a)                 The issues in ways in which the teacher conveys new information

New technologies posses no inherent property that guarantees their implementation in educational contexts will, without fail, result in improving the quality of the teaching and learning environment.  New technologies may be used inappropriately or in ways that replicate traditional teacher centred approaches and thus may contribute little to improving the quality of the learning environment.

Take this for example; the teachers have formed their own blogs. In whole teachers are simply traditional in methods, and their posting have gone to the traditional methods of reading and writing. Teachers are still lacking the ability to fully comment, give feedback and become collaborative in nature. Refer to the following example: [refer to email allan]

The hype surrounding the emergence of new technologies together with institutional pressures and learner demands to implement technology oftentimes obscure the fact that it is not the technology that is important, rather it is how it is used by the teacher to create new experiences for the learner.

b)     The Encouragement of Collaboration among Students.

 Please refer to email for entire section, both

a) Inspiration map

b)Image and text

Question 1: 

a)    www.thehed.pbwiki.com

b)    Discuss five of the key issues you had to struggle with to get this project to work 

1.    The most prominent struggle was Absent people: there were four set people allocated in completion of this task. However, by the end of the project, the group size reduced to three. This is due to the fact that one of the group members failed to place any effort into the completion of the task. It must be remembered that when working in groups, sharing the work load is the key to success

2.    Logging On; Technology is not without its difficulties. The program we used in completing the task, pbwiki, was difficult to log onto. I found it a real problem that not everyone was able to log on at the same time. This caused numerous problems and people had to be allocated set times to complete the task

3.    Format Difficulties/ setting: While in the actually document the settings where perfect, when you went to save your changes, the pages  format was altered. This in essence caused time problems, as everything was changed numerous times

4.    Group Timing: Everyone has other issues to deal with, however we had to constantly allocate times where everyone was available. In whole, this created numerous barriers to compete the task.

5.    Privacy Issue: privacy was also a problem. With the wiki, no personal information can be displayed, as anyone is able to access the information in which you display. Furthermore, as we asked for both parent and student input onto the wiki, this creates a problems. Parents will become reluctant to place accurate comments onto their Childs work, as everyone is able to view the constructive criticism.  

 c)     Evaluate the worth of the collaborative nature of this project in light of the motivation that comes from within the project. 

The new-generation Web 2.0 solutions are easier and more engaging to use, and they are proving to have a larger impact on collaboration and communication in the classroom than complex technologies of the past. The very nature of the project is such that it has changed the way communication has taken place in the classroom setting and hence will have a real impact on the learning. However will it is a refreshing change for the educator, it is also an important motivator for the students. 

In essence the very nature of the project is a motivator in itself. It involves much interaction where by all students are presented with the opportunity to share ideas and information with everyone else. Interaction in this way not only involves sharing ideas and information, but it is very much social as it simply allows one to also receive feedback.

Dreikus, a key figure in classroom management, simply states in his Democratic Discipline model that people are basically social in nature and hence have a innate drive to belong to a social network. In the project in which we have created, this is clearly in fact the set up of the task, and hence students are much more likely to from and intrinsic motivation. The collaboration of the task engages groups of people in not only sending and receiving feedback but working together for creating building and editing.

 The collaborative nature of this project also appeals exactly to the theory of Dreikurs; that human beings are social in nature and that one of our inherent needs is to gain a sense of belonging. This project creates an environment like this because all students are needed to complete the project; they are all connected on the internet as well as with their families. The students are motivated to complete their part of the project by their being part of the group, they do not want to be the only one to let the group down, neither do the parents, so the parents are motivated to keep their children on track with the project so as not to be embarrassed in front of the other parents. Students are intrinsically motivated to be a part of the group and gain that sense of belonging, by trying to make their part of the project the best and the most interesting in terms of web 2.0 technologies, this increases their use of these types of software and motivates them to make a quality wiki/blog. 

Simply as both teachers and students are granted the opportunity to simply sign up and drive, access is ease and it offers an ease of use, the completion of the task is going to present much motivation through a collaborative environment.  

Web 2.0 is essentially an increasing range of software that supports a variety of technologies for open and collaborative communication, learning and creativity. Discuss.

Internet has influenced the daily lives of a significant number of people and changed rapidly. Web 2.0 is new phenomena in which has attempted to connect users via social networking sites for worldwide collaboration. At present, Web 2.0 is returning to its original roots as a reading and writing tool and also entering a new, more social and participatory phase. Such a trend has lead to the belief that Web 2.0 is essentially entering the web into a ‘second phase; a new and improved one. This shift of the Internet from passive to active, from consumer to participant-oriented, is what characterizes the transformed Internet. While it has essentially transformed learning and creativity, it should be remembered that many people are still resistant to escape the world of the standard web.

