Re-sizing photo's

After finding the right software I was able to easily re-size these pictures of our family holiday. The pictures uploaded in seconds and it does not look like picture quality has been lost.

These are pictures of my family by which I have permission to upload.

More on Wiki

So here I am again....trying to get through the activities and wrap my head around the technology we are using.
A couple of weeks ago I placed a photo on my Wkik homepage....unfortunantly a little too fast as I had not yet learnt that I needed to re-size the picture first....Now I have an enormous picture of a horeses head (Bronco's logo) on my Wiki's front page and I can not seem to edit, delete or resize.  I went into pages and files and deleted the home page thinking that would do the trick, but alas it deleted the text and embedded you-tube but not the hideous horses head. Fortunantly, wiki has it's own recycle bin so it was very easy to restore the lost data......On reflection I should have used the preview button before saving the picture as my home page image...
Additionally, I made a movie using my webcam and movie maker and uploaded to my wiki. Although it didn't do what I thought it would. I thought it would place itself on the screen just like the embedded you tube clip, however, the movie was placed on a page and needs to be downloaded to be viewed. Not sure if this is right , although, I am happy that it worked as I ahve never done anything like that before...

Wiki Spaces

So all of the posts I have read state that the De Bono hats supported higher thinking, I too agree.
As for the wiki space itself I have been having a go looking at it's functions and features. I have  embedded a you tube link, uploaded an image made a seperate page as a template.
The image I uploaded from my computer is soooo huge, I have tried to shrink it but was unable to figure it out.
In one of the pages I fiddled around with the widgets (don't even know what that is really) I tried to put in a calander, spreadsheet and a link to my blog... all without success.... For the calander and spreadsheet it kept taking me different links within google, link after link it drives me crazy.
The blog link didn't work either not sure why!
I will continue to work with it and see if I can be successful................... will let you know how I go.....
Other things I noticed .... information from wiki's can be downloaded... seems abit of a security risk if you ask me... also wiki had linked me to other wiki's and assumed I wanted to be their friend... again security issue and a breach of privacy for not only myself but also the member of the other wiki space...
I believe wiki spaces have potential though.... they certainly can be set up so that people all over the world can contribute..
I don't like the facebook, google and so on features though......Facebook has gone viral.....it is every everywhere you look......like it on facebook.....it's taking over the world

Deviation.....I'm not sure how many people read the terms and conditions of Facebook... I wouldn't think there would be many........................Facebook has YOUR permission to follow everywhere you go on you computer....it knows all your habits on the internet................big brother is watching oh no that's facebook is watching, following, invading..........tracing .....your every move.

Connectivism

Wow, what a read that was. So, we now have machines that do all of our remembering, retrival,sorting and storing of information for us. We require the minds and thoughts of others to invent new ideas or be innovative. We rely on networks to communicate and learning is no longer an internal function.
Let me get this straight....... We no longer need our brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because we have machines and the collective information of others to do our learning for us.
.............................................We no longer take responsibilty for our own individual learning, as according to the connectivism theory, learning is external (from external sources)
.............................................
Yes the world is changing, yes there are technologies that can do all of these things for us. But does that mean we have to give up our human qualities such as using our memory, experiences and voices to learn................. I think not, I am not totally convinced that all learning should be external............ How will I know who I am if I don't look inside of myself and use my cognition to sift, sort and remember information........................"Black Empty Box Theory"..... that's what will be next.

Weebly Website

http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php

Here is a link to my Weebly website, it was fun to create and it's functions can support all types of learning. I have included a home page and individual tabs to discuss some of the scaffolding methods we have learnt about.
I have also included some tabs which I believe would be very important when designing and facilitating learning from a website. For example the tab for support and questions allows the students to send emails to the teacher or other students.
More to come.......
After some thinking, I thought that a static website could be useful for allowing students to view (in pages/tabs) information about topics and lessons for each week/term. In addition, activities for different levels of learners could be posted for students to print off and do for homework.
This would allow students to work/learn within their level of ability, therefore, differentiating. For example some students may work a week ahead of other students or have extra challenging activities presented to them.

TPACK

The TPACK is essential a very basic graph that depicts the outcomes of blending content, pedagogy and technology in the classroom. It states that without good content, smart pedagogy and knowledgeable use of technology lessons will fail and students will not be engaged or learning effectively.
More to come.....

Is This The Future???????

This is one way some teachers have thought up to improve effective teaching and learning.

Is it perfect .... No

Is it different.....Yes

Is it Affective..... ?

Is it innovative......I believe so

Although completely flipping the classroom poses questions like.. How do the students without access to computers recieve their content. And how can we motivate  the students to ensure they watch the content before class? And do we keep them motivated to take time out of their day to watch the content? How do we manage the content and students interactions with the content?

This is why I say it is not perfect, however, maybe by videoing and voice recording individual lessons teachers could upload them onto a site and the students can veiw them any time they like. Basically just like MOODLE. This allows for students to go over work they have not fully understood or need to revise.

What Do You Think?

Activity 1 Week 2

Productive Pedagogies

My Learning Style Preferences

This is about the fourth time I have taken this test and I am sure that it comes out differently everytime. The one thing that stays the same is that I lean towards being an auditory learner(3). I think the reason for this is because I not only remember the words but I remember the emotions or tones attached to the words. This would suit my preference as a sensing learner because I sense (5) by tone and body language of the teacher.
I thought that I would be a sequential learner as I like to build up information slowly, piecing together as I go, however, I have had a global (5) moment when I 'just get it'. Additionally, I believe in self reflection I think I reflect (in my mind usually) everything that happens in my life, whether it be about relationships, learning, the future and the past. Therefore, it is no surprise to me that I lean towards reflective learning(1).
Sarah :)

Teaching for children of Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isPj5KgpVqg&feature=related

Here is an interesting look at the world from a digitally native person. It makes sense and it is appropriate to what we are learing in this course. It will become very clear at around 6 minutes so if you have the time watch the whole thing, if not, watch from 6 minutes.

Cheers Sarah:) Just click on the above link

Digital Immigrant

Hi there fellow bloggers, as the title suggests I am a digital immigrant. Not just that, but I actually try and avoided using technology. For me it makes communicating and socialising non personal. It seems that anyone can befriend another on social networking sites such as face book without even knowing each other. It's needless to say I don't have a face book account, however, I did try it and found myself spending so much time on it (on farmville, mostly) that I decided it was too much of a distraction. Furthermore, if I want to talk to someone I will simply pick up the phone and call them.
Prensky's definition of an digital immigrant is a great description of my technological skills. However, like most things in life I believe it has it's place and I definantly understand his reasoning behind digital natives.
Digital natives ability to listen to music while studying is definantly a characteristic I would like to be able to adopt. Additionally, I understand that native digitals need more stimiulation whilst learning because they have been brought up in an over stimulating environment.
As a result, I understand my need to change my negative (reluctant) attitude towrards technology to be able to educate students in the 21st century.
Over and Out
Cheers Sarah