So much to reflect on this week
I had an iphone for the week - what did I learn. I found the iphone easy to access the internet compared to my blackberry. If an area has good wifi then the iphone is good for quick google searches and instant information. Unfortunately I did not have many apps stored on the iphone and did not have a password to access the store. This I found could be disruptive when teaching, if you were trying to use an app during a lesson and all the iphones did not have the same software i think pupils would become disruptive and switch off quickly. There is this culture now that the internet and technology should be quick and people do not like waiting. I found this out myself last Thursday.
Movie editing
To edit our movies we had to convert the flip camera videos to windows media files. This was so we could access them on other computers. This was a huge problem. I spent 3.5 hours trying to convert them. I first tried zamzar. This not only took a while but the files once downloaded were corrupted. I then tried win X
after this the files were not corrupt and could be viewed on the screen but when trying to upload them to windows movie maker they did not have the correct file name and were unable to be recognised. The one I found that worked eventually was Freeware.
On reflection any task you wish the children to do you should know exactly how to do it yourself. You should know what programmes work, what is installed on the computers and how to do it.
I would like you to think about ways in which you could use these tools in the classroom. If you were given a choice of apps is there one in particular you feel would be useful? Wich area of the curriculum might benefit?
ReplyDeleteLet's reflect back on this a bit more rather than just look at the surface level of what happened. So you did not have APps on the phone. Yes you did, there were Apps on there you just were not able to download. Why did you not go and look at the Apple Educator website to see how people are using these tools effectively and try and find a way to embed in education rather than just the hardware aspect.
ReplyDeleteYou rightly discuss the nature of ensuring all devices are synced with the same Apps to save time. This is all the teacher's management and organisation. This is an area you could have reflected upon a little more rather than just state the obvious fact.
Converting files is a nightmare if the software is not there. You are going to go into to schools and will not have all the software you need so you have to go through the process of finding out what is the best way to work. Did you look at possible other options? I wrote a post on my blog which I think might be of help.