E-learning week 4

• Which of the tools covered this week - social networking, IM, microblogging, polling - do you already use in your teaching?

I am not using any social networking tool with my students and one key reason is that I teach Year 7 students who begin the year aged 12, under the 'legal' age for creating a Facebook account. We do have a class blog through our school SharePoint environment and the students each have their own blog page which they update at least once a week with reflections or a response to a particular topic in PD class. I liked the idea of using something like The Wall Machine as many of our students do in fact start using Facebook as the year progresses and this could be a useful inclusion in our Cybersafety unit - giving the students a try with a similar platform. I use Twitter as a part of my PLN but as it is a blocked site at school the feeds are read only at night. I liked the example of the primary school reflective tool, especially for the fact that it keeps parents informed about what is happening in their child's classroom. I do use polling a lot in a piece of software called DyKnow which is used for content delivery in an interactive way.

• Which of the tools might you use in future in your teaching?

I would like to explore the use of a tool like Edumodo for a project we are developing which will see learning resources and a connection point provided to students in the year before they enter the boarding house. I will write about this concept more in the coming weeks as it is my intended project idea.

• Are there any related mobile apps which you have used or may use in the future? What are the advantages and disadvantages compared to web-based tools?

I am not familiar with mobile apps for education. Our students have laptops (with drawing capability) and at this stage other mobile devices are not allowed. I am working with the archivist on a small project to create an audio commentary for the school museum which students can download into their phone.

I am particularly interested in the idea of 'continual partial attention' (Linda Stone). This quote differentiates the practice from multitasking. Aside from the differing impulse, I wonder if there is evidence which backs up the message in the video which indicated that our brains are not set up for multitasking and therefore we are less efficient when we try (thus making cpa the equivalent?)