Synopsis (Assessment II)

E-learning is a necessary study for adopting new information technologies in teaching. Recently, teachers have been using new information technologies in class that students have become accustomed to at home. Therefore, it is often happens that teachers do not have enough knowledge to use them effectively in a teaching environment, so this E-learning class can help us as teachers to improve our knowledge and skills and furthermore translate this information to a real life classroom environment.
Before using information technologies in classes, teachers must know about “Netiquette” for students’ safety. There are certain rules surrounding the use of the internet involving internet crime. Naturally most students would have a limited understanding of cyber crime, so it is the teachers responsibility to ensure students are closely monitored when they are online.

My teaching areas are Japanese and SOSE (Geography). In this article, it is focused on 2 of my teaching areas.

Skype, which is a video phone concept over the internet, is the most effective tool for LOTE that is my first teaching area. In fact, CQUniversity’s Japanese course uses Skype for talking to people who live in Japan. We live in Rockhampton and it is hard to find native Japanese speakers, so we talk to students who attend sister universities of CQUniversity through the Skype. Skype enables students’ speaking and listening skills to improve by creating a scenario where students are forced to speak Japanese to express themselves. The Skype program comes as a free download from the internet. If two parties have access to the program, it allows them to communicate wherever and whenever they need. Skype is also useful for lifelong learning students who want to study Japanese from outside of the campuses (Pretto, G. 2008). Students who live far from town and find it hard to go to school every day can use Skype from their home. Then they can practice their Japanese pronunciation and speaking with other students, native Japanese speakers and teachers. In the past It was rare to get these kind of opportunities for students who do not go to school every day, but using Skype has become a very effective tool for language study and helps students to shape their knowledge using ‘dimension of learning 2 Procedural knowledge’ (Morzano, D. & Pickering, 1997).

Blogger can be a useful site for sharing comments on a particular topic on a blog. Everyone has access to these sites so it makes is easy to acquire other peoples opinions on the matter and even add your own. The downside is that because everyone has access to comment on these pages, there is the possibility that some people would disturb the blog’s discussion, and only the blog creator can edit these comments. Maintenance of the blog is required as often as necessary to ensure that the integrity of the blog discussion is maintained. Some positive points of Blogger are that if the person who uploaded the topic has some wrong ideas or questions, other people can correct and compare, analyse the errors and clarify the answers with everyone.

Wikispace on the other hand, solves some of these problems. Anyone has access to edit the topic that a third party has made, and can be discussed with others who have joined the discussion. A good Youtube example of how Wikispace can be used, is organising a party. For example, when organising a party at school, create a topic and write the date, place and what things people may need to bring for the party. People can discuss the specificities of the party and what they need to bring and do for the party on the Wikispace. Everyone can see what is going on for the party so it is easy to join the party. In Japanese class, some schools have an EXPO for showing Japanese culture that students have learned from classes. When a teacher wants to notify the event to students and their guardians, Wikispace can be a notice board for everyone. If people have questions about the event, new ideas and news, they can put the new information on Wikispace. Wikispaces can be used as a way to achieve their goal step by step that is behaviourism (Mergel, B, 1998). People can watch what is going on in Wikispaces so they can find which step that they are doing at the time clearly. Wikispace is a highly recommended website to make a discussion forum. Wikispace supports lifelong learning for people who want to study. If there is internet available, anyone can access the Wikispace. Lecture topics can be uploaded and additionally anyone can upload and change the topics which are similar to Blackboard and Moodle sites that we are using for flex classes in CQUniversity (Molphy,M., Pocknee,C. & Young,Terry. 2007). If questions arise about the topics or assessments for the course, you can upload the questions on the Wikispace, your peers can give you feedback by commenting and furthermore discussing the topic in more detail. If the students who are taking the course live overseas and have internet access, they can join and study with people who they have never met before in real life.　Wikispace is a forum where each others opinions can be discussed, observed and perhaps even persuaded.


PowerPoint is another convenient IT tool for teaching Japanese because the characters can be expressed using picture cards with animations, word cards, flash cards, instead of an OHP and is also a useful tool for visual learners. Flash cards are a useful tool for remembering new words but it can be costly and time consuming. As a teacher, the budget for the class must be taken into consideration. Consequently, using PowerPoint is a cost effective alternative to flash cards and saves valuable time. Moreover, adding pictures that relate to the words, can be beneficial to students’ memorising the words. Conversely, the Powerpoint text is easy for students to understand compared to hand writing. When using PowerPoint, a projector and a big screen will be necessary to display the PowerPoint slideshow. In addition, colour-pictures and various font shapes and sizes can make a PowerPoint lesson more interesting, in turn increasing student attentiveness in the classroom and furthermore increasing absorption of the information. (Maier, P., Barnett, L., Warren, A., & Brunner, D. 1996).

