New resources on my VLE

I've started to put new resources on my VLE. Pinterest is my most used teaching tool, I use it practically every lesson when I am introducing a new subject, photographer or project. On the VLE I have put a section called Pinterest boards, Pinterest allows you to create small 'widgets' (just a smaller version of Pinterest with a link), where my students can find all the images and resources I used in a particular lesson. The students have found this really useful, and no longer ask me what photographers we looked at last lesson. 
 Something that I really want to do with my VLE was to create Photoshop tutorials for my students. Tutorial videos are huge and you will see thousands on Youtube. But I want to create specific tutorials, looking at what we have done that lesson, or what I think will be useful for the future.I have learnt loads off video tutorials, they are quick and easy to follow as you can pause it whenever you need to, and you can watch it as many times as needed. 

A downside to using the weebly for education site is that to upload video you need to be paying the subscription fee, and my VLE is a free web page so I don't have this feature. But you can have HTML code. So I uploaded the tutorial to my Youtube account then took the HTML and copied that onto my web page. 

It was really quick to do and the video can play straight from my website. So it doesn't send you to the Youtube channel, which I like because I wanted the video actually embedded onto the website, I didn't want it to send the students to the Youtube account.


 

How technology has changed the way we learn

There is nowhere to hide from technology; it is everywhere. It's in our homes, in our work and in our classrooms. The advancements in technology are designed to improve our lives, and we should embrace this. Especially as teachers. 

Some of the strongest pressure comes from students asking ‘this tutor puts stuff online for us – why don’t you?’(Hill, 2008)

 Hill discusses how students expect technology to be used in their education, and they have the right too. I am still a student myself and I expect to use computers through my learning. I expect to be able to go onto my universities virtual learning enviroment (VLE) and have access to all the resources. The use of technology through education should improve the way we learn. 

(Petty 2009) Poses the question, nevermind the dazzle of the technology, the glittering images, and the clever graphics and funny animations – what about the learning? If you don't know how to use the technology to improve learning, then it can just look like a gimic to get students involed, but it's not. The use of virtual learning enviroments allow students to have access to their academic resources whenever they need it. Students no longer need to be in a classroom enviroment to learn. Technology should improve the learning, but it should be a tool that aids the learning, and it's a powerful one. It becomes the question of selecting the appropiate tool for a praticular aspect of the learning. Sometimes this is an e-learning tool, sometimes it's not. (Hill 2008)

If we don’t teach our students how to find trustworthy computer resources, and how to learn from these, then we are not preparing them for real life, or for ‘lifelong learning’, or for progression on to their next course. 

(Petty 2009) 

Petty is telling us that learning doesn't stop in the classroom, or after education. People learn everyday, and as teachers we are supposed to encourage 'lifelong learning'. How can our students become lifelong learners if they are not equipment with the right tools for the job. People learn everyday; using Youtube tutorials to learn how to cook a meal, or reading resources for a new software package that has been installed at work. Students need to know how to progress with the developing technology, and they need to know how to use it for their own benefit. 

 

Hill, Chris  Teaching with e-learning in the Lifelong Learning Sector, 2008 Accessed at: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book238394?siteId  Accessed on: 24/11/2014

  Geoff, Petty ‘Students learning with computers: e-learning, ICT and ILT’ in Teaching Today: A Practical Guide (Nelson Thornes 4^th Ed, 2009)

My Personal experience with mobile technology and learning

When I first looked at the title of this blog I struggled to think of anything to write. In my past educational experience (which wasn't that long ago), I couldn't think of any direct link between learning and mobile technology. In secondary school phones weren't advanced enough as today's smart phones, so there wasn't any access to the Internet. When I went to college I studied on a Interactive Media course (the course I am now doing my teaching placement on) and we didn't really use mobile technology to learn. We had access to Macs all the time so there was no real need for using a phone. Then in university still I had nothing taught to me through a phone. 

But when I thought about it for a while I realised how much my phone was apart of my education. I had access to all my assignments and course material through Moodle which was available on my phone as well as access to my emails. Yes I suppose I could have used my laptop instead of my phone to do this, but with my phone I was able to access all this stuff from wherever I was. I also used my phone to take photographs of hand outs or of example work which I wasn't able to take home. 

Now there are loads of apps available to help teach. Even ones that you might not think are aimed for educational purposes can be used. In my last Micro Teach session the work was based around Pinterest. Which they would access through the app on IPads. I taught a lesson on camera angles; after teaching them the basics I had them go and take photographs on the IPads, then upload them onto the classes Pinterest board, so we could all look at them together for the plenary of the lesson. It worked really well, I was so happy that the idea had worked as I had never been taught or taught anyone like this. The class also seemed to enjoy it, and they learnt the objectives that I had set them.