Synopsis

What is E-Learning?
According to Dr Frank Rennie (2006, p 14) believes that "E-Learning refers to the use of internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge and performance. It is based upon three fundamental criteria:
- It is networked
- It is delivered to the end-user via a computer using standard internet technology
- It focuses on the broadest view of learning".

E-Learning is based on a component of flexible learning which contains a wide set of applications and processes which are available to the electronic media to pursuit vocational education and training. The components include computer-based learning, web-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration.

Bangert (2004) states that, "the majority of the web-based courses today are designed using constructivist educational principles. Constructivist-based models frequently used in the online environment are":
- Situated learning
- Problem-based learning
- Communities of practice
- Simulations

There are four good practices that are important within the effective teaching of E-Learning:
- Dialogue
- Involvement
- Support
- Control

Within this blog, ICT tools are investigated and analysed on the successful teachings within the classroom. Four ICT tools have been chosen over a 4-week period which I believe would be best suited for the classroom environment.
What is pedagogy?
Pedagogy is the art or science of the teaching of instructional methods in education. Pedagogy assists with the interaction between learner and teacher.
The 20 Productive Pedagogies is a set of  framework which teachers can choose and develop strategies in relation to what they are going to teach and the variable styles, approaches and backgrounds of their students.
Productive Pedagogies are useful as they allow teachers to focus instruction and improve student outcomes. Therefore, when using Productive Pedagogies teachers should:
- Consider and understand the backgrounds and preferred learning styles of their students
- Identify the repertoires of practice and operational fields to be targeted
- Evaluate their own array of teaching strategies and select and apply the appropriate ones.

What is digital pedagogy?
Education Queensland identifies digital pedagogy as being "a new way of working and learning with ICT to facilitate quality learning experiences for 21st Century learners. Digital pedagogy moves the focus from ICT tools and skills, to a way of working in the digital world (2012, p 3).

According to the National Digital Learning Resources Network (2011) digital curriculum resources offer opportunities for varied interactive experiences, enabling learners to:
- Make choices and descisions
- Inquire, investigate and problem solve
- Gain feedback on progression and achievement
- Interpret information and apply new knowledge in a range of contexts
- Develop and present final products
- Communicate and collaborate

Bloom's Taxonomy- Cognitive Domain
Bloom's Cognitive Domain is critically important as it recognises the differences between simple knowledge and understanding and also complex ways of thinking which gives higher order thinking skills. Bloom's Taxonomy supports the understanding of the types of thinking that learning managers will support and also the ways of questioning and designing the learning that will be taking place.

Bloom's Taxonomy is often the process of introducing student-held knowledge, analysing this knowledge, deriving and strengthening knowledge and theory from this analysis, and then moving towards evaluation of the knowledge and creating as the culmination of learning.

The Coginitive Domain consists of:

Knowledge: Recall data or information.

Comprehension: Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems.

Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction.

Analysis: Seperates material or concepts into component parts so that its organisational structure may be understood.

Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.

Evaluation: Make judgements about the value of ideas or materials.

The TPACK Framework
 TPACK which stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge identifies the nauture of the knowledge that teachers require to teach technology intergration which also addresses the complex, multifaceted and situated mature of teacher knowledge. See figure below: TPACK builds on Shulman's idea of Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

De Bono's: Six Thinking Hats
De Bono's six thinking hats is used to describe the tool for group discussion and individual thinking that is the subject of the book. Each hat has a different meaning:

When using the 6 thinking hats as a strategy it is important to:

Step 1.  List the questions that represent the hats

Step 2.  Walkthrough each question as a team

Step 3.  Modify the approach

Wiki activities
I found that by completing the activites I found out more about myself more than anything. I was able to decipher what learning best suits me and how I understood what was being asked of me. I learnt how to use De Bono's six thinking hats for a range of different purposes and I found them to be an effective reflection tool for my thinking.

Please refer to week 1 and week 2 activities for the completed wiki activities.

Tool 1: Websites
Analysis
Websites are a collection of web pages. A web page is when you type in a web address, click of the link, or put an query in the search engine. Web pages contain any type of information which can include text, colour, graphics, animation and sound.

Recommendations: Wix.com
Wix is a free website builder which is web content faster, easier and search engine friendly. Every Wix creation has a HTML code that allows search engine crawlers to read your content and rank you in search engines. Users are able to manage keywords, description and meta-tag information from settings within the Wix. Wix gives users the opportunity to create a free account, access platforms and the ability to publish creations anywhere in the web. For an example of a Wix that can be used within the classroom please visit this site What Makes My Family Special. For more information on Wix.com and other collaborative ICT tools, click here.

Legal, safe and ethical practice for your learners
According to the Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment (2012), "schools should develop and implement web publishing procedures to minimise risks, keeping in mind that the risks associated with publishing information on the Internet are greater than for a school Intranet which is a closed environment".
Schools must:
- Develop and implement procedures and guidelines for web publishing at the school level
- Skill staff to manage school-based web publishing
- Guide and supervise students during the course of web publishing
- Develop and implement policies and procedures for the removal or replacement of inappropriately published material

Tool 2: Images
Analysis
An image is an artifact that depicts or records visual perception, for example a two-dimensional picutre, that has a similiar appearance to some subject usually a physical object or a person, thus providing a depiction of it. It is important that consideration into the useage of images in teaching is considered when students create and use images in their learning.

Recommendations: Instagram
Instagram is a free photo sharing program which allows users to take a photo, apply a digital filter to it, and then share it with other Instagram users via social network sites such as facebook. Instagram currently has 80 mission registered users and is supported by iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. For more information please refer to Group 2 ICT Tools.