Flickr, also an internet based program, is not a useful ICT tool for teaching Japanese, but on the contrary, is an effective tool for Geography and depicting landforms and other information. For example, comparing places from pictures in textbooks can be difficult due to limited information in the pictures. However, the Flickr search engine generates a large quantity of pictures relevant to the keyword used, allowing further research and understanding. These keyword searches can be saved to the users personal Flickr page, and accessed individually for a particular lesson.

Picnik is a simple way to edit digital photos in comparison to PhotoShop. The explanation of how to use Picnik is clear and simple for people who are not used to using computers. The Picnik site can also be an effective learning tool for visual learners. Pictures can help with imagination by adding relevance to the situation, as the mind remembers things that have relevance attached. When using Picnik, adding and changing colours and resizing pictures are easy and teachers can make new pictures that are useful for learning. Furthermore, using Wikispace, Blogger and Flickr with Picnik can be an effective learning tool for Japanese and Geography.

It is easy to find interesting digital audio-visual materials on Youtube (Balakrishnan, S. 2009). Youtube has a lot of information about almost any topic imaginable and is a very effective resource. In fact, during the ‘Managing E-leaning class’ Youtube clips are being used to show how to use ICT tools. Watching Youtube clips to learn instructions can be a much betterway to learn than just reading instructions. As a non-native English speaker, the Youtube clip was clear and easy to understand, and included instruction in clear steps. Thus, the Youtube clip made clear sense to me and after I watched it, I knew how to use the ICT. According to my experiences from this class, Youtube has been a highly useful tool, capable of explaining new topics in a fresh new way. Conversely Youtube is an effective learning tool for external students and lifelong learners.

Windows Movie Maker is similar to PowerPoint. Besides, Windows Movie Maker is able play music to the effect of a slide show of pictures or a stream of video footage. Windows Movie Maker looks more professional than PowerPoint. However, it is difficult to display words on the pictures.

In this modern world, there are numerous ICTs and they are changing rapidly. Teachers need to be able to use them effectively in the classroom and at the same time, care about the privacy, copy right laws and security of the students. In conclusion studying how to use ICTs at university has positively influenced my teaching strategies for the future. Furthermore, these additional tools and resources acquired can be adopted into everyday lessons.

Comments to people

To. Sayoko Aoyagi

tae23 said...
Yes. YouTube has lots of modern information and it is easy to find out what is happening in overseas now. Sometimes, it is hard to find any information that I really want to know from Google search. However, YouTube has video clips that are easy to understand and clear. So, using YouTube is an effective learning tool!
http://dreaming345.blogspot.com/2010/08/week5-digital-video.html#comments

tae23 said...
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” (Cisco systems, 2008) That is true! If you saw the thing once in your life, you can remember about it forever because the impact to seeing the thing in real life is huge! I am a visual learner so the real experience to see the thing is the best way to remember and study for me.
http://dreaming345.blogspot.com/2010/07/week-4-digital-tools-and-pedagogies.html#comments

tae23 said...
Google Earth and Google Map is geographically-related! That is true and when I was teaching Geography, it was a useful tool for finding the place where we were studying in the lesson.
http://dreaming345.blogspot.com/2010/08/week-7-google-earth-and-google-maps.html


To. Aoi Onozuka

tae23 said...
I agree with you. YouTube is one of effective tools for teaching. Students would be interested in watching YouTube clips in classes. In my opinion, Visual learning is easy to understand for many students. So, using YouTube videos in classes are going work effectively for students' learning.
http://onozuka.blogspot.com/2010/08/week-5_16.html

tae23 said...
I agree with you. I often use PowerPoint as a learning tool in my class. In my opinion, when I use PowerPoint, I can get more attentions from students. Using PowerPoint relates to bahaviour management for me. Students watch the PowerPoint slides carefully so they cannot be noisy.
http://onozuka.blogspot.com/2010/07/week-3.html

To. Naomi Morris
tae23 said...
It is true! Youtube videos can be beneficial in demonstrating a process to the students. I often use Youtube videos for teaching Japanese culture. For example, how to use Japanese toilet, bath and so on. Youtube is an effective learning tool!
http://gemiah89.blogspot.com/2010/08/youtube-japanese-game-show.html

References for Assessment II

References

Maier, P., Barnett, L., Warren, A., & Brunner, D. (1996). Using technology in teaching and learning. London, UK: Kogan page.

Balakrishnan,S. (2009).Copytight n the classroom: Teacher and student use of online audio-visual resources, Retrieved from http://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=177462;res=AEIPT

Molphy, M., Pocknee, C. & Young, T. Ascilite Singapore 2007; Online communities of practice: Are they principled and how do they work/. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/molphy.pdf

Marzano,. R & Pickering, D. (1997). Dimensions of Learning Teacher’s
Manual. Denver, CO: Mid-continent Regional Education
Laboratory.

