Assignment 2 Curriculum

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Below will be my unit plan’s curriculum for Assignment 2 and I will be using the Australian Curriculum, ACARA as my main curriculum framework.

I chose Science as my subject area because I think that the combination of Science and ICTs does not only able to enhance children’s understandings but also able to make lessons more interesting.

 

Unit Plan Objectives

Science Understanding

  • Earth and space sciences: Observable changes occur in the sky and landscape (ACSSU019)

Science Inquiry Skills

  • Questioning and predicting: Respond to and pose questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and events (ACSIS024)
  • Planning and conducting: Use informal measurements in the collection and recording of observations, with the assistance of digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS026)
  • Processing and analysing data and information: Use a range of methods to sort information, including drawings and provided tables (ACSIS027)

(SCIENCE YEAR 1 – ACARA LINK)

Unit Plan Criteria

  • Formative:
    Formal and informal discussions in class and also written feedback.
  • Summative:
    Students will be creating an individual journal using digital technologies.

I hope I am on the right track. Feel free to send me a comment! Thank you!

ICTs & Special Needs Students Part2

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In regards to my previous post about ICTs and students with special needs, here I would like to follow up and further discuss about the idea. In today’s post I would like to share some ideas and programs about how the inclusion can be done to address the needs of these students in class.

The following ideas are adapted from – Zorigian and Job (n.d.) on their article on: How do special education students benefit from technology?

  • UNC’s Center for Literacy and Disability Studies uses technology in their mission to promote literacy and communication for individuals of all ages with disabilities. The Center has developed a three-part video on reading assessment and assistive technology that explains evidence-based practices of improving literacy through technology. Additionally, the Center has developed “alternative pencils” for students with disabilities who cannot hold a traditional pencil or see a page, including children with deaf-blindness. These technologies include alphabet eye gaze frames allowing children to “point” to letters with their eyes, onscreen keyboards that are controlled by switches, and electronic flipcharts.
  • LEARN NC offers an extensive set of resources to help teachers meet the needs of all learners, including “Reaching Every Learner: Differentiating Instruction in Theory and Practice,” a series of articles and web conferences about differentiation. In addition, LEARN NC’s technology integration page provides links to web resources, lesson plans, articles, and online courses designed to help educators incorporate technology into their teaching
  • VoiceThread is a free software program that captures student voices and photos in order to collaborate on a topic. It is a technological substitute for written papers and allows students freedom to narrate their own projects.
  • Sounding Board is an iPad/iPod Touch app that lets a student turn their device into a story board communicator. Students with writing disabilities and communication disorders can use the symbols to create their own messages in the same way that traditional symbol boards work, but easily and with a limitless supply of symbols.
  • TechMatrix offers consumer guides and links to software and assistive technology devices for students with disabilities. The site is sponsored by the National Center for Technology Innovation and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education. TechMatrix gives information and links to resources for teaching science, math, reading, and writing using technology with special education students.

Here I had also attached a video I found from YouTube about ‘How ICT benefits students with disabilities in the classroom’. Although this is just a simple video, it does not only explain about what ICTs can offer to students with disabilities but it also showed a different perception of looking at the matter. The video did enlighten me and also help me to understand about the world of students with disabilities better.

 

References:

Barron, K. (2013). How ict benefits students with disabilities in the classroom [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWHaiFDhFk

Zorigian, K., & Job, J. (n.d.). How do special education students benefit from technology? Retrieved April 5, 2014, from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6917?ref=popular

ICTs & Special Needs Students

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Clearly, ICT integration in education is vital in today’s classroom. It does not play an important role because of the emerging world these days but it could also improve education in many ways.

In today’s post, I will share some ideas about how ICTs can help students with special needs such as students with physical disabilities, visual impairments and students with hearing impairment.

Below are some ideas I obtained from the article, Computers help special needs people become a part of mainstream life by Dyes.

 

  • Student with physical disability
    “Information and communication technology (ICT) resources can include computer access devices such as switches, adapted mice and key guards, communication aids and specialized software” (Dyes, 2010).

 

  • Student with visual impairment
    “ICT resources should include talking word processors, screen magnifiers, screen readers, electronic braillers and big pointer utilities” (Dyes, 2010).

 

  • Student with hearing impairment
    “ICT resources should include symbol generating software, word processors, overlay keyboards, word lists, clipart to illustrate writing, spell checkers and grammar checkers” (Dyes, 2010).