Instagram Image

Legal, safe and ethical practice for your learners
The Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Emplyoment (2002) state that, "the department or State will generally rely on the consent of the individual or in the case of a child, the consent of the parent, before using a student or volunteer's copyright materials  and/or to disclose their personal information". This statement means that the consent of a parent or guardian will be given before any information regarding the child is promoted in the school's newsletter, website or, local media for the purposes of celebrating the student's achievments or promoting the school and state education.

For example: It is the school’s usual practice to take photographs of students or record images of students and occasionally to publish personal information when reporting student activities including their academic, sporting and cultural achievements.

Tool 3: Powerpoint
Analysis
Powerpoint is the platform that supports the embedding text, linking and interactivity, audio, video and images. It is a useful multimedia tool that is usually associated with the support of oral presentations.

Recommendations: PowerPoint presentation (Microsoft)
PowerPoint is a professional presenation tool that offers word processing, outlining, drawing, graphing and presentation management tools. Users are able to important what they have created into Microsoft products such as Word or Excel and the entire presentation can be printed as audience hand outs. To view a Powerpoint Presention click here. For further information on Microsoft PowerPoint and other presentation ICT tools visit this post.

Legal, safe and ethical practice for your learners
The Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment (2012) state that, "under Section 159C of the Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld), relevant information is information that the holder reasonably believes may help the recipient to":

1. decide whether information about suspected harm or risk of harm to a child should be given to Child Safety Services
2. otherwise make plans or decisions relating to, or provide services to, a child in need of protection or the child’s family.

Tool 4: Online concept maps
Analysis
Online concept maps are types of diagrams which show arious relationships between concepts.

Recommendations: bubbl.us
Bubbl.us is a free brainstorming service that users can work together in groups to constuct a concept map. Bubbl.us is easy to use especially if users are new to the concept of mapping. The service allows members to create, safe and print various amounts of concept maps that have been constructed. For more information on online concept maps view Group 4 ICT tools.

Bubbl.us Concept Map on Bloom's Taxonomy

Legal, safe and ethical practice for your learners
The Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment (2012) states that, "the department’s computer network and systems are for use only by those involved in learning, teaching, research or conducting the business and functions of the department. Access to these is based on user's roles and needs. Managers, Institute Directors and Principals are responsible for ensuring this procedure is understood, adhered to and administered within either the work environment or the TAFE/ school community".

Teachers should ensure students:
- Understand what is meant by acceptable use;
- Be able to demonstrate suitable behaviour; and
- Adhere to the institute or school’s network access and usage requirements.

Additional resources
iPads
IPad's are believed to be the an effective tool for focusing on engagement, creativity, inquiry-based learning and differentiated instruction. IPad's are digital learning devices that are a critical part of the learning process. IPad's are a tool to aid learning as it allows students to engage in the transformation of learning experiences, which would not be possible without iPad technology.

Seven reasons are using iPads in Education:

- Learning Styles: The iPad caters for the auditory, kinesthetic and visual aspects of different learners by enabling students to personalise their learning and contain responsibility and ownership.

- Creativity: The outstanding nujmber of apps allows all types of learnersa from different age groups to be creative both inside and outside the classroom.

- Technical: The iPad requires minimal maintenance and installation of software as well as booting up more quickly than mobile devices.

- Accessibility: The iPad has accessibility built in, it comes with a screen reader, support for playback of closed-captioned content and a universal zoom feature.

- Battery life: The iPad can stay charged for an entire school day as the battery life is on average 7 hours long.

- Any age and anyone: The iPad can be used by anyone from the age of 3 to adult life.

- Motivation: The iPad motivates students to learn effectively by using an ICT tool.

Comic website
The website ‘Bitstrips for Schools’ is an effective website for teaching students about objects, size, settings, colour, position, direction, angle, light, body language and clothing of comic strips.

Teachers can sign up for a 30 day free trail where they add their student’s names to an account. The students are then able to make their own avatars for their comic strips.

Specific features of the digital resource:
- Comic layout- draw/add/remove panels. Copy and paste panels.

- Art gallery- Characters, scenes, props, furniture, effects, shapes, outfits and images.

- Text bubbles- regular speech, whisper, caption box, thought bubble and shout bubble.

- Controls- face expressions, eyes, mouth, hair, chin and body language.

- Filters- brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, threshold, transparency, blur and tint.

These features are specific to the learning and teaching of comics by allowing students to analyse, interpret, evaluate, navigate and create. Students are able to view other students comics and write comments on their point of view of the comic and what they predict 'is happening'.


Graph website
The NCES Kids' Zone provides resources to assist students when graphing. The website allows students to design a graph by inputting their own data. The graphs are also printable and can be easily saved into a document.

Specific features of the digital:
- Design- Selection of pie, bar, line, area or XY graphs, solid, patterned or gradient shading, background colour, 2D or 3D appearance, positioning of legend.
- Data- Graph title, graph source, data set, item label, value and colour.
- Labels- Show labels, value, prefix, suffix, position, font size, font colour, label colour, background colour.
- Preview- Design of your graph.
- Print/save- Printable copies and easy access to saving to documents.

These features are specific to the learning and teaching of constructing graphs by allowing students to analyse, interpret, evaluate, navigate and create. Students are about to input the information and design their own graph.

Working legally, safely and ethically online
All teachers work within policies that are developed from legislation. Whilst the ongoing consideration of safety potentially limits the freedom of online exploration, it must be adhered to and well managed.

Working legally, safely and ethically is extremely important when it comes to students working online with ICT tools.

Students are faced with the risk of exposure to materials such as:

- Pornographic
- Sexually explicit
- Offensive
- Hateful
- Violent
- That encourages activities that are dangerous or illegal.

