Week 3 reflection task

This week's blog task looks at reflecting and analysing three different types of technology tools. These include blogs for learning, wikis for collaborative learning and lastly websites for many purposes. The main aim for this task is to look at each technology tool and examine its aspects, as to what it can do, how it can support learning in the classroom, as well as what kind of materials and activities each tool can support.

The task will also explore the links between the technical affordance of each technology tool and its use by not only us teachers but our students in specific contexts. The SAMR model will also be referred to for each tool by highlighting examples of how the technologies might be used in the classroom for each level of model. Lastly, a part of this blog post will be an example or evidence of my personal use, demonstrating my support and skills in using each type of technology tool.

BlogsWell, well, well, I guess I can say I know a fair bit about blogs and blogging now. Before beginning this course (Managing E-Learning) I had limited grasp on what blogging was. Now and again I would find cool blogs on people and things I was interested in, such as cooking and photography or fashion. However I never really thought of it in the sense of using it for teaching and learning, or creating one for my personal use. Reflecting on it now, I can see the values and opportunities blogs can provided.

Looking at blogs as a whole, they are controlled by usually one individual, meaning it can be very personalised, a space which represents you.  Blog are an avenue for sharing all things- what you know, what you like, dislike, things you want to know or interest you, the list is endless!  Blogs can be accessed via the internet, and be open to the public or on a private setting for only a particular group of people or 'followers'. A blog is like a discussion or informational site which consists of entries  or posts. They can also used to share images, videos, links to other blogs, web pages, tools or media related to its topic. Blogs are very interactive can be described as a form of social networking service. The growth of blogs has become ever so popular over the last decade. In education, blogs have to become a useful resource tool for teaching and learning. In a classroom, blogs can support the learning of students. It can be used as an interactive, communication tool, as well as a teaching avenue to educate students on a particular topic or task. Blogs can be a way of letting students express their feelings, views or personalities in a way that can suit everyone, especially learners that find it hard to communicate publicly or face to face. In a classroom, blogs can be used to communicate with one another or with the teacher, at home or at school. It can be used for group projects, assignments, debating, exploring or sharing information about a topic or unit or discussion. Blogs can support students learning and be a platform for further learning that prepares them for future jobs and careers.

Personally the use of blogs is a necessary tool to incorporate into the classroom as an educators. It is very beneficial as a teacher, as I would be able to share my knowledge and views as a teacher, as well as use it as a tool for teaching, communicating and engaging learners. For students using technology in the classroom is highly essential and motivates them to engage with learning and educational tasks and truly enjoy it at the same time. As well, blogs are a way to monitor students abilities, understanding, development, growth and contribution to classroom task.

When looking at blogs in relation the SAMR model, it is evident the link between this technology and the four levels of the model.

Redefinition	Sharing and communicating blogs beyond just the classroom. Possibly to other schools, states and worldwide
Modification	Students are able to collaborate and compare each other's learning journeys by commenting on them and providing constructive feedback and questioning
Augmentation	A blog can be augmented as a learning journey with added functions such as images, videos, audio  and other extras
Substitution	This could be substituting writing a daily reflection in a note pad with a blog entry instead.

 Evidence of my personal ability to blog and use the functions mentioned: http://emmaroles.blogspot.com.au/

WikisLet me start by saying Wikis  are a genius idea. I have had a bit of experience in using wiki in a number of my group assignment tasks for uni. They are a great tool when it comes to collaboration tasks and assignments.

As explained perfectly by Mitchell (2008) "a wiki is an application, typically a web application, which allows collaborative modification, extension, or deletion of its content and structure. While a wiki is a type of content management system, it differs from a blog or most other such systems in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader, and wikis have little implicit structure, allowing structure to emerge according to the needs of the users". A wiki is designed on wikispace and it is a social writing platform for business, governments, community groups, organizations and most importantly for education purposes.

Looking at wiki in an educational sense, the overall aim of a wikispace is to create a workspace where educators and students can communicate and work on writing projects independently or in collaboration (Wikispace, 2015). It is used to get students excited and interested in learning via the modern day web tools of technology. A wiki allows you to upload documents, make posts, share links, videos, images, add pages, create discussions and add comments, as well as make adjustments to personalized features such as backgrounds, themes and colour options too. Wiki allows members to edit their own work as well as their peers.

A wikispace in the classroom can support learning for all students of today society. Modern day learners essentially engage and learn through technology and the tools that are provided with it. Using a wiki to support teaching in the classroom, is highly beneficial to student learning. It can be adapted to suit any task, unit or topic of choice. For instance a wiki can be used for collaborative writing tasks. Students can share their work for the class to read, or work together on a collaborative writing task in groups. Teachers can then easily review students work and provide feedback. Other classroom use of the wiki includes students sharing their findings of particular projects or research tasks.  Teachers are able to easily create these projects and assign the students to particular groups or tasks simply and at the click of a button. Overall wiki allows teachers to easily monitor, keep in touch and communicate efficiently and effectively with their students. From a student's point of view, by using this form of ICT allows learning and completing work to be more interesting, at their own pace, more open to choice, encourages them to be more cooperative and collaborative, and assist them in developing further research, technology and literacy skills.

Redefinition	Wiki is used as a learning tool for a project students have to complete online
Modification	Students have to upload their assignment reflection to wiki to receive feedback
Augmentation	Students and educators can access wikispace from any device
Substitution	Students use wikispace, as a place to record notes on a topic

   Link to my wikispace I have created:                               http://emmarolestechnology.wikispaces.com/home

Plus the one I used for a group task for a math's unit of work:                                                     http://numeracyinaction-grouptask-yearfour.wikispaces.com/

WebsitesLet focus on Weebly. This is the easiest way to create a unique, simple and free website. Firstly I have previously created one for another unit of work where myself and a partner had to create tasks cards for a science unit of work. I thoroughly enjoyed designing and creating the website. It is very simple to follow, yet it has great results.

