Reflection

I have learned much in the course of MITE6024 and I got many new ideas for my teaching using learning objects and web 2.0.

Also, working with a group in a blog really can share ideas and comments from different people and help me to boarder my views and got more informations.

Some sort of tools that introduce in class also help me improve my teaching and learning, like Google Earth, Mindmeister, Photostory3, Google Docs and Voicethread. I hope I can well used of those tools on my teaching and learning.

Reflection

It is happy and valuable to study in HKU and taking MITE 6024. Technology is running everyday even every second in the world with different time zone. When we are talking Web2.0 application, Web3.0 is becoming another hot topic and it pushes people improving. Medical Scientist said that bacteria seems improving faster than medical in the war between bacteria and medical science. Yes, we need to master technology and not acting as a follower of it.

In this module, I learnt so much ICT tools and more important is how to collaborate such tools, Moodle and RISAL (as well as Blog) is a good platform to share, collaborate and store what we learnt in web-based environment.

We are not stopped here, we are acting a more important innovator role in educational field.

Reflection

During the course of MITE6024, I was introduced to various approaches to technology integration with education. And the learning theories associated provide solid ground on application of the technology integration. I enjoyed very much in this curriculum and found many of the course materials are highly usable in my profession as teacher. I look forward to hearing more about innovation in using technology in education.

The world is changing rapidly. And, we are already in the era of information explosion. Mastering ICT techniques will become an essential skills for both teachers and students. And at the same time, technology change not only on how we socialize, but also the way people learn.

Ng Sze Ho Risal Account Cloud

My Reflection on the course MITE6024

In the course, I've learned different learning theories and how to apply these learning theories in learning design of TLAs. Lots of useful Web 2.0 learning tools are introduced in the course. I've tried to apply some of them in my lessons in my serving school, for example, Mindmeister, Photostory, Google Docs and Voicethread. My students learnt these tools very quickly and they enjoyed the lessons. I think that this course is very useful in my career. I enjoy this course.

One of my students' work by using Mindmeister

Risal Repository

I would like to share with you some of my assets in Risal :

Visitor location count

Other Groups

BROKS
http://hkumscite.blogspot.com/

Assignment Killer

http://assignmentkiller.blogspot.com/

Hotpot-assignment

http://hotpot-assignment.blogspot.com/

Science teachers

http://scienceteachersarecool.blogspot.com/

Mobile learning

My chosen example was in C.&M.A. Chui Chak Lam Memorial School, which use tablet PC to enhance the classroom learning and after class revision.

The school use tablet PC with Microsoft Office OnNote in Microsoft office suite to authoring vairous types of teaching material. The material will then be stored and distributed. OneNote can also be used to mark students' work directly on it. A multimedia notes is made possible by using the software, which save a lot of time for students to take notes and it also raise the interest of students.

The tablet PC bring mobility to learning to extend the classroom activities even when students go home. Students continue to collect information on selected topics in order to prepare for the presentation. The language learning software teaches the students English and Mandarin pronunciation. And the tablet pc can also be used for designing art work during the art lesson.

Another main advantage shared by OneNote is that students' homework and exercise can be easily managed. Parents can access their child's work at anytime. For teacher, the software provide a convenient way(indexing) to manage the teaching progress in different classes.

The induction of Tablet PC and OneNote served as electronic school bag for the school, which has proven to be a successful case in the school. Students found more fun in learning and more willing to learn. And they have stronger initiative to share their view across the network than in traditional classroom. Most importantly, the classroom is made more interactive with the help of this innovative practice.

reflection on learning in MIT6024

I am not familiar with new technologies. At the begining I was afraid that I would be too old to learn new technologies. During the week when we were given the assignment on Mindmeister, I spent a long time before I could draw the mind map.

Through attending that course, I realize the importance of meta-cognitive skills and collaborative learning. I learn to develop my own knowledge. I am glad that my team members are nice and friendly. They are willing to share their experiences with me.
Now I get more confidence in using new software tools. I try to learn from others through their posts in Blog.

Learning is really an active process!

