Week 3
Hi Samuel,
I completely agree that Flipgrid could be used to encourage student collaboration and relationship-building. The verbal nature of communication on Flipgrid would facilitate the exchange of creative ideas between students with varying academic abilities, as it enables ideas, rather than writing skills, to be the primary focus.
My only concern with this technology is that some students may not feel comfortable posting a video, which may inhibit their creativity. This could potentially be overcome by giving students the choice between posting a video on Flipgrid and another medium, possibly one that enables written responses.
Nevertheless, Flipgrid presents and new and exciting way for students to convey their ideas and I am sure many students would relish the opportunity!
Thanks for bringing this technology to my attention.
James
Week 4
Learning Technology: 3-D Printing
Hi Oliver, I also chose to write about 3D printing this week, so it was interesting to read another person’s perspective on the topic.
I hadn’t thought much about using 3D printing in areas of tertiary education, such as engineering and architecture, but I found this idea appealing and can certainly see the benefits of doing so. In addition to the STEM subjects you mentioned, I think that 3D printing could be applied more broadly to any subject that requires prototyping. For example, it could be used in visual arts to prototype sculptures or designs.
In regards to implementing 3D printing in schools, I like your observation that it could break up content and accommodate for a range of learning styles. Such consideration is important given how important student interest and engagement is to learning.
James
Design Based Thinking and 3D Printing
Hi Ashleigh,
It was interesting to read about the benefits of 3D printing in education.
I liked how you linked the 3D printing to the 5 stages of the design process, as I believe that the ability to continually modify and improve prototypes is the major way that 3D printing facilitates creativity.
I do agree that a major challenge to be overcome is the slow printing speed. This could, however, be overcome if students either send their designs to teachers to print or if they are able to print during lunch breaks or before and after school.
Overall, nice post!
James
Week 5
Hi Clare,
Nice post!
As you mentioned, I think that Blockly Games Maze would be a great way to introduce beginners to computational thinking. I also think it’s a great place to start a lesson before using more complicated coding resources, like Scratch, because it elucidates the fundamental concepts and ideas of computational thinking.
I would be interested to know how Scratch was implemented into English classrooms to improve student outcomes. While the link between computational thinking and STEM subjects is quite clear (due to their highly sequenced nature), I think it could be more challenging to use these resources in less numeric disciplines.
James
Hi Vanessa,
Great post!
I agree with you that CT will be an increasingly important skill given the rising presence of technology. However, I think CT also has value outside of the technological realm, due to the range of skills it can develop in students, such as processing and analysing data (as you mentioned).
In your post, you mentioned an aspect of Blockly that I think is particularly important in foster creativity, which is the ability to easily rearrange blocks when the first attempt to navigate the maze is unsuccessful. I think that these opportunities for experimentation encourage students to try new things without risk of failure and to think independently.
James
Week 6
Robotics as a tool for education
Hi Ellie,
Nice post!
I certainly agree that a basic understanding of robotics is probably necessary before other subjects can be taught effectively. As such, it is important that teachers clearly explain the fundamental concepts to students before engaging them in more difficult tasks designed to deliver outside content. This will ensure that they are not limited in the ability to complete more complex learning activities, which would likely decrease their motivation. Furthermore, it would reduce the chance that students become frustrated and impatient, as was your concern.
James
Hi Sophie,
I hadn’t actually heard of Edison Robots before, so I found your post interesting!
Although the limited functions of the robot may act as a barrier to creativity, it could also force students to be creative by encouraging them to think of unusual and innovative solutions. However, teachers wishing to inspire creativity in their students would have to engaging in careful planning. The problems they pose to students must have solutions that are challenging enough to inspire creative solutions, but still achievable given the limited capacities of the robot. Furthermore, they must not be so easy that they do not require creativity.
James
Week 7
Augmented Reality in the classroom
Hi Sophie,
Interesting post! Although I have explored with a number of AR tools, I have never Quiver or MoonGlobe, so it was great to learn about these. Quiver, in particular, would be fun for students due to the shared virtual space it creates.
I really like your recommendation to use AR tasks as an opening activity to get students engaged with the topic before moving into work that requires higher order thinking skills. This approach opens up the potential to incorporate a whole range of AR tools that would not individually provide enough content for the whole lesson. The only potential limitation I can think of is that the time taken setting up may not be worth the benefits, however this would obviously depend on the nature of the AR application being used.
I can tell you from experience that I have had great success with Zappar, as it is both fun and easy to use. One of the greatest benefits of Zappar is the marked-based approach it uses, which makes it easy to access the content from numerous locations so long as you have the marker. This contrasts with location-based AR applications, which can present practical difficulties regarding accessibility, such as sharing work with others and marking.
Thanks for the post,
James
Week 8
Hi Jessica,
This post raises some great points about VR in education.
Firstly, I think it is good that Second Life enables users to create content, as many VR applications do not provide the opportunity to design. As such, students have the flexibility needed to implement creative ideas and will likely be encouraged to engage in higher level thought processes.
Secondly, it demonstrates how merely using emerging technologies in classrooms is not adequate to encourage learning. Teachers must ensure that they carefully plan lessons and determine how activities relate to learning outcomes.
Nice post overall,
James
Week 7: Virtual Reality in Education
Hi Randa,
I found it interesting that you identified the potential of VR to encourage discussion between students, and I certainly agree that the exciting and stimulating experience provided by VR would stimulate student interaction. Nevertheless, I do not feel that VR encourages much collaboration, due to the highly individual nature of its use. In this regard, I believe augmented reality may have greater potential as it allows students to work cooperatively in a shared virtual space.
Thanks for the post,
James
Week 9
Hi Nick,
I certainly agree that game creation is a great way to encourage students to engage in higher order thought processes, such as generating ideas, problem solving and planning, as you mentioned. As a secondary teacher, however, I think if will find it difficult to use Scratch to cover class content, as the games are unlikely to convey content in the depth needed for secondary school subjects. This point has been raised by Prensky (2007), who said that ‘mini-games’ (such as Scratch) are usually limited to conveying small amounts of content given they usually only address one idea or skill. As such, the major benefit for secondary school students will likely to be the critical thinking and technology skills.
Given the benefits derived from games often depends on their characteristics, I believe it would be useful to encourage students to try to follow Gee’s principles of effective game design. If students incorporate these elements into their games, it will make the games more effective and engaging learning tools if other students choose to play them.
Nice post overall.
James
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