Group 2 Tools

Technologies.

Students today need to be media literate. They also need to competently used and create media with a combination of tools and content. This combination of tools is known as multimedia. Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, or interactivity content forms. It is important that students learn to locate and use multimedia technology to create their own resources. Multimedia is a very important technical resource for the knowledge and application of online learning. Learners need to become competent in the use of image, video and audio media as they are applicable sources of information in the digital age. The core focus of these technologies should be as a whole to develop understanding and competent usage of multimedia rather than individual devices. 

Digital Images.

Digital images can be used in classrooms or online. Images can include your students, students working on something, of other people, the environment around the school or further afield and of students’ creations or academic achievements. Strict guidelines about of the use of student pictures in media presentations and online must be adhered to at all times. Images of students should not be used simply for decoration on a web site. Images can be used to engage students’ thinking, their knowledge and understanding of a topic or concept, to influence feelings, or to support the development of specific skills. Visually Interactive sites online use images for assessment, visual exploration and skill challenges. Using images as visual cues to gather different perceptions and collaborative critical thinking can encourage higher order thinking in classrooms. Having students create their own images for books read or constructed from start by the class can be creative and a good insight into what students are thinking and understanding. In class images can be used for projects such as timelines, reports and procedures. Images can be used as visual cues for special needs students as time cues for lesson change, type of lesson or size of play break. On line images can be used to share with students all over the world class projects from fundraising to environmental issues around the community. The possibilities are only as endless as your imagination.
It is important to resize photos before uploading. If you don't resize your photos you may have to wait for hours for the images to both upload and download. Here are some photos that I resized using the MobaPhoto software. They were taken on a resent trip to the Northern Territory. 

   

This is example of the simple collages you can create using Picnik.




Podcasts. 

Podcasting is the ability to create or listen to audio or video content either live or downloaded for later use. It’s similar to a wireless in that a broadcast consists of a series of individual items you can listen to on your computer. They can be created by the teacher to share with students or created by students themselves to share with each other. The audio recording can be done directly into the computer or can be created on a mobile device and embedded into the soundtrack of another technology later. The following link has all you need to know to get you podcasting. http://podcasting-in-education.wikispaces.com/ Podcasting is another technology students need to be able to use for effective communication in the 21^st century. Your core teaching focus should always be about the students becoming competent and creating their own podcasts for sharing. This can be in the form of peer training, simulated talk shows, directions for tour guides, voice overs for power-point presentations, or unit research with podcasts found on website. An increasing number of podcasts are available for students use from reliable organisations. Her is a list of just a few; 

ABC Podcasts and MP3s Most Radio National programs are available in podcast format ABC EdPod Education issues for educators and parents CSIRO Podcasts NASA Podcasts The Education Podcast Network EPN is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Here is a Podcast I have created using the PodOmatic web link from our moodle site.  http://michellejoycrom.podomatic.com

Digital video.

Kearney & Shuck, 2006, researched the use of digital video in schools and found that they were commonly used in communication as a tool to communicate messages, thoughts and ideas, in observation to enhance students’ analysis of experiments or performances and as a reflective tool to support students’ reflection of their own learning. Developmental outcomes directly linked to the production and collaboration of a digital video includes higher order thinking, communication and presentation skills and organisational and team-working skills. Like in many of the digital technologies students need to be aware of the legalities specific to parental permission of photo/video usage and create a task pertinent to the curriculum outcomes for that core subject unit. Windows Movie Maker is one of the common tools used to create digital videos in classrooms. Students can be encouraged to make simple productions from early ages and then continue to develop these skills into their later school years with individual or whole class productions. A common share tool for digital video is U-Tube. Video can also be streamed through vodcast to blog and other sites.


Below is a video I created with Movie Maker. Please watch and enjoy.

Reference List.

Central Queensland University. (2011). Moodle site.  http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/file.php/17114/Week_4.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia
www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/podcasts/