Jul 30th, 2009 by Ed Leung
My synthesis reflection has been published and submitted! You can go to the following link here to take a look, or, as per usual, just click the appropriate box at the top.
I think this completes the “requirements” for my ETEC 565 e-portfolio. Still, I don’t consider myself done… stay posted to see what else would come out of this…
Jul 27th, 2009 by Ed Leung
Resources, Resources, Resources…
While it seems on the surface that Dafna has very limited resources at her disposal, there are ways around the problem that would allow her to maximize the utilization of her resources, allow students to gain fully from this activity, and to promote interactions with the community school.
Organization
Most alternate schools have a close working relationship with the community school, and some even operate as a satellite program from the community school. In either case, Dafna can actually converse with the media arts teachers at the community school, to see if her students can actually spend some time at the school using the community school’s equipment. Within the VBE, there are schools with very strong media arts/dram program – their equipment would definitely be better than those that Dafna has at her alternate school. The working partnership can also give Dafna’s students the opportunity to spend some time at the community school, something that, from my working experience, alternate school’s students sometimes enjoy.
If that option is not feasible for Dafna, the fact that her students are doing an interdisciplinary curriculum at her alternate school also allows for incredible flexibility. From my understanding, students in an alternate program still have to complete their core academic classes (English, Science, Social studies, and math) while also enrolling in elective courses. Dafna’s music 10 students, while working on this music video project, still need to work on their academic courses. As long as Dafna helps her students in signing up for sections to do the media project, competition for the limited equipment is actually a non-problem.
In a typical four-hour day, for example, Student A can start the day by spending an hour filming in the neighbourhood, followed by an hour of math, an hour of science, and an hour of another elective course (those three hours can be used with more flexibility, as there are fewer/no issues with equipment). Student B can use the camera in hour 2, and C can film in hour 3, etc. The key is to provide equal time for all students, and to ensure that everyone can have access to the equipment.
Editing time would be the most demanding for equipment use, but again, a working partnership with the community school can easily solve the problem. Looking for the media arts’ classroom, Dafna can look for a spare block where the equipment would be sitting idle. At that time, she can take all of her students to the community school, and have them work on the editing part of the assignment. As all VBE’s high schools operate on a 2-day, 8-block rotation structure, Dafna can expect her students to have access for such equipment every other day, 80 minutes each.
Dissemination of Finished Project
Most alternate schools have a website that features the projects, event highlights, etc., on it. After Dafna’s students have finished creating their music videos, these music videos can be hosted by the school’s website, as long as they abide to some of the regulations set out by the VBE (for example, a student’s name can only be identified with their first name, and the initial of their last name, i.e. Ed Leung = Ed L.). To save server’s disk space, these videos can also be uploaded onto YouTube or similar video sharing site concurrently. This actually would allow for increased exposure, and from my experience working with students attending an alternate schools who may suffer from difficulties with their self esteem, the publication on a public domain may be viewed as extremely valuable for the students.
Jul 27th, 2009 by Ed Leung
It’s finally done! My LMS’ Multimedia Inventory is finally completed, and is available for you to view. Just click on the link below (or you can just click the “multimedia inventory” button at the top of this weblog):
Because of formatting issues, WordPress does not seem to allow me to display the table properly. I therefore would strongly recommend you to look at the inventory using the .pdf format below instead (for convenience’s sake):
Hope you’ll enjoy it!
(P.S. Special thanks to Alvin, Darren, Dale, Leo, and many other fellow 565 classmates for their help in making this possible)
Jul 21st, 2009 by Ed Leung
Raj and Multimedia
Three Important Questions Raj could ask himself when deciding which multimedia to include:
Do you think Raj can deliver this in a month? Explain your answer.
I personally do not feel that using 10 hours a week for four/five weeks to create a website for a 5-lesson module is very time/cost-effective (or is he using 10 hours in total to create the entire module?). Based on the amount of resources he has gathered, and assuming that Raj does have a good grasp on the technological skills required to use these multimedia resources, I think time would be best served for him to create a unit of 5 lessons that utilize his resources. In his unit, he can create multimedia presentations, create inter-activities for his students, and provide resources that students can keep.
