A new generation, a new approach, how can education keep up with the ever changing world of technology? This blog tries to examine what is happening in education today.
There are a range complete presentation packages, some are 'freer' than others and some are more versatile than others. With little effort they can give you everything you need to produce a professional-looking presentation. But it isn't about the software. No matter what application you use you can still end up with slide by slide visual aid that sends your audience to sleep. Remember that if you are the presenter, your presentation is merely a tool to support what you have to say.
In this post there are a selection of the alternatives to the old faithful PowerPoint, Prezi and Keynote.
Nearpod is an interactive teaching and learning tool that allows teachers to construct presentations using the Nearpod website and deliver instruction to students by pushing content out to multiple devices at once. The teacher controls the presentation from a master device, while students follow along on a mobile device
Another 'neat' polling application that I played with today was Poll Everywhere. This one also allows a certain amount of 'free'dom before if offers you a payment package. Also I'm not sure about the charge for texting responses, that will depend on your phone package I guess.
Animated GIF images have are very popular on the web, as you may have noticed. You can create animated GIFs quite simply with a collection of photographs. Most phone cameras will have built in methods so you don’t even have to think about it.There are some online applications too that allow you to upload your images and share the completed animation in a variety of ways.
The HTC one, for example, has a couple of ways to create animated gifs. The camera has a Zoe mode where the camera takes multiple shots in quick succession. It stores them in the gallery like all your other photos. The other useful thing about the Zoe effect is that if you just want a single image, you can edit the animation, select the best shot of the range; so you can always get your best side!
If you’re not too keen on creating them manually (or simply don't know how), you can download one of the many useful free apps to simplify the process and save time.About Technology have a list of 9 free GIF maker apps you can get started with, on your iPhone and/or Android.
Nice to see what the popular repeated words are in your posts sometimes. I think I need to use word clouds more often. It does give a nicer view of a summary sometimes. You can use Wordle or Tagxedo or other word cloud creators to demonstrate to your learners your ideas about a project, to share vocabulary for a written piece or to celebrate common interests in something. You can either type in the text, copy and paste from a source or even put a web address in. With Tagxedo you can even choose the shape you want your words to be presented in.
As educators it is important for us to consider new and better approaches to engage our learners. Research suggests Ainsworth (2008) when we are having fun, we tend to learn better. It also suggests that when both visual and spoken communication is used there is a high retention of information. With this in mind, Animation offers exciting possibilities for meeting the needs of 21st century learners. I can see this in two way; using Animations to convey a message or information, and using Animations for learners to demonstrate their understanding of the message or information (Hwang, Tam & Lam, 2012). So, the input and the output if you like?
Animation fulfils a cognitive function. In this role, animations are intended to support learners’ cognitive processes that ultimately result in them understanding the subject matter. Animation can be used to make very exciting and fun animations into which education and training can easily be incorporated. Instructors can also use animation to demonstrate things and concepts visually exactly how they want to since they have control of every aspect of the animation. It can be used to show how things come together and work together.
Young people are fascinated by animation and animated stories and they enjoy the opportunity to create their own. The creative potential of animation is enormous, and integrating animation activities into the school curriculum offers the possibility of tapping this potential to meet a range of educational objectives
Last year I shared the World's smallest stop-motion animation Dot. It was created by Sumo Science at Aardman Animations using a Nokia N8 cellphone equipped with a CellScope microscope attachment. So in contrast here is their new production the largest stop motion set. 'Gulp' is a short film, depicting a fisherman going about his daily catch. Shot on location at Pendine Beach in South Wales, every frame of this stop-motion animation was shot using a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics. The film has broken a world record for the 'largest stop-motion animation set', with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square
The article from EDUCAUSE Learning Environments: Where Space, Technology, and Culture Converge, suggest that there is a strong and growing desire to try to make sense of the remarkable changes that colleges and universities have undergone in the past generation and to understand technology in the wide framework of educational opportunities.
As long as teachers have taught and students have learned, people have thought about learning spaces. Where do people go to learn? What do those places look like? How does the arrangement of a learning space contribute to—or detract from—the task of education? What do we mean by learning environments? I asked these questions today to my 3rd year undergraduates on the Education Studies degree. Their favourite response was "Anywhere that engages and stimulates the learner." They agreed that the learning environment doesn’t necessarily mean a physical space. The other thing that they all agreed with was the fact that learning happens anywhere, and the environment has many elements. One group suggested that, "The environment needs to suit the kind of task that needs to be completed. People tend to learn more in an environment where they feel comfortable and confident. Duration and the level of noise can also have an impact on how someone can learn. Everyone's learning styles need to be taken into consideration."
Social lesson sharing has grown over the last few years. There are a range of sites that encourage teaches to share successful lesson ideas and materials with their peers. The website Share My Lesson is one of those websites. It allows teachers to upload their lessons and share them for free. This will be a great asset for teachers that live in a rural community and do not have the opportunity to interact with others teaching the same subject fit instance. Curriki is another great concept. Curriki is for teachers, professional educators, students, lifelong learners, and parents. The majority of the resources on the Curriki site fall under aCreative Commonslicense, so is open educational resource. Educational materials are provided by the Curriki community and are peer-reviewed for quality and adherence to standards, so although any one can contribute there are guidelines and standards. The Hwb is another great sharing website. Lots of the initial content was from NGFL Cymru, but the Hwb promises more. Essentially the Hwb and Hwb+, aim to enable all learners and teachers to access online resources anywhere, at any time, from any device. It will also provide tools to help teachers and learners create and share their own resources, and to support collaboration. You should also check out and contribute to the collection of teaching resources shared by Smart and Promethean. Although they are mostly for the IWBS there are some excellent teaching and learning activities that can be adapted to suit your needs. Remember Twitter is also a great sharing tool too, ask for advice, retweat and share good finds. and not to forget the power of Video with Youtube, TeacherTube and Ted Talks.
Howard Gardner was one of the first to state that everyone learns differently. He even created the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which included specific ways people learned: Visual-Spatial, Kinaesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Naturalistic, Existential and Logical -Mathematical. So far this year we have seen a lot of emphasis on individual learning, learner centred teaching. So what part can technology play in this pedagogy? Haven't good teachers always placed their learners at the centre of their being? With the start of the new academic year we may ask ourselves, "What will be the new trends in technology be this year?" As a teacher, it's part of the job description to keep up with the latest in educational innovations. This is a simple necessity in order to keep our learners interested and motivated. But with technology changing at such a rapid rate are we fighting a losing battle? We recently had a visit from Simon Pridham, ex-head teacher of Casllwgchwr Primary school. He came to UWTSD to share his experiences of learning with mobile technology, in particular the iPad, with our trainees. He discussed the amazing results that his former school has had by providing a device for each of his junior pupils. The pupils take ownership of the device and responsibility for looking after it and for using it safely and effectively. So although it is not about the technology, quite clearly the technology has played a big part in both social development as well as the academic. He talked about his new book "Freaked out" and some of the iPad apps that he has found to be the most useful and engaging.
Mickie Mueller is an educational technology facilitator in a Public School in New England and she is also a Google trainer, so I shall be looking at her Google training material for some new and innovative ideas. Sh is an avid supporter of Technology for learning her passion runs through all her work that I have found on line. I found this useful collection of Technology Tools on Live Binders that she has written. There are some great ideas and practical applications of the online tools. There are also lots of other really useful folders that are worth investigation written by other authors too, but as usual be discerning with the material that you select for use in your learning and teaching.
This is a post from another one of my students. An excellent find I think, anything that gets children keen to write has got to be a good thing. Teshos Tales: Kids journal app: Kristos my son came home from school this week excited to tell me about a new programme they had been using at school. We searched for it in...