Legislations and policies from the Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment (2012) have been put into place to protect students against any harm that may be caused when working with ICT tools.

Conclusion
In the past 6 weeks I have learnt a great deal about Elearning. At the start I was nervous and I thought I was fairly up to date with ICT tools but after completing the work in the last 6 weeks I have come to the conclusion that ICT tools will always change and I will always be learning new things that I can implement within my classroom. I now feel confident that I can comfortably teach ICT tools for a range of different learners and subjects!



References

Mason, R., Rennie, F., (2006). Elearning: The key concepts. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Waterhouse, S., (2005). The power of Elearning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.

AU Interactive: 10 things that will make or break your website, (2012). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://blog.auinteractive.com/10-things-that-will-make-or-break-your-website

Broadcasting Engineering: Digital video basics, (2006). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://broadcastengineering.com/mag/broadcasting_digital_video_basics_3/

Critical thinker academy: The five pillars of critical thinking, (2011). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from:  http://www.criticalthinkeracademy.com/academy/the-five-pillars-of-critical-thinking/

Designing and implementing Elearning: Concept maps and mind maps, (2008). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/gallery/activities/conceptmap.htm

Dictionary: Pedagogy, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedagogy

Digital video: Advantages, (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.ctl.utm.my/publications/manuals/imedia/media/video/advantge.htm

Digital video: Introduction, (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: www.edb.utexas.edu/minliu/multimedia/Digital%20Video.pdf

Educational origami: Bloom’s digital taxonomy, (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+Digital+Taxonomy

Educause Learning Initiative: 7 things you need to know about blogs, (2005). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

Educause Learning Initiative: 7 things you should know about wikis, (2005). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf

Edu2901a: Technology to support higher order thinking, (n.d.).Retrieved 17 July, 2012. Retrieved from: http://edu290la.wikispaces.com/Technology+to+Support+Higher+Order+Thinking+BKJ

eHow: Advantages of concept mapping, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/list_5824456_advantages-concept-mapping.html

eHow tech: The disadvantages of Google earth and internet mapping service, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_6527114_disadvantages-earth-internet-mapping-service.html

eHow: The disadvantages of concept mapping, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/list_6749212_disadvantages-concept-mapping.html

Freeservers: What is a website?, (2012). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.freeservers.com/WebHosting101/WhatIsAWebsite.html

Google Earth: Classroom resources, (2011). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://sitescontent.google.com/google-earth-for-educators/classroom-resources

HOT Blogging: A framework for blogging to promote Higher Order Thinking, (2012). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/16072229/Blogging-for-Higher-Order-Thinking

Innovative Scholar: Why use iPads in Education?, (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2012. Retrieved from: http://innovativescholar.com/2011/05/26/why-use-ipads-in-education/

Learning times: Seven benefits to podcasting, (2012). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.learningtimes.com/what-we-do/podcast-production/benefits/

Learn online: Strategies to support critical thinking using a blog or a wiki, (n.d.). Retreived July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://weblearn.weebly.com/critical-thinking-ideas.html

Macinstruct: Podcasts in Education, (2012). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.macinstruct.com/node/43

Many ways to learn: The pros and cons of podcasting, (n.d.). Retrieved  July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://mwtl.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/pros-and-cons-of-podcasting.html

Online technology learning centre: Using PowerPoint in the classroom, (2002). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.online.tusc.k12.al.us/tutorials/pptclass/pptclass.htm

PicArtia: Ultimate source for creativity, (2012).Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://beta.picartia.com/

Prezi: The advantages of Prezi, (2012). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://prezi.com/wrmmkwaylpui/the-advantages-of-prezi/

Prezi: The disadvantage of Prezi, (2012). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://prezi.com/jvaxfngkqhwc/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-using-prezi/

Pros and Cons: Google map, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.a4deskpro.com/website_builder/pros_cons_google_map.php

Queensland Government: Department of Education and Training, (2012). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/Intro/intro.htm

Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment- Productive Pedagogies, (2012). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://education.qld.gov.au/public_media/reports/curriculum-framework/productive-pedagogies/html/int-intro.html

Queensland Government: Department of Education, Training and Employment: Risk Management, (2002). Retrieved August 2, 2012. Retrieved from:   http://education.qld.gov.au/web/schools/riskman.html

Scribd: Learning with google earth, (2012). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/98582395/Thomas-Petra-Learning-With-Google-Earth

Technology in Education: Digital video in Education, (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.zardec.net.au/keith/digvideo.htm

Thoughts on using Prezi: Teaching tool, (2012).  http://prezi.com/rfsnedhqmhqa/thoughts-on-using-prezi-as-a-teaching-tool/

Visible thinking: See, think, wonder routine, (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/visibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_routines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html

Voice Thread: Overview, (2012). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://voicethread.com/about/features/

Wiki answer: What are the advantages and disadvantages of PowerPoint?, (2012). Retrieved July 26, 2012. Retrieved from: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_PowerPoint

WikiHow: How to benefit from Google Earth, (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.wikihow.com/Benefit-from-Google-Earth

Yahoo Answer: What are some key functions of blog?, (2012). Retrieved July 17, 2012. Retrieved from: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110321093032AA9JPTL

Group 4 ICT Tools

Within the following post, three effective tools will be explored:

- Google Earth
- Google Maps
- Online concept mapping

Google Earth
Analyse the text. What is google earth?
Google earth enables users to see images fro different parts of the earth with the ability to overlay streets/roads with latitude and longitude. Google earth can be explored through desktop, web and mobile phones.


Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can google earth do?
Students can use Google Earth to:
- Explore the animal kingdom and endangered species with the National Geographic layer.
- Create annotated place markers indicating location of school and points of interest in their town such as the local fire and police stations, the city library, local parks, and museums.
- Study climate change and the effects of global warming.
- Create tours of their school or community.
- Track earthquakes.

