Hey people!

Today I want to talk about what a voki is. It is a powerful engaging tool for our students so let's see what it is about. 

A voki is a speaking character that you can create online. If you go to the Voki site you will be able to create a charatcter and cutomize it. Once you have done it you can give it voice recording an audio file or typing what is that you want the character to say (you can even choose the accent or type of voice). It is a cool app that students may use to create and tell a story, use as a guide or all other possibilities you/ they can think of.

My team and I have included a voki in our Wiki her name is Anna, a famous actress that will help students throughout the site.

Here you can see a picture of Anna:

If you go to our website you can see her performance on the front page and in other sections of our Wiki.

Hope it is of help! :)

Do you know what hot potatoes are? Would you like to know? You are on the right post to do so! If you hear people talking about hot potatoes you might think they are talking about overcooked or too warm potatoes. Well, this is not the case here. Hot potatoes is a website that enbles you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer questionnaires, jumbled-sentences, crosswords, matching or ordering tasks and gap-fill exercices. You can create a wide variety of tests with this program that will enable you to learn and improve your skills in a particular area. Hot potatoes is a suite that requires Java so if you want to give it a chance and test its possibilities go to https://hotpot.uvic.ca/ and download the program to be able to start!

We have created some hot potatoes for our Wiki site (remember to keep an eye on our wiki and see the upcoming news and posts!). One of the hot potatoes has been created to review the filming vocabulary and you can find it in this link. The other is to review your knowledge in genres and types of movies. You can find it here. 

I hope you enjoy and learn with the hot potatoes from the Wiki site and start creating your own!

Hi guys! 

today I want to introduce you the Wiki space that my team and I have created. As you can deduce from the title of this post is about filming movies so get ready for a very thrilling experience!

If you access to Filming movies Wiki  you will be able to see the details of this project. My team and I want you to create a movie and in order to master the abilities and skills required for producing and filming a movie we need to be prepared. This website will help you to gain knowledge about vocabulary you might need to create your movie. You will find words that will help you describe the type of movie or genre you are working with. You will also learn words related to filming making such as plot, producer, camera operator, among others. 

In the last part of the Wiki we ask you to upload your movie and to get there we have lots of things to learn and do first. So, shall we start? 

By the way, we have prepared (and we are still preparing) lots of gadgets and visual material that will help throughout this adventure. Be alert!

Here you can see how our Wiki looks like:

In this prezi presentation you will find information that will encourage you to create a porfolio. Go through it and find the guidance you need!

If you are interested in creating an eportfolio (or you don't know what an eportfolio is) you can watch this video and get ideas.

Just to make you think... 

I have made a comparison of both presentations. On the one hand, the one made by myself explaining how to create a portfolio with 4th graders of Primary School. On the other hand, S. Guilana's presentation targeted to High School learners and introducing the idea of an eportfolio. 

There are several differences between my presentation and the one uploaded in this forum. The first difference I can notice is that we differ on the topic and the audience. Whereas S. Guilana is talking about an eportfolio the topic of my presentation was a non-digital portfolio. Moreover, she addresses her presentation to a high school level and I adressed my presentation to 4th graders of primary school. Therefore, the context for both presentations is not the same. 

S. Guilana does a great job making her presentation attractive. She introduces the idea of an eportfolio through a video which is a way to enhance with students and, at the same time, motivate them to work thowards the goal of the course. I think I tried to caught my students' attention using other techniques such as asking them what their previous knowledge was or letting them speak to build this project together. By using these techniques I assured that each one of them knew what a porfolio was and what they were expected to do during the course. Although S. Guilana introduces the eportfolio in a very attractive and well-organized way she misses the part where students give her feedback, that I believe is very important in education. 

One of the things I like about S. Guliana's presentation is that is very visual and detailed. Students know what tasks they are going to be asked and what level is required to pass them. Moreover, she gives examples of eportfolios which helps students build the idea of what it is. In my case, I also used a visual and attractive presentation but I missed the part where students could really see what a portfolio was. 

All in all, S. Guilana introduces a new idea of presenting content to students very closed related to the digital devices children use in their daily lives. Using videos in the classroom can be a great tool to catch our students' attention but we calso have to ensure there is feedback and they understand what the content of what we are introducing is. 

It is a well-known fact that our world is dynamic and humans need to adapt to the changes that come along with development. Hence, change is not only part of our daily lives and routines but also what characterizes the progress of our society. Digital technology has rapidly spread within the last decades and has brought changes in the way we receive information and interact with the world that surrounds us. The twentieth century is marked by the use of computers, Internet, mobile phones, social media and other technological devices. The use of these tools has implied a change in the way we receive information and, therefore, we learn. New abilities and capacities have arisen from the need to adapt to this Digital Era, but have we acquired these new skills?

Children and young people upbringing has been mainly influenced by new technologies. They are surrounded by screens and technological devices that shape the way they understand and approach life. They learn differently and comprehend much better than adults the world we live in. Mark Prensky employs the word Digital Natives to describe this generation as "native speakers of the digital language of computer, video games and the internet” (Prensky, 2001a : 3). Because of our student's exposure to and interaction with the digital world they process the information and think different to what adults are used to. They don't understand linearity as they have learnt to multi-task and receive and change information really fast. Prensky (2001a) uses the word "Digital Immigrants” to describe those who have had to learn how digital world works.

There is a gap between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants that affect to our educational system. Digital Immigrants are usually those who teach Digital Natives about our world, a world, that as I introduced, children might understand better than Digital Immigrants. The methodologies that our teachers use in the classroom are stuck in the past as they hold obsolete values and beliefs no longer valid for our digital society. There is an emphasis on saying that students are distracted at all times and that they don't pay attention due to their high exposure to new technological devices. What if those who don't pay attention to our children's needs are adults? We need to reckon that they understand the world differently and, therefore, adapt our teaching methods to their real needs. Creativity and divergent thinking are crucial to change how we teach our children. It is teachers who need to adapt to their students and not the opposite. Regarding this issue it is important to say that not only we have to look to how the digital era is affecting our children's learning and socialization but also how are the individual and unique needs of each child. Considering the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Gardner teachers also need adapt their methods to the specific needs of each child. Making learning fun is one of the strategies that might work in achieving this goal. This view is also compiled in Prensky's work (2001b).

List of references:

Prensky, Marc (2001a): "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1",On the Horizon, Vol. 9 Iss: 5: 1 - 6.

Prensky, Marc (2001b): "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do They Really Think Differently?",On the Horizon, Vol. 9 Iss: 6, pp.1 - 6

Robinson, Ken (2008, June 16th):Changing Education Paradigms[Video file]. Retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtu.be