Sam’s blog

After having read Talia’s interesting post on e-books i was intrigued to learn more about this new technology. After visitng the sites Talia provided, I was not greatly impressed with what was available. As a book reader myslef, I did not see the appeal in reading a book online. The ‘books’ looked like a word document and I personally would not enjoy reading a book that way.

However, keen to not disregard this technology without some more research i googled e-books in the classroom and found a great article by Eric J. Simon “Are e-books ready for the classroom?” Although this article is a bit dated it raised some points that helped answer some of questions.

Eric was curious about e-books and conducted a survey on their use. He gave 22 biology students e-books for a semester and monitored their use and response to the technology. The way in which they were used was how we would use textbooks in our learning. The e-books allow for highlighting and note-taking so students used them as they would any ordinary text.

However, some problems were noted. The screens were small and in black and white, this would be sufficient for a subject that relies on written information only, however a subject that requires visuals and diagrams would be disadvantaged with a black and white screen. Colour screen e-books are available but for a higher price, at the time they were $699 opposed to the $199 for the black and white. When surveyed 84% of students would pay $199 for the e-book but not $699 as they would still need to purchase the texts.

Also, a major problem was the availabilty of texts. There were not many texts available, as many publishers were willing to provide e-books of their texts but, not until the e-books become more popular. However, one of the main reasons that the e-books were not being used was the limited texts available. So it was going to be difficult for the e-book to be a success.

After reading this article, I think that i may use an e-book if it was available to me, as i think that carrying an e-book rather than actual books to uni would be easier and less of a hassal as you would have all the books you need in one device. However, i do not see this being a good technology for a primary classroom as young students will benefit more from using real books, we do not want them to lose touch with authentic texts they way they were originally written. In a high school or tertiary environment i think the e-book could be a success as students will have access to texts all the time, however, i they were to forgot their e-book at home…. there could be a problem. The only other thing i can think of is whether students and parents will be willing to spend the money to purchase an e-book.

If someone gave me an e-book i would give it a go, as i could see the benefit of using one and hopefully they continue to work on the e-book or even software to put on laptops and pcs that will develop this interesting technology to become a part of the classrooms of the very near future.

Talia posted some interesting information about digital cameras. It is true that cameras with film are becoming extinct almost in our society. Digital camera’s are much easier and quicker to use, a photo can be taken, and uploaded onto a computer in mere minutes and printed off on the spot.

As this is so simple, it is a great idea to get students involved with using camera’s. Dr. Terrence Cavanagh has set up a website with some great information on using digital camera’s in the classroom she provides factual information and even has some great lesson plans posted. She goes on to say

“The use of images in teaching and learning has benefits to support student comprehension, retention, and application. For example we relate the use of images to spatial intelligence, student motivation to learn, and conditions of instruction, which are established models and theories in education.”

I personally enjoy usinfg my digital camera as it is so easy to use and there are so many options available when using it. The price of digital cameras is quite reasonable considering the quality that is available, also you do not need to buy film or get the photos professionally developed. I think they are a great affordable tool that every classroom and home should have.

After reading Tim’s post on social networking, I was reminded of the Current Affair item on the same issue. Tim speaks of the popularity of social networking sites such as myspace and facebook amoung children. Schools have begun banning these sites from their computers, however, they cannot prohibit them from using them out of school.

It is often in this time that the problems arise with students being bullied through their blogs. Children have been insulted, ridiculed and had others hack into their accounts. This is a new form of bullying that parents and teachers are not familair with and cannot deal with in the usual way.

As i mentioned in my earlier post cyber bullying is not limited to school, and follows children home. Parents need to become more aware of their children and how they are using the internet. Carol A. Josel provide some tips for parents on how to become more aware with this issue. A good suggestion she had was that parents become involved in the programs their children use. This way they can see what their children are doing and children will be aware that a parent is watching.

I also found a site called imbee it is a social netwroking site for children that requires the permission of the parent for a child to sign up and can be used in a classroom environment. Hopefully, such a program can be used to reduce the number of students on myspace and facebook, as these sites are not really suitable for children with some of the content that is available.

However, a big issue with these sites remains that if children are not allowed to use them, they will become curious and want to more, perhaps rather than prohibiting their use, students should be better educated on how to use these sites and the risks of using them.

A good site i found relating to this and providing good information for children, parents and teachers is Australian Government Net Alert. I think education is the key to social networking as it has only become popular recently and it will most likely become more and more popular. It will not go away so rather than try to stop children from using it we should all educate ourselves about it and learn how to use it safely.

Watching A Current Affair last night, I was shocked to see an item on Cyber Bullying.

Cyber-bullying is the title given to the new form of bullying that is becoming increasingly common in schools today. Children are being bullied via chat rooms, messenger programs, blogs, and e-mails. It is becoming more common as it is easily accessible and does not necessarily need to involve any physical contact. However, I can see how this form of bullying could be worse than physical bullying as students can feel very threatened. Physical bullying may occur only in certain places, such as school and after school activities, however with cyber bullying there are no real limitations. The bullies can torment others in their own homes, a place where they would usually feel secure.

A year 7 student in Queensland was bullyed in the playground at school. This is bad enough and traumatic for the child. However to add insult to injury, students filmed the attack on their mobile phones and then proceeded to upload these videos onto you-tube.

