What is an alphabet?

I guess much of my educational philosophy was initially formed, like many, within the primary and secondary schooling system.  Experiences here that still rest with me are both good and bad, from having a blackboard duster being thrown at me in year 1 for gluing my cut out triangle onto my sheet crocked!  To having a number of inspirational and motivational secondary teachers that have thankfully formed the larger part of my experiences.  Tertiary educational experiences were also far removed from my year 1 experience in that I was lucky to have a range of wonderful supportive lecturers from CQUni on hand -many of which I have remained close friends with throughout the rest of my learning journey.  What I have gained from these experiences over the years as both a tertiary student and now an educator have aided me in providing a balanced view of student experiences and the ability to see points of view from many angles.  Something I say to many students when providing assistance throughout their courses is..'if it were me..I'd be looking to do this in this particular way'..
The 21st Century Pedagogy You-tube click was interesting.  However questions need to be addressed here in that do 'new' teachers have this "new DNA for the 21st Century"?  Are school educators - the primary discussion within the presentation - co-constructors of knowledge?  In many circumstances I think not in all reality.  Incorporating ICT;s into the classroom school systems particularly primary school settings does not reflect any really "DNA" pedagogical changes mentally in many educators or offer evidence that teachers in such settings are actually providing 'new' ways of doing things.  Often, I see very few changes in teaching styles, what I do see in new equipment to deliver the same methods of educating.

Education Today and Tomorrow You tube was a fabulous presentation and I very much enjoyed viewing the clip.  However, as tertiary educators we do need to be mindful of audience in that not all students that we interact with are products of the 'technological age' and that many are mature age technophobes and need to be dragged kicking and screaming into many technological medium. 
A Vision of student today.  I am a big fan of students being part of their own learning community whereby they are active participants in establishing, creating and building on and within their own learning environment and overall learning experience.  The WIST program has a Facebook study group which plays a huge role in both students e-learning experiences along with 'informal' motivational assistance.  While this style of forum was initially discouraged by colleagues - I went ahead anyway on the requests of students and it has been overwhelming supported by student and now colleagues!
 So, to close are we really creating something new..or simply modifying the old via new technologies?

Web 2.0 Phone Applications..

"Maxwell Smart's infamous shoe phone pioneered the mobile phone way back in the 60's.  Discover the phone evolution with the millions of useful quirky and even bizarre applications now available for download to smartphone and ipads"

This is quoted directly from the RCC Library that are now offering free on-line short courses on phone applications!
How great is it that Libraries are offering such courses and are now working on a range of different 'draw-cards' to keep residents active within their local libraries!!
This is a course that I'm certainly keen on.

pod casting..

Pod Casting..hmm.  This is a technology that I haven't really considered in terms of a Higher Education teaching tool...however..as we are learning through this course, a paradigm shift is apparent in education-one that is changing the historical pedagogical approach to teaching.  That is, the top-down approach to teaching is being replaced by collaborative learning, which technological advances are driving.  Pod casts in teaching and education generally are certainly on the up turn- this said, as we are aware, many educators are not quick to adopt new technologies :).  I am certainly part of that group, but am trying to break free of this.  I was not aware that pod casts were not audio only!  It's great that pod casts can incorporate a range of other media files such as graphics slide shows etc.  So again the life-long learning continues for me.  As educators, it is important that we work to meet the diverse needs and learning styles of a wide range of students.  Due to the fact that many students already use such media tools in their own personal lives using pod casts and creating materials via such tools creates a familiar environment for continued learning.
So the advantage of engaging students via pod casts:

• The pod cast can be started anywhere, paused, restarted, stored and viewed at a time suitable for the student
• Audio benefits vision impaired students
• Allows for convenient access to materials

All this said, I do believe such tools may be applicable to some courses more than others.  In my current situation due to the self-paced external nature of WIST- there are no set lectures or tutorials for students to either view or attend.  However in an undergraduate perspective I can see this as being a tool that will grow in momentum amongst educators.

To use or not to use technology in the Virtual Classroom?

I've been going over the study schedule and taking a look through the various activities - currently looking at the PowerPoint/ you-tube sections.
While I am generally a fan of PowerPoint and use it in a variety of personal applications and professional presentations, I have steered away from it in my current teaching of external NONA students.  I have found that videos seem to be more effective there for student learning as it offers a more humanised presence offering the best face-to-face teaching contact for external learners.  It also gives students more of a 'feel' of who you are, which in my experience, makes student more comfortable with calling/emailing me if there are any problems or concerns with their studies.
You-tube is one that I do use - sparingly I might add - on my moodle site.  The clips that I use are linked to specific areas of the modules that students are undertaking.  I have placed a link to one that I use and really like - have had great student feedback on this one - along with others, but thought I would share this one with you.  I hope you enjoy it as much as my students do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag

Age of Technology?

We are certainly living in the age of 'cool tools' in technology.  While we all see new technology emerging everyday if not every minute (!) and can certainly appreciate their 'coolness', as teachers, we now need to be addressing how we can use these 'cool tools' within our teaching.  The fact that many new technologies are popular and widely used doesn't always make them efficient or effective teaching tools.  I have seen quotes in recent research that highlight "Technology should not drive pedagogy", however many current technologies can be 'cool' as well as being effective teaching tools and have the potential to change the way we currently consider teaching and learning and technology implementation across our teaching specialisations - particularly for distance higher education students.  I am finding the 1st assessment piece in this course to be a real eye-opener as I come across a range of other 'cool' technology 'toys' that I think will be really beneficial in the teaching arena and look forward now to using more of these in my own teaching. Feeling a bit excited!

15th July 2011

My how times goes past quickly with an array of new technologies out there that I simply have no idea of, and potentially limited capacity to engage with!!?? Lets hope this is not the case...

Building the initial blog site was surprisingly more entertaining than I thought, and perahps more engaging than I had considered.

I am now actually looking forward to experimenting more as we progress and to developing a 'real' blog that is linked to the course that I currently teach..go figure!

Education Technology and the 'BLOG'

How would a Blog be useful in your teaching context? 12.07.11

Within the WIST course - Communication Pathways into University COMM40105 that I currently teach at CQUniversity I have student start a writing journal.  Writing this journal as part of their overall course work is aimed at engaging writing skills and critical thinking as well as being able to reflect on personal changes as they progress with their studies.
This said, I can see how an electronic blog could be equally, if not more effective.  However part of the journal writing that I encourage is also focused on the ability to keep a journal to outline some private thoughts, feeling etc and to use this as a venting space.  With this in mind some minor alterations would be required here to enable student/teacher view to commence with, and have further options for students to invite other students should they wish.