“This is definitely for me!” I thought as I discovered the wonderful creative world of Glogster. I loved it! Having the ability to create visual literacy through images, video and sound was very interesting for me, and it was easy for me to foresee this within my future classroom. Although the graphics and images are so amazing, I did get side tracked as to the information I was supposed to be writing.. oops! I have created a De Bono’s Six Thinking Hat’s analysis on the Glogster tool, and have included various sources of where incredible information was discovered.
If you wish to view my analysis through the Glog I have created, please click the link or view below, this would suit you if you are a visual/spatial learner.. aka. ME!) Or you could read it in my blog as follows.
White Hat: Facts
· After researching WHAT Glogs are in education, I discovered that Glogster was a creative and innovative ‘poster’ program which enables learners to visualise their information, create stories and apply it artistically (Marlow, 2011). Can also be imbedded in blogs, wikis and websites.
· Glogster is used to provide appealing and relevant information through texts, audio, images, video and animations.
· Both creating and researching educational Glogs can be ascertained in the classroom, as learning can form through both and be inclusive.
· Glogs can be created by the teacher and students are invited to the group, and Glogs can be monitored throughout each other. Glogs are safe, private and secure.
Red Hat: Feelings
· Personally, I feel the idea of Glogs in education has high potential in not only classrooms, but any learning environment, whether it be work, personal use, advertisement and schooling, as learners are able to both research and create information and knowledge in that particular area.
· I really like that Glogs support many digital tools, such as images, video, audio, animations and textual information, and I feel that this could contribute to a classroom where ALL learners and their learning styles are accounted for and not being ‘left behind’.
· I love having the ability to embed videos into the Glog, as this often gives a further insight into the poster’s topic and relevance.
· Learners are able to ‘build their character’ (Lieberman, 2011) through using Glogs in collaborative and pedagogical ways.
Black Hat: Critical Thinking
· After researching Glogs in education, I have discovered that this tool does work effectively to enhance learning. I viewed some very positive feedback of Glogster by educators themselves, one of which commented, “We are very pleased with the project and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun with it. Thanks so much for all your help in getting the project going.” (Duggan-Lay, 2009)
· There may be a problem with using Glogster in learning environments, even though I feel it may be very successful. My biggest fear of reality would be that the learners may use create Glogs that may be very visually appealing, but without the context of information needed. I, myself, got distracted by what I was creating, as I was thinking on how I could make my page full of pictures and ‘pretty things’. This doesn’t mean the information has to be supplied through text, but necessary information should be presented relevantly throughout the Glog.
Yellow Hat: Benefits
· There are numerous benefits to incorporating Glogs into any learning environment, as it opens up a broad spectrum of learning in many ways. Learning styles are a very important aspect of Glogs, as it supports a range of many learners. Students can use their visual literacy abilities and use this to determine HOW they are going to retain information given out or received.
· Social networking is very popular amongst many people of today, and Glogs are a form of the shift to Educational Networking, (Glogster, 2009) which allows constant collaboration and ‘constructive’ learning in any environment.
Green Hat: Suggestions and New Ideas
· Having explored the Glogster tool for a long period of time, discovery through images and other digital tools were amazing. At first I thought to myself, there is nothing I would want to change, but having thought about it, a suggestion of the tool would be to enable a series of ‘poster slides’ where users are able to create a series of posters but in the one Glog. This would be to provide any extra images or information necessary to the glogs.
· As Glogster is fairly new in the education system in the terms of collaborating and constructing learning, it really needs to be put out there to our Digital Immigrants. It is a very simple tool and has very valuable potential. My concerns would be those learners missing out, if their educator isn’t confident enough to pursue new, innovative learning to the classroom.
Blue Hat: Overview
· After examining the important and interesting aspects of the Glogster tool, I need to stress the importance of promoting learning tools like these in the classroom to provide an interesting all-learner catering system to achieve success in learning for all learners.
· We need to understand that we are in a new generation of learners and we need to adapt to this ‘Multi media World’ (Glogster, 2009) and continue this form of innovative learning within our learners lives, to cater for their life long learning.
References:
Marlow, A. (2011). Glogster PD – What is a Glog? Retrieved on April 2, 2011 from http://mrsmarlow.edu.glogster.com/false
Lieberman, C. (2011). Character Education, Technology and Positive. Retrieved on April 2, 2011 from http://liebermanc.edu.glogster.com/character-education-and-positive-schooling
Duggan-Lay, J. (2009). SlideShare Glogster EDU Education 2.0. Slide 19, What teachers are saying. Retrieved on April 2, 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/glogster/glogster-edu-education-20-2902550
Glogster Education (2009). SlideShare Glogster EDU Education 2.0. Retrieved on April 2, 2011 from http://www.slideshare.net/glogster/glogster-edu-education-20-2902550
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