Monday 24 April 2017

Authentic Learning

Reading through Steve's Revington's authentic learning, once again opens the door to thinking about pedagogy and how it can best be utilised in the classroom. Authentic learning opens a whole new way of thinking about teaching.  I have looked at a lot of resource material since starting this subject and there are so many ways that students can be engaged in their learning. 

I believe learning in the classroom is a valuable tool, but what you learn outside the classroom cements together experience and theory. With my university studies, I would have grasped concepts better if there had been more practical experience. I learnt a lot of theory which on its own does not necessarily give you valuable skills. Assessments provided you with a real life situation where you worked through a problem, providing answers and solutions. Some assessments you would work collaboratively though an assignment which also adds more dimension to the learning, However working in a real live environment for me would have helped consolidate my learning. It's like anything in life until you've had real-life experience you cannot begin to understand/be aware of the full potential of the experience.


While I was working through the elaborations for my curriculum assignments one of the resources I viewed for Economics and Business was of a chef making Udon noodles, which I thought was a funny topic for the learning area. However watching the noodle making process, I started to consider the various types of learning engagement that it could present to students. It is not necessarily about the process of making the noodles, but also one of interaction with this information. Students would watch that video and think a whole raft of different ideas. Such as I would love to cook, another might think of the science of cooking and another about the maths concepts involved or maybe none of these things. However with any good activity there is always the potential for unexpected outcomes, just the same as real-life.  

Similarly going to a Chinese restaurant/cooking lesson and being involved in the making of noodles. Taking that concept back to the classroom where noodles are made and cooked and sold in the school tuckshop/invite the parents into a mock restaurant.


Write a blog indentifying the following:
  • Identify the ingredients
  • Type of flour necessary to make this type of food
  • Where does it come from
  • Exports/imports
  • Trade agreements
  • Political arrangements
  • Criteria of farming arrangements
  • measuring and weighing out ingredients
  • Process of making the noodles
  • Cooking
  • serving
  • Costings/budget
  • marketing
  • collaboration with global students and swap a recipe

I believe that authentic learning would provide a valuable learning tool, for engaging students in the classroom. You just have to spark that little area of interest and grab their attention. Once you've got their attention you may have a little window of opportunity.
Learning is not an individual activity, it is something that happens in everyday situations and importantly must be supported in the family environment.

Friday 14 April 2017

Digital Presentation

This is the most frustrating subject I've ever had the joy of working with!? I believed I had a fair knowledge of ICT, how naive was I. Further as a mature age student I have been considering my prospects for securing work after I finish this course and I sometimes wonder if I am kidding myself as I keep plodding on. However I am hoping that armed (that's how I feel ) with this contemporary knowledge will help me to secure work. 

Each week I've started with a blank canvas and by the time I've finished I've created effective learning. Then that follows on to, how can I use this in the classroom. This subject is so time consuming, but if I had a lot more time there is so much more to explore. 

The biggest headache for me today was how to upload my power point (ppt) presentation.

I was going to use Prezi to complete my presentation but I was reading through the weeks work and I clicked on virtual museum 'building a room in perspective'. I then started playing with the shapes, trying to achieve the same result, but found I was spending too much time. I used the shapes and managed a 3D perspective. 

I have also managed to add an action video to my presentation.

SAMR model Blooms Digital Taxonomy


Substitution: The teacher provides a basic ppt presentation with title page, images and text, but no functional value. It can be used as a stand alone ppt or used as an aid to an oral presentation.

Augmentation: However using augmentation the student starts to enhance the basic presentation.  At the moment I am the student, trying to gain an understanding of what I can achieve with ppt. Within the design format, choice of colour and music can be dependent on the story being portrayed. Dependent on the animation used, each slide can open with a bang or a whimper. These are the basics a student would use to start get a feel and what they are trying to achieve, for their presentation. All of these are dependent on the purpose of the presentation, the context and audience. Similarly as with any project moderation is the key. I believe adding music to the presentation can add another dimension and play on peoples emotions. Today I was watching a tutorial and enjoying the music but was taken by surprise when I realised it was actually the music that made me focus on what was being said and the content. Working with ppt and watching the story unfold, the authors personality is reflected in the work.

Modification:  In this stage students apply higher order thinking and analyse and evaluate what information is relevant. For students considering the various technological resources and evaluating which multi-media complements the presentation and will appeal to the audience is important

Similarly working with shapes and trying to get the same effect as the virtual museum. I chose different shapes and rotated them which gives an entirely different effect to a basic room setup, at least that's what I was trying to do with slide 2.  Using different shapes effectively can add perspective, almost like a 3D image. 

Trying to upload my ppt was the biggest issue for me today. However I did manage to upload to Google drive, where I was further able to work on my presentation. It appears to have a lot more design effects to work with than Microsoft ppt. I was unable to upload a youTube clip in Microsoft ppt so I uploaded it on Goggle Drive.

With modification the emphasis is on skill over content.


Redefinition: From Google Drive I was able to publish my ppt to the web, then copy the URL and upload that to my blog. I was very impressed with my efforts and felt a huge relief to see my ppt appear. As I get further into this subject and based on my reflections in week 5 I understand that visual literacy will be very significant in the classroom.







Authentic Learning

Reading through Steve's Revington's authentic learning, once again opens the door to thinking about pedagogy and how it can best be ...