Teachers can use Google Earth to:
- Set the scene for geography, history, literature, astronomy and other lessons
- Involve students in pro-active engagement in a wide-range of google outreach projects.
- Adapt traditionally abstract lessons to the “real-world” by having students interact with virtual “real-time” data such as weather, earthquakes, elephant migrations, etc.

What sort of materials/activities will google earth support?
Google Earth can help you bring a world of information alive for students. It can be used with all grade levels, and the possibilities are endless with imaginations. Students can use Google Earth to explore topics like the progress of human civilization, the growth of cities, the impact of civilization on the natural environment, and the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Teachers can use Google Earth to assist with the teaching of:
- Biology
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Geology
- Global Awareness
- History
- Humanities
- Literature
- Math

My experience with google earth
I must admit I have't really had much to do with google earth. I know how to use it but I can't actually say I have had to use it for a particular reason. Google earth is definitely an ICT tool that will be implemented within my classroom.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would use google earth in the assistance of helping me teacher the above subjects. It is important for students to grasp the understanding of what is being taught and what better way then by showing a visual of the topic. Eg- China.

How does google earth support higher order thinking?
Specific learning objectives:
- Develop higher-level thinking skills: analysis, evaluation, creativity and synthesis
- Utilize google earth to create, represent and share ideas.
- Employ google earth to investigate real world issues
- Design a presentation or collection of thematic content using google earth
- Utilize google earth's tool to search, view, measure, map and annotate
- Use google earth to assemble information or data, and make judgements based on it
- Collaborate on a project using google earth and other multimedia applications

Google Maps
Analyse the text. What is google maps?
Google maps is a service application and technology that provides many map based services. Google maps offer street maps, route planners for travelling by foot, car, boke or public transport.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can google maps do?
Google maps can be used in the classroom to explore subjects ranging from physics to environmental science. With just an internet connection and your imagination, your class can collaborate to build a MyMap of favorite museums or roam the sidewalks of distant cities with StreetView.

What sort of materials/activities will google maps support?
Google maps assist students with their learning by providing useful maps on:
- Art History
- Climatology
- Earth Science
- Environmental Science
- History
- Physics

My experience with google maps
I definitely know how to use google maps although I can't say I've used it for anything productive. When I first heard about google maps at school I thought it was a joke that I could type in my address and up would pop a picture of my house. I tried it and it worked! Then I wondered if I was to type in my grandparents address in Victoria, would it work? Within seconds it was like I was standing out the front of my grandparents house. It was unbelievable!

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would introduce my students to google maps. This can be implemented by simply designing a 'treasure hunt' for students. The students will have to type the address into google maps and will be able to identify photos of teh address, traffic and the weather. Students will also be able to determine what other addresses are nearby and will be able to get directions from their address to another address. It is important for students to know how to use google maps and just to simply read a map as it is an everyday tool that they will need in life.

How does google maps support higher order thinking?
Bloom's Taxonomy for Thinking
Knowledge acquisition: Memorize how to do a task.
Comprehension: Question, discuss and explain how to do a task.
Application: Extract and transfer this knowledge.
Analysis: Categorize, characterize, compare and contrast.
Synthesis: Collating and creating.
Evaluation: Prioritization, relevancy and judgement.

Online concept mapping
Analyse the text. What is an online concept map?
Online concept maps are types of diagrams which show arious relationships between concepts.


Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can online concept maps do?
Online concept maps allow students to modify existing concepts and form new links. Below are what concept maps can do:
- to generate ideas (eg brainstorming)
- to design a complex structure (eg complicated texts, large web sites)
- to communicate complex ideas
- to aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge
- to provide a framework for making internal knowledge explicit in a visual form that can easily be examined and shared
- to assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding.

What sort of materials/activities will online concept maps support?
Concept maps have to be well developed in order to facilitate meaningful learning. Kinchin et al (2005) suggest that, to maximize that gain from concept mapping, teachers should:
- Engage students actively in learning activities
- Encourage team work and collaborative map building
- Allow sufficient time for reflection and development
- Allow flexible conceptual learning and development through connecting new and old knowledge

My experience with online concept maps.
I must admit that I have't had much to do with online concept maps so this is the reason I have decided to explore it further within my synopsis.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would teach students the effective way of concept mapping. This is important as it is a life long skill that needs to be taught. I would ask my students the following questions to allow higher order thinking and to check for understanding of concept mapping:
Content development
- Is the content outlined in depth and breadth? In other words, are the definitions and relationships between concepts clearly outlined?
- Is the content complete and correct?
- Is the flow of ideas and concepts logical?
- Does the content demonstrate new knowledge and critical thinking?
- Is there enough space for misconceptions to be corrected as the content is developed and presented to students?

Presentation
- Do the relationships amoung teh concepts demonstrate through knowledge of the topic?
- Are all possible topics explored?
- Does the presentation make the topic relevant to the real world through the use of news items, other web links, videos, and so forth?

How do online concept maps support higher order thinking?
Concept maps enhance student learning in a number of ways (Gonzalez et al. 2008; Kinchin et al., 2005; Suthers et al., 2006). The three following steps would be effective when teaching higher order thinking of concept maps:
- Preparatory: Conceptual development.
- Collaborative: Acquisition of new knowledge.
- Meaning-making: Effective linking of the old knowledge to the new knowledge.

