Reflection 3

Images, Audio and videos are very useful tools which can be used in the classroom to improve the experience for the learner. Video is the most effective of these three tools because it has a combination of images and audio to immerse the learner and improve the retention of information. Video has become a large part of modern society and is used in the classroom on a regular basis. Teachers can use simple programs such as windows movie maker to create videos to relate to a particular section of work as well as media streaming sites like YouTube which often have educational videos uploaded. Videos can help for teaching distance education students.

Images can also help students understand in the way of diagrams and figures. Images allow the student to see what is being explained to them and can often help the student understand the topic. Images are usually readily available in many outlets such as books, internet and many more making it easy to obtain. Images can also be a useful tool to have the student create their own diagrams or posters to explain their view on the subject and the teacher can determine how much the student understands the subject.

Audio is a great tool which can be used for teaching students of various cultures because of the ability to change the language so the same subject can be taught to those who speak a different language. It can also be used in a regular classroom or for distance education and can be accessed at any time period. Students can record sound in the classroom to take back to their home and re-listen to the audio of the teacher to help understand the teaching area. 

These types of learning and teaching tools are often referred to as modes of presentation. These modes play a heavy role in Howard Gardiners Multiple Intelligences.   Howard Gardiner developed the idea that each person learns in a different way and by taking his test you can identify the best way someone can take in the maximum amount of information. By having this knowledge of your students and incorporating it with various forms of image, video and audio learning, you can help students achieve at their maximum potential. 

Image retrieved from http://educ732.courseblock.com/module04/topic-4-2-gardner’s-multiple-intelligences-theory/

Reflection 2

Blog Reflection

Strengths • Cannot be adjusted by someone without the proper authority. • They can be easily attained, designed and used by adults and children of all ages. • Easily up-dateable. • Can be easily monitored by teachers, students and parents.	Weaknesses • Children can post inappropriate comments if not properly informed. • Bullying can exist in blogging. • Information in online blogs can be untruthful or inaccurate as well as bias. • Blogging can often be time consuming. • All online modes can be ‘hacked’ and changed.
Opportunities • In blogging one can have large followings of people observing the blog. • Blogs can often be easily publicised. • Blogging creates opportunities to include distance education students into the class and also children who are sick or away.	Threats • The blog can be abused if not properly monitored by an authority figure. • Risk of abuse by not only students but undesirables. • Students and parents can often be scared off by the idea due to privacy issues.

A web log or blog for short can be an extremely useful tool if used correctly. These blogs can enable a teacher to follow the students’ progression through the subject closely and will be able to assist the student if they feel they are having difficulty. These blogs can be easily designed and students often enjoy using them and a resource. Though if used incorrectly the blog can be dangerous to the students, teachers, parents and the school. Bullying is a very real threat on blogs and can often be emotionally traumatising to students. Information on these blogs can often be inaccurate because they are people’s personal opinions and can often be bias. Schools, teachers, parents and students often shy away from the idea of using blogs as an educational tool because of the privacy issues which can occur. 

Wikispaces Reflection

Strengths • Learning and teaching on a wikispace is vast and can be adapted to any class. • Critical reflections and analysis can be developed with the use of scaffolding. • Easy to use and input information by both the user and the designer. • Students can have their input in an online collaborative workplace.	Weaknesses • Wiki’s are often banned and misunderstood in schools. • Bullying can occur on in the collaborative space. • Can sometimes be hard to use while editing when using tables, etc. • Often hard to draw curriculum to a close in this kind of online workplace.
Opportunities • Can help students become aware of problems which they may face at a later date for example copyright laws and loss of work through site shutdown. • Students can learn to design their own wiki. • Creates opportunities for distance education students to collaborate with their classmates.	Threats • There is a risk of abuse in the online working space. • If the wiki is misused there may be loss of content or vandalised work. • Risk of bullying is huge when in these online faceless work places.

