Module 9

Scootle is a tool that my school has had access to for a few years now. I have previously used some different learning objects in my classroom but then, like with a lot of web tools, I forgot all about it. It was great to re familiarise my self with Scootle and begin to set up some learning paths. It is wonderful to have access to these resources that are Australian curriculum based and include a variety of digital media.

Second Life is very interesting. As I have mentioned in previous posts we meet as a group at my school to complete this course, and Second Life has definitely captured the interest of most of us and sparked many discussions about it's uses. In one of the videos it mentions that students find it hard to engage in a classroom where there is a lot of teacher talk, Second Life allows students to explore virtual worlds while being immersed in them. Definitely more exciting then reading a text book. The idea of a virtual classroom where each student would have their own avatar sounds a bit unrealistic for primary students but I think the site has many other possibilities.

I am a member of the Social Networking site Facebook, for personal use, and think it is a great way to stay in contact with friends and family. I agree that it shouldn't be used in the classroom or by our Primary students as the age requirement is 13. We have had cyber bullying problems around Facebook at our school and I think that students do need to be educated on how to use social networking sites appropriately. I have heard so much about Twitter threw the media and thought that it was more for celebrity news and gossip so never had that much interest in it before. I was surprised to discover that the CEO is on twitter and that it can be used in a professional way.

Module 8

RSS feeds seems like a great way to save time when using the Internet. I do have certain websites that I visit regularly so to have any new posts or news feeds sent straight to a homepage would be very convenient. I  had a look at google reader and found the website a little tricky to navigate so I will need to do some further reading and searching to get the most out the the tool. This isn't a tool that I see myself using with students but more for professional development. I think it would be great to subscribe to some educational blogs and view new posts more easily.

Module 7

Social bookmarking is such a great tool. Delicious has made it so easy to access your favourite websites online without having to remember the URL. I find that I will use a great website one year and forget all about it when I come to that unit of work again. By using Delicious I will have an archive of website that I have used from one year to the next. I also like the idea of sharing good websites with colleagues. I rely on Google to search for websites and waste so much time trying to find something I can use. By following other teachers I can go straight to great websites. This is definitely a tool I will continue to use.

Module 6

Flickr is a web tool that I have often heard about at school and seen people use, but I have never explored its uses before. Now I understand why it is so popular. It seems to be such a great tool to upload and organise images. It allows students to access photos from any where or any place legally.

I'm always taking photos of the students on excursions and other special days but rarely give anyone access to these photos. With Flickr I would be able to allow the students to use these photos in their work. For example when publishing a recount. I would need to become more familiar with the privacy settings before I did this.

Images are so easily accessed by students on the Internet and it is important for them to understand copyright. Just as we teach them not to copy and paste text from the web when completing research tasks, we need to reinforce this for images as well. Flickr is great because you can choose to add a creative commons licence to the photos you upload which  would help students understand how they can use images legally.

Module 5

This module has taught me so much about creating and communicating online. I was not familiar with any of the web tools this week but really enjoyed learning and and exploring them.

There are so many different ways to use Bubble.Us across all KLAs. We are constantly brainstorming and mind mapping ideas with the children so to present it in a new and interactive way would be very beneficial. It would be great to add new information to the mind map as you worked through a unit of work. I also like the idea using the tool to pretest the students on what they already know on certain topics.

Glogster looks really interesting. I like the idea of creating a digital poster that can include several different web tools. I thought the example given in the module Decisions, Decisions: A trip to Europe was a wonderful way to use the tool in the younger grades. As a year 1 teacher I would create the glog. and then add the students work. The children would love to see themselves on a video or photo presented this way.

Module 4

Today we met and learnt about Podcasts, Vodcasts and different video sites we can use in  our classroom. I am more familiar with these tools as I have previously used both in my teaching. I have always used these tools to present information to the class in an engaging and motivating way, but  I am keen to look for ways that students can use the tools to present their own work.
YouTube is a website that is constantly used in my year 1 classroom. The students really enjoy the visual learning that is often accompanied by a song that they can learn and sing a long to. Below is an example of a video that I have used with great success in the classroom.

 I like the idea of using podcasts to allow the children to listen to themselves read. This is a great technique to improve fluency and I have previously used Audacity with the students to accomplish this. Downloading Stories that the students can listen to would also be a great literacy group activity.

We also explored iTunes in this module. I have not had a lot of experience using iTunes for school or personal use but I am currently involved in an iPad trial at my school,so I have been using iTunes to download apps. After reading more about iTunes this week I'm excited about utilising the tool in more ways.

Module 3

Today we met to complete Module 3. Again being altogether made the experience easy and enjoyable. Module 3 introduced us to Google Docs. I have previously heard of Google Docs but had never used the tool. We were all able to create a document and share it with each other.

Google Docs could be used in many different ways in the classroom. The collaborative nature of the tool would definitely suit the classroom environment. I'm considering using the tool in the classroom to complete a survey but will need to give it a bit more thought. Another idea would be to put a picture up on a document and then the children could add nouns or adjectives to describe the picture. Google Docs could also be a great tool to use for programing and collaborating with other staff members.