NNARP

OK this is a good idea, just a quick look and edit to update and track what is going on We have google sketch up but I would like to use A9CAD for the technology students as it will be a better transition to AutoCAD

1/8/2011 (NNARP) CAD One step at a time and each step well defined. It’s not easy to do in practice when the subject curriculum and understanding is not so well defined for the teacher. I have a unit of work to do which I do know inside and out, so I have been able to define each step of the process to create a drawing in AutoCAD, starting with the varies options to draw a simple line, such as how long and where the start of the line should be and then the end of the line in relation to the origin. Will there be an angle? And if so how is that entered accurately. I know as the students use the instruction sheets I am going to need to revise my instructions and add pictures for clarification.

15/9/2011 (NNARP) CAD I had a class teaching CAD using the A9CAD drawing program, the students needed to draw a line on a 120 degree angle as part of the overall drawing, unfortunately the instructions I had to do this didn’t work so we as a class did some brain storming to work out how to draw a line on an angle 20 mm long, someone suggested a protractor and we did explore the practicality of the idea but concluded that it would be too hard and may damage the computer screen. We settled on drawing an arc from 0 degrees to whatever angle we needed at a radius equal to the length of the line required and then drawing a line from the centre of the arc to the end point of the arc producing a line at the correct angle. Being prepared to let the students solve their own problems was an interesting experience for me, and one I feel more comfortable with than controlling every step of the learning process, students seem to respond well to taking ownership of their own learning. 5/11/2011 (NNARP) CAD the student's have been using Google Sketchup in visual communications and design which has been very useful for the students to create and expand on their design ideas, one of the projects is to design a home, and some of the students have been designing some very detailed homes with furniture, pools, garden and fencing. Of course there are students that try downloading an existing sample and working with that, so I do have to be vigilant in keeping an eye on their progress to make sure it is their own work. It seems that it depends on the purpose of the task as to what kind of software package should be used.

27/10/2011 (NNARP) Game Maker My students have been creating games using game maker, they find it a challenging and rewarding experience, since I don’t have much experience with game maker part of the experience was the students working out how to create games with my help and sharing their learning with each other, it’s the most engaged I’ve seen them all year, learning and sharing with each other to create some pretty good games. It has helped them to learn how to solve problems to create projects through inquiry and research based learning. It's easy to use, the drag and drop system is ideal for the beginning students to work out and understand and still be rewarding when they become more advanced users of the program. and it has forfilled And it has fulfilled many of the VELS outcomes that I needed to cover including self-directed learning and working as a team cooperatively. The students found some animated sprites to include in their games using drag and drop selections and action reaction events to make their games fun and interesting.it didn't take them long to understand object orientated programming and be able to explain the basic principles.Game Maker allows students to learn without realising that it is homework, but rather find it fun and challenging

31/10/11 (EPS) Yes, I did something similar with Gamemaker IE get some of my talented knowledgeable students on the topic to share their experience with the class. As you stated, it was great to see the collaboration and inquiry based learning that was achieved during that topic. Next year I am working with a very experience web designer (who has donated some time to the school). I cant wait to be part of this because like my students I feel I will get many benefits and knowledge from this. 14/11/11 BJARP Yeah - gamemaker is a great program, I've helped the kids get started by creating screen capture video tutorials on how to make a few simple games Video Tutorials 5/11/2011 (NNARP) maths khanacadadem I've been looking at khanacadademy from a learning perspective, it provides video tutorials for maths from the very basic to university level maths. It looks like it would be a very good online learning environment for students. The practice maths problems are just as extensive and khanacadademy keeps track of the students’ progress certainly worth a look for anyone teaching maths. [|http://www.khanacademy.org] 8/11/11 (EPS) I will definitely give this a go Neil. I will enquire if its free or requires a subscription..

NNARP its free :) 5/11/2011 (NNARP) including ICT into woodwork and metal work Guide the students in the use of word and PowerPoint to produce assignments and PowerPoint presentations explaining how they produced their product and what they think of the end result i.e. whether or not it is useful and well made. I have found that the students only know the basics of these programs as there is no ICT class as such, so we have spent a fair bit of time exploring the features of the applications when they have been producing their work, sometimes they have made use of the features sometimes not but they do seem more confident.

