Synopsis

What is E-Learning?

E-Learning is the use of electronic technologies used to improve and create learning experiences. It is a form of learning used in a classroom in the 21st century to provide a framework for understanding application of e-learning in higher education. Education Queensland state is at the forefront of transforming classroom practice and students learning opportunities.

Recently the Australia Government have introduced the ‘Smart Classrooms’ strategy for eLearning. This strategy has been comprised of three interrelated and co-dependent components of Digital Pedagogy, Digital Content and eLearning spaces. ELearning spaces “place ownership of learning in the hands of all staff and students and enable the creation of formal and informal spaces to design, create, innovate, share and learn” (Queensland Government, 2010).

Today majority of learners in the classroom are familiar with the technologies that are being used. For most of them, using technology is a part of their daily routine. Integrating technologies in the classroom supports shared learning and provides learners with an opportunity to enhance and engage in higher order thinking. Technology in the classroom can be beneficial for learning, especially for assessment activities. Not only has technology influenced and impacted on todays learning it has given those a new way of learning digital pedagogy.

As future learning managers, it is our responsibility to achieve learning outcomes for all learners by being workplace ready and future oriented, consequently being able to integrate new ways of learning continuously. Technology has spawned over the last 10 years and according to Lynch and Knight online and e-learning environments are increasingly used today in higher education which are known for setting a platform for fine delivery(2010, p47).

As students become more and more familiar with technology they are willingly engaging in classroom task not only because of the authenticity of learning but the new and interesting ways using technology. It is crucial for the learners of the 21st century to be able to adapt to theory of lifelong learning as the world today is constantly changing especially in the digital world.

Lastly, the safety of students exploring online is extremely important. Although the internet acts as a powerful learning tool to search different content, it has become a major priority to support child safety. While exploring the World Wide Web children face the risk of being exposed to pornographic material, explicit offensive hateful and violent material. Using personal information online can be dangerous; however it can be protected by privacy issues when developing websites for assessments.

Education Queensland has an online learning space accessible for teachers and students to “an innovative range of digital tools, resources and espaces for teaching and learning, collaboration and networking”. They also provide students and teachers a safe learning environment where they can interact and collaborate together to generate excessive learning outcomes.

These following links are a great help for Internet safety in the classroom

http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html

http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/eppr/national-copyright.pdf  

http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/eppr/legal/lgspr001/

http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/946


Personal Journey and Discovery of eLearning Tools

Over the past 6 weeks my journey has continued to develop and my understanding of how to use digital tools in a classroom environment to benefit learning has grown. I feel comfortable with using digital tools to engage learning for those ICT immigrants. E-learning has taught me that Technology has the capability to endorse collaborative learning inside and outside of the classroom. I endeavour to use the digital tools that I have learnt about in the past 7 weeks and will encourage learners to use them to better their understanding of using technology in the classroom.

Marzano and Pickering indicate to develop an understanding, learners first must “analyse knowledge and information in a way that helps them make new connections, discover or rediscover, gain new insights, and clarify misconceptions” (1997, p.113). Therefore Dimension 3 Extend and Refine provides learners with the chance to enhance the knowledge they initially acquired. In this instance, learners have a basic understanding of what technology is and how it is used.

I have compared my knowledge and understanding of digital tools to the Dimensions of Learning thinking framework which will define my learning process over the course of Managing E-learning.

Dimension One – Attitudes and Perceptions

• Prezi
• Podcast

Dimension Two – Acquire and Integrate Knowledge

• Podcast
• Prezi
• YouTube
• Pinik
• Wordle

Dimension Three – Extend and Refine Knowledge

• YouTube
• Pinik
• Wordle

Dimension Four – Use knowledge meaningfully

• Podcast
• Prezi

• YouTube
• Pinik
• Wordle

Dimension Five – Habits of Mind

• Podcast
• Prezi

eLearning look like in my context?

