Tools with potential - the amber lights

Some of the other tools Mandy introduced were interesting, but I felt that they either didn't meet the needs of the learner groups I will be working with on placement, or that there were other issues, such as subscription charges to be paid. That is not to say that they cannot be used in the future - who knows where my teaching adventure will take me?  I will be keeping an open mind for all of them.


Explain Everything is a whiteboard and screencasting tool which allows you to integrate content from myriad sources and incorporate social media for easy sharing. It allows teachers and learners to create multimedia projects to explain concepts, or to illustrate tutorials.

I never got to grips with this app, but I can see the potential, particularly with younger learners.





QR codes - I had seen these, but did not know how they worked. Now I know, they are great for linking to masses of information without diluting the main message on a poster, or page. I found this page, which generates codes which can then be embedded into posters, webpages, blogs, and many other places. I can see this being a useful tool for posting links to articles and websites which may be useful for students to access when researching or completing assignments. QR codes could also be placed on presentation slides to be scanned. You can see some examples of how QR codes can be used here. Although these are primarily marketing examples, the potential for use in other areas can be seen. To read a QR code, you need to download a QR reader, which are free in most app stores.


Phoster is a simple design tool which allow you to create posters, invitations, and cards by using images, QR codes, and other types of media. There are preloaded templates to use, and features such as font select and visual effects to produce a slick and professional looking piece of work. Phoster is limited in what it can do, but can be a great starting point for those who want to use their devices to create posters. As with all such tools, the level of creativity is up to the user. More information on how Phoster works can be found here.




Prezi is a fantastic alternative to Powerpoint. It's a cloud based presentation tool, which uses a single canvas rather than a series of slides to tell a story, or present an idea. Text, images, video clips and other types of media can be used to create a digital, non linear presentation, parts of which can be zoomed in and out of, according to the needs of the audience. I have to say that I adored this tool when I first saw it, particularly the non linear aspect. I can see this being incredibly useful in HE, when in tutorials, or when introducing complex concepts which may require repeated explanations or reinforcements. As with so many excellent tools, there is a subscription fee, which can be a disadvantage. The dynamic nature of the canvas, and the zoom tool can be disconcerting for viewers, and care must be taken not to overuse this feature.There are some great examples of how Prezi has been used to create presentations here and here.


SpicyNodes - a lovely way to present hierarchical information. Adam, one of my fellow student teachers showed us how to use SpicyNodes in one of our ICT lectures, and it was a very visual and logical way to present information. His presentation is here.
As with Prezi, I can see potential with SpicyNodes, and will be exploring it further.







Glogster is another multimedia tool, which allows you to create interactive posters containing video clips, images, speech, hyperlinks, and text. I used this to create a page on debates for a homework activity, and I thoroughly enjoyed using it. Unfortunately, as with Prezi, it is a subscription based tool, and I created my page using the free trial option. I have posted a screenshot of the page, but the interactive elements are unavailable. There are a huge number of images and themes to choose from, and again, you are only bound by your own imagination. The Glogpedia contain thousands of posters created by users from all over the world which can be interacted with to show the many features available.

It's a real shame that you can't see all the elements I added to the poster. There was an audio clip of the definition of debate in the top right hand corner, a link to a Youtube video, hyperlinks to to other websites in the question mark and the pinboard images, text from other websites on the Post-it notes, and images which expanded as you clicked on them. Glogster is very similar to Explain Everything in many aspects, but the fact that I was able to manipulate Glogster far easier than Explain Everything gives it the edge for me.

What we have learnt so far....... the green lights

I have been waiting to upload this blog post, as I wanted to digest all the information given to us by Mandy during the ICT lectures. I'm going to try and give a brief overview of what we looked at, and how (if at all) I think they would be useful in my teaching practice. An important thing to remember when reading this, is that their relevance to teaching practice is based on my subject, learner group and personal preference - other people will have differing opinions, based on their own requirements.

The Internet Detective tool is an interactive online tutorial which helps the student to identify legitimate and credible sources of information on the web. Research at university level requires higher level skills than those needed for school work or personal research. Critical analysis and synthesis of information are demanded, as well as evidence of the use of a wide range of credible sources.

Source - http://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk

The ability to discern between the various sources is crucial when researching for assignments or dissertations, and being able to avoid the potential pitfalls is the first step to producing work that will not only get good marks, but will instill good research habits for the future. This tutorial provides examples of good and bad sources, information on where to find credible information, as well as interactive exercises, where the student has to analyse examples and assess their authenticity.