FMY

M-learning

M-learning is becoming a hot topic and real implict to a school.
With the blooming trend of iPad and Androne platform, schools are promoted to use more technology in classroom, even paperless and ebooks concept.
I recently heard a news from a lower form of secondary school that students are compulsory to use smartphone in class assignment real time online test. Students needed to use their smartphone to login school's intranet and answer the questions during class. It prevents students help others to answer questions as well as copy from others.
Teacher can monitor students progress and awareness of such knowledge by viewing their answer in this real time system.
It's really an innovative approach.

Mobile Technology - Parental involvement

Beca mentions in a mobile learning research that parental involvement is an element that may need to consider in studying student mobile learning in school.
As a parent, I will only support mobile learning in school when I understand the value of investment in mobile device and the actual benefit to our children.
Schools need to consider about parental involvement in developing the mobile learning.

http://mite.cite.hku.hk/file.php/64/mobile_learning_july07.pdf


FMY

Experimental Classroom

General Comment

The headroom of this classroom is high enough, so that let people come here feel comfortable. The high technology such as the intelligent control of lighting, projector sources and internet access make people feel confident and proud of learning here.

 

I like this room can provide a good environment for group discussion, especially the sound reduction design in which one group will not affect another.

I like teaching in this room and would like to use this room to teach. The advantage is the moving space very sufficient such that teacher in here can walk around and go through discussion of each group. Because of multiple input source of projector, teacher will not be limited to particular area of teaching. Even sharing the teacher's desk for students to use.

The projector location and position is really a problem. For human eye level, if students want to see what is showing in the screen, they need to tilt their head and it is not comfortable for long time. So, it is better to adjust the screen level and student sit position if another classroom will be designed.

For the projector resolution, a project that support higher resolution should be considered, since HD projector also available already. To allow student to use the projector to share what they want to present, wifi supported projector also suggested. If many students in a group want to present one by one and they need to plug-in the VGA cable one by one. If wifi supported projector is used, no this issue.

Power point socket outlet is not enough in individual desk, one or two more spare is very welcome.

If the desk is movable, it will be better.

Mobile Learning

This article is to share my experience on using mobile technology in my serving school. Two cases will be discussed. One of them is to apply mobile technology in a field study; another is to use mobile technology in classroom. The mobile devices used in both cases include touch screen net books and Wi-Fi access point.

1. A field study in the Hong Kong Museum of History

40 Primary 5 students learned the history of Hong Kong by using mobile technology in the visit of the Hong Kong Museum of History. Before the visit, the students were introduced to the topic. They were required to finish particular tasks according to the Web Quest website designed by teachers. Students collected data in the Museum in order to finish the tasks. During the visit, 40 students were divided into 20 groups. Each group consists of 2 members. A touch screen net book was given to each group so that students worked in a collaborative way. They were required to collect data and record them in the net books by text or webcam. Furthermore, they were also required to answer some questions which are auto-checked by computers.

At the end of the visit, each group of students presented the data they collected via Wi-Fi classroom management software. The screen of a net book can be delivered to all other net books via the software.

2. Mobile learning in Mathematics lessons

Interactive exercises were given to students in Mathematics lessons. A touch screen net book was given to each group, which consists of 2 members of students, so that students worked collaboratively. Each group presented their works via Wi-Fi classroom management software. The screen of a net book can be delivered to all other net books via the software. Feedback was given by other group of students.

Brain of Blogger

Experimental Classroom

What do you think of this Experimental Classroom?
Good environment for group discussion
Good access of internet and wifi, so can do the research together at the same time, improve the efficient the project process.
Professional design

Would you like to teach here?
Yes.

What are the room’s affordances and what are its weaknesses and disadvantages?
The table is fixed, so we can’t re-arrange the group setting.
The big projector’s position is so high, not comfortable to watch.

To evaluate whether weblog can improve the writing skill and encourage critical and analytical thinking

6024 assignment – propose a research topic that would be useful in providing a solution to an educational issue 

Research Title To evaluate whether weblog can improve the writing skill and encourage critical and analytical thinking

Introduction Weblogs allow people to publish their writing to internet and allow others to read it and leave comments.  Many teachers use weblogs to improve the writing skills of their students.
Our research is to evaluate whether weblog can improve the writing skills and encourage critical and analytical thinking of our students.

