REFLECTING ON GLOGSTER

Glogster created by Vanessa Hemson. March 2011.

Glogster Reflections Scaffolded by De Bono’s (1985) Six Thinking Hats  

White Hat

Key Questions

·         What information do we have? 

·         What information is missing? 

·         How do we get the information we need?

Thoughts

·         Educational Glogster created in 2009. 

·         Is a digital tool that allows users to create online, interactive posters or Glogs. 

·         Think of an old fashioned school poster on World War 2 for example. Now make it 3D. Add text, images, movies, sounds, add links to other websites, make it collaborative so a class of students can all create and work in the same document, and you have Glogster. 

·         Click here for the website.http://edu.glogster.com/

Red Hat

Key Questions

·         What do you like about the idea? 

·         How do you feel about this? 

·         What don’t you like about this?

Thoughts

·         Just like my old school projects back in the 1980’s. An old fashioned but fun idea given new life and imagination in the digital world.

·         Depending on the level of account it’s free and can be done on most computers.

·         Creativity and self expression is unlimited.

·         Creative writing is enhanced by the experience.

·         Just like a virtual classroom because teachers can include up to 200 students – all protected by user names and passwords.

·         Really fun to play with and easy to use so I think it has huge potential for Primary school.

·         Collaborative because students can work on the same glog. 

• Connectivism and constructivism at work. 

·         Reminds me of cutting and pasting from my National Geographic as a kid but this is the new and improved version with the ability to upload video, music, images, links from your glog to other websites where students can continue the search for more information. 

·         Can be used by teachers to present information to students AND by students to meet learning criteria and engagement with ICT’s.

 

Black Hat

Key Questions
 

·         Will it work?

·         Does it fit?

·         What are the dangers and the problems?

 
Thoughts

·         Does it fit with pedagogy? At all times we must remember that ICT’s should transform, facilitate and enhance learning.

·         Activities will need to be scaffolded by the teacher to ensure proper learning outcomes are met.

·         Issues – apparently girls prefer this kind of scrap booking task? If so how do you intend to engage boys? 

·         Meaningless creations – kids get carried away with the bells and whistles and forget that the content is just as important as learning how to use the ICT’s to create it. Scaffolding should address this.

·         Students view other glogs – how do you control content and make sure it is appropriate. According to several websites I visited there are ways of managing this in the teacher accounts as you are able to log on to students glogs, view their progress and monitor inappropriate content. Students should be educated and informed about safe and ethical practice.

·         TIME – Like allot of the new digital technologies students might find them time consuming at first. 

·         Technical issues, students may lose hours or weeks of work with technical hitches or forgetting to save the document.

• The website states that users should be over the age of 13? This causes problems for Primary Education audience. Are there ways around that. Other GDLT students have suggested that if you use a teacher account and log on as the mediator with student links it can be overcome.
• Need to make students aware of the dangers of copyright when using images etc on their own glog.
• Teachers will need to secure permission to upload student works to a glog.
• Glogster website requires a user name and password. Students need to be educated about choosing appropriate passwords and not giving away personal information.
• Glogs can also be seen by a worldwide audience. Students need to be educated about how personal photographs and personal information should be protected.

Yellow Hat

Key Questions

·         What are the benefits? 

·         Why should it work?

 
Thoughts

·         Ticks all the boxes for meaningful interaction with ICT’S – I also like the way you can engage with a range of ICT’s within Glogster. For example you can make and upload a video, podcast, Power Point Presentation, create and manipulate images and create links to other online tools such as Google Maps etc

·         Dyck (2009) says “The visual, audio, and textual capacity of Glogster not only will appeal to digital learners, it has the potential to support the visual literacy skills that are becoming essential skill sets for 21st century learners.”

