In this task we where briefly introduced to a number of different tools:

  • Swivl
  • Airplay
  • Poll Everywhere
  • Socrative
  • Quizlet
  • Powerpoint Narration
  • Prezi
  • Sway

We had three questions to reflect and post responses too, these are included in my post to the discussion board, which follows:

Question 1: Presentation from the past?

Presentation using the whiteboard and with handed out physical printed notes dominated pretty much every single classroom I was in when I was at school.

Question 2: Presentation in the present?

I think I will probably still use the whiteboard to some degree, although I hope alot less than my teachers did, and I’d like to phase it out entirely over time as I become more confident with other approaches. I think I’ll use technology in a number of ways, but two pop out at me as I am already somewhat familiar with them:

  • Making presentations in HTML is such a way that I can host them easily as a webpage is something I’m comfortable with and have been doing for a long time, see for example this short simple presentation I prepared for one of my chemistry curriculum and methodology assignments.
  • Using online interactive tools like GeoGebra or Desmos for exploring geometry and functions in maths, such as this example I whipped up as an example for a previous ICT task. I can also see myself using a pad with some kind of digital whiteboard as a replacement for a whiteboard that would allow me to face the class, and occasionally using a tool like socrative in class for getting live feedback from students and getting them to engage.

Question 3: Presentation in the future?

Moving into the future I would like to gradually phase in more use of tools like socrative, prezi, and other such uses of technology. I can also see alot of advantages to the flipped classroom paradigm, specifically in that if I’m working in a context where every student has a device, I can prepare a 5-10min lecture/ video presentation beforehand, send it to the class via some kind of teaching network system (something like canvas, or edmodo). Then when they get into class, I’ll say something like “Right, if you havent watched the video I sent you yet, I’d like you to pull that up now and watch it.” This would free me up to move around the class and talk to the students who had already watched it, who would likely be the keen ones and give them tasks suited to their current level (constructivism style), then when the students watching the video are done those that had already watched it would be working on their tasks and I could go around helping the rest. Essentially, I see it as a way to maximise the amount of time I can spend speaking and interacting directly with the students, and minimise the amount of time I spend in a class out the front lecturing — if all i was going to do is lecture with no interaction, then I could just as easily record the lecture and spend that time with the students interacting with them. On the other hand I don’t see myself having the confidence in the methodology to try something like that straight away, and I might slowly move towards something like that by first producing some videos such as this one I produced for my mathematics curriculum and methodology course as a supplement to a class, to set or provide solutions to extension problems, give another perspective on an idea for students struggling to understand the perspective I presented in class, etc.

Note: APST standards linked are as specified by Jarrod Johnson (who ran the ICT component).