REFLECTIVE SYNOPSIS

In our current day and age, ICT's are readily available to be used for even the most simple tasks. This approach can be applied to learning management, as it is common now for even the simplest learning environment such as a classroom possesses a computer often with a live internet connection.

I week 1 and 2 I investigated only some basic technologies, including an activity to determine my own "learning style". With the activity giving me a result as being a "VISUAL" learner, I responded to a learning design forum posting by fellow peer Lean Thinee. I stated,

"I think maybe with the increase of digital technologies that children use these days, a lot more students may appear as VISUAL learners. "

In response to this, Lecturer Scot Aldred stated that my point of view had been supported by 'Profiling Research' that his students had done in the past. An additional comment was posted to my week 2 blog posting by fellow peer Karen Stewart, and she added,

"Just following through on your statement that the increase in the use of ICT in the classroom creating more visual learners, do you think that (by extension) the traditionally successful students who were verbal/written language learners will find it increasingly difficult?"



I do agree with Karen's statement, but I still believe my point of view is still valid as well.

From weeks 3 until 5 I investigated the use of PowerPoint presentations and Avatars. Even though PowerPoint has proven its value after many years of use since it was first utilised in the late 1990's, it is still very useful as a technological tool for learning/teaching today. After completing the learning activity in which I created an avatar, and saw many of my other peers' avatars, I realised how useful this could be in a learning environment. With online avatar creating software, there are almost endless options in how you can make the avatar look like and what you want it to say, even with a choice of widely used languages.

This language feature could make it particularly useful for teaching LOTE, as students could create a foreign speaking avatar, and change what it says to learn correct pronunciation.

I weeks 6 and 7, I investigated the use of online slide shows. I found the online slide show software (Slideshare)not very useful, as other websites such as YouTube and MySpace can be used to display and convey information in this type of format just as easily, and often with an easier to use layout. Digital storytelling can also be used with YouTube and MySpace.

In response to my slide show that I posted under the heading "PowerPoint presentation" peer Karen Stewart again offered a response in regards to my slide show,

"In delivery, would you incorporate more interaction from the students? I would suspect getting the students to research some of the bands, identifying (and playing or interpreting) linking music themes/riffs/note sequences [I'm not a musician, so clutching here] between the periods would be a great collaborative exercise that could be shared."

This led to me responding with,


"Yes, I suppose it could lead to exercises. For example, listening to short examples taken from songs and asking students to identify a possible genre and era."(as I did in my undergraduate degree in some exams)

OR

"for a composition assignment. (compose 32 bars of a genre of the GIVEN CHOICES for guitar, bass, drum-kit and vocals) This is a common type of assessment in Senior Music."

In my final 5 posting I investigated the use of a photo sharing website called "Flickr", a photo re-sizing website called "Picnik", YouTube, Wikipedia, Google Earth and a free music website called "INCOMPOTECH"

Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia could be so easily used as an effective learning/teaching tool in classrooms as they offer such a rich and diverse range of information. Flickr offers anyone in the world to share their photos, and allows them to keep other information private, as apposed to Facebook which is also a good medium for sharing photos, but only with friends and colleagues.

YouTube and Wikipedia could be used hand in hand with each other. For example, students could be shown a video on YouTube, and then be asked to research the content of the video on Wikipedia, which could then lead to a brief oral presentation in which students present their findings.

After using Picnik to re-size a photo which i posted to my blog, I was not impressed as it is common for many computer to already have photo resizing software. Students are often tech-savvy enough to have these skills and wouldn't take the effort to search the internet for this kind of software.

After exploring and enjoying the many possibilities that "Google Earth" offers, I posted under the heading "Google Earth & Wikipedia" that,

"Using Google Earth in a subject such as Geography could prove to be very useful for showing physical features of the earth such as volcanoes, mountains, oceans, latitudes and longitudes but in teaching music, I don't see it as being as resourceful. Possibly it could be used to show important historical sites in the development of western music, such as the many homes of Mozart and where he traveled to perform his many concert dates as a child."

Finally, after using the website INCOMPOTECH, which provides internet users with free music samples I came to the conclusion that this website was extremely resourceful, as it offers music samples from many genres. Music can be used for many types of learning experiences to convey emotion or as a hook to get students' attention.

I conclusion, after completing my blog and reflecting on my experiences with many new technologies, I have found many new ways to use ICT's within a learning environment.

Week 9

After reading this weeks section of learning activities and seeing stated facts that use of digital storytelling and such in classrooms can some what engage more in-active and shy students by giving them a "voice" makes me feel more re-assured about how useful it can be in a learning environment.