I was shocked by this, as the poor student involved had to have the ordeal broadcasted online for all to see. It was suprising to see how technologically advanced students are these days, and what they can do using the technology made available to them. It made me wonder whether or not all this technology we use is actually helping our society or not. Some of the things people do with technology are definately not beneficial and can be harmful.

I think that with such things in consideration, that it is important to address appropriate and inappropriate ways to use technology with students. As using it in the way i saw yesterday is definately not something I think anyone would condone.

However, if we are teaching students how to use technology and encouraging them to share media online through blogs and sites such as teacher tube, we are providing them the skills to do the things seen in cyber bullying.

Edublogs has recently trialed using blogs with students. As part of these trials James asked teachers to respond with their comments of the blogs available to students.

Many teachers have responded, many sharing success stories and some sharing ideas on how they feel it could be improved. Some teachers shared mistakes that they made, and how they resovled them, others shared suggestions on how they planned to use blogs with their students and how they had used the blogs with their students.

The understanding I got from the comments was that teachers were quite happy with the blogs and that students were quite enthusiastic using the programs.

One teacher shared her blog and it was really interesting to see how she was using edublogs with her class. They were in middle school, going on to high school, so a bit older than what we would be using in our primary teaching, however they could be used in a similar way with year 5 or 6 students. She explained the simple way in which she introduced blogs to her students, and the results that she got from the students suggest both the students level of enjoyment in the task and the effectiveness of the teachers simple instructions.

The task she gave her students was as follows and the results were made available via this link.

1. Pick your theme (must have at least one sidebar).
2. Change the title and add a quote for your Tagline.
3. Arrange your sidebars and widgets (I required some, others they could decide on).
4. Erase the default links in the blogroll and add links to our class blog and class wiki.
5. Create and upload your avatar.
6. Erase the default post.

Overall, I found it really interesting to read the comments and see how teachers are able to actually use blogs with their students.

It showed me that the use of blogs does not need to be very complicated and that it is quite simple to use, and as my observations on prac have shown me, children are much more capable using technology than many teachers can be.

I did however consider that some teachers would not dare to try this form of technology as they would not feel confident in using this kind of technology in their teaching, however it is quite simple to use and beneficial for students, it also allows for students to learn through a medium that is interesting and relevent to them and the technologically advanced world that we live in. I think that the students who are in classes with teachers who are afraid to use this technology are at a disadvantage as they miss out on using a valuable communication and learning tool

While i was on prac, many of the teachers were stressing about their reports, as they were due soon, to add to this stress the schools server was down, and the teachers were having difficulty accessing the report program, both at school and at home.

They were also discussing that they much preferred hand-writing the reports. Not because they can’t use the program, but because they find it to be very “fiddly” and found hand-writing the reports to be much easier and quicker.

I can why they would think this, but I can see that it is more beneficial to have these reports on computers as it keeps a record of the reports, and makes them easily accessible, yet there arent hard-copys floating around. But I can’t make a judgement as i have’nt seen the program and maybe once i do, i too will feel like these teachers did!

I was a bit disappointed that i was unable to observe many and teach any computer lessons on my prac.

As I had a kindergarten class, their use of computers is limited. Also throughout my time on prac, the school was facing some problems with their server. The availability of the computer lab was also limited as there was one for the whole school.

It was good to observe how the students were assessed on their computer skills and interesting to see the results, however it would have been a good experience to put some of my learnt computing applications to use on my prac.

Hopefully, i will be able to do this on my next prac.

While I was on prac my class teacher was the computer co-ordinator. It was interesting to see how computers was taught in kindergarten classes. The instructions were very simple, and by the time students had logged into their class and opened up kidpix they only had a few minutes to use it, before they needed to log off and shut down. However, the students were still learning, and I was impressed to see them all using the macs with some confidence, as i had some initial trouble getting used to these at uni. It just goes to show how technologically advanced students are becoming, at such a young age.

Another thing i found quite interesting was that there was a student in my class who did not speak english, and could not easily follow instructions. However, when the class was being assessed on their computer skills, and being given direct instructions, such as turn on the computer, log on, open kid pix, close kid pix, and log off, this student was more confident and faster than quite a few children. This suggested two things to me, that he was an extremely visual learner, as he could remember things he had seen very well, and also that he must use a computer a lot at home. His manner in operating the computer was much better than others as he held the mouse correctly, something many children had problems with, he seemed very confident.

It surprised me that a child who is unable to communicate with his peers or teachers, was able to complete the assessment task with such ease and confidence.

Prac has finally begun! After having a few problems with going on prac, I’m really glad to be on prac now, rather than in my holidays. I’ve been given a really lovely Kindergarten class, and the school is really nice, so after a few initial dramas I’m really looking forward to the rest of prac.

I am finding the assignment a bit tricky to do though as it is a Kindergarten class, i was wondering how you guys were going on prac, and with the assignment?

Hope you’re enjoying it & Good Luck!

MY LEARNING

I have thoroughly enjoyed this subject, and have found it most useful for my future teaching. Matthew introduced us to some great and free!! online resources.  I’ve always considered myself to be confident in using computers, but ths subject really opened my eyes to ways of using technology i had never thought of and i think that it has given me great ideas for the future.

I have also learnt the constantly changing nature of technology and the need to be constantly trying new resources and technologies. It is important to become familiar with resources before using them with students so we are sure we know what we are teaching them and if it child-friendly.

So overall, i am really glad i chose this subject and will take away many great ideas for my future teaching.