Week 5 - Potential Research Topic

How does school culture affect the way

schools learn and utilise technologies in learning?

I have worked at both Local and International schools, so suffice to say I can speak from some experience.

Why am I at my current school? As well as a career move from Primary School Computer Studies to Secondary Computer Literacy, I am there to help change and shape the current state of ICT and computer literacy with my own 'culture'. I am paraphrasing my school principal here, and (without sounding brash) I truly believe and endorse it too.

It is amazing to see the levels of technologies used at International schools compared with local Hong Kong schools. While local schools do have technologies, they could be maximised a lot better. In addition, HOW technologies are used when cultural aspects are taken into account need to be looked at.

I don’t know what your thoughts are about this, but there’s a sense of reluctance with technology growth at local Hong Kong schools. It seems like a cultural barrier that needs to be overcome.

Are local school figureheads dismissing ideas because their ways of thinking are ‘traditional’ or ‘old-school’? Is there a  'local school bubble’? Are staff fearful of the hassle of ‘restructuring’ for the thought of losing a position or being made redundant?

In order to answer the questions, in terms of learning technologies we need to look at WHAT local schools have, HOW they use them and WHAT their visions are for the future.

Some research questions to look at:

• How are technologies currently used at local schools?
• What 'barriers' currently prohibit the introduction of new technologies/concepts to local schools?
• Are language issues (English/Cantonese/Putonghua) affecting technologies and communication?
• How welcoming are teachers, students and school communities to technologies and the projected changes?
• What are the feasibility implications? (e.g. is there a school budget issue? are technologies 'too expensive' to afford?

So many questions. So much room for debate and discussion.

What are YOUR thoughts? Feel free to leave comments.

Week 5 - CITE Experimental Classroom @ HKU ~ Anthony's thought

When I came to this classroom, my first impression is the high technology multimedia equipment within this classroom. In the middle of the room, there is a very big display above the lecturer desk for the lecture presentation. Every corner of the room can see the screen. In additional to the big screen, there are big monitors near each group table. The students can use these monitors to watch the presentation slides or display their group work for discussion. The design of this classroom creates an excellent environment for the students to collaborate and discuss in groups. The audio and the lighting system of the classroom are also well designed. The lecturer can control the lighting of the room to suit their different teaching needs. The lecturer speech can be clearly heard at every group table with no echo. It is an excellent teaching and learning environment. It is my pleasure if I could have an chance to teach here.
In designing the eLearning environment, Laurillard identified five media forms including Narrative, Interactive, Communication, Adaptive, Productive. I would like to use these five forms to discuss the pros and cons of this classroom design:

1. Narrative – This classroom has big display and big TVs for the lecture video, multimedia, and powerpoint presentation. The students can improve their learning experience through attending and apprehending.
2. Interactive – The design of group table is to facilitate the interaction among the group members. It also reduces the gap between the teacher and the students. However, there is only one computer on each table. I suggest to add more computers on each table, so that each group members can have their computer for the online activites. The students can use the computers to further investigating and exploring their new ideas and knowledge.

3. Communicative – The classroom layout can facilitate the communication among the group members. However, the design of floor level and partitions will isolate the groups, it cannot facilitate the communication among the groups. I suggest to redecorate all the tables resting on the same floor level and remove the partitions between the tables to remove the communication barriers. Moreover, the addition of computers to the table will further encourage the students’ online discussion and debate.
4. Adaptive – The big display/TVs and the Audio system can facilitate the virtual simulation in the classroom. To further improving the students’ learning experience in experimenting and practicing, I suggest to add an small camera to the Lecturer's table. It can support the Lecturer to provide the real-time demonstrations to the students.
5. Productive – The students can use the computers on the table to express their ideas and present their project reports on the monitors. Moreover, they can use the computers in the classroom to write the essay and prepare the report.

Cheers...Anthony

Week 5 - My view of the Experimental Classroom (Rm321 Run Run Shaw Building)

My first impression of the Experimental Classroom is large but messy.
















There are number of projectors that project in different angles for both educators and learners,
but they might caused huge amount of money on maintenance.

















