Digital Video Used in The Classroom

We live in a multimedia world and students have the opportunity to experience the vast variety of technology in their learning environments. Students find a mixture of text, still images, sound and video much more interesting and engaging that the old chalk and talk approach. The chart below gives an indication how much information a person remembers(Lightbody, 2007).


Videos allow the teacher to not only tell students what they need to learn from specific tasks but illustrates to help develop student understandings. (Synergy Broadcast Systems, 2008). In addition to this by allowing student to participate in and or produce their own digital videos the Learning Manager is encouraging higher order thinking (Lightbody, 2007). Lightbody (2007) adds that teachers and lecturers have found that students find videos motivational and enjoyable; they have greater control over their learning (being able to start, stop and replay video segments). The use of digital videos in the classroom provided Learning Managers with more resources to effectively advocate for individual learning styles.

Possible uses in the classroom:
-Creating learning resource videos
-Prepare educational segments on instructions and or information
-Assist non-English speaking students (other languages)
-Record students for specific purposes e.g. assessment and reporting
-Record school performances, excursions, events, special guests
-Record science experiments for further analysis and evaluation
-Compile still images and video clips to explore movie making
-Assist in the introduction of mainstream tasks to disable students
-Show skills that are easier to learn by observation
-encourage attention, hook and engage students into new or complex topics or concepts
-encourage post discussions

Some Advantages of Digital Videos in the classroom (Larkin, 2010):
-Provides educators and students with an opportunity to be creative
-They can apply skills they have gained in planning, writing and art in a new area
-Storyboarding and digital video production can assist in student cognitive development
-Encourages motivation and engagement
-Provides empower opportunities for students (Designing, Decision Making and Creating)
-Complex processes or concepts can be illustrated and become more manageable
-Accommodates for diverse groups of students
-Creates meaningful, supportive and authentic learning environments
-Provides a wide range of experiences in the use of technology
-May employ prior knowledge and experiences

Here is an insightful and remarkable quote that I found during my research.

"...video production in the classroom enables the development of media literacy, higher order thinking skills, project based learning experiences, real world relevancy experiences, and a deeper connection to the curriculum being explored. But while all this is essential, it represents only half of the potential of using video in the classroom.

The other half to all the skills and experiences being developed is the experience that students receive in communicating their own original ideas to others, and in listening to others communicate their ideas to them. It’s that speaking and listening thing." Nikos Theodosakis, 2002


References

Larkin, J. (2010). Digital Video in the Classroom. Retrieved August 19th, 2010, from www.larkin.net.au: http://www.larkin.net.au/024_podcasting/02_vodcast/02_Storyboarding.pdf

Lightbody, K. (2007, March 5th). DIGITAL VIDEO IN EDUCATION. Retrieved August 19th, 2010, from Keith Lightbody's Technology in Education Web Site: http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/digvideo.htm

Synergy Broadcast Systems. (2008). Using Video in the Classroom. Retrieved August 19th, 2010, from SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/synergybroadcast/using-video-in-the-classroom-1075794

Video Killed the Radio Star

I had a lot of trouble trying to use the upload link within blogger; my video just wouldn't finish processing in order to publish in my post. I didn't want all my efforts to create my video go to waste, and I am not one to just give up. After multiple attempts to fix the problem and multiple draft posts later I came up with another idea to upload my video to my blog. YouTube did the trick I uploaded my video to YouTube simply by selecting the link found in the top right hand corner of the tool bar in Windows Live Movie Maker. I could not have found the patience to finally complete this blog with video included if it weren’t for my partners help. Thank-you, Billy.

Here is my very first video. I must admit when I discovered that I had to create a video for topic 5’s blog post I was a little unenthusiastic. I thought that making a digital video would be a painful, complex and fiddly mission. I have had to create videos with others in the past for university assignments, in fact I recently helped conducted a number of interviews which were edited and used in a video to support our group presentation. However, I have never actually had to put together a video on my own.

So to make it a little easier on myself I decided to use the instructions for the paper plate butterfly art and craft activity as I used before in my previous podcast. I thought using this particular idea (Paper Plate butterfly) for both the podcast (audio) and digital video (visual) would be useful for different preferences (learning styles). This backed up approach would work in many other circumstances in the classroom, catering and supporting individual student learning needs whilst they undertake a particular task.


I found Windows Live Movie Maker enjoyable and very user friendly, well at least from a digital native’s point of view. I had no trouble working out how to use the many features the Movie Maker had to offer to tweak and perfect my video. I did however have trouble adding music to the video as I have a new computer and this means I no longer have my vast music and sound clip collection, until I transfer them over. So I decided to use a sample music file that came with the computer. Although for just a sample file I think it is a rather groovy tune.

Windows Live Movie Maker can be found on most Window operating computers, making this program ideal for classroom use. Therefore Windows Live Movie Maker is a program that is straightforward and accessible to anyone in and out of the classroom.

