Lesson on Situating Tool

                                        Situating Tool

To my understanding, i will define situating tool as a system that situates students in the environment where it involve a context and the occurrence of a situation. It gives real experiences to the learners or explorers with 3-D images on display. This tool can be used when a certain real-life experience is impossible or difficult to attain. We were introduced to three situating tools in ICT module and i am surely going to make good use of these tools in future.
1. Google map.
 Through google map, we can travel to different countries, states, places, continents and to the whole world.  It was my first time exploring on google map when our tutor Mr. Ugyen Wangchuk demonstrate on using google map. It was really mesmerizing and I should say it gave me realistic experience since i got to travel to different countries in the google map with a 3-D display.

                                           fig:    Google map
we can do street view in google map, where we get to see a real picture of it.

                                              Street view of Paro Nyamay Zampa.

street view of college gate. 

There are three types to view google map.
i.  satellite view - where we can view places and buildings as it is in 3-D display as shown below.
                                               Paro valley in satellite view.

ii.  Terrain view - shows 3-D elevation of natural geographic features, such as mountains and canyons as shown below. 

iii. Map view - viewing in the form of map as shown below. 

2. Simulations
We did an activity on designing activity on the topic basic and acidic solution by exploring in the simulations. In that simulation, we get to do hands on experience on identifying acidic or basic solutions. This kind of simulations surely will help the students understand better, rather than confusing them with numerous solutions and blended pH papers. It can help to those teachers and students who lacks resources on acidic and basic solutions and pH measuring instruments especially by the simulation on pH scale. There are thousands of simulation on different subjects created by experts to be used in teaching.

                              Simulation we have explored during ICT class on the topic pH scale.

3. Graph Calculator
It is a handled computer that is capable of plotting graphs, solving simultaneous equations, and performing other tasks with variables. Graph can be plotted within a short period of time, with many equations without any error. It gives correct variations and patterns among different equations. If we were to be solve four graphic equations, it may take two to three hours to solves it and we may have to tear hundreds of pages. But with the help of graph calculator, it can be solved in two to three minutes.
In graph calculator, there's a space to type equation and as you type equation, the graph automatically gets plotted. Not only linear equations, it can also help us with different equations such as quadratic and cubic graph.

 The figure above shows different graphs plotted with different linear equations.

Lesson on Google Classroom

               Lesson on Google Classroom

It was my first time getting exploration on Google Classroom and it was worth studying. I have seen my sister using google classroom when at village but i didn't care to explore on it. But i should say, as a future teacher and our country being expose to online learning, we should be equipped with such kinds of knowledge so that we can use it in any kind of situations. As we were all aware of the situation we are in, schools around the country was closed and google classroom is the main tool used for interaction between tutors and learners. I should say, the pandemic is a blessing in disguise since it helps our Bhutanese learners to explore more learning tools and pedagogues to  integrate ict tools in their teaching. 

We should posses an email Id in order to create Google classroom be it teacher or students. If we enter as an students, there are features that can help students to get exposed to notes provided by their teachers individually and it gives a platform where students can interact with other friends and teachers to clarify doubts. For teacher, it provides features to upload announcement, assignments, materials and quiz assignment. Different forms to upload the files and materials were given and we can link it the the google too. Grading, and marking features were also provided to grade students assignments and quiz automatically after having attempted by students. 

 Announcement i have made for my class in google classroom and promotional video on the topic Rotation of the Earth. 



Materials i have uploaded in google classroom on the topic rotation of the earth. 
1. PDF file 
2. Video 
3. link 

Quiz i have created for the class based on five questions. 
1. multiple choice questions
2. short answer questions
3. long answer questions
4. check boxes
5. drop down questions. 

I have opened a Google classroom using my university mail on the topic Rotation of the Earth from class four science. There i have made one announcement welcoming students to the session, post one assignment, materials and a quiz assignments to be done by my students. Learning with our tutor helps me to understand it better and was scaffold-ed when ever needed. 

Not only can we upload materials and assignments in google classroom, we can also upload videos(promotional video) to familiarize students with our session in a short period of time. This kind of features can help students to extract the notes and information faster as they don"t have to go through every notes since every students have different learning styles. 

3 minutes promotional video that i have made for class four students on the topic Rotation of the Earth in my google classroom. 

As a future teacher, i am going to use google classroom as a main tool to interact with my students and i would strongly recommend my friends to use this platform as it can give great opportunity for both learners and teachers to explore. 

My experience on Camtesia studio

My experience on Camtesia studio

One of our major assignment was to construct a video tutorial using camtesia studio on any topics.
I should say, working with camtesia studio wasn't an easy work since there are different types of features to be used while constructing video tutorial and being my first time to work with such kind of apps really pushed me into difficult times.  It took me four hours just to install the camtesia studio in my laptop. Then we were given topic each by our tutor to work upon our tutorial and the topic that i have got is "how the life began earth" from class five social studies.

