REFLECTION 4  TECHNOLOGY FROM GROUP 3 AND 4

This week, I did a glogster, it can be found on this website  http://calljusticeleague.weebly.com/process.html.    The purpose of this glogster is to show the court hierarchy in Qld.  I am not a fan of glogster as I do not think the examples people have been doing show its true purpose.  I like to think of a glogster as an interactive poster where you can embed almost everything (no vokis) and students can interact with it.  As you can see from mine, there are videos, links, moving pictures and other images which are meant to not only grab the students attention but also help them learn the subject area.  It is a very good teaching tool if used appropriately.  However, there are a lot of negatives that I found when trying to construct this interactive poster.  The first issue is the technical problem when embedding youtube clips.  You cannot simply copy the link, you have to search youtube within glogster and find the picture which represents your video.  This is easy to handle now but annoying when I first started as there were multiple videos with the same starting picture on youtube.  Another issue is that if you have a lot of things in your glogster, it will take forever to load.  I tried to show 1 student at the school I work for it on one of the school laptops and it didn't even load.  Which brings me to the next technical problem, to view the glogster, the computer needs to have up to date java download, if the school laptops or computers do not have this, the glogster will not load.  Another issue which was probably the most frustrating thing about glogster, is when your glogster is full of information, it is extremely hard to move or alter individual objects as when you click on the object you wish to edit, it moves another one close to it.  The best tip I can give is you have to wait until pictures are not hi light with your pointer and then click your mouse to drag on to the item you wish to edit.  Sounds easy but is completely frustrating as the more items you have on your glogster, the less space you get to actually try and select the item.

However, people have asked me the great question.  If you hate Glogster so much, why would you do it for your other piece of assessment.  The answer is because when the students eventually loaded the glogster, I watched and observed their learning.  They not only were engaged but actually learnt the hierarchy.  This was why I did it.  The end result was the fact that the glogster worked extremely well.  I think my issue is that I do not think people are using glogster appropriately.  The examples I have seen from people have way too much interactivity and even me (an adult) got lost trying to work out what was happening.  Some of the good Glogsters I have seen are simple, it was not a poster full of pictures, videos and flash pictures.  It was a poster which had less elements but more effective pedagogy.  The way I summaries it is the same as when I teach the students how to approach an English assignment.  I look at glogster as a cake, I would rather have a delicious, specific, tiny slice of the cake than have a a big, fatty, over interactive slice.  The bigger piece may make me sick whereas the little piece, has the right amount of elements to make a smaller amount of the cake, worth it.  I use this analogy for English to show students that an assignment with a specific point is better than an assignment with broad information here and there.  

If I was going to use this poster in class, I would use it like I have done on the website.  I am a big fan of flow charts and this glogster can be used to create an interactive flow chart.  The students follow the arrows and learn through the videos about each different court.  I could also allow the students to make me a glogster about a certain subject area.  I have had visions of students making interactive mind maps etc.  The technology is there with glogster which is why I like the idea of Glogster.  But the issue would be that the students and computers would have to be ready for such a lesson.  

The group 4 item I chose was TEXT2MIND MAP, and it was simply delightful.  An example of mine is here, text2mindmap.com/r8Qu8C .  I did one for legal studies and it was a very simple program to use.  The only minor issue I had is I think people need to be aware of the power of pushing the tab key.  The tab key with this site basically grows branches for your subject areas.  If you simply write down all your topic areas without the effective use of pushing tab on certain words.  Your mind map will look like this, text2mindmap.com/mKaCdj .  A jumbled piece of mess which is confusing and silly.  I do not really learn through mind maps, but I know people who do.  I shall use this tool when I am teaching as it is really effective and easy to use.  It is also easy to load and get access to.  

I would use this in class when discussing new topics and then  when the subject area is understood, ask to another or add to the one they have done.  I would treat this mind map as a visual kwl table.  Another way I would do is pick a general topic, an example is Hamlet, and draw it on the whiteboard.  I would ask students to add to it, so they can see their ideas.

PMI TABLE

LEARNING TECHNOLOGY	PLUS	MINUS	IMPLICATIONS
GLOGSTER	IT IS FREE, STUDENTS ENJOY IT, CAN EMBED MOST THINGS IN IT.	IT CAN TAKE SOMETIME TO LOAD, ANNOYING TO USE IF POSTER GETTING FULL, COMPUTER HAS TO HAVE RIGHT REQUIREMENTS	A LOT OF SCHOOLS MAY NOT HAVE THE UPDATES TO RUN PROGRAM, ALSO THE BANDWITH COULD BE AN ISSUE
TEXT TO MIND MAP	FREE, SIMPLE TO USE, EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT	PERHAPS IT IS TOO SIMPLE, IT IS EASY TO “MESS” UP THE MIND MAP IF TAB KEY IS NOT USED CORRECTLY.	TEACHERS WOULD ARGUE THE POINT OF DOING A MIUND MAP ONLINE WHEN THE SAME CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH  A WHITEBOARD

SAMS TABLE

LEARNING TECHNOLOGY	SUBSTITUTION	AUGMENTATION	MODIFICATION	REDEFINITION
GLOGSTER	THE TEACHER MAKES A GLOGSTER WHICH STUDENTS CAN VIEW VIA A PROJECTED IMAGE	STUDENTS CAN NO VIEW GLOGSTER OFF OWN COMPUTER	STUDENTS MAKE THERE OWN GLOGSTER TO SHOW CONTENT KNOWLEDGE	STUDENTS USE GLOGSTER AS AN INTERACTIVE REFERENCE TOOL WHEN DOING A PRESENTATION
TEXT TO MIND MAP	TEACHER MAKES A MIND MAP INSTEAD OF USING WHITEBOARD	STUDENTS MAKE A MIND MAP ABOUT SUBJECT AREA	STUDENTS GET INTO SMALL GROUPS TO CREATE A MIND MAP	STUDENTS USE A WIKI TO CHANGE AN ALTER THE MIND MAP UNTILL THEY ARE SATSISFIED