Creating My Own Podcast

Okay so I finally mustard enough courage to record and make my very own podcast. I get nervous when it comes to public speaking, filming and recording myself, but I was able to move on from this insecure feeling and make a recording in my home ALONE.

I wasn’t sure on what to speak about, I decided I would give a recount of the steps taken to create a paper plate butterfly. I am currently a Group Leader in the 2-3 age group, at a local day care centre. In my room we are currently learning about insects this theme is based on the children’s interests. We have been reading factual books about different bugs and on Monday (16th August) the children wanted to paint butterflies. I thought instead of just paint a butterfly on a piece of paper, we would create a 3D butterfly. The podcast explains how we did this.

I did come across a number of challenges when creating a podcast. Firstly MyPodcast was no longer taking any new members, so I continued on using Podomatic to create and publish my podcast instead. After reading through the tutorial that was provided I began the creation process. I found the tutorial straight forward enough but once I got passed the uploading part I got lost, my new podcast did not show up in My Podcast Page. Where to now? I had to play around in my podomatic account for a while before I figured out that after uploading my audio file I had to edit the details following a process (Title, description, audio/video, photos and tags, review and publish) eventually leading to publishing the file as a podcast on my account. I was also quite pleased with myself to discover that i could embed a link (from my Podomatic account) to place a audio player within my blog posting to play my podcast right then and there. Here is the link to my Podomatic page http://eva-7771.podomatic.com/. Enjoy.

Images in the Classroom

Images can be used for many purposes in the classroom. I have thought of two (2) occasions when an image would be an effective tool in the classroom.

1. Children go through stages of development where they learn about, practice and explore art skills. Children begin by drawing scribbles and lines but this will eventually lead to realistic representations of the world around them.

Prep aged students should have explored the scribbling and preschematic stage and are moving on to the schematic stage, where they are now attempting to create realistic representations. (Lipoff, 2010). Drawings in this stage also tend to have a strong narrative element.

According to Piaget and Inhelder (1963) preschoolers draw what they know about the world, rather than trying to capture a photograph of reality. That is why we see drawings illustrate both the outside and inside of an object at the same time (transparencies or x-rays) and everything is rainbow.

This is where I believe the use of images would come in handy, displaying and discussing the realistic representation of objects with children before hand will ensure the children are aware of the object and create a mental visual note of what that particular image looks like in real life. The use of google images or Flickr would make finding and accessing appropriate images quick and efficient for a Learning Manager. For example, last year in my prac class (prep) the students were learning about animals from around the world and their habitats. When discussing the animals and their homes factual texts with realistic representations were used to enhance the students understanding. The children enjoyed identifying the actual colours of the animals.



As you can see from Zacks drawing (age 5) he is beginning to use color realistically to represent things. The chick has a yellow body, orange legs and beak, and a brown eye. He has separated the head from the body, this indicates that he has already progressed past the scribbling and preschematic stage. Zack's chick floats in space on the page (Herchenahahn, 2005).







2. Children rely heavily on picture cues while learning to read and write. A picture helps a reader/writer connect the ideas in the text with past experiences and knowledge, confirm the message being constructed from/for the print and help the reader/writer acquire new information to enhance comprehension (Mcmackin, 1993).


Using images during literacy (reading & writing) lessons can help engage and enhance student learning. For example students in 1A are presented with this image and asked to construct and write (type) 2 simple sentences about the image. The Learning Manager can guide the students through the process by posing key questions such as:
-What do you think could be happening in this picture?
-What might the fairy be saying to the lion?
-Look at all that food, I wonder what they are doing with all that food?


References

Herchenahahn, M. (2005, April). Drawing Development Timeline. Retrieved August 13, 2010, from Drawing Development Timeline: http://mary-h.com/timeline/index.html

Lipoff, S. (2010). Art Development in Young Children. Retrieved August 13, 2010, from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/about_6130190_art-development-young-children.html

Mcmackin, M. C. (1993). The Parent's Role in Literacy Development. Childhood Education , 69, 10.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1963).The child's conception of space. London: Routledge.

My Voki

This is my very first Voki, I created it using http://www.voki.com/ . I had heard about Voki’s from my fellow Emerald uni students who completed e-Learning last year. But I had never used one myself. I had so much fun making my Voki; I tried to make it look as much like myself as possible there were so many options to choose from. There are so many possibilities that Voki’s could be used for, I would definitely use this easy to use tool in my own classroom and recommend it to others as well.

This tool could be used in the classroom:

Student blogs - students can explore, communicate and project themselves, they can express themselves and or even become a whole new character and still keep student identities confidential.
Provide opportunities - to those students who may not be so confident in operating videos and or vodcasts.
Engage (hook) students – Students will find creating and sharing their own personal Voki challenging, interesting and very enjoyable. When students are very engaged in classroom tasks, they learn much more (Marzano & Pickering, 1997).
Advocate for different learning styles – students who are audio and visual learners would benefit for the use of an online Voki. Students have individual learning styles, a Learning Manager needs to be taking these into account and cater to each student’s needs. When students learning styles are supported learning and motivation are enhanced (McInerney & McInerney, 2006).

