Image Manipulation - Picnik

Hi everyone,

Picnik is a fun and free online tool that allows users to edit and manipulate their own personal photos or other images, allowing the user to make a myriad of fun and quirky alterations using a variety of effects.

Picnik is connected with a variety of popular websites such as Flickr, MySpace and Facebook making the process of uploading your favourite images quick and easy (Picnik, 2009).

The image I have used was taken from my brother’s Facebook site. I simply uploaded the picture of my sister in law and him into my Picnik account and used a polaroid, sticker and text effect to get this awesome image.

Picnik is great it allows the editor to create unique and meaningful images using a variety of great effects. There are multiple options to choose from and a small fee will occur if you wish to upgrade to receive more effects.
You can crop and resize images for PowerPoint presentations, or other documents, apply a variety of colour effects (black and white, sepia, 1960’s vintage), post stickers and other interesting items to your image (Picnik, 2009). Once you have completed your image you can either save it to your computer, email to a friend, print, or import to one of the other popular websites mentioned earlier.
I must note Picnik is not a site that you can store your work, it is simply derived for the manipulation of images therefore follow the options listed and save your images to other web sites such as your Flickr account.

How can Picnik be incorporated into the classroom?

Easy, Picnik is a fun, easy to navigate learning tool that students of all ages can use. It can be a tool to promote knowledge skills by editing and enhancing class web pages, blogs, wiki’s, PowerPoint presentations, brochures, photo stories, greeting cards for loved ones, creating a school year book, business cards and much more.
Incorporating Picnik within the curriculum aligns with the learning design and resources aspect within Oliver‘s framework as the learning manager can effectively design learning experiences to enhance students skills to capture and edit digital images for meaningful authentic tasks such as projects on a particular topic (e.g. rainforest's, Australian landscapes, Australian native animals). The students are utilising their own images and enhancing them using the Picnik software to apply special effects to support information within the assignment making unique and individual pieces of work, much more effective then children visiting a search engine such as Google and coping and pasting images. Using this software allows students work to be authentic and meaningful.

I really enjoy using this e-learning tool, I find it a great resource and is very effective in the classroom. Give it a go!

Until next time,

References:

AusInfo. (2003). The Learning Design Construct. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from Learning Design: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

Picnik. (2009). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from Picnik: http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/faq

Flickr

Hi everyone,

Flickr is a free online account which allows users to share and organise personal photos and videos with friends, family or even the whole world (Yahoo! Inc, 2009).

Setting up a Flickr account was a very simple process, probably the easiest and most enjoyable so far. Most likely because I thoroughly enjoy the art of photography and this site is dedicated to all those inspiring photographers from students, proud parents happy family snaps to professional artists. I could spend hours and hours searching through the wonderful categories of photos uploaded from people all around the world. It is fantastic! I especially enjoy how the genres of images to view are a jumble of alphabetised words that you simply can click on or type your own.
After multiple searches from nature, art, to fascinating abstract images I made the choice to search for bubbles. If you haven’t realised by now I love bubbles, if I were to use five words to describe them they would be fun, happiness, laughter, colourful and peaceful. Many photographers would also agree they are one of the most difficult things to photograph, making them even more enjoyable in real life. The image I have chosen above was one from the many (365,420,658 to be precise) to select from. Flickr is amazing isn’t it!

Flickr contains many brilliant features from editing, categorizing images to specific folders, the option to share photos with friends or family and my favourite linking maps to your images to show the viewer where and when you took that image. Also this allows you to see what other images have been taken from the same site. Flicker also offers the ability to create your own online photo scrapbooks, videos and framed pictures (Yahoo! Inc, 2009).

How can this fantastic tool be used in the classroom?

While exploring this site further I began thinking of the multiple practical uses this tool can have within an educational context. Students and learning managers can effectively utilise this tool across all year levels and key learning areas. Safety issues would have to be addressed before students where to access the site, protecting students from the exploitation of unsafe use of the Internet. This could be done by ensuring all students profiles are set to ‘view by family and friends only’, and allowing students who have a signed permission letter from their parents/guardians approving the use of this tool allowing students the authority to use the account.

Ideas to implement this e-learning tool.

Providing students the opportunity to take digital photos of their work (e.g. in KLA’s such as the visual arts, graphic design, manual arts, home economics, science) and incorporating other images from Flickr users around the world to create a storyline presentation for their peers and learning managers to view.

