Thinking tools to scaffold online learning

For students to effectively reap the benefits of online spaces such as blogging, certain thinking tools needs to well scaffolded so as to set clear requirements and expectations of the task. To ensure students success in online spaces, certain thinking tools as well as carefully constructed questions sequence or strategies need to be implemented. These include:

• ·           PMI (Plus, Minus and Interesting


• ·           De Bono's Six Thinking Hats


• ·           Collaborative Authoring

• ·           Project Drafting



• ·           Ranking Tool



• ·           SWOT analysis



• ·           T-chart



• ·           Y-Chart



• ·           Compare and Contrast



• ·           KWL Strategy



• ·           Reading for Understanding strategies



• ·           Thinking Boxes (from myself to Global)



• ·           Identifying perspectives

·           Strategies retrieved from: http://elearncqu.wikispaces.com

Group 1 Tools: Weebly

Digital Tool: Website

Image retrieved from http://www.techwithoutwires.com/50226711/create_a_website_now_using_weebly.php

This week I created my own Weebly in an endeavor to explore its effectiveness in a learning and classroom environment. Weebly can be simply described as an online, free, widget-based web site creator, allowing users to create pages with only a few clicks by dragging and dropping different page elements (images, text, or interactive content). After quickly and easily setting up my account and navigating through its features, I quickly learnt and discovered its strengths and weaknesses for my own use and its use in a classroom context. The difference between this type of website to the blogs and wikis that I have also explored is that the user chooses the content and construction of the website, and nobody else is able to edit, or add to it. This website structure is referred to as static ‘read only sites’; however they are a fantastic tool for obtaining knowledge and understanding of important topics. In addition, this tool is great for students to be able to create their very own websites expressing their creativity in diverse ways. In my prior experiences in the classroom, the use of websites for online learning has been a very effective online tool for many different research topics. This form of learning effectively engages students and I believe many learning outcomes can be achieved in all learning areas when successfully and appropriately implemented in the classroom. All in all, I will endeavor to implement this online tool in my future practice as a learning manager.

For students to effectively reap the benefits of online spaces such as blogging, certain thinking tools needs to well scaffolded so as to set clear requirements and expectations of the task. To ensure students success in Weebly, certain thinking tools as well as carefully constructed questions sequence or strategies need to be implemented

To successfully analyse Weebly I have again used a thinking tool called SWOT to analyse Weebly’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Weebly SWOT

Strengths ·         Free (Open Source) web content creator ·         Simple Drag and Drop interface ·         Blogging features and tools (audio, video, YouTube, Google maps and photo gallery etc.) This will ensure engagement with tasks ·         Fast and easy way to create a website ·         Become internet savvy- information experts (connectivism) ·         Blogging feature can be implemented so the need and use of Blogger is not necessary. ·         Unlike wiki’s and blog’s Weebly for education cannot be edited or  changed by anyone who does not have access (private) ·         Interactive and engaging ·         Ownership of their own learning

Weaknesses ·         Unlike blogger and unless interacting in a blog on Weebly, the online tool only encourages a low level of thinking as students can only read and not contribute content, perspectives and ideas to particular topics.

Opportunities ·         opportunity become internet and computer savvy ·         navigate online ·         improve writing skills ·         critically reflect ·         ownership of their own learning

Threats ·         Time consuming ·         Unreliable (technical difficulties) ·         Students tend to waste time on the aesthetics and features of their Weebly account and steer away from the content

Checkout the Weebly I created and discover how this tool can enhance and transform learning at http://briezas.weebly.com/

Group 1 Tools: Wikispace

Digital tool: Wikispaces 

Wikis for Collaborative Learning

Image retrieved from http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/news