Literature ReviewWill Richardson stated that blogs
 can teach critical reading and writing skills
 promote critical and analytical thinking
 encourage reticent student to share
Miranda Bellain 2005 case study report mentions that
“Not only are web logs useful tools for enhancing reading comprehension, but
they are also beneficial in improving students’ writing skills and abilities(Kadjer & Bull, 2003)”
Miranda Bella 2005 cases study findings suggest that weblogs do improve students’ writing skills and abilities.
We takes her ideas as our reference to plan our research.

Objectives Research is to evaluate
 whether weblog can improve writing skills
 promote critical and analytical thinking
 encourage student to share
The result will be used for planning of the classroom uses of Weblogs in next school term.

Scope  Classes of all form3- students are selected
 Their scores on writing assignments in blogs will be recorded
 The research period is 3 months. That is in the coming school term.
Planning A writing blogs will be set for F3 students to post their weekly assignment according to suggestion of Will Richardson.
 Every student must give comment to at least 2 other student assignments per week
 The score will include the comments they leave in other students’ blogs.
 The score on the comment will include the number of comments they give and  the quality of the comment .
 2 best students, 2 weakest student s and 2 median students from each class ( according to first term writing scores) will be selected.  Their scores and number of comments will be selected   for detail analysis

Assumption  The form three students can represent the general students in school.
 The score on writing can measure the writing skill
 The evaluation scheme of the quality of comment and writing is same as that for writing before that is, marking is based on
  ideas
  organization
  Content
 Grammer
 The score of the comments indicates the critical and analytical thinking of students, that is , based on
 Standpoints
 presentation
 The total number of comments posted by students can measure whether the Weblogs can motivate students to share
 The average score of last year form 3 students and the average score of the current research student first term writing scores will be taken as comparison score.  We assume that they represent average score before writing in blogs.
 Although the classes are taught by different teachers. We assume that it does not have impact in the marking system.  Teachers of different classes will hold discussions weekly to discuss and review the marking scheme to ensure  interrater agreement and reliability
 Three months research is long enough to measure the sustainable behavior of students.

Procedures A  letter to inform the students and parents about the writing scheme
 Set up blog s for student
 Define the database to store the research data   
 Obtain the average writing score of last year form 3 students
 Obtain the average writing score of the research student s in last term
 Each week writing assignment score of the research student s will be recorded
The score will include the composition of score, that is , score  on ideas, organization, content and grammer.  The information will be used for further analysis if necessary. 
 Each week their number of comments and the score of each student comment will be recorded. The score will include the composition of score for further analysis if necessary
 We shall set a standard score for writing and comment.  Those writings and comments with score above standard will be considered as good.
 Every week we shall choose best 5 writings and best 5 comments to give good examples for students

Analysis and interpretation of data
History data – for comparison
 The average writing score of last year form 3 students
 average writing score of the research student s in last term
Research data – includes the weekly average score, weekly comment count, weekly good writing count and good comment count .
 Weekly average of writing scores of form 3 students
 Weekly average writing scores of each group(best, median, weak)  of selected students
 Weekly total of comments of form 3 student
 Weekly totals of comments of each group of selected student
 Weekly average score of comments of form 3 student
 Weekly averages of comments of each group of selected students
 Weekly count of good writings
 Weekly count of good comments
Analysis of data and the interpretation after research
Plot graphs to investigate the trend of average scores ,comment count, good writing count and good comment count.  The graph include :
 Weekly average of writing score of form 3 students each week against time
If the curve is increasing and above old history averages  => weblogs improve writing skill
 Similar curves are plotted for selected students ( each group of students, one graph) to investigate the impact of weblogs on writing skills of student s with different abilities 
 Weekly total of comments against time.  If the curve is increasing and average is > 2 ( basic requirement ) then weblogs encourage students to share
 Weekly total of comments of selected students( plot one graph for each group of students) against time to investigate how the weblogs encourage students with different abilities to share.
 Weekly average score of comments against time.  If the curve is increasing then weblogs promote critical and analytical thinking
 Weekly average score of selected students (one graph for each group of students ) against time investigate how the weblogs encourage students with different abilities to share
 Weekly good writing counts to review whether they increase with time
 Weekly good comment counts to review whether they increase with time

