Animation

Throughout this module I have discovered various ways in which technology can help encourage learning. One aspect I found very interesting was animation. Animation is the creation of images that alter through movement and shape change. Animation is a visual representation of a product that appeals to younger children as it is colourful, engaging and creative. Not only can animation help children express themselves, but it is also a perfect way to allow children the freedom to explore and re-create what they have learnt during lessons (a reflection sort of speak). Here is my animation that I created using 2animate, it is a dustbin baby. 2animate is a perfect app that can be used by children from the age of 6-11, it is also available for specialist schools.

If I was to provide an overview of the application I would say that 2animate is appropriate for children between the ages of 5-10 as it is most suitable for this age range. Its objectives are simple as it has the sole intention of making learning more enjoyable and enabling children to learn through visual means. 2animate is simple to navigate and I believe there is no need for guide lines as it is an app that can be "played about with" to discover how to use the device. There is a need for registration however,  but you can have a free trial before buying the app permanently.

During this module I also experimented with another animation programme called GO animate.com.

OVERVIEW:

Go Animate is an app for creating and publishing animated videos. Go Animate allows individuals to develop narrative videos, where characters speak with lip-sync, the use of props and the moving around of characters on screen. All videos have backgrounds, music and effects.
GO animate is a more advanced form of animation therefore I would recommend its use by older primary school children from 9 years of age and above. It has various background settings and real life cartoons which will appeal more to older children as they have more awareness of these people e.g Obama, Batman and Cupid. GO animate has six objectives these include: Representing diversity, giving contexts to ideas, bend the laws of nature, exploring different ways to create, changing thoughts into visuals and to strike the right tone. GO animate is very simple to access, simply search the hyperlink and it will take you straight to the home page where you will click 'make a video' then the variety of different themes will appear and your animation will be created from there.

http://goanimate.com/

There is a full tutorial guide provided on the website simply just follow the link http://goanimate.com/videomaker/full/tutorial There is a free trial, however to buy this app it is very costly! For example, for the use of one teacher and 30 students it would cost $100 for one academic year. You need to create an account by registering and this is where all of your animations will be saved to, however this is free of charge. It is a simple tool to use BUT it could be seen as complicated for the use of younger children.

Photostory

This is my final draft of my 'say it in seven' video. Christmas is a very special time of year for me as it is the time of year where all of the family come together to celebrate life, happiness and good health. For me, Christmas is a time for forgiveness and to cherish those close to us. I thoroughly enjoy the festivities and the build up to Christmas day! So here are my seven reasons why I love Christmas...

Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend

This talk inspired me because I believe I suffer from stress. Stress is a person's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus. Stress is a body's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight-or-flight response. Stress describes a negative condition or a positive condition that can have an impact on a person's mental and physical well-being.

I often worry too much with regards to university work and I have a fear of failing so I become stressful, which sometimes causes me nosebleeds and also lack of sleep. However this video has opened my eyes to the fact that I can view stress as a positive contributor to my work. As my heart rate increases I can say that it is trying to meet the demands of my action and my heavier breathing is improving oxygen transportation to my brain. This talk has taught me that how I view stress matters, because if we can change our perception of stress we can change our response to it and view it as a positive influence that can be controlled. In this video Kelly talks about  a stress hormone in the brain known as OXYTOCIN. It is a hormone that strengthens relationships, which makes us crave physical contact and enhances empathy all of which improves sociability. So, by talking to others about our stresses we can protect our cardiovascular system and vasodilation of our blood vessels which will improve blood flow. Now that I have heard a different approach to stress I can try to relax more and worry less about coursework because I trust myself to handle life's challenges because I don't have to face them alone!

Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model.

Cameron Russell is known globally as a model. This Ted Talk inspired me because in todays society there is a fixed stereotype that girls must be a size 6, be very tall and slender and must wear make up to be seen as "beautiful."

I totally disagree with this statement because I strongly feel that who a person is defines them not what they look like! Cameron Russell argues against this fixed stereotype and says everyone is beautiful in their own way, we should see past the physical stuff and look inside to see true beauty.
She talks about her modelling career from a young age and states that one day she'd be modelling for vogue and the next she'd be playing soccer. She states "Image is powerful, but image is superficial..." By this she means that being beautiful can help you get a job,  however it is insignificant to our lives. There is also a stereo type that you have to be a white girl to be attractive. However, take for example Tara Banks; she is an obvious exception to this rule.

We shouldn't be judged on our appearance based on skin colour. I think the very important message to take from this is that models tend to be the most insecure people of all as they always have to worry about "what they look like" and "what to wear" as they are constantly in the public eye. We all have our insecurities and we should all embrace them because that is what makes every individual, being different and not afraid to show it!

Tag Galaxy

Tag Galaxy is a fantastic tool that helps students explore relationships between words and ideas, as well as view pictures associated to the original word. 

How to use Tag Galaxy?

You can type any word into the search bar and shorty after a galaxy will appear with the original word at the centre and the associated ideas orbiting around the word.  If you hover around a word, pictures will appear related to the word from the social networking site Flickr. Tag Galaxy  is a very fascinating way to view information and is designed with attractive features in mind.

How to integrate Tag Galaxy into the classroom:

Tag Galaxy is a brilliant way to visually explore words and their associations, together with the help of pictures. This tool could be used by students by aiding them with writing work like poems, creative writing and stories! The connection with Flickr helps students to visualize words, ideas, and concepts through guiding them with pictures. Tag Galaxy could be used for classroom activities such as starter games including word association to increase brain activity before the lesson. I believe this will be a beneficial tool within the classroom because from personal experience I learn better through pictures and diagrams because it aids my understanding.

http://youtu.be/iiDX-wIiZ80

Educationeye

Education Eye is an online webpage that is free, engaging and easy-to-use! It provides a wide range of exciting, meaningful and useful innovations that are selected from the best webpages. The education eye provides a method to discover, explore and share new ideas that can improve work and knowledge. It creates a type of 'map' from the best educational websites, blogs and forums and draws it all together in one. Education Eye provides up to date information about innovative ideas being explored in the educational community which is presented in a mind map form that is interactive.

With reference to the educational context, education eye provides fast search results that finds content relevant to education. It is an effective method that provides you with correct information with regards to the work and is a very quick process which saves you the time and effort of searching through numerous pages of information as it provides it all on a webpage.

TED: Geoffrey Canada: Our failing schools. Enough is enough!

Geoffrey Canada is an inspiration to me because he wants to see changes within education as he believes the educational system is failing us drastically! "America is willing to spend trillions on the protection and safety of its country however, its against spending money on education for future generations as they deem it 'unimportant' This talks main focus is INNOVATION. Innovation is the act of introducing something new. This needs to be done with regards to education. Geoffrey refers to 0-3 years of age as the most important time of a child as this is the starting point to learning, desires and future. Geoffrey frequently studies data regarding the provision of education and it has come to his attention that education is the same year after year however, we don't do anything to improve it! why is that?
We spend a ridiculous amount of money testing children's knowledge however, we never try to improve it! By the time we get the result back its too late to help the children because we're already in the next academic year. Educational system needs to be changed to improve better standards of delivery. As I want to become a teacher my main priority is to provide education in the best way to give each child a good start in life, as this is my career path I have one duty... that is to offer the best I can but enabling that it benefits the child in the future otherwise its pointless.