Saturday, September 12, 2009
Copyrite: Loretta Kreis
Unit of work.
Need for food.
In groups research this topic and collaboratively respond.
Video, take notes answer question sheet.
Classification of functions. Social/family.
View the supplied presentation and reflect, post these reflections onto blog.
Types of functions
Senses and palate.
View the supplied presentation and reflect on this.
Senses and palate.
View the supplied presentation and reflect on this.
Senses and palate.
After this session today, post your comments on your experiences.
Blindfold: taste test, describe (written: aroma, texture, flavour, appearance).
Multi-cultural Hor deourves. Teacher to take photos and place onto Flickr, students to retrieve and place into picnic to enhance, upload back into Flickr, place into file and then upload into blog. Post reflection also.
Students explore the Flickr site for examples of presentation of food items.
Variety, arrangement , Colour/texture.
Lesson Teacher demonstration.
You Tube presentation.
Cooking, plate for presentation.
Overview of unit. Discuss written and practical exam, with peers and staff.
Students work on practical assessment piece.
Choose dishes/work plan/audience. Place these work plans onto the Wiki.
Lesson (11) Teacher to video students and upload this as a digital story with narration and comments for students. Students to respond after viewing.
Students’ cooking. Prac assessment.
Plate for presentation.
Classmarker Theory exam. Written assessment. Multiple choice/short answers.
File storage: http://www.mediafire.com/
How to use buttons in power points: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/pp_buttons_show.htm
Photo storage: http://www.flickr.com/
Photo manipulation: http://www.picnik.com/
Add voice to your slides: http://voicethread.com/
Create a slide presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Needleman's statement says it all with this technology, the massive array of free tools available within all of the links was incredible, to be honest I did not go into all of them there were so many but the sites I did visit gave me great insight into how this technology could be utilised by teachers and students. Focusing on experiential and self-directed learning ( Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999), together incorporating Gardners multiple intelligences and Felder and Soloman learning styles and temperaments, digital storytelling would have the capability of engaging all students of all ages (big 'kids' too) if you know what I mean.
This could be used for practical assessment pieces for students to work collaboratively on in small groups. I would have students' choose from three tasks of:
A). Interview of staff in an industrial kitchen, in regards to hygiene/food presentation.
B). Pro's and con's of fast food.
C). Healthy choices.
After choosing which topic they will work on the students have to either take photos of these areas (with permission), and form a story of their findings. Submit this back to the class for assessment and student appraisal. Perhaps this task could also involve uploading it into their blogs for feedback from peers that way!
As I will not be having contact with any students’ until the first week of October I have not been able to ask them to establish their own blog. But I do agree that it would be a fantastic environment for them to learn, create and discover themselves and others. The application of this tool if used correctly would enable them to develop their writing skills, comprehension, reading and many other areas of the curriculum if given tasks directing them to do so. It also has the ability to engage a variety of learning style/temperaments, body smarts and take on board Dale’s cone theory and Keirsley and Schneidermann’s engagement theory. In addition create higher order thinking skills as represented by the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (Ertmer, 2004) . The students’ could not only work on their reflections from their learning from school but create blogs of their extracurricular activities, interactions with family and friends and also be able to upload photos, files, videos etc. for sharing.
Dr. Ertmer, P. (2004). Examining the relationship between higher-order learning and students' perceived sense of community in an online learning environment. Retrieved September 10, 2009, from
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
As you can see when you enter my previous attempt I have made a few changes to the slides, both visually and how I have incorporated the answers with the buttons
Please have a look at my both of my presentations, you will be able to see the differences, and tell me what you think.
Until next time Loretta.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Photo courtesy of:
June 12, 2009 2:58 PMby Martin Levins Workshop 2 - pictures
Throughout this course I have been engaging in and discovering 21st century technology (cited in Aldred, 2009). As a future learning manager, it will be impossible and unavoidable not to mention neglectful to ignore these ever evolving advances. My ability to connect with and excite my forthcoming student’s into lifelong learning, hinges on my ability to incorporate these newly learnt tools into my pedagogy.
Within this course I have been given ample opportunities to reflect upon and comment on these technologies; jointly on my own blog, forums, and other peer’s sites. My peers have been able to comment on my blog and vice versa.
Following are the blogs I have contributed to;
Please note that I have also commented on these tools within my blog postings.
Updated power point and slideshare combining voice...
My first avatar
When I initially commenced this course I was so excited. I knew that I had to go away for a two week period for a compulsory prac placement so I endeavoured to open up as many accounts possible before my departure. Having said that on my return I realised just how intense this course had become. It wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t enjoy, or that I felt frustrated at the material I was being bombarded with, nor because I was a digital immigrant (Prensky, 2001). It was simply because I felt that I wanted and needed to be able to explore this new technology accurately before I commented on how I would engage my students’ with it.
The principles of Gardeners Multiple Intelligence theory (nd) are; Individuals should be encouraged to use their preferred intelligences in learning. Instructional activities should appeal to different forms of intelligence. Assessment of learning should measure multiple forms of intelligence.
Technology of today has the potential to reach so many of my future learners. Its ability to adopt Gardeners theory (n.d.), will make my planning and profiling of students a creative, efficient and more enthusiastic environment for me and those of my pupils. The milieu of sites similar to Wikipedia, Wetpaint and Mahara would witness students’ ability to gauge their experiences and those of their peers in a potentially non threatening environment.
All stakeholders could also have permission through a monitored system, to engage and explore these sites to peruse the progress of these students. This is one element within the school environment where the use of technology would flourish and the capacity to break down the barriers of the current system of communication and pedagogy in learning facilities.
Am I a Digital immigrant or a Digital native (Prensky, 2001)? Well, I am definitely an immigrant. Prior to participation in this course I had only heard of power point, You tube, Wikipedia and podcasts. Thus far I had only ever used power point and You tube. Examining the extensive array of tools within this course has opened my mind up to so many possibilities of engaging my students. On my prac placement the overall sentiment from pupils I engaged with was one of frustration and complaints of boredom and sore hands from writing. This is largely due to the fact that students of today sense and process the information given to them, fundamentally different from current teaching practices (Prensky, 2001).
As a future Learning manager with the assistance of my students, the need to create Digital Native methodologies for all KLA’s, at all stages of their learning journey will be pivotal if I am to engage and not enrage these individuals (Prensky, 2001).
Equally important is the overall summary of Greg Kearsley and Ben Shneiderman’s Engagement theory which is; Relate, Create, Donate (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999). Learning activities need to take place collaboratively as projects which they are able to relate to the outside world around them ( Marshall, 2007). I can attest to the benefits of this type of learning, the majority of learning I have undertaken since leaving school has completely been related to my work environment, creating on the job tasks and working collaboratively with others to obtain the end results. Yes I have had projects that were individualistic in nature but it was the tasks which were team orientated that I learnt the most from, and in turn had the most satisfaction and enjoyment.
Of equal importance is Felder and Solomon’s Learning styles and Strategies concept. These styles of learners fall into the following categories of; active and reflective, sensing and intuitive, visual and verbal and sequential and global ( Felder and Solomon, 2009). I had previously undertaken this quiz and found myself to fall under the category of an ISFJ learner. With a scaffolded approach and the assistance and collaboration from teachers and peers, computer technology and the tools they employ would definitely envisage a learning environment which harnesses this type of theory. It is important to note here that Dales Cone theory (The Ablienne Christian University Adams Center for Teaching Excellence, 2000), closely follows in the footsteps of Felder and Solomon in relation to how best individuals’ retain the information which is placed before them. Ultimately though individuals must be aware of these strategies to gain their full potential.
If you have not noticed already by viewing my blog previously, the tools which I favoured mostly were that of Google Earth and a combination of power point, Slideshare and Voicethread. I thoroughly enjoyed these tools and can definitely visualise the use of them by myself and students in the very near future.
Moreover; Webquests to me, are the ultimate in creating higher order learning, and follow Olivers model of a learning design structure, which set over three stages are related to real global projects based around messy, ill-structured problem scenarios (Oliver, 1999, as cited in Aldred, 2009). Unfortunately time got the better of me in setting up my completed Webquest but I am hurriedly trying to finish this in the hope that I will have this completed for my subsequent assignment.
My one concern for all of this technology is obviously that of equity and diversity, although I was able to have use of a computer for the majority of this assessment task there were times when internet access was problematic. Tools which were a requirement to download were again successful for me apart from Skype. This was soon rectified, with access to these sessions available on request. However, there were other students at my campus who did have issues with some downloads with obvious disappointment on their part. As future learning managers we have to ensure we address these issues, especially for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students with disabilities or impairments, Torres strait or indigenous and those from various cultural backgrounds who may have English as a second language (Spender & Stewart, 2002, as cited in Aldred, 2009).
On reflecting overall on my experience of this course content; I must say that, although overwhelmed at times with the intensity and magnitude, I am overjoyed with my ability to adapt relatively quickly with this technology and thoroughly content with my blogs end result. I might also add I was tickled pink when my technology savvy digital native, seventeen year old daughter asked me; if you can imagine, in helping her with her IT assignment. So concluding my reflection I will leave you by stating, ‘bring it on’!
The Ablienne Christian University Adams Center for Teaching Excellence, (2000).
How does active learning work? Active learning online. Retrieved August 18, 2009, from http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/howdoes.htm
Aldred, S. (2009). Managing E-Learning course profile. Retrieved August 20, 2009,from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning.
Gardner, H. (n.d.). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved August 23, 2009, from
Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement theory: A framework for
technology-based teaching and learning. Retreived August 19, 2009, from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm
Marshall, M. (2007). Engagement Theory, WebCT, and academic writing in Australia, Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp. 109-115. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology. Retrieved August 16, 2009, from ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/include/getdoc.php?id=2389&article=227&mode=pdf
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrived August 18, 2009, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Soloman, B. & Felder , R. (n.d.). Learning styles and strategies. Retrieved August 21, 2009, from
Thursday, August 27, 2009
A comprehensive task/assessment for high school hospitality students to undertake would be firstly to have a tour of a industrial kitchen. I would direct them to take photos under the permission of the establishment, these images would specifically consider hygiene within the environment. Areas of example would be; personal hygiene, possible contamination of food, cross contamination of a work station (raw and cooked items on the same board), together with observation of non kitchen staff entering the kitchen and their habits (touching and eating of food, processing of orders etc).
When students arrive back at school these photos would be gathered on the school computer and uploaded into flickr for example. The students would then work in groups of three to four and create a slideshare/voicethread of these observations detailing areas of concern, and present this back to the class. The opening slide will also need to have music attached so downloading from iTunes or Incompetech, or perhaps using their own music which has been saved on their ipods would be a necessity.
This assessment has the ability to incorporate most of Gardeners theory of multiple intelligences (Birmingham City Council, 2009) which are; Kinaesthetic - Linguistic - Logical - Intrapersonal-Interpersonal - Musical - and Visual/Spatial, I have not included Naturalistic. This teaching strategy also incorporates most of the learning styles Felder and Solomon(2009), have outlined.
Birmingham City Council. (2009). Multiple intelligences, Birmingham Grid for Learning. Retrieved August 28 2009, from
Felder, R & Soloman, B. (2009). Learning styles and strategies. Retrieved August 28, 2009, from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm
group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install.
Furthermore,Waterhouse (2005, cited in Eldred, 2009) states that, 'E-learning is using information communication technologies (ICTs) to engage, enhance and extend learning in flexible and innovative ways, now and in the future'.
Voicethread is certainly a tool which has the potential to encapsulate all of those areas. According to Voicethread (2009), it is a collaborative , multimedia slide show that holds and stores images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in five ways, using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam).
Users can draw pictures while commenting, use numerous identities, and select which remarks are revealed through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be entrenched to demonstrate and obtain comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies (Voicethread, 2009).
The possibilites are endless due to the fact that there are so many images which can be created, lending itself to multiple manipulation from the moderator and invited people. People of all ages would have tons of interactive fun, and with a scaffolded approach pupils would benefit greatly from this technology.
Ed.VoiceThread (2009), is a web-based communications system for K-12 students and teachers. This is a straightforward, influential and secure tool where the construction and collaboration of diverse applications can develop, this consists of; digital stories and documentaries, practicing and documenting verbal communication skills, investigate geography and customs, resolve math problems, or purely finding and strengthening student voices (Voicethread, 2009).
As I mentioned earlier I am slightly tired so please keep that in mind when you have a peep at my slightly quirky, somewhat random voiceover.
Here is an example of the use of a voicethread within the classroom.
Aldred, S. (2009). 21st century learners. Retrieved August 27, 2009, from CQUniversity moodle course, FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning.
Voicethread. (2009). Retrieved August 27, 2009, from <http://voicethread.com/about/
Voicethread. (2009). Retrieved August 27, 2009, from
Voicethread. (2009). K-12 Solutions. Retrieved August 27, 2009, from http://voicethread.com/about/k12/##>