An integration of digital storytelling could be proven very effective possibly once or twice in a learning week, but possibly something a little less obscure (and more culturally relevant) than those works of Marco Antonio Torres.

SlideShare and INCOMPOTECH

Metal

View more presentations from CQU.

I found this audio synchronization activity easy because as a musician, I have spent many hours playing with recording equipment so the whole process was not daunting and quite familiar to me. I can see this technique being used outside the classroom, possibly for assignment work where students could actually go to SlideShare and watch presentations that you, as a learning manager, have posted to work as activities within assignments or other forms of research.

Form INCOMPOTECH, I downloaded a a jazz recording called "Shades of Spring" It's a beautiful and simple piece with only upright bass, piano and drum kit and I really think it captures the mood of "Spring"

Of course, as a musician, it would be easy for me to use in my teaching to describe many things such as the "Swing" genre, conventional ways of arranging different instruments in an ensemble, the role of a rhythm section with a solo instrument or musical timbre.

Also, here is a photo of me playing some jazz in the Mackay Big Band in November 2009

Google Earth & Wikipedia

After spending several hours exploring the possibilities of Google Earth, I found it to be both informative and fun. The feature I find most useful is the street view function, in which an address, place or town can be typed into the "fly to" section and it can go to that place on the earth and offer photos contributed by people, who have posted them to Google (such as tourists) and views from streets to show you the front of a house or for example, a hotel or park.

After looking at Joe Wood's Blog, I was very impressed by the way he utilised these many features, including street view, to make learning activities. However, these activities may cater better to visual learners, but in saying that, there are many other ways for other types of learners to gather information. Google Earth is just another form of ICT that can assist in the classroom environment.

Using Google Earth in a subject such as Geography could prove to be very useful for showing physical features of the earth such as volcanoes, mountains, oceans, latitudes and longitudes but in teaching music, I don't see it as being as resourceful. Possibly it could be used to show important historical sites in the development of western music, such as the many homes of Mozart and where he traveled to perform his many concert dates as a child.

As for Wikipedia, this website has proved itself to be an indispensable tool as it offers a source of knowledge to almost anything you wish to inquire about. Upon typing "music" into the search bar, it offers a page with 24 sections offering general information, and within each section are keywords which lead to more specific types, genres, terms and movements.

Wikipedia could be easily used in or outside of the classroom. It could be used in a learning experience plan at the start of lesson by asking the students to search for their favourite band for 10 minutes, then to deliver a brief oral presentation stating some interesting facts about their chosen band. It could easily be used for a homework task as well. You could ask students to research a topic overnight, and then in class the next day, give a pop quiz to investigate how they have gathered their knowledge.

How to play the violin

This is a video originally from an animated comedy site called "FilmCow"

It depicts "Johnny" being encouraged by his father to play the violin, but poor young Johnny doesn't seem to be enjoying it. My pedagogical rationale for embedding this video to my blog is that persistence an important step towards learning anything new, especially a musical instrument.

Many young students become frustrated, unmotivated and angry when dealing with the challenge of learning to play a musical instrument, but it is up to the parents to encourage the student to persevere (but not force) through their challenges, because the results of gaining musical talent can be very rewarding and offer many opportunities in their futures'.

Referencing:

© YouTube, LLC, 2010. How to play the violin . Retrieved April 23, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/

Life is a Picnik

I uploaded this photo to Picnik, which I then cropped out some features that weren't necessary and re-sized the image to 40% of it's original size. These instructions were very easy to follow in this online format, as compared with Microsoft Office Picture Manager where the sections to click are very small and not as obvious.

I would say even young children would find the Picnik website easy to navigate, due to it's sensible layout and easy to follow steps. This technology would be useful within a pedagogical framework as it allows students to demonstrate their ability to choose an image, interpret instructions to re-size and crop and ultimately transfer their chosen image to another form of ICT.

The image I have uploaded is from The 1st Townsville 400 V8 Supercars event

fotos de Flickr (photos from Flickr)

After setting up another account with YahooMail, I established myself as a member of Flickr and uploaded a few photos to my account, which are now available to all other Flickr members.

I tried to find some photos that interested me to post to this blog, so I searched a friends name as an idea, and I found some photos of a woman's vacation in Cuba.

They are of her (Valeria Jimenez), sitting with the statue of John Lennon that is in a Plaza in Havana City and the other is of a courtesy sign from a library that reads as,

"The library is a mine of knowledge, explore it with your eyes and respect it with your silence"

I think this technology could be utilised in many ways. For example, students could be asked to research geographical features of a certain country, and by downloading other peoples personal images from Flickr (such as photos from people's vacations) and using them in a PowerPoint presentation, they could present this to a class as a form of assessment.

Referencing:

Photos courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/