Introduction to Wikis and Moving Image Education..

"Wiki"  is a Hawaiian word meaning "fast" or "quick".

In part of today's ICT lesson we looked at wikis. We have seen wiki's before in first year but learning more about them was engaging and i hope to learn more as we go on! Referring back to last week's lesson, where we learned about synchronus and asynchronus media tools, we discovered a wiki could be both but it is more asynchronus. You can't do a whole collaborative page on a wiki but each person has a page and can write and edit information, so the participants are working collaboratively and cooperatively.  Wikis can be used at anywhere, anytime and can be used as a collaborative document for a specific purpose or just to share information with one another. 

Why should we use wikis? A few reasons why wiki's should be used.

Wikis can be used to capture knowledge from those who have it, so it is a good learning tool where information can be shared and gained through working collaboratively. 

Another way wikis can be used is for linking knowledge to knowledge so again, gaining knowledge through others and using the knowledge you have to enlighten someone and give someone else the information they may be looking for.

Moving image education (MIE)- 

Moving image education has a wealth of opportunities for children to experience and get stuck into! It provides children with the opportunity to give their learning another dynamic and gives their teacher, parents or carers full proof evidence of their learning through the filming of particular things they have been doing or a particular project or experience. 

I think movie image education is such a good way to bring the classroom to life, giving children a new and fun experience that will encourage group work, creativity and imagination. 

Moving image education is split into 3 parts

Analyse

Explore

Create

 and http://www.movingimageeducation.org  goes into depth about each part, giving ideas for the classroom and a guide of how to use moving image education.

Analyse-

Movingimageeducation.org give the idea that teachers should start with something children are comfortable with, maybe a class novel that is being read or a nursery rhyme or song they have been learning, and turn this into a whole new experience by incorperating moving image. 

It is also discussed that it is important for the experience to be visually exciting and engaging so that children are motivated to take part in this opportunity and not shy away. 'The visual stimulus of a film can fire children's imaginations' MovingImageEducation(2009). It is also important that children know the concepts of movie making and so can make their own decisions when the time comes. It also needs to be a clear and structured process so the children have a clear path of thought and understanding. 

social media tools and working together as communities of practice..

In ICT today, the topic was social media tools and working together as a community of practice. In 1CM1, communities of practice was a part of the module and so I read up on it throughout the module and then in depth for my assignment so was quite aware of what it was about and mostly about Wenger's work. 


When we talked about social media tools the main focus was if the particular social tool was synchronous or asynchronous. These both, I feel can be used in the primary school setting and with classes all throughout the school. Things like Facebook are syncronised,  such as Facebook chat which means replies will be instant to one another, also, it is asyncronised as one can decide to leave a comment or message and the recipient can reply at any time - this can be seen as a disadvantage as information that is required will not be passed instantly. Syncronised social media tools are a good way for people to get information in an instance and can be a great tool for sharing information, ideas and pictures and videos- this would be a great tool for the classroom as children can communicate with others such as children from other schools, sharing information about themselves and daily life. 
Asyncronised tools are also a good way for children to communicate in the classroom with others using things such as email, to share info, however the replies will be slow, but this may encourage and motivate the children as they will be excited to hear back from their 'email pen pal', or other school mates.


On communities of practice, I believe they are everywhere! Johnson and Johnson (1999), state that ' cooperative based groups are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership whose primary responsibilities are to provide support, encouragement, and assistance in completing assignments and to hold each other accountable for striving to learn' pg 59. I believe this is extremely true as it highlights that working collaboratively is such an important thing and that people benefit highly from working with others and supporting each other's learning. Etienne Wenger states that there is 3 characteristics to a effective community of practice : The domain - the people in a collaborative working environment have shared domain of interest 'They value their collective competence and learn from each other, even though few people outside the group may value or even recognize their expertise.' (no page given). This is highly important in every community of practice and for example, in our ICT elective group 'BEd'  we all have a shared interest in working together to complete every task given, based on ICT and working collaboratively.  The second characteristic is The community- 'In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other'(no page given) -I think this is important as a community of practice cannot be, unless everyone is interacting and learning together. This again is highly important in our 'BEd' group as we all need to interact and engage in each topic to the best of our ability and appreciate each other's ideas and values. The third and final characteristic is The Practice- this again is highly important as this is what brings everyone in the group together and gives them a focus and allows them to share ideas, experiences, resources etc. with the rest of the group.
Etienne Wenger.


Reflecting on Belbin's Team Roles, I believe I am a shaper. In relation to Belbins Team Roles, I feel I provide the necessary drive to ensure that the team keep moving and do not lose focus or momentum. I believe I am committed to achieve a successful end result that motivates and benefits all. 


References


Belbin, M. (undated). Belbin Team Role Theory. Available at http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8 [Accessed 16.01.12]


Johnson, D. and Johnson, R (1999). Learning together and alone. Massachusetts:Viacom Company.


Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of Practice. Available at http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ [Accessed 16.01.12]

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We have began blogging today in ICT.....

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