On the third day, Dr. Greg Powell covered the last lecture on animation, and workshop that we had to get involved in. In the following parts, I am going to present the lecture, some reading materials and workshop in a brief way with my reflection based on my experience and how I may use the knowledge gained in Myanmar context.
Lectures
Animation is the theme of the third day lecture. By its definition, animation is the process by which we see still pictures move. There are a lot of reasons why animations should be taught in schools as enunciated in the slide on the right. The brief benefits of teaching animations are that students can develop creativity, questioning and language skills, mathematical, logical and spatial skills, collaboration skills, multiple intelligences, critical thinking and have fun.
Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/) is good for young people aged 8 and older. It provides tools for animation and several related creations like interactive art and games.
Game maker (http://www.yoyogames.com/studio) also looks very interesting to me. But I have not tried it yet!
I think Edsoft and Stopmotion, the two professional animation softwares, will be very beneficial for local Australian teachers. However, I think it will be too expensive for a teacher from Myanmar to buy and use it if our government does not buy it for the university or school he or she is in. Therefore, I think that despite their benefits, Myanmar teachers will be able to use Scratch and Game maker for free if they are really keen on using animation for instruction.
Readings
Reading One: Understanding engagement in educational computer games
This is about an empirical study to understand engagement in educational computer games, based on in-depth interviews with 12 educational computer game players. The players were undergraduate students (aged 19-25) who voluntarily participated in 1-hour interview sessions. The researchers collected and analysed data by using Grounded Theory (GT) to build theory from data, based on the three main steps of the coding procedures of the GT approach, viz., (1) open coding, (2) axial coding and (3) selective coding. The research findings in Nah et al (2012) suggest that the educational game players were engaged in the games. The results also suggest that motivation is a key factor in fostering users' interest in educational computer games, and that such motivation can be self-generated or generated from users' external environment. Moreover, the students' sense of curiosity is also found to be a major factor that sustains user engagement in educational computer games. In my opinion, this kind of research conducted on teenagers (13-19) will be more effective because, from my observations, they are really fond of computer games and so will love educational computer games, as well.
Reading Two: Using multimedia to enhance learning
This reading material is an article by David Feith about using multimedia wisely to enhance learning. In the article, Feith presented several recent researches done by prominent scholars first, and then he suggested how to use multimedia most profitably to enhance teaching and learning. Primarily, he argues that recent brain research indicate that multimedia doe not develop all aspects of intelligence and so should not be used in all learning contexts.
According to Feith (2008), multimedia is only a tool and so its usefulness or benefits are reliant on the way it it used. Reflecting on Roger Sperry's research on the left and right hemispheres of the brain (cited in Feith (2008)), it is impossible to develop all the intelligences with multimedia. It is also crucially important to pay attention to the technique of mind mapping developed and started teaching by Tony Buzon in the 1970s. Buzon studied brain research that showed the brain remembers things by making associations, or remembers things that are emphasised.
Professor Howard Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligence in his book "Frames of mind: the theory of 'multiple intelligences'" in 1983. According to Armstrong (2000, cited in Feith, 2008), "the essence of multiple intelligences theory is to respect the many differences among people, the multiple variations in the ways that they learn, the several modes by which they can be assessed, and the almost infinite number of ways in which they can leave a mark on the world." Caine and Caine (1991) examines and discusses the implications of the brain for learning and teaching. It summarises 'the accumulated insights of the research' and develop 12 principles that 'can serve as a general theoretical foundation for brain-based learning. Boyle's (1997) essential point: multimedia technology and the internet are enormously potential learning tools, but that the technology alone does not enhance learning.
Based on the recent research, Feith concluded that teachers' role is still crucial although many powerful multimedia tools are now in hand. He also emphasised that there are still several skills that multimedia cannot develop. In my opinion, teachers should keep doing research on the benefits and weaknesses of using multimedia in the future as nothing is ever perfect in this 21st century.