5/11/2011 (NNARP) Moodle I know that the education department has been developing the Ultranet but most of our students aren’t on it yet so I’ve been thinking of using moodle as an alternative. I haven’t done much with it yet but if anyone one would like to have a look and experiment with moodle be my guest just create your own account J []

For the last year I have been teaching at Corryong College in Corryong. It is a country school with approximately 200 students spread over years 5 to 12. From my experience the parents of the students at the school do not actively involve themselves in the day to day activity of the school then turnout to parent/teacher interviews is usually ok. Outside of the core school subjects Corryong has excellent facilities for the teaching of woodwork and metalwork studies and offers Indonesian as a language. Generally there is little team teaching across the school with the exception of the year 5 to 8 year levels where the four classes share a combined learning space and are taught all subjects other than electives together. Recently the Senior Management Team at Corryong have reviewed the core values of the school under the overarching values of, Respect, Being your Best and Lifelong Learning. This year everyone at Corryong College is concentrating on embracing those values. At Corryong College there is no unified or overarching approach to teaching with teachers encouraged to put their own individual stamp on the way their classes are run and taught.
 * NNARP - Education setting**

NNARP - ICT in schools We have been at VU this week. Part of that has been the Applied Curriculum Project presentations, One of these was the need to implementing ICT subjects into the curriculum outlining the lack of ICT skills that the students actually have instead of the skills we and the education department thinks they have, the difference between what we think they know and what they actually know is that they know bits and pieces very well and need the gaps filled in so they can work more quickly and effectively when they produce the outcomes that is expected of them.

NNARP - How I incorporate ICT into my subjects 2012 My visual communications class lends itself to a whole host of opportunities to teach basic ICT to my students giving them a taste of the things that can be done with the software available today We tend to cover the following as it provides a good mix of structured curriculum as well as creativity. We have a number of lessions with the Microsoft suite of products such as Internet Explorer, Word and PowerPoint. This develops into an assessment task using PowerPoint and requires students to create something of interest related to technology enabling the students to provide a presentation, both visually and orally. The students like using Gimp Desktop (Photoshop software) enabling them to create rather stunning images that send a message to the viewer which they then can include in the presentation.

NNARP - How I incorporate ICT into subjects - laptop release: 2012 I get to look after any problems with the laptops this year, so far so good :) we handed out the laptops to year 9s and 10s about three weeks ago with traing on the use and care, and things seem to be working well so far, the students are using them properly in class without to many issues with game playing, and only one slightly broken corner when a laptop was dropped while in its case. We as teachers are working out ways to utilise the availability of computers in the classroom by including them in our unit planning, it's handy to have the work produced in class emailed to you for assessment, you know who’s working and who’s not and to what standard pretty quickly when I can just go through their work in my own time.

Teaching basic computer software skills within normal classes: 2012 The use of software such as word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint can all be used to enhance the learning of the subject content covered in class. Simply providing word documents on the intranet or the Ultranet providing questions for the students to answer. The computer the student would learn with this simple activity would numerous such as being able to logon to their profile, navigate the network or use a username and password to access the file, save a document to their profile or home directory. In addition they have answered questions relevant to the unit of work they are studying as well as fulfilling the VELS ICT requirements.

The specific subject software such as Data Logging for Science, Mathematics software games such as Maths Mate, Geography software, image manipulation software for the Visual Arts, CAD software to name a few. For example the ICT skills learnt by using image manipulation software will teach the students a lot about manipulating the size of images for which the ICT Administrator would be extremely grateful for the efficient use of the network storage available to the school. In the process of doing this they will learn where to locate original files, produce thumbnails and perhaps integrate them into web pages.

Students know how to use different browsers but do they use all of the functions? Browsing software is a very powerful instrument. Knowledge management aside the management of bookmarks should be the first thing taught to students. This way they can learn to navigate to where they need to be quickly and efficiently. Once the have done this they can learn to make use of functions on the internet that can collate their needed data and store information they have in an efficient manner.

Students have also been developing an understanding of the global nature of blogging such as Facebook and the media wikis including the reliability of the information or lack of, we have also looked at browser enhancements like the ones available in Firefox and it has been noted there are not so many in Internet Explorer, which started a discussion on the availability of technical information such as source code.


 * Use computers for work related activities reference book**