Design Rationale EDEL2002

The heart of TPCK framework is the interplay of three forms of knowledge that is, content, pedagogy and technology. This is better illustrated in the venn diagram below.

We can see that effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between components of knowledge  situated in unique  context, my design rationale is based on the above hence the study and exploration of affordances of technologies available to suit my field of teaching.  Some of the skills in electrotechnology can only be taught face-to -face therefore i use blended learning to facilitate my teaching.
I explored three different technologies of presentation which are, PowerPoint, Prezi and Glogster, i also explored keynote since according to my opinion powerpoint does not have as effective voice narration options. The findings of the affordances of these technologies can be found in my preceding blogs.
At any given time depending on the tasks required from students, the facilitator may decide to use blogs as a method of sharing ideas between students and facilitators. Blogs have the advantage that postings are listed in a chronological manner. Wikis are also useful for learners add their insight on subject matter.
Other forms of technologies that can be used are emails or twitter especially if the facilitator has instructions to give learners, another social tool that we use as facilitators to communicate with the students for information on assessments and what is required of them is whatsapp.The information literacy cycle referred to as the big six model is useful to support the learning inquiry process.Basically big six skills of learning are as follows:

1. Task Definition
2. Information Seeking Strategies
3. Location and Access
4. Use of Information 
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation                   

As we go through the phases of learning the technologies that we use constantly change to suit students' and facilitators' needs at that particular stage. Refer to my previous blog post entitled, ' Phases of Learning'  to see the overview of the phases of learning, please note i have edited Wendy Fasso's personal planning overview to suit my related unit/course.

Conclusion

From the overview of learning phases we can draw a conclusion that not all technologies suit every stage in the learning phase. Sound technical knowledge is essential so as to choose the best technology to use to achieve maximum goals, this shows that the TPACK frame work cannot be complete without a thorough understanding of the technologies. This assignment task has aided me to deliver my classes in a way that is modern and exciting. Prior to starting this course i would introduce the scope and learning outcomes for a particular unit using the old 'brick and motor' lecture kind of presentation, through exploring various technologies, i have since adapted powerpoint and keynote presentations which are converted to video. Inasmuch as this sounds so simple and easy to do, i would not have thought of blended learning to introduce topics and units, students can access the video presentations via email prior to them attending their first session, already they come in with a scope of the objectives and problems that need to be solved. I find this very engaging and interesting.

I will be looking at Prezi and Glogter to make various presentations for remaining months of training this year.

References

http://www.tpack.org

Dabbagh, N. (2005). Pedagogical models for E-Learning: A theory-based design framework.

Gerstein, J. (2012). User generated education: Learning spaces as  student-centric personal narratives. Retrieved from / http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/learning-spaces-as-student-centric-personal-narratives/ International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 25-44.

Queensland Government (2006) Phase descriptors: Examples of behaviours in the 4 phases of learning. Early Years Curriculum Materials retrieved from http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/p_10/ey_phase_descriptors_06.pdf

The design of eLearning across the phases of learning

Please find below an outline of a unit course of work, this was edited from Wendy Fasso's planning overview.

