Day 3

'Playing is ... a natural activity performed by everyone' (Sedano et al., 2013, p. 822).

Lecture

With a focus on creating games, today's class introduced us to QUIA. We had also time to explore, create and reflect on the learning that has occurred over the past three days.  Some technical assumptions were reviewed (saving as PDF and compressing files) and reminded me that all learners bring a different skill set (or tool box) to every class. Whilst I have experience in many programs, I can't possibly be expected to know them all and in turn, cannot expect my students to become experts in them either. Learners need time to explore the tools at their own pace as well as time to process the knowledge that has been shared. What we all probably lack, is the time due to our many demands of our work and home lives. Flipping the classroom, or shifting the responsibility of learning to the student via a role reversal my help our 21st Century learners gain the skills necessary to navigate the tools of tomorrow.

QUIA Quiz

The Quia quiz application, with its 30 day free trial, opened up a world of quiz and puzzle building tools. I love the idea of giving students the ownership on these tools to create their puzzles and games. Not only would it consolidate their understanding of a topic, but also give them the opportunity to problem solve whilst consider peering their target audience.

Whilst Greg indicated that we probably only explored 10% of the power of this program, playing with game creation software such as the Hangman (or in my case Balloons), scavenger hunt and Word Jumble (I would like to be able to add hints as I could not unjumble my own words without a context :-) gave me insight into the value of programs like this one. I have had experience in Survey Monkey, Hot Potatoes and Moodle Quiz Builder, but QUIA has all of these tools (and so much more) tucked into one tidy little package. The issue I had with this application is that the reuse of text was difficult due to the individual boxes associated with each game or quiz. For example, if I wanted to create a word search with the same word list as the cloze activity, I was unable to copy and paste the list across. 

The idea of students (and in some cases, teachers) becoming the designers of games (I'm a big fan of Mark Prensky because of his emphasis on game playing in Education) would have them carefully considering their target audience as well as their sentence and answer structure (eg. My opinion of how long a straight stitch should be on a sewing machine was different to the answer of that particular quiz).  This would have a huge impact on their learning resulting in deep learning on the subject. Very clear rules/guidelines would need to be established with the students before they embarked on creating more complex games. The power of reflection on learning through a program such as QUIA would increase students' technology literacy. Programs such as this one have great potential for students creating their own games, but in turn increasing their literacy in the subject matter as well as the technology. 

Discovering 'the world around us through play' (Reilly, 1974 as cited in Sedano et al., 2013, p. 822) reflects a child's approach to technology. The computer in a wall experiment is a perfect example of this - that children with little to no formal education can problem solve technology independently reiterates a the four motivation factors that Sedano et al. (2013) addresses; challenge, curiosity, fantasy and personal control.
 

 

Cutepdf writer

I have used CutePDF writer for about eight years and find it to be extremely reliable.  I'm glad Adobe has now incorporated a PDF writer in the saving options from Microsoft, but I must admit, I still use CutePDF writer.  On the Mac, this option has been integrated for as long as I can remember.  I encourage students to send or upload files as PDF so that their intended audience receives exactly what they wanted to share.
 

Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Whilst Adobe Photoshop is a powerful program that gives the user an amazing array of tools to use to edit and manipulate images, for the purpose of compressing images I direct my students to Microsoft Office Picture Manager as it is accessible to all Windows users (as a Mac user I just use iPhoto for simple image compression and basic editing). The compressing of images for use on the web with this program could not be simpler and has no additional cost.

 

Reflection on learning

My avatar from day 1.

Evident during this subject was the sharing of knowledge and skills as well as the various approaches to problem solving issues.  This collegial approach to learning reiterated Wideman et al's., (2007, p. 13) 'community of practice'. Whilst there was a vast range of ICT skills in the class, everyone was prepared to share their ideas and ask questions. I believe this reflects today's classrooms; whilst we make the assumption that the generation of digital natives are tech savvy, in reality, the age of the user does not denote their ability.  Most importantly, moving away from traditional views of the classroom and allowing students to use information in different visual medium helps all learners to engage with 21st Century skills.

Being exposed to so many programs opened my eyes to the possibilities for students. Increasing my tool box has challenged my thinking about approaches in the classroom that effectively cater for the needs of my students.  I believe my technological literacy has aided me in understanding how to approach new software and has resulted in a quick understanding of each program.  I have increased my skills for effective teaching and practice which I will transfer into my undergraduate degree.

I am a conservative online user. I'm not a fan of lots of online contributions (I have a Facebook page but rarely contribute). I love technology and am completely lost without my iPhone, but keep my online participation to a minimum. As such, contributing to this blog is quite new to me. I have written blogs before using WordPress and PebblePad, but wanted to try another medium for contributions. As I am an avid iPad user, finding the app for Blogger has given me the opportunity to write my thoughts and review my work before finalising my writing with images and links via the PC based online version of the program. Navigating the tools, uploading images and videos, hyperlinking to webpages and Google docs, embedding YouTube clips and manipulating text are all skills I have applied in other programs and found that I was easily able to apply through this blog.  It is my literacy of technology that has allowed me to easily problem solve the program, even though I had not used it prior to this week. 
 

My avatar has changed
to an excited educator
ready to collaborate with
her 21st Century Learners

The digital divide is a concept which is becoming increasing popular through the literature on technology use.  This was evident when discussing the personal teaching situations of my classmates.  Some class members discussed the poor technical support available within their school, or poor internet connection due to remote locations.  I was fascinated with the international students and their unique situations, where they may have one teacher laptop to a class of 60 students, or no power in the school until midday.  What we take for granted is that 21st Century learners may not have the opportunity to experience technology from a young age (even though we may see a 12 month old being entertained in their pram with an iPhone).  For example, the opportunities of technology experiences that are available to students beyond the classroom is not within our control.  I believe we must teach the skills of technology literacy with the tools that are available to us rather than focus on specific content set that is difficult to transfer across situations (teaching students how to learn, rather than what to learn).  This will best prepare learners for the 21st Century. Remaining literate with technology is an essential 21st Century skill.  It is not about knowing it all, but being able to find out how to learn and to be able to transfer existing skills to a new task.  It is this literacy that what will help learners cross the digital divide.

Other programs

Epotential 
Scratch

FUSE

ACMI

Socrative.com

Edutopia

Voki
ePals
DoppelMe