Before taking video, i have made a presentation on the topic i have got using the information in the text and had retrieve some information from google. As and when i explore for the information, i get to know more about how the life had began before 3500 millions years ago apart from the information given in the text. Then i have proceeded on constructing video tutorials on the given topic.

            10 minutes video that i have constructed on the topic "how life began on earth".

It was really frustrating when i was unable to use the features in camtesia studio, but with the help from my friend, i was able to use those features and had learnt a lot in the process of constructing video. And i am confident that i will be able to make any kinds of videos using this camtesia studio and i would reccomand every individual to use this studio since, every feature in the studio were easy to use and  it make easier for the user to browse the file and increase retention.


                                 Some of the features in the camtesia studio.

                                fig 1: sound management features.

                               fig 2: sound and video adjustment features.

                               fig 3: track adjustment features.

Let me share some of the benefits of using Camtesia studio:
 1.  It can record high quality videos in the shortest time possible and there is no time limit to any video which is recorded. this can make easier for people who often have to develop tutorials which are varied in duration.
2.  it is very easy to arrange videos, audios, and images on an unlimited number of tracks.
3. there are interesting visual effects like cursor effects, shadows, coloring objects and borders allows to customize videos and make it look more professionals.

Zoom as a communicative tool

Zoom as a communicative tool

There are countless communicative tool out of which I found zoom meet as an effective tool that allows us to have easy communication, between teachers and students. When I was first introduce to use zoom, it has given me a really hard time, even to mute the sound. But now I will say that zoom meet offers superfast functionalities with high quality audio and video.

Through zoom we can get to have one-to-one conversation with tutors and it really helps students and teachers in teaching and learning collaboratively.

Follow the link to watch  a video recorded by Mr. Ugyen wangchuk while taking class through zoom.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mND6qfH6lN7mi4qHEahmuXywpFEO9xlJ/view?usp=drivesdk

During this video conference session, sir took us through how to maintain our blogs and what to write. We could also got to clear our doubts on blogs with one to one interaction.

We had zoom meeting with our college president too in which he asked about our convenience for online session. We got to share our opinions and had the opportunity to have collaborative conversation with president.

   Zoom meeting with president of Paro college of education. 

We have zoom chat inside zoom meet which helps to keep the team connected, chat and ensure that we can streamline our teams with quick instant messaging and handrising options to raise hand if we have any doubts or questions to ask.

I would strongly urge to use zoom meeting with students to have effective and productive teaching and learning since zoom is extremely scalable and can be used among individuals, small to large teams, all the way up to mass participation live event conference with hundreds of participants and thousands of viewers.

Google docs as a co-constructive tool

We being a future teacher, should be familiar with all kinds of informative, constructive and co-constructive tool that could enhance in teaching and learning. And google docs is one of the tools that will help students to support in the construction of knowledge through shared understanding or collaborative functions.

 Google docs is a part of a comprehensive package of online applications where the user can import, create, edit and update documents in various fonts and file formats. It leads to collaborative projects in which multiple authors work together in real time. We too were introduce on how to work in google docs and I found it very reliable and effective to be used in such situations where students and teachers were restricted to have normal class. 

We were grouped into three members to work upon ICT integrated lesson plan. We then started planning our lesson in the google docs by discussing in the chat room. I should say that, it gives a real time discussion where we get to share/exchange our ideas to come with ICT integrated lesson plan.

Discussion and integrated lesson plan planned by our group.

While working collaboratively in the google docs, we the owner have the right to decide on who gets access to our documents or folder or else we have to grant individuals or groups the right to edit, view, or just to add comments. With this kind of features in the google docs, I will say that, google docs is the safest place to work on any kind of work since it has high security.

Follow the following link to explore on how our group have work in google doc in developing ICT integrated lesson plan.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WNWPz3Jdc3PO0SnjpBK_R8abhjd53lecOAI7udtWROs/edit?usp=sharing. 

Facebook as an informative, communicative and co-constructive tool.

Facebook has a potential to be an informative, communicative and co-constructive tool when used it strategically and creatively. I am sure that facebook can be a reliable and effective medium through which both the students and educators can interact and learn appropriately. If we can use Facebook in teaching and learning, the role of students can also shift from receiving knowledge to both searching and sharing their knowledge.

