Hello again and welcome to Week 7 of my blog!
Today in our ICT workshop we looked at definitions of M-learning (mobile learning). One definitions of m-learning comes from the eLearning Guild (2002) who defined it as:
'Any activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting with, or creating information, mediated through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries on a regular basis, has reliable connectivity, and fits in a pocket or purse'.
M-learning can provide students with accessible resources wherever they are, strong search capabilities, rich interaction, support for effective learning, and performance-based assessment. It can be used for a wide range of subjects, helping children to learn maths, english, science, history etc. During the workshop we looked at a video on how one school is using the ipod touch, to enhance and support pupils learning. The ipod touches were givin to a class of 8 year olds, who used the ipod touch in all subjects.
We also explored game based learning in the primary school. We looked at interactive games with an educational value, that could be used in the classroom and created our own. Some examples included:
- Wordie
- Dance to Advance
- Vodki
- 2 do it yourself
- Scratch
- Kodu
Wordie
Wordie is a useful way of doing mind mapping with children at primary school. It is a programme for generating 'word clouds' from words you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. When using wordie in the classroom children can experiment with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images children create can be used for various purposes. They can be saved, printed out, and put on Wordle gallery to share with friends. In our ICT workshop we were given time to create our own wordle.
Dance to advance
Dance to Advance is an and easy-to-use dance mat activity software for math, ELA, science and other subjects, making learning interesting and engaging. The programme promotes visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learning. It is an ideal way to challenge and test student's knowledge. It is an ideal way to challenge and test students' knowledge, while simultaneously supporting the importance of physical activity. Teachers can use this software to create, edit, and customize your own dance mat activities on any subject or topic .The software is great for students with english as an additional language by promoting listening, speaking, reading and writing on their feet throughout a range of highly interactive activities. The programme allows children to personalize their learning experience by selecting from a range of characters, music and background scenes. Below is an example of a dance to advance activity which I created. The purpose of the activity is to help children learn their six times tables.
How I would apply this in my teaching
As a teacher, I would use some of these programmes in the classroom. Some of the software proved to integrate inclusion within the classroom. For example, the learning programme '2 do it yourself', included different level games from simple to more complicated games. This means that children can work at their own level. The use of a microphone, in some of the games we looked at, would be very suitable and effective for children with any educational need. As well as fostering creativity, all the games promote thinking and strategy skills. According to Higgins (2003), use of computer games like these mentioned above, can enhance Children’s learning, particularly in Maths. I feel I would defiantly use these games for a range of subjects including maths, geography etc.
Further information:
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