Computer for co-constructing

This is another way of using computer for the purpose of coconstructing.

Co-construction is an effective method of  learning and sharing ideas. It helps the learners to work collaboratively and construct on the learning.  This is another way of making students to actively participate and to take ownership of ones own learning. 


The examples of co-constructing using computer in learning and teaching are ,

1. Google docs , sheet, slides, forms
2. blogs 
3. wikis.
4.  electronic whiteboard
5.  discussion forum on portals

The above mentioned examples helps learns and teachers to share and edit  to consolidate ideas collaboratively.

Ms Excel Spreadsheet

Using computer as constructive tool we did lots of learning task such as using spreadsheets to collect data on class students’ weight and categorizing them into different groups.

The following  is how we used Ms. Excel for constructing a graph and categorizing the classmates weight to different groups.

Then we have created a graph and interpreted them. This is how we can use spreadsheet to firstly to collect data, then constructing graph and then interpreting the graph,  this is how we can use spreadsheet to construct learning.

Blog as constructive tool

The blog is another constructive tool.  It is mentioned as a constructive tool because the author authoring the blog page have the right to edit, write, insert images, reflect on learning, create link, insert PowerPoint presentations and all.


So during that class we created a blog using blogspot.com which is a free blog platform which gives writers an opportunity to maintain a daily journal and reflection . It can be used by teacher as well as students for teaching and learning purposes.

The students can use it to write down their understanding of concept in the blog as a reflection and as well as teachers can use it to engage into reflective practice.  The teacher can also use it to assess the students' learning and can help them to get better insight of students' learning.

Currently I am using my blog to reflect on my learning of ICT and how to integrate them into teaching and learning. I have my classmates following me in my blog which helps to give me constructive feedback on my reflection and I can therefore improve and further strengthen my learning reflection.

You can create a blog by going to blogspot.com and create new blog.

Simulated Advertisment

This is a second task we did using computer as constructive too. The task was to create a single slide show PowerPoint and design one page simulated advertisement to attract visitors to our locality. We had to search for relevant information and pictures from the internet based on events, sports, and adventures. This is my simulated advertisement designed to attract visitors in my locality.

 

Computer as constructive tool

The computers can be used in various ways to enhance and make our life convenient for learning and teaching as a teacher in this era.  Computer as constructive tools refers to as using computer for manipulating information, to visualize one’s own understanding of concept and to construct one understands of knowledge.

Constructive tools help students to construct meaning and knowledge. It also emphasizes learning is more effective when a student is actively engaged; it also fosters critical thinking and creates motivated and independent learners.

Some of the constructive tools are concept map program which allows the user to brainstorm about a concept and to visually present them in the form of graphic.  The word, spreadsheet and PowerPoint also allows users to organize , record , manipulate and present their ideas in an attractive and creative way in different forms such letters, reports, presentations, cards etc.

The blog is also one of the constructive tools for learning as it can help the author reflect on their learning on daily basis so it will make a learner more effective and reflective in learning practices.

The examples of constructive tools are

1.       Electronic bulletin board

2.       Moodle

3.       MS publisher

4.       Social networking Sites

5.       Simulations

Google Classroom

It is always good to learn and explore about those advanced gadgets and technologies that are available. It gives us lots of ideas and knowledge on how we can have a goof living by making everything simple and faster. Today I will be sharing my experience of learning about Google Classroom.

Well, Google classroom is yet another incredible feature powered by Google.  By the name itself it is clear that it is a forum where it creates a scenario of a classroom. This is a good feature that every teacher must know and use it in the era of technologies. It makes learning and teaching very convenient for everyone.

We can create a classroom and upload all the necessary files and presentation in the classroom and invite students to join the classroom by sharing with them the class code. Class code helps them to join the class, the code needs to be changes or generated after certain time/ period in order to refrain other non class students entering the classroom.

The Google classroom has lots of features to enhance learning and teaching.  We can upload images, files, presentation and can even write notes in the classroom forum. The files and videos, presentation shared can be viewed by the students.The students can even comment on the post by the teacher where they can use it as platform to discuss about the topic and clear their doubts.

This is my EDN 419 module classroom created by our tutor. 

This is my google classroom 

Computer as Communicative tool

We know that we can have a very convenient way of keeping in touch with the people around the world. The distance does not matter unless we are keeping in touch with each other. So this is what exactly computer as communicative tool does. It keeps the people connected no matter which part of the world or place they are.  We can always stay connected and work collaboratively with each other without having to meet physically.

