Day 1

Technology in education has evolved dramatically in recent years.  Education 3.0 requires 21st Century pedagogy and skills, but most importantly literacies across all domains that will aid students in their undetermined future.

The Lecture
I have a great interest in student engagement and believe that multimedia, and digital technologies are ways to engage students in their learning.  Multimedia is defined by Sharma & Kakkar (2011, p.27) 'as the combining of text, graphics, animation, picture, video's and sound to present information'.

Today's workshop discussed the needs of 21st Century learners by exposing us to a variety of programs, concepts and understandings about the importance of technology in the lives of all learners.  Technology is intertwined in everyday life and will continue to be so.  We know that the employment of the future has not yet been created for the children of today. Helping learners to successfully use, engage and understand technology are important aspects of education in preparation for their future success in life.  Teaching children how to learn, not teaching them content, is part of this education. 

Dede (2009) clearly identifies that 20th Century learning is significantly different to 21st Century skills.  21st Century skills such as being technologically literate, not just being able to read or write, but being literate in technology as well as other domains are essential for all 21st Century learners. 

21st Century learners need to be able to collaborate, problem solve, set personal goals, be critical thinkers, be innovative and are creative.  Teaching needs to embrace interdisciplinary learning to allow learners the opportunity to transfer their skills and knowledge throughout all domains.  These skills and knowledge will be necessary for the opportunities that will arise for the global community.  Shank's (1994) ten principles still apply 20 years later in Education 3.0.  It has seen the physical restructure of buildings with open planning, wifi accessibility and the preparation for technology of the future.  Innovative teaching practices will cater for the principles proposed by Shank (1994) and aid 21st Century students to become actively involved in their learning.

This year I have trialled a 'flipped classroom' whereby lecture content is delivered via screen captures prior to students attending the classroom.  Students were also to complete their professional readings in preparation for class discussion and collaboration about the theories.  Students needed to take ownership on their learning by completing the weekly requirements in a time that suited them.  As a result, the in class discussions were richer and allowed us to focus in on the connections of the theory to practical applications rather than just the sharing of content.  As a result, higher order thinking and deep learning occurred rather than surface learning which may often be the case in a traditional lecture delivery.

I am an avid Mac user and to hear Steve Jobs' name in class brought a smile to my face - what a visionary!  To hold the world in the palm of your hand via the extremely clever technology that he envisaged and brought to reality is an amazing feat and one that I cannot live without.  The opportunities for social and professional connections are endless, but I am extremely conscious of the increasing time demand that technology takes from our everyday lives.  Being aware of the impact of technology and how much it can be a distraction is something I am very conscious of and is well addressed in this video. 

BTW - Ken Robinson's video on creativity is one of my favourite videos for prompting a discussion about how to teach and assess creativity :-)

The Gilbert (2006) review succinctly outlines the skills of a 21st Century learner.  Whilst we would like to think learners who have competed their formal schooling have attained these vital skills, students entering my undergraduate degree are yet to develop some of these skills.  I will be exploring this reference further to assist my students with attaining these important life skills for 21st Century learners in preparation for them as educators.

Jing
I have been using Jing since 2009 to provide screen capture feedback to my undergraduate students on essays and digital portfolios.  It is a simple program to use but extremely effective for personalising feedback and for providing clear instructions about processes for using software.  I moved to using SnagIt as I am not time restricted (Jing is limited to 5 minutes) and I have more editing tools.  Uploading the screen captures to Screencast allows me to share the files with students and colleagues without them needing to download large files. I introduce students to Jing through a

subject I teach, Interactive Technologies, where they have to create an instructional video about using a self selected piece of software.

Using Jing for image capturing is something I have rarely done, as I most often use Snipping Tool or SnagIt.  Because Jing is freeware and available across platforms, it is something I will continue to encourage students to include in their repertoire of technology tools.

Inspiration
I am an experienced user of Inspiration 8 and Webspiration (freeware) but was not aware of the great tools hidden within Inspiration 9.  Being able to add notes, create snapshots and presentations and adding audio and video brings this program to a whole new level of interactivity and validates its use in classrooms.  This reiterates my point that technology evolves at such a quick rate that we cannot be experts in all software and hardware, but need to be literate in the universal tools and skills required to navigate a plethora of programs and apps.  I also began exploring the free iPad  version of this software which appears to have quite an extensive range of tools and images for use - it is limited in its sharing capability, but by upgrading to the paid app, this can easily be rectified.

I use Inspiration in three of the subjects I deliver.  It is a great planning or reflective tool and caters for more visual learners.  The newer version has so many features that will enhance the application of this program in my teaching.

Storybird
Storybird allowed me (the user) to experience quick success with creating an online picture story book.  Using the fantastic artwork of some terrific contributors, students would be able to create their own interpretation of a story.  This program would allow primary school students to compile and

write their own version of a picture story book and the program has already established an online publishing forum for the user.  I could see all aged children learning may skills from text editing, image manipulation, sequencing of events to story structure through a program such as this.

Teaching into the Bachelor of Education P-6, this program could be used to enhance literacy based subjects as well as having a place in any ICT based subject.  The literature of ICT required to work with this program is rather simple and may meet the needs of preservice teachers for their own assessment or for creating resources for their practicum.

The story I wrote is about my daughter, Maddy.  She loves to write creative stories and would really enjoy manipulating these beautiful artwork to enhance her stories.

Publisher
I have used Publisher quite a number of times, including creating brochures, but essentially to assist students in the classroom with their own creatively designed published items.  I am actually a Mac user, and Publisher is combined with Microsoft Word on the Macs.  The tools for manipulating and editing image, text, borders, colours, fonts etc. are essentially transferable between so many different programs.

As part of my subject delivery, I do assist students with the basic skills of the Microsoft Office suite, but essentially, the programs are becoming common place for most students entering the undergraduate degree.  I find directing students to peers or help assistants (both formal, such as the Microsoft online help assistants or informal, such as YouTube) is just as effective as me directing students in class.  I do have students create a newsletter in the first year of their degree so as to experience the building of a document such as this one as it is important that the familiarise themselves with the various tools of Microsoft.