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Week 5 Reflections

Engagemet Tool - Glogster  (AT 2 Blog post)

Glogster is a tool which allows you to upload files like pictures, videos, audio and create a digital poster.  Once created this can then be embedded on another site for example a blog.  I have embedded a Glog that I created for Science last term below so please check that out and you can get an idea of what Glogs are about.  I've used a PMI to evaluate the technology in regards to its application in the classroom.

Plus

• Allows students to create vibrant, interactive posters
• Accessible online to allow students to view and edit from home
• Privacy settings allow restriction of access
• File support allows for audio, visual and image files to be posted with ease
• Adding links allows you to include more information or files that can't fit on your glog
• Relatively easy to customise with a range of backgrounds and text boxes
• Range of templates allows diverse use of the tool e.g. pinboards, resumes, video glog

Minus

• Fitting everything onto one page is a bit limiting in terms of space
• Some elements of Glogster are not as intuitive as they could meaning it may be necessary to support students use of some elements
• Students may get off track with Glogs or focus on aesthetics over content so scaffolding by the LM would be necessary 

Interesting

• Glogster provides a great alternative to the traditional poster projects of yesteryear (by which I mean still being used to date) allowing students to create exciting and fun posters online.

As mentioned above there seem to be a vast array of different uses for a seemingly quite simple tool. My Glog for science served as a digital task card for investigation. I was able to set it up as a sort of springboard to different activities by using stimulus videos and linking to worksheets I created and uploaded into photobucket. In addition I was able to link to a Wiki with additional information that I couldn't fit on the page. I would like to point out that while this glog was fuctional it does not contitute a great learning tool because it really only stimulates low level thinking, data recall and such.  If I were to change anything about this Glog I would replace the questionaires with more open ended group activities to move away from simply a behaviourist approach expcting a predetermined end result (CQU, 2012) and facilitate students use of higher order thinking skills. Sarah Nicols e-learning blog post on Glogster led me to a great website called 1001 super tools for teachers: Glogster outlining all sorts of uses for Glogs that I hadn't even considered.

In terms of classroom application there is so much you can do with Glogs from assignments to advertising to research, so I really look forward to using them in the future.

Legal, safe and ethical considerations

As outlined on Week 2 of moodle there are a always a lot of considerations about legality and safety online.  Glogster is no different with LMs needing to model attribution of sources, permission to use those sources and what sort of information is appropriate to share on a Glog.  Jessie Robinson made a good point in her blog that because of the search function to look for other Glogs it would be necessary to filter or monitor what students access to prevent them viewing objectionable content.

 

Engagment tool - Bubbl.us (AT 2 Blog Post)

Bubbl.us is an online mind mapping or concept mapping tool.  Concept maps are a cognetivist learning tool that acts as a graphic organiser showing how ideas are link and visually displaying knowledge. It functions very much in the way that a 'brainstorm' might but with the advantage of understanding relationships between knowledge/concepts.

From the engagment activites I had a choice of two concept mapping tools (Bubbl.us and Text 2 Mind Map).  After having a go at both tools I found Bubbl.us to be more user friendly and forgiving where as Text 2 Mind required a very trial and error approach as to how the formatting would appear and kept moving boxes to places I didn't to go.  I have included a picture of concept map I created using Bubbl.us detailing features of three different presentation tools.  After using the tool to create this concept map I conducted a PMI in order to consider the pros and cons and how my students could benefit from this techology.

Plus

• Facilitates ordered sequencing of ideas
• Attractive, colourful boxes easily
• User friendly interface with help tips makes this resource easy to use for first timers without limiting the tools effectiveness
• Files are saved online and can also be saved as an image file allowing the benefit of online access but without the limitation of needing an internet connection whenever viewing completed concept maps
• Allows LMs to get a visual representation of students thought processes 
• Easy to read than hand written mind maps and able to be edited and updated as thinking changes
• Presents an alternative to a standard brain storm by being able to present ideas in 'levels' rather than all ideas sprouting of a single bubble in the middle  
• Wide levels of zoom allow large maps that can still be explored in close detail

Minus

• Does not support images, audio or video
• Ordered lay out stifles natural creative tendencies of learning
• Box and Line structure can lose sense of connectedness between ideas
• Only one person can access the concept map at time so the ability for multiple inputs in group brain storming is limited to essentially nominating one person as 'the scribe'  
• White background isn't overly exciting visually

Interesting 

•  Brainstorming is an activity which virtually every student and LM has participated in at one time or another and I believe online concept mapping is a great alterative to a sheet of butchers paper and some nicos.  As stated earlier though they are not limited to the simplicity of a brainstorm as they show so much more of the journey that brings students to ideas.  Tools like Bubbl.us could work really effectively with students creating stories, reports, recounts and just about any genre you can think of to map out where they are going with the benefit of it being saved online and able to be revisited and edit as students revise their thinking or come up with new ideas.  These concept maps are also signicantly easier to read than some scrawled and crossed out mess of butchers paper.

• I was really impressed by how nicely the concept map I made turned out although I thought the bckground looked a little bland.  I noticed that you can choose to save the image as .png meaning that with a quick 2 minute photoshop job I was able to create the rather garish but undeniably colourful version below.  I think this additional option could get students really interesting in using the tool with the addition of visual stimulus. 
  
  
  

• Prior to using any mind mapping tool I watched a video on the moodle site with an english chap named Tony Buzan.  I've embedded it here so if you haven't seen it I encourage you to watch it before reading on as it explains a lot about the thinking behind the process.

The reason I think this is worth mentioning is because of the way tony explains how concept maps should be created.  His idea of a mind map is like the branches of a tree, winding, natural lines with the branches only being as long as the words along them to keep the ideas connected (Buzan, 2007).  These ideas were the foundation for some of the minuses of using Bubbl.us because even though it utilises the idea of different colours to stimulate learning/recall it positions ideas in boxes connected by straight lines.  Even though the boxes can be moved around a bit it is still very linear.  I found this interesting and it made me think that while I would definitely use online concept maps in the classroom I can see the benefit of a good old fashioned hand drawn one (or perhaps a manually drawn one in photoshop/paint) in order to present concept maps more in line with Mr Buzans ideas.

References

Fasso (2012). Fahe11001:learning theory. Retrieved August 16, 2012, from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=12563 

Buzan, T. (2007). Maximise the power of your brain. Retrieved August 16, 2012, from http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=12563