Group 3 ICT Tools

Within the following post, three effective tools will be explored:

- PowerPoint
- Prez
- Glogster

PowerPoint

Analyse the text. What is a PowerPoint?
PowerPoint is the platform that supports the embedding text, linking and interactivity, audio, video and images. It is a useful multimedia tool that is usually associated with the support of oral presentations.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can PowerPoints do?
Some ideas for parent presentations:
- Create a PowerPoint presentation to inform parents and remind students of classroom expectations, policies and other important information.
- Develop a students slide show that includes digital pictures of each student with notes to thier parents.
- Design slideshows to enhibit student work.

Use PowerPoint presentations to enhance the effectiveness of classroom instruction in many ways in every subject area:
- Main points can be emphasized and the presenation itself can be enhanced by using graphics, animation, or sound.
- Add flair to presenations with slide and bullet transitions and animation effects.
- Presenations can be used to make lessons more organised and flexible.
- Text on a PowerPoint presentation is much easier for students to read than tring to read notes that are written on an overhead projector or chalkboard.
- Student interest can be stimulated through the use of graphics and cartoons.
- Variety is the key to kepping the attention of students.
- Many tools are available for use of PowerPoint, so experiment to see what works best for you and your students.

What sort of materials/activities will PowerPoints support?
PowerPoint is used to create a stand alone presentation. Students are able to listen, improve and record their presentation to benefit with their oral presentation. PowerPoints help students by supporting them through their spoken skills. If the student who is presenting are a little nervous and overwhelmed (which most primary aged students are when speaking in front of their peers) then they are able to refer to their PowerPoint (which will contain notes of their topic) for guidance. Students are able to use PowerPoint in inventive, thoughtful, complex and creative ways, making it their own individual presentation.

My experience with PowerPoint
Who in their right mind hasn't used PowerPoint!? It is the easiest presentation tool! I know PowerPoint inside out and back to front! It is a simple presentation tool but can be complex if you want it to be. Throughout school if a presentation was needed then I would definitely always decide on a PowerPoint presentation. They are user friendly!

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would allow my students to use PowerPoint whereever appropriate and necessary in their learning. Powerpoint is an effective ICT tool that is easy to use and easily taught. Below are some ways I would use powerpoint within my classroom and why:

-Flash cards: I would use flash cards within my classroom to reinforce concepts. This would be effective as if the cohort are struggling with the same concept it is presented all day within the classroom and is visible for each student.
- Music class recitals: I would use PowerPoint in a musical environment to demonstrate how the music that the students are playing can be presented onto a powerpoint presentation with a clip of each student playing the instrument of their choice.
- Group slide shows: I would use group slide shows as an assessment tool. Students would design a PowerPoint presentation allow with an oral presentation on the topic that is being focused on within class. This allows students to group work with PowerPoint and teach each other new concepts of the ICT tool.
- Class yearbook- At the end of the year I would present a PowerPoint to the students with a collection of photos, special events, class and student projects from throughout the year. I would also burn onto a CD a copy of the presentation for students to keep.

How do PowerPoints support higher order thinking?
Barratt's Model for Adolescent Learning (1998)

- Purpose: Having opportunity to negotiate learning that is useful now, as well as in the future.
- Empowerment: Viewing the world critically and acting independently, cooperatively and responsibly.
- Success: Having multiple opportunities to learn valued knowledge and skills as well as the the opportunity to use talents and expertise that students bring to the learning environment.
- Rigour: Taking on realistic challenges in an environment characterised by high expectations
- Safety: Learning in a safe, caring and a stimulating environment.

Prezi

Analyse the text. What is a prezi?

Prezi is a effective teaching tool for that allows users to zoom in and out of a presenation. The ability to zoom in and out of text helps students focus on what is important.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can a prezi do?
Prezi is used to navigate through communication. Eg- Concepts, exploruing images and diagrams and timelines. Prezi interface encourages teachers to deviate and explore with students by easily incorporating images and videos.

What sort of materials/activities will a prezi support?
Pezi can be used by students as a presentation tool for assessment or basic class work. It has been proven that students are engaged when the use of Prezi has been demonstrated to them. Students will be eager to use the new and exciting presentation style as it offers different levels of designing compared to a powerpoint presentation.

My experience with prezi
I can't say I have ever used prezi but after researching it I am definitely keen to have a go at it. I watch some prezi presentations online while researching and it definitely looks like fun! I am keen to broaden my horizon with different presentation tools!
How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would use Prezi as a extention to a powerpoint presentation. Prezi is similiar to powerpoint but offers more advanced presenation tools to be use by students. I would use Prezi mainly as an assessment tool to support an oral presentation.

How do prezi support higher order thinking?
Designing Effective Projects: Thinking Skills Frameworks
Marzano's New Taxonomy
The three systems and knowledge
- Self-system: Is it worth learning or doing? Will I be good at it? Is it valuable information? How do I feel about this information?
- Metacognitive system: Is my understanding clear? What is my goal in learning this? What is the best way to learn this? How do I plan to learn this?
- Cognitive system- Is this right? How can I use this information? What methods can I use to analyse the material? Do I understand these concepts?
Knowledge Domains: Information, Mental procedures, Physical procedures.

Glogster

Analyse the text. What is a glogster?
Glogster allows users to create free interactive posters that contain an interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster but users can interact with the content. Blogs are being used for advertising and CV's.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can a glogster do?
Users of glogster are about to insert text, images, photos, audio, videos, special effects and other elements into thier glogs to generate a multimedia online creation. Glogs can be shared between users and can embed external wikis or blogs.

What sort of materials/activities will a glogster support?
Glogster introduces students to 3D communication skills, allows them to seek communication and evaluate both information and meaning. Glogster supports the visual literacy skill that is becoming essential for 21st century learners by allowing digital learners to explore the visual, audio and textual features of glogster. Acitivites could include a presentation on the topic being studied by students. Students could present an individual glogster to peers concentrating on the visual, audio and texture features of a glogster.