Also, I can see that all tables are being blocked or isolated in purpose. That might help the educators focus in group basis rather then multi-focus on all learners in the classroom. But this kind of room setting might forbid collaborative learning between groups.

If there is a chance to redecorate the entire room. I might suggest to lower the partitions, so that all groups can see each other. Since I believe that eye contact can help both educators and learners to know more about each other.

Lifelong learning can make you life looks different~!

I use to use this video to encourage my students to work harder on their studies, since I believe nothing is impossible. If you want to make your life looks different, lifelong learning can make it for you~!




Video edited via Adobe Premiere 6.0 (edited by Timothy Kwong)

Week 5 - Experimental Classroom @ HKU - My Thoughts

NOTE: This posting has a lot of pictures! :)

First impressions - upon arriving at the Experimental Classroom for the first time, I was truly blown away by what I saw.

The area has a very ergonomic, ‘curved’ design with a nice ‘white’ feel to it. There are multiple tables each with a laptop and visualiser hooked-up to their own TV monitors. What with limited laptops in the room, it only encourages us to bring our own devices (which is good) and there are plenty of spaces to set-up.

The ceiling has a wonderful design for the lighting, and it works well. The room is amazing. It is certainly not your ‘average IT lab’, but then again it was not designed to be. The room was designed with a specific purpose – to nurture a technological learning space for 21^st century learning adaption. 

For projects involving group work (thanks to the table layout), mobile devices and laptops, this environment is ideal for teaching. I particularly like how each group table has an exclusive set of connectivity options and their own TV monitors. This allows for better collaboration during group work since each TV monitor can act as the group’s exclusive projector.









The TV monitors also act as duplicate screens for the teacher’s computer/main projection. The advantage of this is you can orientate your body in ANY position or direction (you feel comfortable) and still view the projections. 

I also like how the big projector can project a specific laptop’s screen from a chosen group table (remotely-assisted via. special tablet). This is very efficient and helps eliminate the need to carry a laptop back-and-forth from group desk to teacher desk for the sake of ‘plugging in’. 

In terms of room disadvantages, the classroom floor is not entirely ‘flat’ and some group tables are raised slightly with wall barriers around the side. This can cause various group members to not being able to see other classmates, or even the teacher in some cases.  

As to my knowledge, a laptop connected to a group table can only remotely project its image (or ‘VGA signal’). There is, as of yet, no way to remotely project sound since audio cables aren’t present on group tables. 

In addition, the room could be improved if it had its own Wifi access point for our laptops and mobile devices. 

Energy-saving implications need to be considered with a room like this. With a lot of lighting, monitors and electronic devices, are they any issues with energy consumption? 

Last and certainly not least, the room itself is very expensive to initiate and possibly maintain.

Week 4 - Animation on Web 2.0 Sharing (GoAnimate)

If you cannot see the video below, click here.


GoAnimate.com: Mr Thompson's Class - Web 2.0 Sharing by pcmarriotthk

Week 3 - Voicethread on SlideShare (Web 2.0 Application)

http://voicethread.com/share/2307661/

Week 3 - Anthony’s Review of the Web 2.0 tool – Slideshare (www.slideshare.net)

Slideshare provides an platform for the teachers to share their course materials - Powerpoint slides online. The student can access the slides using Slideshare at anytime and anywhere. Through the use of Slideshare, the teachers can use different Teaching and Learning activities such as group chat, online meeting. Slideshare are integrated with the social networks (ie. Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin).

SlideShare helps the teacher to develop their powerpoint slides effectively. The teachers can search through the Slideshare collections and find some useful information for them to design and develop their course materials.


Slideshare has a lot of shared information for the teachers and students. Slideshare - Pro Channel Directory can help the students to find their learning resources effectively. The students can search through the directory for the specific area of information. For example, if they search "nasa", they will find all the presentations, videos, documents relating to NASA in the Slideshare. These collective information can be applied to teaching and learning.

