4.+Assignment+Four+-+Reflection

=__**REFLECTION**__=


 * __Assessment Criteria -__**

__**ONLINE IDENTITY**__

 * 1. Personal Wiki site is accessible, useful and reflects a professional approach.**

The use of a [|Wiki] has been a valuable learning experience for me and I believe this will be used in my future ambitions as an educator. I have learnt how to use this website by trial and error and the help of my fellow classmates. It is a great way to store and share information and I believe my personal wiki site is extremely useful and reflects a professional approach.

**2. Identify issues involved in having an online presence providing evidence and/or examples.**

There are many issues that an online presence about you can have. As you are putting up information about yourself, pictures, status updates, creating discussions and uploading videos, people can view this and you can become under scrutiny for what you put up. Future employers can also look you up on the internet and can make an assumption of the character you are by what they read on your profile. As we have seen recently, Stephanie Rice has come under scrutiny and lost sponsors for a tweet she made on her site Twitter. Therefore, what you post should always be thought about thoroughly before it is posted on your site. The most important thing to do is make you profile private and only allow friends that you know permission to view what you publish. The internet is a haven for people to prey on what you are doing and can be dangerous and may ruin a reputation of someone. It is therefore critical to be self-conscious, always think before publishing something and make sure your profile is private. The other issue that has arisen with the prominence of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter etc, is the publishing of photos of other people, using other peoples music and pretending to be someone you're not. This is an issue for the young, the vulnerable in our society and the mentally impaired. One example of this is the Carly Ryan case whereby she caught up with someone through Myspace who she thought was her own age which ended in tragic circumstances. Young people can be ignorant and find it hard to grasp that fact that once something is online, it is public. These issues remind me of 'sexting' which will become a major problem we face as teachers in the future. For more information on my online presence and identity issues - click here
 * 3. What tools did you find to be most/least valuable?**

I believe all the tools have great benefits. Delicious obviously is my favorite and therefore the most valuable as it can play such a major role within my teaching life. The least valuable for me would be flickr as I'm not that interested in changing photo's and therefore won't apply for me when teaching. YouTube is another valuable tool and will be used regularly within my classroom context. Overall, this subject is going to give me great information and examples of useful Web 2.0 tools to use in the future.

__**WORKING WITH WEB 2 TOOLS**__

 * 1. Identify tools (other then below) that would be useful for your own professional/personal life and give reasons?**

The Web 2.0 tool I am excited to be using in future years as an educator is wikis. Having had this experience of working with all sorts of Web 2.0 tools, I believe wikis will be an excellent incorporation into a school setting if monitored and used appropriately. This may also have a link with other teachers and parents of students to maintain communication lines. Setting up a class wiki similar to the one we have in [|EDET 2305] would have many benefits including posting assignments and setting up class events. This would work effectively in a high school setting and as I am studying to be a Primary School teacher, pictures for show and tell could be published and it gives a chance for students to show parents their progress at school. If the parents can see this at home on a computer, then they will be satisfied at what their kids are achieving at school. The other aspect of using a wiki which I think is a fantastic advantage is the possibility of self and peer assessment. Because there are effectively infinite copies of students work it makes peer assessment, something which is often time consuming and difficult to organise, quite possible.

For my own personal and professional life, I will definitely be using Delicious as this has already become a big part of my learning and getting information for assignments and resources for when I become a teacher. An example of this is when getting references off the internet; I simply save the site to delicious and can get the references easy as they are saved. Before I had delicious, it was a big process getting my references back because I had forgotten the sites. Another Web 2.0 tool other then the ones we have explored that is useful in my everyday life is MobilePay. This is an easy way of making purchases and paying bills with the simple use of my phone. Phones are becoming more and more useful in today's modern society and this is just one example of its revolution. Grungi is another example of a useful web 2.0 tool and provides games for students to complete which is also educationally valid.


 * 2. Identify ways in which a professional blog/wiki/website could be useful?**

A professional blog/wiki/website could be very useful in your professional and personal lives. As a teacher, I could set one up with units of work and a collaboration of students work and use this information in an interview. They are also useful for containing and maintaining work, personal assignments and getting feedback from other sources.