Unpacking the potential of educational gaming: a new tool for gaming research
As game play is very popular nowadays, especially among children and teenagers, game business are also producing more and more complex, engaging games. Several educational researchers have studied the usability and benefits of games in education. In the virtual communities of game play, players make reflection, planning, and interaction to build a shared understanding, value system, and culture around the game itself. According to Lave and Wenger (1991, cited in Wideman et al., 2007), if new players decides to participate, they then begin to move into the community more fully, learning its practices, values, roles, and symbols through observation, practice, and interaction with more experienced members. If educational games are properly designed, they can function as "practice fields" (Senge, 1994, cited in Wideman et al., 2007) which engage students in many meaningful realistic learning activities. However, there are significant bodies of research only in two disciplines, viz., medical education and business management studies. As engaging educational games are in necessity, Wideman and others developed Virtual Usability Laboratory (VULab), a tool for collecting the kinds of rich and "thick" game-play process data. The game was tested in a computer laboratory at a university in a large Canadian city over two separate sessions. During the sessions, students played an educational game and the VULab was used to record the gaming episode and present pre- and possession questionnaires. Analysis of the data showed several technical and usability issues that players had with the game. Though the students responded in questionnaires that they enjoyed the game, they were found to be confused and frustrated at different points throughout the game session. However, the field test results clearly demonstrate the possibility and value of VULab for the unobtrusive capture of data central to understanding many of the key elements of educational gaming. Personally speaking, educational games I have seen are just simple language games which will only interest keen language learners. However, by studying this research article, I come to be convinced that more engaging educational games that will teach young students English language will be highly beneficial for the ordinary students as well as for the keen ones.
Unpacking the potential of educational gaming: a new tool for gaming research
As game play is very popular nowadays, especially among children and teenagers, game business are also producing more and more complex, engaging games. Several educational researchers have studied the usability and benefits of games in education. In the virtual communities of game play, players make reflection, planning, and interaction to build a shared understanding, value system, and culture around the game itself. According to Lave and Wenger (1991, cited in Wideman et al., 2007), if new players decides to participate, they then begin to move into the community more fully, learning its practices, values, roles, and symbols through observation, practice, and interaction with more experienced members. If educational games are properly designed, they can function as "practice fields" (Senge, 1994, cited in Wideman et al., 2007) which engage students in many meaningful realistic learning activities. However, there are significant bodies of research only in two disciplines, viz., medical education and business management studies. As engaging educational games are in necessity, Wideman and others developed Virtual Usability Laboratory (VULab), a tool for collecting the kinds of rich and "thick" game-play process data. The game was tested in a computer laboratory at a university in a large Canadian city over two separate sessions. During the sessions, students played an educational game and the VULab was used to record the gaming episode and present pre- and possession questionnaires. Analysis of the data showed several technical and usability issues that players had with the game. Though the students responded in questionnaires that they enjoyed the game, they were found to be confused and frustrated at different points throughout the game session. However, the field test results clearly demonstrate the possibility and value of VULab for the unobtrusive capture of data central to understanding many of the key elements of educational gaming. Personally speaking, educational games I have seen are just simple language games which will only interest keen language learners. However, by studying this research article, I come to be convinced that more engaging educational games that will teach young students English language will be highly beneficial for the ordinary students as well as for the keen ones.
Quia
Quia was the most important part of the third day workshop. It has three main sections as shown in the following picture of its main page. I think all the sections are excellent, depending on who use them. For example, the students and teachers who are keen on mathematics will find IXL section truly engaging and valuable. Likewise, those teachers who want to buy Pdf's of good teaching-learning materials will regard Quia Books section invaluable.
 |
| Quia Home Page |
 |
| My multiple-choice questions on elementary English Grammar |
However, the most useful section of the three, I think, is the Quiz Web, in which we tried to do several tasks in the class. We had to construct our own multiple-choice questions and then go around the class to try one another's. It was really fun and a good learning experience for me because I could differentiate the good and the bad questions.
