Week 5 Reflections

Animation in Primary Schools
This week's ICT focus is on "Animation in Primary Schools". In the workshop, we learned about creating digital films online, did an activity on "typing blind" and studied a massive range of online educational ICT websites. 

Movie Making

We were first introduced to the Dvolver movie maker website: http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html   "Dvolver creates creativity widgets - these are web, mobile, and now iPad apps that enables people to creatively communicate using internet technologies". (Source: http://www.dvolver.com/live/about.html ) Here we learned how to create digital film online. Attached below is a movie I made using Dvolver.




Typing Blind Activity
This is then followed by a "typing blind activity". We were required to switch off our monitors and type accordingly as Greg read out the passage to us. This is what I have got:

Typing Blind Activity

I have a spelling checker

It came with my pc

It plainly marks for my review

Mistakes I cannot see

I strike a key and type a word

And wait for it to say

Whether I am wrong or right

It shows straight away.

The significance of this activity is to "help impress the importance of home row finger positioning to students is by conducting blind typing activities. Many students that use improper keyboarding form look at the keyboard while typing to "hunt and peck" for the letters they want to type. While this method can be faster at a basic skill level, it is a bad habit that will impede pushing keyboarding skills to the next level. One way to have a blind typing session is to simply have students close their eyes while typing for several minutes. You may wish to use blindfolds since it is easy to peek. Other methods are to turn off the lights or cover keyboards with a thin opaque piece of cloth or other material". (Source: http://www.ehow.com/list_5891378_high-school-keyboarding-activities.html )

Online Educational ICT websites
Next we were introduced to a massive range of online educational ICT websites including: 
  
1) Zimmer Twins dot com : http://www.zimmertwins.com/  Zimmer Twins allows users to create and share their own animated stories from scratch. It also allow users to create their own endings to one of their story starters. Below is a snapshot of the website.

2) Sketch swap dot com: http://www.sketchswap.com/ Sketch swap is a web based drawing application where you can draw cartoons, art, brainstorms or anything on the screen and receive a random Sketch-swap-approved user drawing in return. Each drawing will come with a video which will show you how the user on the other end actually draw his/her picture. It is a magnetic application and it has been suggested that it is one of the best ways to spend your time on the web if you are bored or just thinking.

3) Build Your Wild Self dot com: http://buildyourwildself.com/ This application is an avatar creator machine ideal for children. Users "can create their own human-animal hybrid, with the ability to tack on more disparate body parts than a duckbill platypus. Using illustrations that wouldn't be out of place in a Golden Books series, users can play Dr. Frankenstein, building first the normal human hair, eyes, mouth, skin tone and clothing (each with nearly a dozen options), then moving onto the good stuff from head gear (horns, etc) to backsides, tails and ears.Each of the latter half of the avatar builder are parts of real animals nestled within the New York Zoos and Aquarium locations, including bison, snakes, gibbons, bats and giraffes. Once a visitor's creature is complete, each affixed body part is given its animalistic attribution and a brief fact sheet". (Source: http://creativity-online.com/work/bronx-zoo-build-your-wild-self/3148 )This is one of my favourite site because of the colourful nature and the visual attraction that it gives to the user.

4) Storygames dot com: http://storygames.com/ "Many story games have their roots in role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, but usually have less emphasis on combat and more on storytelling, and likely have rules that are quite different. Most of these games are played around a table; players describe what happens in the story, often acting roles of characters in that story". (Source: http://www.story-games.com/codex/index.php?title=Main_Page )

5) Ziptales dot com: http://www.ziptales.com/ "Ziptales is an educational reading site. It has been developed under guidelines provided by the site's professional editorial committee, led by PETA Chair and Senior Lecturer in Education (Literacy), Dr Christina Davidson".(Source: http://www.rupert.id.au/resources/index.php )

