Module One Done

My reflections of the essay writing module

Firstly the module lets the user understand how to approach the topic given then to collate the information provided, to develop your argument and incorporate your research into the final written essay.
It is very helpful in that the module has little exercises that you would click on words and immediately you are given answers to what words mean.
It suggests you look closely at your essay topic and the information your tutor has provided. Then ask your self some questions like: what does the essay question require you to do, what information do you have to look at, and what are you writing about?
To do this you need to identify three types of words - Instruction words - Content words - Relationship words

Instruction words are the action words in the topic and tell you what to do.
Some examples are: analyse, describe, discuss, justify, compare.
Content words are typically nouns and verbs that represent the key concepts of the essay.
Relationship words connect different aspects of the essay.
Some common relationship words are: in the light of, with reference to, drawing on, assess in terms of, according to, and influenced by.

This module is very good, it is simple, and it has easy to follow instructions with one click arrows and answers.

My reflections of the essay writing module.
Firstly the module lets the user understand how to approach the topic given then to collate the information provided, to develop your argument and incorporate your research into the final written essay.
It is very helpful in that the module has little exercises that you would click on words and immediately you are given answers to what words mean.
It suggests you look closely at your essay topic and the information your tutor has provided. Then ask your self some questions like: what does the essay question require you to do, what information do you have to look at, and what are you writing about?
To do this you need to identify three types of words - Instruction words - Content words - Relationship words.

Instruction words are the action words in the topic and tell you what to do.

Some examples are: analyse, describe, discuss, justify, compare.

Content words are typically nouns and verbs that represent the key concepts of essay Relationship words connect different aspects of the topic.

Some common relationship words are: in the light of, with reference to, drawing on, assess in terms of, according to, and influenced by।

This module is very good, it is simple, and it has easy to follow instructions with one click arrows and anwers.

Morguefile.com visitor

MY REFLECTION OF MORGUEFILE.COM/: five minute tripod

I went onto this website to be confronted by a window with moguefile; contains free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use.Then I scrolled down to morguefile blog and clicked on three blog sites to see where I’d browsed.

The first was a step-by step images for a book cover.

The second was Zack Arias telling us in a seven minute video about how to best get photographs and these were: Texture, technical aspects, most intimidating factor especially with off camera lighting, there is no magic bullet, there is no fast track to doing this, there’s no one piece of equipment that is the answer to everything you have to do, the piece of equipment that you need most is up between your ears, you’ve got to be thinking this through, you’ve got to understand what’s going on, exposure variables.
Shutter speed controls ambient exposure, the ambient light in your environment, get in the mode to shoot, get ready; have to be thinking about what has to come out, have gear ready, into bull pen –studio, test shot first, cleanest file first, started at f4, f21 is a black silhouette, have motion is shot, whip the hair, outside; use light to bring the eye to the subject, 60 inch shoot through lights and environment – model standing beside building can view the sky at top of building, 28 inch softbox keeps light directed on subject – same shot as before just darker.

Then I clicked on bottle cap tripod, an instructional video where you can learn to make a tripod from a soft drink bottle cap with a bolt screwed though the middle of the cap, washers and nut hold the bolt in place, a wing nut is place on top of the nut with another washer as a spacer, then screw the camera to the bottle cap, then screw the cap back on bottle. This gives a nice sturdy base from which to take pictures! I have copy paste the website address below so readers can see first hand for yourselves, enjoy.
http://www.popsci.com/video/2007-07/introducing-popsci-5-minute-project-videos-bottle-cap-tripod

Help is here my friend

Some things I can share with my fellow students

STUDY SKILLS:
· Organisation
· Procrastination
· Prepare for assignments, essays and reports

TIME MANAGEMENT:
1. Prioritise
2. Dealing with priorities

NOTES:
Ø Courtesy shown to others
Ø Demonstrate sample of activity – allow for lapses,
must be self corrective though
Ø Allow for illness and bereavement
Ø Allow for training days, sport days,
recreation and cultural pursuits

NOTE-TAKING:
Record new data
Summarise
Record ideas
Communicate to others
Show relationships
Create revision notes
Plan
For recall

RANGE:
v Written
v Graphics
v Diagrams
v Tables
v Graphs
v Flow charts
v Mind maps
v Diagrammatic forms
v Comic strips
v Story boards
v Graphic designer

TECHNIQUES:
o Purpose of technique defined
o Identified
o Key points identified
o Recorded as summary

SPECIAL NOTES:
a) Awareness to express underpinning concept of learning
b) Effective learning specific
c) Need to learn and want to learn
d) Take responsibility
e) Explore and optimise own learning
f) Learn with confidence, curiosity, and initiative
g) Transfer learning to new situations

READING:
I. Skimming and scanning
II. Read in-depth

MEMORY TECHNIQUES:
Mind mapping
Flashcards
Mnemonics

EXAM PREPARATION:
o Prepare for exam
o Memorise skills

WRITING ESSAYS:
o Understand topic
o Plan essay
o Know types of information
o Gather and use info
o Write the essay
o Structure the essay
o Grammar
o Proof read

PRESENT A POSTER:
RESEARCH INFORMATION:
APA REFERENCING:

THINKING SKILL:
o Left brain/right brain
o Learning model of metacognition
o Knowledge of different thinking processes

All these would definitely help my fellow students/classmates!!! Taken from the develop skill for students.

