Week 6 Reflection

My final weekly blog reflection! Well, what can I say? When I look back to week 1 it is amazing to see how far I have come. I had never experienced blogging and now I am creating weekly reflections like I've been doing them for years! With week 6 quickly drawing to a close we looked at our final group of tools and wrapped everything up. It was a great week to tidy up loose ends and have some breathing space so we could start to focus on our reflective synopsis piece. Please comment on my final blog reflection below as it would be greatly appreciated!

Digital Technologies

This week we looked at mobile learning. When I first heard that we would be looking at this form of mobile technology I instantly thought mobile phones. However, I soon realised that there was more to it then that. We looked at iPods, iPads and mobile phones as tools that can be successfully incorporated into the classroom. As part of an engagement activity we also had the opportunity to play around with QR codes.

What do I think would be the best mobile tool to incorporate into a Secondary school classroom? It is hard to say as each have their own strengths and weaknesses. With tools such as these, it comes down to what the school can afford in their budget and whether students can gain access to them at a time that they require. If I were to choose, however, I believe using iPads would be of most benefit to students. I have found a great article that helped me understand more about mobile learning. It can be found by following this link.

Although I do not own an iPad or have had much experience in using them, I have heard a lot of positive feedback. Whilst searching for further information on using this as a tool in the classroom I came across a great site that lists a number of benefits. It is important to remember though that with any digital tool in the classroom, there will be a number of setbacks. In my opinion, I believe the major setbacks are:

• It is an expensive device (purchase cost and then continually updating apps and software).
• Difficulty in monitoring what students are doing and keeping them on task.
• Unlike a conventional computer, you can't open more than one window at a time.
• Can prove to be a distraction.
• No USB port device.

There are so many great apps that can be downloaded onto an iPad that will assist with student learning. The link we were provided with in Moodle, Interesting Ways to Use iPads in the Classroom lists a number of educational apps that may be of benefit to students. Although I believe most of the choices we were provided with were for primary school students, I did note some that I thought would be useful to incorporate into my secondary classroom. I have outlined the app and how it could be used in my teaching areas below:

I do not own an iPad nor do I have access to one to be able to display examples of how to use the tools listed above. Many applications on an iPad, however, are similar to the ones you would find on an iPod or an iPhone so I have provided examples in the phones section of different ways they can be used in the classroom.
 

Another tool we were introduced to this week was the iPod. Although I can see a number of benefits by implementing this tool into the classroom, I believe that the possible negative implications far outweigh the positives. First and foremost, I would not allow personal iPod's to be used in the classroom as I would have no way of monitoring and tracking student progress. This means that the cost of a class set of iPods would have to come out of the school budget and it may prove to be quite expensive. Also, I would question how distracted students may become, resulting in them not completing set work or understanding the material that was provided. I am not saying, however, that there aren't any benefits when using iPods in the classroom. They can be a great tool to assist with learning and let's not forget they are cheaper than a computer or a laptop. As well as this they are portable and versatile and because most students are digital natives, they can easily pick up how to use them efficiently and effectively. Below is a video I found on YouTube that lists a number of ways iPods can be used in the classroom. My favourite ideas are:

• Podcasting.
• Creating flashcards.
• Digital storytelling.
• Pocket dictionary/ thesaurus.
• Creating quizzes.
• Interactive lessons.
• iBook (used for iPods, iPads or iPhones).

 
I do not own an iPod nor do I have access to one to be able to display examples of the tools I could use in my classroom. However, it is very similar to an iPhone and the examples I have provided for the phone below can be used on an iPod as well.

The use of mobile phones in the classroom is no doubt one of the most commonly debated topics in a school setting. The question of how you would incorporate them into the classroom and why is what is on everyone's lips. In week 2 we looked at the use of mobile phones in the classroom and reflected on this using De Bono's 6 thinking hats. If you would like to see my opinion on the use of mobile phones, you can follow this link to the Wiki page (my responses are in blue). Although I do not believe that mobile phones should be used in the classroom, I would still encourage students to use their phones outside of the classroom for things such as homework and research. This will hopefully result in more productivity and drive from the students to want to succeed. I would suggest to my class to use their phones for things such as:

• Creating flashcards for revision.
• Using it as a pocket dictionary.
• Calendar (for assessment dates and other school dates).
• QR Code reader (I have provided more details in the QR Code Reader section of my blog).
• Blogging (as part of an assessment piece).
• Podcasting.
• iBooks (used for either iPods, iPhones or iPads).