My experience with glogster
I know this may be hard to believe but before this subject I hadn't heard of glogster before! After researching it, I am excited to have found new ICT tools that I can explore with my students. Glogster looks interesting and I believe it will definitely be an ICT tool that I will use in the future.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would not introduce glogster until my students had grasped the concept of how to use poweproint and prezi. I would first show an example of a glogster and as a class we would make one. I would use glogster as an assessment tool for presenting information on certain topics.

How do glogsters support higher order thinking?
 Productive Pedagogies 2012
Connectedness: Students need to distinguish what they are learning is relevant to everyday life. What will this skill teach them?
Intellectual quality: Students are able perform high intellectual quality of work using various ICT tools.

Group 2 ICT Tools

Within this following post, three effective tools will be explored:

- Images
- Podcasting and digital audio
- Digital Video

Images

Analyse the text. What is an image?
An image is an artifact that depicts or records visual perception, for example a two-dimensional picutre, that has a similiar appearance to some subject usually a physical object or a person, thus providing a depiction of it. It is important that consideration into the useage of images in teaching is considered when students create and use images in their learning.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can images do?
Teachers can present learning materials to students with a purpose of thinking (knowledge, understanding, analysis, evaluation) influencing feelings, or supporting skills of development. Images can also create critical thinking by students viewing certain images and evaluating who was involved, what was involved, when did it happen, where did it happen and why did it happen.

What sort of materials/activities will images support?
It is important for students to read images correctly. Students may ask themselves: Who, What, When, Where and Why. The following two tools can support the teaching of images within the classroom:

- VoiceThred: Is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents and videos and allows users to leave comments by either: voice (mic or telephone), text, audio file or video (via web cam). Users are able to share their VoiceThred with friends, students, and colleagues and can even embed to show and receive comments on other websites.

- See Think Wonder: Is a routine that encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful interpretations. It helps stimulate curiosity and sets a stage for inquiry: What do you see? What do you think about that? What does it make you wonder? This routine is effective when wanting students to think carefully about why something looks teh way it does or is the way it is. By using this routine at the start of a unit it will motivate students interest and allow them to connect with the topic of study.

My experience with images.
I have had alot of experience when it comes to images! I remember when completing Computer Studies in year 11 and 12 we had a program that allowed you to do absolutely anything with images! There are so many different apps and sites that allow you to 'play around' with images and even photos of your friends! I have to say my personal favourite is the 'aging app' that can make a 20 year old look 80 within seconds.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would allow my students to be 'in charge' of their creative side. I would involve the meaning of images through art and then again through technology.For example- A website called PicArtia helps students to ceate mosaic online for free. I would research 'art online' and bring technology into the classroom. Art doesn't need to be sketching, painting or drawing but can be implemented within technology too. As a learning manager, I would try and implement technology in all subject areas.

How do images support higher order thinking?
To evaluate the support that an image lends to a claim, critically evaluate about images is essential. In doing so, the following higher order thinking skills need to take place:

- Relevance:  For an image to support a claim, it must depict all of the key ideas contained in the claim. It doesn’t relate to any part of a claim, then it can’t prove the claim. Obviously, relevance is a matter of degree, but the more relevant an image is to a claim, the better the evidence that it provides.

- Significance: This concerns how much interpretation of the image is necessary; does the image speak for itself, or must we make assumptions about it in order for it to support the claim?

Selectivity: Which is to do with how representative the image is. If a general claim is supported by an image of a specific example, then we have to ask whether the example in the image is typical. It may be that it has been carefully selected to support a point, when actually most examples would go against it.

Podcasting


Analyse the text. What is a podcast?
A podcast is a sound file wich can be shared with others. A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. It can be used within a classroom by recording of students performance or speech to provide a copy to a computer to view again.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can podcasts do?

1. Podcasts make information personal: In a podcast, the content is communicated directly to you, the listener, either verbally or through video. That’s a much more intimate way of getting information than reading it from an e-mail or document.

2. Podcasts are convenient and easy to consume: Once you subscribe to a podcast feed, new podcasts are automatically downloaded to your computer as soon as they are available. You can listen to them at your convenience.

3. Podcasts cut costs: Because podcasts are delivered digitally, they eliminate many costs associated with other forms of communication including postage, printing, and paper. They can also reduce meeting costs and e-mail storage costs. They are easy to archive and updating them is quick and easy.

4. Podcasting is a time-efficient form of communication: You can listen to podcasts while you do other things at work or at home, or during your commute. Some types of meetings can be eliminated in favor of podcasts, saving time and improving productivity.

5. Podcasts are portable: Once a podcast resides on your computer, if your computer is portable, you can take the podcast with you and listen whenever or wherever you want. Or, you can transfer the podcast to a personal media player such as an iPod.

6. Podcasting is an on-demand technlogy: Listeners decide what they want to hear, and when they want to hear it. On one hand, this means you’re competing for their eyes and ears. On the other hand, this means that if they are subscribing to your podcasts, there’s an excellent chance they’re actually getting the information you’re providing to them.

7. Podcasts are one wayto deliver on a social networking strategy: Your podcast subscribers are the core of your community and over time, they will be your best prospects for deepening the relationship through cross-sell and loyalty tactics.

What sort of materials/activities will podcast support?
In a classroom where students have access to computers (a computer lab or in a 1-1 environment), students complete work in class and participate in instructor lead activities followed by independent work with a Podcast as resource material. Students can go through the Podcast at their own pace -working through the assignment at their own pace, backing up and reviewing material from the Podcast as needed without slowing down the class as a whole.

