Creating a Website

Week 3 - Engagement Activity 5

 

Reflection on Creating a Website

Websites are another aspect of online information and communication technology gaining increasing popularity within the educational context. Most schools use websites, which cannot be edited other than by an authorised person, to provide contact details, location maps, mission statements and school values, photographs of facilities, details of subjects and extra-curricular activities, enrolment procedures, staff profiles, employment vacancies and application forms, newsletters, and general information about various aspects of day-to-day school life. In addition, websites are sometimes created by individual classes as a means of communication between school and home. Class websites generally provide an overview of class activities, samples of completed work, details of upcoming events, and information specific to the management of that particular class (e.g. items to bring for a fundraising event; a reminder that an assignment is due). As a source of information, websites are great. But how can they be used to support student learning in the early childhood years?

Apart from being used to document class activities, provide work samples and communicate general information about upcoming events, websites can be used to provide valuable links to other educational sites for student use. Teachers can create links to other websites that provide educational games and learning experiences to support the development, consolidation and further understanding of knowledge related to the various facets of the curriculum. Students could be allocated ‘Tech Time’ to allow them to become familiar with operating technological tools, find their way through the various configurations of different websites, and complete games and activities that support learning goals and enhance learning outcomes.  Since multiple users can access the website at any one time, only limited by the number of computers or iPads/tablets available, students could participate in ‘Tech Time’ in groups. The teacher would be available to guide students if they experienced any difficulties beyond their level of understanding, however students could first be given the opportunity to support one another in navigating sites successfully. In this way, they will reinforce their own technological understanding and build confidence through helping one another. 

The following link provides an example of a link that could be created to support maths learning: http://au.ixl.com/

Links embedded in class websites to interactive books or songs with written lyrics could be provided for young children. They would become familiar with using a mouse, turning electronic pages, and clicking to make selections. As the words are read aloud and consecutively highlighted, and as children hover over words and they are re-read, they would develop the understanding that written text represents spoken language, and eventually begin to recognise words and read. In addition, links to interactive games that speak and provide feedback to children’s answers would provide them with additional experience in the digital world and support valuable content knowledge in a fun and exciting way. This supports the notion of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK).

This link provides an example of both interactive storybooks and games suitable for early childhood interaction with technology, which is one of many that could be embedded in the class website:

http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm

SWOT Analysis of Interactive Class Websites 
in Early Childhood Contexts

STRENGTHS	NEGATIVES
Introduce and familiarise children with use of digital technology from a young age. Provide fun and stimulating activities to further content knowledge. Provides an extra ‘teacher’ within the classroom. Can be used to provide individualised  level of instruction, especially important for students with additional needs. Builds confidence as children consolidate recently learned concepts. Students receive immediate feedback. Provides encouragement to keep trying, and removes incorrect answers to provide a 'clean slate'. Could be used as an incentive – extra ‘Tech Time’ for rewarding good behaviour. Students can assist each other to become more technologically savvy, and in doing so reinforce their own skills and build confidence. No risk of children becoming bored with games or stories, as links can be regularly changed to incorporate new websites. Excellent communication tool between school and home, especially to exhibit work or art samples, and even provide homework activites - no excuses!	Could potentially be used as a 'babysitter' by lazy teachers, or for troubled students. Students may demand to ‘play’ on computer rather than complete set work in an alternate mode – therefore creating behavioural issues. Children who are particularly fond of digital technology may not participate in outdoor activities or exercise enough. Not all students are interested in technology; some may even have an aversion to it. Students may become disengaged and idle if technology is not of great interest to them, and teacher's attention is elsewhere.
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Could provide teacher with extra time to work with small groups of students in need of extra attention, while other students practise learned concepts through technology, without need for teacher attention. Teacher could source websites especially suited to various students – perhaps have separate pages with links for groups of students  demonstrating different levels of functioning (e.g. koala’s page, emus page ...).	If students persistently try games or activities that are too difficult for them (because their mates are playing those games), they could become discouraged, feel hopeless and develop a poor attitude toward learning. Some children may become irritable and fatigued from too much screen time, leading to behavioural issues and poor attitude toward other activities.

I particularly enjoyed learning how to create a website during Activity 4, and I am looking forward to adding more features to mine. I would love to create a website that incorporates all of the above types of activities, and more, to support the acquisition and development of both technological and content knowledge within children in the early developmental years. 

Please follow the link below to access my newly created website: 

Wally Web-Watchers E-Learning World

http://fionasmanagingelearningwebsite.weebly.com/

Creating a Wiki

Week 3 - Engagement Activity 3

 

Reflection on Creating a Wiki

A wiki is a website where information, experience, knowledge, thoughts and perspectives can be shared. Readers can contribute to a wiki through editing, adding, deleting and/or organising content. The wiki is a collaborative online tool that provides a means of communication among people with common interests and goals. It is not recommended as a reliable source for the purpose of academic writing since information contained within wikis is not always accurate, and generally constitutes a work in progress. Nevertheless, as an online collaborative tool, the wiki provides an effective platform for communication and discussion among students, and can be utilised in numerous ways to enhance learning outcomes in the educational context. 

