emmalinemoore.eet330.ass2

=Assignment 2. New Technologies: Possibilites and Pitfalls, Teachers Making Descisions. =

Emmaline Moore 700184415
__**My Teaching Philosophy**__

As a student teacher I believe that it is important to know your children, their backgrounds, their interests, their strengths and their weaknesses. As well as knowing this I believe it is important to develop a rapport with the children so that they know that you are there to help and guide them as well as administer their learning. In my classroom I would hope that I would have access to a number of resources both from the school and the community. I believe the best way to be an effective classroom is to tap into the broader knowledge and bring it into the class on a smaller scale. I would hope having such resources through a school capacity that I would be able to have an interactive whiteboard in my classroom, and that I could use different types of technology to create things like stop motion animation, not just as a class tool but as a teaching tool for myself to really engage my students to learn in all different ways so that they are open to differences in learning, as it is streamlined in high school, thus giving them the best chance of success when learning in that certain environment. I think that it is vital that when teaching children can ask questions, even if they are stupid. This shows me who is engaged and who is not. If a child is not engaged then I know that I must alter what I am doing so that they can all make the most out of the lesson. It is also important to effectively time use of resources that students may not become too dependent on one item, or way way of learning. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

=STOP MOTION ANIMATION =

Stop motion animation is an animation technique which makes a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved small amounts between individually photographed frames, creating an illusion of movement, when the series of frames are played as a whole sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion animations, known as __ Claymation __. Stop motion animation encourages language, mathematical, logical, spatial and creativity skills.

Stop motion is used in classrooms to enhance children’s knowledge of the technology and in turn sees that a child is able to adequately create figures for such an animation, create an effective sequence of movement by using spatial skills to position their characters and props so that they fit into the animation sequence.

This type of technology has been central to children’s shows like Gumby and thus would be interesting to learners. Stop motion animation requires a hands on approach, and can get students thinking about certain subjects in different ways that they may not have experienced. The original King Kong movie was stop motion animation and this could be introduced to the class as a mass produced stop motion animation for children to see what the outcomes are of stop motion animation to get them excited about it.

Stop motion animation can be used to convey a number of messages as well as being a fun and easy leisure activity. It helps students visualise different ways to present information as well as to engage their other classmates in work presentation, so that they can effectively question their own learning experience.

There are several different ways of producing a stop motion animation. One involves creating the scene in loaf shaped pictures, then packing all the scenes tight in to a bread loaf shape and cutting away at each loaf per photograph. This kind of animation would be too long and complicated for some classrooms to manage, however would be a good option to introduce into secondary school media classes as a way of experimentation with effective stop motion animation. Another involves a central character being grounded for the entire presentation with the other scenery and characters moving around him. While this is not the approach to stop motion animation that I would have in a primary school classroom, it is not as difficult as the first option, but could be made into an extension activity for students that have completed their original stop motion animation. // As well as being a technology option for learning stop motion animation is able to be used across a school curriculum. Stop motion animation adheres to goals expected from and relevant to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards ( //[|http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/<span] )

media type="youtube" key="-kQKHfhakEs&hl=en" height="344" width="425" // It administers communication, thinking processes and information and communications technology or ICT as an interdisciplinary learning domain. // // It can be introduced to any of the discipline based learning areas and helps students with their personal learning and interpersonal development. By introducing stop motion animation students are required to set their own goals in terms of quality of presentation, quantity and time management skills. // // There is no point to introduce a technology that students cannot afford to have their own version of at home, this is where stop motion animation is a great resource. // // According to the website //__http://www.miccaonline.org/conference/conference.cfm?menuitem=9&thispage=3__ // (this is a range of conferences available to engage new learners and teachers with new technology) // // “Animation is a highly motivating and incredibly effective way to engage students in curriculum objectives”, this being said there are some downfalls to using this type of technology in a classroom. // // Depending on the materials available and the resources and knowledge base of the teacher the school may be unable to provide a working environment in which stop motion animation is a reasonably achievable use of technology. There may be a lack of fine motor skills in a classroom environment in which the characters in an animation may require to be enlarged so that children can participate. // // Children are discouraged from learning if their work is not what they originally intended at the beginning of the task so it is imperative that teachers keep the children focussed and on task by use of story boards or other items, and that teachers encourage groups to try something, even if the outcome does not seem highly achievable. // // There may be limited time or space to construct such animations. The work can be messy depending on the materials, or may be seen as too expensive or not educational, for example stop motion animation can be made with Lego. // // In all aspects of education there are negative factors that come alongside any new idea, or continuing idea. If stop motion animation cannot be introduced to a classroom then teachers run the risk of removing children from production work, and they are reliant on working on paper, or with more traditional computer presentation devices, or can move on to more difficult technologies. This type of technology is not difficult to master, and can be created to stretch from basic learning level to high levels of learning where students can experiment with ways of making their stop motion animation, to create more complex storyboards, and trying to communicate different ideas. Students could be assessed on their ability to creatively and effectively communicate an idea through a storyboard and how close their animation adheres to the original and edited version of such board. It is expected that by the end of their stop motion learning and producing students should be able to create an animation for a minute and thirty seconds that would be able to clearly convey a message both creatively and effectively and incorporate colour, sound, titles and credits. // // Stop motion animation could also be a fantastic resource to teach with. As laid out in my teaching philosophy a teacher of a subject should be able to use the technology that he or she is using in a classroom to effectively help teach or communicate a message through to students. In early literacy programs for example a letter could appear which is then followed by a character that begins with the corresponding letter. Mathematic equations could be done via stop motion animation, with movies on how to multiply by hundreds introduced to maths groups. There are endless possibilities with stop motion animation as both a teaching and learning resource. //

While stop motion animation on its own may not appear as a technological capability that all students will need for the future, it is the skills in the production process that will help students further their skill set and bring such practices with them into schooling and the workforce.

