How the learning environment works and how it supports my learning.

For this first assignment I have combined a blog http://lorettafle.wordpress.com/

 with a wikispace http://lorettawfle.wikispaces.com/

The blog is linked to all other members of the course’s learning environments. This was done through RSS. This has been invaluable as link to see what other people were doing many other students were very generous in sharing their ideas. I have also linked this site to the online podcasts.

 The front page of the blog is really just for jottings and notices related to assignments etc. I have also created two pages on the blog titled Learning Journal and Reflections on the Readings. Both these pages have given me different opportunities to reflect on what I have learnt.

The Learning Journal has given me the opportunity to reflect on the frustrations and the successes. This has been an ongoing journal.  The chance to reflect has given me a space vent when there has been frustration in trying to learn/ work with the variety of applications. It has helped my learning because while venting I am able to work through what I need to do next and what I have done before to overcome difficulties.

The reflection on the readings has given me a chance to look at in some detail some of the readings.  Most importantly the reflection of the readings has given me the chance to digest the information, research a little further to assist me to make sense of the topics covered. I found much of the online discussion difficult to keep up with. I had no context in which to put the knowledge I was receiving. I have not been involved in Web2.0 applications in my teaching. So much of the discussion referred to applications I had not used. The readings and the associated research helped me to make sense of the various learning environments and how the different components were blended.  The other benefit of the Reflection on the Readings is that it has given me the opportunity to fuse the content of the readings with my view of education. I believe that computer technology should not be used in education unless it enhances student learning. The students are able to access the technology in their lives and will continue to use it as a form of recreation and social interaction. I believe that if that can be combined with well structured learning environments then we are using the best of both worlds. This will provide students to develop the knowledge and skills to improve and support their learning.

The third component of this assignment is that the blog is linked with a wiki from wikispace. The reason for this is that the WordPress environment would not allow for the inclusion of screencasts and podcasts.   This wikispace gives a brief outline of some of the applications I have learnt about. I have tried to apply some of the skills I have learnt to explain the different applications. This has given me practical experience at what does work and what needs to be tackled in a different way.

The Reflections on the Readings and the Wiki will be aspects that I will be able to return to. One of the reasons for completing this subject is to develop my knowledge so that I can develop the knowledge of the teachers whom I work with. I realised before I can this course that I was lacking in knowledge but I was surprised when I sent out an email to all our staff( about 120 people) if anyone know how to create a blog I got no responses. I asked around and nobody had done one. So I hope that these two components of Assignment One can be used to assist others.

The blog and the wiki are linked. It does not matter whether you log into the wiki or the blog first, the sidebar has a link back to the other application. In the Blog I have also embed the link on the home page as the link on the side tool bar does seem to drop out.

ASSIGNMENT ONE

There are two sections to Assignment One.

One part is in this blog. comments have been made in both Learning Journal and the Reflection on the Readings.

The second part of the assignment has been placed into a wiki  http://lorettawfle.wikispaces.com/ I have put this link here as the link on the side toolbar can drop out at times.

My Wordle

Connect to my wiki

You can connect to my wiki by clicking on
Lorettafle wiki

Review Questions

Was it easy to navigate from one blog to another?
Were the activities interesting?
Do you think the students would have gain a deeper understanding of the novels from the blogs?

Review

The bookclub blog is developing. As I have been developing this blog and its connecting blogs the students have been learning how to participate in this style of response. the teaching and learning has been twofold. One aspect is learning to use the technology. Surprisingly none of the students had been on a blog before and as primary ages students I had to teach them how to navigate a site although I hope that it is fairly self explanitory. the students have also been involved in some of the set up of one of the sites, Ruby Holler. A blog which allows for greater independence is also another aspect that has taken some students time to get use to. It is interesting to see which students are willing to publicly share their ideas and whcih are not. It requires a different way of expressing themselves and one which some students are not comfortable. On the technical/educational side it was interesing that some students reported that their parents did not think that this really was valued;that accessing class blog and making contributions was valid. Other parents thought it was terrific.
The other aspect is the literacy teaching encouraging students to expand their response from “I thought it was good” to really expressing their ideas. Using just snippets of stimulus has been a change in the way that literature have been presented to these students. Analysising texts and visuals has not been a part of what these students have experienced. So in their own learning there has been changes.
this blog will continue to develop. Students are learning to put their voice onto the site. We have trialled audacity which the students loved but we have had difficulty uploading due to the constraints of the blog. So I am looking for ways around that at present. This has been a giant learning curve for me, having never done a blog before. Apart for the obvious technical diffciulties, the planning of what goes onto each blog and incorporating activities that the students know how to do along with providing educational challenges is in itself a challenge.

Change to Assignment Two

I have made a change to Assignment Two. I did try to create a wiki but I couldnt quite get it right so I decided to go with a series of interlinked blogs. The idea is that mys students, who are in Year Six, begin at the bookclub blog site then goes off to other blogs related to the book they have been reading and then complete some tasks and add their ideas. These sites will be built up upon over the next few weeks. The intitial site for the bookclub is http://yearsixbookclub.wordpress.com/ It is only in its earliest stages ans I want to check I am doing the right thing.
While this blog is developing I will be teaching my students how to add the various aspects of the blog I am hoping to teach teh studnts how to add text, images, video and record their voices.

Assignment Two explained further

For this assignment I am going to create a Wiki. This will be used by the students in the class to reflect on some of the books they are reading.
Within the wiki the students will be able to share their ideas, through text and throught the use of the program Audacity where the students can record their voices speaking about the books.
I intend to include some youtube videos to stimulate some comparision between the books and film.
I will also provide links to the authors’ websites to link the students to the author.
As the students this wiki is aimed at are in primary school I will embed the wordle program so that the students can write in some of the interesting words they have found in their reading to create a wordle.
I want this to be an interactive site where the student have some control of the content.
The purpose of this wiki is to create an online discussion bookclub style site.

Assignment Two

For my second assignment I was thinking of looking how I could develop the use of VLE with Year six students. I think that I will develop a Book Club theme where students can review what they have read.

Revisit the Questions to Explore

Having done a little more reading I am wondering if the question that I should be looking into is what PLE would best suit the students I teach?