Within the early childhood years of schooling, wikis provide a wonderful tool for children to work collaboratively toward the gathering of knowledge and creation of valuable resources. This activity provides both a learning experience throughout the creation phase and a reference source to support subsequent learning experiences. Examples include: 

Pre-Prep or Prep Letters & Sounds Wiki: 

Children as young as pre-prep can be asked to search Google for pictures of items, objects, animals and so on, whose names begin with specific letters of the alphabet. Pages could be provided for each letter of the alphabet, where images can be pasted. This could be reviewed periodically in group time, or simply accessed as the children are interested during free play. Children could also work on this project from home with family members, creating a sense of community in the creation of this resource.  

Pre-Prep ‘This Goes With That’ Game & other ideas: 

Children can be encouraged to find missing images to make pairs of items usually found together, such as ‘cup and saucer’, or ‘toothbrush and toothpaste’ etc. One item of the pair could be embedded in a two-column table and children search the internet for its ‘mate’, which is then pasted in the next column. Children could add further ‘pairs’ as they think of them. Again, parents can assist with this activity. Similarly, a game of opposites could be played. Another suggestion could be to create a page of different emotions, where children find pictures of faces expressing happy, sad, frightened etc, and add these to the correct ‘emotipage’ (my word/concept!) Similar activities promoting understanding of the five senses could be scaffolded, whereby children find images of things they can see, hear, touch, taste and smell and paste in the correct ‘sensoripage’ (again, my invention!)  

Years 1-3 Tricky Words Wikis (Tricky Wikis): 

Students practise sounding out tricky words. For example, an image of a tyrannosaurus rex might be embedded in a year 3 wiki, and students have a go at spelling such words without the use of a dictionary. Perhaps once per week, these words can be reviewed and mnemonics or other spelling strategies developed to help students remember the correct spelling. Students could also add interesting facts on a separate page about the ‘thing’ the word represents, in this case, the tyrannosaurus rex. 

Years 1 – 3 Collaborative Projects:  

Students can gather information to contribute to class projects. For example, if learning about insects, students could take turns researching and adding names, descriptions, habitats and pictures of insects.

 

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
Can be used collaboratively. Can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Variety and volume of content. Participants working within Vygotsky’s ZPD, likely to learn more than if working in isolation, with access to more information than they might have sourced individually. Students learn correct etiquette/ social skills/ consideration for others, which they can extend to other contexts. Students learn critical thinking skills as they consider the accuracy of information presented and seek to organise content into non-duplicated form. Provides opportunity for social interaction and ‘fun’ in the learning process, as individuals work together toward a common goal. Provides encouragement for students to work on a project, knowing they are not the only one working and responsible for the outcome (which can sometimes be daunting).	Information contributed is not always accurate, which can lead to learning of incorrect material. Not all students have access to internet (& wiki) from home. Some students may rush in and over-contribute information, so other students feel they have little to contribute. Some students may assume the role of chief organisers and offend other students by editing or deleting their contributions. If more than one person is simultaneously updating the wiki, only one person’s work will be applied.
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
For students to learn significantly more than if researching and preparing projects alone (ZPD). For additional activities (at school and home) during early years that consolidate learning of basic concepts, which lay a strong foundation for future learning. To introduce young children to ICTs, so that they gain familiarity with these from an early age, and are well prepared for C21st life.	Students self-esteem may suffer if their contributions are continually deleted. Disregard for etiquette could result in offensive material being included in wiki. Useful and relevant information may be deleted. Although this can be retrieved, unless someone knows it is missing it may never be reinstated.

Before encouraging children to become immersed in the world of cyberspace, it is important to consider safety, legal and ethical issues within the online environment. Left uncensored, the internet can present students with unsafe, undesirable material, such as pornographic, sexually explicit, offensive, hateful and violent content, and can also encourage them to perform dangerous and illegal practices (Central Queensland University, n.d.).  Therefore, school internet access should be censored to avoid such risks. Also, students should be aware that not everyone they meet online is who they say they are, therefore ‘stranger danger’ applies in the online context as it does in the real world. It is also important that students understand the potential repercussions of cyber-bullying, and that these practices are strongly discouraged. Legal issues to consider include plagiarism and copyright, thus accurate referencing for material, images and links needs to be provided. Finally, since there is a basic assumption that all wiki participants are contributing with the right intentions, students need to be aware of the etiquette that supports this notion.

During my participation in the Week 2 mobile phones wiki, I found our group to be extremely supportive and considerate of each other. While there was quite a lot of duplication of ideas, there was also a lot of encouragement and people didn’t seem to be deleting others’ responses simply due to their repetitive nature. I feel this was very appropriate under the circumstances, as not one of us would like to have spent time contributing our ideas only to find they had disappeared altogether at a later date, and our ‘voice’ removed from the topic (especially as it was part of an assessment task!). Also, the more times an idea was expressed, it gave the sense that this was an important and popular opinion/idea, and therefore worth being noted as indicative of collective consciousness on the matter. If duplications are to be removed from class wikis, some careful thought would have to be given as to the most appropriate way for this to occur, so as not to negatively affect self-esteem. Perhaps young children’s similar responses could just be grouped together, so that each continues to feel valued as a participant in the collaborative exercise, and their individual voices are still heard through class wikis.

The possibilities for working collaboratively and enriching learning outcomes through this unique way of working together in a collaborative manner, which appears to combine social constructivist and connectivist learning theories, are endless. 

The following link provides fifty examples of ways to use wikis in a collaborative and interactive classroom:

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/50-ways-to-use-wikis-for-a-more-collaborative-and-interactive-classroom/.

References:

Central Queensland University (n.d.). Working legally, safely and ethically online: the issues Retrieved November 5, 2012,  from 
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/page/view.php?id=60623