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=Interactive Whiteboards or SMARTboards = An interactive whiteboard is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer’s desktop onto the board’s surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger or other device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or on a floor stand. These boards can be used extensively in a classroom and teachers rate them highly on their ability to fit to a purpose in subject areas. They also state that a widely held belief of teachers is that the use of ICT resources saves time; the interactive whiteboard is on the whole mentioned as a time-saving appliance Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for traditional whiteboards. They provide ways to show students anything that can be presented on a computer's desktop (educational software, web sites, and others). Projectors, which are used with the interactive whiteboards, can also be connected to a video recorder or a DVD player thus eradicating the need for television access to all classrooms within a school and ruling out unnecessary and dangerous things like electrical cords being sprawled over floors and in places that may prove hazardous to students, and the wider school community. Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to be able to type up instructions and outcomes and open the relevant file when the work is being needed to be completed. This saves time again, by unnecessary writing, and benefits children who learn best from repetition, or who may need it to simply understand the task at hand, and this can also be beneficial for visual learners who may need to see a mock up of said instruction prior to being able to create their own piece of work. Students who are absent from school can also benefit by this idea of opening tasks who may have missed something whilst they were away. By having the file ready as a computer document they can be shared and sent between students and in some schools can be emailed home so that parents have some awareness of what it is that their son or daughter needs to be concentrating on for school. Students will be able to visualise the task or end result whilst the teacher includes their own oral instructions or explanation and can use the file as an aid when describing certain features of a task. With classroom response and interactive whiteboard systems, teachers can present material and receive feedback from students. For example, the interactive whiteboard allows students to solve puzzles and math problems and demonstrate their knowledge. A website like [|http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Ghostblasters1/gbcd.html is an example of where students can play games that simulate ideas such multiplication tables races on an interactive whiteboard. It also allows the teacher to keep and take notes, as an electronic file, on the lesson for later allocation either as a paper or electronic format. Interactive whiteboards have very positive impacts on the attention, attitude and motivation of all pupils and produces a co-operative, ‘community of learning’ ethos in the class. It also shows how Interactive Whiteboards help with teaching abstract and difficult concepts and complex ideas - visual tools help pupils concentrate for longer and understand more fully. Interactive whiteboards have been found to hold attention of pupils better as they are being taught different and difficult concepts through the use of the interactive whiteboard. This is a great way for the class community to share ideas and then have them communicated back to them in a variety of digital formats. These brainstorms are then able to be distributed on paper, or can be dropped into student’s computer folders for their own perusal and use. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a product of SMART Technologies. It is a large, touch-controlled screen that works with a projector and a computer. The projector projects any image on the said computer screen up onto the interactive whiteboard, which acts in the same capacity as a computer monitor and as an input device. Users can write on the interactive whiteboard in digital ink or use a finger to control the computer by clicking and dragging, just as with a standard mouse. The interactive whiteboard is usually mounted on a wall at a height that is suitable for students. “Students respond very well to the board, it accommodates many learning styles, it can be adapted to many age groups, it can accommodate students with limited motor skills, and it's interactive” says Raul Gaston in his paper The Interactive Whiteboard: Pros and Cons for Classroom Use (2005). He also notes that “A colourful presentation brings in the visual learners and helps others see the information in a new way. Different learning styles are accommodated as the board is a tool that you can see, touch, and sometimes hear. Several senses are involved in the lesson.” Interactive whiteboards have no limitations in terms of age. Ideas can be effectively communicated for a range of subjects at a range of ages. Limitations however may include the height of the whiteboard, particularly if students are using an interactive whiteboard in early years, where they may not be able to participate in certain activities due to height issues, also some interactive whiteboards elect to use a pen rather than a finger and this can hinder the learning abilities of those students without very fine motor skills, who may have trouble navigating with something much thicker than their regular pencil. Another downside to the whiteboard is that if stored closely to traditional whiteboard students and teachers may accidentally write on the whiteboard. The area of which a whiteboard is stored is very important in terms of classroom dynamics. It should not be placed in an area that will interrupt other students who may be doing other tasks or group work. Ideally a medium size floor space would be needed so that it is able to be clearly viewed and is able to be used as another computer in regular research and class time. These boards tend to be lightweight and can be easily shifted if bumped, which in turn can remove cords from sockets and this then creates an inaccurate board that is faulty. Ideally the whiteboard should be wall mounted in either a central area to the whole school, or in certain areas used by the whole school or in each classroom. It is reported in Robyn Zevenbergen’s and Steve Lermens “Pedagogy and Interactive Whiteboards: Using an Activity Theory Approach to Understand Tensions in Practice” that whiteboards promote a “faster pace in numeracy lessons than in literacy lessons The Interactive Whiteboard can be a very influential tool for teachers, students, and the general class environment and dynamic. It is a wonderful way to connect students with their work. The high colour, organization, and flexibility of the board creates advantages for the classroom, as it can operate in the same capacity as a traditional whiteboard, but can also offer many more programs tools and ideas to teach and learn with. The disadvantages focus mostly on the actual setup and financial limitations of the school as well as the tolls that come with the board for use in operation.

=References Zevenbergen R and Lermens S. “Pedagogy and Interactive Whiteboards: Using an Activity Theory Approach to Understand Tensions in Practice” = = Gaston, Raul (2005). The Interactive Whiteboard: Pros and Cons for Classroom Use. =

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