References

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (1997). Dimensions of Learning (2nd Edition ed.). Aurora, Colorado: McRel.

McInerney, D. M., & McInerney, V. (2006). Educational Psychology Constructing Learning (4 ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

A Closer Look at "Hooked on Phonics"

Hooked on Phonics is a reading program that is approved by the Children’s Reading Foundation. The program is designed to give each child a strong foundation in phonics and reading readiness skills. Hooked on Phonics has 4 levels Pre-K, Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade, the learn to read program has been designed for easy use in the home and within school settings with a small group of students or one on one.

-The Kindergarten edition focuses on short a, i, o, u and e words, and adding s to nouns and verbs.

-The First Grade edition covers beginning and ending consonant digraphs and blends, two-syllable words and words ending in ing, er, ly, es and ed.

-The Second Grade edition focuses on long vowels, words ending in y, two-syllable words, complex consonant belds, wr and kn and soft c and g.

Each edition is specifically adapted for use in the classroom with daily reading lessons and over 40 reading activities for individual, pairs, group and whole class participation (Smarterville Productions LLC, 2010).

The Hooked on Phonics iTunes channel provides free activities, songs and other great resources to teachers and parents to help their learners read and improve reading skills using phonics. There is a total of 68 free learn to read pod/vodcasts. Hooked on Phonics can also be followed on the Hooked on Phonics website, facebook, bogger and twitter. The link to all the Hooked on Phonics pod/vodcasts can be found on http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/hooked-on-phonics/id318331495

References

Smarterville Productions LLC. (2010). Learn to read in the classroom. Retrieved August 1st, 2010, from Hooked on Phonics: http://learntoread.hookedonphonics.com/in_the_classroom

Podcast put into Practice

I have hear a lot about podcasts but I never really knew what they were exactly or how easy they were to access for that matter. I have had iTunes and used it for so long but never acknowledge the podcasts application in the iTunes library until this week’s topic of images and podcasts. After briefly browsing the podcasts on the iTunes store, can you imagine my sheer delight when I came across a whole range of Triple J podcasts? Now I can simply download the Triple J podcasts and it’s ready instead of searching and downloading song after song to add to my jogging playlist. I use my ipod to play all my favourite playlists, I was unaware of the educational advantages that ipods have.

So if you were a little confused like I was about what exactly a podcast is according to Apple Inc. (2009) a podcasts is a program delivered via the internet with the publisher broadcasting the episodes to a web server. Podcasts can include the more common types of media and can be used to offer a diverse range of programs.

There are many advantages to using podcasts in the classroom. One of the podcasts in particular that I feel could be beneficial for the early years students is the educational podcast program “hooked on Phonics” , this program could be used by teachers and teacher aides working one on one with a student. “Hooked on Phonics” could also be sent home to parents and students to subscribe and peruse in their own time in the comfort of their own home.

Podcasts can be integrates into many of the Big6 skills for example Skill number 4 Students will use the identified information by engaging with the podcasts by listening and then extracting relevant information (Eisenberg, 2001). There is substantial research that suggests that university students who download a podcast lecture obtain higher test results and grades by replaying the difficult parts of their lectures and taking better notes (Callaway, 2009). I believe this approach to new learning material may be effective in any classroom environment. Transforming face to face lessons into podcasts also would allow those students with different learning styles another avenue to gain and achieve the most from a learning experience. Podcasts would also be an effective tool in the classroom if any student were away, or for those who want clarity on the lesson and require some further help, they can simply access the podcast 24/7.

It is important for a Learning Manager to remember that not all students will have access to technologies such as ipods, computers, iphones and even internet so it is essential to modify lessons to suit all learners. Prensky (2005) argues that education needs to be engaging, and that students of today have access to a vast variety of technologies. So how do educators further engage students who do not have the technology in their lives due to socio economic backgrounds? So were to from here? According to the Department of Education and the Arts Inclusive Statement (2004) "Inclusive education ensures that schools are supportive and engaging places for all students, teachers and caregivers. It is about building communities that value, celebrate and respond to diversity. It is underpinned by respectful relationships between learners, teacher and caregivers. It is about shaping the society in which we live and the type of society to which we aspire”.

References

Apple Inc., 2009, itunes, http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatson/podcasts/fanfaq.html, viewed 1st August, 2010.

Callaway, E., 2009, New Scientist, Itunes university better than the real thing, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16624-itunes-university-better-than-the-real-thing.html, viewed 1st August, 2010.

Eisenberg, M. (2001, November 19). The Big6 Skills Overview. Retrieved August 01, 2010, from The Big6: http://www.big6.com/2001/11/19/a-big6%e2%84%a2-skills-overview/

Prensky, M. (2005). Engage me or engrage me: What today's learners demand. [electronic copy]

Department of Education, Training and the Arts, (2006). Inclusive education policies. Retrieved March 20, 2009 from http://education.qld.gov.au/studentservices/inclusive/index.html