Farah's Entry on Reflection for Nov 12, 2010

Demo group: G+H for session 9 by Art student teachers

Angela, Arfah, Cheryl and Miin does art using comic life: http://comiclife.com/

Comic Life is a software for windows and Mac platforms. It incorporates images in frames and writing in speech bubbles: allows creating realistic comic strips. This encourages self-expression good for teenagers who are generally known to have identity crisis.
This software is like paint software.
Needs a considerable amount of requirements: Students need to have an account in Comic Life, Students need to be expressive as well as creative in making a story, Teacher needs to demonstrate the software on how to use the features although it is quite similar to the Paint software and teachers should keep on the look-out for the content which the students have inserted.
This software promotes self-directed learning because the exploration of Comic Life is mainly done by the students. Tapping prior knowledge is also done here where students are able to take photos and possibly be a moderate IT-savvy. For real-world context, students are able to have experiences in being a comic artist.


Weiqiang, Fifah, Jessica and Joseph does art using secondlife as an immerse learning environment http://secondlife.com/

They create lessons: problem based learning through making virtual trips to museums in Second Life. The activity will be based on groups and each group will go round the virtual museum together. This allows collaboration between members in a group. They could exchange ideas, correct each other’s opinions and share experiences during the tour. Second life helps to encourage learning dimension of real life context. As visiting to each museums located globally required more time, costs and the assurance of students safety is maintained, second life helps to secure these three issues.


Lecture on Second Life: Students gets to travel and play different roles. For second life, it is required to have an account, needs considerable time to learn how to walk/fly/ teleporting in the second life. When teachers used second life, they could create a global classroom and safe environment for role-playing: adult and teen. For adults to enter the teen world, necessary interrogation will be done 1st before permitted. Behind every avatar is created by somebody. Second Life is a simulation of real life. There are no levels, quests or goals which could not practice the students to be competitive or discipline. Second Life allows experience for the students. What one can do in real life, it can be done in second life. But, it is not vice-versa. So, in second life students are allowed to expand their creativity where the real world could not. There is also business transaction going on in second life. Currency for second life is Linden dollar. This would mean money wastage when unnecessary things are bought in second world. For students using second life, it needs to be monitored.

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Oct 29, 2010

Session 8:
Demo groups E (My Group: Angela, Justine and Farah) and F (Jit, Absa and Sheema)

The ICT tool used by group F is Wiggio. From their introduction, it shows the practicality of introducing the tool in the home economics lesson. It has variety of functional features from:
a. Post it notes- to remind the students
b. Live video interactions- for students to have outside school group meeting, for students to interact or ask for help to the teachers.
c. The ICT tool allows vast opportunities for interaction. However, content-wise, the teachers need to create by themselves. Unlike for website introduced by group C+D, the content has been pre-prepared for the teachers to use.

Game-based learning is indeed one of the teaching approaches that I would mould into my lessons because it is entertaining to keep the students from always attending my class, keeps the students interested in my class while learning indirectly. I believe game-based learning provide experiences for students to strive in winning as when they lost a game, they could try again. This would help in their character of perseverance. Perseverance in learning is important to keep up good progress in schools besides heavy workload of projects and assignments.

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Oct 22, 2010

Session 7
DEMO PROJECTS BY GROUP C + D: The Music Student teachers

First by Group C (Deborah Chong, Jing Yi and Samantha): Western Opera using http://classicalkusc.org/kids/opera/base.htm
They teach opera music through watching the Hansel & Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck.While watching the show, the students are required to identify the various music played. Self-directed learning is obvious here because the students need to check out the website, read the instructions to watch the show. Students also get to taste on what an opera is not by words or theory but by visual and experiencing it which can promote another dimension of meaningful learning-real world context.
Second by Group D (Isa, Bryan and Carmen): Orchestral Instruments using www.sfskids.org/
They teach western orchestra through having students to explore the website: www.sfskids.org/ Self-exploration can help students who have a slow pace of thinking or action. However, as lessons have specific time allocated, this can be impractical. The solution to this is for teachers to have students explore the website under a specific time and allow the students to explore at home or after school along with given assignments based on the website. On the other hand, through the use of the website, learning can take place anywhere and anytime for as long as the student has access to the website. The website has many features that students encouraged to do self-directed learning might get lost or confused and this also means the teacher needs to keep on track for every student’s progress. The website is loaded with colorful pictures and various sounds just like Group C.

