Assessment 2 - Dipity Timeline

This tool should not be my favourite as some other tools are a lot more practical and enriched with effective elearning potential, for example a wiki. However I simply can not help it! I find Dipity from a history perspective as being a valuable practical tool to use. Even outside of history it can be used as a planning tool. One that I will no doubt will be putting into practise in the classroom.

Dipity is a multimedia interactive online time-line that is a great resource for teaching in a classroom. The students are able to embed links, digital images, you tube videos, podcasts and more into there timelines. People automatically assume timelines are only to be used in a historical context. It can be used as an activity for the students to understand the development of events and cultures in chronological order, in an e-learning environment to adapt to today’s digital learners. For a History subject in particular, the content is linked to its source, which can include visual aids, short documentary clips and citations.  Though this is not all that it can be used for. It can be created and shared interactively on any subject or topic. They can be used as topic planners, as a personal timeline in conjuction with students blogs and wikis.  This is a feature where Dipity takes your username and  URL code to automatically upload your information into a timeline. This can be done from any supported social networking site. Ie, Blogs, youtube and wikis.

 They can be created by students individually or as a class and posted on blogs, wikis or webpages to share with the class.    

Another great application of the Dipity timeline is that it can be viewed in four ways: Timeline, List View, Flipbook and Map View.

  

It can be extremely time consuming which could limit students use to larger independent projects or collaborative assignments. However once the student has the information at hand to be imputed it would be quicker. An issue I am not quite sure whether to see as a weakness or not is that the timelines can be copied quite easily. I found this by attempting to embed a timeline created by someone else on my wiki. However copying can be done regardless of technology so can it be seen as a weakness for Dipity?

Under a paid subscription, a teacher can be sent statistical reports to observe their students use of the resources given. 

Dates can be added or edited as a group when the creator selects the option, allowing members to contribute.

I had a play on Dipity linking it with my Wiki page on inspirational figures in History.

I created a biography timeline on Muhammad Ali the American boxer. I did this in order to demonstrate how online biographical timelines would involve a number of sources to create it. The experience exposes students to people whose dedication and achievements inspire and motivate them. A more in depth approach to the multiple sources available to them online as well as catering for a number of learning styles.

A brief biography of Muhammad Ali' life on Dipity.

Assessment 2... Glogster

I was right at the end of my analysis of using Glogster, within five seconds I had deleted the entire page, raced to get it back in time before auto save happened and no...all gone!!! 


I will begin... AGAIN! 


I created a Glogster account a few weeks ago and had a play around with it but did nothing more. I then looked at Power Point, thinking this is what I used whilst I was in education. Prezi on the other hand was a completely new concept though when I had a go at it, it was great but still thought no, Glogster is the one that has caught my eye. It is simple yet effective and can be used for all ages. After reading the education page Glogster created for educators to read up on the potential of Glogster as a learning  tool. I felt this would be worth learning about for future use! 
This webpage offers the reader key features, benefits and ways to use Glogster EDU in the classroom.

"A Glog is an interactive visual platform in which users create a “poster or web page” containing multimedia elements including: text, audio, video, images, graphics, drawings, and data."

I flew down to Brisbane this week to have all four wisdom teeth taken out and stayed with my family. My youngest sister is in grade eight and currently learning how to write book reviews. Rather than I carrying out the task of creating a poster as an example of my understanding of this technology, I decided to be cheeky and ask Olivia to create a poster on how to write a book review. It worked out well as I was not feeling my best and it helped Olivia recall the information she had learnt that day at school and display it in a way she would remember it in the future. I watched her create it to see how well she could adapt to this new technology that she had never heard of before.

Olivia was getting tired and slightly agitated toward the end of making the poster and I had to prompt her to look at embedding images and for relative videos online. This could have been because it was myself who had asked her to create it and not her teacher or that it was just before her bed time. Or Glogster did not keep her engaged long enough for her to take full advantage of its learning potential.

This is what Olivia created!  