RandomHKU

References
http://www.mc3edsupport.org/community/knowledgebases/Project-6.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/other_resrch/pm_guide_eval/reports/pmguide/pmguide_toc.html
Will Richardson (2010) The Read/Write Web and eblogs:Pedagogy and Practice :Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms( 3rd edition). Corwin.
http://mirandalynn.com/casestudy_mbella.pdf

Experimental classroom

weakness and disadvantages
. It is different to view the screens in some seats( we locate in the 'isolated insland') even there are many screens in the room( my head need to turn always). Now I bring my PC note book so that I can view the information on my PC screen.

. We cannot see the other team members in our poisiton. Our position is too low.

affordances
. The room makes me feel that I am attending a professional training

Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia

Review of learning theory - constructivism

Social constructivism attempts to address the problem of how students naturally learn best. The advancement in ICT support these attempts. When technology is used appropriately by instructor, web 2.0 tools can effectively assist in creating a social constructivist learning environment.

As described by Tway (2003)

• Knowledge is constructed from experience by learners.
• Learning is a personal interpretation of the world.
• Learning is an active process in which meaning develops on the basis of experience.
• Conceptual growth comes from sharing multiple perspectives and changing our internal representations through collaborative learning.
• Realistic settings that contain integrated assessments should be used for learning.

Educators can help learners acquire expertise through the constructivist method of cognitive apprenticeship. Teachers can help students by using the principles of modeling, scaffolding and coaching. The target of cognitive apprenticeship principles is “to empower students to accomplish the tasks independently” (Ding, 2008, p.6)

Opportunities for learners to exchange feedback regarding each others' work contribute to the knowledge being constructed by the group. “The circulation of knowledge and information among peers serves as a condition for effective learning” (Ding, 2008, p.7). This exchange of feedback could be facilitated through a wiki or discussion board. For example, students may spend a class viewing short student created skits that demonstrate problematic social situations that they are likely to experience. Students can reflect upon the choices made by the characters in the skit and comment on the appropriateness of the choices through a class wiki or discussion board. This extended and asynchronous discussion can raise awareness of alternate choices that are available to students in similar social situations. In this manner, the group will be constructing knowledge of options available when handling certain social situations along with the possible consequences of each option.

pedagogical implications for the constructivist classroom:

• Be sensitive and attentive to the learner's previous constructions.
  
• Use cognitive conflict techniques to address student misconceptions.
  
• Approach topics in a variety of ways to maximize the opportunities for students to bridge the gap between the current discussion and their previously held conceptions.
  
• Be aware of the importance of goals for the learner.
  
• Be aware of the importance of social contexts. Appreciate that knowledge of different types occurs in a variety of social environments.
• Pose problems of emerging relevance to students. Starting with student interests increases motivation and student engagement.
  
• Seek and value students' points of view.
  

Web 2.0 applications - Google Docs

http://voicethread.com/share/1370398/

Our presentation consists of 5 parts:
1.  What are the functions in Google docs
     1.1 doc , 1.2 presentation 1.3 spreadsheet 1.4 form 1.5 drawing
2.  What are the features make it different ?
     2.1 How to add people ?
     2.2 How to collaborate ?
3.  What are the advantages with collaboration function / any drawback ?

Digital Story created by Photostory 3

Famous Place in Hong Kong from Random on Vimeo.

Learning object - Combining Visualization and Interactivity?

In the secondary school Physics text book, a lot of texts are used to describe the phenomena and is so abstract to understand. For example, to understand how distance between the two coherent sources affect the antinodal lines in wave interference, my children need to use imagination to understand the theories.
If the teachers encourage their students to get the simulations on web, it will be easier for the students to learn.
For the students, they can vary the input parameters ( like frequency of wave) and get different results. This is a kind of interactive learning which makes the learning so interesting!

Can I say that this kind of learning
1) provides multiple representations? The simulation gives the animation of wave movement with the corresponding graph varies synchronously. I don't think the two visuals compete each other. Indeed, the graph describes the effect of interference.
2)is a dual code learning. In the sound interference, we can hear the sound and see the wave movement at the same time.
3)combining visualization and interactivity? Learners can vary the input parameters of the simulation to experience different results.

