The Digital Portfolio: A Richer Picture of Student Performance
Trying to find more info and research done on digital portfolios, I stumbled upon this website – I found it to be quite interesting and useful.
I had originally thought that digital portfolios seem to be quite straight forward but there were definitely aspects of it that I had not thought about. I had not thought about the standards of students’ achievement and also the students’ awareness of such standards.
I agree that a collection of a student’s work shows a richer picture of student perfomance rather than a report card. It also involves students in the process and increases awareness of what is expected of them.
David Niguidula (1993) The Digital Portfolio: A Richer Picture of Student Performance, CES National
http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/225
Reaction to Yuri’s Post – How to Increase Students’ Motivation
After reading Yuri’s post on – How to increase students’ motivation I started thinking about Motivation and how we as teachers can increase students’ motivation.
I certainly do agree with Yuri that it’s not possible to include all six Cs of motivation in a lesson.
6 Cs of motivation: choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning, and consequences is definitely something that we all should keep in mind and try to include them in as many of our classes as possible.
If only motivating our students could be as easy as the pic below…
I think good teacher-student relationship is the first step when talking about motivating students to learn, especially in a LOTE classroom. Without this, the 6 Cs could be difficult to implement…
Image by http://www.businessballs.com/images/jim_barker_cartoons/carrot_motivation_cartoon.jpg
Masako’s Post – Technology and Language Learning: Moving Towards Integration
Masako’s post on 27th Oct on Technology and Language Learning: Moving Towards Integration is interesting.
I agree with Masako that teachers should focus on the four skills in communication and it is important that we don’t overuse technology in out classrooms. This once again coming back to the idea of purpose first, tools next (stuffing technology into the curriculum, McKenzie 2004)
The article provides some examples of how technolgy can be integrated into a lesson – which is useful!!
It is really quite amazing when we think about how much technology as a form of communication has evolved and is rapidly changing.
As Masako says: ” Teachers should be aware of what is happening in the real world and use all kind of communication styles in the lesson”
Associative Japanese Kanji Learning
An interesting and innovative way to learn Kanji.
Talking about interesting and inoovative ways to learn Kanji, there are a number of NDS games which are focuses on Kanji learning. Although many of these Kanji games are made for Japanese, there are a few that are for elementary school students – which will be good for Japanese beginners ^^
http://www.apple.com/webapps/utilities/associativejapanesekanjilearning.html
Tadashii Kanji Kakitori Kun
ePortfolio
This clip is not a 2 minute clip…only watch when you have more than 20 mins to spare! However, it is quite interesting ^^ It will give you an idea of what ePortfolios are and the background research into learning, reflecting, and motivational aspects of creating ePortfolios.
Supporting Reflection in Electronic Portfolios: Blogs, Wikis and Digital storytelling (Barret, H 2004)
An ePortfolio is reflective tool that demonstrates growth over time (Barret, H 2001)
An ePortfolio uses electronic technologies, allowing the portfolio developer to collect an organise portfolio artefacts in many media types (audio, video, graphics, text) Barret, H. 2001
I think ePortfolios can be very useful for students learning languages. In a previous post I mentioned the use of Youtube to keep track of one’s progress in speaking in a foreign language. This post can be read from here
The idea that ePortolios allows a learner to collect and organise artefacts in many different media types is an important aspect. Language learners will know that when learning a language, we are not only learning to speak, but to write, to read and to be able to understand (listen and respond) – the different types of media is useful when it comes to reflection and showcasing what we have learned. We are not only reading and writing our reflections and what we have learnt but we are able to video and voice our thoughts.
Reaction to Naomi’s Post – Learn-hiragana-katakana.com
I read in Naomi’s blog (originally posted in Shelly’s blog) about a website called learn-hiragana-katakana.com
I agree with Naomi that this could be a very useful website for teaching Japanese script. It is so true that learning Japanese scripts can be a real nightmare for beginners. Some teachers teaching Japanese as a mandatory course often just skip it or don’t teach it thoroughly enough because students often complain that it’s too difficult or too boring…the use of ICT might up the students’ interest in learning the scripts but I don’t think it would be a good idea to use this alone. It should be used along with the traditional forms of teaching Japanese script and only as a supplemental learning tool.
Stuffing Technology into the Curriculum
Stuffing Technology into the Cirrulum by Jamie McKenzie is sooo true! Technology is an important part of education and society today but I have no doubt that some teachers/ administrators/ politicians are missing the point.
I agree that technology should be incorporated into our curriculum. However, we should not think about the tools first but the purpose of what we are teaching. I think it is also important to think about how much scaffolding and instruction is needed with a class of 30 students in a comupter lab. There is a lot more than just taking the students to the computer lab and telling them to research on a topic for their assignment. This is how I saw a number of teachers on my practicum incorporate ICT into their programs and lessons.
We need to teach teachers HOW to incorporate ICT into their lesson – not just tell them to DO IT!!
Monkey Scribbles – who’s teaching who?
After reading Docree’s blog posting on Who’s Teaching Who? I started to think more seriously about the important aspects of professional development relating to the use of ICT.
I feel that there is a need to focus on HOW to use ICT effectively in class rather than ICT INTEGRATION – in order to address the HOW, I think it is important that it is not just a generic script – do this, this and this (regardless of the level and subject your teach). Rather, professional development relating to the use of ICT should be more specific – it should be in KLA areas. Strategies and ideas that willl work for an English teacher will not work for a Mathematics or Science teacher. Resources that are available for a LOTE teacher will be absolutely useless to a PE teacher.
It only makes sense that it should be KLA specific.
Also, another point that is important is how much knowledge the teacher has of technology – this will differ depending on age, KLA and exposure. Some teachers may need to learn how to use particular softwares, other may need something else.
I think many teachers don’t use or have students use ICT in their classrooms because of time restraints and lack of confidence (how many teachers out there want to teach or use something they are not good at – or worse- the students know it better than them!!)
It may not even be a matter of if they think it is useful/ effective or not. Rather than telling them they have to do it – it might be more effective to teach teachers how to use it.
Language Learning…Youtube
Here is an effective way to see how one’s languages skills are progressing.
This is a clip that I found on Youtube of a Japanese Language learner utilising Youtube to keep track of his progression. I believe this is the first clip – uploaded approximately 10 months ago. I wonder if he will continue uploading clips as his language learning journey continues? I wasn’t able to find any other similar clips by him…
This is not a new way to keep track on one’s learning but I would say that it is an effective way. Quite often we don’t realise how much our language skills have developed and improved…I spent a year in Japan, on a language program and at the end of it, I felt that my language skills had not progressed much but it was only when I spoke to my friends about it and really thought hard about what I was able to do – that I realised my Japanese had improved dramatically – not quite to a native level but in comparison to when I started, I was able to speak more naturally.
There is a tendency for language students especially on exchange programs to have the expectation of reaching native level when they finish the program (this is often unrealistic)…It takes more than a year in the target language country to become fluent like a native…
keeping track of progress using recordings or videos will help students see that they are improving.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Owx3p1qzEtI
Reaction to PaiPai’s Post – School Takes Modern Approach to Exams
I had actually read a similar article in the papers about this – School takes Modern Approach to Student Exams which was posted about on PaiPai’s Blog on 27th of August.
I do agree with PaiPai that it is really only an open book test and the assessment tasks are also focusing student’s skills in finding the information.
However, at the same time, I am concerned that ALL assessments will take this style…using the internet and finding the information is all good but mobile phones? call a friend for help? Will some students become too dependant on their “smarter” siblings or friends?
Plagiarism and time frames for such assessments will definitely need to be closely monitored!