Objective

• Diverse range of technologies can be embedded in the posters to cater for visual or auditory learners
• Fun
• Multiple Learning styles catered for
• Can be used for any subject or topic                                               
• Has own education resource library
• Need to research to discover other teachers opinions and how they have used Glogster EDU.

Intuitive

• A new way to express creativity fun learning experience
• Drives new interest levels around subjects that may have been seen as "boring" before
• Fosters teamwork and collaboration with classmates
•  Adds audiovisual aspects to traditionally text-oriented subjects
•  can be used as class presentations, projects or group work done by collaboration or individual assessment.
• Improves student- teacher relationships by allowing both to explore web 2.0 and learning concepts together

Negative

• Time Consuming
• Needs to be saved regularly 
• Dependant on adobe flash supportive software

Creative

• Attractive to all school years
• Promotes the use of technology
• wide range of uses though need to decide which are the most effective for subject and age group 
• Need to think how this tool can promote and enhance higher order thinking

Positive

• With regards to the safety and ethical concerns one would have for the students, the content and actions can be monitored by the teacher closely. 
• Online interaction within Glogster is limited to the classroom only
• It engages students to be more creative and further develop their IT skills
• Flexible in that it can be embedded in blogs and wikis

Process

• A great learning tool that can be used for any topic regardless of subject
• An effective tool when it comes to displaying what students have learnt but how else can it be used?

The great thing about reading into Glogster, is that I passed on this information to a friend who is a primary school teacher and she has just created a lesson for her grade 6 class! 

Wordle...

Hmmmm very easy to create !!  Fun to edit and great for visual learners! 

 A tool to support the learning of a subject by visualising important key words. 


Not as supportive as other tools for secondary school students


Can not apply other effects such as sound or images.

                                  Blogs in Education!!! 

Assessment 2 Digital Images

Flickr and Picnik

oRiGiNaL 

mODiFIed

For educational purposes Picnik can be used for editing personal pictures from students or photos that concern a topic they are learning. Just like this one I have zoomed in so the butterfly is more prominent. If I had more time I could enhance the photo so that the butterfly was a different colour directing your focus straight to it.

This sort of manipulation can help develop analysis skills, inspire discussions and support arguments by pinpointing issues. A basic example would be if I were to ask students to manipulate an image in order to analyse it. They could come up with something like this.

This was done on Picnik. There are other softwares available that have more tools to be more creative.

Digital Images can be used to support arguments and understand different places, cultures and identities. A great resource for visual learning and understanding.

• Visual literacy is the ability to see, to understand, and ultimately to think, create, and communicate graphically. Generally speaking, the visually literate viewer looks at an image carefully, critically, and with an eye for the intentions of the image’s creator

• Enhance visual communication skills
• Illustrate concepts and inspire discussions
• Document, support theories and arguments in projects, research and events
• Encourage and support critical thinking.
• Identify emotions and mood 
• Can be used to assess students knowledge
• Enhance creative and language skills through analysis of images

Digital images must be used constructively within its context and not just as a visual stimulant.


The manipulation of images through applications such as picnik can be time consuming with little to gain at secondary school level compared to other uses of digital images.

• Can engage students as they can relate to the visual stimulants.

• Diverse range of use with positive outcomes

• Copyright issues. Make sure the images can be used and used correctly. 
• Safety of students use of digital images

Potential for Webpages

I have created my webpage but yet to actually do anything with it. Will have to come back to that one! 

My first webpage!

Strengths

History involves a lot of research and traditionally a lot of reading is required. Web pages can display limitless amounts of links, information, clips, podcasts.  A more engaging way to learn other than textbooks.

Can be created to suit any subject.

Students can create webpages. Can involve group work encouraging collaboration and higher order thinking.

Weakness

Limited interaction compared to Blogs and Wikis.

Only the Teacher or creator of the website can modify the webpage.

Opportunities

The use of websites and creating them can be something the students will make use of after their education in careers or social settings.

Threats

Websites are open for all to view. 

