Easter Break - Task 2 Poster "Sexting"

Today is Easter Monday and I have spent the majority of my weekend in Albany relaxing. Now that I am at home I have decided to try and complete the Digital Citizenship component of my website which we are required to do for Task 2. Prior to the long weekend I had already made the 4 additional pages I needed to add to my website and also the poster. 

The poster I made was on 'Sexting'. This took me about 2 hours over 2 days to complete. The first day I made a draft of my poster consisting of 2 iPhones, one with a sexting message on it and the other with a slogan which read "Nothing good can ever come from sexting". 

On the second day after I sent my poster to a friend to look over we both decided that it was missing something. This was why I decided to go back to the drawing board so to speak. I decided that the something missing was a bit more information on what could happen if you sext. Although the mock text message on the right of my first poster already stated this, I felt it needed more. After a bit more consideration I added to my poster and came up with the final poster as show below. 

In the final poster I added on one side a text and on the other, a sext. I felt it made my point a bit clearer about sexting and also how you can choose more than one path. Also, in red I had added a few consequences of sexting.

I am now finally happy with my poster and hope it produces good marks come grading time.

Digital Citizenship Assignment

So it is week 5 and I have barely started on my Digital Citizenship assignment which is due on the 17/4/15. Just over 2 weeks away. Eeeeepp! What I have done so far is create 4 additional pages on my website which are as follows:

• Digital Citizenship
• Safe use of the web
• Responsible use of the web
• Ethical use of the web

I am stumped at the moment though as to what I need to add to these pages. I think I will begin by thoroughly reading the unit guide, marking rubric and Ms Parker's website. 

I better get started. Wish me luck and I will keep you posted each week!

Textbook Readings - Chapter 1

During my first week of university I decided to get a head start on my readings for each unit. For EDN113 we had to read "Meaningful Learning with Technology (A custom edition)" compiled by Jan Herrington and Jenni Parker from the fourth edition. I began by reading Chapter 1 and taking down notes in my notebook.

Chapter 1, titled "Goal of Technology Integrations: Meaningful  Learning", was a very interesting chapter. One of the things it touched on was the multiple methods of a meaningful learner. These methods are as follows, along with my take on them:

• Active (Manipulative/Observant): Learning by physically doing; trial and error; getting into the activity and just giving it a go; learning by observing and manipulating objects and seeing the outcomes our actions produce.

• Constructive (Articulative/Reflective): One questions what they are learning by using their current knowledge combined with what they are attempting to learn. One reflects on what they have learnt and questions what they do not yet understand.

• Intentional (Goal-Directed/Regulatory): Learning as a means of fulfilling a goal.

• Authentic (Complex/Contextual): Learning put into context. Taught with real life scenarios, such as learning physics by playing a game of baseball rather than attempting to learn through mathematical equations written on a black board. 

• Cooperative (Collaborative/Conversational): Learning through collaboration with peers. Learning by conversing in groups and coming together to obtain a general consensus/meaning.

Overall I found this chapter quite useful with regards to my thought process for this unit. I gave me the realisation that students are to use technology as a tool for learning and not just to obtain information, such as the answer to a question.Instead, it could be used as a tool for students to connect with one another to find the answer together.

I will continue to read each chapter week by week as I feel it will be quite useful for me in understanding what it is I need to take from this unit this semester.

My Website Making Experience

Today I finally found the time to start on my website for Task 1. All I needed to do for Task 1 was produce a 2 page website, one for the home page where I had to give a brief explanation of what the page was for and the second page, for a short autobiography.

With all the information under the EDN113 "Online Unit" tab on LMS (Murdoch's Learning Management System) I felt a little out of my depth. It just seemed like so much information to take in at once. All the videos I needed to watch and everything I needed to read, like the "Web Creation Tools" page, wow! I just felt like I was way in over my head.

I began my learning experience by clicking on the "Lecture Schedule" link located in LMS and  watching the "How to get tarted on Task 1" tutorial video under the week 2 section. To be completely honest I found the video a bit of a waste of time, although I can see it being helpful for people who have no clue what they are doing. To me, it was 11 minutes and 53 seconds of common sense which really annoyed me because I wasted my time learning things such as how to navigate LMS, which I already know. Instead I could have spent that worrying about something else.

After getting onto the second video "How to select a website platform" I felt a little more at ease about my task as this video actually assisted me in choosing which of the 7 website production tools I wanted to use to make my site. In the end I chose Weebly.

A particular feature of this site which attracted me the most was how easy it is to use. First you need to sign up, then the next step is to choose a website template from a list that just seemed to go on forever. I will admit the amount to choose from started to bug me after a few minutes just because of the shear amount to choose from. Eventually I chose a theme which caught my eye and tweaked it a bit here and there to suit me. Another thing I liked about the site was how if I wanted to add a picture or a title or even some text, all I had to do was choose what I wanted and drag it over to the position I wanted it on my page. Anyway, it all seemed to be pretty easy and actually quite fun once I got into the swing of things. So considering I haven't quite completed my website just yet I am going to have to part ways with you for now and get back into it.

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The Wonders of Blogging

Hello and welcome to my first ever blog! 

Before today I had no concept of what a blog was, let alone what to write for one. To be honest, I found the whole thing a bit daunting. Thankfully, it was our second workshop for "EDN113 - Living and Learning with Technology" where my views changed. 

For this workshop our tutors Hannah and Jenni gave us each coloured paper and texters and told us each to choose one. They then proceeded to explained that they wanted us to write a hand written blog. There was no real criteria other than ensuring what we wrote was relevant to this particular unit.

As I stared down at my blank green piece of A4 paper I wasn't quite sure where to start, so I began with colouring in the edges. Funnily enough it was in this 10 seconds that I thought about what it was I wanted to write. 

The first thing that came to mind was the 2 hour break I had before this class which I spent in the library looking through the Task 1 section of the Lecture Schedule tab. It has multiple videos on how to begin with Task 1 and how to select a website and blog. The first thing I remembered was how annoyed I was when I watched the first video and realised I already knew everything covered in the video, which I might add went for over 11 minutes (a long time when you have more than 1 unit to study for). So here it was, the topic for my hand written blog. The rest just flowed on from there.

From what began as a scary thought soon turned into an exciting little activity. Once we finished writing our blog our tutors explained the second half of our task and that was for us to take 2 post-it notes and go to 2 other blogs and write a comment. This part was really fun because we got to read other peoples thoughts on this unit so far. And as you can see pictured above, the end result.

By the end of class I was pretty enthused about starting my online blog. I got home after class, opened up my laptop, signed up for "Blogger" and viola! This blog appeared right before my eyes. So I think its safe to say I have now moved out of the "I have no idea what I'm doing phase" into the "I think I have found my new favourite pass time, BLOGGING" phase.