If students have access to an iPhone, iPad or an iPod I believe that downloading the app called iBook will be of massive benefit to them. I would be able to email students pdf files which could then be transferred to an iBook meaning they can access it offline at any time of the day. I would find this particularly useful if I were teaching in a school that had poor internet access or if I had students in my class who studied via Distance Education. It is simple and easy to convert a file so I have included a screen shot below of the steps I took to achieve this.

1. Download the app through the app store.
2. Open an email that contains a pdf file (I have used the technical manual pdf files that were provided in Moodle).
3. Open the pdf file and then click the small arrow in the top right hand corner. 
4. Select 'Open in iBooks'.
5. Your pdf files will be stored in your iBooks bookshelf for easy access at a later date.    

(To assist me with creating the one photo I used a website called fotor)

I still remember those High School diaries where we had to put all of our assessment and monitoring dates. Although I did put them in there, my diary stayed hidden in the bottom of my bag and I never used it to remind myself of when things were due. I guarantee that is still what students do to this day! In order to overcome this we need to use something that students see every day, their phones. Simply by putting assessment and monitoring dates in their phone and creating reminders days before assessment is due, they will have no excuse to say 'I forgot or you didn't tell me it was due'. I have inserted a screen shot of my own phones calendar list to the right.

As well as a phone being used for storing information, there are also a lot of apps that can create higher order thinking in students. For example, I downloaded an app called Know Your Body (a screenshot can be seen to the left). It is a place where I can quiz myself on the different systems of the human body which may prove to be handy for when I teach Physical Education. It is a fun alternative to a simple test paper, which leads me to believe that students are more likely to participate in an activity such as this.

QR Codes are a great way to increase interactivity in the classroom and the best thing about this is that there is an app not only on iPhones now, but on iPads as well. The information encoded can be anything from text to a URL or a website. QR Codes- What are they and how can I use them in my classroom is a fantastic website that provides examples of different ways I can implement this tool into my classroom. I have outlined options that are of particular interest to me below:

• Take students to websites without the need to type in a URL.
• Provide additional information via text, video and audio.
• Attach QR Codes to a classroom calendar to highlight important information about upcoming events, assessments or reminders.

I can definitely see myself using this tool in both my Physical Education classes as well as my Business classes as I can see how it would achieve higher order thinking (that is it caters for numerous learning styles).

I have created my own QR code through KAYWA that takes you directly to my Weebly website. If you have the app on your iPad or iPhone you can test it out by scanning my barcode to the right. If you do not have access to a scanner I have inserted a screen shot below of what the process looks like.

1. Scan the QR Code.
2. It will then take you to a page where you can click on the URL.
3. This will take you directly to my Weebly home page.

(To assist me with creating the one photo I used a website called fotor)

Tutorial Information

Transcript: This week in our tutorial we looked at 4 things:
web conferencing, mobile technologies, what schools are identifying as issues with digital technology and how to compose our reflective synopsis. 

I hope everyone had a great week. Please comment on my blog and keep an eye out for my reflective synopsis next week.

Hannah

  

References:

Presenter Media [animation]. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.presentermedia.com/index.php?id=132&target=category&start=1100&maincat=clipart#listing_of_items

Fasso, W. (2013). Learning Material. Retrieved from CQUniversity FAHE11001 Moodle page, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=145993

Hirche, C [animation]. Retrieved from http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

Josh Mika. (2008, Jul29). iPods in Education [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6LlA2SztY8

Wylie, J. (n.d.). Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms, August 12. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742

Lovegrove, B. (2013). 17 Benefits of Using iPads in the Classroom, August 12. Retrieved from http://www.inkids.com.au/2013/03/17-benefits-of-ipads-in-classrooms/

O'Connor, G. (2012). QR Codes- What are they and how can I use them in my classroom?, August 12. Retrieved from http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/blog/apps-and-mobile-learning/qr-codes-what-are-they-and-how-can-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/

Fotor. (2012). Photo Collage, August 13. Retrieved from http://www.fotor.com/features/collage.html

Kaywa. (2005). Kaywa QR Code, August 13. Retrieved from http://qrcode.kaywa.com/