6) United Nations' website: Food Force http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/individuals/food-force  "Food Force is an educational game published by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)in 2005. Due to its content, it is considered a serious game (game with educational purpose)". (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Force  )It is "set on a fictitious island called Sheylan, driven by drought and war, Food Force invites children to complete six virtual missions that reflect real-life obstacles faced by WFP in its emergency responses both to the tsunami and other hunger crises around the world. With tens of thousands of Sheylan’s residents displaced and in urgent need of food aid, players are required to pilot helicopters on reconnaissance missions, airdrop high energy biscuits to internally displaced person (IDP) camps, negotiate with armed rebels on a food convoy run and use food aid to help rebuild villages". (Source: http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/individuals/food-force )

7) Clay Animator dot com: http://www.clayanimator.com/ "Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable" -- made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay".(Source: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:Clay+animation&sa=X&ei=QOKiTIKVEYS4vQOk79mYBA&ved=0CBQQkAE ) "ClayAnimator.com contains the most in depth information on the clay animation and stop motion animation process.  Discover the art and science of creating, animating, and editing clay and stop motion animation projects.  The ClayAnimator website demonstrates the stop motion animation technique by using interactive tutorials, lessons, pictures and video".( Source: http://www.clayanimator.com/ ) Here is a video on clay animation: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/250780/clay_animation/

8) Xtranormal dot com: http://www.xtranormal.com/ 

 "Xtranormal is a web-based application used to create short 3D animated movies from simple text-based movie-scripts. The characters in the movie speak the dialogue in the script, and react to performance triggers icons that are dropped directly into the script, just like smileys in IM/chat. Movies can be shared through e-mail, blogs and online video sharing and social networking sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook".(Source: http://www.guitarsolos.com/videos-give-me-steam-animated-by-%5Bd69OryHRuyI%5D.cfm ) Here are some very funny Xtranormal videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcUuzg9FRcg&feature=related

9) Rollermache: http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/rollermache/default.htm

"Rollermache allows users to create their own animations. Browse clips, create story boards, develop characters and experiment with props. Rollermache has been designed for use in regional Australian schools". (Source: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/elearning/technology/animation.htm ) Here is a video on animation using rollermache: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyU4HBNja6o

10) Catchment Detox dot com http://www.catchmentdetox.com/

"It's an online game where you're in charge of the whole catchment. You get to decide what activities you undertake - whether to plant crops, log forests, build factories or set up national parks. The aim is to avoid environmental problems and provide food and wealth for the population. Managing Australia's waterways is a huge challenge with climate change, increased demand for water and environmental problems putting our rivers under stress. Catchment Detox gives an idea of just how difficult it is to manage a river catchment".(Source: http://www.catchmentdetox.net.au/ )

 

Movie Making in Schools

Movie Making has been introduced into many schools. One good example is Rowville Secondary College. Their Year 11 Student Stephanie Keay has recently won the Ringwood Movie Maker of the Year for her 8-minute documentary Jamie Draper: The next famous drummer. http://web.rowvillesc.vic.edu.au/files/Term%203%20Issue%2011%281%29.pdf

Another noteworthy school is Hawthorndene Primary School: http://www.hthdeneps.sa.edu.au/

One of the school's key area of approaches to learning is the teaching of critical information technology skills. The school has successfully introduced a series of ICT programs into their curriculum including movie making, animation and claymation as shown below:

A similar example to Hawthorndene Primary School is Yarraville West Primary School.For the last few years, students of the primary school have made a series of claymation movies: http://www.ywps.vic.edu.au/YWPS/Claymation.html Here is a Herald Sun newspaper article on it: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/learn/yarraville-west-primary-school/story-e6frf7ox-1111113232320

A final example is Foster Primary School.In 2005 the students created 'Claymation' movies using still photos and Movie Maker to create the animation.  In, 2008 students are made several movies using PhotoStory 2 as well as MS Movie Maker. http://www.fosterps.vic.edu.au/

According to this site, films for Learning is a project that is already inspiring schools to create their own video resources and share them with others online. http://community.filmsforlearning.org/forums/57.aspx