I think that this will be a useful activity for a tutorial class with my HE students, many of whom have limited experience of academic research methods, and why they are important. There are still students who use and reference Wikipedia, and don't understand why it is not a suitable source, and this exercise should help them to understand the need to develop a discerning nature when researching online. I dug a little deeper into the vts tutorials website and found a business studies specific tutorial for information sources, which I have already used with the first and second year HND students. They also offer tailored resources for a wide range of other subjects.

Delicious is a free bookmarking tool which allows you to save, organise, and share links you find on the web. As you can imagine, it is incredibly useful when undertaking research for university writing, as all your sources can be kept together for convenient and easy access. Links can be tagged with keywords, which allows them to be found by other users and vice-versa. As with all research, a degree of care must be involved when searching for and using other people's links.

I have already discussed bubbl.us in a previous blog post - you can find that post here.

TodaysMeet is a tool which can be used by teachers to set up online discussion rooms where students can contribute in real time. Rooms can be set up for different lengths of time, and with varying degrees of privacy. Once the discussion is complete, a link to the room can be generated and used to embed the discussion into a webpage, a blog, or a class page.

Todaysmeet is a great way of encouraging student engagement and participation. It does rely on everyone having access to technology, which can be an issue in some establishments, but if it can be used, it can generate some lively discussion and debate. You can find out more about Todaysmeet here.

Pinterest is a tool where you can gather images, links to video clips, and your own documents onto "boards", which are named according to their content. My initial thoughts on Pinterest were that it was a rather pleasant way of keeping track of hobby ideas and that it was what I call a time eater - a way of spending hours on the internet looking at things without having anything to show for it at the end. Oh, was I wrong. 

Pinterest is a fantastic way of not only gathering resources, but can also be used as an alternative to Powerpoint. I first saw this in action when the lovely Dave used it during his first micro teach session. I loved the fact that it was non linear, and that he was able to jump back and forth to different things seamlessly, without the endless click-click-click of Powerpoint. I found it highly engaging, and went on to use it for my second microteach on PEST Analysis. I shall be using it for HE lectures in the future.

You can follow my Pinterest boards by clicking here.

A different perspective......

Today was the final day of my observation week at Neath College Business School, and it's been a full and thought provoking week. It was wonderful to see my old tutors without the spectre of assignment deadlines hovering over us as we spoke, but it was strange to be returning as a trainee teacher, there to work alongside them. I was looking forward to the challenge of sitting in a classroom, and concentrating my attention on the style of delivery, as opposed to the content, as was the case when I was a student.

The majority of my teaching time will be in HE on the HND and Foundation Degree courses, where I will be teaching Strategy, Enterprise Management, Business Communications, and Information Management. I will also be working with students who are undertaking the Live Project module, a year long research task, which culminates in a mini dissertation and a presentation. This module is going to give me ample opportunity to pass on some of the tips and tools I have acquired in ICT with Mandy, and it will be interesting to see how they are incorporated by different students. My final HE module is Employability and Professional Development, a module which involves self audit and personal development, where I hope to utilise some of the theories and ideas introduced by Natalie in the PPT module.

I was fortunate enough to be able to observe a wide range of teaching styles and courses, not only in the classes I will be working in, but in A Levels, BTEC, and Welsh Baccalaureate classes. Although I won't be teaching A Levels, the opportunity to see the different tutors working was invaluable, and one I could not pass up. I am hoping to continue to observe these classes, in order to gain as much knowledge as I can. After Christmas, I hope to be involved in teaching on some of the BTEC and Welsh Baccalaureate classes, if the opportunity arises. If this remains unfeasible, I have offered to go in as additional support, so I can continue observations whilst making a practical contribution to the class.

There is one aspect of my placement which is giving me cause for concern, and that is the temperamental nature of the IT equipment. Many of the tutors reported frequent struggles with whiteboards unwilling to cooperate, projector bulbs inexplicably blowing, and computers which took longer to warm up and run programs than a teenage boy would take to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. As an ex-student, I can testify that this is an all too familiar issue, and appreciate that I will need to be creative in my lesson planning, to accommodate any such problems when they occur. The positive side is that the tutors at Neath have developed some excellent strategies to counter these drawbacks, which I have seen being successfully implemented.