            There are a number of web-based services and applications that demonstrate the foundations of the web 2.0 concept, which have been used a great deal for collaborative learning, communication and creativity. These are not essentially technologies, but rather services built using the building blocks of technology and open standards that underpin the Internet and web. These include blogs, wikis, multimedia sharing services, content syndication, podcasting and content tagging service.

            Blogs refer to a simple web page consisting of brief paragraphs of opinion, information, personal diary entires or links, commonly referred to as posts, arranged chronologically with the most recent first, in they style of an online journal. Blogs allow any visitor to comment on any entry. Simply, it is an open gateway for communication and collaborative learning. As Youchai Benkler, Yale University Law Professor calls a ‘weighted conversation’ between a primary author and a group of second comment contributors. Simply such advancement in software has allowed for ongoing communication to an unlimited number of readers.  Linking is also a vital component embedded in all blogs. Linking, depending on the conversational nature, adds a sense of immediacy and further allow for a set of clear and instructional learning and collaboration to take place. None the less, as they place a strong emphasis on tagging it allows for a theme based menu and categorised information, making it much more simple and clear for any participant.

            A wiki is a web page or a set of WebPages that can be easily edited by  anyone who is allowed access. Wikipedia is such an example in which was quick to gain acknowledgement and popular support. Such a success has shown that the idea of Wiki, as a new Web 2.0 services, has been widely understood. It has effectively shown the importance of Web 2.0 in learning as it assists group work and collaboration. Unlike blogs, wikis generally have a history function allowing for previous stores to be examined. Wikis can be deemed of great use to learning owing to there extreme ease of tools, their extreme flexibility and open access contributing to collaborative group work. Undeniably there are problems with such openness in these systems. Many wikis, just like Wikipedia itself has suffered problems of malicious editing and vandalism.

            Yet while it is safe to say that the web 2.0 has been a world wide development enhancing learning, creativity and collaboration, users are not essentially accepting the phenomena with ease. Simply, many of these software developments are  concatenations, that is, making use of existing service. Consequently users are not getting the most of the services, still inertia to the change, and using it simply as a web or internet service. While many of these services are relatively mature, it will take a will for users to gain trust and acceptance with these advancements.

            In terms of teaching and learning however, this social software could be used as one of the most effective tools. For students, in the classroom wikis can be used for students to work together to interpret texts, author articles and essays, share ideas and improve their research and communication skills collectively. Through adopting the Wiki into the classroom setting students are also granted the opportunity to reflect and comment on either their work or others. It is also believed that wikis are a useful writing tool that aid composition practice, and that blogs are particularly useful for allowing students to follow stories over a period of time and reviewing the changing nature of how they are commented on by various voices. In these scenarios, education is more like a conversation and learning content is something you perform some kind of operation of rather than ‘just’ reading.

            But these advancements in social software are not without contest. Besides the worry regarding the learners attention and identity, the emerging digital divide between those with access to specific equipment and skills and those who do not, there exists specific tension. Whilst few professionals pay particular focus to the idea of self production to argue that learners find the process more convincing when they are producers as much as consumers, others have agreered that many learners are not concerned in accessing, manipulating and broadcasting material. Simply they believe that they are resistant to this changing in learning and education. Recently there has been a growing assumption that whilst many young people are so lacking the motivation to engage in education once these new technologies are integrated into the education environment they will loose their initial attraction.

            Within a short time frame of fifteen years, the World Wide Web has grown from a group work tool into a global information space with more than a billion users. At present the reality of web 2.0 still encounters its traditional read and write tools yet entering a new more social community and participatory phase. In the future the large scale collection of user data  and creation of user generated content will continue and no doubt deepen as people explore new ideas. This will continue a rapid expansion as more people come online and existing users increase their use of web 2.0.Just how great the growth will become is dependent on the number of people who actually have the time and inclination to participate- witness the large number of blogs that are set up and abandoned. None-the-less while such is a drive for resistance, the production process to generate such online content will become more sophisticated with the advent of increasing powerful and easy to use software.