This site provides a long lists of learning technologies in the primary schools: http://www.primaryschool.com.au/learningtechresults.php?strand=Digital%20Imagery&grade=General

Kent's ICT website also provides teachers and students with ICT resources, lesson ideas and links to 'safe' websites on the internet: http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_home.cfm Another useful teacher's resource is the Learning Element published jointly by Common Ground Publishing, The Learning Federation, the Primary English Teaching Association(PETA) and RMIT, Victoria as a designer project for the teacher: http://www.elit.edu.au/mediaLibrary/documents/projects/Learning%20by%20design/07_PETA_Animation_by_W_Renshaw.pdf

The following document explains the importance of teaching movie-making in schools: http://ijttl.sicet.org/issue0502/Hofer.Vol1.Iss2.pdf In this article, the author explained that "digital moviemaking offers an opportunity to harmonize the use of technology to support student-centred pedagogy" and its content. In another article, it was mentioned that teaching movie-making skills has become part and parcel of the curriculum as we move towards teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335206042.pdf   

Videos advocating better Integration of Technology in Education
Below are 8 engaging videos advocating better integration of Technology in Education and engaging students in ICT:

1) A Vision of Today's K-12 students: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8 

This is a 4 minutes video borrowed from Michael Wesch’s work and the popular “Future is now” video, using elementary aged kids to hold signs up to tell the story. This is well doneand should strike a point with those involved in educating young children.

2) A Vision forTechnology in K-12 Education: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhoOG5Kf1w4 

This is a 4 minutes plus video that uses a “What If? ” question format. It walks through events in the student and teacher environment, showing how technology can be integral to the educational experience.

3) A Vision of Students Today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related

This is Professor Wesch’s outstanding (< 5 minute) video perspective on today’s students. It has been viewed over 3 million times, and is simply a must for this listing.

4) The Future is Now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPO_HGafBsE 

This widely viewed 5 minutes outstanding video is mesmerizing with its opening “Did You Know?” question and answer format, its propulsive music, and the onslaught of fascinating ‘factoids’. While it is not focused specifically on education, it implies the need for it, and I think I would be remiss not to include in this list. 

5) Using Technology in Education: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s31Y3OG04Cw

This well done 6.5 minutes video is focused on mental health, and supports the idea that Internet based applications can provide a useful route for kids suffering from depression or other mental health issues to be able to reach out for help in a way that may work well for many of them.

6) Learning to Change - Changing to Learn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk ”The US Dept of Commerce ranked 55 industry sectors by their level of IT intensiveness. Education was ranked number 55, the lowest. Below Coal Mining.”  This startling statement opens this excellent (5.5 minute) video, consisting of one well spoken statement after another, woven into an insightful and thoughtful narrative supporting the undeniable need for the US educational system to seriously step up their level of technology integration. Education can lead us into the future  and position our children, and adult learners, to excel in today’s world and the world of tomorrow. 

7) 3 Phases of Educational Technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ir4-EFVhzI&feature=PlayList&p=E50C24A2A5AB21DE&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8 

This is a 7 minutes video that provides insight into how teachers typically adopt technology. It provides awareness of where an instructor is in the cycle. Phase 1: Teacher uses technology to support/facilitate lecture; Phase 2: Students use online resources to access knowledge; Phase 3: Student becomes a producer of information (not just a consumer).

8) Education Technology Showcase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCY4_Hj5yaM

In this short (less than 3 minutes) video, we follow a walking tour demonstration of many education technologies, which took place following a U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education & Labor hearing on the “Future of Technology: How Technology is Transforming Public Schools”.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in the 21st century integrating technology into classroom lessons has become a must. But which are the literacies we need to learn in order to prepare our students for the 21st century? Mark Pegrum explores this issue and arrays a spectrum of literacy skills into 4 literacy groups, namely language literacies, information literacies, connection literacies and remix literacies:  http://jenverschoor.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/literacy-skills-for-teachers/  As a teacher-to-be, I must continually upgrade my technology and literacy skills and keep in touch with the developments.

