This week we explored the different mediums of Blogs, Wikispaces and Weebly Websites. All three can be incorporated into learning and teaching, however each provides a different set of benefits. The SAMR Model, which aims to assist with the incorporation of technology into learning, will be included in the examination of these mediums of technology.
Dr Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR Model that "aims to support teachers to design, develop and integrate learning technologies to support high levels of learning achievement" (Education Queensland, 2013). SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (Education Queensland, 2013).
This table explains the SAMR Model well (Puentedura, 2014):
Image created by Dr Ruben Puentedura. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/01/31/SAMRAnAppliedIntroduction.pdf
This model can be utilised to allow teachers to develop technology components within lessons, in some cases just replacing a task with the use of technology, such as instead of handwriting a journal article, students could do so through a word processing program. This is an example of substitution. Augmentation would be using technology to create a journal on a blogging program which students, teachers and parents can access online and provide feedback for example. Modification could be the use of blogs by a class that is studying a particular subject whereby they research the topic further and provide a persuasive argument using online resources. Redefinition would be using blogs to discuss a topic, which are then read and feedback provided by students who are studying the same topic in another part of the world. They then work together to provide solutions to topics ie climate change, bullying through sharing of ideas and working collaboratively.
The blog program we explored was this one- Blogger. The first step was to have a Gmail account, something that I have had for years. I then created a blog through my email. This was a relatively easy process for myself, however I saw fellow students have a hard time with this. Having a small IT background and a general interest in different computer programs has made the tasks of setting up these accounts relatively easy for me, almost to the point of being second nature.
Once I had created a blog with a name and web link, I gained access to a dashboard that offers many different customisable options. For example, I could choose a theme background from a number of pictures and a layout that I decided was both function and visually pleasing. Other information I can see from the dashboard includes how many people are visiting my blog per day, which country they reside in, and comments that have been made to my posts.
One of the benefits with this program is that you I could change features such as the theme and layout without saving the changes and view them on a preview screen prior to publishing the change. When I was happy with the change, I saved it.
Another great function of the program was how easy it is to incorporate items such as a Voki into the blog. Google was my source on how to do this and it is a very easy process that I have since been able to share with my fellow students.
The adding of posts has been equally easy. I greatly appreciate the ability to be able to draft a post that I can work on over a number of days and save as I go, without having to write it in another program or publish an incomplete post. When writing the post, you have a number of options such as the text size, font, and colour, as well as inserting links, pictures and most of the basic word processing features.
The limitations of the program are that it is restrictive. The text comes in 5 sizes- smallest, small, normal, large and largest; while the fonts are Arial, Courier, Georgia, Helvetica, Times, Trebuchet and Verdana. I would have liked to see the inclusion of Wingdings which can add some interest particularly for primary school children.
The program can be a little bit hard to negotiate, however with time it does become easier. I would suggest that when first learning to use this program, that attention to detail is required. The information is there to make the program work for you, however you need to be looking in the right place.
I agree with Thomas (2008) that a blog can be used as a group tool, however it is not as effective as a wikispace or a discussion forum. Having said that however, I believe that this medium can be incorporated into learning, although limited when looking as collaborative tasks. I would suggest that it is ideal for self-reflection and for the teacher to ascertain that key learning has indeed been met.
The other consideration for this medium is that feedback need to be provided on an individual level ie responding with a comment. I believe that if personalised feedback is not offered, students will be reluctant to put in the effort. This is the same had this task been completed using handwriting. I would personally prefer to log on to a blog when had time, ie watching my children play sport, from the comfort of my lounge etc, and provide feedback than cart home 30 exercise books. I can also type faster than I can write. It also means that I do not have to finish the task in such a short time frame due to be required to return the books tomorrow for another task.
In terms of security, blogs are highly secure when compared to wikispaces. Once a post is made, the author/owner of the blog is the only person that can change it. Comments do need to be monitored, however I believe that if you complete a lesson on what is appropriate and not appropriate when writing and responding to blogs, you can combat this issue. The owner of the blog can delete inappropriate content.