I am beyond happy with the opportunities I have been given, not only to teach others, but to learn myself whilst at Neath College. The staff team there have my undying gratitude for being so generous with their time when answering my numerous questions, and for their willingness to allow me to sit in on their lessons and see how they teach and manage their diverse learner groups. With this level of expertise and support around me, I can only move onwards and upwards with my professional development.

Mobile Technology in learning

Mobile technology is now ubiquitous in our society, and to not incorporate it into learning would be missing the boat. Many teaching environments still recoil in horror at the thought of pupils using mobile phones or tablets in lessons, yet this is where it can have a huge impact. My own children, and others about to enter primary school are completely at ease with technology, and do not know a world without it. Secondary and further education students are often good indicators of future trends in technology. They are incredibly adept at seeking out alternatives to popular apps once their use spreads to other demographic groups - very few teenagers are comfortable with their parents liking their every post on Facebook, for example!

This familiarity with technology needs to be redirected from a purely social use into a more educational paradigm. "Chalk and talk" can have its place in a scheme of work, but a broader range of learning styles can be catered for if the tutor can access video clips, online seminars, charts, images - the list goes on. Students can participate in real time, by writing blogs, or commenting on material posted by the tutor. Assessments can be recorded as a video for those students who may struggle with the more traditional methods of assessment and evaluation.

Source - http://www.educationnews.org





Rather than opposing, or even banning technolongy in classrooms, as appears to be the case in some instistutions, educators need to work with what technology has to offer. Primary schools seem to have grasped this  - it now needs to be embraced by secondary and further education to ensure a seamless transition through the system.

On a personal note, I have seen both sides of the coin. As a parent, I have always tried to encourage my children to use mobile technology to complete homework assignments, either as a research tool, or by recording work to submit. This has not always been met with enthusiasm, with some teachers insisting on written submissions, and refusing to accept work that my children (particularly the youngest) have spent a lot of time doing on their tablets or laptops. Others have been incredibly supportive and have embraced the different ways of presenting work. I do appreciate that there is a need to produce handwritten work for some lessons or for specific assessments, but surely if a child has worked hard to produce a poster or a diagram using technology, then this should be accepted as a satisfactory method of completing homework? The disparity between primary and secondary attitudes towards technology needs to be addressed, as I mentioned earlier in this post. 

Blog review - Ian's AS Business Studies Blog

Annmarie and I looked at a number of different blogs before deciding to review this one. We chose it because it is a great example of how teachers can use social media and technology to engage with students. There is extensive evidence of a wide range of resources being used to support classroom delivery which can be accessed outside the normal timetable.

Purpose

The blog under review is “Ian’s AS Business Studies Blog” (available at: http://rutcasbus.blogspot.co.uk/ ), and has been created by a teacher of AS Level Business Studies for the specific purpose of relaying information to students in support of the curriculum,individual lessons, and homework assignments. Initial investigations show that this purpose is satisfied successfully, with regular and frequent posts referring to subjects recently discussed in the classroom in relation to homework.

Layout

Common elements such as the course content, popular posts, share buttons, and subscription options are present and easily located (See Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

The blog author has obviously thought about the different learning styles of his students, and utilises a variety of methods to transmit information (See Fig. 2). Posts are well written, with text written in a clear font and suitable spacing. Pictures are used regularly to support written points, as well as tables and video clips. There are visual and written hyperlinks throughout the blog, linking to other websites which the author expects the students to investigate, encouraging them to undertake independent study and research. This use of hyperlinks minimises the potential for disruption of the flow of the blog, and improves readability.

Fig. 2

Content

The content is relevant to the intended audience and pitched at a suitable level. There is not a great deal of original content written by the author, but this is to be expected in blog such as this, where the main purpose is to relay curriculum and homework information to students. What the blog does very well is to gather resources relevant to the course into one place and provide the students with access links, so that they can undertake independent research and study, and draw their own conclusions from the information presented.

Activity

Activity appears to be rather minimal, with only a few responses to many of the posts. This could be explained by the fact that the blog is primarily a resource for students, and interaction with the teacher is done during lessons, as opposed to on the blog. 

Believability

The author of this blog has a good understanding, not only of his subject, but of his students and their needs. He has used a range of methods to provide information, and has clearly laid out his expectations of what he would like the students to do with it.

Conclusion

This blog is an excellent example of a teacher using social media to support his classroom delivery, and shows how information can be presented in a number of ways to suit different learning styles.This type of blog could be used for a wide range of subjects to engage the students and encourage them to develop independent study and research skills.