·         Click here for the link to Dyck’s (2009) website.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck037.shtml

 

·         The following is an excerpt from the Glogster (2011) website listing the benefits of their own product.

a)    “A fun learning experience 

b)    A new way to express creativity 

c)    Private, secure, safe virtual classroom monitored by teachers 

d)    Drives new interest levels around subjects that may have been seen as “boring” before 

e)    Adds audiovisual aspects to traditionally text-oriented subjects 

f)     Fosters teamwork and collaboration with classmates 

g)    Increases drive to be independently creative 

h)    Unlimited shelf lie 

i)      Keeps teachers and students up-to-date with modern technology  

j)      Improves student-teacher relationships by allowing both to explore Web 2.0 & learning concepts together”.

·         Click here for a link to the website. http://edu.glogster.com/classroom-benefits/

 

Thoughts on how would you use this in the classroom?

·         Make sure all activities are scaffolded by the teacher so that optimum learning outcomes are achieved.

·         Ensure that at all times you are modelling safe and ethical practice for your students and that the ICT activity educates and enables your students to do the same.

·         The goal of ICT use is outlined in this statement by Education Queensland (2011)

“Students explore, select and use ICT in the processes of inquiry and research across key learning areas. They identify an inquiry focus; plan, conduct and manage searches; and evaluate data and information gathered for relevance, credibility and accuracy. They reflect on and evaluate how ICT have assisted in meeting inquiry purposes and in developing new understandings".

·         After the activity is complete ensure students have adequate time to reflect. Feedback and reflections about what they learned. What they found difficult or easy? Any websites, digital tools or helpful resources they found should be shared with other students to enhance learning. What problems occurred and could they be solved collectively? Finally the end product should also be shared so that collaboration can happen in the reflection phase.

·         Glogster can also be used by the teacher to present information to the students.

·         Get students to create a "who am I" glog in the first weeks of school to break the ice and introduce one another.

·         Science – Factual posters about dinosaurs, volcanoes, the Earth and beyond.

·         English – students do a promotional Glogster detailing a book they are reading in class. A word Glog like an online dictionary of words they are learning at the time.

·         History – Pick a famous character or event and present the information to the class through the glog. Insert timelines, photos, historical footage of an event.

·         SOSE – Promotional travel poster to learn about different countries.

·         The Arts -Poetry Glog, make it collaborative with all the students in the class podcasting their own poem onto the glog.

·         The Arts -Media Glog – students could create their own interactive newspaper. Get students to create their own online visual arts diary.

·         Health and Physical Education – pick a sport and get the students to create a poster detailing the equipment needed, the rules, famous players of the sport, the history of the sport, and the health benefits of the sport – maybe link in nutritional information for optimum performance. Students research and write all the information. Upload a video made by the students where they interview the players or present a sports report about a match.

 

·         The following ideas could apply to creating a Glog and are taken from Smart Classrooms     (2011) a website produced by Education Queenslandwhich helps teachers to “plan meaningful and engaging learning experiences that incorporate the use of ICT".

·         “Create a digital presentation outlining the role and importance of sport in different cultures”. Intercultural investigations. Yr 4/5

·         “Use publishing software to design and create a brochure about a local event or place in another country. Email the brochure to students of a sister school in that country, Ask these students for feedback”. LOTE. English: Writing and Designing. Yr 4/5

·         “Use publishing software to design and create a travel brochure advertising a significant Australian tourist attraction or significant place of interest, such as the Great Barrier Reef”. SOSE: Culture and Identity, Continuity and Change. English: Writing and Designing. Yr 4/

·         “With support, locate information about a famous Queenslander. Present information as a digital poster including text and images”. SOSE: Culture and Identity. Yr P-3.

·         To access more ideas follow this link http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/strategy/dp/studentict.html

·                        Zimmer (2009) suggests the following ways to use Glogster

Create a Virtual Collage from images, audio, and video from the web.

Create a step by step glog of a math problem or concept

Create a biography of someone in history going down the glog as they get older

Create a timeline of events  

Showcase an experiment in class

Give directions on how to do something.  

Create a review of a book, movie, restaurant, play, etc.  