The other two games to participate during this session is the Nintendo Wii. It successfully creates excitement and students are eager to follow and understand the instructions in order to win the game. Students are keen to experience the game. This games have allowed the students to also build rapport with the other students.Thus, Nintendo Wii promotes self-directed learning and collaboration.

e-learning 2

Part 1
• What are some characteristics of digital natives? (What are they good at? What are they poor at?)
One characteristic of digital natives is technology-savvy. Digital natives are more exposed as early as before entering college to technology in the form of videogames, emails, instant messages, digital cell phones, watch TV and seen TV commercials. Reading books happens to be the least and hence, they are poor at it.
Based on neurobiology and social psychologist evidences, digital games need to be inclusive in teaching method for these digital natives. It is a way to build rapport between the students and teacher and hence, creates a meaningful learning. Because of being digital native, they are poor at communicating easily with the teachers-digital immigrants. These students- digital natives can create difficulty with digital immigrants who are differently socialized and think differently.


• Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?
I have selected portrait on Olivia, Age 17, California-based, Social Networker. The quote attracts me to get to know her: "I don't have a computer. I don't always have a cell phone, but technology is like my lifeline, and without it, I don't know what I would do" It seems like kids in the generation are made to be experts in technology despite in lack of digital resources.In terms of their digital background, the student is similar by 50% compared to Singapore student. In the school that I have attended for my student internship program, most of the home economics students have cell phones that could access the internet, a social network account like Olivia and they are more likely to favor in using the computer lab for lessons which means they are more interested in lesson involves any digital form. Digital form have animations, colors and an easy way to communicate and get news from the global.
• How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?
As brains are believed by neurobiologist and social psychologist to be plasticity, teachers might try to consider giving exposure to other non-digital resources for these digital natives.
Too much of digital input in lessons can further support students to be very dependent on digital. Students need to be capable in using digital appropriately and in an effective manner. This can be done by conducting lecture through the use of digital inputs and continued with 1-2 activities that does not involve digital form. Students’ interest can still be engaged through selecting activities that promotes entertainment like Taboo, Twister and Monopoly.
The type of lesson mentioned above can be done in Singapore as more class in schools are now equipped with visualiser and other ICT tools. This has been possible under the MOE initiatives: Masterplan 1, 2 and 3.

Part 2
• As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?
Impressions that teachers need to keep updated of the latest tools or popular digital tools that are used by the community or the students.
Fears that I have is the ability to use the technology up to the standard of the students I am teaching.
Technology tools would be made more available in school other than powerpoints.
• What might living, learning and working be like in the future?
Living in the future will involve a lot on digital tools because they make life more easier. Learning in the future involves more field work, exploration outside of school. Working can be done in the office but reaching to the outside world.
• How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future? How might you prepare yourself?
NIE prepares their students with relevant knowledge that exceeds the curriculum taught and creating good pedagogy to cater the students in the future. NIE teaches the student teachers on necessary skills and exposure to possibly new teaching tools that might be useful in the upcoming future.

Farah’s Entry on Reflection for Oct 1, 2010

My opinions and reflections using the 3-2-1 strategy on the lesson plan:
The three “things that I have learnt” from analyzing the lesson plan:

• The required information to put in the lesson plan: The goals, The objectives, The duration of the lesson
• The goals should correlate with the objectives in order the goals to be well-achieved and to plan a relevant activities for the students to benefit in learning
• The format of lesson plan needs to be replicable for other relief teachers to do. The description of activities must be concise, clear and well-detailed for teachers to refer the lesson plan easier.
The two “things that I can apply” from the lesson plan:
• The identification of diverse learner: auditory, visual, kinesthetic and gifted learners from another culture and the teaching strategy to apply during the lesson
• Assessments after the activities are carried out in terms of teacher’s self-evaluation and assessing the students.
The one “thing that I want to know more about” is that if there is a need to include an alternative game in the lesson plan just in case, there are problems occurring like the students do not want to play the games in group, the lesson needs to be shorten due to school events.

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Oct 15, 2010

What happens in the ICT lesson?
Today is the continuation of the game-based learning where students in their same group in previous ICT lesson try out another two stations that they have not visited.
As we did station 5 on figuring out themes and observe the participants in each station, we will be placed in station 1 to play two games: Darfur is Dying and McDonald’s Video game. After a specific time, our group will move to station 2 to experience in being a surgeon handling an operation.

What can we learn from the ICT lesson?
• A game-based learning is placing a student to participate in an activity which determines them to be a winner or earn huge profits.
• A clear illustration of one dimension in meaningful learning: learning-by-doing. By this teaching method, I will have more experiences in independent learning. Independent learning can be tough because one plays two roles: being a teacher and also, a student. The task for station 1 is foraging water. Through playing the game, we learn how to forage water through the help of the instructions provided and repetitive playing of the game. Other than foraging water, we began to have some insights of the situation in Sudan. At the end of the game, I will receive a message about Sudan. One of the messages tells about women taking the risk to forage water will also takes the risk of being raped or abused by the Janjaweed militias. I become aware of how humanitarian rights for kids, female and male adults in Sudan are being exploited. From the game also, we get to know that these militias are backed by the Sudan government.
• The Mc Video game places possibility in learning business through the virtual world. This is similar to business in the real world on multi-tasking: serving the customers and providing good products and money will decrease if mismanagement takes place. This game helps to analyze an individual’s business skills without losing ‘real’ capital.