Communicative tools such as Facebook, Wechat, E-mail, Video Conferencing, Skype, Instagram and many more makes it easier to communicate with our friends and families in the different parts of the world. In the similar way it enables teachers and students to communicate, share their ideas, information about teaching and learning as well as it communication between students themselves by sharing information through online chats and mails.

There are basically two types of communication;

                       1.   synchronous

In order to have synchronous communication both the party should be online. It is usually used for having meetings, or in order to solveurgent problems.

The communication has to happen simultaneously in the synchronous.

For instance, Video calling will not work unless the person we want to do video conferencing is online. So in order to do video calling both the people should be online.

 Examples: chat, electronic whiteboards, videoconferencing.

2.      asynchronous

In this kind of communication both the party need not have be online. It is appropriate for activities that requires more time and it happens based on the convenience of the party.

For instance, Emailing a friend wishing him/her for New Year and etc does not need prompt replies , the receiver can reply based on his convenience or mood.

           

Examples: email, electronic bulletin boards, vle discussion

We need to know how we can use computers as a communicative tool because being a teacher we need to have ample of knowledge on how to integrate this knowledge into teaching and learning in order to make a learner centered classroom and in order to allow learners to construct their own knowledge.

  

We need to use computer as a communicative tool to share ideas with students, to share information with the students , to interact and solve their doubts and problem on certain topics.  In that way learning becomes interactive and also at the same time it can save time and resources.

ICT as informative tools

I know different levels of integrating ICT into our everyday teaching and learning process.  The importance of integrating ICT into learning and teaching. The question of how to integrate ICT into classroom is the problem of every teacher.

We can actually integrate ICT into classroom in various ways

ICT as an informative tool

ICT as communicative tool

ICT as constructive tool

ICT as co-constructive tool

ICT as situating tool

Here I will share about how we can use ICT as an informative tool.

ICT as an informative tool

ICT can be used into classroom as an informative tool which means using ICT to solely derive information about a particular topic or anything. We can use computers, televisions, radio, internet or any media to collect information and to gather data.  ICT provides information on content or a concept in various formats such as in image, video, sound and text.

For instance if the teacher uses internet to get information on butterflies and their habitat in the forms of images and text information he/she is actually gathering information about the butterflies using internet. Then he/she uses her computer to create a presentation on that, there the teacher is using the computer to organize the information in such a way that the students can understand and learn. Here ICT is extensively used for getting information about a topic/concept.  IT is used for only gathering and organizing the information.

The advantages of using ICT as informative tool are that learners can get enough information that they are looking for.  They can organize the information in different forms, either in image, video, or sound or text so this can give learners an opportunity to represent their learning in different forms of their choice.

As a teacher I feel that it is always wise to provide a very clear instruction on how to go about with information gathering and collection. An explicit explanation on the activity should be given by the teacher so students don’t get lost in between the learning.

The prominent drawback of using ICT as an informative tool is the information can be misinterpreted or misread. There are chances of learners getting out of topic or concept. The risk of choosing the wrong information. There can be chances of misusing the internet as user may use the internet for some other purposes like watching movies or music videos. There are also chances of getting addicted to computers and internet.

During that session we also did an activity on how to use ICT as an informative tool where we designed an activity for children giving them the clear instruction on where to search the information on the topic by providing link of the topic so that students don’t get lost and time is not wasted.

It is important to know how to use ICT for different purposes in the teaching and learning process. I found that knowing about it can help become advance teacher who is well equipped to stand with 21^st century students. To fulfil every aspect of learning and teaching in the way the learners want.

PHET Simulation

PhET is a computer simulation which helps in teaching and learning about science especially chemistry, biology and physics.  It can run online as well as can be downloaded to use it. PhET simulation is an artificial environment which gives one a feeling of being into that particular environment for instance in a laboratory doing chemistry experiments or in a physics lab doing physics experiments.

The simulation builds a connection between real-life experiences and science where we can visually see and conceptualize the models. PhET simulation is another way of making students and learners explore and learn on their own doing their own experiments and finding results provided that a clear instruction is given to go about with the learning.

We constructed a simple circuit using the simulation. It was indeed a great experience to learn how to use the PhET simulation for constructing a circuit. It was similar to doing the experiment  in a real physic laboratory with wires, bulbs, batteries and meters to measure the voltage of the current flowing through.

The another thing about simulation which fascinated me the most was how it can teach us to construct the circuit in a correct way as it shows short circuit if it has not been done correctly so this provokes our mind to think further to make the circuit work. This makes us think and reflect on our work and gives us opportunity to explore and discover the knowledge by engaging us into critical thinking.