week 4 reflections

The Learning Federation
This week's learning focus is on educational soundness and on critical thinking.  We were introduced to the learning federation website: http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/default.asp The Learning Federation is a project of Education Services Australia, who manages the national resource collection and infrastructure of digital resources aligned with the Australian Curriculums. I found this to be an extremely useful site for teaching as it provides samples of digital curriculum content by learning area such as arts and design, business and enterprise, civics and citizenship, early years, english and literacy, environmental education, environmental education for sustainability, languages, mathematics and numeracy and science. Below are the snapshots of the mathematics and science samples of digital curriculum content provided by the Learning Federation. It is definitely an important reference and resource site for my teaching purposes.

The Learning Federation is excellent example of websites that provide learning objects. Learning objects are digital resources that provide content and can be reused tosupport learning. Other examples of learning objects include:

1) BBC Revisewise. This site provides interactives in English, Science and Maths for primary scool students:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/index.shtml


2) Wicked Science Interactives : Switched on to science. http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/topics/science.php

3)  Wicked Maths Interactives. This site provides exciting mathematics games to improve your basic fact recall: http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/maths/interactives.php

4) A Science Odyssey: You try it. This site features 8 learning objects: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/

5) Teachers' Domain. This site provides thousands of media resources, support materials and tools for classroom lessons, individualised learning programs and teacher professional learning communities. http://www.teachersdomain.org/

Workshop Activities

In the workshop, we had a spreadsheet activity and a dreamtime stories inspiration task.

Spreadsheet Activity

On the spreadsheet activity, we were told to bring our own small packet of M&Ms to the workshop. Then using excel spreadsheet, we constructed vertical bar charts showing the respective colours of the M&Ms candies. The task was completed as shown.The excel spreadsheet activity was easy and fun. This website focus on the importance of using spreadsheets in the curriculum and the educational value of spreadsheet activities to improve students' achievements: http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/ss/ This website advocates integrating spreadsheets in the classroom and provides websites to support the teaching of spreadsheets: http://www.amphi.com/~psteffen/excel.html
This particular site is provided in the lesson to show students how to use Microsoft software in the classroom with tips and tricks presented in "how-to" articles: http://www.microsoft.com/education/howto.mspx

Inspiration task on Dreamtime stories

Next, we moved on to an Inspiration task on dreamtime stories. We were directed to an interesting site called Dust Echoes on ABC dot net dot au: http://www.abc.net.au/dustechoes/ . Dust Echoes is a series of twelve beautifully animated dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land, telling stories of love, loyalty, duty to country and aboriginal custom and law.  According to Tom Lewis, actor, musician, Indigenous consultant, "Dust Echoes is one way that we are bringing everyone back to the same campfire - black and white. We are telling our stories to you in a way you can understand, to help you see, hear and know. And we are telling these stories to ourselves, so that we will always remember, with pride, who we are. "  Among the twelve stories, I have chosen the Mermaid Story (see attached below).  The story is about belonging and pull of the family and the country (see attached below for the story).

Here is a snapshot of the study guide and the suggested classroom activities:

Many schools have incorporated dreamtime stories into their classroom lessons, an example of this is Pallara State School :http://pallarass.eq.edu.au/wcmss/index.php/classroom-news/year-two/three-love-dreamtime-stories.html

"Through the incorporation of stories from the Dreaming students gain 'understanding of the unique relationship that Aboriginal and other indigenous people have to the land', (BOS NSW, 2003, p.12). This kind of activities help to promote the development of students' competence in 'collecting, analysing and organising information' (Board of Studies NSW [BOS NSW], 2003, p. 14) and 'working with others and in teams' (p. 15). Through the use of Explicit Quality Criteria (New South Wales Department of Education and Training [NSW DET], 2003) and scaffolding, students are encouraged to become self- directed and self-regulated learners (NSW DET, 2003) In addition, the collaborative design of these activities foster Social Support (NSW DET, 2003) amongst students which facilitates the inclusion of learner's of diverse abilities, and the assessment for learning task allows all students' to achieve a measure of success." ( Source:  www.scu.edu.au/library/download.php?doc_id=5552&site_id )

