BBC games site

http://www.activehistory.co.uk/fling/quizzes/yr7_crusades/quiz.htm

This site offers students a fun and interactive way to quiz themselves on the topic of the crusades. The game is called 'Fling the teacher' which gives students the opportunity to play a fun game while testing themselves.

She will be loved

mp3 downloads | Maroon 5 MP3s

Second life media.

Podcast!!

A podcast is a media file which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers.[1] Like 'radio', it can mean both the content and the method of syndication. The latter may also be termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term "podcast" is a portmanteau of the name of Apple's portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast; a pod refers to a container of some sort and the idea of broadcasting to a container or pod correctly describes the process of pod casting. More about the name itself can be found in the History of podcasting article.

Comment: Podcast is a new and different idea for me, while i have an ipod i have never taken advantage of the Pod casting phenomenon. In researching podcasting i hjave learnt you must first download a podcast to your computer and then place it onto a Ipod.

However we must research how this must take part in education and how it can help.

Education & Academia
Podcasts enable students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. Teachers can record book talks, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters (podcast pals!), music performance, interviews, debates. Podcasting can be a publishing tool for student oral presentations. Video podcasts can be used in all these ways as well. (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_of_podcasting)

More on the WIKI - a world of universal collaboration!

A wiki is a useful tool in the promotion of online collaborative learning.

A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit and change content, typically without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.A wiki enables documents to be written very collaboratively, in a simple markup language using a web browser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

The simplest online database that could possibly work.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage.
Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.

http://www.wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

Comment: I believe a Wiki is an interesting way to collectively create an online resource of information, that can be changed, edited and added to at any time. This could become a very useful tool in education, as all students will be able to access information from home from the one place, while also having the opportunity to make additions to help others. Collaborative learning is a signficant element that is having continuing focus in education, along with constant influences of technology, hence a Wiki is a useful and exciting way to combine these two elements.

Notre Dame has a Wiki!!!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddjz64dp_0gwkpss (Follow this link to the ND Wikied)
This is the latest edition to the ND media collection. That's right we have our very own wiki. This enables the whole class to add different theories and interesting points. The bonus of a wiki means there isn't an awkward feeling when adding to a wiki unlike when adding to a blog. A blog is more personal and less formal then the wiki and this enables us to place the intelligent information we find when on the Internet. As stated by many of the students in the class the one problem with a Wiki is that any person can add to it and there are no possible ways to track who has added to the Wiki.

Rudolf Dreikurs Wiki!

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Dreikurs,_Rudolf

This site is a collaborative effort on the same document. It discusses the works of the educational theorists Rudolf Driekurs. A question must be asked is it reliable because any person can simply add onto it. This is a private Wiki which means not all people can add to it. A Wiki is stored on the server and anyone at anytime can change and add new information to the Wiki.
This is an example of E learning 2.0 this means it is second generation E learning. It is the step up from emailing and other basic ICT uses. Can students rely on this idea though? Can they store all there information on this and still use it as a reliable resource even though others can flaw this. This Wiki gives an interesting insight into Dreikurs theories and offers information added by teachers and other theorists.
2.0 equals collaborating with other people to create new knowledge.

COMMENT: This private wiki is enough evidence to prove that while people do worry about everyone on the Internet adding to the one Wiki, with the wiki locked to a certain amount of people it means to a certain extent we are able to trust those who are adding to the Wiki

My Results

After taking the Multpiple intelligence quiz my score was infact not what i expected.
My top three results included
Interpersonal 20 points
Kinesthetic 17 points THESE FALL INTO THE INTERACTIVE CATEGORY
Intrapersonal 15 points. THIS FALLS INTO THE INTROSPECTIVE CATEGORY.

These results have been taken from the multiple intelligence domain.

AMAZING!!! Second life!

Who knew that technology would take over teaching. All up and coming teachers must take a look at second life. The education section is amazing and the ideas offered are inspiring.
For even more informtation beacause it it to big for me to explain go to:
www.secondlife.com

for teaching blogs based on secod life try these amzing sites.
http://rampoislands.blogspot.com/
http://zoomlab.org/kc/
http://edboostisland.blogspot.com/

All of these blogs offer a view into Second life as well as insught into how second life is used in education. For more information you can log onto the Wiki for second life: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

Multiple intelligence graph.

Taken from http://surfaquarium.com/

Comment: This image breaks up the 9 different Intelligences into 3 different categories. This is important to focus on as it allows teachers to understand how their students learn. This is a good diagram as it offers a visual view of learning styles and how students can be placed into groups based on the learning style they have. For the analytic students a worksheet would be more suitable, where as the interactive students would more suit an activity where they could use computers or an interactive activity. The introspective learners would be more sutited to watch a video or another media activity.