Slideshare - Zipcast can be effectively applied to teaching and learning. It allows the teachers to teach anywhere and anyone. It helps to schedule the class and invite the target audience to attend the class. It provides group chat function to allow the online discussion. The chat can be posted on the Facebook. It can also be streaming the live video. Zipcast is integrated with the social networks (ie Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin). The teachers can share their ideas with others in a more effective way.

Week 3 - Timothy K's Notes on SlideShare

SlideShare can shorten your time to prepare power point presentation

For me SlideShare is a wonderful treasure, it gives me tons of references for preparing teaching materials in vary subjects.

For instance, if I need to prepare a set of presentation material about "Marketing Management", what I just need to do is to type in "Marketing Management" and then press search button. Quite a number of power point slides pop out to my screen. Some of them related to the topic, some of them not. But for reference that amount of information is good enough.

Share your presentation materials with the other via social networks

With SlideShare, you can share your presentation stuffs with your colleagues, and your students via social networks (like Twitter, and Facebook) in the original format. Therefore, educators or writers can manage their property right by in purpose.






Mobility of work

With SlideShare you don't need to worry about the file compatibility issues any more. Because, once you file was upload to SlideShare, it would act as the file opener. There is no need to use any other program to access your file. All you need is your log-in ID and password of SlideShare., and internet access. Then you can do your presentation all over the world.

Week 3 - Paul's notes on Slideshare (www.slideshare.net)

SlideShare (www.slideshare.net)

What's it all about?

At first glance it resembles a 'YouTube clone' by which it functions as a global respository for media. Specifically, SlideShare is a web application that caters as a respository for documents and presentations (and like YouTube, also stores video).

Here's how it works: You go to the site and perform searches on particular content (subjects, titles, lesson type etc) by various keywords or by browsing through channels. What kind of documents you view or receive depends upon your search query.

In addition, you can contribute your own information to the repository by creating and uploading your own documents (DOC, PPT, PDF etc)! :)

So how is this an effective application in the supporting of teaching and learning?

Online availability

As a web application, all you need is a web browser and a username/password for access. There is no need for additional software. As a result, access is made easier.

Free to use ('Basic' account)

A free account is available for students and educators to easily register and use. Other accounts are available (for a subscription fee) with more complex features, but the basic account should suffice.


Large global audience with vast information
There is lots of useful information that independent educators and creators have made online. Because so many people contribute to SlideShare, there is vast information for research and education purposes. Learning communities can be formed online and information can be shared amongst them.  Similar to YouTube, you may also visit other people's channels to see what they have to showcase. It is also possible to collaborate on documents with other students/educators via. comment boxes.

Viral tools for distribution

There are 'share' buttons available for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn use. Having these viral tools help push content BEYOND SlideShare to allow connections with even wider audiences and keen learners. It also helps those using Facebook to post and embed their own presentations through it.

Security features

Security features are available as to specify which audiences can view documents. For example, a school may create a private lesson with documents only available to their students (and no outsiders).


Voicethread coming soon! Stay tuned.

- Paul

Slideshare is great

It is so much better than reading a book..... Thanks Timothy! Maybe a new trend will emerge as slide learn. I have spent three hours already.

Tasks for this week (3)

We are going to talk about the Web2.0 "Slide Share" this week (week 3).
Then we need to do a micro presentation in the coming class.
Since, we have to make use of VoiceThread for the presentation, so I already registered the VoiceThread and you can share my account to get log-in (the log-in id and password would be sent via e-mail). Remember, rest of you don't need to re-register the VoiceThread.

Now,all you need to do is to go to "Slide Share" and play around it. After that, I need you to share your opinions, your findings, and anything about "Slide Share" via e-mail or through this blog on or before coming Saturday. (8th Oct). So that Paul can have time to finish the VoiceThread on time.