This is what was described as "back to basics" approach  by the  former  Prime Minister Kevin  Rudd. He said that Australia's national school curriculum will return history, grammar, literature and phonetics to the classroom. He also mentioned that the curriculum will also place Aboriginal and Asian ways of seeing the world into almost every subject.  
http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/backtobasics-approach-for-australias-classrooms-20100227-pa8t.html

This artice talks about the importance of promoting critical thinking in the classroom: http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/critical.htm 

This website is a discussion forum on critical thinking using technology: http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/critical-thinking-using

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned that technology is an extremely powerful and efficient tool to use in the promotion of critical thinking in the classroom.

Week 3 Reflections

Game Development, Material Technology and Protection of Students Online
The learning focus of this week's ICT is on the game development, material technology and the protection of students online. In the workshop, I learned about Design Brief and creating of quizzes and games. I learned a whole lot of game development material technology.

Design Brief

On design brief,  we were given a piece of cardboard, a picture of a frog, a rubber band and a sticky tape. We were supposed to use the provided materials to design a "jumping" frog. I am impressed with the variety of designs  that came out from my peers.From design brief,  I learned the importance of incorporating fun, games and activities into ICT lessons. It is extremely important to carefully plan and design lessons, activities and games. Good activities will bring out the imagination and creativity of students.

Creation of Quizzes and games
As for creating quizzes and games, we were directed to the website: http://www.quia.com/web where we created our accounts and learned to create games and quizzes. Quia is the leader in online education, providing the tools to create, customize and share learning activities. It has a huge database providing rich web-based learning activities and assessments. It is easy to use and it requires very little technical skill and no knowledge of programming languages. It will definitely come in handy as a classroom teaching resource.

In the workshop, we were required to create our own quizzes and games. I  created  a simple  quiz  on  Multiplication (Mathematics)  for  grade 2 to  4  students. We were  then  asked to  try out  peers'  quizzes.

The second  piece of  work  that I  did  was  a game  on jumbled  words.  I created a  list  of 20 words on primary science scientific terms. Through these activities, I realized the importance of proper planning and reviewing the design of my future classroom activities. I must ensure that it is fun, easy and fitting to right level of students that I will be teaching. If the quizzes are too difficult, it will discourage the student and bore the lesson.

Later on in the week, I explored Quia again. Basically, it comprised of 3 main areas, namely Quia Books, Quia Web and IXL Maths. The Quai Books provides online workbookss and textbooks from the worls's leading publishers. Quia Web has been explored in the workshop. It provides mainly activities, games and quizzes. IXL Maths provides unlimited questions on thousands of Maths topics. I spent hours glued to this website. I believed that Quia dot com is going to be one of my most important teaching tool or resource in the future.

Protection of Students Online

Next, I shall discuss the lecture on "The Protection of Students online". Why is internet security important? This article explores the reasons why internet security is important: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-is-internet-safety-important.html  It explained that with the escalating and popularity of the Internet, Internet security has become a prime due to 4 main reasons:

1) Unauthorized Network Access or Hacking,

2) Phishing, Email Frauds and Spamming;

3) Sexual Abuse, Pedophiles and Pornography and

4) Cyber-terorism - Threats to National and International Security.

These reasons are obviously important causes for internet security. However, another important reason that was mentioned in the lecture is the issue of cyberbullying, pertaining especially to students. This article on a Melbourne's teen's highlights cyber bullying trend and hence the importance of cyber protection of students online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/23/2633775.htm

Cyberbullying
Below is a list of videos on cyberbullying:
1) Cyberbullying - Megan Meier's Story Part 1. This is story of an American teenager named Megan Taylor Meier who committed suicide by hanging herself three weeks before her 14th birthday. A year later, Meier's parents prompted an investigation into the matter and her suicide was attributed to cyberbullying through the social networking website MySpace. The mother of a friend of Meier, Lori Drew, was later indicted on the matter in 2008, but in 2009, Drew was acquitted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7WllPVA-A4 
 
