ePals.

During my primary schooling years when I was in Year 7 we were learning about different cultures throughout the world, and our teacher, Miss Cornish, linked our classroom up with a classroom in America and each student in our class had an email pen pal and were required to send emails to them using the service online called ePals. During Technology each week we would exchange emails explaining to them what our life in Australia was like, and they would reply and describe to us what their life in America was like. I found this to be a very positive experience and for years kept in contact with my ePal and we sent each other presents that were unique/resembled our culture, for example, I sent my ePal a kangaroo bear and she sent me a bear that she designed herself in an American factory.

In my future role as a learning manager, I look forward to exploring this technology by implementing it within my classroom environment as I am sure that like myself, the students will find the experience engaging and worthwhile.

Twitter

Well.. recently from my friends I have been hearing about how great twitter is, therefore, I decided that I would finally check out what all the rave was about. After signing up to twitter and having a look around the site, I must say, I am not a great fan of the technology and definately prefer other social networking sites, such as, Facebook (Yes that's right, I am still addicted to Facebook). The main problem I had with twitter was that I did not find it to be user friendly. However, I will try and continue experimenting with the site and who knows I may actually come to like it.

In relation to using social networking sites within a classroom environment, I think that they could provide students with engaging learning experiences that are authentic, as they could be closely linked to the students real life experiences and be perceived as being valuable. However, I strongly feel that due to safety issues if I was to allow my students to use social networking websites throughout their learning journeys I would use other services such as the Learning Place chat, as it is almost guaranteed to be a safe environment for the students to explore.

Windows Movie Maker.

Well, I must say I am officially addicted to using Windows Movie Maker. Windows Movie Maker is a program which I find to be user friendly and very engaging. Therefore, I regularly spend my spare time making small videos based upon my hobbies, for example, my animals and favourite football team the Penrith Panthers.

Therefore, I decided that I would use Windows Movie Maker as the main resource throughout an assessment item that I have created for a year nine english class, as I feel that they would also find the program engaging, which would be beneficial as it would then lead to learning outcomes being achieved by all students. As I haven't previously used the program within the classroom environment, I look forward to implementing learning experiences which require students to use Windows Movie Maker, and I feel confident enough that they will be able to successfully use the program just like I did.