Anyone gets any idea? Can you find any learning objects using multimodalities?

FMY

Fok Man Yee Risal Account Cloud

Session 3 group work reorganize again

From short term memory to your knowledge

Limitations of Short-term memory

         Short-term memory (STM) is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.
The limitations are, duration of short-term memory is short (in the order of seconds when rehearsal or active maintenance is prevented). Its capacity is also very limited, some experiments showed that the store of short-term memory was 7+/-2 items and some modern estimates of the capacity of short-term memory are even lower, typically on the order of 4 to 5 items.

         As short term memory lose easily and we cannot recall it after some time (not become our knowledge), how can we retain it?

         Let’s look at how our brain works.

Gestalt Principles

         Gestalt theories describe how people tend to organize visual elements into group when certain principles are applied. Look at the below picture:

   

Do you consider it as one object? This is the Gestalt principal Similarity.

Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern

   

         Now, look at the other object.

 

         Do you consider H links with the leave? It is due to Gestalt principal Continuation.  The cross lines of H lead the viewer’s eyes to the leave.

Continuation

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

     

Do you consider the above object is a complete object?  This can be explained by the Gestalt principal Closure

Closure

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people perceive the whole by filling in the missing information. Do you consider the below is one object?

   

   

This can be explained by Gestalt principal Proximity

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group

How about the below figure? Can you see tree and water?

You can see the figures because of our ability explained by Gestalt principal Figure and Ground.

Figure and Ground

The eye differentiates an object from its surrounding area. A form, silhouette, or shape is naturally perceived as figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground (background)

The above gives us idea of how to create pictures in the teaching materials and how to attract learners' attention .

Now let’s see how our brains learn.

Multiple representations

An external representation is something or some symbols that stand for/depict an object and/or processes. Internal representation concerns about representation in mind.  Examples of representations are verbal descriptions, pictures, graph, formulas and rules.  Multiple representations enhance visualization for the brain, it helps learners to construct another type of representation. 

They help learners of different learning styles to learn better. Multimedia can be used to support in doing multiple representations.  Is learning is a process of changing external representation to internal representation?   

Then we look at different technologies:

Modality

Modality is a path of communication between the human and the computer.  It describes a human-computer interaction.  Human can receive the output of the computer through the sense.  The computer can receive the input of human from sensor or device.

Multimodalities

Multimodality can support different modalities in different manners.  It combines graphics, text and audio output with speech, text, and touch input, giving users multiple options for inputting and receiving information. This makes the service application much easier to use.  For example, it allows telephony subscribers to move between different modes of interaction, from visual to voice to touch, it allows users speak into a wireless handset at the same time they're writing, reading or sending a message. Is it good for learners to learn when multimodalities are used in learning?   To some extent, it is true but too many modalities are used in learning may distract the learners.  

 

Dual Code

The dual code theory states that human have separate channels for processing visual and auditory information.  Then the mind creates separate representations( visual codes and verbal codes)  for information processed in each channel.  The representations are used to organize incoming information into knowledge ,then stored in long term memory and can be recalled later.

Richard Mayor stated in his Modality principle that students learn more deeply from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.  Due to the limited capacity in auditory and working memory at one time, we learn better when any extraneous information is removed (Coherence principle).  Besides, multiple visuals or multiple narrations at one time may compete with each other and affect learning (Redundancy principal).  Therefore,  consider to use  animation and narration in preparing the teaching tools.  

Combining Visualization and Interactivity

People use Knowledge Tools (e.g. senses, language, software) to perform Knowledge Processes (e.g. observation) on Information to create knowledge.

In general, people learn better by visualization than by just hearing.  Interactive learning (learners need to do) can help the learners to understand the information and make their own knowledge easier.  Based on that human learning rule, combining visualization and interactivity in the learning process can enhance learners to learn faster and build knowledge and long term memory easier.

Consider Combining Visualization and Interactivity in preparing teaching materials!  Learners can learn deeply.

