blog

Group Assignment = Complete :D

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:53:06 +0100

Our wikispace is finally finished! We polished off the powerpoint and writing the script today. Then the dreaded question was asked: Whos voice will we use for the voice over? Of coarse, I was voted in! So after two hours of giggling and constant mistakes we finnaly added my voice recording to the powerpoint. Before today I had absolutey no idea how to record my voice on my laptop or how to add sound to a power point! Teegan and Tamara showed me the recording function on my laptop (which I had no idea existed!) and then showed me how to add this to the power point; suprisingly it was quite simple!

Please feel free to check out our wikispace :)

Home Page Created!

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:56:22 +0100

I have finally finished the home page of the group wikispace! All of us have completed our sections of the assignment, so now all there is left to do is to create the video. I actually had quite a lot of fun making the home page. It is similar to Yola in a way because you can also include widgets to your page! I find this quite exciting because it gave me the ability to make the presentation nicer by including hyperlinks, tabs and images :) We will all be working on the powerpoint tomorrow and we will all be writing the script for the voice over!

The home page :)

Is Wikispaces Safe?

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:09:02 +0100

So I was talking to one of my group members today about Wiki and how they have used it for a project before. She said she did not think it was safe because any one can go onto the work you have posted on your wiki space and delete/alter your work without permission! After discussing this issue with my tutor she said that she has heard the same thing but apparently there is a way to know who changed the information and there is a way you can retain your work that is lost. This made me feel a little better however I still think it would have been safer to create a group Yola website - or a site that involves passwords to change information!

Facebook discussions

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:59:57 +0100

At first I though doing a group assignment would be difficult because you are not always with the other people and talking over the phone/text messaging people does not have the same advantages as being with them in person and working on the assignment. Suprisingly our Facebook group that we set up a few weeks prior has proven to be extremely useful and effective! We have been discussing over Facebook any problems and ideas whilst posting documents we have created on the Facebook group so other members can read and make any suggestions and improvements. I did not know how to upload word documents to Facebook untill this assignment! I am still finding it amazing that Facebook can be an effective source for educational purposes! Who would have thought!

The decision!

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:02:10 +0100

Its decided! We are focusing on how the roles of women have changed over time since Ancient Egyptian times. The teachers will have to organise the students into groups of four and they will conduct the research over time, working on their technology skills, communication and team work skills. The students will present their findings in a video form. Because so much of this project will be based on using technology teachers will need to show the students how to record and make a video, explaining the use of a video camera and how to edit videos on Windows Live Movie Maker. I have been allocated to help with the task whilst being in charge of the creation of the home page. So looks like I will need to start trying to master the art of Wikispaces! Wish me luck!

Group Assignment Time!

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:05:55 +0100

So I have decided to write all my blogs down in my work book from now on and the upload them all at the same time. Why you ask? Because Yola and I do not have a good history together as Yola decides to delete my blogs all the time or otherwise I have trouble logging in! I can not seem to work out why! At first I realised that it was because I was copying and pasting my blogs from Microsoft Word - It froze my account - But now I have no idea what I am doing wrong. I have spoken to other members of the EDN113 unit and quite a few of them have seemed to be experiencing the same difficulties! Phew! I cant be that technological illiterate then! Yola has become extremely frustrating and I wish I had chosen a different source to create my website through! I just have not found Yola to be very reliable!

Anyway! Enough of my whinging! Today I met up with my group members, Tamara Putland, Aimee Delpup, Teegan Blackburn and Alanah Greeson. We discussed the assignment and we all decided that we were extremely confused about the assignment and what it is exactly we are supposed to be doing! Personally, I am having trouble getting my head around the Wikispaces that we are supposed to be presenting our assignment! It is very different from anything I have ever used before! To be honest I had never heard of it before. After watching the demo video that Helen showed us in the tutorial, it became clearer on what to do and how to present our assignment! We all discused which topic we thought we should choose and we all decided on History and Ancient Egypt. The project will be aimed at year seven students! We are arranging a meeting time to decide on what parts every one will be working on!

Finished

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:33:52 +0100

Please see my report in the Research Technologies tab at the top of my webiste! Hopefully I was on the right track!

Research

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:26:23 +0100

I have been doing most of my research through the databases available at Murdoch. The main one I have been using is called ERIC. I have found this very useful as it helps to narrow down the search results to educational topics. I have found a book, a journal article, a conference paper and a report on a website. I also found a YouTube video discussing teachers approach to teaching through the eyes of technology to enhance childrens literacy skills. I have has a major problem whilst trying to download EndNote though. It will not let me install it. I have looked at the instructions several times and have even asked other people to help me but no one can seem to help. I have decided to use Zotero instead. Hopefully it has worked just as well as EndNote would have and everything is correct!

Online Tutorials

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:02:31 +0100

Because there have been no tutorials on campus, online tutorials have been posten on LMS for students. The first tutorial was on referencing and research. After watching this tutorial I feel a lot more comfortable with my approach to my assignment. Before watching this I had no idea what-so-ever on how to reference a text properly in APA style. I feel a lot more confident now. EndNote is a programme which students may download in order to help them reference and in text reference their work. I now need to call the tech team at Murdoch University and ask them to send me the link to download. Hopefully everything runs smoothly from here!

Sample Essay and Discussion Board

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:38:01 +0100

I think it is safe to say that LMS has, once again, saved me! I was looking at every ones discussions about the assignment and managed to wipe away some of the confusions I had before. Someone began talking about a sample essay that a tutorer has uploaded to the companion site. I have read through that and I now know what I should be doing and how I should be structuring it. I think the topic I will choose will be how technology is improving childrens literacy skills in the classroom and how teachers have to approach this technology in order to improve these skills within children. I now have to look in to how to reference properly! It has always been my weak point! So hopefully I can conquor the art of referencing!

To see what my report should (hopefully) look like, check out the sample essay on the companion website!