Midiafire...A Virtual Filing Storage...

Media Fire is a type of tool that’s makes any file accessible anywhere. You can browse and share by having a free account so you'll always be able to manage and share your files and images at any time regardless of which computer you're using. You can post and/ or make it public to share the files or you can choose to make it private. You can save in named folders but you can also put tags on them. By doing this you don’t have to even remember where you put it! This just makes life lot easier, for teachers and educators alike- who always want to store and find resources, activities, lesson plans, letters etc. Having something like this is good as creating back-up of files.

I am not so sure how you might use this in a school setting perhaps peer assessment for high school or tertiary education… a file storage tool such as Media Fire may allow for easy sharing of documents, photos, presentations etc. amongst peers and stakeholders. Media Fire could provide easier access / sharing of resources within the second stage (Learning Resources) of Oliver’s (1999) “Learning Design Framework” that support learners to do a required task.

Also, Media Fire could be used for Learning Managers to share educational resources with a community of Learning Managers could be developed that exceeds the schools boundaries, perhaps creating one space where such resources could be accessed.

In the past I used to email my assignment to myself to prevent losing it. Just to think of it I was already filing my ebay reciepts in my 'hotmail' to simplify my life.
Midia Fire offers more ...is the way to go. I promise to share ...just need to make time.

Cheers
Mary-Ann
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://d961282.u36.infinology.net/images/StationMate.jpg&imgrefurl=http://organizewithfun.com/custom.html6.html&usg=__kbnsoeh1vmY793GkB9oLmG5Eg5c=&h=348&w=347&sz=40&hl=en&start=40&um=1&tbnid=r8q0HszTd5WhkM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfiling%2Bsystems%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4RNWN_enAU326AU327%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36%26um%3D1

QUIZES, TEST, using CLASSMARKER.

I haven’t truly experience students saying “Our dog ate my homework Miss” but close “My baby sister ate or chewed my homework”. I have heard that said twice. I am not surprise that things happens.
After reading Makiko’s blog about classmarker I thought I must to check it up so I did.
http://www.classmarker.com/

After signing in, I played around a bit and explore the possibilities. I notice I was creating my quizzes in no time. I find it user friendly. I can think of many ways. It allow you to choose things like how many questions to display per page, are questions given in random order etc.
I like this idea to check your students understanding about a unit or can be use as formative assessments. You could design a test to suit student’s needs. The results could be used by the teacher to see which students need extra support and which students are competent with their math’s. This could also help the teacher buddy students into pairs or groups with a high achieving student and a lower achieving student in the same group, this way they could learn from their peers.

Advantages:
For Teachers/Learning Manager:
 I like the idea of storing your test/quizzes as well as going back to edit or add what ever you need.
 You can access it wherever there is an Internet.
 Save time and paperwork.
 Teachers can also hide the test after it has been taken so you can still see the results but your learners cannot.

For Students:
 Students will be able to access their quizzes test at home
 Great for a student who attends so many activities like sports.
 They can attend the test anywhere and finish it their own pace.
What do you think?
Cheers Mary-Ann

Image retrived December 2,2009, from:http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/homedog.gif&imgrefurl=http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/homedog.html&usg=__T01bxwYtR_IvXt2anYull_gb6os=&h=604&w=550&sz=21&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=S14GNk1h-Zz4lM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddog%2Beating%2Bhomework%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4RNWN_enAU326AU327%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

WIKI

WIKIs can be an effective tool for encouraging, collaboration participation, and interaction amongst peers in the classroom and as well as the learning agenda is controlled by the students. Some additional ideas for using a WIKI in the classroom include:
• Creating a class glossary in the context of a current Unit of Work
• Class book review, where students discuss a prescribed text in a WIKI
• It allow students to post their drafts to a WIKI for peer review and comments
• Creating an action plan and resource list for a class excursion of school camp
• Collaborate with a class from another country to discuss culture, climate, daily life etc.

Example of fifth grade WIKI: http://ambritgrade5.pbworks.com/
From my viewpoint, one of the key features of the WIKI forum is enabling students to share ideas and contribute to others thoughts –“Communal constructivism where students and teachers are not simply engaged in developing their own information but actively involved in creating knowledge “increasing the motivation of students to learn” (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999), which at the same time as aligns with the first principle of connectivism, stating that “learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions” (Siemens, 2004). Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences

In the past I used Wiki as a group assignment. Constructing our own virtual futuristic school was an excelarating experienced. Having work as a group of diverse background we created an amazing virtual school. Contributing and engaging ourselves on what is an idealistic school in the future made it so clear that as a group of learners we experienced authentic assessment.I like the fact that you can edit and add information at your own leisure. One of the student had to go away before our assignment was due. He was able to contribute his ideas and reflection by login in on the enternet while his on holiday.

Holmes, B., Tangney, B., Fitzgibbon, A., Savage, T, & Mehan, S. (2001).Communal constructivism: Students constructing learning for as well as with others.Retrieved Nov.25.2009.from https://www.cs.tcd.ie/publications/tech-reports/reports.01/TCD-CS-2001-04.pdf .
Keirsley, G. & Shneiderman, B (1999) Engagment Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Available from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.Retreived Nov.25, 2009, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm