Which tools to analyse???

As I finalise assignment number two, I find myself reflecting over why I have chosen the technologies that I have.  Whilst there are overarching reasons, which I have presented in my assignment, mostly it is because some of the technologies really are more engaging and more user friendly to me.  However an activity that is engaging to me, might be completely boring to another learner.  I just need to be confident that the lessons where I use these technologies are designed to use the right tool in the right way.

The reasons for choosing the technologies I have over others are:-

Blogs

• Learning is collaborative, most authentic and most reflective;
• Better editing control over what appears on a blog, and less chance of the formatting and information being lost;
• Incredibly user-friendly and fun to use;
• Ability to personalise and format the blog site making it as individual as the student;
• Edit and re-edit with ease;
• Simple feedback application using the ‘comment’ tool;
• Can be used in many ways and as a group or an individual.

Digital Videos - Movies

• The most interactive tool of the three;
• Need to plan out the movie which contributes to design skills and collaboration;
• Taps in to emotion by using music;
• Great opportunity to get family and friends involved – even just by putting the image onto DVD and showing family the finished product;
• Can be linked to all Key Learning Areas in the curriculum;

Glogster

• It is the most user-friendly of the tools within this group where you can easily embed images, you tube videos, music, sounds and more into an attractive design.
• Teachers can track students work with the Glogster EDU accounts for up to 50 students. 
• One issue with Glogster as a presentation tool is that it is an online tool, so you must have access to the web to view it and you can’t just view it on data key. However that is advantageous too as you can view or edit the Glogster poster anywhere you have internet access.

Concept Mapping

For this group of technologies, I struggled between the analysis of Concept Maps and Interactive Learning Objects (ILO). ILOs are an extremely powerful tool for understanding and applying a certain topic. I chose not to analyse the ILO though as I did not build one for myself. So Concept Maps were chosen to analyse because they:-

• Can be used to scaffold or support the analysis and building of all other technologies identified in this assignment.
• Can be a useful scaffold for other activities that require planning and design.
• Can be used across all of the curriculum's Key Learning Areas. 

So watch this space now for the uploading of Assignment Two. :-)