Review of the "Learning Theories Webquest" website

In addition to my groupmate Paul's comments, I have also prepared my review to this e-learning website as follows:

The link of this website is http://people.cite.hku.hk/dchurchill/LTwebquest/

It is a very good website. It is so colourful and attractive. I am interested to further explore this website. This e-learning course makes use of the Problem-based learning (PBL) approach to motivate the students learning so as to have a deep understanding of the Learning Theories. PBL approach is getting most students to use the higher cognitive level processes in learning. In the "Facilitator's Guide", it clearly defined the Purpose (Learning Objectives LOs), Target audience, Prerequisities, and Assessment criteria of this e-learning course. PBL also helped to align the LOs, TLAs and the assessment tasks. I liked the "Resources" area, it provides a collection of useful resources links for the students easily access the resources. There are three activities in the "Learning Process" including the Mindmap, Template, and the Proposal. All these TLAs are fully aligned with the LOs.

I suggested some improvements to this website:

1. It will help the student learning if we could add some multimedia content (ie Video).
2. Integrate the online discussion into this e-learning course which allows for the students to have online collaboration, discussion, and feedbacks.
3. The technology used to build this website was too old (ie. the pop-up window). Suggest to rebuild this website using the latest web technology.
4. Integrate the online quiz into this e-learning course.
5. Provide links for more Mindmap software to facilitate the students.
6. Use the LMS (ie. Moodle) for the peer assessment.

Cheers...Anthony

Group Activity 2 - Mind Map

I have prepared the Mindmap of the Learning Theories using the Bubbl-us application.

Cheers...Anthony

Learning Theories Webquest - Review

http://people.cite.hku.hk/dchurchill/LTwebquest/

Paul's Initial Comments:

Upon visiting the site for the first time, one thing that is really striking is the use of colour. The colour and contrast used is just right and stands out fine (the blue and green give a distinct feeling of 'nature', and is pleasant on the eye).

The container frame used for the page is of a fixed width and height (not too big, not too small) as to ensure usability with a range of screen resolutions - something that should NEVER be overlooked when designing and creating websites. Do you know how frustrating it is when a web designer creates a page that is fixed on a 1920x1080 resolution? If the average person has a bare-basic 1024x768 screen and has to use horizontal and vertical scroll bars to navigate around the site, you'll understand! :) Fortunately, that is not the case with this website,. so well done on that part!

As for the main user interface, it is easy-to-access and is clearly labelled with icons as to know which function does what.

Clicking the icons brings-up respective pop-ups of information (in which case you may need to enable pop-ups on the site). Instructions are clear and concise. Bullet-points and numbered lists are used to keep information structured.

In addition, there are sufficient links as to help you with your webquest. Some of the links bring you to external sites as to help you learn what you are about to research.
The content of the site is short and to-the-point. There is nothing overly-excessive here. It is easy to navigate and locate the information you need.

There is information on the site (under Facilitator's Guide) explaining the purpose of the webquest and why we have them. This is good for newbies that are being introduced to webquests for the first time. For those with experience, it helps reinforce the reasoning behind them.

Using a webquest encourages student-centered learning where the teacher (or the person behind the construction of the website) acts as a facilitator. As facilitators, we direct students to places where they can find information, as well as offering advice as how to go about using their information and research in the construction of answers.
All-in-all, a well-put and respectable webquest site! :)


Suggestions for Future Improvements:

1. Somehow eliminate the use of pop-ups and have all information on-screen. Pop-ups are old concept and a bit of a no-no for browsers of today (with pop-up blockers).
2. A forum or comments system where students can share information together or ask questions on various sections (perhaps something around the 'Conclusion' section?).
3. Look at migrating the webquest onto a more 'modernised' Web 2.0 platform e.g. Moodle. That way, it is easier to organise information and communicate.
4. Employ and integrate more Web 2.0 tools into the webquest.

Cheers, Paul

Hello ! I am Anthony

Dear all,


My RISAL name is Anthony. I am glad to be a member of HKU. It is my pleasure to join this course.


I have worked for IT industry for more than 10 years. I have the past experience in developing the training courses for the system end-users. I have no experience in teaching in school, but I would like to make use of my past IT experience to assist the Education. I think this course could provide a good learning environment for us to further explore the use of Information Technology in Education.


I love traveling and photography. I hope that all my classmates can enjoy their learning in HKU.


Cheers...Anthony