In practical examples, I would use a blog to substitute the task of handwriting a journal. I am currently developing activities for an assessment item for a novel"Other Brother". I would break the class up into three groups and ask them to write a journal entry about the same event from the perspective of the different key characters- Bon, Kieran and Gina/Julia/Bon's dad eg. Bon's visit to Kieran's house, which is their first time meeting; Bon's first day at Kieran's school; Bon sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night and Kieran convincing him to come home; and Bon and Kieran getting caught out of the house and being grounded; Kieran attempting to stand up for Bon against the bullies when they dress him in a skirt; Julia's sudden departure from the school and the town.
This activity could be further developed as the blog offers each student the ability to read the entry by the other students and provide feedback. It also offers a chance to finish the book, as it were, as the ending is very open. Students could break into groups and write what they believe was on the postcard from Julia, the reply from Bon or Kieran, and read each other's responses. I think the modification of this task would both meets some of the general capabilities within the Curriculum, whilst providing students with a new learning experience that builds upon their understanding of the novel whilst working somewhat collaboratively with their peers.
These activities use substitution, augmentation and modification from the SAMR model and assess understanding, evaluating, and creating from Blooms Taxonomy.
Another example using a blog would be to ask the students to do some research into bullying, a key theme in the novel. I would ask them to research the topic, providing links to websites which they found useful, and then reflect on their own experiences of bullying. They could write about examples from the book that ties into a time when they were bullied or bullied someone else. This activity would fall into the Modification and Redefinition parts of SAMR.
As a side task, I like the idea of students writing something good about their peers. I had previously done this on a piece of paper when I was at school. A blog could be used for each student to write an introduction about themselves ie age, family structure, favourite movie/song/book/sport etc. Once all the students have had time to get to know each other, they could visit each other's introduction post and write something they like about them eg "You make me laugh with your jokes" or "You are going to be the world's next Beckham". This activity would fall under the Substitution and Augmentation parts of SAMR.
Weebly has taken a lot of the thinking and scary notions out of building a website, with a simple click and drag system which allows you to add content the way you want. Overall, it took me about 10 minutes to set it up, with about 8 minutes of that was choosing which template I wanted to use.
The template choices were vast. They offer different themes and a stock photo that comes with each. I chose the sky to grass template as it seemed light, and I could tie in the idea of reaching for the skies for my students.
The process for initial setup is very similar to that of Blogger- chose your theme, your weblink and then a dashboard of sorts opens up. On the left are a number of buttons that reflect the different components that you can add to your website. You simply click on the one you want and drag it onto your site.
The templates come with three pages created for you- "Home", "About" and "Contact". Adding additional pages is very easy. You are given the option to add a "Standard" page or a "Blog", "Store" or "External Link". With each new page you add, you can chose the title, the layout, if it is hidden from navigation, password protected, as well as adding in a description of the page, and meta keywords in the advanced settings.
A feature that I found very useful is the ability to stagger the pages so that I could create a core page that the base for all Class Plans, and then have individual pages for each subject. These pages are indented to the right to look like they belong/fall under the Class Plans title.
I am able to invite people to access my webpage based on a few categories. This however is limited unless you want to pay a per the month fee. As a test, I added one person as an Administrator, which gives them free access to edit and create. I would be hesitant to give this type of access to students, as there is content that I have written that I do not want edited or removed. With the Author access, you are able to restrict which pages members can edit. This would be more practical in a school situation.
The website doesn't have a "Save" button as such, but rather a "Publish" button. I found that I forgot to press the publish button on a number of occasions. This is one of the fail-safes to ensure that you do not make changes you are not happy with.
In practical application, the Weebly Website would be a very useful tool. I can see the application of it almost only limited by the skills and imagination of the educator. As I stated before, one of the key limitations is access. It could become a one-stop shop for all the information that you want a student to access. It definitely offers more opportunities to be collaborative, however unless you are willing to pay for the service or give students full write access, it can be quite limiting on what content you are able to provide.
The only example of how I would use this program as a home base. (I do not want to get bogged down in all the uses for this medium, as I am already hovering close to 2000 words for this analysis.) I would add everything that we are doing onto a website like this for easy reference for myself and my students. The ease in which you can add content is amazing. I can see how I would develop my unit of work on "Other Brother" and upload it to the website. It would also assist with students who are away with keeping up with their workloads, and guidance for students and parents alike to keep track of where their child is up to and what they are expected to do.
