Week Five Personal Reflection

I guess it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to gather that children love computer games and animations. With the internet offering such websites in conjunction with an educational edge, we as future educators will be almost insane to not incorporate these resources within the classroom. With a wide range of different sources available for free use on the internet, students are given the opportunity to explore these websites in the classroom as well as at home for their own personal use.

I strongly believe these are the websites needed to assist in motivating students and allowing the process of individual learning. Incorporating such activities within the classroom allows for children’s creative problem solving skills to enhance, acting as a scaffold for further skills to also substantially develop. This in turn additionally allows for multiple intelligences and offers the flexibility for children to incorporate their multiple intelligences and work at their own individual pace.

Animation within primary schools works in conjunction with the modern methods of communicating information. Students predominantly find repetitive tasks boring and I believe this is the edge needed within classrooms to potentially keep students engaged and motivated. The biggest advantage of such activities is the encouragement of active learning as opposed to the common idea of passive learning.

References:

‘Integrating ICT in Classroom’ Notes prepared by Greg Powell.

Week Five Workshop Reflection

The idea of this session was the concept of creating digital movies online. The resources provided today once again catered for flexibility whereby the activities had the capability of being used within many topics of the curriculum. Going through several components, we were introduced to numerous resources in the lesson. For that reason, I have chosen to only make mention of a few of the websites utilised, whereby I have tried to outline the advantages and disadvantages seen within them.

Dvolver

Dvolver was one of the first websites we had a look at. This website allows the user to generate their own movie using creative tools. The MovieMaker software assists in constructing a movie with a few simple steps. Generated movies can then be posted on your own personal website or sent to a friend.

Having a browse through the website, I found it predominantly easy to choose characters, insert word bubbles, type in my own comments, add music and incorporate a selection of animations. I was able to create a movie within five minutes, which I found quiet amusing. My movie can be viewed by clicking on the following URL; http://www.dvolver.com/live/movies-448179

I personally wouldn’t choose to use this resource within my classroom. The selection of some of the characters seems to be somewhat explicit and I found some of the settings provided to utilise within the movie were inappropriate.

Zimmer Twins

If I was to implement such an activity within my classroom, I believe it would be more appropriate to go with a website such as the Zimmer Twins (www.zimmertwins.com). This website caters for the same purposes however seems to be more suitable for the minds of primary school children.

Build Your Wild Self

This website allows students to let their fantasies run free and bring their wildest imaginary characters to life. By first designing a humanised character, the website gives children the opportunity to then choose animals parts and potentially ‘go wild,’ creating an intensely imaginative character.

Not feeling very creative, I produced a character of a male school boy. I have made reference to him in the image below.

Such activities can be used in conjunction with the English curriculum. Children can use these resources to invent characters and write a creative story with the incorporation of such characters. These websites can also be integrated into the students’ literacy programs. Children can work in groups and be asked to change the ending of a story. They will be encouraged to collaborate their ideas and express them in form of an animation using one of the MovieMaker websites, mentioned above.

Sketch Swap

This website allows the user to create a sketch, which is approved by the server and is then ‘swapped’ with a drawing that somebody else has previously created on the website. Being relatively interesting, this is a resource I would predominantly not allow within my classroom. Even though the website claims the images are approved by the server, you potentially do not know what you will be receiving in return of your sketch. Coming across as a fairly innocent website, I believe I would rather be safe than sorry.

With these websites offering many advantages and minor potential disadvantages, I further reinforce the notion of testing such websites before exposing children within the classroom to them. With a selection of features; these websites can be highly interactive, amusing and educational all at the same time. I believe using such resources to create variety in the classroom is needed to ensure children remain engaged and focused. 

Week Four Personal Reflection

I was unfortunately absent for this week’s workshop and therefore had to revise the materials covered on my own... Not fun at all!

Using the www.abc.net.au/dustechoes website; I was introduced to numerous dreamtime stories, which were told through animations of different colours, visuals and illustrations. Selecting a favourite movie within the resource, I was able to create a story line by sequencing screen shots of the animation. Completing this workshop at home; I explored the features provided in Paint to create my screen shots, which unfortunately didn’t offer many options. Speaking to some friends, I was told the ‘Adope Photo Shop Editor’ program can be downloaded for free, offering many features such as that of colour and tone options.

I believe such activities will be suitable for children at all learning levels; especially students who are more visual and students who are developing English as a second language. With easy to use software that has the potential for accessibility within a larger range of schools, programs are predominantly easy to use and incorporate the notion of scaffolding. Allowing for multiple pathways and starting points; these activities will be ideal for the independent use of students and cater to the individual needs of paced learning for each student.

References:
‘Educational Soundness in the Digital Age’ Notes prepared by Greg Powell.