In my context, I have the responsibility to continuously keep up to date with the changing world so my learners’ learning is not wasted. With technology forever changing and a part of everyone lives, I must be able to adapt and teach what is meaningful to them. Therefore according to Marzano and Pickering (1997) if I use technology in a meaningful way, a higher achievement level of understanding will be reached. Learners will begin to engage in using the technology in a context that will benefit them as it is used in some form of every learner’s life today.

Barriers and Limitations

There are no apparent constraints against eLearning in my context. However, there may be some hidden technical barriers such as the necessity of computer hardware and relevant resources. In my case this does not strand as a limitation, I have full access to computer hardware both at home and work. According to The Integration of Instructional Technology into Public Education (2005), wise use of technology takes adequate training from expert to teacher, teacher to student, time, planning and support from the school community. However I feel I have the correct knowledge and understanding of technology and consider myself ‘tech savvy’ which will allow me to teach technology in the classroom adequately.

What are the opportunities in my context?

I have the opportunity to use the technology presented to us today to transform higher education by creating life long learning. I strongley believe that elearning has provide me with the knowledge I need about the digital tools that are available for the 21st century learners. According to a recent article written by Garrison and Anderson, pose “the enormous opportunities and risks that is presents for higher education”(2003, p8) although I bet to differ. As Learning Manager I would have not one problem teaching digital pedagogy.

Reference List

Earle, R.(2002).The Integration of Instructional Technology in Public Education. ET Magazine, 42(1) 5 – 13 Retrieved November 15, 2011, from http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic87187.files/Earle02.pdf

Education Queensland. (2008). Smart Classrooms BYTES. Retrieved 29th November 2011, from: http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/pdf/scbyte-elearning.pdf

Knight, B. A., Lynch, D. (2010). The Theory and Practice of Learning Management: A text for the student of Learning Management. Frenchs Forest, New South Wales: Pearson Australia.

Learning Place: What we do. (n.d.). Education Queensland. Retrieved December 4, 2011, from http://education.qld.gov.au/learningplace/what-we-do.html

Marzano, R.,Pickering, D, (1997). Dimensions of Learning, Teachers Manuel (2nd Ed.) Mid-continent Regoinal Educational Laboratory, Aurora Colorado.

Digital Tool 1 - Youtube

In past experiences I have used YouTube videos in the classroom to allow the students to relate the topic to a real life example. This has been fantastic for students has it allows them to develop a wider understanding of the purpose and enrich their learning. Unfortunately YouTube is blocked for students at most schools however has an educator I have full access. I have also used YouTube clips to show students fun and interesting ways to learn maths. I have found several clips that I have used to introduce new ways to learn a particular topic which my students have found extremely useful.  Using digital Video are a create way to create an open environment and share with students and other classes. Not only have I viewed YouTube videos I have also created them for students who are absent from class to watch and catch up on that lessons work.  As an educator I find YouTube clips to be a great way to students to present their work to the class instead of typically at the front of the classroom with a view props. Plus videos posted on YouTube can be viewed over and over again. I have currently used this video in a classroom to point out to students the diversity in our world today. The YouTube video from an episode on “The Office” called “Diversity Day”.

Digital Tool 2 - Worlde

Wordle is a fantastic digital tool which is often used in the classroom. It is a self-reflection apparatus which allows you to create a word cloud. Wordle is simple and easy to navigate for those students who are not “tech savvy” also has the capacity to offer multiple open-minded opportunities across all curriculum areas. I have used this tool in a lesson when students were getting to know each other. They were instructed to create a Wordle with a collection of words using colour, shapes, and perspectives.  This digital tool best suits those visual learners as it helps students engage in the text more easily.  I created the above Wordle based on interest and family. I will continue to use this popular tool as it is a great reflective tool to use when students can evaluate or reflect on a topic.

I have perviously used Wordle in the classroom at the beginning of a term to allow students to get creative and produce title pages for their books.  I endevour to continue to use Worlde in the classroom in many more ways for instance self expression and other classroom activities that require their opinion or an evaluation.