Can you find some other teaching resources which fulfill the above requirement and can help learner to turn information to long term memory?  Please share with us!

The above information is retrieved from the below websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_memory

http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

http://paer.rutgers.edu/scientificAbilities/Downloads/FormAssessTasks/MultRep.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-coding_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modality_(human-computer_interaction)

http://www.coreography.com/blog/tag/richard-mayer/

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/multimodality

http://www.w3.org/2004/02/mmi-workshop/paterno-cnr.pdf
http://www.instantmessagingplanet.com/wireless/article.php/976511/What-is-Multimodality.htm

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/01_12.pdf

http://thebutlers.blogs.com/info/

Mike's RISAL Account Cloud

Velocity and Acceleration

It is a simple and interactive approach on learning the different and relationship between Velocity and Acceleration. It offers simple graph illustrating the distance traveled and velocity against time.

Timothy 's Risal Account Cloud

Session 3 group work

Limitations of Short-term memory

    Short-term memory (STM) is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.
The limitations are , duration of short-term memory is short ( in the order of seconds when rehearsal or active maintenance is prevented). Its capacity is also very limited, some experiments showed that the store of short-term memory was 7+/-2 items and some modern estimates of the capacity of short-term memory are even lower, typically on the order of 4-5 items.

Gestalt Principles

    Gestalt  theories describe how people tend to organize visual elements into group when certain principles are applied. These principles are:

Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern

Continuation

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Closure

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people percieves the whole by filling in the missing infomation.

Proximity

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group

Figure and Ground

The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturrally perceived as figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground (background)

Multiple representation

An external representation is something or some symbols that stand for/depict an object and/or processes. Internal representation concerns about representation in mind.  Examples of representations are verbal descriptions, pictures, graph, formulas and rules.  Multiple representation enhance visualization for the brain,  it helps learners to construct another type of representation. 

They  help learners of different learning styles to learn better. Multimedia can be used to support in doing multiple representation. 

Modality

Modality is a path of communication between the human and the computer.  It describe a human-computer interaction.  Human can receive the output of the computer through the sense.  The computer can receive the input of human from sensor or device.

Multimodality

Multimodality can support different modalities in different manners.  It  combines graphics, text and audio output with speech, text, and touch input , giving users multiple options for inputting and receiving information. This makes the service application much easier to use.  For example,  it allows telephony subscribers to move between different modes of interaction, from visual to voice to touch, it allows users speak into a wireless handset at the same time they're writing, reading or sending a message.

Combining Visualization and Interactivity

People use Knowledge Tools( e.g. senses, language, software) to perform Knowledge Processes(e.g. observation) on Information to create Knowledge.

In general, people learning better by visualization than by just hearing.  Interactive learning ( learners need to do ) can help the learners to understand the information and make their own knowledge easier.  Based on that human learning rule, combining visualiztion and interactivity in the learning process can enhance the learners to learn faster and build knowedge and long term memory easier .

RandomHKU 

Learning Object - "Exploring the length of the shadow"

The learning object I reviewed is “Exploring the length of the shadow”. The learning object allows a student to explore the concept of shadow. It is good for grade 4-6 students to understand the relationship about sunlight and the shadow. It stimulates the formation of stick shadow under sunlight. A student also allows controlling the variables, such as, time of the day and height of the stick to observe their relations.

This learning object represents the real system of the formation of stick shadow under sunlight. It allows a student to explore by trial and error to operate the system and observe the charge of shadow under different time of the day. I think that it is an example of stimulation object under the learning object classification of Dr. Churchill (2007). There are several advantages of stimulation object in educational context. First, it allows a learner construct a mind model after exploration to the stimulation objects. Further, learning with stimulation object is particularly effective when the real system is expensive, unavailable or available in limited number, or learning to operate it is costly, possibly dangerous.(Churchill, 2007)

Learning Object - Turtle Geometry

Turtle Geometry
I find that this learning object is good for kids aged around 6-12 to start learn the concept of geometry. Students can control the Turtle‘s walking by setting the steps button like forward, rotation. The available challenges include Mazes, geometric shapes and Rocks to be avoided in getting to the flower goals.

