Podcasting and Vodcasting

Podcasting is a convenient way of automatically downloading audio or video files to your computer. You can then play this audio or video on your computer or transfer the files to a portable MP3 or video player.(ABCnet)'Podcast' generally refers to audio. 'Video Podcast' (or 'Vodcast') refers to the distribution of video files in the same manner. To be honest I didn’t understand how it works at first. So being a learner explorer that I am download podcast and experience it on hand. I t seems that the opportunities for teaching and learning are endless. It opens up ways of learning that teachers twenty years or even ten years ago may have not even imagined.

As I type my posting I am learning about galaxies and stars. Subscribing to a reputable or educational podcast is available for free. Once it’s loaded, you can listen to it straight away. I have now a subscriber of “starstuff2009” how cool is that? Note: This takes a while to load because of its size.It can be use as background.The next episode of this subscription will now automatically. That if I want to learn more about galaxies! Surely there are podcast about on anything.

Personally I would like to load as much information about tropical plants. Ow, sorry I really need to think about my future classroom! Most of us know about digital natives so they will have iPod or MP3 or similar in their pockets or bags.

In the future I want to hear myself say “today we are going to explore….. Using your iPod instead - of “boys and girls if you have any gadgets put it back in your bag!” The main thing is that our students are engage and learning. As educators we need to engage student not enrage them (Presky, 2005). Student can upload and share ideas that are relating to the any unit.

(I think some of those students in the bus today were listening to Podcast about their assignment!----I just heard NASA will send someone " to space" to patch the hole in one unit! While typing my post I have learnt so much about Galaxies, Asteroids, and NASA’s next project!)

I am sure you can think of more ideas beside Galaxies. I have to check and research if I can download about tropical plants after coffee.

Cheers

Mary-Ann

Image retrived from:

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.masternewmedia.org/images/iPod_and_CD_podcasting_id491613_size440.jpg&imgrefurl

The Power of...PowerPoint.

I have seen many students create PowerPoint’s and deliver reports or presentations to the class using this medium. Students do enjoy creating PowerPoints, though can be distracted at times creating animations, layouts, colours and fonts rather than focussing more on the content of their presentation. Non-the-less, I find PowerPoint’s a great starting point for students to begin adding images, hyperlinks, music and animation to their written work due to the fact that the program is relatively easy to use, navigate through and find help if needed. It is a great introduction to using computers as well as what is possible with blogs and other ‘web2’ tools.


The creating process is obviously fun and engaging for students therefore different learning styles are catered for when creating and viewing a PowerPoint. Students tend to be visual learners due to the amount of exposure to TV, DVD’s, and ICT’s, therefore PowerPoint presentations meet this type of learning, (Pearce, 2007).I have seen a recent example of a PowerPoint presentation used to add images and fonts to create emphasis to different aspects of the poem.


I have found personally, PowerPoint’s are great for delivering lessons….putting up key questions or images that all can see while you discuss the topic. It is a visual cue to keep students on track and the LM can keep referring back to the various slides. The lesson key points can be put on sequential slides which are easy to work through during the lesson. It is easy to move back and forward through the slides if necessary for revision.


In combination with data projectors In the past I have use PowerPoint at church which we use as a slide for songs, future events, and it was useful for as simple as using as a picture slide. One thing I like about PowerPoint is that you could also use and index to easily track or restore your songs (anything really). PowerPoint can easily be shared through email and now Slide Share.
I was involved in creating a PowerPoint recently for an assignment were we focused on the animations and timing of text entering and departing a slide to create focus. I must admit I still don’t understand it.
YEY!! More learning to do more exploring!!!


Cheers Mary-Ann

Discovering Avatar….

I have discovered that there are many educational blogs and wikis that provide information about how avatars can be used in the classroom. Classroom 2.0 gave an example that used avatars, wikis and podcasts in a global classroom collaboration, again demonstrating how the components of relate-create-donate are being used in learning environments….How can they be used in an educational context?
"Avatars provide a face to the students and a face to the teacher. They provide
the human element to online teaching" - Cohen, 2007
Avatars are a way of providing anonymity for students. They are a way for students to have a mask to hide behind when presenting information as well as protecting their identity. This addresses the needs of the shy student, while also relieves parental concerns about how their child is being portrayed online.
I can’t believe Cohen’s comment that Avatar’s are better than Sykpe! So I tried to e-mail a personal message to a friend it works!! Having to design your own appearance to suit the situation can give it an effective message. I can now say there is variety of ways you could use this in a classroom situation. Assignments prompters’ I can imagine emailing students and giving instructions in a playful way.

Avatar (means) the incarnation of a Hindu deity, especially Vishnu, in human or animal form:http://www.answers.com/topic/avatar

What do you think?