The simulation also provided visual representation of how circuit looks like and I feel that this can make more meaning out of learning through visual presentation and animations.  PhET simulation can provide students and teachers a platform to actually do the experiments and this can develop inquiring mind for learners.

I found that PhET simulations can be used in the classroom while teaching and learning about a concept using an effective approach as these simulations can provide experiences to children not less than real-life experiences. It can be useful in places where resources are not easily available for carrying out experiments.  It can save time as well as resources.

Journey through Google Docs

Google Docs another convenient  tool to make work easier. Google Docs, is a application of google which provides one with online editing of document, styling tools, writing, sharing or co-constructing on an idea together. Google docs serves the purpose of construction and co-construction
of teaching and learning through the use of technology especially computers, laptops and even smartphones.

It allows multiple users to come together to edit or create a document and the changes made by each users can be seen instantly by other users as well thereby learning and discussing on a work collaboratively. With Google docs we can produce any kind of document such as text document, spreadsheet, slide presentation and form. It also gives the user a platform to chat and discuss on how to go about by providing chat facilities similar to Facebook and other  social media making learning more interactive and an active process.

It allows people to work in groups on a document for planning a lesson, project, story and etc.  We don/t have to come together to work on a writing project or group work on writing, we can simply log into google docs and do our part of work from our convenient place be it home or at school.


 We can collect data easily without wasting our resources and can escape from printing cost of a questionnaire by using google forms. The form is easy to use and can be used by those who wants to collect data when carrying out research. We can even use forms to create questions based on teaching and make the students answer them. This is a best way of evaluating and assessing students work in learning.  So as a teacher we need not always do test using traditional methods of giving printed question papers and making them write, then collecting and correcting which is a tedious job.  In google forms it will do auto correction and score the paper as well. But we need to punch in the answer before giving the questions. 

Click the link below to check on my sample of questions my group prepared while planning a science lesson. We used that as a closure where we can assess children's learning as well.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfU3bYCNoPmdLR1YR1gcmU8bQXqQcblnQjt8eksQjXTilIMHg/viewform?usp=sf_link

The good thing about using google docs is that we don't have to save our work each time we make changes because it gets auto saved automatically. In order to use the google docs the user must be connected to an internet, without internet access one cannot work on it.

Google docs can be used to make students work in group activities and it will also help the teacher to assess the child's participation and contribution on group projects so it becomes easier for teachers to keep the track of students working on the project.

Learning about camtetia

We can make our everyday learning fascinating and teaching the easiest job ever.  You can make your teaching like watching a movie in a theater with your students but learning something new each time you watch.  Never have I realized that learning could be interesting and it can  rejoice me in learning through watching.

Who doesn't like music, animations, effects, sounds, pictures, colors?  Camtesia is a package which gives a teacher or anybody with all this features which can make learning and teaching a heavenly feeling to learn more and educate more.


 What you can do with camtesia?

Well camtesia is a video making software which we can use to teach students about any topics or concept in an easier way.  Camtesia have hundreds of features where we can explore and make our videos attractive and creative. For instance it is a best tool for making tutorials on lessons or on anything that we feel is important to learn and know about.

The prominent features like screen record, is the one best for making tutorial for lessons and we can record our presentation PowerPoint.  We can use camtesia to edit the videos, audios, sounds and many more.  We can import pictures, sounds, music, videos and then we can edit them. We can either slipt the audios, videos and cut off the unwanted part of the video. We can increase or decrease the speed of the video as well. We can add captions and shapes to the videos as well.



Learning about how to use camtesia was enriching and I had so much of learning from using this video software. I realized that Camtesia can enhance the learning through visual representation which is another way of teaching and catering to the multiple intelligence. It gives an opportunity for teacher to be very creative towards teaching and learning process. A video can make learning more realistic. It can keep the students engaged in learning throughout for it provides a familiar environment for the students of this generation as they are more use to with such technologies. A feature like quiz and survey questions serves the purpose of assessment as well as a way to make the learning interactive.

Teaching them in a way I have learned would be boring for the students I will come across in my journey of being a teacher and this will probably help me stand out to shine and to reach my rays to my students to learn and grow.


I have created a tutorial  video using camtesia for teaching a topic "Acid and Base". I felt that  it was another strategy to teach the concept with the use of visuals and audios.
I made the video tutorial as a part of my assignment and I am confident to say that this gave me different dimension towards the process of teaching and learning. This can save the time as well as the energy of the teacher for it can serve the purpose even if there is no teacher during emergencies.