Pretto,G. & Pocknee, C. (2008). Ascilite Melbourne 2008; Online project collaboration…we still have a long way to go. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/procs/pretto-poster.pdf

Week 7 Google Map

Actually, I used Google Map in my Japanese class for showing the direction from Rockhampton to Tokyo. Year 8 students had no idea where Japan is and how far it is. So, it was convenient to using Google Map to give them the knowledge. Google Map can show you how long it does take by walk and public transports. It was interesting and realistic for students.

Week 6 Animations and learning objects

Using animation in class makes the lesson interesting for students. When I was doing the animation that was on the Moodle site, I felt like I am playing a TV game. Most students like to playing games. Therefore, if I use the animations in the class, I can make students to be motivated to study the topic.

Windows Movie Maker

I have made a movie with Windows Movie Maker but I could not upload it from my computer unfortunately. I am going to send my movie via Email. I am sorry about it.

Useful infomation for language learners on Youtube

I have just found a Youtube clip that shows you studying foreign language for free on internet. This idea is from a Chinese guy who was born in Japan and could not speak Chinese until he went to China as an exchange student for a year. It is really useful and I am going to use the site for my English study but you can use the site for all foreign languages study! And it is FREE!!! So, try!

I have just made a PodOmatic account!

My account name is Tae Sumihara! Please check it out!

http://www.podomatic.com

In my opinion, PodOmatic is not useful to teach Japanese. It has so many Englsih resources but they are not in Japanese. Youtube can function the same as PodOmatic.Also Youtube has more videos and it is easy to watch and search for me because I have got used to using Youtube more than PodOmatic.

Flickr

Those photos are my car. I have resized and retouched a bit with Picnik site. This site is very useful to decolate pictures! You can make your pictures prettier! I will use the site again!!

This is my flickr photo page from . Please check my photos!! My photos from trip to Sydney!

Week 3 PowerPoint

Week 3
What is the purpose of using PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is useful for showing pictures and it is similar to a story book illustrated with picture cards. Therefore, it is an effective learning tool for visual learners. When I was teaching Geography, PowerPoint was the most effective tool to show pictures of all over the world. There were textbooks that had these pictures but they were too small to see and not good quality. My classroom had a big screen and projector for using PowerPoint and it worked well. Students were amazed by how beautiful the pictures of Mt.Everest were. It follows from what has been said thus far that PowerPoint is closely connected to visual senses.

Pedagogy: Those pedagogies as below can fit in using PowerPoint as a learning tool;
Creating, imagining,
PowerPoint can show students many pictures so it is easy to make students imagine the situation. In my case, in Geography class, students did not know how tall Mt. Everest was and when I taught the height in km, they could not imagine the height. Therefore, I showed a picture of Mt.Everest and a normal person who is standing in front of the mountain. Then students imagined how tall it is in their mind.


The purpose of using PowerPoint: It is the best study tool for visual learners and students who do not speak English as a first language. It is easy to find out what the class is studying about from pictures. Pictures have a strong effect on visual learner's brains. As English is a second language for me, PowerPoint is an easy way to find out which topics we are studying. Sometimes lecturers give me the topic in the PowerPoint and I can print the slides out and then use it as a notebook. I can add more information on the PowerPoint handouts.

Reflection of Blogger & Wikispace

Reflect on the usefulness of the Blog in a learning environment

Strengths: Everyone can read the post. If there is the Internet, you can read it anywhere and anytime!

Weaknesses: If there is no Internet, no chance to look up.

Opportunities: People who have the Internet have opportunities to check and comment on the blog anytime.


Reflect on the usefulness of the Wikispace in a learning environment

Strengths: Everyone can read the post. The huge difference between Wikispace and Blogger is everyone can change the topic and sentences that are on the Wikispace.

Weaknesses: It is easy to make the site totally different from before and change the topic to inappropriate topic.

Opportunities: People who have the Internet have opportunities to check and comment on the site anytime. Same as Blogger.

I made my wikispaces & WEEBLY!!!

Please check my WIKISPACES!

I also made WEEBLY site!

Week 1 Overview

Learning Style Inventory Result

Style Scores; Visual 38, Social 59, Physical 60, Aural 19, Verbal 20, Solitary 12, Logical 37,




*What is your learning style? What sorts of learning experiences would suit you best with your learning style?

My learning styles are mainly social and physical. My result shows my scores for social and physical learning styles are higher compared with other styles.
Social learning styles show my efficient communication skills to other people and it is easy to work with others as one group.
Physical learning style demonstrates to find out information from the environment around myself and try to achieve the activity with limited knowledge.

*In a traditional classroom of 25 students, how would you support the range of learning styles each lesson?

As a teacher, it is important to profile each student in the class and find out the most effective learning style for them. However, it is really hard to follow only one most common effective learning style for all students in class. Therefore, I am going to mix the learning styles in the class.

*With your current knowledge of ICT, how could your design and digital pedagogy support your learner better?

Digital pedagogy can support transfer through the use of multi modal information sources. Nevertheless, teachers must use suitable sources that students have already learnt how to use.


Overview of Week 1