Module 5

This module bears some content with which I am, thankfully, familiar. You Tube is one of my fave passtimes. I'm always emailing links, often music, to friends and colleagues. Hope I can learn to do more with it. Makes me wonder what entertaining and educational things my heffalumps could do in the Italian class with the aid of You Tube and progs such as garage band. There is so much scope in mediums such as podcasts, vodcasts, digital storytelling, etc.

I have used Audacity and Garage Band with my language students, particularly for testing purposes, and really love them, as do the students.

I have downloaded Italian music, photographs and video files on my ipod and encourage my students to do the same in order to facilitate their absorption of the Italian language.

At the end of my last unit with Year 10 English, my students were required to create their own Digital Story based on the plot of Macbeth. That is, they were asked to write their story (pers. laptops) based loosely on Shakespeare's play, then they were to cut it down to a mere 100 words, and then add their pick of images and sound/music to compliment their story. I have yet to see the fruits of their labour as it was last days of term but I am hopeful of some interesting compositions (is this word back in vogue yet?)

This module has reminded me of what I have already gathered, namely that integrating technology into the curriculum is important because we need to remain relevant to our students. In this day and age when our students have access to information, expertise and data through the most amazing channels, we have no option but to pick up on all this technology and use it to challenge students, enabling them to synthesize, analyse and evaluate, and eventually, create. Bloom's Taxonomy will always remain fundamental to our teaching practices.

module 4

Having spent an entire day on Flickr I feel shell-shocked. Can't say how long I spent trying to upload my photostream onto my blog.... MISSION IMPOSSIBLE! So I finally imported one from Blogger gadgets (Picasa) instead. Also failed to import 'Explore interesting things from July 2009' (calendar) from Flickr to my blog....sigh.

I have always resisted digital camera technology but a five week trip around Italy meant I needed to purchase a good digital camera (with touch screen, no less!) and I would also need to know how to store the photos (thousands!!) as we moved along from Venice to Naples. In the end we temporarily stored them on my nephew's laptop and on an external hard drive. The real challenge was where to put them on our return....photos everywhere!! I had folders with pics and film clips taken by daughters, nephews and bro and wife. Doubled up photos in folders labelled with titles such as 'Mum's external drive' (courtesy of daughter's efforts to organize me).

The snaps and film clips are still randomly sprinkled in my 'photos' folder and on my desktop, to which I have now subsequently added both family and school photos and films, a veritable plethora of photography files that is gradually threatening to engulf my hard drive!

However, I have been thrilled to share these happy snaps with family and friends via the conventional method of emailing but, long story short, I can now appreciate that Flickr would be an ideal medium for organizing one's photos and video files - emphasis on SHARING these memories with family, friends, etc.

Unfortunately, every new piece of technology has its downside and privacy laws and copyright would be a thorn in my side in terms of Flickr. Not only do I need to watch what I publish (having just taken photos and video recordings of my students for Italian 'gelato day' and their improvisations at the 'Italian cafe') but the students themselves need to be very sensible and circumspect in what they might post on Flickr. We would need to remind them of what is both legal and appropriate before they set down their 'digital footprint'.

Oh, by the way this is a link to my photostream created through Flickr:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40369508@N02/

module 3

Well, today have been round the world and not sure if I have crossed the t's and dotted the i's but am getting a little impatient with learning all there is to know. Think I'm becoming a little like my students. I WANT TO KNOW IT ALL AND I WANT TO KNOW IT NOW!!! trouble is I'm not the world's most computer- literate person and it takes me forever to find my way through this maze of directions and applications etc. I loved one blogger's comment which suggested that our navigation through Web 2.0 takes us into the twilight zone while the world around us just fades into oblivion, kids and housework included. Ta Kerrie (Ramsay) for that analogy... I found it most apt!!

I actually can see benefits of google docs and would love to implement this in the classroom. It would save a lot of hassle with incomplete group work, as kids often make excuses for not finishing pair/group work because of time restraints in class. I noticed that one teacher on a given video link commented on the sharing of poetry composition. I can definitely see benefits of using google docs in my English classes. And it appears that students welcome this tool as well, with one student (again from video link provided) remarking it was just 'like sitting alongside another student and working on a task together in class'.

A centralized system of idea sharing that encourages collaborative learning and allows for editing has got to be a good thing, right?

I also like the idea that a teacher can actually see exactly how much each student is contributing to a set task. For me this is ideal because it means that I can now use group work as a valid means of class assessment.

module 2

Having now completed modules 1 and 2, I have created (for the third time) my own i google home page complete with useful gadgets, and I have started my own blog. Interestingly, after having done module 2, I have revised my opinion of blogging and 'my spacing' etc. as i did, indeed, consider these communicative mediums nothing short of narcissistic. However, I can now see the practicality of it all, and I might add, the fun!

I have also discovered that Web 2.0 - as opposed to Web 1.0 - is more functional and accessible to much of the community, not just the 'technorati'.....BTW love that word!!

ciao for now!

module 1

I have just had a lesson on blogging and have learnt how to use a thousand passwords and promptly forget them in the process!!

All good now though. Am legitimately enrolled in Web 2.0 course and ready for more frustrating times ahead!!

Hopefully the road on my journey will become smoother as I venture forth through this jungle of e learning!!