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Finishing my last ASSIGNMENT!

Sun, 29 May 2011 08:28:45 +0100

This week I have been working through the researcher side of assignment 2B. I was finding it quite hard to understand what Jenni was looking for. I searched through the Murdoch discussions pages (http://www.murdoch.edu.au) but could not find any answers to my questions, so I went to Jenni personally. I was getting frustrated that I could figure out what I was meant to so in turn I could not start. After sending Jenni the email I awaited my reply. To my surprise what I though was correct actually was! So I started to write my sample essay. The topic I decided to write about was the use of technology in the classroom, centring on the SMART board. I searched through Murdoch catalogue (http://www.murdoch.edu.au), Google (http://www.google.com.au) and Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com.au) through various key words like 'Interactive whiteboards', 'smartboards' and 'technology in the classroom'.
While reading through the text book, I also came across the mention of the digital storytelling. In my foundation unit, for one of our assignments we needed to make a oral presentation on our wellbeing over the last semester. I though this was a great way to present my presentation, the bonus is we also go makes on props and visuals so this was perfect. I researched on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) and came across examples of others digital stories.

Assignment 2B... Part 2!

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:55:23 +0100

As I mentioned in my previous blogs, in class last week we discussed in more detail assignment 2B. I started the first teaching resource last week. By doing this I now completely understood what the assignment was asking. This time the resource I decided to use was Paint. My lesson consisted of the students using paint to create posters in an English lesson. In the tutorial, Jenni discussed the marking rubrics for 2A. I also discussed this in my last blog as well and re-visited my question in the discussion board and there were three others wondering the same thing. Later that week, I checked the announcements on LMS on www.murdoch.edu.au and saw that the rubrics was up. I then went through it checking and comparing my work. I only added one thing and that was the link to the Department of Education Syllabus (http://www.det.wa.edu.au/curriculumsupport/k10syllabus/detcms/portal/). Check out my website http://life-of-cyndi.yolasite.com for my teaching resources.

Until next week
Cioa

Assignment 2B- Electronic Whiteboard

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:28:00 +0100

In our tutorial this week, my lecturer Jenni Parker started to talk about assignment 2b in more depth. To be honest, I was very glad that she did as I was finding it hard to understand what the assignment was asking me to do. As I wasn't understanding it fully, I decided to go onto the Living and Learning with Technology LMS on www.murdoch.edu.au, and found the in the "Resource" page, some well resources. These resources includes examples, which for me, helped a lot! I felt relieved juts having something to refer to when in trouble. After finding out what was expected I started the search for my program which I was going to use for the interactive whiteboard. I first looked in the resource page again for the websites suggested. I looked at only one (www.apples4theteacher.com) and didn't like it or find anything I was looking for, so went back to the website I found the previous week (www.abc.net.au). I wanted to look at the marking rubrics for this assignment as well to see if I was on track. I looked through "Resources", "Discussions" and "Announcements" but couldn't locate the rubrics so I posted a message on the "discussions" page as well as Matt's (another student in my class) facebook page. I guess I'll see who answers first. By the end of my first technology (electronic website) page, I was happy with the way it all turned out. Now to start on the next one.

Assignment 2B Research

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:39:38 +0100

Last week we started to discuss our next project. Assignment 2B involves researching two teaching tools (one including the electronic whiteboard) and one of our own choice. We also have to examine and research software programs used for assisting with teaching. I started researching the electronic whiteboard through www.Youtube.com. I searched through my own searches and also through the suggested videos on LMS ( www.murdoch.edu.au ). That made it a lot easier to understand the whiteboard through watching the videos.

I'm feeling very overwhelmed about taking this assignment on, especially as I have sooooo many assignments reaching their due date. I will just have to buckle down and stop procrastinating about it. :)

After researching the electronic whiteboard, I found a great website with programs that can be used in conjunction with a lesson. The website is www.abc.net.au and then going into "count us in" section where there are 15 different games that can be used to help make learning fun!

In class the next week, one of the student also commented on a website she found for the electronic website. This website is www.learninggamesforkids.com . This is also another great website that can be useful in a learning environment.

Assignment 2A

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:45:07 +0100

This week in the lecture and in our tutorial the next assessment. This assignment is done within a group of four, where we need to make a teaching resource for teacher. We have decided to do physical education in schools, covering a weeks lesson on teaching touch rugby. When I started researching I looked for sources on the internet, inparticularly www.ehow.com . All I needed to do was type in the search bar what I wanted to look for "how to pass in rugby" and then a step by step process appeared. I also found reference in the 'Play with Purpose' by Shane Pill where there are lots of examples on games for different sports. I found that before I started, the assignment seem quite daunting, but as I have a knack for creativity it just bit the bullet and started. Having help from the other group members was also a plus as having someone elses input is always valuable. After the website started to take shape I felt quite proud of my creation. After I completed my part of the assessment, I sent the link through via www.facebook.com where the others could discuss what they though. I find referencing difficult to understand as there is so many ways to do it for so many different types of things (pictures, quotes etc) so when I got to class Matt helped me intext reference my pictures I used. At this point I was so glad I had team members. It is helpful learning the different skills needed to make our teaching resouce webpage. I learnt the skill of making links over text in the last assessment so I decided it would make it more insteresting and easier to navigate through our site. I found really interesting videos on www.youtube.com about how to perform the skills I was discussing, so I decided to incorperate those in the website aswell. I think that that explains it skills better as the teacher can visually see what the students will need to be doing. Over all I am proud of my contribution to the group project and think it would make a great teaching resource.

The Social Network: Blog on!

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:54:13 +0100

Hello, and welcome to my second blog about my new page: The social network.

For assessment 1B we were asked to add some social website that we use and enjoy. The two that I chose were Skype and Mlistr. I use Skype quite often to talk to my family in New Zealand so I though it was perfect for what the assignment was asking. I made up an email to my family explain what Skype was and why I though it was a great program to use. I included screen shot picture to help explain my instructions for downloading and Skype use. Mlistr, on the other hand, I had not used it before but as I am a movie enthusiast, a movie based site seemed just ideal.

Now even though starting my website/blog was overwhelming, making this page seemed to just work. I screen shot pages from the programs I was using so it was easier to understand and included step by step instructions.

I feel like I did a pretty good job on my new page and all the instructions I created through pdf files. So feel free to take a look at my "Social Network" page :)

T.T.F.N

Until Next Week...

Cyndi

The all mighty first blog!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:07:25 +0100

Well, where to start :)

Firstly welcome to the first of my many blogs.

OK...University! The thought of university was very over-whelming, not knowing anyone, not knowing where to go and most of all not knowing what to expect. These same feeling occurs before my first lecture of Living and Learning with Technology. I didn't know what to expect at all. Of course I knew how to use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint but "technology" covers so much more. Those feelings changed as soon as I walked into the lecture theatre. There were friendly faces either from the orientation day or even my friend Stevie from my year 11 biology class. This automatically made me feel a lot more relaxed. By the end of the lecture I felt great! I had understood a lot of what the lecturer was talking about and what was needed for my first assesment.

Now the assessment, I didn't really know where to start. I talked to some friends and searched the resources available to me at MyMurdoch and found a lot of advice...which helped immensely. So yeah, welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy reading through my uni experience.

I still have no idea what to expect week to week, but it is exciting embarking on a completely new journey.

T.T.F.N. Ta Ta For Now

Until next week...

Cyndi.