Teaching history and geography could effectively utilise this tool as teachers could show student’s images of sites around the world that they are learning and observe multiple perspectives of the chosen topic, creating a virtual field trip from your classroom. This tool aligns well with Oliver’s ICT framework theory (as cited in AusInfo, 2003) students will be given a set task or project e.g. creating a photo story about a specific genre (e.g. abstract art) incorporating the first aspect of the learning design. Students utilise resources such as Flickr inserting photographs of their own and others as visual stimulus to create their work, while the learning manger implements a safety procedures policy to provide learners a safe and supportive environment and ensure each student are allocated enough time to discuss any issues with the learning manager or peers and allowing every student the opportunity to access computers to complete the task.

Next to discuss is Picnik so keep posted for more great e-learning tools.
Until next time,

References:

AusInfo. (2003). The Learning Design Construct. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from Learning Design: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

Yahoo! Inc. (2009). Flickr. Retrieved August 16, 2009, from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonjuice/120200137/

Yahoo! Inc. (2009). What is Flicker? Retrieved August 16, 2009, from http://www.flickr.com/tour/

Learning Management Systems

Hi everyone,

The term Learning Management Systems (LMS) was something I had never heard of before I started university. Within my first term at CQU in the course ‘Principles of University Learning’ I was introduced to our LMS Blackboard. I was amazed that there was such a thing, a single platform that delivers the foundation to all information and resources required for my studies.

As I continued to explore the site I found chat rooms to talk to peers and lecturers about any problems or queries that I might have, all it required was my user ID and password (as most LMS content are protected by password verification) and I have the basis to my information right in front of me. How wonderful!

LMS are generally used for areas such as education, therefore commonly used within universities to manage required readings, resources for assignments and courses, networking, distributing information and record keeping (E-Learning Consulting, 2008). LMS are a great source of communication for on-line distance education classes, allowing them to keep in contact and have easy access to essential information (E-Learning Consulting, 2008).

Over the past two years I have found these systems such as Blackboard and Moodle easy to navigate, useful and very effective towards my studies.
Until next time,




References:

E-Learning Consulting. (2008). Learning management systems. Retrieved August 14, 2009 , from http://www.e-learningconsulting.com/products/learning-management-system.html

PowerPoint

Hi everyone,

PowerPoint is a brilliant tool for learning in both student and teacher directed situations. I have used PowerPoint software numerous times for school, university and work presentations. They don’t have to be a boring, painful black and white presentation with pages full of endless text.

PowerPoint’s can be exciting and engaging, fun, easy to take notes from, helpful to explain abstract concepts and they cater for a variety of learning styles.
PowerPoint used properly is a simple and engaging resource, “one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information ever known!” (Technology Tutorials, 2009).

An example of how a PowerPoint presentation can be implemented in the classroom would be using it to engage or ‘hook’ the learners at the beginning of a lesson. This can be achieved by using relevant images, videos, sound effects and animations about the focussed topic to capture the students’ attention for the task ahead. The learning manger can make it clear and understandable of what is required from the students at the beginning of the lesson by providing a schematic organiser listing what will be covered throughout the lesson.

In previous schools I have seen students create a PowerPoint presentation for their school information night and for a celebration night for a graduating class. Their slides contained photos and small video clips, importing music from the school choir into the background, creating an appealing presentation designed for a meaningful and real life situation (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 2009). I think PowerPoint’s are an excellent lifelong tool that students will use regularly.

Throughout my PowerPoint creations I have had a few challenges you may be able to relate to such as:
• Images looking blurry or small
• Text difficult to read because of the chosen font, colour or size
• Sound and animations not working on different computers

After creating more and more presentations I began to figure out these minor problems by speaking to peers or my students. Yes, we too can learn a great deal from our students. To fix those problems listed above from reoccurring I found that:
• Using images that were originally large in size are best to manage if they are needed to enlarge (photos of your own work best)
• Preview your presentation constantly by pressing F5 to see how the text looks and ensure the background colour suits the text and font chosen
• Ensure that you save your PowerPoint as PowerPoint show this will ensure that no matter what computer you are on sound and animation files will save and run accordingly.

