Weebly

I have taken time to create a Weebly Website.

You can access this via: http://www.s0146941.weebly.com/

In experiencing this technology, I was astonished at the simplicity of clicking a few buttons and answering a few questions and POW! my very own Website appeared!

When this technology is incorporated in the classroom, students are given the oppurtunity to experience the technology and develop ICT skills related to the World Wide Web.
It is important that students are aware of privacy issues when publishing information on the Web. Discussing these risks prior to beginning this task is therefore highly recommended.

Profiling Learning Styles

These are the results from my Learning Style Questionaire.
This graphic organiser indicates that I enjoy and learn more effectively in social situations and do not enjoy solitary learning environments. Discussion and verbal explanation of tasks is also evidently more appropriate. Visual and logical learning tasks are also personally desired as apposed to physical tasks.

The concept of profiling learnings is or should be evident throughout all teachers' practice. The use of this ICT resource would be appropriate for students in upper schooling, though largely innapropriate for younger students that are unable to relate to the questions and unable to recognise their personal preferences and learning styles.
Having students completing this task and collating the information would be highly effective in profiling individual and large groups of students according to their preffered learning styles.

Wiki's as a collaborative learning tool

A 'Wiki' is a collaborative sharing tool in which a user or visitor can 'edit, modify, add or remove information' (CQUniversity 2010). A Wiki can be about anything from recipes, to definitions, to quotes from favourite movies. Searching Wikipedia (2010), I discovered that 'Wiki' is a Hawaiian word for 'fast', this comment is unsubstantiated and virtually unable to be referenced however, as any person can access and alter this information at any time, any where in the world.

In accessing the 'Mackay E-Learning' Wiki page, the benefits of this type of ICT technology is evident and may be used in many collaborative learning circumstances. The benefits of utilising this type of technology during group assignments is evident as students are able to access, contribute to and edit the information on the page with ease. This may also be incorporated in the classroom environment for students to work together collboratively and contribute to ideas using ICT.

In University we are taught that Wikipedia is an unreliable source of scholarly information. The apparent ease of accessing and editting information contained on this website makes this recommendation difficult to ignore. The importance of students understanding this is vital as they begin accessing the Internet and researching information using search engines.

Concept Maps bubbl.us

The use of this type of technology has many benefits as illustrated above. In incorporating this into the classroom, the teacher may choose to lead the class in making a collaborative mind map or allow the students to work in pairs or individually to communicate their learning and understanding through this type of mind map. In incorporating this into the classroom, teachers allow students to demonstrate their understandings in different ways. This may used in daily learning in the classroom or by students in individual or group projects. In using this technology, it is important that it has a purpose, for example to display information clearly rather than just for the sake of using it.

Functionality of a Blog

Princeton University (2010) defines a Web blog as 'a shared online journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies' and a blogger as a person who writes and edits a blog (Princeton University 2010). Allowing people to make daily contributions, a blog be used for personal reflection, linking photographs and videos or sharing information or 'news' (). Each contribution may be commented on by outside parties, allowing for conversation and constructive criticism.

The functionality of a blog in a University context allows students to blog their thoughts and understandings of course material and be exposed to a variety of different technology that many have not yet experienced.

In school environments, blogs may be used in the same manner, allowing students to communicate their understandings and reflect on information being learnt.
Introducing students to different ways in which display, communicate and share information. The use of a blog as a personal reflective tool may also be useful in the classroom as students are able to communicate concerns and other students and their teacher is able to respond and assist.
Allowing students communicate in this way allows for development of understanding of technology and the unsecure nature of the internet.

Issues that blogs have in relation to securing information students contribute to their blogs in school contexts need to be considered and monitored closely by class teachers. Educating students from the 'get go' about the importance of remaining vigilant about information contributed is vital in successfully implementing blogs into classrooms.

Blogs are undoubtedly useful in school contexts in allowing students to reflect on learning and communicate with their peers. Allowing students to explore this technology as competent learners is important, though educating them about the risks of exposing personal information is equally important.