One significant aspect in Raj’s lesson planning that I see missing is the power of the collaborative force of the students. Just because these students are in grade 5 does not mean Raj needs to spoon-feed them with all the information and present them with all the pictures and videos. His resources can be used as introduction to the content to which he wants to deliver. Students can participate in activities that would allow them to gain some hands-on experience exploring and discovering more to the content Raj is teaching. Better yet, why not conduct a four-lesson unit, and recap the lessons by taking the students to the Kwikwetlem Reserve for a personal visit? By comparison, anything Raj can create on his website would be uni-directional.
In conclusion, yes, Raj can probably create a website filled with multimedia resources in a month if he is planning to give 40 to 50 hours of his time doing so. However, time can be much better spent when he engages his students in a student-driven fashion of learning, and to provide them with a hands-on experience through a field trip.
Jul 17th, 2009 by Ed Leung
Hello, everyone!
My digital story, titled “Serenade of Alaska,” has been created and posted.
You can click here to watch the video, and to read my reflections.
Please note: because I am using the free account, the video would only be available for viewing for 30 days.
Enjoy the majestic beauty of Alaska!
Jul 14th, 2009 by Ed Leung
Benefits and Drawbacks of Weblogging
As Downes points out, one of the greatest advantages for using a public forum such as a weblog for learning is that students will be even more diligent knowing that, potentially, their materials would be read by the entire world. It also provides the educator with the opportunity to invite experts and specialists to assist in the formative assessment or feedback process. For example, if students were to engage in a weblog activity where they have to talk about entomology (the study of insects), a biology teacher can invite someone who is working in the field to be a guest in reviewing and commenting on what the students are writing.
The openness and availability of a weblog’s content, however, can also be seen as a drawback. Students with a learning disability in written output, students from an English as an additional language background, for example, may fear that their weblog entries may be mocked. The perceived “shame factor” would be even larger for these students than for them to write a piece that only the teacher would be seeing. This may cause certain students to withdraw completely from the activity.
Privacy issues were discussed in the previous discussion forum. Personally, I do not see an educational weblog constituting to a big privacy risk as long as students are taught about internet safety, and are warned about the potential dangers of disclosing too much private information.
Other benefits and drawbacks I can see are:
Benefits:
Drawbacks:
Jul 12th, 2009 by Ed Leung
Public space blogging
As an educator, the parents’ concerns or complaints raised about Noelene’s weblog assignment is not uncommon. However, I must also point out that parents actually know very little of what information their children are disclosing in the public forum through social networking websites and other online means. By comparison, the information that they may disclose on a weblog that they know will be marked by a teacher, and viewed by all fellow students, probably amount to little in the area of secrecy or privacy.
That said, this explanation likely will not satisfy the worrying parents. What I think Noelene can do to reassure the parents is to go over with the students (if she has not done so already), the availability for anyone to view the content that is published onto a public domain such as a weblog. She can also remind students that when they are composing their weekly reflection and discoveries for their “something kewl” assignment, that they need to take the necessary means to protect their own identity. For example, avoid identifying the students’ actual name (perhaps allowing the use of initials only), place to live, and school to attend…
The notion of “strangers” leaving comments on a student’s weblog, meanwhile, should not be a very difficult problem to solve. While I do not use LiveJournal to post my personal blogs (so there is no way for me to check), I know that, in Blogger (powered by Google), Yahoo Blog, WordPress, etc., the author of a weblog can alter the weblog’s setting so that only a selected group of people can post responses. If Noelene and/or the parents feel very concerned of a stranger posting comments of an inappropriate nature onto a student’s weblog, she can easily ask all the students to change their weblog’s setting so that only other students in the class can post a comment. That way, students can continue to interact with one another through the use of weblog, but people outside of the class would no longer be able to post comments to the students’ work.
Jul 4th, 2009 by Ed Leung
Wiki Collaboration vs Threaded Discussion
As someone who has participated in threaded discussion, both from an educational and from a recreational setting, I feel that there are several areas where wiki collaboration cannot quite match it. However, from a publication point-of-view, the wiki collaboration is likely to yield a more “appealing” final product than a threaded discussion.