 

Reference:

Dyes, R. A. (2010). Computers help special needs people become a part of mainstream life. Retrieved April 2, 2014, from http://www.emirates247.com/eb247/companies-markets/technology/computers-help-special-needs-people-become-a-part-of-mainstream-life-2010-03-01-1.62700

My artefact for Assignment 1

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Hello there,

Come and have a look at my artefact for assignment 1 :), you may click on this LINK.

I used Prezi as my only media in creating this artefact. Personally I enjoy using Prezi as it is very user friendly.

The objective of this artefact was to convince my viewers about the importance of ICT integration. In this artefact, I used ACARA as the main curriculum framework. I gave some examples and three main reasons of integrating ICTs into classroom through English as the main subject based on my classroom context.

Feel free to drop me a comment or share your opinions with me regarding my artefact.

Thank you!

Prezi

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When I took a break from creating my online artifact for Assignment 1, I came across Charmaine’s blog post on ‘Discovering with Prezi’.

 

In her blog post, she mentioned that she had fun discovering Prezi by clicking various buttons available. Well, I have to say I had fun exploring the Prezi webpage too! As I am new to the program, every click gave me surprises and helped me explore further. In the beginning, I admit I was frustrated with the program when I could not create and deliver the ideas I had through the program. As time passed, I became more familiar with the program and slowly manage to grasp how the program works now!

 

Based on my experience, I strongly believe that through ‘trial and error’ method, learning could be further enhanced. Therefore, this applies to students in our classroom as well! We could encourage them to explore and discover by themselves through ‘trial and error’ method so they could learn better.

In other words,

sign8

 

Stay tuned for my next post on my Online Artefact !

ICTs & Crime

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With the advancement of ICTs in this century, it is undeniable that ICTs is very important regardless in education, medicine field or even crime related issues. In this post, I will share about the relationship between ICTs and crime investigation/ prevention.

 

Let me share some common examples of how ICT can prevent crime,

  • Security tags on clothes
    Security tags are often attached on clothing and are used in various kinds of shops to avoid theft. The tags act as a protection and it will create signals when you exit the shop through the security towers.

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  • CCTV cameras
    CCTV cameras are frequently used and can be found in various locations such as shops, houses and airport (just to name a few). It is used to prevent crimes and acts as a resource to identify criminals if there is any.

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In crime investigations, ICTs works closely with forensics. Here is a video I found on YouTube about – Digital forensics, an ICT forensic science

 

 

Reference:

Arrirang TV (2014). Digital forensics, an ICT forensic science ICT [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9PwnUfcVs4

ICTs & E-Commerce

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Clearly, it is evident that E-Commerce relies a lot on ICTs. In fact most of us had been using and practicing ‘E-Commerce’ without realising what is it all about. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to explain about ICTs and E-Commerce through this blog post.

 

So… What is E-Commerce?

E-Commerce is the abbreviation of ‘Electronic Commerce’. According to Hom (2013), “E-commerce refers to the purchase and sale of goods and/or services via electronic channels, such as the Internet”. It is the business conducted via the Internet connection through emails, webpages, apps and many more. E-commerce can also “be between two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or data or between a business and a customer” (Webopedia, n.d.).

 

What is the relationship with ICTs?

In the process of ‘E-Commerce’, it requires various ICTs involvement such as software to create and design the webpage to display goods and Internet banking processes for example.

 

There are several categories for E-Commerce such as:

  • B2B (Business to Business) — this kind of e-commerce involves companies doing business with each other. One example is manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers.
  • B2C (Business to Consumer) — This is what most people think of when they hear “e-commerce.” B2C consists of businesses selling to the general public through shopping cart software, without needing any human interaction. An example of this would be Amazon.
  • C2B (Consumer to Business) — In this scenario, a consumer would post a project with a set budget online, and companies bid on the project.  The consumer reviews the bids and selects the company — Elance is an example of this.
  • C2C (Consumer to Consumer) — this type of e-commerce is made up of online classifieds or forums where individuals can buy and sell their goods, thanks to systems like PayPal. An example of this would be eBay or etsy.

[Source: Hom (2013) on the article: What is E-Commerce?]

Hope this post helps.