Create a glog for pages in a yearbook  

Create a glog about an event for the school news or newspaper

Create a Compare and Contrast Glog  

Create a Vocabulary Glog for your students  

Create a Glog Syllabus  

Create a Glog Chapter Review for chapters of a textbook (Would make a great end of the year activity)

Create a Family Tree Glog.  
Retrieved from http://www.edutechintegration.com/2009/12/glogster-in-classroom.html

Blue Hat

Thoughts

·         I tried to access some academic or peer reviewed journal articles about Glogster and the pedagogical aspects but wasn’t able to. The technology is obviously relatively new (Educational arm only created in 2009) so perhaps more time and more research and analysis is needed to see how well Glogster addresses successful eLearning design.

References

De Bono, E, (1985) Six thinking hats: An essential approach to business management. Retrieved from CQ University course resources online EDED20491 

http://www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/thinking/Hats/hats.htmesources

Dyck, B. (2009) Hooked on Glogster: Posters 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck037.shtml

Glogster EDU. (2011) Classroom benefit. Retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/classroom-benefits/

Education Queensland. (2011) Student ICT expectations. Smart classrooms.  Department of Education and Training.  Retrieved from

                  http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/strategy/dp/studentict.html

Zimmer, M. ( 2009, December 1). Glogster in the classroom. The pursuit of technology integration happiness. Retrieved from http://www.edutechintegration.com/2009/12/glogster-in-classroom.html

REFLECTING ON MIND MAPS AND WORD CLOUDS SUCH AS WORDLE

This week we were asked to create a Mind Map. The above represents my attempt at mapping Week 5 of ICT's in Learning Design.


This was my first ever attempt at this kind of technology and initially I found the software difficult to explore and create with. This frustrated me because I have always found that visual representations of information appeal to my learning intelligences. For students who are visually or spatially smart according to Gardner’s ( 1983) learning styles, this method of presenting information would work really well. In other words it is an example of how an ICT’s can enhance and transform learning.


My difficulties in using the technology were that in order to save time I decided to use the automatic function. So, after I entered my headings it arranged the titles for me. When I tried to enter additional information I found that it began to mix up the information and the mind map no longer made sense to me. I'm sure that with more time and determination I can make the mind maps work better. I can see that in a classroom it could be a worthwhile digital tool.

Nevertheless I have still decided to share my frustrations because I am learning that where some students struggle, others are willing to step in and assist. By broadcasting to your peers when things don’t always go to plan you can find solutions together. This collaborative style of learning is what we will be modeling to our own students when we eventually step into the classroom. Constructivism in action!

In comparison I played around with the Word Cloud Software. http://www.wordle.net/


I cut and pasted the entire contents of the Moodle Site for Week 5 ICT's In Learning Design and it created this for me.














I found it was really easy to use and visually very exciting. As I am teaching in a  Primary context I thought this tool could be really helpful in the classroom and as such I have decided to analyse it as one of my four digital tools.

As is the nature of collaborative/ constructivist learning one of our peers discovered a new word cloud website. A link can be found here. http://www.tagxedo.com/ This enables the world cloud to be shaped into a country or a heart or a star. It is also visually very exciting. My analysis is specifically related to Wordle. However my thoughts, reflections and uses in the classroom will still be relevant to most mind map and word cloud technology.

What follows is my PMI Analysis.

Pluses

·         Easy and fun to use.

·         Word clouds generated quickly and can be coloured to suit.

·         Visual/Spatial learners would enjoy this style of learning.

·         Global learners are able to see the big picture quickly and easily through the creation of a word cloud.

·         Linguistic learners also catered for through the use of a variety of words.

·         A new way of presenting information.

·         Helps students identify the important themes and issues.

·         Collaborative – students can brainstorm and create a word cloud together for display in the classroom.

Minuses

·         Wordle gallery is open so care must be taken and teachers should be modelling safe, ethical and legal behaviour. This link allows teachers to block the open gallery on a specific computer. This will ensure that students won’t be exposed to inappropriate content thereby overcoming this negative aspect. http://classtools.net/twitter/tweet.php?message=How%2520to%2520make%2520Wordle%2520safe%2520for%2520classroom%2520use&url=http://blog.wordle.net/2009/08/how-to-make-wordle-safe-for-classroom.html

·         Need to avoid students creating endless, repetitive and mindless word clouds. This is not the goal. Activities will need to be scaffolded to ensure this doesn’t happen.