This week I created my own Wikispace in an endeavour to explore its effectiveness in a learning and classroom environment. My recent use with Wiki has been most proficient in another course I am currently studying which allows assignment groups to collaboratively come to one place to edit and keep track of the progress of the content of the site using a standard web browser.  Furthermore the mobile phone wiki that I engaged in during week 1 of this course allowed my peers and I to explore and share perspectives on a particular topic, which I found very engaging and successful. After exploring wiki I found traits from both a Web site and a Word document which was quick and easy set up and use.  Wiki can be often referred to as a giant online butcher’s paper that encourages learners to read, write and think which can act as continuous learning tool where users and guests can edit, modify, add, and remove information with has many simple and quick editing tools. One benefit of wiki that has been successful in my own learning is the ability to upload files such as videos, images, word documents and pdf files which in group assignment situations is an easy and successful way to share information, ideas and content in one area rather than sending emails backwards and forwards where documents can get lost and stored in numerous areas making it difficult to communicate.   

Many key features of a wiki can be identified by wiki.org: (from http://wiki.org ) which explores all of wikis benefits. Essential scaffold is needed when using a wiki and a list of strategies can be accessed on a previous blog (mobile phones wiki reflection) to successfully scaffold this online learning tool.

Below is a quote that I thought successfully explains the use of wikis in a classroom context

The Wiki is gaining traction in education, as an ideal tool for the increasing amount of collaborative work done by both students and teachers. Students might use a wiki to collaborate on a group report, compile data or share the results of their research, while faculty might use the wiki to collaboratively author the structure and curriculum of a course, and the wiki can then serve as part of each person’s course web site (Mader, 2005)

Excerpt retrieved from http://www.scienceofspectroscopy.info/edit/index.php?title=Using_wiki_in_education)

For students to effectively reap the benefits of online spaces such as blogging, certain thinking tools needs to well scaffolded so as to set clear requirements and expectations of the task. To ensure students success in Wikispaces, certain thinking tools as well as carefully constructed questions sequence or strategies need to be implemented.
  

Check out the wiki I created and see how Wikis can enhance and transform learning  at http://bries.wikispaces.com/

 

To successfully analyse Wiki I have again used a thinking tool called SWOT to analyse Wikis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Wikispaces 4 Education

Strengths ·         Collaborative (creates networks) ·         Constructive (ownership of learning) ·         Connective – class, school, families, wider community, interstate or international. ·         Many features and tools (audio, video, YouTube, images and photo gallery etc.) This will ensure engagement with tasks ·         Flexibility of use ·         Encourages peer teaching ·         Peer perspectives ·         Critical and reflective thinking ·         Inclusive ·         ability to keep track of the history of a document as it is revised ·         Engaging ·         Easy use

Weaknesses ·         Time consuming ·         Some students lack of contribution (need some kind of colour coding to ensure students use ·         Incorrect content ·         Plagiarism ·         Fear of overwriting student work (one user at one time)

Opportunities ·         opportunity become internet and computer savvy ·         navigate online ·         improve writing skills ·         critically reflect ·         ownership of their own learning

Threats ·         Time consuming ·         Unreliable (technical difficulties) ·         No learning gains ·         Plagiarism (legal, safe, ethical requirements) ·         Difficult to help students  at one time if they require individual help

Group 1 Tools: Blogs

Digital Tool: Blogs

Pedagogy and Blogging – Blogs in Education

Image retrieved from http://mslilpetamattschoss.com/tag/blogging/ 

Throughout my recent use with blogs, I have found it to be an incredible and useful learning tool, specifically for my own reflective practice and learning journey in this course. The benefits of working through tasks weekly and reflecting on each aspect as well as visiting peer blogs, I can see much personal growth and engagement within this course. I enjoy how collaborative, interactive and constructive this learning space is and will endeavor to use this great online tool in my future practice as an educator.