Now let me share on how facebook can be informative, communicative and co-constructive tool.
1. Facebook as an informative tool.
Yes, I would say that facebook is an informative tool where teacher can reposition the informations and students can access to it at any time. 29 video tutorials were uploaded by 4PCB in the facebook page created by our module tutor Mr. Ugyen Wangchuk on different topics. So if we require informations regards to the topic that is in the video, we can visit that page for the information.

My video tutorial(sample of video tutorial)

Video tutorials of 29 students. 

2. Facebook as a communicative tool.
Communication through facebook is different from tradition face-to-face communication and it is persistent. We can communicate in the face book by for example: posting comments and sharing ideas to each other.

3. Facebook as a co-constructive tool.
As and when we post comments, it will help eacheother to get new knowledge and to work for more improvements.

            Comments given to each other.

I strongly believe that we as a future teacher should take advantage of this powerful social media to transform and improve the educational setting and to create new ways for students allowing them to have access to authentic information.

Let me share few advantages of using facebook
1. It promotes knowledge and maintain effective and efficient interactions between educators and learners.
2. It opens door for ubiquitous learning.
3. It's a medium to develop communication skills and encourage participation and social commitment.

Virtual learning environment as a communicative tool.

Virtual learning environment is a set of teaching and learning tools designed to enhance students learning experiences by including computers and the internet in the learning process. As, we were already exposed to the use of vle, we all know how to use it and the features that are provided in it. Now, I am going to discuss on some of the features we get to explore in vle.

1. Announcement page

It is a page where all the announcement provided by administration to students and teachers appear. It helps to convey the same message to all the students and teachers at the same time.

Fig: this is an announcement made for pre service and in service candidates who have repeat modules to register in a given time which can be seen by everyone and dont have to send the message individually. 

2. My courses
It is a column in which we can get access to our courses/modules of our own semester and year. It is the forum where teachers can upload the notes, term plans, assignment questions and other materials where by student can download the notes, participate in discussion and submit their assignments for grading.

   
                     
Fig 1: different courses.
Fig 2: place to download and upload notes and assignments.

3. Main menu page

It provides us the necessary materials to be used in college.

4. Online journals.

These are the search tools that can help students to have access to different types of research and notes.

Vle forum can provide us to have effective discussion and I want to say that, it really helps me to have cooperative discussion. It seems like every individual gets confidence in raising question in vle forum rather in real classroom.

Fig: discussion taken place in ICT classroom.

Lastly, I want to say that, even though our class was taken online with different communicative tool, vle forum helps me to boost confidence in raising my doubts.

ICT as a co-constructive tool

My understanding on ICT as a co-constructive tool

Co-constructive tool is an approach where it emphasizes on collaboration, partnership working and supports the construction of knowledge through a shared understanding, ideas and additional knowledge from different ideas. For example, we have: google docs, electronic whiteboard, blogs and wikis and discussion forum (vle.pce.edu.bt).

Some examples of co-constructive tools 
1. google doc 

As we were already introduced to google doc, I found it more reliable. It provides many features to chat with friends, uploads assignments and give the right to comments and edit our collaborative assignments which helps us to work as a team to come up with productive work. It is fun to use google doc as we can get to discuss actively with our friends as if we were together. So, as a teacher, I think we must use this kind of facility which can encourage students to communicate with their teams so that it can make learning easier with lots of knowledge and information. 

Follow the video to see the benefits of using google doc.

2. Virtual learning environment 
- This is a student centered web-based platform for the digital aspects courses of study, used within educational institutions. I would say that, this is the best discussion forum between teacher and students.  It helps us to learn collaboratively with the help from our tutors in our own pace and encourages to take responsibility for our own learning. Learning material were accessible for 24 hours. 

  














3. blog 
I was familiar with the word blog, but it is my first time maintaining blog and i found it interesting. we can get to read others work, or their journals and we too have the opportunity to write, create and design our own post.  I should say, a blog is an effective lead generation tool as it helps to showcase ones own talent, abilities, authority and build a brand.  In blog, we can get to share our own understandings, gets additional knowledge as we read the comments of the audiences whereby we get to learn through sharing and working collaboratively. 















fig: blog maintained by me in ICT module. 
For further clarification on blog, please follow the video below. 

Co-constructive tools aids in many important aspects:

1.      Through co-construction, students can explore and share their learning.

2.      Build relationship between their teams to have effective communication and learning.

3.      Get to co-edit the documents from their own places.

4.      Can work cooperatively and construct a shared understanding of new knowledge.  

We as a teacher can integrate this kind of tools in the future in our school by making online discussion among teachers and between teachers to students to aid collaboration.

