The Journey

Youtube has been around for a number of years, but I have started using it fairly often in my lessons. In the past, the video played on the VCR has been a popular teaching tool. However, it often involved watching the whole video, sometimes for over an hour, and much of what was contained within the video may not have been relevant to the lesson. There is a vast array of Youtube clips that can be used in lessons, sometimes from the very movies we would watch in the past. As well, there are countless snippets and pseudo experts on a huge variety of topics.



The bandwidth at school is very small. Therefore, often when trying to watch a Youtube clip, the class has to wait while the computer buffers the content being downloaded. One way in which I have found to overcome this is to use www.keepvid.com, a free web 2.0 tool which allows the user to download Youtube clips and save them (on the computer, USB drive or server). Once this is done, the clip can be played without the need to wait whilst it buffers.

I have never been much of a “blogger”, but have just set up a Learning Place blog to extend my higher level reading group. After reading chapters of their novel, they not only answer questions, but share their feelings about the book, and comment on the other group members' thoughts.

One teacher in my school has brought her own iPad into the classroom. Her opinion was, that if the Department was not going to supply it, then she would use her own personal iPad. She is doing some amazing things with it, and I am gaining the confidence to try some of these things myself, when I’m able to borrow it from her. (As yet, I have not had the funds to purchase my own). Together, we have approached Admin regarding the purchase of iPads, or similar tablets, for use in the classrooms. We almost had them convinced to buy tablets, as well as e-readers, but our Deputy attended a recent Ed Qld seminar where they advised against the purchase of tablets in schools. We supposedly live in the “Smart State”, yet here they are advising against their purchase and have no policy on using tablets in classrooms, unlike Victoria. (In Your Hands iPads for Learning – Getting Started Classroom Ideas for Learning with the iPad).

There are a vast array of web 2.0 tools available for use and I have recently used one where children create a speaking avatar. The children went to http://www.voki.com/ and then emailed me their completed task. The avatar adds voice to the information the children have researched. Providing a new and exciting way of presenting the information encourages children of all levels.

I recently attended a Teacher-Librarian conference on the October PFD, and one of the sessions I attended really hit home about the changing role of the Teacher-Librarian, and how we need to embrace the use of technology. The session was about creating a professional presence and involved many of the aspects in this unit. My aim for the Library is have our own dedicated section of the school website and incorporate a Library blog, informing staff, parents and children of events that are happening in the Library, as well as new resources that have been purchased, and highlight resources that many may not be aware of that are already in the Library.

As well, I am creating a Library homepage for our school intranet, which will include a range of web 2.0 tools that can be used by the children. We have 6 computers in the Library (which includes 3 normally dedicated as inquiry terminals), but I have recently been setting up the laptops at lunchtimes that are housed and recharged in the Library.

Mobile learning is just one more way we can encourage children to participate more in their learning and it help bridge the gap between home and school (Schuler). This gap seems to be getting larger and larger and it is often because teachers are sometimes afraid of technology, and afraid that the students know more than them.

Using computers has never really posed a problem for me. However, keeping up with the latest technological advances has proved daunting at times. When I first started out on this journey, I felt dismayed that alone, I couldn’t make a difference in the school, and I agree with Squire (2005) that education needs a whole school focus on ‘...changing the cultures of our schools to be organized around learning (2005, p.5) However, the change needs to start with me. Once I am successful in what I do, with the number of classes I teach, it can then be used as an example to get other teachers involved. Once Admin sees what is possible, and the results it can achieve, then maybe what I am doing can be used throughout the whole school.

Jenkins (2006) talks of participatory culture where people are using new media technologies. The word is derived from “participate” and we as educators must dive in and participate, and become familiar with these new technologies or risk having students see their time at school as somewhat irrelevant to their life “on the outside”.

After gaining new skills, it is essential that this knowledge is shared with other staff members through developing PD for teachers in digital literacy at the school level. We have a PD afternoon set aside every Thursday afternoon. We already have some tools available to us, but without a reason to use it, the technology sits there, useless. Teachers at our school are willing to learn, but “unless they are provided with more detailed information, they may remain unsure what it means for their students and for their teaching and indeed, in some cases, what it has to do with them.” Hague (2010 p53)

References

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2010, “In Your Hnads iPads for Learning – Getting Started Classroom Ideas for Learning with the iPad.”

Hague,Cassie and Payton, Sarah (2010). "Digital literacy Across the Curriculum Handbook". Future Lab Org. UK

Jenkins, H. (2006). "Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century". Retrieved from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Schuler, C. (2009). Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Centre.