Gaming and Licencing

In the week that I was away the class looked at Gaming and Licencing.  The first website that I had a look at was Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org.au/).  It is an international, non-profit organisation that provides free licences and toolds that copyright owners can use to allow others to share, reuse and remix their material legally.  At first glance I thought it was merely a site that permitted users to search for licences that can be shared, which in itself is great tool for students to use.  It is very easy to navigate through and is linked to commonly used search engines.  However I think a more powerful application of this is the information it gives educators and in turn students on the legalities of licences.  The site states that it reinforces how licences can be used from what people can do with them, as opposed to what people can't do with them.  Personally, I think this is a very smart approach to take with students as by using positive messages encourages compliance by students.  Just think back to telling students "Don't run" and most students end up running, however by telling them "Please walk", there is no negative tone and compliance with the instruction is often higher.  Further more there are great resources for educators in the form of fact sheets.

The other site that I had a browse over was QUIA (http://www.quia.com/).  To make use of this site, one has to register, though there is a 30 day free trial available.  In the activities section, you can create your own activity or search through other people's activities.  I made up my own word jumble on Australian Government.  It was incrediably easy to use and there is such an array of activities at your fingertips.  It would also be great for students to use during or after a unit of work.  It would be a great activity for them to test each others knowledge.  You could quite easy have each student work on a different type of activity for variety.

Movie Making and animation

Todays objective is to look at different applications available to students for making movies.  The first application we looked at was found at http://www.dfilm.com/  Care should be given to this website as some material would not be appropriate for primary students.  The following link is the movie that I have quickly created this morning:
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="never" allowNetworking="internal" height="285" width="381" align="middle"

Another site is http://www.zimmertwins.com/ You have to join the site.  Once in, it is incrediably easy to create a movie, by simply clicking on icons provided.  Students can add text to the text bubbles where needed.  Great for introducing students to film production as the icons clicked on create a basic story board for the students to follow.  I have a link for the film that I have created this morning, but unsure whether it will work:
http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/1051237

Above we see an example of Rebus Writing, which may be a great alternative for students who dislike writing and reading.  This example came from http://www.storygames.com/

Another fun site is http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ This site, students can build a virtual them, but by adding in different body parts from animals.  At the end, the program gives the student their "new species name", and some facts about the animal/s from which the parts have come from.  Here is mine:

Another site is http://www.reasonablyclever.com/ Here students can create a "lego" man.  May be incorporated into real life lego building, students might have to try and create a real lego man from one that has been digitally created.  Here is one that I have created in todays session:

There are also plenty of games available on line (eg http://www.pbskids.org/) that are educational but illustrate the use of animations.

M&M's Colour Chart - A yummy introduction into graphing!!!

This is an excellent introduction (and a yummy one) to explore the use of graphs for presenting data.  Note:  Extremely important to check the school's policy regarding chocolate and chocolate products.  If chocolate or such products are banned, then Skittles may be to be used, or coloured stars etc.

As an engaging activity, students could be asked to make predictions as to how many of each of the colours will be in the M&M's packet (and any other predictions that might be suggested).  This could start off as a group exercise, where a packet is handed to each group, and each member within that group is responsible for counting out one of the colours.

After the colours have been counted, the information can be entered into MS Excel under two columns (Colour and Number/Count).  Instructed the students on how to highlight the required cells.  Then the students can insert the data into graph for, as a visual representation of the data.  Students could explore the different types of graphs and choose which format they feel most appropriate.

 

 After this students can be shown how to change series colour, add axis headings, changing title heading and add series data.  Students may then want to explore their creativity and import a background image, like the one that is shown below.

Week 2 - Publishing with MS Publisher

This week we have been exposed to MS Publisher.  Whilst this is often overlooked, it readily comes with most MS Office packages, and is available in most schools and is a great tool for both teachers and students.  Today we looked at how we as emerging teachers can use it to produce an e-portfolio, as we enter the interviewing world once we complete this course.  This was an incrediable slap in the face for me, as I thought that a good old CV and cover letter would still be acceptable.  Seeing how easy MS Publisher makes producing something as sophisticated as an e-portfolio is of huge benefit, and no doubt I will be playing further with the template that I have produced here in the workshop.

Week One Continuation

Here is another example of work that can be generated from Inspiration.  This is a mind map on the Commonwealth Games.  Images can be up loaded.  New "arms" can be added to extend the maps as students need.

Week One - New Beginnings

This is the first attempt at "blogging" and the first attempt at using the Inspiration software.  The software is incrediably versatile and user friendly.  It could easily be used to generate mind maps, for family history studies, science and sose reseach projects.
This is a simple representation of facts and information about the Great Barrier Reef.  Images have been used from the libraries within Inspiration, and imported from Google Images.  Information has been taken directly from Google searches.  For more information on the Great Barrier Reef, people can click on the hyperlink provided.