Assignment 2 Wikis

I created a wiki for the first time the other day but didn’t do anything with it. I started thinking about how I could use this in a History class to get students interacting. History has this stereotype of being facts and figures…boring. So I thought up a wiki to discuss inspirational figures from the past and by using the wiki, in theory students could comment and add their own to it. You tube clips or even podcasts of famous speeches could be used. My first thoughts on using ICT within my subject!  Wikis can be used for any subject and in any context. Whether it is used as an assessment tool or as an online central classroom where students learning begins. You are able to combine all other online tools that are available into one place...A wiki! 


A few uses for Wikis


Resource Creation      eg:   Create reference pages online
                                              Create and present presentations in a wiki
                                              Readers' guides for online book reviews                                   
Student Participation eg:  Create and display Student Portfolios                                                       
                                              Share notes
                                             Collaborative effort on topics. Vocabulary and
                                             Spelling corrections                                    
                                             True or False activities
                            
Group projects          eg:   Online time lines
                                            Great for collaborative History projects
                                            
Student interaction    eg: Mulit- author creative writing
                                           Literature circles
                                           Debates
                                           Collect and store data for classes.
                                           Classroom Social page
                    


http://missgarratt.wikispaces.com/Who+inspires+you%3F

Potential of Wikis in secondary schools

Strengths

Encourages and develops higher order thinking.

Level of interaction is extremely high compared to blogs or web pages.

A new age method to engage students at all ages in learning. A wiki designed for a year 8 English class can be completely different to a wiki designed for year 11 History.

Enhances online learning.

Great for group collaboration on assignments especially with history projects.

Students interact and collaborate with each other and their teachers in a virtual world. 


Easy to navigate

Students can access Wikis outside of the classroom in private study yet still be interacting with other students. This can benefit students who are ill or absent from class as all the information a student would need can be online.

Weaknesses

Must be well balanced with other learning activities as can minimise physical interaction in a classroom.

The use of wikis relies on the good nature of the students. They can be manipulated by anyone.  Although there is a history function to restore previous settings and postings. Teachers would also have to monitor the behaviour of students to minimise the risk of undesired information being posted. 

Opportunities

Promotes collaboration within group activities.

Constructing assignments.

Threats

Must be monitored well by  the teacher.

Wikis encourage higher order thinking. They can be used for all ages in a high school depending on the context. I believe grade 9 and above would benefit the most from using this tool.

Potential of Blogs in Secondary Schools

After seeing how well others are doing with their blogging I am slowly but surely starting to get into the swing of it and may push the boat out further in my next few postings. Hopefully they will look better than blocks of typing like my last few… Wish me luck!!!! Ha.

·      

•      Blogs have such a range of uses in many different contexts. For instance, strictly educational, reflective or personal.

• ·       Student’s work is one area, it is easier for the teacher and student to access. No more “the dog ate my homework miss” Both can comment on postings.

•               Can be accessed or created anywhere. Discussion is no longer kept within a classroom.

•               Enables students to be creative in their work, an insight into their thoughts on particular topics if the blog is subject related.

•               Encourages collaboration amongst students.

I found an interesting website that gave strengths of Blogs in Teaching and Learning. Breaking it down into 9 categories. I found that a few of these categories were useful.

 Activate. Using a blog as a catalyst to generate motivation for certain subjects. 

Connect. Provide a context or establish a connection.

Critique. Critically evaluate an idea or perspective by using examples. (This can be done by looking at other blogs available on certain topics and use as examples.)

Deepen.  Add depth to learning situation by providing a detailed explanation, thoughtful observation, or new resource that provides additional information or insights. 

Expand.   Broaden students thinking.

Inform.  Provide primary sources or data that help explain an idea already presented. Using graphs, statistics to illustrate a point.

Launch. Present a new idea and ask questions to keep the new idea going.

Synthesise. Bring a number of ideas together. Consolidate comments and draw a new conclusion. 

•             Schools would have to have enough computers/internet access for blogging to be successful in a classroom.

• ·         Not all students have constant access to the internet outside of school.

• ·        Internet connections are not always reliable.

• ·         Teachers must be ICT ‘savvy’

• ·         Not all students will be interested in blogging enough to take full advantage of its ability as a space for reflective learning.

Blogs are a useful tool for students to reflect on their own learning.