__DIGITAL STORY__

 * 1. What did you learn from this process? (What was particularly rewarding, challenging or frustrating? What might you do different next time?)**

The making and production of the Digital Story was an extremely rewarding yet challenging process. When I first arrived in this topic and was told I would need to spend 75 hours on this assignment, I thought that was a massive overestimate. However, on reflection it took close to this amount of time to finish my project and was more time available, I believe I could have spent another 50 hours getting it cherry ripe. The main thing I have learnt from this project is how to edit audio and how to create a digital story using movie maker. I also learnt that planning an assignment like this needs to be thoroughly thought about and started weeks before it is due. Therefore having good organisation and planning skills is one thing I have I have taken from this assignment. Some challenging aspects of the assignment were editing the audio to near perfection. As I am new to this technology, I believe my editing improved from my first radio cut however my editing for the digital story was good but not great. I think I will only get better at this overtime. The frustrating part of the assignment was not having enough time to perfect my digital story. There are always little things that could have improved such as the photo editing, timing, audio pauses etc. The most rewarding part of this assignment however was when I finally published my story on the wiki and it was over. To look back and see where I have come from in week 1 of this topic until now, I am extremely happy and delighted at what I have achieved. Watching the movie come together through adding photos and putting transitions and effects in was extremely rewarding. Next time I do something like this I will make sure my photos fit the screen perfectly, practice my editing skills to get a better audio and allow myself sufficient amount of time to get the best possible result.


 * 2. Discuss two other class stories and say what elements attracted you to them?**

//My Grandma's Overseas Journey - By Cameron Hromin//

I was really attracted to this story as it captivated my interests almost immediately. The pictures and quality of audio was outstanding and the story had a good flow to it. As I have a keen interest in travelling, this Digital Story really enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the world outside my little bubble called Adelaide. The experiences his Grandma had were touching and the story definitely had a great feel to it.

//Holiday Experience - David King//

This story was funny, engaging, had great audio and had plenty of snapshots which made this digital story appealing to me. As I can relate to weekend trips with mates, I found this story attracting and the elements within the video affective. The story was well-paced and went through his experience step by step and finally had an ending which was excellent.

After viewing everyone is the classes' videos, I believe everyone did a great job and I could have reflected on each person's digital story's. It is amazing what you can learn about someone whether it be that Clare is a poker player or that Patrick is a fire dancer and through doing this assignment it is evident that this is a worthwhile experience to bring into a school setting.


 * 3. In what way might Digital Storytelling be useful in teaching?**

I believe Digital Storytelling is an excellent way of integrating several studies of Information Technologies into a fun and engaging assessment piece. There are a multitude of elements which could be incorporated into a project like this such as photography, interviewing technique, sound editing and many more. The best thing about a project like this is that the reward for students is not in the grade but in making the story and producing something they can be proud of.

__REVIEW OF THE TOPIC__

 * 1. What activities did you find to be most valuable?**

It is hard to pick a certain activity that was most valuable because the entire course was a new experience for me and what I have learnt and will have with me for life is going to be extremely valuable for me as a future educator. The course was nicely set out so that you can learn things in one assignment that would help for the next. The ability to produce an edited sound file in the Radio Cut assignment would be useful as students could record their voice and use this for assemblies or presentations. Through editing their own voice they can produce a sound file that runs smoothly and effectively. The making of the Digital Story however would have to be the most valuable activity learnt and I am excited to do a project like this when I become a teacher and the great part is that it can be easily integrated into any subject.


 * 2. What activities did you find to be least valuable?**

Once again, everything in this course was a new learning curve for me and therefore the things I have learnt and activities conducted are all valuable for my learning experiences. Learning about Web 2.0 tools is essential in this fast evolving technological world and the five tools that I researched will all play integral parts n my teaching.


 * 3. Summarise what you learned as a result of doing this topic and how this may or may not be useful to you in the future.**

The tools that I have learnt within this topic are all invaluable to my career as a teacher. If you asked me what a Web 2.0 tool was before this topic I would have no clue. The ability to create an online identity, use tools to help when looking for resources and have a wiki are something that will save a lot of time for me n the future. This knowledge that I now have will open up to great ideas for classroom activities and can also be shared with other staff members. Overall this topic has been a fantastic learning opportunity for me and has excited me about starting my teaching career and putting some of these technologies into place.