So You’re Hungry for Knowledge and Power? Session 1

So You’re Hungry for Knowledge and Power?Session 1

What is Educational Technology?

So now you’re ready to create - Well Almost.

Keep it Simple - make an ‘Word Document’ or use ‘PowerPoint.’

- start small, by trying something that you’ve done before and feel comfortable with.

- make a basic plan. - gather the resources including, documents, images and websites etc.

Where to BeginSession 1

Storing the DataSession 1

• There are several options including ‘hard drives’ (on the computer you are using or the portable type, ‘webservers’ (another name for space on a hosted hard drive that we most commonly associate with the internet), ‘thumb drives,’ media cards such as ‘SD Cards’ and even ‘clouds’ (but I haven’t explored this option myself).

• Regardless of the type of device that you use, you need to remember and follow a few very simple rules.

Storing the Data - The Basic Rules and UnderstandingsSession 1

• You need to think of your storage device like a filing cabinet for the information that you want to include in your presentation.

- Inside you have ‘drop file’s or ‘folders’ with names like word docs, images etc.- You can have lots of folders or just a few - Keeping the folder names simple but also obvious makes finding things easier.- Your information is placed inside each of the appropriate folders.

• Setting up the filing system is the key to making your work much easier later.• Without a filing system your files will just appear as a long rather disorganised list.

Imagine if you had 5000 items to sift through to find what you want. Larger websites may easily have this many items.

Storing the Data - Step 1Session 1

• So step one is to take your thumb drive and set up a couple of simple folders- Call one ‘Docs’ or ‘Documents’.- Call a second ‘Images’.- Make others if you want to.

• You can also make sub folders if you like. Ultimately this is your filing system, so as long as you can find your stuff that’s all that really matters.)

• Now lets organise your thumb drive by moving your various pieces of information into the right folders.

• Even if you only have a few documents you will quickly see that this process makes everything look much tidier.

OK! So Now It’s Time to BeginSession 1

• Now it’s time to start setting up your presentation.

• The options here are vast, numerous, and range from simple to complex.

• So here are just three examples to look at

example 1 - a newsletter (Intro paragraph with links to read more)

example 2 - a Today list (super easy but useful)

example 3 - a simple index system (my first steps into using online teaching tools)

Designing Your Presentation Session 1

• Lets start out with a presentation that could be used to navigate to your lesson resources.

• You can use a wide range of soft wares to complete this but working with one that you know makes more sense and will allow you to work faster.

• You can make it as basic or as fancy as you like but remember it must be functional.

• Making a template can also be a good idea if you want to create a look of consistency.

• This is one of my current student task sheets, that contains several hyperlinks to other documents and a power point. I created it using ‘MS word’.

Inserting Hyperlinks – It’s EasySession 1

• So part of the magic that makes your presentation work well is the ability to move seemlessly to other documents, video, pictures, music files, webpages etc.

• This is done using ‘Hyperlinks’.

• A ‘hyperlink’ is a mechanism on your document that ‘links’ to the thing you what to display. The hyperlink recognizes a unique address that indicates where that item is stored.

• Think of it like a street address. If you know the street name, number, suburb, city and country you could go to it, see it and perhaps even interact with it eg. the supermarket.

• Every document you save, every web page and piece of digital content has an address. eg www.google.com is an address.

Inserting Hyperlinks – It’s Easy

• Hyperlinks can be attached to a word on your page but they can also be attached to a shape, symbol, graphic or photograph etc.

• The technique is the same for all.

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Hyperlink – Basic Rules

• Ok! So now that you can successfully make a hyperlink. Now you need to remember some basic rules.

• Remember a ‘hyperlink’ points to an address that locates the item you want to see.

• But what happens if the address is changed?

• If the address changes your link will be broken and it won’t work.

• This would also apply to your own documents. For example if you relocate them, delete them or rename them; even slightly.

• So there are some things that you can and should do.

Hyperlink – The Golden Rules

• Firstly there isn’t a great deal that you can do to prevent web links from changing. So it’s important that you test your presentation prior to delivery to make sure that everything still works, especially the links.

• Stick with your filing system, keep it tidy and if you do update any documents use the original file name when saving.

• Most importantly keep all of the items that you will be using in your presentation on the same storage device. If it’s a thumb drive or portable hard drive you will need this to run the presentation from.

Having a Go – It’s worth it

• Producing and presenting a digital presentation is time consuming. This one has taken me more than 10 hours to design and create.

• It can be daunting and scary, especially if your audience is not too forgiving.

• For most people it requires a step outside of their comfort zone and this first step alone can be reason enough not to have a go.

• However the long term benefits can far out way the issues and concerns.

Having a Go – It’s worth it

• Firstly, start off slowly by redesigning something that you have done before using your normal approach.

• Analyze the results to see if there were any benefits, for you and the students. Remember its about you too.

• Use the skills that you have. As you do more you will naturally begin to learn more as well.

• Functional is better than fancy, so keep it simple.

• Don’t get over whelmed. Making digital resources and lessons should be seen, as an ongoing long term project. However, thinking about it only once a year is probably to the approach either.

• Ask for help. There is expertise in the school and they are all willing to lend a hand to those who are keen.

Finally - My Plug

Personally I wouldn’t and maybe couldn't go back to teach what I do without the ICT tools I use today. It just wouldn’t make sense.

Once I started using a smart board and realized the possibilities, I was hooked. My students were more engaged in the learning, I could control the content delivery, I could enrich my lessons with all manner of tools, and it was fun.

This fuelled my enthusiasm, so that today I have a richly resourced website, that students can access anytime and from anywhere. It is constantly evolving.

Combined with hundreds if not thousands of weblinks it as become a multileveled teaching tool that allows me to quickly refer to and reference the latest, up to the minute resources. As a result my students get taught, ’what is current, with what is current’.