The 4th digital technology we learnt about are 'Other Tools'. This is a pretty broad title, but basically everything else falls under this category. In class we played with Bee bots,talking points and web cams. These are all used to help engage kids in their learning. The bee bots were extremely fun. I would use these in the class room, especially the more advanced one that looked like a racing car. You could not only make it go front,back, left and right but you could program what angle you wanted it to turn. It also had a spot for a pen so it can draw while it's moving. This would have be perfect for me when I was in school learning the different angled triangles and stuff like that. Not only does this tool assist the learning but it also makes something as boring and hard as maths really fun and interesting. I know I learn better when I enjoy what is being taught and this bee bot is the perfect way to make learning fun.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Presentation Tools
Presentation tools are anything you would you to present information to people. I have explored prezzie and PowerPoint. I had only used PowerPoint once before in about year 4. Each person in my class got to spend time in the library with the IT teacher and learn how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Unfortunately since I went to such a large school there was not enough time to get a full understanding of what exactly was happening. I can just remember being told I had to go to the library and sitting next to this man at the computer and picking fonts and different word animations. No explanation as to why we were using PowerPoint or what it could be used for was given. I hadn't touched PowerPoint since then. I suppose having a negative experience with something can really put you off and that's why I never really had an interest for using PowerPoint until E-Learning. I still found PowerPoint a bit tricky to use. So I'm not so sure about how it would go with young children,But then again I've seen prep students navigate a computer better then I can so you never know! It would be best suited to higher primary school levels and high school students and upwards I think. Prezzie was another thing I couldn't navigate around, but I'm having the same problem with that as I had with wordle. My computer is blocking it for some reason. I am going to give it another go on a different computer though and hopefully I'll be able to work it out easily. I have created a PowerPoint presentation about presentation tools which I have added into this blog.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Multimedia Fun!
So I just finished making my demonstrative movie using movie maker and I must say I am very impressed. It was so easy to use! I'm currently uploading it to YouTube and then I'm going to have a go at embedding it into my blog!
I seriously can't believe how easy it was. I've been putting off cause I've been unwell and thought it would be too complicated, but I was wrong. Here I am with the worlds worst migraine and I just made a movie. As you can probably tell I'm pretty stoked.
Right so the upsides of using movie maker, well for one it is just so so simple to use. You can use photos already on your computer or take some with your web cam. This would be a great tool to use in classroom because of its simplicity and..it's fun too! Students would be able to make their own demonstrative videos to share with the class,teachers could even make demonstrative videos to shown to their students to introduce new topics, subjects or just teach them how to do something that would normally be a little boring. Although it is simple and easy to use, I think it could also be a massive distraction for kids. There's so much to explore and many different ways to display your movie, I can see kids getting a little silly with it and using it incorrectly or just being on it to waste time. Supervision would be required.
I've also added my avatar into this blog. Now I've worked out how to embed things :)
I seriously can't believe how easy it was. I've been putting off cause I've been unwell and thought it would be too complicated, but I was wrong. Here I am with the worlds worst migraine and I just made a movie. As you can probably tell I'm pretty stoked.
Right so the upsides of using movie maker, well for one it is just so so simple to use. You can use photos already on your computer or take some with your web cam. This would be a great tool to use in classroom because of its simplicity and..it's fun too! Students would be able to make their own demonstrative videos to share with the class,teachers could even make demonstrative videos to shown to their students to introduce new topics, subjects or just teach them how to do something that would normally be a little boring. Although it is simple and easy to use, I think it could also be a massive distraction for kids. There's so much to explore and many different ways to display your movie, I can see kids getting a little silly with it and using it incorrectly or just being on it to waste time. Supervision would be required.
I've also added my avatar into this blog. Now I've worked out how to embed things :)
Monday, 8 August 2011
New Laptop, New Things to play with!
As I said in my earlier post, I have just gotten a new lap top and it is amazing. I was finding e-learning very frustrating because of my old lap top and it's capabilities. My new lap is fantastic though. It came with the snipping tool thats talkd about so much in e-learning. It also came with powerpoint and movie maker, which my old lap top didn't have either. I haven't had a chance to play with those tools yet....but stayed tuned because I'm looking forward to making powerpoints and my demonstrative movie too!!!