Wendy’s personal framework edited by Hazel Kuveya

Phase of learning	Links to pedagogy	Digital approaches	Learning outcomes
Phase 1 This unit covers developing, connecting and functionally testing electrical power and control circuits that perform specific control functions. It encompasses working safely; developing schematic/ladder diagrams and converting them to wiring diagrams	One of the critical pedagogies is that of relevance (connectedness). This is an interactive unit. Students share ideas and are familiar with the AS1102 standard. Through interaction and use of reference materials students should come up with a solution to solve the problem presented	This is a blended learning unit. The information problem is given to the students via a voice narrated keynote presentation. Face to face debate is encouraged due to the different areas of work the students are undergoing training, debating will result in a lot of ideas being displayed. The problems with participation, and a lack of opportunity for some to contribute can hinder the effectiveness of face-to-face debate. Therefore students are required to take their discussions to their blog postings. Students are encouraged to keep their blogs alive by sharing ideas even after the end of their 2 week block at college	Occupational Health and Safety procedures for a given work area are identified, obtained and understood. Safety hazards, which have not previously been identified, are noted and established risk control measures are implemented. Schematic arrangement of control circuits that complies with agreed scenarios is documented in accordance with established procedures.
Phase 2 Learners must be able to understand what we mean by circuit design. With this in mind they think about ways to approach the challenge. They scope the limitations and define the question in researchable terms. This leads to a better defined question that will support approaches to finding a potential solution	By presenting an ill-defined problem to students, negotiation of the dimensions and implications of the problem will be initiated. This will in turn raise a range of perspectives which must be negotiated early in the process. In this phase, learners also identify strengths and talents amongst their group members, and establish group roles and responsibilities.	Even in a blended situation, a collaborative online brainstorm is ideal in this phase, this can be done by use of the wiki space to tabulate ideas on commencement this supports better planning and justification of planning. It also supports a reflection cycle in which learners return to their ideas, improve, enhance and edit them. A benefit of a wiki is that there is no limit to the amount of material held and negotiated. An important consideration to maximise efficiency and equity is the scaffolding of the way learners contribute. Tables or protocols can support data collection and tabling of ideas for negotiation. But particularly in Wikispaces, the association of a forum and comments with each wiki page supports active negotiation of ideas.	Learners learn how to evaluate the perspective of others, how to analyse implications and practical and theoretical implications. They link a question to resources and processes able to frame a solution. Learners also learn how to consider the strengths and gifts of others, the diversity within their group, the cultural significance of their solution. In doing this they are practicing goog workmanship.
Phase 3 A strategy or set of strategies to work towards a solution are identified and mapped out. In this case students are given a specified number of scenarios to develop a circuit, which they are going to physically connect. Included in this is the identification of the knowledge entailments and requirements to support a justified solution.	Whilst learners should attempt to map out the knowledge entailments, this is likely to be a phase underpinned by a combination of research and explicit teaching. The ebb and flow of teacher guidance is finely planned and managed. A guide to how circuit development is achieved through face-to-face instruction by the facilitator. Problem-solving strategies that are relevant to the context may be discussed with students. Social learning and collaboration are important especially intensive contribution of the industrial based students who come in this unit a little bit advantaged over their domestic based counterparts. Mapping out roles and responsibilities so that each student has a unique role in the process of finding a solution is important.	Again, keeping a digital record of this phase of learning is important. Students can scan copies of their drawings and ideas and send them to instructor via the student drop box.	This is the primary phase for assessment and first submission of formative assessment. The teacher will give each student feedback and advice of the outcome i.e a one on one with student, at this stage the students would be required to hard wire their submitted assessments if successful in the formative assessment. Students will learn how to evaluate and plan for achievable outcomes.
Phase 4 The investigation, research stage follows, in which students follow closely their plan, review it on reflection often, modify and change it sequentially as they go, follow timelines, collate, consolidate ideas and research, and collect a body of data that will support their actions.	Connectedness and relevance are important here. As are higher order thinking process, collaboration and negotiated learning. Communication skills are critical. Information processing skills are a primary consideration, and there will be the need for scaffolding where learners do not have the required skills to search and evaluate information.	It is always important to consider the distributed nature of knowledge and information, because the mode of interaction includes a digital record, the interaction is more influential, and have longevity. Students will be able to tap into the digital record, check their understanding, check misunderstandings etc.  This will also help them prepare for their final written assessment. Interaction on a conversational basis with others also occurs throughout the unit. They can use the wiki space or blogs, for students who are not skilled in the technologies used for blended learning, an induction will be considered.	This is the primary element that is normally assessed. It involves the use of complex thinking processes to evaluate and collect and filter information for a given purpose. It is also where core conceptual knowledge and understanding is constructed, organised and linked to other concepts.
Phase 5 Students will analyse information for relevance, usefulness, ideas… and from it they will begin to formulate their response. An ongoing consideration of stakeholder needs is required to ensure that the solution that they generate meets their own design brief.	Again, the pedagogical focus here is on supported, scaffolded collaboration, negotiation, analysis, and evaluation of ideas. Students may be pattern-searching or integrating information and drawing conclusions. One of the complexities is that they must let the data speak for itself, whilst still considering the stakeholders’ needs. Without a frequent return to the question, background and context, they may lose this focus. Again, the scaffolding of the teacher is critical.	The maintenance of the early planning materials is critical, and these may be adjusted and modified to represent the process that actually happened as it was modified and tailored to suit, this unit builds up from the initial phases therefore students need that continuous flow of modifications and analysis documented and the blogs proves to be the best tool to use here.	Higher order thinking is the outcome here… the capacity to analyse, evaluate and make supported decisions.
Phase 6 Presenting the solution, and then evaluating it based on feedback from stakeholders	The authentic links are important here. The right solution, to the right people, with the wrong way of presenting it may be doomed to failure. This is complex and requires investigation and problem-solving. It is also where multimodal literacies come in as students use text and images to frame their presentation.	This can be a robust opportunity to learn about feedback and re-conceptualisation of a problem and its solution. Perhaps students could develop a feedback proforma  - or an evaluation sheet to be used by the audience and stakeholders. This data could be                                              and used to propose new directions.	Cultural knowledge is important. Students need to know the characteristics of the stakeholder group.

