Week 5

I have finally got around to putting a "Voki" on my blog. This application would be a great resource to use in an educational setting. I believe that students would be more inclined to be egaged with aspects of entertainment that they are use to. I think back to my learning experiences at school and wish that I could have be entertained whilst learning in this way. My two boys would much rather see a cartoon figure advising them about information rather than seeing and watching me talk!

We are not sure about what will change in the future concerning teaching methods but fun, engagement, real life learning and life long learning could and should always be enhanced in any way possible (Sir Ken Robinson, 2006). It's also the small things that occur whilst using technology that are beneficial. Important occurances such as improved reading, improved writing, better understanding, better analysis and more risk taking take place in many ICT learning environments. Students need to become experts in transferring new information from their sensory memory to their working memory and then embedding this information in their long-term memory (Dr. Graham Cooper, 1998). Vygotsky (1962) stated that social interaction
greatly influences a persons learning in a positive manner. This, I believe,is what ICT is all about, the interconnection of engagement, socialising, learning, risk taking and memorising.

regards

Michael

Started my new wiki

This afternoon I started a wiki and was pleasantly suprised how user friendly the instructions and site were (wetpaint). This is not my first wiki but certainly the easiest one to join and navigate around the site. On a previous wiki the students in a course I was doing all had to make posts concerning how to improve the course we were doing at the time. It started of very well but eventually some students formed groups and flooded/hyjacked the wiki. So I believe that wikis are a fantastic tool for collaborative learning, however, they need to be moderated in one form or another.

Michael

Week 4

George Lucas certain has developed a fantastic philosophy towards our youth and learning. Basically he suggests that if you give students a 'real' task, one that they see value in, there is a much better chance of them learning about the tools (maths,science, english ect) that will enable them to complete the task. If they see the relevance, it is meaningful and interesting then they will remain engaged and suceed in most areas. I can't think of a better way to explore ICT learning than via a successful technology implementer such as George Lucas.

Learning experiences can greatly be enhanced by using very simple strategies -

Keep subjects matter real (for students)
Show relevance (to students and their future)
Make it interesting
Change teaching styles now and again (keep it fresh)

Only a few of my teachers actually made the lessons interesting which truly inhibited my learning and that of other students in the class. Hopefully by the end of GDLT I will be much better informed about learning strategies and how to implement them.

I looked at the blog that Scot posted as an activity, it was very cleverly assembled. There was a miriad of information and a chance for students to participate. It showed some very interesting utube clips on how to create creativity and what it can do for you. It also argued that being good these days is sometimes not good enough. We should not always err on the side of caution but sometimes go out on and edge and be different. Ok, now of to get other peers blog feeds and to start my own wiki!

Michael

Week 3...a very interesting one

This week we learnt about Dimensions of learning (DoL). Most up-to-date schools are using DoL as a learning/teaching framework for students to achieve positive results. In my eyes it is all a way for learning managers to cover all areas of productive learning. DoL can also readily be used as a learning check list to incorporate important learning strategies.

I am amazed out how complete the DoL are and how logical and simply it can be used as a educational framework. As I have said earlier, the Dol's and the 8 LMQ's fit together like a jigsaw puzzel. DoL 1 and 5 offer an useful insight into how learners learn best where as DoL 2 seems to fit best with with numbers 1 to 6 of the * LMQ's. They all appear to be concerned with what need to be learned, how, resources, knowledge intergration and meaning construction.

The slides concerning Procedural Knowledge (know how to do stuff) and Declarative Knowledge (know stuff) were very clear in distinguishing their differences. Declarative knowledge is to do with concepts/generalisations, organised facts and factlets while Procedural knowledge is deals with macroprocesses, stategies and directions.

more soon, have to go out
cya

http://micksicts.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2

I hope that this hyperlink will allow you to see my previous posts on my other blog.

Michael

Things that make you go hmmmm...

Ok, my original blog now works so some how I will have to try to cut and paste from my other blog onto this one. I also have to stop the feed from the other blog and make a new feed from Mahara this blog..................clear as mud :-)

Michael

Eye opener

Just a quick note to say how amazed I am at the amount of experience and knowledge that I have encountered whilst reading the forums in EDED20491.
As you can see by my photo, I've been around for a while but I am continually suprised with all of your ideas and thoughts concerning different topics.

Hope somebody reads this one day, lol

Michael