VISUAL/SPATIAL - learning visually and organizing ideas spatially. Seeing concepts in action in order to understand them. The ability to "see" things in one's mind in planning to create a product or solve a problem.
VERBAL/LINGUISTIC - learning through the spoken and written word. This intelligence was always valued in the traditional classroom and in traditional assessments of intelligence and achievement.
MATHEMATICAL/LOGICAL - learning through reasoning and problem solving. Also highly valued in the traditional classroom, where students were asked to adapt to logically sequenced delivery of instruction.
BODILY/KINESTHETIC - learning through interaction with one's environment. This intelligence is not the domain of "overly active" learners. It promotes understanding through concrete experience.
MUSICAL/RHYTHMIC - learning through patterns, rhythms and music. This includes not only auditory learning, but the identification of patterns through all the senses.
INTRAPERSONAL - learning through feelings, values and attitudes. This is a decidedly affective component of learning through which students place value on what they learn and take ownership for their learning.
INTERPERSONAL - learning through interaction with others. Not the domain of children who are simply "talkative" or "overly social." This intelligence promotes collaboration and working cooperatively with others.
NATURALIST - learning through classification, categories and hierarchies. The naturalist intelligence picks up on subtle differences in meaning. It is not simply the study of nature; it can be used in all areas of study..
EXISTENTIAL - learning by seeing the "big picture": "Why are we here?" "What is my role in the world?" "What is my place in my family, school and community?" This intelligence seeks connections to real world understandings and applications of new learning.

Comment: By understanding these different learning styles we are able to create lessons suited to how our students learn. From there teachers are now able to ensure ALL students are interested and enjoying each lesson. Teachers who do not cater for the multiple intelligences will find most students loose interest and become bored. All teachers are responsible for how there lessons run. It is important that students are given the opportunity to learn at there own pace and in a way that is suited to them.

Board of studies research

• The board of studies is at first difficult to find your way around. It is not until you start exploring all the possible links then you will find the information that is valuable to you. Things are printed clearly however for one who does not know the website back to front it may be quite daunting. This may be the reason as to why many teachers who are not used to technology have even dared to take a look at it. The BOS website is easier to navigate by using the search section and taking 10 minutes (as stated) to take a look at all the different options available . I found it a little difficullt to find my way around this website as there were so many differet options to take. It is very easy to get sidetracked on this website as things are not set out in a direct manner.



• Studies include History briefing presentation

Characteristics of a good blog

Stephen Downes blog:
or his website
Characteristics:
It is interesting
Things are linked
Has a website link
It is dynamic and interesting.
Photo allows people to thee the person involved
Embodies new direction of online learning -
1) Integration of learn practice and research
2) Integration of Content and Community
3) Content Syndication (sharing)
4) Dynamic Organization

The blog should be in a constant state of development.
Stephen Downes blog is not perfect some of the links are now dead.
This is evidence that a good blog must be constantly and updated.

Focus, personality and reader comments are key to building an audience, say popular bloggers

thanks heaps 4 my lovely present!! xxx

YOU ARE TURKEYLISCIOUS KEEP UP THE WORK

ICT and Learning styles

Classroom materials
Introduction
A recent independent research report (ImpaCT2) showed that ICT can help raise standards. It looked at the relationship between pupils use of ICT and their performance in exams. High ICT users performed better than low ICT users at key stages 2 and 3. The difference in performance was the equivalent of a whole term or a grade at GCSE. Researchers also noted than high ICT use leads to a change in learners learning style. They were able to study better by themselves and were more independent, not so reliant on a teacher to give them all the answers.

JUST SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU SMILE

love eliza xxx

social constructivism in action...adding friends to contribute to my blog...

In today's workshop we were able to connect with our friends and contribute to each other's blogs. If we were to have done this last night at an organised time, I don't think it would have worked as successfully. In class today we were able to talk to each other to see what was working and what wasn't, and this discussion would have been more difficult as such correspondence would be less accessible. Working together as a group today helped such connection become possible. What happened in class today was a clear example of social constructivism, as individually we were were able to construct our own meanings and knowledge through the process of discussion in a social group. As indicated in the definition of social constructivism, 'language in a social gathering facilitates the articulation of thought', and thus helps develop further understanding. Establishing the connections we did today, and ultimately the understanding of how to contribute to each others blog, was helped by the group of us helping and influencing each other. If we had completed this task last night, the knowledge we gained today wouldn't have been achieved through this lack of social networking and constructivist environment.