One of the biggest advantages threaded discussions have over wiki collaboration is that it shows in an easy-to-see format what each participant’s contribution is. For an educator who is assessing students’ participation, this format is a lot clearer than going into the history section to find out what has been done collaboratively and individually by all the students, though I admit that this may just be a personal bias.
Another advantage threaded discussions have over wiki collaboration lies in the fact that nothing is really “lost.” As students offer their opinions, sometimes the opinion or suggestion may be disputed, and discarded eventually through discussions. However, that does not mean that the opinion did not serve a purpose, nor that the student who raised the “inadequate” question/opinion did not contribute in a positive fashion. In wiki collaboration though, the final product seldom shows the “steps” and the “trials” that many people collaborated and contributed. In spite the fact that the final product should be considered that of a combined effort and collaboration, the “wrong” steps taken during that process would inevitably be lost.
Wiki collaboration, however, does produce a product that is more presentable than a threaded discussion. After many rounds of collaboration, the finished product is published, has external links, images, etc. In short, it can be a beautiful media production. The same cannot be easily done with many threaded discussion topics and responses.
Personally, I feel that depending on the goal of the collaborative process, wiki collaboration and threaded discussion can both be utilized to maximize the learning experiences of students.
Jul 3rd, 2009 by Ed Leung
As someone who has participated in threaded discussion, both from an educational and from a recreational setting, I feel that there are several areas where wiki collaboration cannot quite match it. However, from a publication point-of-view, the wiki collaboration is likely to yield a more “appealing” final product than a threaded discussion.
One of the biggest advantages threaded discussions have over wiki collaboration is that it shows in an easy-to-see format what each participant’s contribution is. For an educator who is assessing students’ participation, this format is a lot clearer than going into the history section to find out what has been done collaboratively and individually by all the students, though I admit that this may just be a personal bias.
Another advantage threaded discussions have over wiki collaboration lies in the fact that nothing is really “lost.” As students offer their opinions, sometimes the opinion or suggestion may be disputed, and discarded eventually through discussions. However, that does not mean that the opinion did not serve a purpose, nor that the student who raised the “inadequate” question/opinion did not contribute in a positive fashion. In wiki collaboration though, the final product seldom shows the “steps” and the “trials” that many people collaborated and contributed. In spite the fact that the final product should be considered that of a combined effort and collaboration, the “wrong” steps taken during that process would inevitably be lost.
Wiki collaboration, however, does produce a product that is more presentable than a threaded discussion. After many rounds of collaboration, the finished product is published, has external links, images, etc. In short, it can be a beautiful media production. The same cannot be easily done with many threaded discussion topics and responses.
Personally, I feel that depending on the goal of the collaborative process, wiki collaboration and threaded discussion can both be utilized to maximize the learning experiences of students.
Jun 28th, 2009 by Ed Leung
What is troubling Boris’ students?
Reading the description of this week’s case, I think Boris needs to first investigate as to why students who do well on lab exercises cannot translate that level of competency onto unit tests. Depending on what the issue is, his solution can be drastically different.
In my years of teaching science at the high school level, one of the most common reasons why students who do well on labs don’t do well on test is because of the disconnectedness between lab work and tests. Over the years, I have tried to make the two more related – after all, both laboratory work and tests are tools used to enhance and measure student learning. If Boris notices that his tests are completely disconnected from his labs, he should review and perhaps modify that to make the labs and/or the tests more relevant and related.
Another area of difficulty students have is their anxiety towards test writing. I believe this is where the Moodle quiz function can help. After each lab activity, or at the end of each week, Boris can post a review quiz on Moodle and asks students to complete it. As long as the quizzes created are in the format of true-false, multiple-choice, or matching questions, Boris actually would not have the need to mark them – Moodle will do that. These practice quizzes can be used by students to review course materials; it will also help reduce the anxiety they feel towards tests.
The quiz function in Moodle allows Boris to enter feedback for each response, whether the response is the correct one, or the incorrect one. The initial input process can take a very significant amount of time (imagine creating a feedback for every choice in every question in every quiz), so I don’t think it’s feasible to expect Boris to have completed them all. But for starters, just creating a weekly review quiz and/or a post-lab quiz on Moodle would enhance and consolidate the learning experience of the students.