 

References:

Hom, E. J. (2013). What is e-commerce? Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4872-what-is-e-commerce.html

Webopedia (n.d.). What is electronic commerce (ecommerce)? Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/electronic_commerce.html

Reflection

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I took some time to reflect about ICTs and its importance in today’s life and I found out that it is quite tough for us to live without technology these days –well, at least for me.

Yes, I use and rely on technology a lot.
Why? It is because it is very convenient and useful! It does lighten up my burdens and also saves time and energy! With just Internet connection and computer, everything seemed possible. Here I would like to share some examples of possible things we can do online:

  1. Making bills payment online
    Yes! From phone bills to insurance bills. All payment can be transacted online (Either using credit card or bank transfer).
  2. Making purchases (orders) online
    From clothes, furniture, or even groceries are possible to be purchased online now and it will be delivered to your doorstep!
    E.g.: Tesco Malaysia, IKEA Malaysia

Technology does have its significance in our life these days.

So, the question is: How are we going to integrate ICTs into today’s classroom?

Personally, I think the first thing we (as educators) should do is to catch up and get ourselves familiar with ICTs. Due to the innovation and advancement of ICTs, we need to know what ICTs can offer and then include it into our classroom. 

ICTs & Students

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As I was researching some information about technology integration in today’s classroom, I came across to this article – 4 Technologies to Help Students Find Their Voice In Your Classroom by Terry Heick.

According to the article, Heick (2014) noted that technology acts as a platform for students to express their beliefs, articulating their beliefs in various forms and also helps them in being confidence. I strongly agree with his ideas. This is because not all students are able to express their thoughts confidently and orally in public. With the help of ICTs, it manages to caters and accommodate the diverse needs of students.

Based on the article, there were four possible technologies integration that could students to find their voice such as –

a)   Blogging

b)   Storify/ Storehouse

c)   Podcasting/ Voice Thread

d)   YouTube Channels

Definitely, ICTs are capable of bringing various possibilities in classroom. With the availability of technologies, it is now the educators’ roles in making use of ICTs and bringing it into today’s classroom I guess. –Well, it is quite a bit to think and reflect about!

Reference:

Heick, T. (2014). 4 technologies to help students find their voice in your classroom. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/technologies-help-students-find-voice-terry-heick

Pros & Cons of ICTS

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Is it important to include ICTs in classroom?
After reading about Charmaine Yam‘s blog post about ICTs in School, it caught me thinking about the pros and cons of ICTs.

Here I would like to share some ideas about advantages and disadvantages of ICTs in classroom:

Advantages:

a)   Virtually engaging and interactive lessons

  • Able to explain about complex instructions
or matter
  • Able to accommodate diverse needs of students

b)   Increases motivation, concentration and pleasure of learning

  • Able to catch students’ interests

c)   “Develop skills to work in collaboration and data processing” (Edinson, 2011)

Disadvantages:

a)   Reduces face-to-face interactions

b)   Lack of outdoor activities, children are less curious about their surroundings

c)   “A partition gap in classroom” –

  • “Where students are more familiar with ICT and will have more benefits, learn faster than others unfamiliar to technology” (Bushati, Barolli, Dibra, & Haveri, n.d.)

Undeniably, ICTs “play a major role in creating a new and improved model of teaching and learning” (Yunus, Nordin, Salehi, Sun, & Embi, 2013). However in my point of view, too much of involvement with ICTs in classroom may develop side effects instead -such as children having problem with writing with pencils. It is important for educators to help children to maintain a balance despite the importance of ICTs in education these days. The usage of ICTs in classroom should be mainly focused to enhance children’s understanding and learning development.

References:

Bushati, J., Barolli, E., Dibra, G., & Haveri, A. (n.d.). Advantages and disadvantages of using ict in education. Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://bederweb.majdanoz.net/Conferences/ICES%202012/FULL%20ARTICLE/
Bushati_Barolli_Dibra_Haveri_Advantages%20and%20disadvantages%20of%20using%20ICT%20in%20education.pdf

Edinson, R. (2011). Advantages and disadvantages ict integration in the classroom. Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.cenarestgabon.org/advantages-and-disadvantages-ict-integration-in-the-classroom.html

Yunus, M. M., Nordin, N., Salehi, H., Sun, C. H., & Embi, M. A. (2013). Pros and cons of using ict in teaching esl reading and writing. Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ies/article/view/28477