My experience with podcasts
I can't say I have had any experience with podcasts! Hopefully as a Learning Manager, my students and I can explore podcasts together.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would introduce my students to the podcasts as it will give them the oppotunity to provide information in a variety of ways to better meet their diverse learning styles and inclusion of current technlogy that they are already using. I believe that by using podcasts within my classroom it will change the interest level of my students for the better and they will be more engaged within the content that is being taught.

How do podcasts support higher order thinking?
The Critical Thinker Podcast is a platform where users explore what it means to be an independent critical thinker. The content in the podcast varies from episode to episode, but it’s organized around the idea that there are five principle components, or “pillars”, of critical thinking, and that all of these components need to be developed and brought to bear when reasoning about specific topics and when attempting to persuade through argumentation. These five pillars include:
- Logic
- Argumentation
- Rhetoric
- Background knowledge
- Attitudes and values

 
Digital Video

Analyse the text. What is a digital video?
Digital video refers to the capturing, manipulation, and storage of moving images that can be displaced on computer screens (The Lycos Tech Glossary, 1999). This requires that the moving images are digitally handled by the computer.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of things can digital videos do?
Digital videos can easily be edited unlike videotapes. If you want to edit videotapes you continually have to rewind, pause and fast forward the tape. Digital videos can be stored as standard computer files. This allows the video to be copied with no loss in quality and can also be transmitted over standard computer networks.

What sort of materials/activities will digital videos support?
Teachers have found that digital video segments very useful in customized e-learning. Students find video motivational and enjoy greater control over their own learning. Some activites that can be implemented with the use of a digital video could include:
- Increase student awareness of manipulative techniques used in advertising
- Develop greater critical literacy skills by conparing television or movie segments with own creations
- Creat learning resource video clips
- Use frame grabbing software to record and analysis critical events

My experience with digital videos
I haven't had a lot to do with digital video but I do know the basics. Record and stop! I remember doing a brief unit on digital videos in year 12 but I think if I was to do it again I wouldn't remember what was done. I look forward to discovering how to use unfamiliar tools with my students.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?
As a learning manager I would implement the use of digital video by recording students presentations. I would record each student individually as a 'practice' of their presentation and then play it back to them allowing them to view what they can improve on for their final presentation. This will allow students to use digital software and critically evaulate themselves by viewing their own presentations.

How do digital videos support higher order thinking?
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy supports higher order thinking of digital videos by:

- Creating: Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, devising, making.
- Evaluating: Checking, hypothesising, critquing, experiementing, judging, testing, detecting, monitoring.
- Analysing: Comparing, organising, deconstructing, attributing, outlining, finding, structuring, integrating.
- Applying: Implementing, carrying out, using, excuting.
- Understanding: Interpreting, summarising, inferring, paraphrasing, classifiying, comparing, explaining, exemplifying.
- Remembering: Recognising, listing, describing, identifying, retrieving, naming, locating, finding.

Group 1 ICT Tools

Within the following post, three effective digital tools will be explored:

-          Blogs

-          Wikis

-          Websites

Blogs

Analyse the text. What is a blog?

Blogs are websites that individual people create to update regular entries of commentary. descriptions of events or other materials such as graphics or videos. Some blogs are based on one particular subject whereas some are more of an online personal diary.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of thing can blogs do?

Blogs are functional as they allow poeple to have their say on their own space (blog), teach people, sell products, do reviews, interviews and also to update distant friends and family. I personally like the fact that you can create your own online diary to update friends and family. It's effective as it saves time as you can 'blog' and update everyone at once rather than send 10 different emails all over the country or world.

What sort of materials/activities will blogs support?

Blogs support students to reflect effectively. Reflection is a complex process for students and requires important skills to allow students to analysis, evaluate and synthesis. Blogs allow students to scaffold their thinking by reflecting of their learning. It is important to provide students with reflective strategies tools such as:

- De Bono's six thinking hats: This tool is effective for group discussion and individual thinking as it allow students to combine ideas of parallel thinking which means to think together and plan thinking processes in a cogensive way. Each hat has its own perspective that students are able to reflect on with giudance.

- Y-Chart: This tool allows students to reflect on what it looks like, sounds like and feels like. Students may be reflecting on a difficult days they have encountered and this tool will help them to brainstorm using their emotions.

- PMI Chart: This tool is used to examine the perspectives on an issue. Students are able to reflect using this tool by justifying the plus (all the positive), minus (all the negatives) and the implications (the potential outcomes whether positive or negative).

My experience with using blogs
At this stage of my learning this is the only chance I have had to use a blog. I find it very easy to operate and understand and find that it is a vital tool that should be implemented within classrooms. I am enjoying completing this assignment via a blog.

 How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?

As a learning manager, I would use blogs to not only reflect but allow students to use blogs as a tool of constructing their assignments. I would implement this simply by allowing students to brainstorm what they know they need to do for their assignment and make weekly blogs of their progress of their assignment. This would be interesting as I would be able to see progression of the assignment and give feedback by commenting on the weekly posts. For the older years it would also be beneficial for students to made constructive comments on their peers work.

How do blogs support higher order thinking?

Higher order thinking develops from the new literacies of online reading comprehension (Castek et al., 2007; Coiro, 2003; Henry, 2006; Leu etal., 2007). The approach consist of four steps that intergrate both traditional reading comprehension skills and the new, higher order thinking skills often required during onlione reading comprehension.

1. Bolster background: During this first stage, teachers post activities and questions on the blog designed to build background knowledge about the selection that students are reading. Then, students read online to locate, critically evaluate, synthesize information, and communication their ideas by posting what they have found to the blog, inviting others to comment.