Glogster Presentation

Glogster is an online platform for digital learning enabling more than 14 million students and 1.5 million teachers worldwide to adopt modern principles and methods of learning by using the Glog interface.
Glog is an interface for mixing text, audio, video, images, graphics and data.They provide a canvas freedom with portrait and landscape options, an editing tool and simple drag and drop function for adding media.
Glogs provides teachers and students with a virtual teaching and learning space. Glogster edu creates learning environments which embody the attributes shown below:

Learner Centered
They are easy to use, flexible and allows for different learning styles

Knowledge Centred
The online poster is a means for students to display their knowledge of topic. It also enables collaborative projects in which students can work together to construct and extend their learning.

Assessment Centred
This enables teachers and students to provide timely feedback on their glogs within its internal messaging system.

Community Centred
Facilitates teacher - student interaction due to its asynchronous parent/community interaction. Glogs can be embedded into classroom websites to foster participation.

A youtube video below shows how to add voice and video to a glogster poster tutorial and i found interesting.

Conclusion

After exploring the affordances and technical features of various presentation such as prezi, powerpoint, keynote and glogster we can learn that the choice of tools is dependent on the needs of the learner. It is also dependent on the type and purpose of the presentation.


References

http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008_Anderson-DeliveryQualitySupport.pdf

http://www.appappeal.com/app/glogster/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80NISdsoouE

http://www.technologybitsbytesnibbles.info/archives/3406

edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu

PowerPoint Presentation

I have had a few technical issues with powerpoint as i was doing my assignment on EDEL2001. This has helped me have a fair share of exploring powerpoint. I created a powerpoint presentation using windows 2007, i then later on uploaded the file i made to a machine which uses windows 2013, i did this because of the extra features that powerpoint 2013 has over the 2007 version.

My presentation had voice narration and background music as well, please note i was using powerpoint version for mac 2013, because part of the assignment in EDEL2001 required an upload of a youtube video i had to convert my presentation to a movie, after about four hours i realised that powerpoint version 2013 cannot convert the audio narration into quick time, therefore i had to use the other alternative which was to use keynote presentation, i found it very user friendly and easy to use as compared to yes, powerpoint. Notice i wanted to use the feature of converting powerpoint into a movie across various operating systems and devices, otherwise despite this technical hiccup powerpoint has many advantages and i use it on a daily basis.

I am going to share with you 2 exact presentations that i made with voice narrations, one with powerpoint and the other using keynote, i have drawn a conclusion that whenever i want to make a movie presentation i will use keynote because of the smooth output quality of my presentation especially the voice narration and the ease of converting into a movie, i will use the powerpont however for other linear presentations simply because i use windows and mac software and hence i save time on trying to convert the technologies to become compatible.

See below the movie i made using keynote presentation and i uploaded to youtube notice the good sound quality as compared to the powerpoint and draw a conclusion.

The presentation below shows the power point 2013 presentation that has been converted into quicktime movie, i lost all my voice narrations, the out come was a movie without any audio output.

Conclusion

From this particular experience i had with powerpoint, the tools that one uses for a presentation should be appropriate for the kind of presentation and also the audience . I have also learnt that other forms of presentations have features that make them suitable for use in certain situations. Powerpoint is a good presentation tool that as facilitators we should learn to unpack it and put it to full use especially in this digital age were software is updated regularly. This blog is a reflection of pros and cons of powerpoint during my exploration of its technical features.

Prezi Presentation

Before i started doing this course i would limit my presentations to simple linear powerpoint presentations. I have explored the prezi presentation and i find it easy to use and at the same time modern and very engaging as students also use mobile devices to link with social media that they use. The fact that it can be used online and offline makes it a presentation to consider using in my facilitating.

Below is a table that shows the affordance analysis of Prezi, this sums it up and makes it very easy to understand.

Multi media video and images can be added to present information visually. Thomas Cochranc 2011 sums up the Prezi as bridging the Pedagogy, Andragogy, Heutagogy continuum and i find this to be true. I am so excited about the Prezi and i can't wait to use it in the delivery of my next units in the next four weeks.

Below is a link to a small presentation i made while exploring the technical features of prezi

http://prezi.com/ydfwdl9xke8f/present/?auth_key=ator7ov&follow=7zjncv6ugvp0

Conclusion

' Prezi allows us to communicate design ideas with our clients in a highly engaging and dynamic way, liberating interesting conversations from boredom of one way presentations.' Randy Howdir, Design

References

Thomas Cochranc_(2011)

www.slideshare.net/hawkinsdana/week-7-affordances-analysis-prezi