We started off today's ICT class looking at Inspiration, the latest version 8. We had previously used Inspiration Data as a graphing tool and I had been a big fan. This software seems equally user friendly. There are plenty of templates to use in a wide variety of lessons. We looked at the outline for a persuasive essay.
Two key tools are diagrams and mind maps. We had a play around with diagrams. They are like brain storms and a way of arranging ideas. There are plenty of ways to personalise your diagrams: colour, shape, pictures, line effects. 'Notes' can be added to individual items where more information is desired. These can be hidden or shown as required. The sub-headings can also be hidden which lends the Inspiration Diagram for use as a presentation tool. When each item is discussed it can be opened. Intriguing - I really felt powerpoint had the monopoly on presentations. I can see Inspiration as being a useful tool for me in teaching and planning, and also for the pupils to use for their own learning, particularly for allowing personal choice. It would particularly apply to visual learners. It always for careful structure and organisation in planning. Files can be saved as inspiration documents (.isf) or can be exported as a multitude of other types of file for word processing, powerpoints, graphics, web based. Sadly I don't believe my diagram is up to scratch to post on this blog!
We next moved onto looking at Textease Studio: a word processing tool but designed for school children - particularly suited for KS1 and early KS2. You can start typing anywhere on the blank page - not just the top left corner! A very cool tool is that it will read back to you what you have typed! - just click on the lips A-Z button at the top. You can also record your own sound if you had a microphone. Sadly I can't find a way to upload it onto the blog :-( A shame as I think my posts would be more interesting if there were more pictures in them. You can create branching trees that would be useful for classification. I have seen a pretty dry classification lesson in Year 6 - this would have made it more interesting, I believe. There are other features such as spreadsheets and flow charts, but they aren't as sophisticated as Excel or Inspiration.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Confucius "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." Louisa May Alcott
Monday, 15 December 2008
Sunday, 14 December 2008
My Use of ICT - Part 4: Everything else
I wanted to have a go at completing this set of blogs on My Use of ICT (part 1, 2, 3). hmmm, wonder if there is an easy way to link previous posts into this one. I am sure I have seen it done on other blogs. EDIT - I did not find an easy way to hyperlink to the posts. I published this post and then went back to copy the page for each of the others and linked them in turn, does not seem a very efficient way of doing it. Monty has said we don't need to write any more blogs till we are at our school placement in January, but I hope he doesn't mind that I am continuing - I have been enjoying keeping track of my ICT use.
Again I think this is a post that will be edited plenty as I think of more things to include. Although I do know otherwise, my first thought when thinking of ICT is still COMPUTERS, and it takes a while to think beyond that - hence the delay of this post. I have referred back to Monty's initial lecture for this.
I will start is MOBILE PHONES. Now, this post would have been very different if written in September. I had a phone that was capable of making calls and texts, but had no camera, Internet, music capabilities... But since then, I have very generously been given an iPhone 3G. I was quite in awe for a while never having been as technologically advanced as this and it took me quite a few weeks to begin to use it effectively. But now I must say, I love it and it's hard to think back to not having it. Some features that i really like (these aren't necessarily specific to the iPhone, but are new to me):
Again I think this is a post that will be edited plenty as I think of more things to include. Although I do know otherwise, my first thought when thinking of ICT is still COMPUTERS, and it takes a while to think beyond that - hence the delay of this post. I have referred back to Monty's initial lecture for this.
I will start is MOBILE PHONES. Now, this post would have been very different if written in September. I had a phone that was capable of making calls and texts, but had no camera, Internet, music capabilities... But since then, I have very generously been given an iPhone 3G. I was quite in awe for a while never having been as technologically advanced as this and it took me quite a few weeks to begin to use it effectively. But now I must say, I love it and it's hard to think back to not having it. Some features that i really like (these aren't necessarily specific to the iPhone, but are new to me):
- being able to easily refer back to previous text conversations.
- being able to check my emails while out and about - though I have not been able to link my University email to it...