This medium is a perfect example of Redefinition from the SAMR model. It brings together all the components you use and opens up a new level of learning.
Education Queensland. (2013). The SAMR Model: engage in deep learning and authentic contexts. Retrieved from https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx
Puentedura, Ruben. (2014). SAMR: An Applied Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/01/31/SAMRAnAppliedIntroduction.pdf
Thomas. (2008). Using Blogs to Enhance Learning- Some Helpful Tips. Retrieved from http://www.openeducation.net/2008/10/10/using-blogs-to-enhance-learning-%E2%80%93-some-helpful-tips/
Dr Ruben Puentedura's SAMR Model
Dr Ruben Puentedura developed the SAMR Model that "aims to support teachers to design, develop and integrate learning technologies to support high levels of learning achievement" (Education Queensland, 2013). SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (Education Queensland, 2013).
This table explains the SAMR Model well (Puentedura, 2014):
This model can be utilised to allow teachers to develop technology components within lessons, in some cases just replacing a task with the use of technology, such as instead of handwriting a journal article, students could do so through a word processing program. This is an example of substitution. Augmentation would be using technology to create a journal on a blogging program which students, teachers and parents can access online and provide feedback for example. Modification could be the use of blogs by a class that is studying a particular subject whereby they research the topic further and provide a persuasive argument using online resources. Redefinition would be using blogs to discuss a topic, which are then read and feedback provided by students who are studying the same topic in another part of the world. They then work together to provide solutions to topics ie climate change, bullying through sharing of ideas and working collaboratively.
Blog- ICT27.blogspot.com
The blog program we explored was this one- Blogger. The first step was to have a Gmail account, something that I have had for years. I then created a blog through my email. This was a relatively easy process for myself, however I saw fellow students have a hard time with this. Having a small IT background and a general interest in different computer programs has made the tasks of setting up these accounts relatively easy for me, almost to the point of being second nature.
Once I had created a blog with a name and web link, I gained access to a dashboard that offers many different customisable options. For example, I could choose a theme background from a number of pictures and a layout that I decided was both function and visually pleasing. Other information I can see from the dashboard includes how many people are visiting my blog per day, which country they reside in, and comments that have been made to my posts.
One of the benefits with this program is that you I could change features such as the theme and layout without saving the changes and view them on a preview screen prior to publishing the change. When I was happy with the change, I saved it.
Another great function of the program was how easy it is to incorporate items such as a Voki into the blog. Google was my source on how to do this and it is a very easy process that I have since been able to share with my fellow students.
The adding of posts has been equally easy. I greatly appreciate the ability to be able to draft a post that I can work on over a number of days and save as I go, without having to write it in another program or publish an incomplete post. When writing the post, you have a number of options such as the text size, font, and colour, as well as inserting links, pictures and most of the basic word processing features.
The limitations of the program are that it is restrictive. The text comes in 5 sizes- smallest, small, normal, large and largest; while the fonts are Arial, Courier, Georgia, Helvetica, Times, Trebuchet and Verdana. I would have liked to see the inclusion of Wingdings which can add some interest particularly for primary school children.
The program can be a little bit hard to negotiate, however with time it does become easier. I would suggest that when first learning to use this program, that attention to detail is required. The information is there to make the program work for you, however you need to be looking in the right place.
I agree with Thomas (2008) that a blog can be used as a group tool, however it is not as effective as a wikispace or a discussion forum. Having said that however, I believe that this medium can be incorporated into learning, although limited when looking as collaborative tasks. I would suggest that it is ideal for self-reflection and for the teacher to ascertain that key learning has indeed been met.
The other consideration for this medium is that feedback need to be provided on an individual level ie responding with a comment. I believe that if personalised feedback is not offered, students will be reluctant to put in the effort. This is the same had this task been completed using handwriting. I would personally prefer to log on to a blog when had time, ie watching my children play sport, from the comfort of my lounge etc, and provide feedback than cart home 30 exercise books. I can also type faster than I can write. It also means that I do not have to finish the task in such a short time frame due to be required to return the books tomorrow for another task.