ICT as a constructive tool

My understanding on ICT as a constructive tool

         Knowledge is not given and it is not transmitted from anywhere; it is built up by interaction among members of a group or culture and prior knowledge impacts the learning process. To build that knowledge, it requires effortful and purposeful activity and ICT is one of the that application which acts as a constructive tool in students learning. ICT helps learners to manipulate information, construct their own knowledge and visualize their understanding, the definition of the constructive tool. The session on constructive tool was convincing and I came to know that it was a constructive approach that helps learners to construct their own meaning of learning, drawing connection between their prior knowledge to the acquired knowledge and gives out the sense about their new discoveries.
       while learning on ICT as a constructive tool, we were made to design a 3 minute simulation advertisement to attract visitors to our locality. so, i made on our festival where i was known to it since my birth and for further information, i had run through internet sources. With the combination of my prior and the new information that i have got from internet, helped me to come with 3 minutes simulation successfully. Not only that, i have learnt a lot on how to use animations to create a video in one slide which was new for me, even though the animations and designs were known to me. 

The link given below will take you through my 3 minute simulation designed on the topic festival which helps me to construct knowledge in making video using power point and our local festival.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yjon308-fhJMetv-37Y8_ngCd-5N9lj1/view?usp=sharing

           Integrating constructive tool is also one of the teaching pedagogy in 21^st century and it would be very beneficial to both the leaner and instructors to integrate the constructive tool in daily teaching and learning. Being a teacher doesn’t mean that we have to teach every little thing that is in the textbook, more than giving instruction and details of curriculum talks, its better to give the opportunity for learners to construct their own meaning of the learning and letting students to discover what they are learning.

As a 21^st century teacher, we should

1.      Focus on exposing our students to a variety of sources to discover new knowledge and to make their learning more students center incorporating technologies.  

2.      Scaffold and encourage students thinking and learning rather than focusing on the completion of syllabus.

3.      Understand students’ level of learning and help them, since learners are the makers of meaning and knowledge.

4.      Focus on helping learners to participate actively in learning using wide range of resources on the net.

Examples of constructive learning that can be used in our daily life as a teacher  to construct knowledge are:
            1. desktop publishing - it is a creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer which generates and produce typographic-quality text and images. It allows every learners to publish wide variety of content. While publishing, students may not be aware of their thought but they constantly keep asking questions to themselves and generating answer to make design decisions.

   

fig: showing how to carry out desktop publishing 

          2. Word, spread sheet and power point - computer features which help the learners to organised, record, manipulate and present their ideas in an attractive manner. 

    3. concept map - helps learners to visualize their learning and understanding resulting in the creation of concepts they learned. for example, if a teachers teaches on ICT information system, students can visualize it in the form of map to see their understanding of relationships among the concept collected.

 .   

fig: showing how students construct their knowledge through concept mapping on the topic ICT as information system. 

ICT as communicative tool

My understanding on ICT as a communicative tool.

In the above picture, we can see a tiny line connecting every small things, and it depicts on how ICT connects our lives and how it helps in communication in every corner of the world. ICT is not only used as a informative tool, it can be used for different purposes. Now lets see how ICT is used as a communicative tool. 

ICT is used as a communicative tool which enhance easy communication between tutors and learners, learners to learners and learners to community. To me, I consider ICT as a light in the darkness which lightens the life of people. In olden days, it takes several days just to reach the message, “how are you” to other person, but now we no longer need to walk to the other side of the school ground to ask our colleague a quick question, we can simply message them and get response almost immediately with the help of ICT. Cell phones (text messages and voicemail), E-mail, Instant messaging, Electronic newsletters (e-newsletters), Class and school web pages, and Social networks are some of the communicative tools used every day.

Fig: examples of communicative tools.

We have learned two types of communication. Synchronous or real time communication and asynchronous communication which both helps in communication.  As we all know the situation, we are in nowadays and above-mentioned tools are the main source that facilitate our learning.  Our learning and communication take place through email, Wechat, vle forum, google meet, zoom, video conferencing, messaging and messenger between tutor to learners, learners to learners and learners to tutors. Every passerby was equipped with cell phones, a great means of communication. Simple text message can remind individual about their plan and schedules.

As a teacher, Effective communication is essential to create strong school-home partnership and to increase parental involvement in teaching and learning process. Teachers being skilled in the art of teaching isn’t enough rather they require knowledge and skills to communicate effectively. Therefore, teachers should strive to use a variety of effective strategies to make communication as informative and interactive as possible, incorporating new communication methods. As done by our ICT tutor Mr. Ugyen Wangchuk while teaching on how to create and work in google doc through google meet. Even though we were apart by long distances, we could able to learn very well on how to create and work in google doc and were able to have collaborative session, jointly between tutors and students. 
let watch a video by our tutor Mr. Ugyen Wangchuk in which he had use google meet to teach us on how to create and work in google doc. 

click here to view on how ict helps in communication