- having an ipod! never had one before but still think it's great to just have to carry my phone round with me and to have a crazy amount of music to listen to - and podcasts too! recently I had been using a diskman or walkman to listen to music or the radio on long journeys or if walking somewhere. That is something i would like to have on the iPhone - an ability to listen to the radio.
- keeping my photos on it, to be able to show people.
- being able to look up train times - i have just got an app that allows me to look at departure screens. I seem to do a fair bit of train travel so that will be useful. not generally got the hang of apps - any recommendations appreciated!
- i used the maps/GPS facility on my first trip into Southampton to find the bank. And on my first trip to the Isle of Wight, it was very useful in finding my school and exploring the island - when there was someone in the passenger seat to read it! As you can probably tell, I don't have a SatNav. I have seen them used and borrowed one on an occasion, but I guess it seems too expensive when I generally consider myself a good map reader/general follow my nose person and I print off the aarouteplanner directions if necessary.
- And I like the two finger zoom!
- I've never had a Nintendo, wii, game boy - any of those sorts of things. I have never massively craved them though i have played on friends' ones. But i don't think I've ever played enough to become good at them. I wonder how out of touch this will put me with my school children. Not enough out of touch to make me want to buy one though! i will just make the most of opportunities when i visit friends!
- TV - don't have one at uni. And as mentioned before, I don't make much use of iplayer and the like. At home we do have digital video recorder/personal video recorder - i don't understand what the technical term is, but it records to the hard disk, not onto individual DVDs or anything, and it has freeview. I love it and think it's invaluable - one of the best bits of technology and I'd recommend to everyone.
- programmable robots - not come across yet!
- digital radio. my mum won one in a raffle which she let me have. it did sound better than the analogue one i was using that i tended to have to put on its side to be able to listen to half-decently. But now the volume function seems to have gone and it only comes out pretty loud, so i have been listening to radio online instead.
Monday, 8 December 2008
CD Rom and DVD Software
The subject of today's ICT lesson was history and looking at the ways to use various forms of ICT. While working through the powerpoint presentation there was mention of Microsoft's Ancient Lands CD Rom. This is something I had at home when I was at Primary School and I do seem to remember enjoying using it. There were three sections on it: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt - Ancient Greece was my favourite!! Each had pages on different aspects of life in that era. I suppose it was essentially like an encyclopedia but there were some sound effect buttons as well which were an exciting aspect.
I am pleased, yet surprised that these 'old' resources are still being recommended for use in schools today. I think that our copy of Ancient Lands is still in the study at home. I will have to have a look over Christmas. We also had Art Gallery, Dangerous Animals, a music one, and a few science related ones but I never really used those much (athough it didn't seem to stop me doing a chemistry degree!). What a feast of resources I may find at home! I'll have to look at them and have a play with them to decide how they might be used in today's classrooms. Stay tuned...
We also looked at some databases today. Pinpoint and viewpoint are both apparently common in schools, but neither are particularly user friendly. Monty recommends using InspireData instead. We used this for creating graphs in science and I found it excellent and very easy to use. Having used Excel and Origin for my science project last year which took a long time to learn, it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to use Inspire Data. The one-click ability to switch between graph types or data input, and the visual transformation between these was ideal.
The wealth of information that can be gathered from graveyards was highlighted today. I have been intrigued by graveyards for quite some time, loving the feast of info that can be found there. I was delighted to stumble across the Old Southampton Graveyard when walking through the common after starting uni here.
I am pleased, yet surprised that these 'old' resources are still being recommended for use in schools today. I think that our copy of Ancient Lands is still in the study at home. I will have to have a look over Christmas. We also had Art Gallery, Dangerous Animals, a music one, and a few science related ones but I never really used those much (athough it didn't seem to stop me doing a chemistry degree!). What a feast of resources I may find at home! I'll have to look at them and have a play with them to decide how they might be used in today's classrooms. Stay tuned...
We also looked at some databases today. Pinpoint and viewpoint are both apparently common in schools, but neither are particularly user friendly. Monty recommends using InspireData instead. We used this for creating graphs in science and I found it excellent and very easy to use. Having used Excel and Origin for my science project last year which took a long time to learn, it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to use Inspire Data. The one-click ability to switch between graph types or data input, and the visual transformation between these was ideal.
