Education is value

I was looking through YouTube and I came across this interview with Barack Obama on Education. His catch phrase is 'No child left behind.'
He talks about providing early learning education before children start school and also parents teaching children before they start school, teaching them colour, number, letter and shape recognition. Also it is important to read to children. I know that this is the President of the United States of America but what he is saying works for Australia too. Providing better schooling, pay for teachers and more training also provide more affordable college education to encourage more teachers.

I enjoyed listening to this clip and it has left me thinking, every child is entitled to an education and the chance to excell in life.
Take the time to look at this clip and let me know what you think.

LMS

As a Learning Manager I have been completing my studies through FLEX learning and have not attended a lecture at a campus, so using Blackboard has been my contact with the university.  I found Blackboard easy to follow once I got started and I was able to access everything that I needed for my studies.  I must admit that I was out of my comfort-zone when CQU changed to MOODLE but now I have my head around it and know that it is another form of Blackboard.  This form of studying has worked for me as everything is there for me to see and go back too, as we know I am a visual learner and so this works. 

I think that this would work in the upper grades as students can work at their pace and everything is at their finger tips.  I feel that with ICT becoming more impotant in the classroom this will be a useful tool for students and teachers. Using a form of LMS such as Moodle would not work in Early Childhood Education but in Secondary Education it would work especially for students in Yrs 10-12 as they can access their lessons at home and it would be a great resource for revision and when it is close to exam time. Students can work through the class load at their pace at home as well as in the class room.

I do wonder though when using this form of ICT learning what happens to students who do not have access to a computer? At school who will supply a computer to every student? We are teaching the students necessary skills but do they have access to the materials (computers) when needed?

ICT

I have had a busy week and I have been working through this weeks work and readings and no I have not attempted my powerpoint.  I keep reading through the steps and it is so much.  I have had a busy week at work and I look at this powerpoint and know that there is a lot more involved then just the straight forward powerpoint that I use daily in my job.  Each day I present a powerpoint containing photos of each child in the class with a heading of what the child has done that day.  These powerpoints are used in the child's file and a story is written from these powerpoints.

Two years ago I would hand-write in a portfolio for each child but now I have to complete a whole class powerpoint, type up stories about the children and download daily photos, and this must be completed in 1.5 hours with the children not resting.  I have decided that I will not be bringing my work home and so this work must be completed at day care.  I look at all the new ICT tools on offer in this course and I wonder what would benefit me in my current job.  I still have 1 year until I have completed this course and that means 1 year more of working in my current job, I love my job and each morning I get up ready for a new day and new challenges but now I am thinking of new ways to communicate with my parents and show them their children's work and day.

I guess that I will just continue working through this subject and see what tools I find easy to work with and easy to follow as I know that some parents do not use computers in their everyday life and may not have the time and knowledge to use these tools too.
Regards Karen. 

Power Point

As you may have noticed from a previous posting, I am a visual learner.  I have been reading through the task for this week, Power Point and making a storyboard.  I started off printing off all the information from the task and am now faced with 12 pages of instructions, I like that there are photos of the different screens but I feel overwhelemed by all this information and am not too sure where to start.

I have been reading through this information and am wondering if this process would work in my workplace, having to following all this information may take too long for one process.  I am having to take a step back and will look at this again tomorrow.  I will not give up the challenge and will report back on how I went.

Regards Karen

5th December 2010
As I work through this process I find this power point/storyboard too involved and do not think it would work in my current job as it would take too much time.  Each day I complete a power point presentation of the children's day and have found that out of 24 children, only a couple of parents take the time to look at the power point.  The children do like to look at it and comment on what they are doing and who they are playing with.  I know that as we are about to start a new year, we are looking at ways to change the power point presentation and getting parents to notice this.  We are looking at placing the daily power point in each child's file for that day.  Does this breach the privacy of the other children?  We are still looking into this and having to talk to our head office to see if this is done at other centres.