Overall there are multiple uses for PowerPoint presentations; they are an effective tool to not only engage students, enhance knowledge, understanding and skills for a particular task but to assist learning managers with their teaching. It is an easy and fun program to navigate around and is a tool that students will use constantly.
Until next time,




References:

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 13, 2009, from
http://homesprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Technology Tutorials. (2009). PowerPoint in the classroom. Retrieved August 12, from http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/powerpoint/

Voki Avatars

Hi everyone,

In this post I would like to share with you my thoughts about a great e-learning tool that is fun, engaging, time consuming to make as it can be addictive but very easy to incorporate in any classroom from prep to year twelve.

It is a Voki Avatar!

How do you create one?

Creating a voki avatar was a simple and free process, I joined the site and spent quite a while playing with a variety of characters from, aliens, dogs, politicians and many others. Finally settling with my character as you can see featured below, I found this website engaging and easy to navigate to produce my avatar.




Click here to have a go!

How can this tool be used in the classroom?

This tool can be useful in helping a variety of learners for a number of different reasons. I think that this tool would be an effective and engaging hook at the beginning of a new unit or an assessment task as students of today can be considered ‘digital natives’, therefore they require different methods of engagement compared to students from the past (Prensky, 2001).
As Prensky (2001) states students have been exposed to technology such as mobile phones and computers which have contributed to shorten their attention spans. Therefore as learning managers, our role must ensure that we incorporate a futures orientated pedagogy when educating our students, rather than following traditional teaching methods (Prensky, 2001).

Embedding avatars into the curriculum would align with students fast paced and technology rich society (Prensky, 2005). The use of an avatar would be an effective tool for ESL students. Especially from working with prep students, I feel avatars can be helpful to develop students’ language, reading and writing skills. Students can record their own voices and the learning manager could model when needed, enhancing students speech and pronunciation of difficult words.

Incorporating the use of voki avatars for individuals or for a class activity is an effective strategic plan to ensure student success and to enhance their learning in a futures orientated way as suggested in Oliver’s learning design framework (AusInfo, 2003).

I feel that this tool is a wonderful and engaging source that can be used within the classroom as a pedagogical tool for specific individuals or a way of engaging the whole class to ensure learning outcomes are met.
Until next time,




References:

AusInfo. (2003). The Learning Design Construct. Retrieved August 14 , 2009, from Learning Design: http://www.learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm

Oddcast, Inc. (2007-2008). Voki Avatars. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from http://www.voki.com/mywebsite.php

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Native, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon , 9 (5), 1-6.

Prensky, M. (2005). Engage Me or Enrage Me. Educause Review , 61-64.

Setting up an e.portfolio - Mahara

Hi again,

Let me share with you my findings about e-portfolio's.
An e-portfolio is an online electronic portfolio that can be used to store data such as blogs, multimedia and resumes, it contains a social networking system that allows users to connect and create online communities (Mahara, 2009).

Mahara which means to think, thinking, thought (Mahara, 2009) is a product specifically designed with the software to set up a personal learning and development environment.

How do I get a Mahara account?

To create an account with Mahara a small fee of $5.00/ per year will be required. This will allow you to store up to 100MB of produced work, that is easily accessible through any computer Internet connection anywhere and anytime, without congesting your own hard drive.

How can Mahara be incorporated into the classroom as a valuable pedagogical tool?

Mahara can be incorporated into the classroom effectively to support, engage and enhance traditional learning activities as students can use the programme as a source to demonstrate what they have achieved academically or personally using the online portfolio instead of a paper based document. Chen & Ittelson (as cited in Zubizaretta, 2009. p. 109), state that e-portfolios “imply a process of planning, keeping track of, making sense of and sharing evidence of learning and performance”. Students can use the software frequently to upload work samples, and documents that they have created to share with their peers and learning managers. It is a tool unlike a wiki where only the author can generate and publish their own personal knowledge to be viewed by others.

Providing students the opportunity to incorporate this e-learning tool within classroom would extend their knowledge skills for the wider community and workforce (ASC, 2009), for example preparing students for future requirements by creating authentic tasks (Kearsley & Schneiderman, 1999) such as a resume required for a prospective job interview or a university application.