In terms of security, blogs are highly secure when compared to wikispaces. Once a post is made, the author/owner of the blog is the only person that can change it. Comments do need to be monitored, however I believe that if you complete a lesson on what is appropriate and not appropriate when writing and responding to blogs, you can combat this issue. The owner of the blog can delete inappropriate content.
In practical examples, I would use a blog to substitute the task of handwriting a journal. I am currently developing activities for an assessment item for a novel"Other Brother". I would break the class up into three groups and ask them to write a journal entry about the same event from the perspective of the different key characters- Bon, Kieran and Gina/Julia/Bon's dad eg. Bon's visit to Kieran's house, which is their first time meeting; Bon's first day at Kieran's school; Bon sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night and Kieran convincing him to come home; and Bon and Kieran getting caught out of the house and being grounded; Kieran attempting to stand up for Bon against the bullies when they dress him in a skirt; Julia's sudden departure from the school and the town.
This activity could be further developed as the blog offers each student the ability to read the entry by the other students and provide feedback. It also offers a chance to finish the book, as it were, as the ending is very open. Students could break into groups and write what they believe was on the postcard from Julia, the reply from Bon or Kieran, and read each other's responses. I think the modification of this task would both meets some of the general capabilities within the Curriculum, whilst providing students with a new learning experience that builds upon their understanding of the novel whilst working somewhat collaboratively with their peers.
These activities use substitution, augmentation and modification from the SAMR model and assess understanding, evaluating, and creating from Blooms Taxonomy.
Another example using a blog would be to ask the students to do some research into bullying, a key theme in the novel. I would ask them to research the topic, providing links to websites which they found useful, and then reflect on their own experiences of bullying. They could write about examples from the book that ties into a time when they were bullied or bullied someone else. This activity would fall into the Modification and Redefinition parts of SAMR.
As a side task, I like the idea of students writing something good about their peers. I had previously done this on a piece of paper when I was at school. A blog could be used for each student to write an introduction about themselves ie age, family structure, favourite movie/song/book/sport etc. Once all the students have had time to get to know each other, they could visit each other's introduction post and write something they like about them eg "You make me laugh with your jokes" or "You are going to be the world's next Beckham". This activity would fall under the Substitution and Augmentation parts of SAMR.
Weebly Website- http://melissanewton.weebly.com
Weebly has taken a lot of the thinking and scary notions out of building a website, with a simple click and drag system which allows you to add content the way you want. Overall, it took me about 10 minutes to set it up, with about 8 minutes of that was choosing which template I wanted to use.
The template choices were vast. They offer different themes and a stock photo that comes with each. I chose the sky to grass template as it seemed light, and I could tie in the idea of reaching for the skies for my students.
The process for initial setup is very similar to that of Blogger- chose your theme, your weblink and then a dashboard of sorts opens up. On the left are a number of buttons that reflect the different components that you can add to your website. You simply click on the one you want and drag it onto your site.
The templates come with three pages created for you- "Home", "About" and "Contact". Adding additional pages is very easy. You are given the option to add a "Standard" page or a "Blog", "Store" or "External Link". With each new page you add, you can chose the title, the layout, if it is hidden from navigation, password protected, as well as adding in a description of the page, and meta keywords in the advanced settings.
A feature that I found very useful is the ability to stagger the pages so that I could create a core page that the base for all Class Plans, and then have individual pages for each subject. These pages are indented to the right to look like they belong/fall under the Class Plans title.
I am able to invite people to access my webpage based on a few categories. This however is limited unless you want to pay a per the month fee. As a test, I added one person as an Administrator, which gives them free access to edit and create. I would be hesitant to give this type of access to students, as there is content that I have written that I do not want edited or removed. With the Author access, you are able to restrict which pages members can edit. This would be more practical in a school situation.
The website doesn't have a "Save" button as such, but rather a "Publish" button. I found that I forgot to press the publish button on a number of occasions. This is one of the fail-safes to ensure that you do not make changes you are not happy with.
In practical application, the Weebly Website would be a very useful tool. I can see the application of it almost only limited by the skills and imagination of the educator. As I stated before, one of the key limitations is access. It could become a one-stop shop for all the information that you want a student to access. It definitely offers more opportunities to be collaborative, however unless you are willing to pay for the service or give students full write access, it can be quite limiting on what content you are able to provide.