Definitely information I will be sharing around with friends and acquaintances on and off campus. This is a sure thing.

Just playing around

My Reflections – DILMIT} Google Groups

I went to DILMIT to check out this course. It seems to be where a team can communicate. So, I have posted an email to someone? Thinking it has been distributed amoung my DIL class/group.

This exercise was simply to navigate this DIL program to find a kind of map to where I am going with this course. Though I have preconceived ideas of where all this information will lead me, I am not all convinced that this course “will be all and end all”. Therefore, I just need to get around and “play with it for now.

DILMIT invites users to email, to which I have done. But, where did it go? Off to cyberspace where all digital information must venture I suppose!#?

One could also open an account for a group to use by clicking the “create” button and filling in the wizard with a “nickname” for the group and other pertinent information.

Then I could not access Saving website on deli.cio.us.

Neither could I access Social Bookmarking in Plain English.

Of course I have created already a weblog, though without actually knowing what i'd done, so for the sake of utilising this new learned technology I will describe how this was made possible for myself.

I clicked on Create and maintain a basic weblog. WikiEducator and this took me to; WikiEducator.org; Blogging http://wikieducator.org/Create_and_maintain_a_basic_weblog.

This is where blogging is explained and courses can be followed by clicking on; DIL is explained, skill for tertiary students (particularly interesting for me), computer literacy (very extensive), peer tutoring (mentors/mentees), design for flexible learning (a kind of discussion board with blog sites of Otago Uni students doing a course), Art Digital Literacy (a course programme), and Facilitating online communities (use of blogging to learn).

I thought that this was very interesting and the next blog is going to be my reflection of - skills for tertiary students. SEE YOU SOON!

P.S. I found how to edit my comments at any time: click on customise, posting (tab), edit posts, click "edit" of posting required for editing.

Buzz thought to Blog

My reflections of blogging
Blogging has been around for ten years and I’m just learning how to create one! So now that I’ve got a blog on spot, is this what I’m to grow up with? Yes, of course!

It’s the age of technology and I must come to terms with how I accumulate information from this new-old system.

I suppose I could refer to my digital information learning and blogging as an appliance; much like, “putting on an electric jug or an electric toaster”. A metaphor to help me understand how to fill up my “jug” (blog) with “water” (digital information) as a way to quench my thirst for knowledge and how to fill my “toaster” (search engines) with “bread” (wikipedia) to satisfy my hunger for wisdom.

Then of course, the “water and bread” has to be “consumable and definitely palatable” (100% correct information) else wise, I grow up stunted!

So, blogging is a receptacle for my thoughts, a diary, not necessary fact yet consumable, not absolute yet palatable! A place where “I” can be 100% correct.

Now, I’m to grow up with this learning. This way of learning will eventual be an everyday part of my life. I will use this technology as though I can’t go without it. Much like checking my cell phone every morning to see if messages have been sent while I was asleep. My children and their children will grow up with this information capability and I need to grow with it, or get left in the dust with stale bread and stagnant water.

I’m duly sold on this idea, I’m now one of YOU!!!?

My Reflections – ‘The machine is us/ing us’

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A very intriguing clip. Text is unilinear, digital text is more flexible, hypertext can link, HTML in old days - hypertext; web, stylistic, defys content, blogging, not just text, photo, tag, we are the web, we are teaching the machine, the machine is using us, Wikipedia, rethink rhetoric’s - are some of the messages to give a clue to what it suggests.

Feedback to this video clip:
It prompts and provokes my mind as to the possibilities of the machine. The way in which text can be manipulated, so too photos, websites, email, blogging, video clips etcetera.
The composer of this clip is a class ahead of most students and access to these resources must be considered where and when education providers decide best for their students.

My Reflections – ‘Information Revolution’
Characteristics of information, it is a thing, it has a logical place - on a shelf, in a file system, in a category, it sometimes requires experts, and it is still hard to find – then there is the internet evolution, information takes on a digital form which has no fixed form, we now need to rethink information beyond material constraints – but early websites built on familiar assumptions about information, as a thing with a logistical place in a category, on a shelf –

This video clip raises the question; are we ready? Ready for information explosion and information revolution?

Feedback to this video clip:
Ho, wow! What an amazing way of information sharing. The author of the video clip certainly has an entertaining way of channelling communication and that the messages are about an explosion of information to the world web system and that this will revolutionise the way in which messages can be channelled on a WWW system; tag, blog.

My Reflections – ‘Epic 2014’
www created, amazon.com, google, blogger, Friendster, google news, gooogle mail. google earth, searchers to google grid, store, publish, msn.newsbotster, googlezon, EPIC evolving personalised information construct.

