Hi all,
So we don’t actually have to start officially using our Blogs until next week, however I thought that I might get myself a little familiar with how to use it before we start to be assessed. I find this all a little bit daunting. I have used Blogs in previous courses I have studied at CQUni, however, we were never required to use them outside posting assessment and the depth in which they were used by all student (mainly due to the lack of feedback) was relatively poor. However, I am excited to use this technology in my further studies, as it seems to be the way of the future. I think it is fantastic Scot has made this apart of the courseware. I think it is important that us, as soon to be educators have the ability to connect with our students on their level. It seems youth of today enjoy using technology and I think if we can use it as a tool to help our learners achieve and stimulate their minds then why not!
Throughout this course I have been reading widely. On thing that has stuck in my mind was to use SMS and other interactive technologies as a way to communicate with students and stimulate them to learn. I am not sure if any of you are Simpsons fans, but if you are you may recall a lesson where Lisa falls in love with the substitute teacher, he represents everything she has hoped for in a teacher. He brought a new sense of life to the class; he was fun, creative and connected with the class on their level. He gave them all ‘cell phones’ to communicate with him and the class enjoyed doing ‘pop quizzes’ because he would text them the question and they had to text the answer back to him. It seems to me that The Simpsons have well and truly hit the nail on the head as to where education is heading and is even giving teachers of our generation new and innovative ideas to capture the attention of the students in ways that have previously been seen as unorthodox.
Just something to think about… I would love to hear any feedback and look forward to following all of your Blogs.
Warm Regards
Chloe
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I tried to find this episode on the internet to show everyone, but due to copyright, unfortunately none are available to watch.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI remember this episode of the Simpson's and I am a big fan overall of the show. In a perfect world it would be great to use mobile phones as a way of engaging students; however in a real life classroom are all students going to have a mobile phone? What happens to the Nelson Munz's of the world that come from a low social economic background and a single parent family?
ReplyDeleteThe same could be said for Ralph Wiggum who clearly has a learning disability, is he going to be able to understand the technology? This being said eventually we will see this technology in the classroom, what time frame?...who knows.
Great Blog very good analogy with the Simpsons!
Lachlan
GDLT - Rockhampton
Hi Lachlan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I feel what you have said are very valid arguments. In regards to Nelson Munz, the cost of technology is significantly falling, especially in the telecommunications industry. For a parent to purchase a mobile phone for a child that has basic features, such as SMS and telephone calls is anywhere from $30 to $70 outright. This isn’t the vast amount of money that was previously required for this form of communication technology many years ago. However, families from low socio-economic backgrounds may still find this unaffordable, thus, if schools find this form of teaching is effective in their classrooms (from testing it out on those students that already have mobile phones) then in may be worth their while in investing in this technology and using it in their libraries (something students could borrow out, much like a text book, DVD or CD).
As for Ralph, he does have a learning disability, this may be because he is not engaged in what he is learning. If he was given something of interest and that he could relate too, his learning may then increase as a result. However, this is something that would need to be trialed and tested, you may be right that he has a learning difficulty far beyond competent use of technology.
Any additional feedback would be welcomed.
Warm Regards
Chloe
Hi Chloe, well done on you Blog. I have really enjoyed it. I was interested in your comments about mobile phones and I recall Scot talking about this too at the Residential School. I am just wondering I guess as to where mobile phones will fit in with the "changing" of the education system. I know currently that mobile phones are not allowed in most State Schools and although students cannot be made to not bring them to school, certainly they are strongly discouraged from using them at school.
ReplyDeleteYoutube is another that Education Queensland will not allow in State Schools. Understandabily the reason is for safety of our children. I beleive that, as this course states, there are many more techniques of media/technology out ther. I am looking forward to enhancing my meagre knowledge of these!
Well done and warm regards
Kylie
GDLT Mackay
Hi Kylie,
ReplyDeleteI used to work in the Telecommunications Industry and the things that can be done with mobile phones are amazing. There would be a time and place for using mobile technology in a classroom (much like the use of ICTs, we still need children to be able to read and write the conventional way). I am not entirely sure to the extent schools would like students using their mobile phones for education, I am just aware that it has been thrown out there as an idea that might help engage the students.
These days’ parents have control over their child’s mobile phone. Most telecommunication companies will offer Internet access to your account. There you will have the opportunity to monitor you calls (in terms of seeing how much you have spent, how much you have left for the month and so on). You can also block numbers, have the Internet disabled, restrict incoming and outgoing calls and so on. Through parents having this form of control over their child’s account, they can feel safe that phones within the classroom can be monitored and applied appropriately.
In terms of effectively using mobile phones within schools, most people are now heading towards purchasing "Smart Phones". These phones have Windows mobile built into them. This means that many phones these days have the ability to retrieve data off the Internet (even attachments from emails), alter the data on their mobile phone using Windows Mobile and then re-sending the data. Additional, some phones have the capacity to download PDF files, PowerPoint documents and send and receive instant messages when a website you follow has been altered (much like Google Reader, expect a message is sent directly to your phone). In this capacity, we could allow students to use WiFi capabilities on their phones to access the schools Internet (thus free of charge from the mobile phone’s service provider). This would limit the number of computers that each school would have to purchase, additionally allowing for quick searchers for information, rather then going to a computer. The use of instant SMS would allow students to know when homework or Blogs have been updated instantly and so on. Of course, like all forms of technology and different pedagogical approaches, this form of interactive learning has its drawbacks. This is just one approach in my view that could be taken in the digital age.
You might have noticed I didn’t even mention the iPhone, it is in a league of its own. The applications that you can download for an iPhone are amazing and I know customers that would download educational games for their toddlers to play on their iPhones (such as an application to teach children the alphabet). We could use them to play podcasts and music and interactive learning games.
I think in the world of technology the possibilities are endless and amazing.
Thank you for your comment; it has made me think in much more detail about the different uses of mobile technology in our classrooms.