Reflection 1, Week 2

 I just made a new Voki. See it here

OK So here is my Week 2 Blogpost.  I know everyone has been holding their breath waiting, but here is is, for better or worse!

WIKI...Firstly I will comment on the use of the Wiki for the Mobile Phones research activity.  This was an interesting concept, one I have not had the pleasure of using before this week.  I felt that the process of using the Wiki was fairly simple and commenting on a group was not too hard.  This collaborative learning tool uses a social constructivist approach to learning as children learn to use their ideas and findings and present their thoughts to their peers (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, Biehler.  2009).  The use of online or computer based tasks for collaborative learning activities engage students to have rich interactions and stay on task nearly three times as much as students who work together without the technology (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, Biehler.  2009).

de Bono... 

The Six Thinking Hats approach is a fun and appealing way of inviting students to pay attention to their thinking. This framework can be used by children and adults alike and the colourful hats give a mental image of the thinking strategy required, so it is easier to avoid confusion by allowing groups of learners to focus on one track of thinking required at a time. Using the Hats show children that there is more than one way to think about a question and each way of thinking is important (de Bono for Schools, 2015).  I felt this was an easy way of engaging people like myself because I am a creative person and having the use of different thinking strategies made it much easier for me to focus and I noticed that I was able to move from one Hat to another and my thinking became deeper as the questions were asked.

There are many websites which have free Thinking Hat activities Click here, to learn more about using the Hats or here to find out more from de Bono himself.( de Bono, 2008).

Reputation Management - With so much online learning taking place, it is necessary for educators to incorporate technology into their classrooms.  As this becomes more and more prevalent in classrooms Reputation Manaement is esssential to be taught to children from an early age.

Source - Google Images

Children are exposed to  many different computer websites and social media such as facebook and instagram where many things are shared with complete strangers.  It is important to keep our young ones sheltered from unnecessary or unwanted contact whilst online.

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to bully an individual or a group with the intent to cause harm. The intended harm may be social, psychological and, in extreme cases, physical.

Cyberbullying can cause fear, withdrawal, shame, guilt, loneliness or depression.
Source: Australian Government

Children need to know that they can be safe online, the Australian Government have developed a Cybersafety Help Button which may be downloaded to your desktop.  Anyone can click on the button to report inappropriate online behaviour or postings. This website contains information on how you may get help when needed and discusses physical and mental problems which may occur due to misconduct using online tools.

here 

So How Am I feeling...Well, this week has been an adventure in making a video, for my blog, and getting it across from my ipad to my laptop, this was another learning curve, as the file was too big to simply email across, I tried several ways and finally came up with a solution.  I then had to convert it from a .mov file to a .avi file and found that I could actually do that fairly easily.  I am still experimenting with hyperlinks and getting the photo to carry the link hasn't worked for me yet, but I am determined to learn how to do this.  My Voki didn't go as planned, I wanted the image to come up on the blog but I couldn't get it to work, I guess I missed a step along the way but hey! at least I got it on the page.  There is always next week and more questions to be asked in class.

So until next week...happy blogging! and time to get some well earned zzzzzzzzs.









References

Australian Government. (2015). Enhancing Online Safety for Children. Retrieved from Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner: https://esafety.gov.au/

Bono, E. d. (2008). Edward de Bono - discusses the Six Thinking Hats. Retrieved from You Tube: You-Tubehttp://nortonsafe.search.ask.com/search?geo=&prt=cr&o=apn10506&chn=&ver=&q=de+Bono&tpr=10&ctype=videos

De Bono for Schools. (2015). Retrieved from Critical and Creative Thinking tools: www.debonoforschools.com/asp/six_hats.asp

Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, & Biehler. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Milton: John Wiley and Sons, Australia Ltd.