Engagement Activities Week 3

Engagement Activity 1: PMI of Blogs in Classrooms and how I see Blogging in Education

Building my blog for the first time I thought it was just a glorified diary, from the first week my knowledge and understanding of the blog has grown. To the right is a PMI of the potential of blogs in the learning context, the general pretence of a blog is that when used safely and effectively it is a valuable tool to enhance learning. The Western Australia Department of Education (2012) describes blogs as, communication space that teachers can utilise with students whenever there is a curriculum need to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom. The uses for blogs within the classroom is endless but for them to be used for maximum learning efficiency the teacher must use clear scaffolding techniques and be clear about what learning is to be addressed. By scaffolding the information with the learners their minds are trained into an analytical thinking, behaviourism at its best. When the designated learning is achieved and the way of thinking is explicitly defined for the learners the fun begins. Using it as a support for students to work collaboratively and upload all information for all team members to have an                inventory to creating a specific space for students on the internet to report on their favourite historical character. Students may use a blog to create their whole assessment piece or use it to reflect on an excursion.  Fasso (2012) identifies that the blog must be integral to the learning and not just be an 'add-on', within the same context though the teacher must view themselves as the facilitator of the blog. 


Engagement Activity 2 &3: Creating a wiki and Reflecting on it 


Link to my Wiki

When I first heard the term 'wiki' I thought someone was trying to rap the beginning of an 80's song to me, I soon came to discover it is in fact something a lot more in-depth. Wiki is similar to a blogging yet its uses for in the classroom are entirely different. The wiki uses the interface of having multiple authors, so every student has the ability to log on, edit, add information and reorganise. Along with this though comes risks, there is a lot more to consider in 'protecting' the content of the wiki. Teachers First (2012) stipulates that many components have to be considered before introducing a wiki into the curriculum including but not limited to, who will use the wiki, who will be able to see the wiki, who will be able to edit wiki, who will be able to join wiki, what part of the wiki will not be able to be edited, who will moderate the wiki, gaining approval from parents and administrators for the wiki and how the wiki will be embedded into the learning context. When considering these elements what initially seemed like a 'fun' activity becomes quite a complex process. Wikis have the ability to provide a collaborative interface that can be used in numerous ways, the easy layout of WYSIWYG makes it simple to manouever and has you feeling like a web-pro in no time. Teachers First (2012) also outlined some ways in which the wiki can be used in the classroom, among my favourites are using it as a vocabulary listing- a constant throughout the whole school term allowing students to monitor the language and spelling, good tool for revision, using it as a 'what might I think is on the test', this allows students to gather what data they think is going to be valuable to their end of term/week test- constantly keeping students alert and allowing them to manage their own learning and a fan page for a prominent figure, students can create this gathering new information, and organising it effectively to learn more about a historical figure or writer. The risk that is run with the wiki is the fact that students have the ability to freely edit this source, this could be a cause of conflict if students are to go in and edit other students work, and although the work can be retrieved it is still a cause for concern. To avoid this a strict code of conduct should be set down, students can be included in this process to attribute to their active citizenship of the class (Productive Pedagogies, 2010). By locking the wiki so that only administrators of the school, teachers, students and parents are able to view the wiki it keeps the wiki safe, another point of discussion that will need to be taken up with students in copyright laws. A possibility could be allowing students to create a wiki on Referencing. The main aim of having a wiki as a learning tool in the classroom is for students to collect, store, share and review information at all times. Skills for using the wiki effectively will need to be a foundation lesson for the class, using links, widgets to embed videos, and applying photos will need to be learnt.  
Engagement Activity 4&5: Creating a website and reflecting on it
Another tool for online publishing is a website, the elected website generator I used is a Weebly. Using a website format to enhance learning in the classroom is an innovative and flexible opportunity. The easy to use, what you see is what you get interface is simple and students will be able to harness the technology quite simply. There are a number of tutorials available online that guide the user through the many facets of a Weebly. In my personal experience of setting up a Weebly, I found that the clearly labelled formatting bar made it easy to get my website looking the way I wanted it to. I especially like the 'add extra pages' function, it allowed me to create an introductory page and then filter the rest of my information by category. This also means that the reader of my page can access the information I am presenting quickly and simply. Using a website as a learning tool in the classroom is flexible and effective; it allows students to construct their own learning experiences. Possible uses of this tool in the classroom could be as a working