Thank you!!!

 Thank you for visiting my blog!!! I hope you enjoyed my posts regarding the ICT sessions  I liked the most! This is my first blog, but more posts are on their way:)
 Wish everyone all the best and enjoy SBT!!!

Web 2.0 Applications (Week 10 / 4th of April 2014)

     What is Web 2.0?

 Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and collaboration between users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs and folksonomies (collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing). ('Web 2.0', 2014).

 The internet is considered a powerful tool nowadays because it facilitates communication. "The world wide web contains unimaginable amounts of information. Some of it is incorrect, some of it is out of date, some of it is not relevant, but some of it is of a high quality and generously shared by its originator with the worldwide online community." Allen et. al (2012, p. 193-194).

     Web 2.0 in the classroom!

 There are many advantages of using Social Software in the classroom:

- it is free;

- it is available anywhere and anytime as long as there is internet connection;

- it provides new ways of accessing, thinking about, sharing and using information;

- can offer effective learning and sharing platform;

- can show a real world, meaningful, enjoyable and relevant.

 However, there are a lot of disadvantages of using Web 2.0:

- too much information is posted by many people with different thoughts;

- if they are not supervised children can easily find inappropriate online information;

- privacy issues.

 Therefore, it is highly important that all children receive E-Safety advice from parents and schools!!!

     Web 2.0 Applications

 Wallwisher is and online application which allows creating walls where the users involved can post their thoughts, feelings and ideas in regards to a certain subject (the title of the post). The website can be found at:

http://padlet.com/wall/8ss9gq6rv60u

 Children enjoy being able to freely express themselves and this application can successfully offer the platform. However the teachers must help, support and supervise them constantly as children tend to write things that are not related to the subject!

Wordle allows users to write words and sentences which can be displayed in an attractive and interactive way. This application is available at: http://www.wordle.net/create

 Other online applications: 

Prezi is available at:  http://prezi.com

Pinterest is available at: http://www.pinterest.com

     Reflections

 This post is meant to show the importance of Web 2.0 in schools and in personal life. It seems that the opportunities for finding things online are limitless. Using internet in the classroom can be visually appealing, engaging, stimulating and challenging at the same time. Children are given the opportunity to express themselves and develop communication skills.

     References:

Allen, J., Potter, J., Sharp, J. and Turvey, K. (2012) Primary ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice. 5th edn. London: Learning Matters/Sage.

 'Web 2.0' (2014) Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 (Accessed: 21 April 2014).

Interactive Whiteboard and Phonics (Week 4 / 14th of February 2014)

 This blog highlights the cross curricula use of Interactive Whiteboards. As it was mentioned in a previous post, IWB can successfully be used across the curriculum not just in ICT. Before planning for teaching there are a few things that need to be considered. Therefore, teachers should make sure that: children can reach the board, children can see the board with ease, children can move to and around the board. Barber, Cooper and Meeson (2007). More that that, "in an inclusive classroom it is imperative that all children are given the same opportunity to access the IWB and benefit from its use." Barber, Cooper and Meeson (2007, p. 33).

 Interactive Whiteboards offer the possibility to create interactive lessons. For example, with the use of Smart Notebook application teachers can create engaging and stimulating presentations for each of the six phonics phases, selecting different tools and resources.

     Phase 1

 At phase one children develop phonologic awareness and improve their ability to distinguish between sounds. The Smart Notebook application allows inserting sounds for different pictures of animals and objects. For example, making a cat meow. Children can click the object on the IWB in order to hear the sound that it makes. The following website is a really good resource for sounds: FreeSFX.

     Phase two 

 At phase two some phoneme/ grapheme correspondences are introduced. As soon as children have a small number of phoneme/grapheme correspondences blending and segmenting can start. Smart Notebook application has a variety of tools which can help teachers create an interactive lesson for this phase:

- The Magic Box enables children to assess their own learning by choosing the objects/ animals that start with a given letter and place them inside it. 

The yellow rectangle shape is the magic box. Children are required to 

place inside it the objects/ animals which start with letter b. The objects that have a 

different letter at the beginning cannot be placed inside the box, they will be 

displayed outside the box.

   For the magic box a simple coloured shape, a text box which will contain the corresponding letter and a few images are added on the slide of the presentation. In order to make the objects starting with letter b (in this example) go behind the chosen shape the following options are applied to each picture: select the picture, right click, Order, Send to Back.

 In order to make the rest of the objects go on top of the shape each picture is selected, click right, Order, Bring to Front.

  Infinite cloner is a tool used to create words with the help of infinite letters. On a slide there are inserted a few letters and pictures that will help children guess the words they are asked to write using the given letters. 

 For each of the letters click right and select Infinite Cloner.

  Rub and Reaveal tool, which was explained in a previous post, is a great resource to use with children for CVC words. For example:

Children are asked to think of CVC words that finish with at or an.