Playing the games made a huge impact in terms of experiencing on our own compared to reading an article about Sudan crisis or how to manage Mc Donald. Through experiencing, we are able to understand more and recall back the information better. We are able to recall back better because the learning experience involves visual, sound and fun.

For my future teachings, I would apply game-based learning. Such area to apply this type of learning is the use of microwave. I believe comparing on reading a book on the use of microwave to using the microwave to cook a food, learning can take place better by doing.

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Oct 8, 2010

1. Demo groups A and B present their TEL demos

Today we get to see the first two groups showcasing Technology-Enabled Leaning demos. Both groups have different strengths. The first group have nailed in answering the task of showcasing one game as instructedI can foresee the usage of FritsGritts in my lesson especially for the Technical students who would enjoy interactive lessons.

The second group have used a relevant and good way to enhance learning in schools. The usage of Facebook, DeviantArt and Keynote is a good idea. The teachers have tried to win the students’ heart by incorporating the likes and current trend among the students.

2. In small groups, experience of educational games in a round-robin fashion.

• We were allocated to station 5: QR scavenger hunt

The tools need to use for this game are our handphones and i-nigma. I was not able to participate in the scanning of bar code because of inability of my handphone. With this particular game, teachers would need to ensure that all students have such gadgets that are applicable to download i-nigma. Fortunately, I was able to participate later on in capturing videos of each station. Out of all the stations, Station 2 (Wii; Trauma Center) and Station 4(Wii Sports) brought the room down with the high level of noise! It is good to see how these games let the participants to interact more with each other, I could observe teamwork and the determination to reach the aim of winning the game. Seriousness and little chats are observed in the other 2 stations (Station1: Flash games set 1, Station 3: Flash games set 2). It reminds me of a classroom scenario for express students. There were chats once in a while when games are paused or when the game is over. There is not much of team work seen here as most are busy concentrating in their games. Perhaps if two students are instructed to play in one game, then there can be interactions among the group.

Farah’s Entry on Reflection for Sept 24, 2010

I found the 3 out of 5 aspects on meaningful learning is more practical in teaching my subject (the use of real-world context, tapping on prior knowledge and learning-by-doing) than the other 2 dimensions of meaningful learning: collaborative and self-directed learning.

Collaborative learning is a much more complex idea but it may be very useful for the students to experience how to apply collaborative learning for their future group projects when studying in the higher institutions. This is because high institutions applies variety of assessment techniques from examination based to project-based.

Self-directed learning may be much difficult where we will provide them with considerable amount of trust in resourcing for books, the subject area to focus on. This type of learning is useful for students who are independent but how do we measure the students' independent level? In my opinion,to be able to mold a student as a self-directed learner, they need to have a strong drive and passion to learn and the building of a concrete basic knowledge for them to understand and look for the areas to study.

• What I already know….

The 3 dimensions on meaningful learning: the use of real world context, tapping on prior knowledge and learning-by-doing

• What I want to learn….

The dimensions of meaningful learning part 2

• What I learned this week…

The other dimensions on meaningful learning: collaborative learning and self-directed learning

• What Questions I still have….

Is collaborative learning applicable to situations where limited time is available?

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Sept 17, 2010

Before attending the class, I knew there will be a lot of things to do (a Quiz!) in 2nd session of my ICT lesson. From the overview about session two:

• I will be taught on two topics: how to conduct meaningful learning and Cyberwellness.

Before attending the lesson...

The 1st topic on meaningful learning interest me more than Cyberwellness. It is a more familiar area than Cyberwellness. Further more, I believe it will help me taught me more on the ways to allow meaningful learning. What have struck in my mind is the usage of Power Points for teachers to explain and read the notes. It did allow us to follow the teacher but when we are in doubt, we will need to wait for the end of the before asking a question. I feel that the 2-way dimension of interaction between the students and myself is limited. I want to let the class have the show while maybe the teacher just make sure learning objectives are met by the students and provide a helping hand whenever it is needed.

During and after the conduction of the lesson...

