Team Work

Firstly I can't believe how fast this semester has gone - I think that's because I have really enjoyed the units I am studying and have learnt so much! Task 3 is fast coming to an end with peer reviews happening this week.

I have enjoyed working with my team so much as they all possess the same drive for achievement and good grades as I do. We are really proud of the wiki we have produced and are looking forward to our peers feedback. I have never work in a team where each person as taken responsibility for them learning and work and it has been so easy to complete the task. Below is a screenshot of our home page for our wiki.

We had to complete a presentation as part of our wiki which outlined what our task is and how we worked together as a group. Have a look at it below to see more on our task that we produced as fantastic group!! There may be a few changes made after we get our peer reviews back, however it is a great start from my team member Lydia.

Throughout the course of this task, I have learnt so much about team work and myself. I have learnt that I can trust my team members to get their work done and that I do not have to have control over everything for the task to get done to the best of our ability. I have enjoyed being able to be responsible for my own work and know that at the same time with the great communication tools and contracts in place, everyone else was going to be responsible for their work by the certain due dates.

Google communities was our main communication tool after the initial emails. It was so easy to post questions or info as we separated it into discussion topics for each person and further, skype sessions, group name ideas etc.

I look forward to adding to final touches this week and receiving feedback from our tutor as I believe we have put in a tremendous effort and produced a great wiki.

With semester nearly over, exma study starts next!!

Authentic Learning

Over the last couple of weeks, I have started looking at week 5 authentic tasks again as it is really relevant to task 3 which I am currently working on with my group. I am really enjoying it so far and love the fact that the people in my group have the same hard work ethic and desire to achieve as I do - it makes the process of working together very smooth.

I have enjoyed reading over the lecture notes again as I am refreshing my memory and reminding myself of the type of teacher I want to be. These 3 slides from the week 5 lecture, outline on the right hand side of the arrow, what I believe is important for students to get the most out of their education.

Thee ideas below also from the lecture slides of week 5, outline what an authentic tasks should incorporate. I believe in these very strongly and will ensure that as I carry out task 3 and contribute to my group, that we endeavour to incorporate these as much as possible:

• involves ill formulated problems and ill structured conditions
• problems are embedded in a specific and meaningful context
• problems have depth, complexity and duration
• problems are perceived as real and worth solving

When I am teaching, I do not want my classroom environment to be as it was when I was in school. There was rote learning, teacher was expert and never wrong, we took notes about what the teacher said and only ever did an assignment to get it done and pass with flying colours. The funny thing is, someone posted this exact same feeling on my facebook feedback just 2 days ago - makes me really sad and I can't wait to get into the teaching world and really have an impact on my students. Nothing seems to change over the years though and as we know teachers who have been teaching for years are reluctant to change.

For task 3, I am covering the 9 authentic elements and how our task has addressed and incorporated each of these. I am currently researching the elements and resources/videos that can enhance my understanding for not only this task but future learning and projects also.

For now, I'm out to continue on task 3 and further enhance my learning and knowledge to form in my mind the kind of teacher I want to be - it's great because my current assignment for EDN221 Learning and Teaching is covering just this - my teaching philosophy, a lesson plan outlining where I have used this and a rationale on my lesson and philosophy. It is great how 2 of my units are covering similar things and knowledge from one can assist with another - providing me with a deeper understanding and thought process!!!

End of Task 2

I have since done my peer review and had a peer review my social space and how to instructions for Task 2. I was very grateful that 6 different people reviewed my submission as there was a variety of positive and constructive feedback that I used to alter my web page, blog and how to instructions.
I think that the use of a peer review system for a task like this is extremely useful and valued all of the feedback I received.

I am quite interested on both people's opinions and the statistics on the benefits of the use of technology in the classroom as it is such a widely debated topic and because technology is so evident in classrooms nowadays. I found pages 101-103 in Meaningful Learning with Technology (Herrington & Parker, 2014) very useful for a classroom setting. They begin to discuss 'Things to Conside'r in regards to writing styles in online communication.
Firstly, I found the definition of 'meaningfully participate in conversations' handy in creating a base idea in my head for this topic. The definition stated that students must be able to "interpret messages, consider appropriate responses and construct coherent replies (pg. 101). This got me thinking on the sorts of posts/comments I see on my facebook feed to use it as an example. I know that facebook has no means of education value, however, it does show that kinds of conversations and responses given by people. Such things include 'yep, agreed, i reckon, ok, and the abbreviated lingo that I don't even know what half of it means. Figure 5.5 on page 102 of the text, shows a list of questions that can used to provoke meaningful conversations among participants in an online discussion forum.
I found the Things to Consider helpful in 2 ways. First, for myself as now that I am actively thinking about this, I can see I do not engage in meaningfully conversation over text or the internet in most instances. So for myself, I want to make sure I am consciously writing in a way that comes under the above definition.
Second, for my future teaching. As the book states, students do not usually contribute to meaningful conversations as they are too busy memorising information or taking notes on what the teacher is saying. I want to create a classroom environment where students are active and interactive. This is what I think provides the best form of learning. I can see that there are online tools that can be used within the classroom to assist with this. One is called 'Knowledge Forum' - which is, "... a knowledge-building environment that supports the collaboration process as users create and continue to improve ideas rather than simply complete tasks" (pg. 134).