2. Prime the pump: During prime the pump, blogging can help students think deepely about the background they have built and what they have read in the beginning chapters of the text to share an initial interpretation (Langer and Close, 2001). One approach is to post an invitation to students to share any of the following types of thinking:

- Confusions that may need to be clarified

- First impressions of the characters or stroy line

- A summary of what has been learned so far

- Connections to themselves, other texts, or the world

3. Continue the conversation: In this stage, students begin to summarize and synthesize understadning across multiple texrual units. While thinking about the blog posts by other students and the group/class conversations, students ask to synthesize what has been shared and learned. Synthesizing is more than simply summarizing though; it involves original thinking (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000) and requires the use of higher order thinking skills (Anderson, 2005; Bloom, 1956). The following are questions on which focus assessments of students blog posts:

- Do the post include a summary of other students' blog posts or discussion comments?

- Do the post include any new thinking?

- Are the posts well organised and focused?

- Do the posts reflect inferental thinking that moves beyond simple recall?

Wikis

Analyse the text. What is a wiki?

Wikis are online spaces where users and guests can edit, modify, add, remove information with intuitive editing tools. Users and guest can remove, overwrite and edit the work of others, therefore, working with wikis require rules and etiquette.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of thing can wikis do?

- Open: Should a page be found to be incomplete or poorly organized, any reader can edit it as they see fit.

- Incremental: Pages can cite other pages, including pages that have not been written yet.

- Organic: The structure and text content of the site are open to editing and evolution.

- Universal: The mechanisms of editing and organizing are the same as those of writing so that any writer is automatically an editor and organizer.

- Observable: Activity within the site can be watched and reviewed by any other visitor to the site.

- Convergent: Duplication can be discouraged or removed by finding and citing similar or related content.

- Trust: This is the most important thing in a wiki. Trust the people, trust the process, enable trust-building. Everyone controls and checks the content. Wiki relies on the assumption that most readers have good intentions.

- Fun: Everybody can contribute; nobody has to.

- Sharing: Of information, knowledge, experience, ideas, views...

- Interaction: This enables guest interaction.

- Collaboration: A good collaboration tool, both synchronously and asynchronously.

- Social Networks: Its power for supporting collaboration is great.

What sort of materials/activities will wikis support?

Wikis allow learning designers to consider the nature of the learning and scaffold accordingly. It is essential for students to put into place tools that will assist them when being involved within a wiki: These tools include:

- Project drafting: Project drafting can be used in a wiki as it benefits students by easily inserting comments, making changes, annotating and suggesting by peers or teachers. This tool is effective if students are working by correspondence and need to complete a wiki assignment together. All added information can be easily saved for the next time the user is in need of the information.

- Collaborative authoring: By collaborating over a wiki group members have access to the information, no information is lost, users can track the changes, comment, colour change and other tracking mechanisms. This is effective as all the information by the group members can be found on one wiki and users can collaborate via different computers and even different towns.

My experience with using a wiki
I have used a wiki within this subject by responding to the De Bono hats: Mobile phones in classrooms. In a math subject last term I also got the opportunity to present a summary of ACARA via a wiki. This wiki was completed as group work and I found it very effecient as all of our work was found in one place and could be accessed from different computers. I find wikis to be an effective way of group work as I believe it makes the content easier to understand. All of your group work is found in one place instead of on different computers, USBs or word documents.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?

As a learning manager I would give my students the opportunity to work collaborately on a subject by wiki. By doing this students will use the appropriate technology skills that they need to complete a wiki. Students won't have to worry about leaving their work at home or a group member being away as all the information they have gathered will be contained on the one wiki. Students will also be able to make their wiki their own by adding the approriate pages needed for their wiki and even by able to change colours and add files and pictures.

How do wikis support higher order thinking?

Bloom's Taxonomy for Thinking are considered higher order thinking skills for Collaboration.

- Evaluation: Judgement

- Synthesis: Creative thinking- Putting things together

- Analysis: Critical thinking- Breaking things down

- Application: Using knowledge in new situations

- Comprehnesion: Understadning

- Knowledge: Recall (knowledge retention foundation for higher order thinking)

 

Websites

 Analyse the text. What is a website?

Websites are a collection of web pages. A web page is when you type in a web address, click of the link, or put an query in the search engine. Web pages contain any type of information which can include text, colour, graphics, animation and sound.

Analyse the functionality and scope of the text. What sort of thing can websites do?

Websites give users discoverability skills as everything is easy to find as there is alot of information on the internet about every topic possible. Users can find relevant information fast by typing key words related to their topic into the search engine. Within seconds there are pages and pages of information related to the users topic. This allows users quick research from appropriate resources.

What sort of materials/activities will websites support?

Websites can draw together artefacts that are help within the web. Websites are effective as users can upload only one of everything ina range of spaces custo bult for each type fo artefact. For example, some activites might include:

- Slideshare for powerpoint presentations.

- Flickr for images and videos.

- YouTube for videos.

Within a website, users can embed codes which embeds the artefacts within their webpage.

My experience with websites.
I don't believe anyone can say they haven't participated within a website! Even by typing a website into a search engine that is experiencing websites. I find using websites more efficient than using text books. I would rather 'surf the net' for the right information I am looking for rather than flick through 20 different text books.

How will my students make use of this ICT for their learning? How would I apply/use this in my teaching context?

Educational research and practice suggests that website technlogy has the potential to benefit student academic performance, including math achievement, by enhancing instructional delivery and by strengthening parental involvement in education. As learning manager I would create a trial website for my student's parents and provide weekly feedback on the class cohort overall. This instructional practice of a class website will involve family and communication.

How do websites support higher order thinking?

Technology can be used for higher-order thinking by many different websites. Technology today has so many opportunities and different things you can do with it. Technology can help students with multiple intelligences, constructivism, and cooperative learning. Technology opens a whole new world up to students, their are games, practice websites, and so many more things that can help students if they need help.