2) A Cyber Bullying Suicide Story - Ryan Halligan age 13: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1LG9NymhTE&feature=related

3) Childnet International - Cyber Bullying. This video illustrates the dangers of cyber bullying and offers solutions to the problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNumIY9D7uY&feature=related

4) Anti Cyber Bullying Commercial (from Germany): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amueaVHIZ6A 

5) Anti Cyber Bullying Campaign - Korea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oox2183jP8s

6) Anti-Bullying week Cyber Bullying video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03Br1dwJR8

7) Stop Cyber Bullying and Online Self-Harm: Prevention Strategies for Teachers and Schools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z81-Ol1sg0s

8) Teachers stand up against cyber-bullying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAkGHzjFAvA&feature=related

9)  KDDI R&D Cyber Bullying Prevention Tools - DigInfo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCWsTqm0dYw&feature=related

10)  http://www.info.KidsafeFirst.com - Prevent Cyberbullying, Sexthing and Child Predators:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6DuCoGjccg

Anti-Cyberbullying
Below is a list of useful websites that deal with anti-cyberbullying:

a)The National Crime Prevention Council provides a long list of strategies to prevent cyberbullying: http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying

b) This site provides parents and educators with 10 excellent tips to prevent cyber-bullying: http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/back-to-school-tips/312-ten-tips-to-prevent-cyberbullying

1. Tell students to never pass along harmful or cruel messages or images.
2. Train students to delete suspicious email messages without opening them.
3. Ask students to step up to friends who are cyberbullying and tell them to stop.
4. Teach students how to use technology to block communication with cyberbullies.
5. Speak to students about the importance of telling a parent or adult about any cyberbullying they’re witness to.
6. At home, supervise your child’s time online. Putting the computer in a common area, such as the kitchen, is a good idea.
7. Addressing cyberbullying school-wide is key -- help institute a formal policy for dealing with any cyberbullying instances. Be sure students fully understand the consequences. For some guidelines on crafting a program, visit HotChalk.com and see Preventing Cyberbullying: A Conversation with Mike Donlin.
8. Create a community outreach program to educate those beyond the school walls to the dangers of cyberbullying. Have students work with the Chamber of Commerce or other civic group to create an awareness campaign.
9. Teach students the basics of smart and savvy Web behavior, such as never revealing passwords or real last names.  
10. Pay attention. If you notice a student is withdrawn, depressed or reluctant to attend school or social events, investigate. 

 c) Cyber Smart website: http://www.cybersmart.gov.au

Cybersmart is developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. It offers training and resources for schools and materials for library staff. It is part of the Australian Government’s cybersafety program and it provides activities, resources and practical advice to help young kids, kids, teens' parents safely enjoy the online world. Here is an article that compliment Cybersmart program to National Protection Week by hosting a national Cybersmart Detectives activity: http://www.psnews.com.au/Page_psn23412.html

d) Cybersmart - Cybernetrix. This website is game website focusing on internet safety education for secondary school students. You can create the funniest and coolest room ever by working out how to stay out of trouble on the Net: http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/cybernetrix/

e) The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) units of work website. This site provides guidelines on how to deal with unwanted adult content, search for safe sites and content, deal with violent content, prevent cyberbullying, outlines positive online behaviours and so on: http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/schools/teacher%20resources/middle%20primary/the%20acma%20units%20of%20work.aspx

f) The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) Learning On Line website.  This site provides advices for schools on cybersafety and the responsible use of digital technologies: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/default.htm

g) DEECD website on Acceptable Use Agreement. This site provides templates to assist school communities to develop agreements as to what constitutes acceptable use of the Ultranet, internet, netbooks and other digital technologies in their communities: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/elearningsupportservices/www/lead/use.htm


Conclusion
In conclusion, integrating technology into the curriculum has become a must. However, preventing cyber-bullying has become critically important as a result of escalating use of the internet. Teachers hold an important and noble role in grooming the younger generation and shaping their character. As a teacher, I will strive to provide a safe, interactive and conducive environment for my students to enjoy learning.