After engaging with blogger I can see the many benefits that students could gain when interacting with this online tool. According to Fernette and Brock Eide’s as cited by Richardson, W. (2010) there are potential benefits when using online tools such as blogging in the classroom. These include:

•      Can Promote Critical and analytical thinking

•      Can Promote Creative, Intuitive and Associational thinking

•      Can Promote Analogical thinking

•      Potential for increased access and exposure to quality information

•      Combination of solitary and social interaction

•     Literacy skills 

These many benefits above have been demonstrated from my own personal experience over the last two weeks in this course and will continue to demonstrate throughout the remainder of the course. However, for students to effectively reap the benefits of online spaces such as blogging, certain thinking tools needs to well scaffolded so as to set clear requirements and expectations of the task. To ensure students success in blogging, certain thinking tools as well as carefully constructed questions sequence or strategies need to be implemented. Furthermore, this tool can be used to encourage your students to blog:

•  Their reactions to thought-provoking questions
•  Their reactions to photos you post
•  Journal entries.
•  Results of surveys they carry out as part of a class unit
• Their ideas and opinions about topics discussed in class.

 

For blogs to be effective in the classroom, it is fundamental that educators design spaces in which reflections are created and shared with an audience/peers, and feedback is offered to support learning. In addition it is essential that teachers control this online space at all times. 

Retrieved from http://tep.uoregon.edu/shared/blogswikispodcasts/BlogsInEducation.pdf

Note: these are only a few examples of how blogs can be used. For further information on how blogs could be used in the classroom visit:

Blogs in Education

http://tep.uoregon.edu/shared/blogswikispodcasts/BlogsInEducation.pdf

Below is an analytical thinking tool called SWOT to reflect on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of blogging. This tool is effective because it allows students to write and reflect analytically rather than being just descriptive.

Blogs in the Classroom

Strengths ·         Critical and analytic thinking ·         Creative, innate and associational thinking ·          Ownership of their own learning (author) ·         Analogical thinking ·         Exposure to quality information ·         Solitary and social skills ·         Literacy skills ·         Encourage confidence ·         Collaborative ·         Encourage reflection ·         Engaging ·         Online navigating skills ·         Communication

Weaknesses ·         Often schools will not allow this online tool ·         Support staff to help guide the use ·         Publically accessible ·         Time consuming ·         Monitoring ·         Need scaffolding

Opportunities ·         Improve writing skills ·         Learn how to critically reflect ·         Be exposed to online resources and learning

Threats ·         No learning gains ·         Plagiarism (legal, safe, ethical requirements) ·         Difficult to help students  at one time if they require individual help

Check out the Blog i created at http://brievandenbergh.blogspot.com/

Image retrieved from http://bloghackz.com/

Week 3: Digital Technologies

This weeks task requires us to investigate online technologies and tools. These include blogs, wikis and websites. Below are the links to my creation of these online tools.

Blog: http://brievandenbergh.blogspot.com/
Wiki: http://bries.wikispaces.com/
Website: http://briezas.weebly.com/

Mobile phones in the classroom- Beneficial or Detrimental?

  

Google image retrieved from http://pocketrevision.co.uk/blog/?p=14

This week’s contribution to wiki 

This week’s wiki task required us to reflect on whether mobile phones could be successfully implemented in the classroom.  With the use of the thinking routine called De Bono's 6 thinking hats we had the opportunity to view and reflect on different perspectives on this controversial topic. De Bono's 6 thinking hats works in a way where we have the opportunity and choice to think and reflect on an issue in six different ways, drawing out many different and interesting perspectives and views of our peers. When choosing my hat for this particular topic, my mind was set on the ‘benefits’ thinking hat, as I strongly believe in interactive learning. However after reading the perspectives of others, I decided to contribute under the ‘feelings’ thinking hat which allowed me to express the positives and touch on the negatives.

Analysing wiki within the context of learning theories, I believe Wiki is reflective of connectivism as it connects learning with the ‘digital age’ where learning is more about how you access knowledge through different nodes of information than the actual state of ‘knowing’. This is the way of the 21^st century.

I absolutely love the idea of a wiki space where everyone can collaboratively learn from each other and understand and be exposed to different perspectives of others. I liked that my peers added websites and quotes that supported there thinking. This is where my understanding of connectivism is evident, where accessing different pathways to information.  I thought the topic was great and it really got me and others thinking about the benefits and challenges of mobile phones in the classroom in a non-judgmental free environment. De Bono’s 6 thinking hats worked well and I would be more than happy to explore different ICT topics each week with this great structure