Learning:This is good for kids to use game to understand the trigonometric relationships to determine lengths and angle measures. And learning how to use systematic method to locations and describe spatial relationships using coordinate geometry and other representational systems. Also, it can gain insights into other disciplines and other areas of interest such as art and architecture.

Teaching:
This learning object also can allow students to challenge one another. After the challenging they can have a group discussion to find out the possible paths that can set. Also, the game play is easy and the button is user friendly to teach the kids to use themselves.

Kung Hiu Tung 's Risal Account Cloud

Dual coding

Dual coding theory has its roots in the practical use of imagery as a memory aid 2500 years ago(Yates, 1966). The theory was first advanced by Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario, which suggests human mind create separate representations for information processed and both visual and verbal codes are used to organize incoming information into knowledge that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use.

Educational implication
For reader:
Beginning readers learn to read concrete words by sight much faster when the words are accompanied by referent pictures than when paired only with their pronunications. Concrete verbal material enhances reading comprehension and recall in children and adults.

Instructing learners to form images during reading further enhances reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Combining pictures, mental imagery, and verbal elaboration is even more effective in promoting understanding and learning from text by students ranging from grade school to university level.

written composition:
The use of concreteness, imagery, and dual coding makes students' writing more readable and memorable.

...

Summary of presentation on 09/20 about learning theories

Summaries what you have learnt about learning theories (and how they influence our perceptions of learning technologies):

Learning theories help us understand the process of learning. Behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism are selected in the below discussion.  We will discuss how the three main perspectives in learning theories help us in learning, especially learning technologies.

Behavorism :

Learning through  conditioning interaction with environment. The learning process involves stimuli, response, feedback and reinforcement.  There are some criticisms argue that there are some other factors, such as mind, are involved in determining the response. In this discussion, we assume that stimuli is not determined by inner mind processing.

Learning new technologies (especially IT) is not easy for someone who gets no knowledge about that.  To help the learner to turn the response from resistance to acceptance, we may apply the behaviorism.  The learner can use the basic (or easy) part of technology first (stimuli).  The successful experience (happy response) and the feedback (successful result) reinforce the learner.  Learner will begin to accept the technologies and try to learn them with interest.

Cognitivism

      Learning under this theory involves inner mechanism of human thought and processing of knowing. Manipulation of our minds is in form of rules, algorithms and patterns. Learning skills can help us to learn better. Practicing can help us to remember the rules of technologies.  There are some computer assisted teaching courses, computer-based training, integrated learning systems (which gets direct instruction, drill-and practice) to help us to know the technologies.  The computer-based training enables the learner to learn according to his progress.  Besides, multimedia may help the learner to learn faster.

Constructivism.

It emphasize interactive learning.  Active assimilation and accommodation are required for learners.  Learners can learn new technologies by collaboration, self-directed exploration and discovery.  They then construct information by thinking and interpreting experience. 

In conclusion, behavorism helps new learners to adjust to the new technologies environment, cognitivism helps learners to get the knowledge of technologies.  Constructivism helps learners to construct their own knowledge and explore more about technologies.  Each learning theory complements the other and integrates into a good learning model.

The benefits of using technology in teaching and learning:

l   Enhance teaching and learning ( e.g. Using multimedia in teaching and learning enhances learning and teaching)

l   Effective and efficiency in learning and teaching (learn better, easier to get more information)

l   Extend the mind( learn more and get more information)

l   Fit Individual requirement and progress

l   Provide Intellectual learning partners in learning

l   Interactive in learning and teaching

l   Provide more support ( e.g. internet searching )

Challenges:

l   Resource:

Human skills and resistance

l   Cost

Hardware and software

The potential of learning technologies to change the way we teach and the way we learn

There are a lot of benefits gained in using technologies in teaching and learning.

In the past, we just apply the learning theories in teaching and learning.  With new technologies, we may consider using technologies to assist us in teaching and learning:

1.      Find which way of learning ( from learning theories) is suitable to your case

2.      Review which technology/technologies can enhance the teaching/learning

3.      Seek help or advice for the technologies

4.      Use the technology selected and integrates it in the teaching material or gets the suitable tools to assist us in learning.

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