Digital Tool 3 - Pinik

Prezi is used in the classroom as a sharing and photo editing tool. They provide learners with the opportunity to try new ways to edit photos and customise images. It is a fast and impressive learning tool which helps students express their creativity. During highschool I used this program alot to edit photos for photography assignments and personal activities. Pinik allows you to edit photos, add efferts, change colours, add frames and text ands share online with others. Picnik has touch-up options to fix blemishes and whiten teeth. There are also soften options to make the picture look focused. You can really make something stand out by using the Black & White feature to make part of the picture black and white. There are also collage options to put pictures together. “Fancy collages” can be used for baby showers, weddings,  or photos in general. This digital learning tool can be used in the classroom as it is easy to navigate and students enjoy the chance to play around with images for fun as it creates a delightful learning experience. I highly recommend that this digital learning tool should be used in the classroom to increase exciting and spontaneous photo editing.

I recently edited this photo using Pinik. This photo was taken at a Wedding in March at the beginning of the year with the brides son. I used the effects tool and changed the tone in the photo, making it bright and vibrant. I also gave it a frame of a polaroid photo, which acts like an image that has been captured at am important moment.

I also like to personalise my own photos to give them and extra effect and improve the quality of the image. 

Digital Tool 4 - Prezi

Prezi have to capability to reach new audiences outside the classroom. This digital tool is designed to act a story telling tool for sharing and exploring on a visual canvas. Unlike Power point, Prezi is used as a bridging tool to connect parts of the story together. Prezi is excellent as it enables learners to zoom in and out of thir presentation media and also allows users to display and navigate through information with a 2D space. I have actually never used Prezi in the classroom but after using it and finding out how useful it can be I intend on  using to for students presentations and assessments or show and tells. I believe that students will find this a fun and interesting digital learning tool which allows students to explore and share.

I had the time of my life! on Prezi

I recently created this prezi on 6 months of my life in 2010. I was a nanny in a little town in germany for 6 months whilst traveling around europe. The prezi includes the name and photo of every place I visited when I was overseas. Prezi allowed me to create a pathway which shows the countrys I visited in order.

Digital Images, Podcasts, Digital Videos

Digital Images

My experiences with digital imagery are standard. During high school I used Flickr to upload and browse images for particular assessment. I also know how to search for free images where the author has given permission for their image to be used. I honestly think if you are going to make the decision of putting your work on the internet be prepared for it to be used. However I do think that the Creative Commons Licence should be more strict reading copyright. By this I mean follow up on authors claiming work and it been seen on another site in on the internet.

Podcast

I did it, I made my first ever podcast. After reading this week’s readings on Moodle about podcast I was able to from a general understanding of what a podcast actually is. From there I watched several on Google. Podcast are a fantastic auditory way to teach content in the classroom, they can be used by both teachers and students.  Podcasting in the classroom allows students to share learning experiences and creates a wider audience for those podcast that are meaningful. It also provides students with the opportunity to expand the use of technology in the classroom.

Digital Video

I guess you could say that Digital Video would benefit those kinesthetic learners. Videos are not only audio they also show a slide show of images or a video recording.  These are a wonderful tool to use in the classroom particular for demonstrations or video recording of an event. I have used digital videos from YouTube for assignments to explain certain content. I have also used MovieMaker to create videos for birthday celebrations and a video of my arts journey for The Arts in term 1.  Therefore digital videos are a great ICT tool to engage students in classroom learning.  

Podcast & Wiki & Website

My First Podcast


Holy doly, what an experience! I'm not going to lie but that was difficult to navigate! Even though I watched the podcast on how to create your own I still found it difficult. I didnt know what to say during the recording but I still made my first podcast. If you want to watch you will have to click on "My First Podcast".


Enjoy!

This is my wiki, I used wikispaces to create my wiki. On this wiki, I have contribuated each week a reflection of my experiences with Managing E-Learning. Enjoy!


http://managinge-learnings0214706.wikispaces.com/

This is my website address. I used weebly to create this site. Enjoy!


http://managinge-learnings0214706.weebly.com