Knowledge Forum Screenshot from the Products webpage.

This is the sort of tools that I would like to use in my classroom rather than simply handing out worksheets for students to research the first answer that google gives them. Now that I have been made of aware of this particular tool, I am going to research other online tools that are available for use in the classroom for my future teaching.

I am glad that I read this chapter of the text before I completed my peer reviews, as it highlighted a few aspects for me in regards to effective communication in a setting where you are not face-to-face. This was the case with our reviews which were done solely over the internet and on a designated system. I found that after reading about meaningfully conversations, I could structure my review to provide this form of communication in both positive and constructive feedback and hopefully it helped me in writing constructive feedback that did not seem rude or offensive.

I enjoyed carrying out this task and feel that I have learnt a lot not only about Google Communities (the technology I used for my social space), but also a lot in regards to how I can use technology and the internet to provide my students with the best possible learning experience.

One things for sure, I will also refer back to this book!

Instructions

My 'how to instructions' are coming a long nicely. I have chosen to use a mix of both written text and screenshots in Microsoft PowerPoint to create how to instructions on accessing and contributing to my social media space.

Introduction page of my 'How to Instructions'

I have started with accessing my social media which is a Google Community - making sure they know how to log in. Then searching Mummy's Chat Room (my Google community) and joining. I am still to produce my instructions on posting, commenting, uploading links, videos and clips. I am also pondering on whether I will go into detail of +1's and sharing posts within discussion topics and with others.
I think it will be quite easy to follow.

I am really enjoying using a variety of technologies at the same time as I feel I am learning so much about new ones and those I have existing knowledge of. The most daunting thing this week was working out how to complete the peer review and making sure my work is in the right place at the right time for a peer to review it. I looked through the task 2 discussion forum and found a useful post there and also throughout the uploaded documents in the task 2 assessment area. Hoping all runs smooth on submit day!

I am enjoying reading and researching about the use of technology in classrooms and seeing what other peoples thoughts are. An article I found quite interesting eLearning Guild Research: What are the Benefits of Social Learning? outlines the benefits and uses of technology within social learning. A topic that attracts much debate - I think!

Back to working on my instructions and making sure I have covered all areas of the rubric!

Facebook Alike

So just a little note about a tool I found on Google Communities that I thought was a great idea.

The use of +1's. It basically has the same function has the like button on facebook.

I am loving how this technology is so similar to a social media tool that it used so commonly with most people. I hope that this will make it quite easy to follow for new members of the group so they can get the most out of it.

The +1 button can be used in a few different ways - expanding larger than that of the facebook like button. These are outlined below and are taken directly from the Help Centre.

+1 is how you signal your appreciation for anything that grabs your attention on Google+ or on your favorite websites. When you read a post that makes you want to cheer, +1 is your applause; when you watch a video that has you in stitches, +1 is your laughter; when you see a photo that perfectly captures that special moment, +1 is your 5-star review.

+1's on Google+

When you +1 a post on Google+, the creator of that post and the people the post was shared with can see your +1. The creator of the post will receive a notification that you +1'd their post. If the post was shared with people in your extended circles who also have you in their circles, they may also see your +1 in their streams.

To remove your +1, just click the +1 button again.

+1's outside of Google+

When you +1 something on a website, your +1 will be added to the total number of +1’s shown in the count. When someone who has you in their circles views content that you've +1'd, your +1 may be highlighted next to the +1 count. +1's are public, so a good rule of thumb is to only +1 pages when you’re comfortable sharing your recommendation with the world.

Once you've +1'd something on the web, you can share the content with your circles on Google+.

The +1 tab

All of your +1’s are collected in the +1 tab on your Google+ profile and will be public if you decide to show the +1 tab. You can choose which information you share on your profile.

To view this tab, visit your  Profile and click the +1 tab.

To delete items that you've +1'd, click the x to the right of the +1 summary. If you've shared the content that you +1'd, deleting your +1 from the +1 tab will remove your +1 from the content but will not delete your shared post on Google+.

Beginning of a Social Space

After much research of Google Communities, I have officially started to begin my social space - learning new things about the technology as I go.

