewer’s interest. Blogs say something about the author and how they organise their material and thinking.

The components of an interesting blog are

Visuals such as photographs or newspaper images
Graphics such as mind maps
Audio
Games
vidoes

click on picture to start game.





These examples that I have put on the blog are important because they are informative; give the students a sense of reality and being, as in the image; lets the viewer be actively involved with the blog with the blog; and puts it all in perspective and as a teaching tool or instruction tool I have added the video. They are bright colourful and technology that the viewer would instantly recognise