The wealth of information that can be gathered from graveyards was highlighted today. I have been intrigued by graveyards for quite some time, loving the feast of info that can be found there. I was delighted to stumble across the Old Southampton Graveyard when walking through the common after starting uni here.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Logo Spider
This morning's ICT lesson was an introduction to the programming software, Logo. This is the spider in a web that Will, Lucy and I were very proud to create!
Logo is an ideal constructivist learning tool as it provides the opportunity for trial and error. I'm intrigued as to which age this program will best suit, seeing as our group spend a long time on some of the tasks! I imagine it would be most suitable for KS2 children. Apparently it's free to download, but I haven't found where to do that yet. There is a detailed wikipedia page though!
Today's lesson did remind me of one aspect of teaching and learning that I want to reflect on. I do not do well under time pressure when 'competing' against other people. When told to create a square, or a triangle etc, I would immediately go into panic mode and my mind would just be thinking 'you've got to work it out, do it now', without thinking through the ways in which to achieve the task. I had confidence in my ability to be able to draw the triangle given the calm time work through it. But knowing that others would be working it out quicker, froze my brain. I guess I am just a competitive person. A logical conclusion I feel would be when setting tasks, to give a list of them to be worked through gradually at the learner's own pace, moving onto the next one when they were ready. But what about the theory of breaking down the tasks and not over-facing the learner at the start. A long list of activities can put anyone off even attempting in the first place. And what about the time issue element. You don't want children dawdling and not getting on with the task if they know there is no time limit. Surely there still has to be an incentive to get the job done?
One other thing we looked at in this lesson: EPS - Electronic Portfolio System. Another place that work can be saved. Also useful to have one more backup, especially at assignment time!
Logo is an ideal constructivist learning tool as it provides the opportunity for trial and error. I'm intrigued as to which age this program will best suit, seeing as our group spend a long time on some of the tasks! I imagine it would be most suitable for KS2 children. Apparently it's free to download, but I haven't found where to do that yet. There is a detailed wikipedia page though!Today's lesson did remind me of one aspect of teaching and learning that I want to reflect on. I do not do well under time pressure when 'competing' against other people. When told to create a square, or a triangle etc, I would immediately go into panic mode and my mind would just be thinking 'you've got to work it out, do it now', without thinking through the ways in which to achieve the task. I had confidence in my ability to be able to draw the triangle given the calm time work through it. But knowing that others would be working it out quicker, froze my brain. I guess I am just a competitive person. A logical conclusion I feel would be when setting tasks, to give a list of them to be worked through gradually at the learner's own pace, moving onto the next one when they were ready. But what about the theory of breaking down the tasks and not over-facing the learner at the start. A long list of activities can put anyone off even attempting in the first place. And what about the time issue element. You don't want children dawdling and not getting on with the task if they know there is no time limit. Surely there still has to be an incentive to get the job done?
One other thing we looked at in this lesson: EPS - Electronic Portfolio System. Another place that work can be saved. Also useful to have one more backup, especially at assignment time!
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
"In class, I have to power down"
I read this article by David Puttnam from the Guardian online website as suggested in our ICT classes. It was published in May 2007 and discusses the current situation for school children in relation to ICT provision. While outside school they are using digital technology at a much higher level and doing more interesting things, this completely changes on entering the classroom. I agree that this is clearly evident in the current experience of primary schools I have. There just appears to be a different culture on views of education compared to the rest of modern society. I was surprised and impressed the first time I saw electronic registration in a school, but when compared with 'the outside world' it is so insignificant with now such commonplace events as online check-in.
Children's use of ICT outside school is often considered by both the children themselves and society at large, as play. The learning that is occurring through such activities as computer games, setting up websites, is ignored. Hence, according to the article, the need and opportunity for schools. The education system can build on this interest and enjoyment experienced by children and develop curriculum and life skills knowledge.
A key issue that struck me was: "How do we maximise the educational benefits of that passion, without, of course, killing it stone dead?" If this question could easily be answered, teaching would become a much more straight forward profession! I feel there is a psyche to overcome that something that is educational is just not fun. I am reminded of reluctant trips to museums with the mentality that it was going to be boring because it was to do with learning. Fortunately I was often proved wrong but I think the negative expectation was still always there.