            Personal Catalogues, digital collection of music, photographs, books and music, have also become a growing trend in the web 2.0 in which has enhanced the ability of communication and collaborate learning. Personal collections will eventually become extremely important to people developing into a personal archive. They may very well contain information on a persons educational experiences  and have direct links with personal learning environments. Hence we see a future of web 2.0 in which is particularly designed to enhance collaborative learning, communication and creativity.  Increasingly, as the amount of available information online grows, and network effects continually, a persons path through the information space will become profoundly important. In essence this will improve the overall communication of any one personal willing to participate in the new reality of the world wide web.     

            The phrase “Web 2.0″ can  looks at the transition of websites from isolated information silos to interlinked computing platforms that act like software to the user. Web 2.0 also includes a social element where users generate and distribute content, often with freedom to share and re-use. With software advancments including wikis, blogs, social book markings, podcasts and tagging, web 2.0 has chnaged the reality of interaction. Simply it has allowed for improvement in communication, learning and creativity as it has made it easier for one to place themselves in the web. The argument which still exists  however is whether web 2.0 does represent a new version of World Wide Web at all, or merely continues to use  web 1.0 technologies and concepts.   

Title: Comment on Perry & Winne’s “Learning from Learning Kits: gStudy Traces of Students’ Self-Regulated Engagements with Computerized Content”.

http://web.ebscohost.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=103&sid=e76ba066-7da1-438c-9399-996ad7e65420%40sessionmgr109

The comment starts with a review of the authors’ four phase model of SRL as metacognitive, motivated, and strategic where it is suggested to complete the model with aspects of motivation, emotion, and attribution. Furthermore, integrating theories about “online motivation” within the model’s internal regulatory part and framing it with elements of interest theory could increase the explanatory power in view of the dynamics in the regulatory component. The authors’ critics of methodological shortcomings and their preference of “in vivo” indicators about learners’ tactics is acknowledged although their meaning of “validity” needs further elaboration, especially with regard to a precise definition of adequate parameters that depict significant characteristics of traces and of time-related changes. With respect to the Learning Kit Project, a parallel on-line measure of concurrent motivational and emotional states is suggested as well as an emphasis on regulatory aspects having their source in dynamic interactions between cognition, motivation, and emotion. Regarding the accompanying software, considering the difference in perspectives, roles, and needs of teachers and researchers and to integrate project and software into a more explicit instructional concept could help to realize its promising and challenging target even more efficiently. This article talkes about the use of ‘interest’ which will help motivate the students. If a student is working on a topic or subject that interest them they are more inclined to work at their full potential rather then working on something they do not like or may not understand. Ultimatly the work will also be of a better standard as the student will work harder and the finshed product will be better.

Hyperlink http://web.ebscohost.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au/ehost/pdf?vid=22&hid=102&sid=4a0902af-bc2e-42ef-aa98-1748d68d6cce%40sessionmgr103 

 Abstract: 

There are a lot of changes which started to take place during the 1990’s according to Bob Pearlman. These included globalization and an increased role in technology in work and life. Learning in the 21^st century includes information and communication skills, thinking and problem-solving skills, interpersonal and self-directional skills, and the skills to use twenty-first century tools such as information and communication technologies.This article goes through how the government is planning to spend over 80 billion dollars in re building schools within America which are over 15years old and create a 21^st century environment  which is able to inspire learning for decades to come. But to do this we need to know what the students want to learn and the skills they need for the 21^st century. I think this is really important due to the fact that this is the future, technology is our future and if the future generations don’t know how to function within society and to keep up with the recent technological advancements then we wont be going anywhere and we will be trapped in the past.When thinking about preparing students for the 21^st century we need to address a few important questions and Bob Pearlman asks these: 

• What learning curricula, activities, and experiences foster twenty-first century learning? 

• What assessments for learning, school based and national, foster student learning, engagement, and self-direction? 

• What physical learning environments (classroom, school, and real world) foster twenty-first century student learning?

 • How can technology support a twenty-first century collaborative learning environment and support a learning community?

Walk into a classroom at New Technology High School (NTHS)in Napa, California, and you will see students at work: writing journals online, doing research on the Internet, meeting in groups to plan and make their Web sites and their digital media presentations, and evaluating their peers for collaboration and presentation skills. Another teacher’s students may also be there in a team-taught interdisciplinary course. These activities have a name and a purpose.This is called project-based learning, and it is designed to engage students in learning deeply. A simple strategy was planned out to tackle complex problems and will require critical thinking: 

• To learn collaboration, work in teams.

• To learn critical thinking, take on complex problems.

• To learn oral communication, present.

• To learn written communication, write.

• To learn technology, use technology.

• To develop citizenship, take on civic and global issues.

• To learn about careers, do internships.