RSS

Hi

I have just worked out how to list everyone's blogs into a RSS file and it was a slow process because we all know that computer knowledge is not my best skill but I have everyone attached and now I will be able to check all your new comments and additions.  I must say that I am really impressed with everyones blogs and wikis, you are showing me how useful these forms of ICT can be used in the class room.  I have spent over an hour today reading through your sites and looking at how much work and information you have on your sites.  I am needing to get my act together, I feel.  Though I am proud of what I have achieved so far it is a lot more then I knew 3 weeks ago!

Keep up the good work everyone.
Regards Karen

Wiki

I have just posted my Wiki.  I have focused on the use of wikis in the child care industry and using a wiki for student's yearly portfolios.  I know that schools are using digital portfolios.  I feel that using wiki for the portfoilos then parents are able to access the wiki from home and work and contribute to their child's wiki.  Please read my wiki and let me know what your opinion is. http://karene-learning.wikispaces.com/

5th December 2010
I have been thinking about the use of Wiki in Early Childhood Education, there maybe privacy issues, can parents access other children's Wikis. I would make it that each child has their own Wiki and the parents would be given the name of the Wiki but this information would not been given to other parents. I also have attached a YouTube clip about a whole class porfolio and I thought this would make a great Wiki. It could list on each page a learning experience for the class, with a brief description of the activity and photos of the class taking part in the activity. This Wiki would help support the learning of the class and demonstrate what is being taught in the class.

I have added an additional page to my Wiki to show an example of a page that would show parents the benefits of computer use in childhood education and also display photos of the children over the year. Not only would computer usage be one page but also some other examples are Construction Play and Painting.

Learning Styles for students with learning disabilities

I was looking back at my blog and was reading through the comments made by Tania on my Learning Styles.  Thank you Tania for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, I find this very useful.

 I have a child in my class with ASD and was wondering about using the learning styles worksheet with him and seeing if this will help me with learning about him and knowing how he learns and what are his strengths and weakness in different learning areas.  My student has changed so much over the past year and is starting to need less assistance in the class room and is socialising more.  I have worked with other children with ASD and they are now in school and it is interesting to see them changing and learning to be part of  the class room environment.

Learning

I have completed my learning quizes and I have decided at the age of 40 that I knew what kind of learner I am and surprise, surprise I was correct.  I am a visual learner and I have a mind of pictures and this helps me with my studies and job.  People always ask me how I remember peoples names and about information that has been told to me.  I like to think about where I am when I meet a person and where I was when I was told the information.  This is very important in my job.

I was surprised with the results from the Multiple Intelligence test, I am a Linguistic (Word Smart)  closely followed by Intrapersonal (Myself Smart).  I found taking these tests fun and very interesting and have noticed that I am watching my family more to see what kind of learners they are and I know that at work this coming week I will be watching the children in my class, to see what kind of learner they may be.

I think that this information is valuable for teachers as it will help to show us how to teach our students and allow them to learn at their pace and within their abilities. 

Mind map

I have completed a mind map and understand that this would be very useful in the planning of lessons in the class room.  I feel that you could also make a mind map of your students looking at their learning style, interests, strengths and weakness.  I have seen mind maps in the text for this degree but have never used one myself.  I found the Bubbl.us easier to use, though I know that I could do better with more knowledge. 

Thank you.

My first blog

Hi my name is Karen and I am a flex student studying BLM Early Childhood.  I am a third year student and only have one more year of study, which I am very excited about.  I currently work in the child care industry and have found over the past 2 years that computers are being used more in the class room.  I have never made a Blog before and find this very confusing but know that it will become very important in my future career.  Most of the children in my class room have computer knowledge and are able to operate computer games such as Playstation and Wii, now it is time for me to catch up with them.

I need to move with the times and being a teacher in the 21st Century I have to forget how I was taught at school, 25 years ago and realise that computers are put of the learning process.  I am asking everyone to assist me with this.  I now start on a new journey and know that this will help me to be a better teacher.

Regards
Karen