I think it shows the progress of my ICT education that this article does not seem to say anything new to me - it is merely confirming all I have been hearing and reading on the subject. Puttnam concludes "There have been millions of words spoken and written on the subject over the past decade. But the big leap forward still has not happened." If we are aware of this theory of the benefits of increasing ICT in classes, why isn't it happening. I am led to the same conclusion that it is down to teachers' attitudes. Having been educated in a predominantly pre-computer asystem, they are reluctant to make the changes. But one generation will have to make the change, and of course, that is our job as current PGCE students and the purpose of this ICT course. I best keep working on it then.
Children's use of ICT outside school is often considered by both the children themselves and society at large, as play. The learning that is occurring through such activities as computer games, setting up websites, is ignored. Hence, according to the article, the need and opportunity for schools. The education system can build on this interest and enjoyment experienced by children and develop curriculum and life skills knowledge.
A key issue that struck me was: "How do we maximise the educational benefits of that passion, without, of course, killing it stone dead?" If this question could easily be answered, teaching would become a much more straight forward profession! I feel there is a psyche to overcome that something that is educational is just not fun. I am reminded of reluctant trips to museums with the mentality that it was going to be boring because it was to do with learning. Fortunately I was often proved wrong but I think the negative expectation was still always there.
I think it shows the progress of my ICT education that this article does not seem to say anything new to me - it is merely confirming all I have been hearing and reading on the subject. Puttnam concludes "There have been millions of words spoken and written on the subject over the past decade. But the big leap forward still has not happened." If we are aware of this theory of the benefits of increasing ICT in classes, why isn't it happening. I am led to the same conclusion that it is down to teachers' attitudes. Having been educated in a predominantly pre-computer asystem, they are reluctant to make the changes. But one generation will have to make the change, and of course, that is our job as current PGCE students and the purpose of this ICT course. I best keep working on it then.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
My Use of ICT - Part 3: Internet
edit - 14/12/08 - podcasts, amazon, YouTube.
I have decided to try record some more general uses I make of the Internet as a general record which I can refer back to in the future to hopefully note the advances I have made.
I have decided to try record some more general uses I make of the Internet as a general record which I can refer back to in the future to hopefully note the advances I have made.
- I use a laptop and have a wi-fi hard disk and printer/photocopier/scanner
- I use Mozilla Firefox which I enjoy because of the Bookmarks Toolbar with the drop down RSS feeds and because typing into the address bar (not sure of the lingo) takes you to the first google result (it unreasonably irritates me that i have to type www and remember the address when I am back on Internet explorer.) And I love tabs - i know that's no longer exclusive to Firefox (was it ever?) but I feel it's an essential part of using the Internet.
- I check my Gmail emails using Mozilla Thunderbird on my laptop. I like having emails from certain addresses going straight to certain folders. Since getting a Gmail address this summer I have barely used it as a web-based function and so haven't got to grips with the user friendly features I have heard about. Disappointed that I am so far unable to access my Southampton emails using Thunderbird - anyone got any suggestions?!
- I often listen to the radio via the Internet as unfortunately my radio is somewhat broken with frequently just one volume level - loud!
- Podcasts. I have only started downloading podcasts since I got my macbook and had iTunes which I had not previously used. The first podcast I subscribed to was Mark Kermode's film reviews. Previously I had listened live or used the listen again facility online. Now that I have an iPhone (see My Use of ICT - Part 4, for more info) I have tried to subscribe to a few more to entertain me when I am out and about.
- I haven't really used BBC iplayer or the like much yet. Last year at college the Internet usage agreement didn't allow it. This term in Southampton I just haven't got into the habit yet. Although I watch a lot of TV at home, I have never had one at university, and don't appear to miss it too much (DVD box sets manage to occupy my time sufficiently!)
- iGoogle - I was introduced to this last year on an ICT course at university and I did set my own one up, and although I would look at it occasionally, I did not use it much and now not at all. I found my bookmarks toolbar had everything I needed to get at quickly enough.
