Laura’s Blog

I just thought I would leave with some final thoughts about my experience with using edublogs and exploring diferent technologies over the past month before my blog gets marked for my university subject entitled ‘Current Issues and Applications in Educational Computing’.

My knowledge has truly expanded in the time that I have spent using my blog and researching ways to use eductional technology in the classroom. Consequently, I am sure to use all that I have learnt both now when on my pracs and in the future when I have a class of my own. As well as this, I am sure to especially integrate the use blogs and webquests into my classroom, both now and in the future, due to the knowledge that I have gained as a result of doing this subject at uni.

Dan has come across a really good technology that is an add on for Mozilla Firefox. This add on can change the physical appearance of a webpage to change the font colour, size etc. This add on is another tool that would make the internet more accessible to students with special needs. Consequently, making webquests more accessible to students with special needs also.

Having just read Linda’s post on Northcott CATS, I wish to further talk about the topic of assistive technologies for people with disabilities. I have just been reading an article and in it it describes a type of software which can be used on webpages to translate text in the webpage into synthesised speech. I thought that this type of technology would have a huge impact on the ability of people to use the internet and be able to comprehend the vast amount of information found on it. In the article I read, the authors Skylar, Higgins and Boone (2007) list 2 types of software that can do this. The first one is called Text Aloud (2004). This uses a “text-to-speech converter with humanlike voices” (Skylar, Higgins & Boone, 2007, p.22). The other is called Read & Write Gold (2004). This one has additional components, “such as one that highlights each word as it is read aloud, word prediction features, and an online talking dictionary” (Skylar, Higgins & Boone, 2007, p.22).

Ref. Sylar, A. A., Higgins, K. & Boone, R. (2007). Strategies for adapting WebQuests fo students with learning disabilities. Intrevention in School and Clinic. 43 (1). pp. 20-28.

Narelle has made some really interesting comments in regard to how children speak in an informal context as opposed to a formal context. It is a really interesting development in recent years due to technology increasingly becoming more common place in society. I know that I have experienced it first hand by constantly shortening words even when I speak, such as lol, gtg, btw etc. However, I have no problem in switching to formal language and speech when it is needed. Therefore this reflects the code switching which Narelle talks about in her blog.

Kirsty has put an interesting video on her blog page. This video is the telling of Jack and the Beanstalk by children through the use of an i-movie. This got me thinking that using an i-movie would be a great tool to use as an assessment for a cumulative webquest activity.

(Image Ref. http://bookmakersltd.com/images/large/Jack-and-the-Beanstalk.jpg)

Linda’s post featuring a cartoon about videotapes really does show that technology is continually updating and as teachers we need to stay on top of it. I remember this even used to happen when I went through school. Although not in regard to videotapes.

I have just been looking at Michelle’s blog and she has come across an excellent website that allows you to make your own newspaper clippling. Making it a great medium for children to publish their work in. See the newspaper article that I created below.

I have just read Linda’s post which features of a video from youtube.com of a child playing a game on the computer using an optical mouse that was only purchased the day before. It is quite amazing what these kids are capable of and I am sure that when we start teaching we will come across many kids like this. I am guessing that many of the kids will probably know more than we do…thats a scary thought.

I have just read Scott’s post on the three X’s - ’eXploring, eXpressing and eXchanging ideas  and the possibilities for students to use computer technology to capatilise on their natural instincts and passions for learning and discovering. He makes some really good suggestions on what students can do using computer technologies. The articles that I have previously read on webquests (Wood, 2005) and using weblogs (Du & Wagner, 2007) also suggest ways in which to use these two things as educational tools.

Below is a mind map that explores the topic of, reasons for using the internet to do learning tasks.