Week 1 Role of Technology and Media in Education

Task 1 was to Create a Gmail and Hotmail Account, and also to create  a Group Contact List in both.

Steps: 

1. Go to the Gmail/Hotmail website.
2. Select "sign-up".
3. Fill in the needed information.
4. Sign into your account.
5. Select the drop down menu.
6. Select 'contacts'.
7. Individually add each name and email.

The challenges I faced with this task were:

• Locating the contact tab in gmail on my phone and tablet.
• Individually adding each contact became extremely annoying and tiring.

I  learnt that my tablet could be set to desktop mode, and certain functions like the 'contact tab' can be seen on this device.

I also learnt a shortcut for adding contacts. Hovering the cursor over the email address would show a pop up menu that allows you to 'add contact'.

I can implement this in my classroom by using emails to communicate with my students. A group contact list also makes it easy for me to send emails to the entire class without having to add individual email addresses every time.

Conclusion: I have never been too technologically inclined, but I must say I have been learning a lot in ICT class and look forward to future classes.

Week 1 Cont'd Role of Technology and Media in Education

Task 2 was to Research and Create a Mindmap and Also Learn the Various Categories of Media.

It was found upon research that mindmaps are diagrams used for organizing information visually.

For this session we presented to the class, the concept of mindmapping with the use of our own example.

We focused on the topic of sports and we formed  a human tree. "Sports" was at the center, then our branches were different sports. Tennis, Swimming and football. From the branches we had twigs extending from each. Our twigs represented the equipment needed to play each sport.






I attempted using Mindmeister to create a mindmap for my blog.

The challenges I faced were:

• Operating Mindmeister and getting the diagram to be structured and displayed exactly how i wanted it.
• Inserting the mindmap to my blog page.

Upon doing some research and some tampering, i realized that with some more practicing, mindmaps can be made and used in class.

I can Implement this in my Classroom by: Using mindmaps  in the classroom could be a very fun way for students to learn and even share information.

Also, the implementation of the various forms of media (Audio,video, manipulatives) could aid in improving the effectiveness of the lesson.

Here is an example of a mindmap, encouraging us to become creative and make one of our own.
What are you waiting for? Get your 'mapping' on!

Learning Styles and Theories

What is learning?
Learning is a process whereby behaviours change as individuals gain knowledge, skills and attitudes, used to put meaning to their environment through their experiences.


Task To find and explain the different types of learners.

1. Visual Learners are those who learn best by seeing situations, their teacher's gestures and expressions. Diagrams and pictures also help these type of learners.
2. Auditory Learners are those who learn best by hearing. They would prefer lectures where the tutor would speak. Recordings and little jingles or songs help these learners to retain information best.
3. Read-write Learners learn best by reading and writing information.
4. Kinesthetic Learners learn by doing and use all their senses in this process.

Theories of Learning

Constructivists state that people create their own understanding through reflecting on their experiences. Using this theory in class would result in doing experiments and  problem solving which should then be discussed and assessed to see how effective the activity helps in learning.

Cognitivists state that there is a level of understanding to be achieved once the deepest part of an individual's mind is unlocked. Thinking, memory, knowing and problem-solving are explored.

Behaviourists believe that people learn passively and their behavior is based on their environmental condition.

This information should help me as a teacher to better reach the individual needs of my students based on their specific learning style.