If i added you at 8pm

If i had added my contributors at 8pm yesterday instead of 9:20 this morning it would have caused great distress. at this point we are able to sit together talk freely and work out who is on who's blog and if the system is working correctly. if i had been sitting at home on my own, trying to work out who i added successfully and who i didn't and which persons blog i am able to contribute to and to which persons site i can't i would have been a mess. being in a social surrounding and working together enabled us to work it out together and turn to help if need be. not only are we able to talk about it but we are also able to turn around look at another persons screen and show them exactly where to go. if sitting at home on my own and chatting through MSN without being able to see the screen the person through the chat room was discussing it would have been enormously confusing. ending up in phone calls occurring to try and realise what we are doing, where we need to 'click' and who's on who's blog. By eventually attaining the other blogs and authors onto each others site we are know able to access more information on the same topic, we are able to network with so much more ease and easily show work we have produced instead of needing to send files back and forth through MSN or email accounts now we can simply log on and view the files, information and sources we need for the work we are searching.

friendships

Thanks heaps for accepting to be my one and only friend on google blogs lol have good times networking learning with me ... xxx

Adding Buddies to My Blog

If adding friends to my blog had of taken place at8:00pm last night i don't think it would have happened as smoothly as it did this morning. Even though the people in the learning space were a small distraction. Social constructivism took place right in front of our eyes, we were asking one another for help with adding our friends, not only that but we also discussed how to do this correctly. Without even realizing we were all enjoying taking part in a socially constructivist learning space.
If this had of taken place many people would have given up because there wasn't the peer support that was offered within the learning space. At 8 o'clock at night there are to many other distractions such as msn which obviously does not offer any educational insight. The learning space created an environment where the students were enjoying the struggle and therefore the opportunity to create an online group who could add to one another blog and offer different perspectives on the issues raised.

Social Constructivism

What is Social Constructivism?

- Knowledge is negotiated and re-negotiated socially
- Through the process of discussion, individuals come to a consensus about the meaning of a concept
- Language in a social gathering facilitates the articulation of thought (which results in the construction of ideas and understandings)

- Prior knowledge is crucial to any learning experience
- People perceive things differently
- Collaboration with others facilitates understandings
- Knowledge is more meaningful when it is linked to existing understandings
- Knowledge is richer when it has multiple links

Hey Jane! You have a very groovey blog here! Keep up the good work :-)
Love you long time
Kristy

Teaching using cognitive learning!

I feel this diagram thoroughly discusses the use of cognitive tools in the classroom. It is extremely difficult to find written proof of these tools in action on the Internet. Though on sites reference is made to this diagram.

What are Cognitive tools?

COGNITIVE LEARNING WAS THE PRECURSOR TO CONECTIVISM.

DEFINITION: Cognitive tools help learners with complex cognitive learning activities and critical thinking. These tools are learner controlled. They construct their knowledge themselves using the tools rather that memorizing knowledge.

The main theme of cognitive learning is that it is learner controlled.

Learning with technology not through technology.

David h. Jonasses's forum paper offers important information on congnitive learning: http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper1/paper1.html

Inspiration on Marc Prensky's article

For a larger view please click.

PHM's blog's logo!

Get creative

Get productive

Get connected

as taken from: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/soundhousevectorlab/?p=74

Constructivist approach to teaching

Constructivism is a view of learning based on the belief that knowledge isn't a thing that can be simply given by the teacher at the front of the room to students in their desks.

Piaget (1977) asserts that learning occurs by an active construction of meaning, rather than by passive recipience. He explains that when we, as learners, encounter an experience or a situation that conflicts with our current way of thinking, a state of disequilibrium or imbalance is created. We must then alter our thinking to restore equilibrium or balance. To do this, we make sense of the new information by associating it with what we already know, that is, by attempting to assimilate it into our existing knowledge. When we are unable to do this, we accommodate the new information to our old way of thinking by restructuring our present knowledge to a higher level of thinking.

A good website that offers a summary of thesis statements about constuctivism:

http://saskschoolboards.ca/research/instruction/97-07.htm

Summary for the constuctivist theory:

www.learnercentereded.org./home/sandc.htm

Constructivist Learning Design Outline
1. Situation (you arrange for the students to explain.)
2. Groupings (of students and materials.)
3. Bridge (between what students know and what they might learn.)
4. Questions (you will ask or anticipate students will ask.)
5. Exhibit (of student explanations for others to understand.)
6. Reflections (by students on their process of explanation.)

My view: Constructivist learning is an interesting theory that allows us to understand that students must build on there prior knowledge. They are not simply a clean slate for teachers to wrtie on, but a human full of knowledge from there past experiences. From there, students develop on there skills they have learnt from the past. This theory enables me to enter teaching with an understanding that students do already have knowledge and it is my job to build upon this.