- Wikipedia - this is a website i absolutely love and can spend a long time getting distracted on! It is my first place to look for any bit of information I might be after and of course then I find out so much I never knew I never knew by following the many many hyper-links! I went to a talk earlier in the year by Jimmy Wales, co-/founder of Wikipedia. It was an interesting insight into the whole wikimedia organisation. I was one of the few people in the room who had not edited a wikipedia page - and I still never have. Maybe someday soon I will reach that milestone!
- amazon - very useful! I bought the PGCE course books from there using the 'buy used' facility. I also recently bought ink cartridges through amazon and frustratingly what arrived was not what i ordered. But I did find the return system efficient and the correct one arrived pretty quickly.
- YouTube - not a huge user. Think i have uploaded one video onto there, before I learn about facebook's ability to do videos. I will use it if there is a song I want to listen to that i don't own. I have been impressed how often it has been used in our university classes, and I am excited by the prospect of doing similar in my classroom. also, something I would like to get to know - TeacherTube.
- I have been doing Internet banking for quite a few years.
- delicious - we were introduced to this in an ICT class. I really like the idea of it and hope to start using it soon - just need to practice and get into the habit I think.
- skype - phoning people using computers? I don't fully understand yet but I know friends around the world who use it and it would be great to be in touch with them!
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
My Use of ICT - Part 2: Photos
I was given my first digital camera for my 21st birthday and I have been snappy happy ever since. I love taking photos to have memories of all the happy times and with a digital camera I see no reason to limit the number... until I see the annoyed looks from my friends. I have been influenced by my Mum, who has kept fantastically labelled photo albums right from when we were born; they are lined up in our study and often looked through when we have friends round or reminisce about certain happenings. My friend M, from university, introduced me to a more artistic way of taking photos. We were walking on the hills together and she was stopping to take photos of trees from all angles in various lights. I don't pretend to be anywhere close to her yet, but my iphoto albums now contain numerous photos of the same flowers, rivers, hills and trees.
I am still a big believer in printing out my digital photos. I don't find it satisfying enough just to have them on the computer. Probably 2-3 times a year I have a printing session. I spend several hours usually in front of the tv looking through the albums and putting the photos to print into a nice separate folder. I then take a memory stick down to boots and get them printed in 24 hours - usually a little over 150 photos. I haven't really investigated any online printing sources yet - think i would need a lot of personal recommendation before I took the plunge there.
If I take a fair few photos at an event with several friends, I tend to put the photos up on facebook. That was my main use of facebook for the first three years, though over the last few months I have been using it more to keep in touch with friends. I was wondering about doing a facebook post, but really, that's said it all!
The real purpose of this posting is to talk about flickr. We were introduced to this in our first IT session at uni. I had only really come across it once before when someone at a friend's party put her pictures from the event up on it. Although I had set up my account during the session, it wasn't until tonight that I attempted to get photos on. I think it is going to take me a while to get the hang of this and as often with ICT the more you use, the more you get out of it.
I am still very unsure about how others get to see my photos. I like the idea of my family being able to look at the photos I have taken - I have taken to posting (the snail mail way) memory sticks back and forth with my mum to share our photos. I thought there must be a better way to manage it and this might just be the answer! I am a little concerned currently that people will have to create a yahoo account to be able to view them and I don't believe my Mum or grandparents will be willing to do that. I wonder if that depends on my privacy settings. I know I have looked at friends photos on picassa online without having to have password. Something else I am interested in is whether I can publish photos on something web-based straight from iphoto. Hmmmm, more research and practice needed indeed!
Here are some things I have learnt tonight which will help me keep track of my flickr progress:
Note - an hour and a half for this post and that's before the spell checking and rereading - must become more efficient at blogging!
EDIT 20th November: I thought of one other photo related thing to write about. Earlier this year I used one true media to make a couple of photo collages as birthday gifts. I got to know about one true media through seeing it used on various blogs and decided to have a go myself, as i was, as there slogan says 'wowed'! I really enjoyed making them - though as always with such things, spent ages on them, tweaking timings, orders, transitions etc. A few years previously my sister and I used PowerPoint to make a presentation of photos for my Mum's birthday. We scanned in photos from throughout our lives. We spent weeks on it and I think the presentation lasted about 15 minutes!