The three dimensions of the Meaningful learning have made me to assess the time I learnt Food and Nutrition as well as my teaching experience in schools. Learning-by-doing is a common teaching technique that have been used in Home Economics. I could relate to the problem of the tendency to memorize theories and principles. It delays us from understanding the knowledge that has been taught. The advantage of using tapping the prior knowledge can help me identify the problems I need to address on: the areas they are having difficulty and lack of knowledge. While the areas they have understanding on will be highlighted. This technique could safe time and create great extent of learning.

My first comment of LinoIt Sticky Note Space is 'wow'. Second word is 'Awesome'; the same comment I gave on conduction of the quiz. After a while, I realized the usage of this tool becomes very tedious. Especially when conducting an activity for a group of 20. Despite color coordination of notes for each group, the board looks messy. Maybe, I would use this tool for a smaller group and an activity to address one area of the topic. For example, Class: Food studies N level. Area of the topic: Identify the cuts of meat. (From the topic of meat and poultry) For a topic covering at least 3 areas, I would use mindmapping via MindMeister because informations are arranged neatly for better and productive reading and learning from the mindmap.

I appreciate the idea of voicing the area on Cyberwellness. Frankly, I have not encounter the word Cyberwellness. I feel that it is the right step for a student teacher like me to learn, understand and find solutions to face problems from the Cyberworld. On the other hand, I feel that in creating a conducive learning through the use of ICT tools for the students, a teacher should be able to make sure Cyberspace is safe for the students. The students should also adopt the behavior in using the internet for a good use and prevent committing crimes like downloading illegal softwares, songs or movies.

After the Cyberwellness activity has ended, I feel that the 2 hours of lesson didn't seem that long. As they say, time passed by so fast when you are having fun or was I concentrating so much on getting useful information for my practicum? =/


Overall verdict of the lesson: One thumb up!


http://www.hoglundtransportation.com/Students.html

Farah's Entry on Reflection for Sept 13, 2010

Above is an image of 3 ICT tools included in my list of tools to use during my future teachings.

• Solicit examples of how Singapore teachers have been using ICT for teaching and learning.

I have the experience to watch and observe Singapore educators in my 3 years of studying in Temasek Polytechnic and my 10 weeks of participation in Student Internship Program at Hai Sing Catholic School. Nearly all of the educators especially tertiary level used Information and Communications Technology to teach.I will also take on their steps in applying ICT tools while lecturing.

One of the lecturers in Temasek Polytechnic have commented that ICT provides vast benefits:
1. It refines his professional outlook. For example, He is able to use of blackboard to interact and teach students anytime and any where.
2. Meanwhile the use of Microsoft Power Points provide efficient and meaningful learning for the students because the removal of unnecessary activities that consume time. For example:
- to wipe out the white board or blackboard
- the educator to write down the notes for students' view and reference

Thus, surplus time can be attained and used for Question and Answering session. Also, draggy lessons can be avoided and the students' attention span can be captured.

The notes are in fact provided earlier so that the students are able to read before class starts and create a brief view about the upcoming lesson. Furthermore, they could generate some questions to ask during the lesson.

During my 10 weeks of attachment in Hai Sing Catholic School, I have observed moderate usage of Information and Communications Technology. The teachers would sometimes use the whiteboard to teach and Microsoft Power Points at the other times. The usage of Blackboard was not heard about yet.

As for studying in National Institute of Education, Microsoft Power Points are widely used to conduct a lesson. It is only here that I get to use more of BlackBoard services, mindmeister and PbWiki. I have found PbWiki is a more efficient ICT tools to use, inform and teach students. Compare to BlackBoard, there are notifications send to my emails everytime it is updated. Meanwhile, my experience of using Mindmeister in my first ICT for Meaninful Learning lesson, provide a different view of mindmapping. It is easy to use and fun in terms of creating class activities through mindmapping.

• Reflect on the class session and readings using the KWLQ framework

• K: What I already KNOW

ICT tools can enhance my teaching performance and make advancement learning. Students, nowadays, are more technology-savvy compare to my bunch.I feel the urge to get in tune to their tempo. So, before I win their attention, I need to get their trust by understanding their lifestyle- their needs and wants.

• W: What I WANT TO LEARN

I want to be better in using the ICT tools so I am more ahead of the students in terms of knowledge in the tools or just get in line to their needs and wants.
I want to have confidence in using the tools efficiently to conduct a lesson or manage a class.

• L: What I LEARNED this week

What Master Plan 1, 2 and 3 is about: All plans tried to make full potential of ICT for the benefits of a high quality, world-class education system.On the other hand, as a teacher, we need to knowledgable in various aspects besides the subject we teach. The user-friendly of PbWiki and the usage of mindmeister to host activities for the students to have fun and still provide conducive learning.

• Q: What QUESTIONS I still have.

No Questions yet.