Next, we being asked to construct some kind of quiz available on Quia, I constructed a Hang Man quiz by the title of "Animals". I built the quiz with 20 names of commonly-found animals and some clues for each. After that, we had to roam around the class to attempt one another's quizzes. I found that some of my classmates made Battleship quiz, which I was not used to tackling. I think I need to study many more unfamiliar kinds of quizzes like it on the Quia. It will surely be a training ground for me. I am confident that these kinds of quizzes will make my students engaged, and that they will also be able to make their future students interested and encouraged to continue studying the lessons. Moreover, I am convinced that if I could keep using this website back in my country, I would be able to construct my own test on the Quia for my students to do.
 |
| My Hang Man Quiz named "Animals" |
In fact, the merits of the website are varied and wide. It has a lot of adjustable online applications like allowing teachers to build their own quizzes and other kinds of learning activities for their students. Moreover, it also gives us opportunity to try to do learning games on different subjects created by other people.
I think it would be beneficial for us if we joined it and really used it for our class for a long time. However, we could join it for 30-day free trial. I think it would not be easy for me and my students to use it far more than the trial days as it is still very difficult for Myanmar people to pay for the monthly price or to afford to do so.
Dvolver
 |
| One scene from my Dvolver movie clip |
I believe that Dvolver is a very good online movie maker with quite much adjustability in dialogues, and with many interesting choices for inputs such as backgrounds, music, and characters. However, one of its defects is that as it has no speech system to let the character speak, the viewers have to read all the words in the dialogue box to understand the video we make. Therefore, in my opinion, this online application will be more suitable for young learners. There is no doubt that students will get fun and better language practice, especially in reading skill. In the class, I made a simple language teaching movie on Greetings, one plot of which can be seen on the right side.
PowToon
 |
| My trial movie clip made with PowToon |
PowToon is a captivating presentation application. I have seen one or two awesome movie clips which were made using this online application. I made an account in the class as soon as Dr. Greg introduced it to us. Although my free account allows me to use basic presentation templates and basic tools without download rights, I find it really worthwhile. I tried to make a movie entitled "Life is: Trial movie clip" on PowToon. Despite its poor quality then, I made up my mind to develop my skills in making good presentation movies on it. I also think about making my multimedia presentation movie, my second assignment project in this subject, with the great help of PowToon.
Sketch Swap
 |
| My sketch |
I was not very comfortable with using Sketch Swap perhaps because I am not very keen on drawing pictures. One thing which confused me much was how the unrelated pictures were swapped between strangers. The unpredictability and uncontrollability over the sketches swapped from our strangers overwhelmed me while drawing. I drew a young man saying "Hello!" to the viewers as seen on the right side, and then submit it. But after some time, I got a sketch of a beautiful couple surrounded by 'hearts' which is shown in the following one. That time, I was lucky, I thought.
 |
| The sketch I received |
However, when I tried to draw a new sketch of a girl and submit it for the second time, I got some ugly sketches of dogs and cats. What an unlucky time. However, I think some students who like drawing will like this online application very much. As my student teachers will teach young people, they will be able to use Sketch Swap effectively. As youngsters, the learners will find it really engaging since they normally like mysteries.
Buildyourwildself
 |
| My wild self made on Buildyourwildself |
I like Buildyourwildself because it allows me to combine several parts of weird wild animals in the body of a human being. In my opinion, the young learners will like this online application very much as they are generally lovers of legends and strange animals. What may attract them most will be that they can hear the sounds of the wild animals they chose. They can also learn about each animal that they chose for making their wild selves. As a language teacher, I am convinced that this website can help young ESL learners develop their language skills, especially reading skill, and some knowledge about animals. Therefore, I intend to recommend my student teachers to practice using it so that they will be able to engage their future students in some meaningful learning activities.
No comments :
Post a Comment