 

Week 2 Reflections

Introduction to ePortfolios
For this week ICT, we focus on ePortfolios, e-assessment and Ethical issues such as Copyright.

Workshop Activities
In the ICT workshop, we learned about ePortfolio and Microsoft publisher. I simply loved learning new computer softwares. I think Microsoft Publisher is easy to learn and fun to use. I have attached a copy of my classwork below.Microsoft Publisher seemed to combine features of Word, Excel and Powerpoint and I find it really useful after many practices.  This site explains the importance of teaching Microsoft Publisher to the students: http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,7,7;journal,75,158;linkingpublicationresults,1:300326,1
"Desktop publishing is a meta-technology that allows professional writing students access to the production phase of publishing—which is crucial to readers' perception of the writer's text, yet is almost never controlled by the writer. Desktop publishing offers the most convenient means of giving students hands-on practice in preparing text for printing and in learning how that preparation affects the visual meaning of documents". Attached below is a brochure on Holidaying in New Zealand which I have done in the workshop.

BROCHURE DESIGNING: HOLIDAYING IN NEW ZEALAND!!

EPortfolio

On the other hand, ePortfolio is a new concept to me. ePortfolio is a very powerful multimedia tool and I learned that besides Word document, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations, there are a whole range of other multimedia stuff that I can include in my ePortfolio. These include publisher, music, sounds and voice recordings, digital images, Kahootz expressions and links to websites. I think it is very similar to blogs. It is quite an eye-opener for me and I have learned new ICT skills over and on top of my current knowledge. It will be an extremely important means for my teaching and assessment purposes.

With further readings, I found out that ePortfolio process involves collecting, selecting, reflecting, directing and celebrating. Through the use of multimedia, hypermedia and eLearning structures, ePortrfolio will enable me to archive, link and think, do story telling, colloborate and publish.

According to the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, "an e-portfolio can assist you with your personal development by providing an organised online space where you can:

• develop a holistic overview of your learning, experiences and development beyond individual classes
• understand your learning and experience in terms of work-readiness
• extract evidence to demonstrate your learning and achievements
• identify skill gaps through review of all and reflection on your e-portfolio content
• plan, set and review personal development targets."

Types of ePortfolios
I also found out that there are mainly 3 main types of academic portfolios:

1) Teaching portfolios - comprising mainly of syllabi, assessments, assignments and student work collected by teachers for self-reflection purposes and peer review of teaching.
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/aep_tt_240909_web.pdf

2) Students learning portfolios -are mainly collections of students' work and students' personal reflections. http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/aep_learners_240909_web.pdf

3) Institutional portfolios - usually contain institution's activities, programs and initiatives plus reflections. http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/aep_it_240909_web.pdf

There are also 4 types of ePortfolios being used in schools in the United Kingdom as presented by a study by Bussitil-Reynard et al (2006), namely:

1) Assessment ePortfolios - collection and management of work undertaken by the learners and their achievements against specified standards and criteria.This link explains what is an assessment ePortfolio: http://www.edtekservices.com/practice_areas/eportfolios.cfm

2) Presentation ePortfolios - where learners choose and present proof of personal information or achievement. This link shows some examples of presentation ePortfolios:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/freelance/a/portfolio_use.htm
 

3) Transition ePortfolios - where the learner's administrative and education information is transferred from one institution to another as the learner progresses. Here is a link on transition portfolios:   http://www.ah.ouhsc.edu/tolbert/Portfolios/Index_Portfolio.ASP

It provides the guidelines and instructions of how to set up a transition portfolio and shows us a number of examples.