How would I use this in the classroom?

·         Activities should be scaffolded so that learning outcomes are achieved and the ICT is used to transform, facilitate, support and enhance learning. Higher order thinking and creative thinking should be the goal and these should be achieved through the use of the ICT.

·         Students should be given adequate time to reflect on the activity. What did they learn? What do they still need to find out? Reflect on other students work. Can they share any new resources? Can they work as a group to solve any problems that may have arisen?

·         Safe, legal and ethical implications. Both students and teachers need to constantly be aware of these issues and ensure that everyone is committed to good practice. Issues such as copyright will need to be addressed. Issues like cyber bullying, exposure to inappropriate content should always be addressed. Privacy issues could also be a concern as you need to log on to save your word cloud images. Ensure that students don’t divulge personal information in the form of usernames or passwords.

·         Use Wordle to generate a discussion about a book or part of a text. Enter in all the text. Allow Wordle to generate a cloud and then discuss. Are the words or themes it highlighted or made larger the same ones the kids think are important? Did they think other words or issues deserved more importance? It could be used to interpret poems, novels all sorts of things. 

·         Kids could be asked to interpret a painting or work of art. They could use the See Think Wonder Routine. Click here for information. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/visibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_routines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html. All their thoughts could be entered into Wordle and it could generate something that sums up how the whole class felt about the work of art.

·         Teachers could use Wordle to give feedback to students in their assessments. By creating a world cloud it could help students to see the areas they might need to improve on. If spelling had been an issue this word would be prominent, prompting students to think about it.

·         Just as Kearsley & Schneiderman (1999) advocated. Students could “Create, Relate and Donate” their own word clouds in a classroom. By creating and sharing students could be given a different perspective on a topic and higher order thinking would be encouraged as well as creativity.

·         Use the word cloud as a visual prompt with various words. Then ask your students to create sentences.

·         Older students could enter the contents of an essay and analyse the word cloud. Wordle makes words larger the more frequently they are used. Encourage students to develop a larger vocabulary by offering alternatives to phrases or words they overuse.

·         Famous speeches from history. Enter these into Wordle and analyse. What were they trying to convey? What were the orator’s intentions?

·         Compare and contrast. Use this thinking routine as a scaffold for a Wordle activity. Compare and contrast the words of two different students on the same topic, two different newspapers telling the same story, two reviews of an artwork.

References

Gardner, H.  (1983) Frames of Mind, Retrieved from http://www.howardgardner.com/Papers/papers.html

              See Think Wonder (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.pz.harvard.edu/vt/visibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_Core_routines/SeeThinkWonder/SeeThinkWonder_Routine.html

               Education Queensland. (2011) Student ICT expectations. Smart classrooms.  Department of Education and Training.  Retrieved from  http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/strategy/dp/studentict.html

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999) Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved from CQUniversity Course Resources Online EDED20491 http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

REFLECTING ON ZOOBURST

I found Zooburst a really simple digital tool to use. I am studying Primary Teaching and I think that the simplicity of the presentation and the ease with which you can use it would hold great appeal for small kids.

The benefits are

• creative writing skills are enhanced.
• students engage with ICT and learn how to navigate the technology.
• students could work on a story together making it collaborative.
• it could be used across all of the Key Learning Areas.

 Practical applications in the classroom

•  getting kids to write their own story about a particular topic.
• create their own textbook with factual information.
• They could work with colour and images.
• the end result can be shared with the class.

Issues

• The only really problem I came across was that I had planned to write a small book about dinosaurs but when I searched for a dinosaur image within the Zooburst website I was unable to locate one. Kids imagination might be limited by what can be accessed on the Zooburst website.
• However this could also be seen as a positive as the students could choose to search and upload and image from somewhere else enhancing engagement with the technology.

• I also spelt dinosaur incorrectly in the book but when I went back to edit it I could only correct the title page and nothing else so now my poor effort at spelling is on display for all to see. I did read a post from another student with the same problem.  See the link here. http://biancanolan.blogspotzooburst.html