Week 6 – Open ended tools as teaching and learning tools.
Museum Box
Technical Aspects – Museum Box is a website in which users
can add and update a range of ‘items’ relating to a particular theme. The items
are placed within the online storage ‘box’, and can be used to reflect upon a
range of mostly historical and art based subjects. To register for Museum Box,
you do need an educator’s sign on, so exploring the site was fairly limited. A
free trial was offered however, which allowed you then to personalise your own
‘box’ with tings such as text types, and themes, as well as layers to add
media. Users can also add links, videos, images and audio as well as adding
comments to other users boxes. Once you have completed adding to your Museum
Box, you may then publish it, and make it live for the public to view. I also
found this tool easy to navigate, which was most appealing to me!
This is an amazing, interactive site. History/Geography
often gets a bad wrap, or is seen as ‘boring’, so this tool would provide an
engaging platform for students to explore. Students are able to interact not
only with their peers, but with the teacher, which can be used to provide
timely feedback in and out of the classroom. Museum Box may also be used for
group activities; to introduce students at the beginning of the school year; as
a way of presenting information or to support an oral presentation. Careful
thought must also be given to the ethical and safe uses of a website such as
this, and teachers must provide the students with the skills and knowledge
required to do so prior to using the site. Discussions around appropriate use
to the chat tool and what images and videos are suitable should be had before
and during the use of this tool.
According to the SAMR Model, Museum Box could be during the
Substitution stage to explore important historical events that have occurred in
Australia, as students add relevant information into their own boxes.
Augmentation occurs as students collects images and ‘artefacts’; Modification
occurs as students add audio, or record themselves or others to add depth to
their collection and share with others, and Redefinition occurs as students
receive feedback from professionals and add further information, connecting via
embedded links and edit according to feedback.
Personally, I believe that Museum Box is a great tool that
is able to engage students in historical and geographical concepts.
Cross-curricular priorities are also seen to however, with students extending
their ICT knowledge, as well as basic literacy skills.
Dipity
Technical aspects – Like Museum Box, Dipity is a free
website where users can produce and view multimedia timelines on line. This can
also be used in historical contexts, as students can add and edit a range of
information to create their own, individual timelines. Users can select whom
they would like to view their timeline – which is great for safe classroom use
– as they can chose to keep their space private, and viewed only by selected
individuals. As with Museum Box, media such as images, video and links can be
added, and users may also chose how their information is presented. Users can
also comment and provide feedback on peer’s work, and peruse a range of other
user’s timelines, as well as ‘most popular’ timelines, which is great to use as
exemplars for students to follow. Sign up and navigation of the site is not
quite as simple as Museum Box, for example, and teachers would need to spend a
significant amount of time prior to the lessons on researching particular
timelines and information. This site was however, less limited than Museum Box
in the contexts in can be used in, as this site could also be implemented
within the Arts, Health, History, Literacy and Humanities. This could also be
used in the classroom collaboratively or independently for a range of
historical events, or plotting student’s personal learning journeys. As per all
online activities, teachers must take the time to explain safe and ethical
practices, such as carefully selecting users to view their work, and ethical
practices in regards to using images and video.
According to the SAMR Model, Substitution can occur as
students select a topic and start collecting and storing information as a
timeline. Augmentation occurs as students attach relevant media, such as images
to their timelines; Modification occurs as video and audio to back up the
presentation of their information, and Redefinition occurs as students share
their work, whist commenting on peers, and editing theirs according to
feedback. Students can then save and display their work with others beyond the
classroom.
Other open ended tools I have used previously are Google
Docs and Google Maps. While I have used these tools for the obvious purposes –
Google Docs for the simultaneous editing of a document – great for group work,
and Google Maps for supplementing my horrid sense of direction, I had not
previously though of these in a classroom context. The benefits of Google Docs
is obvious, from the automatic saving, selected editors who can add at any time
or place. It is however difficult to add images and is not quite as easy to
navigate as Word. This would be a great tool for students to use as a drafting
tool, or to show evidence of research.
Google Maps, can be used in a variety of ways. Mathematical
concepts first spring to mind, from plotting coordinates, so perimeter, to
teaching basic directions such as left and right to preppies. More exploration
of this tool as a teaching and learning object is required, and I look forward
to using this tool as a meaningful and personal way of teaching a range of
concepts.
As per previous learning tools, Connectivism is a key
learning theory backing up this type of teaching. Students are easily able to
connect with others, whilst viewing their work, making decisions about their
own, and working through any issues they may encounter – and lets face it, with
technology, there’s always issues. It is important to state that careful
scaffolding of these tools must always be implemented. In order for students to
successfully work through the SAMR model and reach higher order thinking,
careful consideration must be given to ensure the journey is meaningful and
worthwhile. Digitial tools should not simply replace the use of pen and paper,
but provide students with the opportunity to experience tasks and learning
journeys they would not have been able to otherwise.
With this in mind, I am feeling more confident and informed,
and am looking forward to exploring these tools further to not only increase engagement
in my future classroom, but to help create active and informed citizens who are
equipped for the 21st Century.
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