4) Learning ePortfolios - provides a broader and more general resource that can support the learner in whatever the learning is doing and also form the basis of any of the learner's previous portfolios. Dr. Helen Barrett, Researcher and Consultant, Electronic Portfolios and Digital Storytelling for Lifelong and Life Wide Learning of the United States created this blog to discuss her ideas on electronic portfolios to support lifelong learning. http://blog.helenbarrett.org/ She also shared some of her concerns about the current direction of electronic portfolios in Higher Education and K-12 schools. Here is another site that explores the progress and impact of technology in education : Harnessing Technology Review 2007 http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/viewArticle2.aspx?contentId=15926 According to the site, assessment of ICT was weak in one fifth of schools at Key Stage 3 and in one eighth at Key Stage 4 in the UK. "In many cases, teachers were too easily impressed with mediocre application of ICT by pupils. Even where ICT work was assessed, pupils generally received insufficient feedback on how they could improve their work. In many schools teachers did not evaluate how well pupils applied and used their ICT skills across the curriculum (Ofsted 2005) (p27)." I will be exploring ePortfolio to create a resume for myself and also for my ICT Minor Assignment. I will have to include educational philosophy, curriculum vitae/resume, and reflections from Teaching Practicum.

Ethical issues related to ePortfolios
In the lecture, we also looked at the ethical issues related to ePortfolios including: 

1) Copyright,
2) Copying and Distributing Software;
3) Privacy;
4) Hacking;
5) Obscenity; and
6) Truthfulfulness, responsibility and Respect for others.

This website provides good insight into ePortfolio and its copyright implications: http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/library/copyright/JCUPRD_031121 First it defines ePortfolio as a "Web-based curriculum vitae (résumé) that may showcase and document an individual's accomplishments and experiences at the University". Then it looks at the copyright implications. It clearly explains that individuals who created the ePortfolio(s) works usually own the copyright and any unauthorised upload of the works of others may constitute an infringement of copyright. Under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), ePortfolio owners are responsible for any copyright infringements of reproducing and communicating copyrighted materials that belong to others. Under this law and through international conventions and treaties, a wide variety of material is protected by copyright, including:

• literary works (e.g. novels, poems, essays, books, journals, newspapers);
• dramatic works (e.g. plays and screenplays etc);
• musical works (e.g. sheet-music);
• artistic works (e.g. paintings, sculpture, cartoons, photographs, illustrations etc); 
•  audio-visual material (e.g. sound recordings; films - including animations and moving images; radio and television broadcasts). 

Computer programs are classified as "literary works" under the copyright act. As such, authorized copying and distributing of software may constitute a copyright infringement. This kind of copyright infringement is extremely common. Although most countries have copyright laws which apply to software, but the degree of enforcement varies.

Some websites such as ePortfolio dot org:http://www.eportfolio.org/legal.cfm grants user a limited license to access and make personal use of the site and not to download (other than page caching) or modify it, or any portion of it, except with express written consent of the ePortfolio. It has strict legal and privacy statements with regards to its site's usage. 

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework has conducted a privacy impact assessment (PIA) on the use of e-portfolios in the vocational education and training sector.

An outcome of the PIA has been the release of following documents:
1) Vocational Education and Training (VET) E-portfolio Privacy Impact Assessment research report: Determining the privacy requirements for e-porfolio use in the Australian VET sector. http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/VET_E-portfolios_privacy_impact-assessment-RRF.pdf
 
2) VET ePortfolio Privacy draft guidelines: Considerations for managers of learner information and e-portfolio service providers. http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/VET_Eportfolios_privacy_guidelines_F.pdf

The UK has specific laws against misuse of computers including hacking and obscenities. This law is the Computer Misuse Act of 1990: http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/LegalAreas/ComputerMisuse/ComputerMisuseOverview.aspx

Here is an example of a framework for ethical use of ICT equipment and systems created by St Patrick's College of Launceston, Tasmania: http://www.stpatricks.tas.edu.au/policies/public/documents/ICT_Ethical.pdf

Conclusion
In conclusion, ePortfolios are important tools for reflections and assessments. However we must not overlook the issues of copyrights and the infringements of copyrights when using ePortfolios.