Assignment 1 learning tools

4 different Game Maker tutorials, each increasing in difficulty and complexity of the tasks that are involved.

Voki

Mind42 Map

I added to the Mind42 Map an area under video called video tutorials and screen-casts. Screen-casts work particularly well in the ICT classroom as a way to engage students with a topic, allowing them to rewind if they missed something and it also allows students to follow at their own pace. I have made screen-casts for Photoshop and Game Maker and would upload them to the blog (and wiki) soon.

Blog Reflection

To extend upon the video I feel that any and all subjects which incorporate ICT (which is quickly becoming most if not all) should be using, or at least keeping the option open, of using a blog as an online learning space. Once you get an active community formed over a blog learning and research take careof themselves. There will be a constant stream of new updates and new posts even if the individual doesnt post every day, or every week for that matter. ICT and Media subjects are obvious choices for blogs (especially for me) but I really feel that every subject could and should make use of this learning tool and try to integrate the technology as much as possible.

 The blog also encourages a more constuctivist approach of learning where the students are encouraged to use the blog and explore ideas through the sharing of posts. In particularly this can be related to Vygotsky's social constructivist ideas. "In a sense we become part of the community, and the community becomes part of us in the sharing of knowledge." (McInerney D.M & McInerney, V. 2006). And although this quote was just talking about social constructivism broadly you can see how it directly relates to the learning involved in a blog.

 References

Walker J & Mortenson T, (2002)  "Blogging thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool", Researching ICTs in Context, Chapter 11.

Blood R, (2000) "Web Blogs: A History and Perspective"  URL: http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html.

McInerney D.M & McInerney, V. (2006) Developmental Perspectives on cognition and effective learning (Ch.2). In, Educational Psychology : constructing learning (pp.36-69).   Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. : Pearson Education Australia. 

Links to posts and replies

http://nathanlearningit.blogspot.com/2011/06/learning-tool-1.html#comments

 http://brendans-experience.blogspot.com/2011/06/teach-online-unit-plan-ict-in-small.html#comments

http://www.richstudio.info/uni/2011/06/16/a-vce-unit-of-work/#comment-12

http://rj-elearner.blogspot.com/p/assignment-3-unit-of-work.html

http://uni.rbriscoe.com/?p=30#comment-8

Learning tool #2

Learning Tool #1

TechOne aims for higher learning

ENTERPRISE software provider TechnologyOne has named Wayne Oswin as solutions manager for the higher education sector.
He will drive the development of the company's practice enterprise offering, which is customised for the tertiary and vocational education sectors.
Oswin has more than 20 years experience in education software industry, including 10 developing and deploying web-based information management systems at Queensland University of Technology.
Most recently he spent four years as senior project manager (technical environments and user interfaces) working on the TechnologyOne student management system implementation, which went live last November. Before that he spent five years as manager of QUT web solutions.
Oswin was part of the management team responsible for launching and rolling out QUT's multi-million-dollar student management system, which also involved TechnologyOne.
"TechnologyOne is a growing publicly listed company with an outstanding reputation as an international leader, so the opportunity to join the company appealed," Oswin said.
The appointment follows the establishment of a TechnologyOne Solutions Group last year to support key sectors by offering best-in-class enterprise solutions across a range of industries.
HSBC has chosen Brenton Hush to be chief technology and services officer for its Australian operations.
He will oversee more than 300 employees working across change delivery, corporate real estate, security and fraud risk, direct service centre, management services, IT operations, software delivery, service delivery and procurement.

full article http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/techone-aims-for-higher-learning/story-e6frgakx-1226074503970

Do schools kill creativity?

Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education | Video on TED.com

Here's a pretty interesting video about education and the roles that ICT can play in it, in particularly in different countries and cultures. See what you think!

Govt gives IT education $40m boost

February 18, 2010

AAP
A new $40 million education initiative will improve the computer literacy of teachers and ensure they can keep up with their students, the federal government says.
Education Minister Julia Gillard announced on Thursday half the money would be used to develop a self-assessment tool for schools to look at where they needed training in information and communication technology (ICT).
And the remaining $20 million would be used to set up an ICT Innovation Fund to provide grants for ICT projects.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Ms Gillard said universities, state and territory education departments, businesses and the private education sector could apply for funding from April 2010 for projects to improve the capabilities of pre-service and in-service teachers.
She said the program complemented the government's current commitment to give every student their own school computer.
"We can make the best of those learning opportunities if the teachers understand the power of the computer technology to transform learning," she said.
"And the reality is in most classrooms around the country the children would know more about computers than their teachers do."
Ms Gillard said the government had already rolled out 220,000 computers in schools ahead of the program's 2012 deadline.
"It's one thing to give the kids computers and that's very important," she said.
"... But to make that work as well as possible we also need to invest in the skills of the teachers."

Skills shortage to become critical

 

 Penny Coulter, chairworman of National ICT Careers Week and director of IT recruitment company Taylor Coulter. Picture: Brianne Makin Source: The Australian

 

THE skills shortages visible in Australia's information and communications technology sector and are expected to become critical by June next year.
The March quarter Clarius Skills Index reveals a shortage of about 2200 computing professionals because of increased demand from resources projects, IT banking projects, anticipated requirements for carbon tax management systems and the rollout of the National Broadband Network.
Industry commentators believe declining enrolments in ICT courses at Australian universities and TAFEs, and a 50 per cent drop over the past decade in the number of domestic students completing IT courses, are exacerbating shortages in the sector.
"We are seeing a very substantial drop in the number of people studying IT at university," says IT recruitment company Peoplebank's chief executive officer Peter Acheson. "If you look at forward forecasting, more IT roles will be created; the convergence of business and IT is happening.
" Yet as IT has become more important to business, fewer people are studying it."
Australia's ICT sector comprises businesses engaged primarily in providing computer and telecommunications services, as well as hardware sales and service, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It is the fourth largest ICT market in the Asia-Pacific region after the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean markets, and the 11th largest in the world.
And it accounts for about 4.6 per cent of Australia's gross domestic product.
Some of the biggest employers of ICT graduates in Australia are international IT vendors, including Microsoft and IBM, and ICT end-users such as banks and government departments.
The most in-demand ICT roles nationally are network engineers (in all states), project managers, business analysts and developers.


Penny McLeod
 
Full article http://www.theaustralian.com.au/careers/skills-shortage-to-become-critical/story-fn717l4s-1226063877709