Comments on the main areas of research on and with ITE

My opinion on main areas of research on and with ITE:

== How to narrow the gap between the theory and real practice in ITE? ==

I have been studied in Hong Kong from kindergarten to master's degree level. After I graduated, I have been working on tertiary education in Hong Kong for about two years. I observed Information Technology was introduced to the classroom since in the middle 90s. Here are the comments I would like to summarize on the main areas of research on ITE, particular in public school system in Hong Kong.

According to my observation, the government invested lots of money on IT hardware. Nowadays, every classroom in public school should have installed a computer with broadband connection linked with an overhead screen projector and a speaker. For software, the government also encourage teachers to learn Information Technology. However, for most of the hardware installed, the utilization is very low.

In public schools, except computer related subjects, Information Technology is seldom used to present the course materials. Although many cutting-edges and effective Web 2.0 teaching tools are evolved, most of the teachers still stick to the PowerPoint presentation, which is proved not attractive enough for students in a classroom.

I feel there exists a big gap between the theory of ITE and the education in my real life. Some teachers are keen on introducing new IT to their classrooms, but there exists lots of resistance, including lacking IT support, lacking funds to buy software which are effective for teaching and lacking time to prepare new teaching materials. I think exploring the way to narrow the gap is one of the future direction. For example, how government policy can be proposed to leverage the gap between the theory and the real practice? How to encourage teachers to prepare Web 2.0 teaching materials and bring them in their classrooms? How to let students to adapt to the new mode of teaching and learning?

Web 2.0 Tools Prezi

Here's a nice Prezi featuring a number of useful Web 2.0 tools - BabelWith.Me is a new one for me, which I haven't seen before - I'd like to try that out;

Web 2.0 Tools on Prezi

Slidecast

I have created my 1st slidecast. The slides will turn automatically in line with the narration. I sync the audio with the slides of the talk by the two actors. Students who did not have the chance to attend the talk can use this slidecast for preparation before watching the Cantonese opera in theatre.

Voki: A free, animated avatar

According to the voki page: http://www.voki.com/

Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.

Evaluation of the product:

I have made a simple animated avator. The system supports many different language, so I can type in Chinese. The system generates voice based on my input text. The graphics are attractive and I think this tool can be integrated to teaching materials for children or teenagers.

Web 2.0 Tool - Wallwisher

Wallwisher is an online post-it site which allows users to post stickies to a wall. This resource can be used in a variety of ways.

Teachers are beginning to use Wallwisher as a means of allowing lots of students to post simultaneously.


Lee Kolbert from Palm Beach Cafe gives a brief outline of how the site works below:

Tom Barrett'ss blog in the UK is crowd sourcing requests for ideas on how Wallwisher might be used in the classroom context. Here is the Google Presentation giving ideas on how to use the site;

Here is our Wallwisher - please add your own ideas:

Facebook group as e-learning platform

I have created the above facebook group as e-learning platform for the HKU General Education course on Cantonese opera art. I am testing the usage of its components (such as Wall, Discussion, Events). You can go there to take a look but NOT to join the group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=ts&gid=316486616239
Feedback are most welcome. Please post your comment below.

Digital Story

The following is a digital story using vuvox as an interactive tool for presenting slide show stories in a fast and interactive way.