• To learn content, research and do all of the above.  

 This strategy can be enforced if students can work on projects that are designed to extract collaboration, critical thinking, written communication, oral communication, work ethic, and other critical skills while simultaneously meeting state or national content standards.  Bob Pearlman also goes through what a traditional classroom is like:  They mainly work alone on non – complex tasks·      They emphasize short term content memorization. Write for the teacher alone . And rarely work on group presentations  Project- and problem-based learning takes a different
approach:
1. Put students into teams of three or more students, who work
on an in-depth project for three to eight weeks.
2. Start the project by introducing a complex entry question, and
scaffold the project with activities and new information that
deepens the work.
3. Develop a time line for the project through plans, drafts, timely
benchmarks, and presentations by the team to an outside panel
of experts drawn from parents and the community.
4. Provide timely assessments to students on their projects for
content, oral communication, written communication, teamwork,
critical thinking, and other critical skills. 

Hyperlink: http://search.ebscohost.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=23647698&site=ehost-live 

Abstract

The article discusses the effects of computer and Internet technology on higher education. While technology has extremely promising benefits for education in the United States, it has mainly been used to facilitate the delivery of content rather than change the ways people are educated. The author believes the problem is that most course-management systems were developed at a time when the Internet was seen primarily as a mechanism for information delivery. To improve this, teachers should look toward the evolution of “Web 2.0,” which focuses on new means of creating and presenting data. 

Reflections

It is remarkable to find that all educators, old and new, are noticing the potential to change the way people teach and learn. However in giving a critical look at technology, the article looked at real benefits of this new advancement in technologies.  Except for a few small pockets of innovation, many of the technological tools we use in the classroom — from course-management systems to PowerPoint — help primarily not with teaching students to think, but with the most pedestrian aspect of teaching: the delivery of content. As the article notes, we do need to understand that the problem is not the idea of a course-management system itself — a basic set of tools for content delivery, evaluation, and communication — nor the various uses of such systems, many of which serve their purposes quite well. Rather, the problem is that most course-management systems were developed at a time when the Internet was seen primarily as a mechanism for information delivery. We need to turn to the web 2.0 where people can now put ‘themselves’ into the internet. People can have a say and students can now be granted to opportunity to ‘collaborative’ learn.

 http://search.ebscohost.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5028426&site=ehost-live

This paper serves as the introduction to a collection of 8 projects and a commentary seeking to understand and promote complex learning using technology. Selective evidence on the current state of technology for learning in schools is summarized along with numerous recommendations. Key issues associated with the uses of technology to promote complex and active learning are highlighted. It is argued that accessibility and interactivity with the material and other learners are important features which influence the underlying motivational and cognitive processes which affect complex learning using technology. The nature of cooperative learning is briefly summarized emphasizing positive interdependence and individual accountability as means to promote peer interaction. Fourteen learner-centered psychological principles are listed under several headings: cognitive and metacognitive, motivational and affective, developmental and social, and individual difference factors influencing learners and learning. Finally, key issues in the technology integration process are discussed: creating the school vision, taking stock, partnerships, professional development, implementation, and review.

ReflectionsThe article did well in showing how technology supports individual and collaborative processes which promote responsible, effective and active learning which in essence will encourage learners to be self-regulating.When describing the role of Leaning and cognition, the article focused on the importance of cognition on the cultural setting and environment of the learner. Therefore it was of essence that the composer of the text emphasized the importance of the social context of learning within and between individuals in both real and computer mediated virtual environments. In describing the importance of psychology on technology and learning the author also suggested lifelong learners, whether inside or outside the classroom, self-regulate their own learning. Such is an interesting point as it shows that learners will engage with the learning task cognitively, metacognitvely and motivationally. Overall it makes a clear point of how technology plays an important role in the process by enhancing students interactively with the material to be learnt.

Hey Jude blog…

HEY JUDE BLOGhttp://heyjude.wordpress.com/This blog is an excellent learning tool for using web2.0. It has great information and links and tools for web2.0.examples include:TAGGINGBLOGGINGand she has a few videos on researching the internet wisely.She also has a posting on using blogging within the curriculum which is great because it shows you how to blog within the classroom.Setting up a shared blog space for groups of students working on different topics, such as: Visual Ventures (electricity); Safety First (issues for different scenarios); New Concepts (cool math’s problems to try and solve); Riddles & Poems; Religion (World Youth Day - the latest on the cross, and living the message of Jesus).This blog gives you everything you need to know when using Web2.0. I think blogs done for this purpose are GREAT..