Wikispaces are a great tool because they are a collaborative workplace where students can comment on each other’s work and the task at hand while including those who are not within the classroom. Because of the uses of wikispaces it can be adopted and used for almost any kind of class. The idea of critical reflections and analysis can be developed while using a scaffolding program. These spaces are easy to use and easy to develop though when in editing and trying to use tables can sometimes be difficult. Wikis must be constantly monitored to ensure that the students do not post inappropriate information or bully other students in the collaborative environment. If edited a student or teacher can sometimes accidently delete information posted by others therefore the work of that person would be unnoticed. 

Website Reflection

Strengths • Students can connect with other students worldwide not just in their classroom. • Can include hyperlinks on the website to link to other website, blogs, informative and educational games and other modes of information. • Very unlikely to be hacked by an external user. • A great way to convey newly discovered sites and information to students.	Weaknesses • Unless very well designed by a professional websites tend to be static and not very interactive for students to share their thoughts. • Knowledge of web design is often needed to create an interesting website.
Opportunities • Students often realise that sharing information via this mode needs to be accurate and they perform proper research. • Websites can be managed by the teacher to ensure that the students are receiving accurate information on a particular subject matter.	Threats • Information must be accurate so that the students receive the proper information. • Very real threat of copyright laws being breached. • If one was to lose their username and password for the editing to the site the site would be rendered useless and cannot be updated.

Because of the worldwide possibilities students can often communicate and collaborate with students not only in their class but around the world. The available information that can be linked to a site is endless. Websites can be a very good way to convey new information to students and the teacher can monitor haw accurate the information on the sites are. The information which is posted on to a website must be accurate and the students must perform appropriate research before publishing information. When a website is poorly designed they can often be static and not very interactive. Knowledge of web design and creation is often needed to create a website that interests students and allows students to perform feedback on the information. 

Reflection 1

This week a task was put forward to share our opinions on the use as mobile phone in class as a learning tool for students on the wiki http://debonoshats.wikispaces.com/home. This wiki was broken up into six sections which contained the six De Bono thinking hats. These thinking hats are the black hat or negative hat, the blue hat or process hat, the green hat or creative hat, the red hat or intuitive hat, the yellow hat or positive hat and the white hat or objective hat. By using the wiki as a learning device we were able to share our ideas with other students and compare our thoughts to the thoughts of others.

De Bono’s hats are a really effective way of weighing up the positives and negatives of an idea as well as allowing you to develop new ideas and implementation techniques which you would not normally think of. They also allow me to reflect on my own opinions and I was able to compare my ideas to others and realise that my ideas of the use of mobile phones may be mistaken if I incorporate their thoughts. De Bono’s thinking hats are certainly a really useful tool and I will use them in my future career. 

My first thoughts were very negative towards mobile phones in the classroom putting me within the Black hat way of thinking. But when forced to think about the other hats and having questions posed to me, I began to find some positive and creative ideas of mobiles phone use in the classroom. After further research I found a study by Duncan, Hoekstra, and Wilcox (2012) demonstrated that students who reported regular cell phone use in class showed an average negative grade difference. This then started turning my thoughts negative and although there are many great things that can come out of mobile phones, the temptation and distraction they can cause is too great. Another interesting fact I found is that while students are using mobile phones in class other students will become distracted as a result (Tindell & Bohlander, 2011). While the mobile is distraction to the student using it, it is also a distraction to the students around so the negatives of cell phones in the classroom outweigh the positives. 

References

Duncan, D., Hoekstra, A., & Wilcox, B. (2012). Digital Devices, distraction, and student Performance: does in-class cell phone use reduce learning? Astronomy Education Review, 11, 010108-1.

Tindell, D., & Bohlander, R. (2011). The use and abuse of cell phones and text messaging in the classroom: A survey of college students. College Teaching, 60, Pgs. 1-9.

Image retrieved from http://www.mindwerx.com/cmpreview-mind-mapping-overview/files/imagecache/node-view/Mind_Map_Summary_Six_thinking_Hats.png on 12^th July 2013