Here's a new test for me. I am going to try post one of the one true media montages into this blog!
Wow, I wasn't sure what was going to happen there, but I think it has worked. I just had to copy and paste a code into this writing and although it looks like some very complicated load of writing - when i click preview it appears to be there. So, fingers crossed! I think children in school would get a lot out of making montages like this from the photos from their school year. It's something that they can really personalise and be as creative as they can. A good project to tackle.
I am still a big believer in printing out my digital photos. I don't find it satisfying enough just to have them on the computer. Probably 2-3 times a year I have a printing session. I spend several hours usually in front of the tv looking through the albums and putting the photos to print into a nice separate folder. I then take a memory stick down to boots and get them printed in 24 hours - usually a little over 150 photos. I haven't really investigated any online printing sources yet - think i would need a lot of personal recommendation before I took the plunge there.
If I take a fair few photos at an event with several friends, I tend to put the photos up on facebook. That was my main use of facebook for the first three years, though over the last few months I have been using it more to keep in touch with friends. I was wondering about doing a facebook post, but really, that's said it all!
The real purpose of this posting is to talk about flickr. We were introduced to this in our first IT session at uni. I had only really come across it once before when someone at a friend's party put her pictures from the event up on it. Although I had set up my account during the session, it wasn't until tonight that I attempted to get photos on. I think it is going to take me a while to get the hang of this and as often with ICT the more you use, the more you get out of it.
I am still very unsure about how others get to see my photos. I like the idea of my family being able to look at the photos I have taken - I have taken to posting (the snail mail way) memory sticks back and forth with my mum to share our photos. I thought there must be a better way to manage it and this might just be the answer! I am a little concerned currently that people will have to create a yahoo account to be able to view them and I don't believe my Mum or grandparents will be willing to do that. I wonder if that depends on my privacy settings. I know I have looked at friends photos on picassa online without having to have password. Something else I am interested in is whether I can publish photos on something web-based straight from iphoto. Hmmmm, more research and practice needed indeed!
Here are some things I have learnt tonight which will help me keep track of my flickr progress:
- Leave plenty of time while my photos are uploading.
- Choose which ones i want to upload beforehand - it can be hard to tell from the thumbnails.
- Descriptions can be easily added at any point from 'my photostream page'.
- The same tags can be added to all photos added, or can be individualised.
- Having read through Creative Commons I set up the copyright as 'Attribution-ShareAlike'.
- Privacy is set as only friends and family can see this photo.
- EDIT i changed the settings on 6 photos to 'anyone can see this photo' as a test.
- Photos can be edited quite a bit when on flickr using picnik though this is not something I tested tonight.
- Photostream seems to be the general home place of all photos i have uploaded.
- I have set up my photostream to show medium and sets.
- Sets seem to be like individual albums. I put all my QE2 photos into one set.
- Can map the location of the photos.
Note - an hour and a half for this post and that's before the spell checking and rereading - must become more efficient at blogging!
EDIT 20th November: I thought of one other photo related thing to write about. Earlier this year I used one true media to make a couple of photo collages as birthday gifts. I got to know about one true media through seeing it used on various blogs and decided to have a go myself, as i was, as there slogan says 'wowed'! I really enjoyed making them - though as always with such things, spent ages on them, tweaking timings, orders, transitions etc. A few years previously my sister and I used PowerPoint to make a presentation of photos for my Mum's birthday. We scanned in photos from throughout our lives. We spent weeks on it and I think the presentation lasted about 15 minutes!
Here's a new test for me. I am going to try post one of the one true media montages into this blog!
Wow, I wasn't sure what was going to happen there, but I think it has worked. I just had to copy and paste a code into this writing and although it looks like some very complicated load of writing - when i click preview it appears to be there. So, fingers crossed! I think children in school would get a lot out of making montages like this from the photos from their school year. It's something that they can really personalise and be as creative as they can. A good project to tackle.
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