The weebly guides you through steps, such as choosing a theme, creating a domain than adding endless features to suit you ideal focus and display for your website. It is highly personalized and extremely fun to create and play with. It also allows you all sorts of options such as adding different types of media options like videos, audio, YouTube clips, images and other documents, files and weblinks.

In a teaching content, this type of technology tool is amazing, in that it is super versatile depending on what you are teaching and aiming to use the website for. It can be used to introduce a topic, provide information about a unit, a gateway into literacy tasks  or other online learning avenues. Can be designed as a interactive digital journey or quest for learners to work through at their own pace or in groups.  The list is endless of different uses.

For students engaging in this technology tool, they are able to be in control of their learning and creating. Students are able to work at their own pace and are developing numerous skills necessary for today society, as well as skills for future years to come. It allows opportunities for all students to have a voice, opinion and communicate individual thoughts.

The weebly provides an avenue to a range of educational possibilities. Such as students are able to share creative writing pieces, use it as a way to collaborate in groups and discussions or present work creatively. It can be used as a learning journey a student may create, as a project, review, reflection or as a summary of a unit topic.

Overall the weebly is a technological tool which when compared to blogs or wikis, is the best overall use of ICT for learning.  

Redefinition	Students go beyond by creating their own weebly, that allows to create a personal learning journey of a task they have been set by the teacher via their personal website
Modification	Students follow a project via a weebly, which directs them beyond to other websites and links to expand their knowledge
Augmentation	Learners can complete a task via a weebly, adding extras such as images, a video or recording.
Substitution	Learners can add information or ideas to a weebly that has already been created or established

 This is my example of my weebly I have created this week:http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php

Link to the weebly I have previously made for a science unit of work, with different task cards provided throughout the website: 
http://maddieandemmasciencetask.weebly.com/ ReferencesMitchell, Scott. (July 2008). Easy Wiki Hosting, Scott Hanselman's blog, and Snagging Screens, MSDN Magazine.

Wikispace. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.wikispaces.com/content/classroom/about

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My Voki

Voki is a digital tool in which lets you create customised speaking characters or avatars. I have used Voki's in the past for uni assignments, however I haven't personally used them in the classroom. From researching and chatting to friends a bit about them, they are quite popular and a useful tool within schools and classroom tasks.
As noted also on their website they can be used to:
-Engage students with interactive lessons
-Introduce technology in a fun way
-Enhance language skills (over 25 languages)
-Great for homework and projects too!


Overall creating the voki characters are fun, easy to design and has endless options to choose from.

Task 1 Reflection: De Bono's Hats

This personal blog reflects an assessment task from the course Managing E-Learning. The purpose of this task is all about an analysis of numerous digital technologies, and reflecting on them weekly via my blog posts.

Topic one's activity is an reflection of my personal experiences and participation in the mobile phones, wiki-based de Bono's Hat activity, as well as an analysis of the design of the activity itself.

Overlooking the design of the activity, the topic has been clearly addressed and scaffold ideally in accordance to analysing the different types of modes of de Bono's six thinking hats. The six thinking hats is a systematic method of thinking. It is a simple, effective technique that helps stimulate collaborative work of a topic into separate thinking modes (six distinct categories) . Each category is identified with its own coloured metaphorical "thinking hat." The aim of the thinking system is to productively work through a topic, by mentally wearing and switching "hats".  By doing this individually or as a group, you can easily focus or redirect thoughts, the conversation, or the topic view points. Overall it a sufficient technique and thinking method, that allows all points of views to be acknowledged in a productive manner.

This particular activity is a individual task  where you reflect on the topic and share your personal ideas, experiences and view point on the topic of mobile phones in  classrooms. However it is shared and collaborated in a group, on a wiki-space alongside other members. The activity allows you to draw on past knowledge as well as apply new learning theory gathered that supports the activities topic. The learning outcomes gained from this task, personally allows you to reflect on your own thinking about the topic and point of view through the scaffolded systems/modes.

The design and purpose of the wiki activity interlinks with numerous course readings and learning theory. Particularly Blooms Taxonomy, as this task features some of the aspects promoted in the cognitive domain. Blooms promotes working towards complex outcomes, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. This is generally where learning occurs as an extended task or experience. This too is a feature utilized in de Bono's  hats model, as it promotes you to work towards higher order thinking through comparing different views by changing your outlook or in this case different hats.

Overall, the value of scaffolding and learning outcomes is the critical element gathered from the task. As educators providing succinct steps and outlines supports learning and understanding for all students in any task to develop deep understanding and achieve higher thinking. As explained further by blooms "it is often a process of introducing student-held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, and then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge and creating as the culmination of learning". So forth what has been achieved from this task.

The beginning...

Wow and I thought I was already 'up with it all' in regards to technology and being  so called 'techno-savy'. But my has this been a reality check.

Creating a blog, for the university course Managing E-Learning , has been more technological than it seems. Falling into the category of generation Y, I am known to be classified as a ‘digital native’, which in simpler words means I am constantly connected to technology. Whether it being my smart phone (iPhone of course!), the television, my laptop or even just some form of technology platform such as the internet or social media. However when it came to creating a blog, it has been quite a challenge and involves a lot more time and effort than intended.

Anyway after a few hours of playing around, I have successfully shared my first blog post. Yay me! I can officially be deemed as a blogger! 

Here's to more creative and innovated blogs to come! 

Stay tuned friends.