The only example of how I would use this program as a home base. (I do not want to get bogged down in all the uses for this medium, as I am already hovering close to 2000 words for this analysis.) I would add everything that we are doing onto a website like this for easy reference for myself and my students. The ease in which you can add content is amazing. I can see how I would develop my unit of work on "Other Brother" and upload it to the website. It would also assist with students who are away with keeping up with their workloads, and guidance for students and parents alike to keep track of where their child is up to and what they are expected to do.
This medium is a perfect example of Redefinition from the SAMR model. It brings together all the components you use and opens up a new level of learning.
Wikispace- http://melissanewtoncqu.wikispace.com
Wikispaces are the most collaborative medium that is being analysed within this blog. I believe that Wikispaces are the easiest medium analysed as they come "classroom ready" with the teacher only being required to add members and content.
Once you go through the registration process, you come to the dashboard. This site is already set up with a page for "Members", "Projects", "Events", "Assessment", and "Settings". This is very much something that you could use to immediately upload content and be ready to use within a day.
On the members page, you can send out email invitations; or through the Settings Page, you can set up new accounts. I think that creating the log-ins yourself would be best as you do not have the added worries of students not receiving their log-in emails. You can directly upload a spreadsheet with all this information if you wish (which might make it easier if the student already has a generic school log-in that you could copy).
On the Projects page, you can enter details about tasks you would like the students to complete. This is a great tool as you can elect to set a due date, as well as assign students into groups. Once assigned, students can start typing on a page and working collaboratively on the task. This page can also allow you to plan for the future in that you can set a project for any time in the future and it will remain hidden until the start time.
On the Events page, you can add items as well as decide if they are to be seen or hidden. This works well with the Projects page.
The Assessment page allows the owner of the Wikispace to track the work that each students has done. For example, I can pull up each of the projects and see if the student has contributed through writing on the page, reading the page, or saving the page. This is great for group work where you want to ensure that each member is contributing to the task.
As previously stated, this medium is very collaborative, however one of the drawbacks is the management of content. Students are able to access and edit content contributed by their fellow classmates, which could be accidental or malicious.
As with the Weebly websites, Wikispaces would fall under the Redefinition part of SAMR models. It offers the opportunity to bring all the students together to learn and work collaboratively and can easily include outside sources such as other websites, blogs etc.
Put into practice, as with the Weebly websites, I can see the opportunities are endless. Content control is the main issue. However I would use this in conjunction with my website- the wikispace would be where the practical work gets done such as concept maps and the final outcomes would be posted on the website.
Self-Reflection
Until this subject, I had never really had any inclination to create a blog. I had previously had some experience with building a website, however I did not know about Weebly. I had never heard of a Wikispace.
This week has challenged me to find ways to incorporate them into learning and learning outcomes. While I do have some ability to navigate rather easily through programs, I did find some of the finer details difficult to negotiate.
I had started this blog believing that the Wikispaces was probably going to be my favourite medium, however that changed when I started to use the Weebly website. I did make a mistake with the Wikispaces and navigated away from the Classroom setting of it. I could not get it to revert back to this, so I deleted that Wikispace. Since restarting, I have found it much easier to utilise.
I can see numerous ways to use this technology especially using the SAMR model. I have listed a few ways above, but please note that my ideas are not limited to those listed above.
I have enjoyed this subject so far and have appreciated the opening up to new technologies. I had never heard of a Voki or Wordle previously, but have been able to incorporate both of these into the mediums analysed above.
References
Education Queensland. (2013). The SAMR Model: engage in deep learning and authentic contexts. Retrieved from https://classroomconnections.eq.edu.au/topics/Pages/2013/issue-7/samr-learning-technologies.aspx
Puentedura, Ruben. (2014). SAMR: An Applied Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/01/31/SAMRAnAppliedIntroduction.pdf
Thomas. (2008). Using Blogs to Enhance Learning- Some Helpful Tips. Retrieved from http://www.openeducation.net/2008/10/10/using-blogs-to-enhance-learning-%E2%80%93-some-helpful-tips/
Your going to have to help me with the weebly. You seem to know it a bit better than I do. Great blog
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