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Cloud computing is no longer on the horizon; it’s here now says Martin Pluss, but what is it and and how does it apply to teaching and learning?
Cloud computing, according to the Macquarie Dictionary Online, is ‘The provision of computer applications over the internet as a service to users of a particular site, the application being freely available for modification and adaption to the user’s needs without the need for greater expertise on their part.’
As a teacher, there’s a good chance you’ve had issues with the school network or wanted your students to do work from home rather than only at school. One way to do that is through the use of cloud-based applications. They can make your life as a teacher much easier and at the same time
enthuse students through the use of emerging learning technologies.
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Martin Pluss’ Blog
Built on the foundation of four years of research and implementation of mobile learning projects (m-learning), this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education. Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0 tools are evaluated, and student usage and feedback is outlined via an interactive multimedia timeline (using YouTube videos) illustrating how these mobile Web 2.0 pedagogical affordances have transformed pedagogy and facilitated student engagement in a variety of course contexts. A rubric for evaluating appropriate smartphone choices is provided, and a model for implementing mobile Web 2.0 pedagogical integration is presented.
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Abstract:
I’m paid to be impatient. In a role like Teaching & Learning Technologies Coordinator, I’m impatient for staff to pick up new pedagogy and to utilise the teaching and learning opportunities that our school’s technology can provide. I’m impatient for change – for the school to become a better place, one that services students better, one that is more rewarding and meaningful for staff to work at and where students graduate with a base of skills, knowledge and dispositions to make their own way in our society and be well placed to take up whatever opportunities open up.
Source – Read more: http://gwegner.edublogs.org/2010/08/14/too-much-innovation-can-be-a-liability-to-the-system
Source : http://dern.org.au/comment/trends-in-k-12-education/
There has been some research attention given recently to the differences between reading printed texts and reading online texts. This topic has come into focus even more so with the advent of netbooks, ereaders and portable devices on the market. However, there appears to be an implied assumption that transference of reading skill from the printed mode to the digital mode happens intuitively. Terje Hillesund, from the University of Stravanger in Norway, has reported on a really important research study about how readers handle books, the Web and electronic paper. The study, Digital reading spaces: How expert readers handle books, the Web and electronic paper concludes that sustainable reading of long-form text may require some adjustments to the way that text is made available and that different skills may be required. Hillesund (2010) reports that ‘multimodal reading is not primarily a continuous or discontinuous reading of verbal text, but rather composite reading in which attention jumps back and forth between illustrations and text’ and that multimodal reading texts do require a knowledge of visual grammar.
In Australia, the draft English K-10 national curriculum document includes the use of multimodal text. This research by Hillesund expands on the use of multimodal text in education and may provide some pointers for educators to consider when planning multimodal text for learners. The research report can be accessed in the peer reviewed online internet journal First Monday.
From : http://dern.org.au
Today’s research on DERN is a slight departure from previously reported research in that the new K-12 Horizon Report is more of an ‘educated-guess’ report than a research report but very valuable none-the-less. The recently released Horizon Report: 2010 K-12 Edition completed in partnership wiith the influential Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) in Washington focusses on the latent take up of ‘cloud computing’ and ‘collaborative environments’ both of which were included in the 2009 K-12 report. Although the report talks about ‘cloud computing’ the actual take-up in education is more about the use of software as a service, that is, the use of remote applications rather than establishing virtual servers in the ‘cloud’. However, the inclusion of both cloud computing and collaboration over two years does indicate the interest in education of these uses of ICT. Games based education uses of ICT and different interface devices are some time away, suggests the report, although augmented reality (geo-location and video) makes its first appearance in the K-12 Edition.
This excellent report is very easy to read, full of relevant information and in many ways ground-breaking. The report will be invaluable to ICT leaders and for school planning. The report can be accessed at http://www.nmc.org/publications/2010-horizon-k12-report.
Until now the blogs and content management systems I maintain have always related to my interests outside of my work life. The reason for this is I’ve never seen much of a need for an extension of these activities into my life as a teacher. As someone who uses Web 2.o extensively in my teaching I’ve never considered the value of a personal blog related to my activities in education. I’ve maintained blogs for students to share ideas, work collaboratively and publish work, but haven’t seen the need to extend it beyond this.
This was until a presentation at the Illawarra and South East Region Principal’s Conference by Darcy Moore. Darcy demonstrated the extensive network of educational leaders that are networking and sharing ideas via their personal blogs and other mico-blogging technologies like twitter.
Needles to say this was enough motivation to register a new domain and set up this blog. I’m hoping something significant may come of it and people will find it useful.
Grant 