I feel as a learning manager it is important to provide our students of the twenty first century opportunities to explore a variety of digital technologies as they have the potential to enrich learning environments engage and enhance students learning outcomes (ASC, 2009). I am looking forward to enhancing my e-portfolio that I have created with Mahara and taking my understandings to the classroom.
Until next time,




References:

Australian Computer Society. (2009). When the learners know more than the teachers: Information Age. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=200412141302499805

Kearsley, G. & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/%7Egkearsley/engage.htm

Mahara. (2009). About: Mahara - ePortfolio System. Retrieved Aug 3, 2009, from http://mahara.org/about

Zubizarreta, J. (2009). Building a Community of Practice Around E-portfolios. The Learning Portfolio: reflective practice for improving student learning. Retreived August 13, 2009 from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=cDA9YTAMDGkC&pg=PA109&dq=e+portfolios+in+primary++education&as_brr=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false

WIKIs are Wonderful

Hello everyone,

Wiki the Hawaiian word for quick (Cunningham, 1994 as cited by Augar, Raitman and Zhou, 2004) is a free online resource that provides opportunities for collaboration and interaction among users anywhere in the world to add and modify content to a specific website (Wikipedia, 2009). Wiki's can be an effective pedagogical strategy, constructed for the enhancement of online collaboration and authoring from individuals or groups (Peterson, 2009).

Who can edit and add information to a wiki page?

Wiki's contian controlled security settings, the authour can set the page to only allow interested members to view and modify the site's content, or allow the page to be open for anyone anywhere in the world to post comments and change data. These security settings can only be made by the author of the wiki, allowing them the ability to control who can and cannot add or modify information to their website.

I have created my own wiki using wikispaces software. It was a simple and guided process to set up. I chose to create a space for learning managers like myself to share and combine our understandings about e-learning tools and teaching ideas to help extend and refine our knowledge for our future careers in education. Please feel free to view my wiki and share your thoughts and understandings by simply following the link below and become a member of my wiki.
http://katrinaweh.wikispaces.com/

Ideas for the classroom:

After the creation of my wiki, I discovered the many possible ways wiki's can be embedded into the classroom.
Wiki's can provide students and teachers the opportunity to work collaboratively reading and modifying one and another’s work. They are an excellent and engaging tool to incorporate within a variety of tasks across all year levels and subjects. Wiki's allow students to actively participate in set tasks such as online class discussions about homework, assessment tasks or school committee problems, allowing students to take ownership and responsibility for their own learning (ACU, 2000).

Assigning group assessment tasks incorporating the wiki tool can be an effective and simple way for students to gather various information and images collaboratively. By creating a webpage about a specific topic such as an endangered animal and allowing those who are in the group to add their thoughts and ideas to the page. Students would not need to meet face to face for all group meetings as they can simply work on their own individual parts of the assignment and collaboratively share their thoughts and ideas online. Wiki's can be a great tool to prevent students from being left out or controlled by peers that generally take over the assigned task.

Using a wiki as an online school recipe book, written and illustrated by all year levels would be a great task for all students and parents to participate in. It could begin in the early years and be edited by year twelve students.

Now to reflect on how easy it is for wikis to be incorporated within the classroom it becomes apparent that it follows the framework of the Active Learning Processes (ACU, 2000).
These scaffolded steps within the active learning framework follows the input, where students are accessing a variety of sources through various senses such as visual materials (text, pictures, videos), audio (recordings, videos, avatars) and many more (ACU, 2000).
Then followed is the process where students are interacting with these resources for example an assessment task researching an endangered animal, creating a recipe book with illustrations, videos, avatars stimulating multiple parts of the brain.
In conclusion the students produce the output which would be the assessable task in which they have collabritively worked on and shown evidence of the active learning that has taken place (ACU, 2000).

There are multiple ideas that wiki's can be used to enhance students learning within the classroom to ensure student success, I have only listed a couple but would love to hear some of your own thoughts please feel free to list your comments below or visit my wiki site mentioned earlier.
Until next time,




References:

ACU. (2000). What is Active Learning? Retrieved August 5, 2009, from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whatisal.htm

Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou, W. (2004). Teaching and learning online with wikis. In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 95-104).Retrieved August 10, 2009, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/procs/augar.html

Peterson, E. (2009). Using a Wiki to Enhance Cooperative Learning in a Real Analysis Course 19 (1), Teaching Technology. Retrieved August 10, 2009, from http://elishapeterson.wikidot.com/docs:papers

Wikipedia. (2009).What is a Wiki? Retrieved August 13, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki