Session 10

Individually, revisit the concept of engaged learning. Reflect in your course blog on what was meaningful to you.

After attending this module, I realised that without me knowing, I've already gained some new insights on the concept of engaged learning. Just like I've mentioned before, I always had the mentality that engaged learning means fun learning (But this misconception was cleared more than a month ago). Since then, I look at engaged learning from a different viewpoint and I'm glad to say that I gain a lot. Boring classroom discussions can be engaging as well, if it's challenging and requires a lot of thinking and analysing from the student's part. I would say that after my misconception on engaged learning was cleared, I gain more knowledge from those usual classroom stuff. Certain things that would make me feel bored in the past would now come to me as a new form of learning. I would not look at the activity as boring, but engaging. This way, I would then able to fully "engage" myself in it, and that is when I learn. It's true that we cannot learn when we keep letting that "boring" thought bothers us. We may be doing something that we think is boring, but we're only using our brains, and not our heart. However, if we look at it differently, we would using both our brains and our heart. That's a small difference, but it create BIG wonders. Well, at least, it's true for me. After I come to NIE, I realise that all my learning experiences are all very engaging and authentic. I think that very important as well, for learning to be "real". It furthers engage students in the learning process as they're exploring something that could happen in real-life. Students can also find more fun and become motivated to learn.

"Engaged learning allows students to participate in "real-life" activities through collaboration, exploration, and discovery with peers. Engaged learning projects do not focus on one subject, but the integration of many or all subjects. Assessment in engaged learning can be very diverse. Assessment should be real, continuing, and encouraging." (http://ozpk.tripod.com/000engaged)

That's so true.

How do you think your tutor has attempted to engage you in this course?
In my own opinion, I feel that my tutor has really done a pretty job in engaging all of us in this course. This is especially so when he incorporates and introduces new ICT tools and educational games to us when he teaches new concepts. Plain delivery of concepts could be boring, unclear or unengaging because most students would just listen and forget. But because of the ICT tools and games, it makes everything so interesting and easy to understand. That's because we have the hands-on experiences. It's our senses that are doing the magic. People will always learn better after they experience things themselves. This is a fact that will never change. I also think that the ICT tools make a very big difference to out learning process in this module. I guess it's because we're exposed to something new and fresh, that's why we're eager to try them out and hence the enthusiasm in learning and doing. To add on, during the earlier stages of the module, my tutor got us to do a lot of group discussions on engaged learning, pedagogical approaches etc, and provided us websites and videos links for better understanding. I thought that's so useful. Perhaps because I'm more of a visual learner (which I think most of us are), that's why I'm more able to learn more stuff when I'm exposed to all these stuff.

The ICT tools (introduced in this module, excluding those introduced during the demo sessions) that I like most:

1. Mindmeister
2. Prezi

I think Mindmeister is really good as it allows a lot of people to edit a mindmap at the same time. Although the functions are rather confusing initially, it gets alright after some exploring. It also allows users to see all the changes made in the past few days, and let us see who made which changes. It automatically arranges the newly-added points which makes the entire mindmap neat and tidy. It saves so much trouble for the users. Overall I think this tool is really nice and convenient. It's one of the better collaborative tools that's available online.

As for Prezi, it's definitely a more advanced presentation tool as compared to Microsoft Powerpoint. The zoom in and out functions really makes the whole presentation more visual, and is able to bring out important and interesting points more effectively.

For the educational games, I would say I enjoyed all of them, not forgetting how they could be so beneficial for learning and teaching as well.

Which of these strategies might you use in future and why?

As I would be teaching Chinese in future, I personally think that the ICT tools introduced in this module would help me make my lessons more interesting. I guess Mindmeister would help a lot if I get my students to make use of it when I give them mini projects or discussions. Of course, it's provided that my strategies are right before I can engage my students in those activities I plan for them. I would constantly work on this aspect. Frankly speaking, I've not thought about how games could be used for educational purposes. But now since I know, and have experienced them myself, I'm sure I would look for suitable games for my students. Language learning is not easy, especially so for the Chinese Language. Unless my lessons are engaging, interesting, fun and new, I'm sure my students would be more eager to learn.

The last point that I want to mention is that I learnt a lot from the demo presentations and the lesson idea assignment. It makes me think, analyze and evaluate how an ICT tool could be used in teaching and engaging students. That's going to help me for sure.

COTF

The resources and technology in the COTF is amazing. Imagine that in the future, I guess we're not far from it.

Learning is so convenient and fast, so interesting even. Everything is so technology-based that even marking attendances can be made so hassle free. The public places are not left out too! I think this is really good. It allows people to engage in informal learning outside school, or practically everywhere. Informal learning is an important aspect of learning, so, if these things are really going to develop which I think is highly possible, the students would really benefit from this. One thing I thought about is students' assessment. Would tests, examinations, assignments or projects become technology-based?

Another thing that I think is beneficial is that video and voice conferencing can become so convenient, and sharing of files is made so much easier. This could provide an excellent platform to learn. The efficiency is worth commenting on. However, does it mean that in the near future, everyone, or at least majority of the people needs to be eqquiped with such high-end technology?

The COTF is rather different from what I saw from the iN2015 video, but I think both of them complement each other well. Learning outside the classroom would become so easy and time-saving, and students would most probably not get frightened away just from the word "learning". This I think, is different from educational gaming. This is so real and all the situations are so authentic, which allows students to learn and understadn things better. It would be geat too if technologies I saw at the COTF could be seen at theatres, hospitals, museums, or any public places.

It's going to be so high-tech in future!

Session 9 (10/3) E-learning

You watched the video on iN2015, read the resources on Second Life and experienced it, and visited the COTF*. What sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?

I am totally amazed by what I see on the video. Is that really going to happen? I mean, can technology expand so fast that by 2015, everything is so automatic and free-and-easy? The high technology and superb efficiency in almost every aspects of life come as a shock to me. Everything can be accomplished in just a few seconds' time, and things like health care, studies and work are made so much easier and reachable. The new inventions are going to make things so fast-paced and reachable, that I supposed the value of time and space in the next 5 years is going to shoot very high.

In this already-fast-paced-society, a lot of people are already not able to keep up with all the technologies. There are still a lot of people around who do not have the technical knowledge on how to use IT gadgets like computers and handphones. This is particularly true for the elderly (Of course not all, but the number is still high enough.) Should things progress that much within the next few years, what exactly is going to happen to those who are technology-illiterate? How are they going to handle the massive technology when they are not even showing signs of adapting to the existing technologies in the current society. Another concern is, where technology is, is where convenience and efficiency is. This is good of cours, but only to a certain extent. When it is more convenient to chat with friends, send season greetings, or even to care for someone online, then what's going to happen to everyone's "REAL" social life? Time may be saved, but what about values and relationships? I see that these two aspects are already suffering in this current situation and state of technology. Is it going to mean that things are going to be so much worse off as compared to now? Of course I can't deny that these future technologies are going to bring in so much convenience, efficiency, wealth and prosperity (for the country.. hmm?), but in Singapore's context, can we really handle this major change in our lives? Well, perhaps yes, there are more than 5 years for things to expand, our people can slowly adat to it. But what happens if this is no? What will happen then?

Oh well anyway, putting aside what I mention above, these technologies sure bring in the possibility of better education for students in the future, in terms of pedagogy, resources and environment. Oh, are kids going to start using tablet pcs in nursery? Or are tablet pcs already disqualified. Accompanying this rise in technology, I'm sure the Ministry of Education would set up more ICT-based schools (or turn all schools to ICT-based teaching and learning). Learning and teaching can also be anywhere and everywhere. Students can clear their doubts with their tutors anytime, and isn't that great? Furthurmore, from the video, learning is made so much interesting and less taxing as it seems. Students in future are definitely going to love learning, it's just like exploring different stages of a game. However, competition in education or any other stuff is also going to get more tense than now, I suppose. Another possibility is that people no longer need 999 and 995 in future. Everything can be done in a click or a touch on a digital handheld platform. Criminals need to be tech-savvy as well should they want to escape the law (?)(!)

How is NIE preparing you for such environments? How might you prepare yourself as a teacher?

I would say that currently NIE is already doing its part in trying to get us to be familiar to the different technologies that could be influential in the present as well as the future. There are modules dedicated to show us how different technologies can be applied and used effectively for teaching. We are also exposed to things that we haven't seen before. I think it gives us a rough idea on what to expect in future when it comes to teaching. Also, the Media eXperential Studio (MXL) and the Classroom of the future (COTF) is set up for this purpose as well. I have not been to the COTF yet, I guess it'll be an eye-opener when I visit it next Monday.(?) As a teacher, I would check out the internet for new softwares, programs or technologies that are coming up, and get more information about them. It's because I think, in this current situation, most programs can already (and definitely) be used as a tool for teaching and scaffolding purposes (if palnned properly of course.) In future, ICT is sure to be a major focus of more schools, and by equipping and updating myself of latest technologies, I can then keep up with all the changes, and slowly understand and apply them in my teaching.

Session 8 - Second Life (2/3)

We were introduced Second Life (SL) for this session. I know about its existence but I did not use and experience it before. Previously, the only close-to-similar platform that offers such an experience that I played was The Sims. Anyway, I came to know a lot of on Second Life. Dr Tan said something about SL that hit me. He said that it's a misconception that SL is not a game. Personally I always had the impression that SL is a game on the virtual world. I believe that many others had the same misconception as me. I've read in papers and on the internet on how SL brings certain impacts on people's life and such. I have no idea how that could be possible since it's fake. But after experiencing it myself, I came to understand why. SL provides a very real, interative and "non-realistic" (like flying and teleporting. I do hope that I can do that, but I can't!) experience, and it gives us to chance to go through what we can't in real life. Dr Tan mentioned how a handicapped person found a new light to life (her/him?) on Second Life. In real life, she doesn't have the ability to do a lot of things because of her condition. But on SL, she is a totally normal person who can do all the things she couldnn't do. Who wouldn't be touched by that? No wonder it's called Second Life.

However, putting that aside, SL sure has it's negative impact. I've heard of people getting too immerse in it that they couldn't differentiate between a "virtual" life and "real" life. Just to think of it, is this due to people's mindset and behaviors, or does this has something to do with SL itself? This is definitely a question worth pondering over. Will virtual worlds like SL take over and control our lives one day? How impractical and scary it is, just to think of it. Isn't our "real" life more valuable than what's not real?

Anyway, I found two journal articles online which presents different impacts and aspects of SL, which I think is both useful and interesting for our own knowledge and reference.

• "Measuring" the impact of Second Life for educational purposes
• Putting a Second Life "metaverse" skin on learning management systems

BUT, so far, my experiences on SL at the MXL was generally great and fun. We can change our appearances, we can fly, teleport, can genders, can buy clothes and learn new things just like in the real life. It's very interactive, and chat functions are available at the same time. Voice chats are possible too. It's really very "real" despite it being "virtual". The high-technology experiences make the whole thing attractive I guess. Although we only played for 20 minutes, I was already having fun. (well not FUN!!!!!, but it wasn't bad experience). I do hope we get more of such experiences in future. But as I was playing, I was thinking about this: How is this related to education in anyway? I mean, all these are about virtual worlds, avatars and such, so in what way can it be applied to teaching? Anyway, although I enjoyed myself, I don't think I'll download it. Maybe in the near future, but definitely not now. I have not fully explored all the games for PSP and Nintendo DS!

Anyway, I found this video on youtube, talking about how SL can be used for education purposes. The educational benefits.



After watching this video, my question above on how SL can be applied into teaching is more or less answered. Frankly speaking, I did not know that SL offers so much. For example the quizzes, slides and such. I totally did not expect that. I think this video is rather useful in highlighting the educational benefits of SL as it covers a lot of aspects and pedagogical approaches in teaching. Things like co-creation, cooperation and collaboration in the real life definitely is not as fun as this. Students are sure to enjoy and learn from this. Another thing is that students can visit places that they may not get to visit in real life and learn from there, for example historical places etc. It is also very interesting to see that literature can be learnt. As voice chat is available, it promotes interaction between the avatars, which make the entire experience "real". However, of course under such medium, netiquette is one issue that could affect learning and bring negative impacts on the students. Hence I believe that although SL has its benefits, teachers should not neglect or forget about the few negative impacts that could arise. Overall, I'm quite convinced of using Second Life as a medium for learning. If used appropriately, students will get to benefit a lot from it, and look forward to learning. Isn't learning more attractive when it isn't forced?

Session 8 (2/3)

This week, the last 2 Demo groups presented their ideas. We were introduced to edublogs and classtools.net.

I've heard about edublogs before the presentation and I know it's catered mainly for students and teachers, but I have never gone into the exploration part. The group's demonstration gave me a clearer idea on what we can do on edublogs. I would have to admit that this is a good blogging platform as compared to other blog service providers as it provides a lot more "services". I especially like the catergorizing of posts part as I think that it will make the blog easier for both students for teachers. It is also a very good communication tool (which can be tracked by the teacher) and it provides a platform for ideas sharing. As it also comes with 100MB free upoading space, it makes it very convenient for students and teachers to upload files onto it and does not have to constantly worry about lake of memory space. This saves the trouble for the teacher to look for another medium or program for students to upload and share their files. Also, I went "wow" when the group introduced that edublog users can import and export posts from other blog service providers (pardon me for not knowing that), it is all so convenient for students' learning. The main advantage of using this tool is that the students can find everything that want (related to their lesson) in just one platform. It makes it so convenient and reduce the possible grumblings from students that they have to go to so many places to look for what they want. Just like all of us who has to blog after each lessons and reflect about what we learnt and such, I believe that this is a good tool to promote engaged learning in students. I say it is useful as in mty own experience, it is. It got me thinking about certain issues after lessons, after blogging, and even while playing the DS or PSP. Game-based learning that is...

Anyway, the other ICT tool is classtools.net. Again, I've not heard of this tool before. But after the Demo, I came to realise that this is such an interactive tool! It's definitely going to get students' attention for all the games, games creation, creative templates of mindmaps, and even all the bright colours. (Won't students feel dull and unmotivated seeing everything in black and white?) I think there are some aspects of both lesson plans proposed which I like/caught my attention. For lesson plan 1, it's stated that 2 groups will share the same passage to facilitate comparing and contrasting. I think it's good because if each group is assigned to different passages and teacher gives feedback to each, the students only get a very vague idea on this idea or that, and there isn't really any impact. However if the students are able to compare ideas with other groups, they might "see" different ideas presented out and not just hear it from the teacher. In this case, students would learn better and have a deeper impression and greater impact on their learning.Also, students also have the chance of learning from each other, and this is very important for students' learning as well. As for lesson plan 2, students get to create their own games and have to play all the games created by others. I think this is such an "open" and interactive way of learning. It's also hands on and provides first hand experience for students in creating games. Students are sure to be motivated in the playing and hence learn something academic at the same time as a result of that. I mean, how many times do you actually get to create and play games for your lessons? (not including the gaming in MXL) The gallery walk is also a great idea where students get to display their works for everyone to see. This is sure to induce thinking and learning!

That marks the end of all the demo group presentations, and I would say that I learnt a lot from this, and is definitely going to provide some aid for my future teaching! This is all going to be useful because of all the focus of ICT in schools, especially in future. Now I have better and wider ideas on how such interactive tools can be used for teaching and learning.