Exploring Learning

For the current module of my MEd., I have to identify six Web 2.0 tools that could be used in my classroom to enhance student learning. I have searched the Internet and resources provided by my professor, and have made a preliminary list, which includes:- Zunal TED Ed Pinterest TiddlyWiki Bubbl.us Grammerly Explain Everything My focus is going to be on my Media Studie students, as this is a subject I have the fortune to be teaching again. They have to be able to gather and organise a lot of information and present their learning on a blog. I am interested in finding ways to help them manage this work flow and build a successful multi-media coursework blog. Over the next two weeks, I will explore these tools and think of ways they can enhance the learning experience of my Media Studies students.

I have not posted for a long time! Shame on me. One of the reasons is having moved, a) job, b) house, and c) country! Aren't these some of the most stressful things you can do? Anyway, to cut a long story short, the past 12 months have been very stressful and trying, but all is ok for now and we are settled and I am ready to start writing again.  Fortunately, I have just started a new module of my MEd, and part of it focuses quite strongly on Blogging - which is an excellent motivator to get me back on track!  Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring and posting about Web 2.0 tools that could be suitable for use in my classroom. I will include: 1) The Name of the Web Tool and, 2) Discuss briefly why and how the tool could be will used in the classroom with reference to how it will enhance student learning. Stay tuned for more frequent postings :)

… what we have loved, Others will love, and we will teach them how (Wordsworth, 1888). This quote embodies my belief about reading and is at the top of my Books 2014 page, which charts my attempts to read 100 books this year. It also heads my latest essay documenting my research into the impact daily reading can have on overall achievement in middle-school learners. ***** I have always believed that reading has a significant impact on our understanding and appreciation of the world. As both a life-long passionate reader and an experienced English Language Arts teacher, I have witnessed first-hand the impact that reading has on the ability of learners in terms of comprehension, grammar, empathy, confidence, vocabulary and expression. This has however , only ever been phenomenological through informal observations in the classroom, and in an effort to incorporate sustained silent reading (SSR) as a regular, valid and essential practice, I have embarked upon this resea...

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about Split Screen, as a way of making notes from online reading. This involved having one screen as notes and the other as the source material. Recently, I have been using it in my role as Project Manager of Global Youth Debates , a Flat Connections project (read more about this  here ). In Global Youth Debates, teams from all over the world take part in an asychronous debate about a current issue - this year's theme is Global Peace and Security and the topic is, 'Revolution a Justifiable Means for Global Peace and Security'. Using Voicethread , learners record their arguments in stages; the opposing teams can then listen and respond, recording their opposition in the same place. Part of my job is to organise the brackets - who argues against whom - in each round. To monitor the progress of each team, I have been using Split Screen as a management tool: Tracking Debate Progress On the left is each bracket's Voicethread,...

For the  lastest assignment of my MEd , I had to take a large amount of data and make it presentable and understandable to parents. This used all the learning I have undertaken about data and graphics - see also, Infographics: Good & Bad , and Banner Creation . We had to go to the National Center for Education Statistics and choose an area of data that interested us in order to create the document. I chose information about reading and the impact it has on achievement. I took this large amount of data : NCES, 2006   and created this:

This week in my MEd, we are exploring the heady world of infographics with the objective of learning how visual representations of data can enhance and distort data. The aim is for us to think carefully about the use of graphics in our teaching in order that we use visuals to effectively deliver information rather than distort it and confuse our learners. After reading three articles by Edward Tufte, I summarised some basic principles to form the basis of my explorations and use them to evaluate the infographics I found. According to Tufte (1983), graphical excellence happens when graphics: show data make viewers think about content not presentation/design avoid  the distortion of data present many numbers in a small space make large data sets coherent encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data reveal data on different levels - from broad to fine have a clear purpose: descriptive/ explorative /decorative/ tabulative be closely correlated with s...