They can check the answer by rubbing inside the shape to look for the
picture which will match the word: cat or pan.

  For each on the six phases of Letters and Sounds  a multitude on ideas and resources can be found on diverse websites, such as:

Phonics Play

Letters and Sounds

TopMarks

Family Learning

Twinkl

Early Learning

     Reflections

 After learning in ICT about all these amazing tools which can be used across the curriculum I believe that a teachers who uses IWB can be a better teacher. Therefore I intend to apply my learning in the classroom and make sure that all children benefit from it. 

     References:

 Barber, D., Cooper, L. and Meeson, G. (2007) Learning and Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards Primary and Early Years. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Interactive Whiteboards (Week 2 / 31st of January 2014)

      What are Interactive Whiteboards?

 "Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) are touch-sensitive boards which allow teachers and children to engage directly with material projected on a screen from a computer via a data projector." Allen et al. (2012, p.180)

        Why do we use Interactive Whiteboards?

 Interactive Whiteboards are now very popular in schools, especially in primary classrooms. Using IWB offers flexibility and a better pace for activities carried out in the classroom. They enable teachers to prepare their lessons better (e.g. when using smart presentations the information can easily be revised with the help of back and forth buttons). Some teachers explore more the use of Interactive Whiteboards, others just use them in order to support, in an effective way, their own teaching style without changing it. A good teacher is a good teacher no matter what resources he uses, but a teacher who uses IWB is a better teacher. It is important for teachers and practitioners to have a good preparation with using Interactive Whiteboards.
 Creative teaching allows teachers to match different styles of learning:
- tactile learners get to write, touch and move things around the board;
- visual learners benefit from a clear view of what is happening on the board;
- audio learners can easily participate during the lesson. What is an Interactive Whiteboard? (2014).

 There are a few things that need to be considered when using IWB, such as:
- light;
- interactivity;
- text visibility;
- access;
- height;
- type of board used in the classroom and converting resources built for one type of board to another.

      Session Activity:

 Smart Notebook is an application used to create interactive presentations that can be projected on IWB. There is a wide variety of tools that can be used in order to prepare interactive lessons.
 A simple presentation can include basic tools, such as: shapes; pens; text; background; colours.

A background can be applied by selecting the fourth button form the left hand side
which shows the letter A. The background fill has different options: no fill, solid
fill, gradient fill, pattern fill and image fill.

Different text, shapes, pens and colours can be applied by selecting the
corresponding buttons that can be found at the top:

 There are also more complex tools that can be used with Smart Notebook application.

 Rub and Reveal is a technique used in order to reveal answers, shapes, missing words by selecting the Eraser icon and rubbing out.

For example, sentences are written with black and red coloured pen on a blue 

background. Then, with a pen using the same colour as the background,  colour the 

text you want to hide.

Use the Erase icon

to rub out the colour in order to reveal the right answer.

 The magic pen is another interactive tool that can successfully be used.  This tools gives the opportunity to learn about similarities and differences when comparing two pictures. First pictures can be inserted on the slide of the presentation by selecting the corresponding option form the menu:

 

 Afterwards the magic pen is applied by selecting the pens button and the option magic pen: 

Once the Magic pen option is applied circles can be drawn using it and that gives the possibility to move the circles on the two pictures in order to look at similarities and differences between, for example, the old and the new view of Oxford Street.

When drawing a square with the magic pen the Spotlight option is applied. This option enables us to zoom a certain area of the picture and have a better look and understanding of the specified similarities and differences. 

 There are also other complex tools which offer the opportunity to create a interactive presentation: 

- add animation to shapes;

- deconstruct images using the camera;

- maps;

- deconstruct pages using dual pages. 

  In general, therefore, it seems that Interactive Whiteboards are a successful tool that teachers and practitioners can use in schools. In the primary classroom Interactive Whiteboards can be used in order to teach across the curriculum (maths, literacy, science, art, history, geography, etc.) and not just in ICT.

      Reflections

I would personally try to use the whiteboard effectively in the classroom because it can transform our teaching and pedagogy. It enables us to draw children's attention and engagement easily. It can build confidence, motivation and self-esteem. I also believe that Smart Notebook presentations can effectively allow children to learn about things we cannot provide for them in real life (for example, in history when learning about vikings and their transport show pictures of viking ships and boats).

                 (PreKschool, 2013)

     References:

 Allen, J., Potter, J., Sharp, J. and Turvey, K. (2012) Primary ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice. 5th edn. London: Learning Matters/Sage.

 PreKschool (2013) Preschool Parkland FL - Interactive Whiteboard. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQF8lkPiIHU (Accessed: 19 April 2014).

 What is an Interactive Whiteboard? (2010) Available at: http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/Whatisaninteractivewhiteboard.aspx (Accessed: 19 April 2014).