Voki

This is my first time using Voki. I have previously seen it used by other peers in presentations and thought it to be a useful tool to use in the classroom. It is a fantastic engaging activity to be used in the classroom and is easy for students to use as well. There are many different characters you can choose from or you can create it to look like yourself. Students can use these characters so they don’t have to use an image of themselves solving privacy of identity and child safety issues. This tool provides learning experiences that caters for auditory and ESL learners.

Reflection on Difficulties

I am glad that I am doing this subject internally as I have great help from my colleagues around me. I have encountered many difficulties when exploring these tools like trying to get the picture from wordle. I thought it would be just something easy like saving the image but finding that I had to use print screen and put it into paint was a whole new thing for me to experience. As a future teacher it is important to keep up with the technological advances so that our students don't get left behind and deprived of technology in the classroom.

Wordle

Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) is a great tool that is really easy to use and can be a great tool to use in the classroom. You type words into the space and the more frequent times you write a word the larger it will appear. Wordle can allow learners to creative with the designs and colours and simple for them to use to display their ideas. You can incorporate this in the classroom as a brainstorming activity of a focus topic that the students will be exploring.

Picnik

Picnik is a free to use program that allows the user to manipulate images. It's fun and easy to use, but bewear, it can be very addictive and time consuming. The following is a before and after shot of a picture I have manipulated using Picnik

Concept Maps - Bubbl.us

The main function of the program bubbl.us is to create concept maps using ICT's. Concepts maps are an effective tool which allows you to store and organise information. In addition, it allows you to edit and re-arrange your concept map and make it to the size you want it. It is more flexible to use rather than being confined to paper. It can be incorporated into the classroom as a brainstorming activity when exploring a new unit. In addition, the concept map can be built upon throughout the unit and used at the end to revise over what has been learnt. I think that using this tool would be beneficial for students as they are highly engaging and rich in content.

 Mind maps are useful for:

1. Summarizing information
2. Consolidating information
3. Thinking through complex problems
4. Presenting information in a format that easy to read and review

The folowing is a concept map I created

Learning Style

As a Learning manager it is important to understand that a classroom is filled with diverse learners and it is vital to cater for a variety of learning styles in learning experiences.

After completing the Learning style questionare, I discovered that I am a visual, aural and physical learner.

Blogs

Blogs are maintained by an individual where they are able to add edit and delete postings. Blogs also allows you to link videos and photographs and graphic elements. Blogs give people opportunities to share and exchange their thoughts. It allows outside parties to view and review your blog allows for critical but constructive criticism.


Blogs allow you to cater for a range of learning styles as it can include graphics and videos for visual learners and professional text helps linguistic learners. There are endless opportunities of how blogs can be used in the classroom. Depending on how you use the blog in the classroom it can be a useful tool to inform parents and students. The learning manager can set up and maintain the blog as a tool for students. Blogs can expose students to a “hands on” approach of technology where they can read about watch short clips and view photos on a chosen topic by the learning manager. It can also incorporate variety of information to inform them about what is happening in the classroom, term planner, notices, assessment tasks etc.

Students will learn to write for an audience, express their ideas and thoughts in a reflective and analytical manner use a discussion board and create a collaborative tool. A learner is given a voice were they can express their thoughts feelings and concerns that they might feel uncomfortable expressing in a normal classroom setting.