I decided that this technology was best suited to my needs as it has the potential for me to add as many discussion topics - where posts, comments or uploads can be made in relation to a particular topic. The photo below shows the discussion topics that I have created so far. When ever I have something to say about a topic or I find an interesting article relating to one, I can click on the topic and upload or comment.

I feel that I have been able to progress very quickly using this technology and making my space the way I want it that it easy for members to follow and contribute to. I have found that the setup of the technology is very much like that of facebook with the ability to post, comment on people's posts, upload pictures, videos or links and see a 'news feed' as such under the all posts tab with a list of all posts in order of newest to oldest.
I feel that my peer and future members of the group will also find this space easy to navigate because it does reflect some aspects of a commonly used social media tool.

An interesting aspect of Google Communities that I am still to research the benefits/uses of the hashtags that the technology adds itself (if it can find any) when you upload a link. This can be seen in the above picture, where I have added a link about paracetamol in pregnancy possibly causing ADHD. The post has had a hashtag of #ADHD automatically added it when I have pressed post.

This will be one thing I need to find out what it is for so I can use it to its full potential.

As I have started to work with a new technology, I have been reading the text Meaningful Learning with Technology (Herrington & Parker, 2014), within the chapter on 'Communicating with Technologies' and I have been consciously made to think about how my writing on a online forum can be interpreted in a number of different ways and how it loses the richness of face-to-face communication. In this, I have realised that as I write something (even something as a personal blog), people can't see my body language hear the tone of voice in which I am writing. This is an interesting concept that needs to be remembered even in a professional online setting as people may take what you right the wrong way or offensively. This had not occurred to me until now. I have also had this in the back of my mind when using the likes of facebook as it is a social forum and people can still be offended by something you right or a picture or video you upload... But in a professional forum, say like the social media group I have made for this assignment or this blog - it is a casual, social forum but as Ii have used it for an assignment I also view it as a professional - I haven't until now thought consciously about what I post or blog. This is something that I will think of when I post to my social media page or blog here, as I don't not what I am communicating to be taken the wrong way or offend anybody.

Until next time...Have fun with Task 2 - I know I am :)

Task 2 Research

Task 2 required me to research and use a social media site that would support a personally chosen social event; teach a peer how to use my site; and review and contribute to a peers social space. To begin I must choose a social event/group such as an online book club, mothers group, or sporting site. Then, I need to research social media sites that would be relevant to present my situation, choose one and justify why I chose the particular technology. The final step is to create a set of multimedia 'how to' instructions with both written text and screen captures, clear enough for a peer to access and contribute to my site.

I first looked through the unit book Meaningful Learning with Technology (Herrington & Parker, 2014) at chapter 2, Inquiring with Technologies. I found it really useful as someone who was about to embark on research and also from a future teaching aspect when requiring students to complete research tasks. whilst reading the second paragraph under 'Information Gathering with Internet Resources' on page 22, I found myself thinking back on when I was a student research in the library and how I never really learnt anything during these exercises. As outlined in the book and what I remember myself doing, if you are searching for answers on the internet to answer a set of questions from your teacher, you are focusing on completing the assignment (and quickly for that matter) and this does not really result in learning. I loved that as I read this chapter, I could reflect back and use my experience to say to myself I do not want to put my students in this sort of situation in my classroom as it shows that I have not learnt from my own experiences or taken on board what is confirmed in a book. It is put nicely in this text as taken from Jonassen and Colaric (2001), that research is a four step process. These four steps are: plan, use strategies to search the Web, evaluate and triangulate sources. I have in mind for my future teaching, that I would like to teach this sort of process before I put students into a research project. I do not want them racing to complete an assignment but rather learning as they go and become competent in searching the internet - there are so many millions of answers and results out there that you need to understand how to identify what you need to look for.

I am loving the fact that these tasks keep on challenging me to use new technologies. Initially I looked at using Diigo for my social networking space however, I felt that the layout and ease of navigation was not best suited to what I wanted. There was not many options for personalising the page or organising discussion topics. I felt that if I used this technology, it would become difficult to find discussions and information would get lost as more posts went up.

I tried Google searching various mothers groups to see what sort of technology was most commonly used. It seems Facebook is right up there as it can be set up through your personal page. The other popular option was to have the group presented as a website rather than a blog or community. As I have already created a blog and website for task 1 I want to stay away from using technology that I have already been exposed to.

The most viable option that I found through a Google search was to create a Google Community where I can communicate and share with people who have the same interests as me.

At the moment I am at the stage of exploring how to use Google communities and the various features it provides.

I'll be back soon with an update of what I'm learning and how the task is progressing :)