Feedback to this video clip:
So, is this the future of information sharing? Most assuredly so! Then indeed I will have to be a part of this information construct. This I understand is blogging and tagging favourites, this will ensure that I am connected with the “matrix” or rather, the larger mix of people on web.

My Reflections – ‘did you know’ (shift happns)
We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don’t yet exist… in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet, “we can’t solve problems by using the some kind of thinking we used when we created them” Albert Einstein, ask your kids; are you doing this in school? Ask your principle: how are you helping my child become literate in the 21st Century? Ask your school board: are you providing the resources and training necessary to prepare students to be successful in 21st Century society? There are students in China, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh and the USA who remember, understand, anlyse, evaluate, communicate, collaborate, on projects everyday, ask your elected representatives: now that you know all this, what changes should be made to current education legislation, what’s your vision?

Feedback to this video clip:
Shift most certainly happens! And yes, I would like to be a part of this shift. And yes, I will be asking my principle and elected representative about what changes should be made so all our children, parent, civilian, public can benefit from this digital technology.

Audition: capturing sound

Our session firstly consisted of familiarising ourselves with digital sound recorders, the first of which was the tape recorder. This device was quickly waived because sound quality is compromised, though it still can do the job.

The digital recording devices were then looked at and microphone capability explained. These recording devices are small and can easily fit in the palm of a hand. They have a digital display and I wonder do they have the capability to increase font size? Can anyone tell me?

The microphone connection can be added to the recording device and the mic placed into the middle of activity needed for capturing.

The next amazing device we were shown was a digital photo-frame that allows you to view a series of photos, video or movie even. I'm sure to be using a device like this at some stage of my educational journey.

Then there is the podcasting workshop. We were privileged to meet with Otago University staff and students over teleconferencing capability. This was interesting in that they have been podcasting a radio show from thier region via iPod. However, the teleconference application was unkind to us and two-way verbal conversation was staggered but comprehensible.

I found this session rewarding in that it allowed me to understand, that one needed only an iPod, a laptop with broadband connection and an internet server, all of which is unaffordable at the moment, but feasible.

3rd week

What have I learnt from last weeks lesson?

I will have to answer this question tommorrow, because our session is closing down for the night.

1.1 My recent activities involved induction to the DIL program. This involved meeting with other participants in this project and introductions were made. We then watched two videos describing the future of digital information in 2014 called EPIC. Discussion of what we had viewed was encouraged and people gave opinions of what they had witnessed. My perception of the viewing was to understand how google offered free digital storage of information through its email application, and how users can create a ‘google grid’. We were then asked as to what pathway we would have interest in. I expressed a desire to learn podcasting and teleconferencing. An online survey was then conducted where 15 questions were asked. Seemingly, these questions were designed to gauge my current involvement with technology (digital) and how best I cope with capturing and disseminating information.

1.2 Some initial steps I took in taking part in this project are to actively listen to the instructions of what criterion is required and to contribute accordingly. As part of my decision making process to this program, I used my current learning in Māori broadcasting to guide my thoughts of how best to use this program to my advantage. I currently have some experience with some “bits” of digital technology and this project will allow me to hone my meagre knowledge base.
This project seems to offer me further promise of understanding digital information and of where this may lead my plans for the future. My idea is to take this information “home” to an environment where digitalisation is slowly becoming a reality for many of my “home bodies”. The actions I used were to view and compile information from e-mit such as; google grid, EPIC, Wiki and blogging.

2.1 My decision to this point will be to follow a pathway that may allow me to pursue a career where digital technology such as; podcasting, digital conferencing, digital photo and video capturing along with digital whiteboard technology, will help me achieve success with my current studies and future goals.

2.2 My reaction to viewing DIL material is somewhat mixed and confusing. However, I saw a myriad of pictures while browsing blogger sites. These pictures seemed totally irrelevant to my concept of what blogging may mean, so I just let the cursor touch on photos with pretty girls in them. This distracted me from my real reason for doing this project, just to find that some of the pictures were irrelevant to what the written words were saying. I guess the only thing for it, is to stay on track with my digital learning.

3.1 Certainly I am learning how to blog and have started a weblog called buzzblogonspot. I have also learnt how to get around the smartboard. These learning will help me in my studies in terms of assignment content, layout and structure. Blogging will help me find subjective material. While use of a smartboard will help me present my findings in professional way.

3.2 Realistic goals for me, is to successfully complete a Degree in Communication with MIT. Then to use my learning to create a regional broadcasting environment within my “home town”. My decision-making will encompass all peoples and persons in “our” region.

What now?

I am a first time blogger and I would like to record my thoughts on this blog spot!

Last week we had induction to this DIL project and my reflections will be posted forthcoming.

This week we had some insights to using smartboard.

I was duly impressed with the application of this learning technology.

So, how might I use this information?

I seek ideas to help me answer this question!

catchup 2morrow, cher BUZZ