I have been playing with a programme that came on my lap top called Cyberlink you cam. It's the webcam on the lap top, except I can do all sorts of fun things like change my backround, make myself wear silly hats and mask and I can also have an avatar. I'm still trying to work out the kinks with the avatars. The mouth movements don't quite match up. But it's so much fun. I'm trying to see if I can put my avatar onto my blog. There is a link to add it to youtube and facebook, so surely I think I'll be able to add it into my blog somehow. Oh and you'll have to excuse my voice, I seem to have come down with the plague or something similar and my voice seems to be coming and going. Ok so I managed to upload it to Youtube and I've added the link here for you to click on and view.
http://youtu.be/PnEbaZj2CpI
I'm really enjoying playing with the multimedia tools, I wish this kind of stuff existed when I was in school. I would've been much more interested in class! I think the avatar's are a great way to get children engaged in different subjects. Since you can use different types of avatars (animals, historical monuments, aliens etc) it you could use them to introduce new topics to the children, or even get them to make an avatar and use it for a classroom presentation. Making learning fun is important to keep kids focused on the topic.
I've also created a voki which I've added to the side bar of my blog.
I have been playing with a programme that came on my lap top called Cyberlink you cam. It's the webcam on the lap top, except I can do all sorts of fun things like change my backround, make myself wear silly hats and mask and I can also have an avatar. I'm still trying to work out the kinks with the avatars. The mouth movements don't quite match up. But it's so much fun. I'm trying to see if I can put my avatar onto my blog. There is a link to add it to youtube and facebook, so surely I think I'll be able to add it into my blog somehow. Oh and you'll have to excuse my voice, I seem to have come down with the plague or something similar and my voice seems to be coming and going. Ok so I managed to upload it to Youtube and I've added the link here for you to click on and view.
http://youtu.be/PnEbaZj2CpI
I'm really enjoying playing with the multimedia tools, I wish this kind of stuff existed when I was in school. I would've been much more interested in class! I think the avatar's are a great way to get children engaged in different subjects. Since you can use different types of avatars (animals, historical monuments, aliens etc) it you could use them to introduce new topics to the children, or even get them to make an avatar and use it for a classroom presentation. Making learning fun is important to keep kids focused on the topic.
I've also created a voki which I've added to the side bar of my blog.
Safe and Legal Internet Practices.
It is extremely important to stay safe online, especially when you've got young children using the internet. Protecting children from the unsavoury content on the internet is a must. Setting up parental controls on the home computer is a good way for parents make sure their children aren't exposed to this type of content. At school however, protecting kids from explicit content can be a bit more tricky. Most schools run on a network, where alot of content is blocked, not just explicit materials but social networking sites as well. Cyber-bullying is also an issue when using the internet at school. It is important to educate children about this issue and make them aware that it is unacceptable and also from children that are victims to cyber bullying to speak up and let a teacher or parent know. This is another reason why social networking sites are usually blocked on school computers.
Now onto the legal side of things. Copyright laws still apply online.
It is important to always check the laws if you're not sure about something. Here's a few links that I found help in informing me of the do's and don'ts
http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/946
The 10% rule still applies online aslo. If using content that does not belong to you always check with the publisher or owner that it is ok to use it and give credit where necessary.
Now onto the legal side of things. Copyright laws still apply online.
It is important to always check the laws if you're not sure about something. Here's a few links that I found help in informing me of the do's and don'ts
http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html
http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/946
The 10% rule still applies online aslo. If using content that does not belong to you always check with the publisher or owner that it is ok to use it and give credit where necessary.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Images Revisited
So I've just aquired a new laptop. Which runs soooo much better then my old one and it making exploring all these ICT's and tools so much easier. I have revistied Flickr and have been looking through some photo's on there. I suppose the point of flickr is just photo sharing in a relatively safe way and legal way.
I found this beautiful photo of Double Island, one of my favourite places to go. I've added the link to the photo for you to take a look at. It's so beautiful. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dutchie2007/3118671265/
I've also downloaded mobaphoto and have found that so much less complicated then snagit!!! Its so easy to resize photos and you can pick what you wanted to resize it for. I resized a photo from my time in London. I picked the option to resize it best for being up loaded to the internet. I lost a bit of the photo quality, but I can tell from comparing the two photos. If you had never seen the photo before you wouldn't notice.
I found this beautiful photo of Double Island, one of my favourite places to go. I've added the link to the photo for you to take a look at. It's so beautiful. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dutchie2007/3118671265/
I've also downloaded mobaphoto and have found that so much less complicated then snagit!!! Its so easy to resize photos and you can pick what you wanted to resize it for. I resized a photo from my time in London. I picked the option to resize it best for being up loaded to the internet. I lost a bit of the photo quality, but I can tell from comparing the two photos. If you had never seen the photo before you wouldn't notice.
I've also been trying to have a play on wordle, but my internet explorer is blocking me from creating anything. I've had a play around with my settings, but it still wont let me. I'm really disapointed because it looked like fun!
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