Another Christmas Over!

Well that's it for another year, Christmas is over and my clothes feel tighter!
I have had a fabulous Christmas and I hope you all have too.  It started with a lovely afternoon/ evening out with the girls (even if we did have to shout to each other in Frankie and Benny's) followed by a fantastic holiday in Euro Disney! www.disneylandparis.co.uk
Four girls (all around the age of 30) were unleashed on the Magical Kingdom to help Mickey and friends celebrate the 20th anniversary of Euro Disney!  It is a dream I have sadly had for 20 years and I have to say it lived up to expectations.  The best part was the jealousy seen in the parent's eyes as we ran around like children, enjoying the rides, posing with princesses and doing what we wanted without tired children whining behind us!  I recommend it to anyone and have posted a couple of photos to help you visualise it.

As they say however, all good things must come to an end and anyway I had to come home to plan for the next break away.  Roll on Monday when Poland here I come, where we will celebrate the start of what is going to be a fantastic New Year.

Wordnik.com

Wordnik is a simple and easy to understand dictionary. The website has a very plain view but is split up into several sections to make it easy to find the part you learn from best.  For example, if you are a visual learner you could use the pictures to try to make sense of the word you are looking for.  Although some of the pictures are only loosely related to the original word so if young children are using this you would need to ensure they understood this.  

If you are an audio learner you can use the audio link to understand how the word should be pronounced and if you simply learn from explanations then there are several sections that go into great detail to help gain a full explanation.  One of these sections is definition which you would expect to see in any dictionary.  The information is taken from many different sources so  if you don't understand one explanation then you may see it better from another source.  The fact it does not allow user definitions is a good thing, as this means all information has to be verified first before it is added to the website. There is a section on the page you can use to add your comments and have a discussion about the word but this is separate and should be used with care.

The next very useful section is examples.  This lets you see the word in a sentence, showing it in as many different ways as possible, helping you to put the word into context to understand the meaning.  It shows you words it is related to and helps you to see the bigger picture.

This would all be useful in an educational setting as the different learning style approaches makes it fun to use.  The majority of children enjoy using technology to learn and why should English be any different.  A particularly fun part of the site is the word of the day or random word tabs.  You could use this in lessons to try to expand yours or a child's vocabulary so that you are learning together.  Adding this into the beginning of the day, you could try to encourage children to use the word in a sentence during the day.  Looking at the site now, the word of the day is "Chasse" and the random word is "Snood", instead of telling you what they mean though I will let you try the website out for yourself www.wordnik.com.

Christmas is coming!

Christmas is quickly approaching and I thought I would let you all know exactly how fast by adding this useful little countdown. I really should try to get my Christmas shopping finished before I get on that train on Saturday to venture to the bright lights of London, then onward to Paris.  This is where I will meet mickey and friends in Euro Disney which I am really excited about.  There is a definite festive feeling around the university this week too, so now that I have handed in my first assignment I feel I can actually relax a little.  Anyway two lectures to go and then it's holiday bound!

My voice has gone on holiday!

I have been struck down with the dreaded lurgy!!!   After laughing at everyone else for having to take time off I have had to eat my own words.  I am sitting here now feeling sorry for myself and full of cold but rather than sit here watching Jeremy Kyle and Escape to the Country all day I thought I would reflect on last week.

Over the last couple of weeks, as I have mentioned, it has been death by referencing so when Mandy (ICT lecturer) told us we were going to learn how to use Word as a referencing tool, I have to admit I was looking for the nearest door.  However, this may have been one of the most useful referencing lessons we have had.  It would seem that by using Word you can input the information directly and it will sort it for you and make your life easier.  This to me sounds like a fantastic idea although after having a small go myself it was not as easy as Mandy make it look.    As always though I will persevere with it and see where it takes me.

We were also asked to look at Education past, present and future and how things have and will change over the years.  I have been given education 10 years ago which apart from the use of technology we do not think has changed that much.  I left school over ten years ago though and think children do learn easier now, therefore there must be something which has changed.  We will research this more this week to see why this is.

We have an exam tomorrow, so I am determined to shake this cold off, get my voice back and pass the exam.  Fingers crossed!

Evaluating Kerpoof.com

Today we have been asked to evaluate Kerpoof.com.  Kerpoof is a Walt Disney website designed for children and encourages them to be creative while having fun.  Using Kerpoof children can make movies, design cards, create artwork, talk to friends and tell stories.  The website is also designed to be used as a learning tool in the classroom and there is a teachers guide and various lessons plans which the teacher can access for free.  You do not have to register to use the site however it does encourage you to and you will need to if you want to email things to yourself. It is also good that if using the website in the classroom only the teacher needs to set up a classroom account meaning students are not entering their own/parents email addresses.  This will make it safer for children to use.
You do not have to pay to use the website however there is an option to become a member for $4.39 a month which gives you access to the chat rooms and a greater number of areas to explore.  
I have been asked to evaluate the animation tool which we found easily.   From the home page you can find a very handy how to video which gives you step by step instructions to making your movie.  It is good as it stops at certain stages to allow you to have a go yourself.  To begin with we did not look at this and like a bull in a china shop decided to work it out for ourselves. It was fairly easy to do this but for children it would be recommended to use the guide which also shows them how to get the best from the site.  
Using the drag and drop tool we were able to design the animation we wanted using the already prepared stages and avatars.  You can make your avatar say what you want them to and use special effects to create a snowy scene, a rock concert, a fairy tale and much more.   You can draw on it using the drawing tool however you do not have to and this means young children and non arty children can create something too. 
You can email it to others and share but unfortunately it does not seem to give an embed code so you can attach it to your blog.  For younger children this is not really a problem as it is purely a tool for learning and playing but for older children this is not ideal.
Overall this website is fun, easy to use and navigate around and a great learning tool and very importantly with the added security features parents know it is safe.
Why not have a bit of fun and try it out for yourselves at www.kerpoof.com.  You never know it could be the start of your animation career!

Catchphrase - I see no ships!

Work is Piling up!

We are now well and truly into the first term and as Christmas quickly approaches so does the deadline for our first assignment.  I have to admit this was not really worrying me, the assignment that is not Christmas, until today's lecture on referencing.  Where as before I thought there was no chance of me ever committing plagiarism, now I am worried I will do it without even knowing it. The assignment we have been set is for History of Education and I have decided to concentrate on the 1944 Butler Act.  

In 21st Century learning we have finished looking at learning styles for the moment and have started to look at multiple intelligence.  This I am finding really interesting especially as I had no idea there even was a multiple intelligence until last week.  It makes a lot of sense and is something I believe is very important to highlight when teaching children.  Everyone is different and good at different things and it is important to encourage children to look at the positives of what they are good at and not what you think they should be good at.

I am sure if you are reading this you have also seen what we have been doing in ICT.  You will find below a series of seven Photographs taken by myself, which show a story.  My story is about my dog Bournville and what he got up to when the door was left open one day.