portfolio of all their written work, students love to use technology in the classroom and the implementation of a Weebly as a classroom tool allows students to not only use technology but create and publish their very own space of the Internet! Specific examples of how a Weebly could be implemented in the classroom would be for the students to create their own interpretation of a classic play, like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; within their Weebly they could write their analysis of the play, characters, settings, cinematic elements and so on. This would enable students to construct their own meaning and organise it in a way that they thought was best. An alternative way for this tool to be used is for students to store and edit their schoolwork as an online diary, similar to the blackboard learning space. The teacher could have their own Weebly where classroom announcements and reminders are used and the students keep their own Weebly as a log of what work they have completed and examples and what work needs to be completed. This use of the Weebly is also helpful for parent interaction, parents would be able to view their child’s website and monitor their work samples and work that needs to be completed. The only downfall to the Weebly is that no interaction is afforded, the students have complete control over what is posted, and they receive no feedback on their page. The only way to monitor students work is to view their domains and then give face to face feedback, taking away from the integration of ICT as a whole. Another way students could use a Weebly in an English or History unit is to create their own fan pages on a monumental character from the unit and store things like facts, wacky information etc. All of these uses of technology need to be scaffolded appropriately, Snowman et al. (2009), ascertains that student assigned tasks should be more than they could handle and through appropriate support and use of pedagogical strategies such as organising, chunking, questioning, explaining, modelling, prompting, offering clarification and verifying the accuracy of responses the task would be scaffolded to provide the student the necessary knowledge and skills to complete the task. When using a Weebly to create either a working portfolio, fan page, analysis of a play or novel or as a diary, I would use such scaffolding practices at first I would explore the Weebly with my students, projecting what I am doing on the board and pointing out essential elements, I then would watch a tutorial with the class, many of the clips found on YouTube are quite entertaining and succinct. I then would model my version of the task I would want the students to complete, either providing an overview for an older class or a step by step tutorial with a younger class. The Weebly would then be monitored and drafted at regular intervals. I believe it is important for students to also know explicitly what knowledge this task is addressing; Marzano et al. (1997) establishes the importance of students knowing why the knowledge they are learning is valuable to the progression and successful outcome of the task. The learning theory framework that underpins the use of Weebly in the classroom conforms the TPACK framework, through the use of good content knowledge- the expertise in using the Weebly, the pedagogical practice- scaffolding, constructing meaning, allowing students to analyse and the embedded use of technology- as a base line as the unit and not just an add in, it covers all facets. The way in which the information will be discovered and interpreted by the students is a solely individual practice, no two students webpage will be the same, from the design to the content. This individuality and construction conforms to the Constructivist Theory, Vygotsky, n.d. determines that students learning and products of learning are largely influenced by their own experiences. The tasks I have determined that a Weebly could be used for in my classroom also support Blooms Taxonomy, through appropriate scaffolding students will first learn to find and store information or knowledge about the topic, they will then be required to show comprehension of the terms and knowledge, students will then apply the knowledge in their blogs, students will then analyse the information they have found i.e. why do the cinematic elements of Romeo and Juliet make it a tragedy?. For a lower grade class this promotes higher order thinking skills in a fun, interactive interface. Although the Weebly can be used individually and extensively in promoting students learning there are certain risk factors teachers must be aware of in their classroom, students must always follow copyright law and if they are going to borrow ideas or images proper attribution must be completed. Students’ knowledge and awareness on this topic can be scaffolded through the learning experience, a simple KWL could determine the students level of knowledge on the topic and what needs to be covered for the teacher to follow up would be simple and effective way to cover all basis so everything that is created stays legally safe. When using the Weebly there is minimal risk in regard to students welfare, as there is no interaction with viewers of the webpage. Through regular monitoring of appropriate material being posted onto the Weebly's by the teacher this factor will be kept at a minimal. Weebly's are a great tool that allows students to create and explore. It gives the student a sense of ownership and pride in their work as what they are creating is being published! It is essential for me as a learning manager to ensure my students reach the appropriate knowledge and thinking skills necessary and that if I chose to use a Weebly in my classroom that I would check it complied with my schools internet guidelines and also that it is embedded as something the unit would not be able to reach the intended learning without.