Week 5

This weeks question:

Last week's lecture focussed on the Internet in the classroom. Comment(with reasons) on one website which can be used effectively in the classroom. You must provide the web address and it should NOT be one which was referred to in the lecture.





Post on March 22 2010
Created on Monday, 03/22/2010 9:55 PM by CATHY-ANNE SCOTT

Dust Echoes ( www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/ ) is a website that could be used in a Year 6-7 classroom to integrate Indigenous perspectives in English, the Arts and SOSE. The website contains " twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories". Each animated (movie) dreamtime story contains links to: the original story, the meaning of the story and geographical location. The teacher is supported with an online study guide and quiz. Students have the opportunity to take a story and 'mash it up', whereby they can create their own 1 minute version of the dreamtime story by selecting scenes and audio tracks. The website can help teachers scaffold learning around Indigenous dreamtime stories and gives students a constructivist hands on learning experience where they mash up their own version of the story.

Week 4

This weeks question:

QCOT Standard Six states that in their practices teachers should "provide opportunities to purposefully use a range of communication tools and participate through ICT in local, national or global communities." Suggest how this can be achieved in your future classrooms..



Post on March 22 2010
Created on Monday, 03/22/2010 8:55 PM by CATHY-ANNE SCOTT
Updated on Monday, 03/22/2010 8:56 PM by CATHY-ANNE SCOTT

The internet has opened up amazing possibilities for teachers to bring local, national and global communities ‘into’ the classroom. At the local level students have the opportunity to ‘chat live’ or teleconference with a scientist. The Scientist in Schools website highlights the success of long-distance school partnerships and projects. On a national level students can participate in projects such as “The Australian Orang-utan Project “ where they can engage and take action for wildlife conservation. The project gives schools the opportunity to form a national community where they can raise awareness for the endangered animals. A visit to the Global Education site can provide teachers with resources to integrate global perspectives across the curriculum. The site lists a number of global projects which address such issues as sanitation and biodiversity. The projects incorporate activities, online discussion forums and suggestions for action.

Week 3

This weeks question:


Created on Saturday, 03/13/2010 9:32 PM by CATHY-ANNE SCOTT

ICT's and mind tools such as Inspiration could be integrated into a classroom spelling program to provide Johnny with fun and engaging ways to learn spelling. Johnny could be asked to use Inspiration to create a mind map of words that he is having trouble spelling. Johnny could link his tricky spelling words in Inspiration to strategies he could use to help him spell them ie. " i before e, except after c " or either ( has " it her " in it ). An example of a similiar mind map can be seen here . Johnny could also be asked to create a game in PowerPoint for his tricky words. Johnny could create a PowerPoint page with the image, sound file and hidden correct spelling of his tricky words. Practice and Drill programs like spelling city could also be incorporated into a spelling program to assist Johnny with learning to spell.

Week 2

This weeks question:

Many learning activities are underpinned by learning theories. Think of an effective activity where ICT was used. Which learning theory (or theories) shaped its design? How did it influence the learning outcomes?

Created on Sunday, 03/07/2010 1:29 PM by CATHY-ANNE SCOTT

Whilst reading an education blog I came across an effective learning activity where the teacher used an application called VoiceThread for students to create a book report. This ICT application is particularly effective as students can use images (photographs, own drawings) to illustrate their review. Students can then use the voice recording capabilities of the software to record their book report responses. The program allows other class members and/or the teacher to also record/reflect on comments made by the student.

This activity supports social activism theory whereby ICT's are used in a hands-on way to connect to real world (reading) experiences. The teacher also has the opportunity to scaffold the learning experience (Vygotsky) by posing reflective questions for the student to respond to. Students are able to therefore extend their ideas and thoughts during the creation of the book report through visuals and the support of the teacher.