Group 4 Tools - Museum Box

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Museum Box.  It appeared to be a tool where lots of other applications and mediums could be collated.  Use by school groups is encouraged and specialised accounts are available. Clear audio and video instructions detailing its use were also readily available.

As I explored this ICT lots of possible examples cam to mind one of which is detailed below.

Students could be conducting a unit of work on the Eureka Stockade and as part of their final presentation they could collate all their findings in a Museum Box presentation.  Wanted posters could be created using image manipulation like befunky.com, podcasts could be created as a journal entry of “life as a miner”, images (including maps etc) could be collected and manipulated from a range of internet and hard copy sources, research could be conducted on what tools would have been used, and on line timeline software could be used to place events in a chronological order.  All of these tools could then be incorporated into a Museum Box presentation for students’ final piece of assessment.

View a sample museum box presentation here.

As part of my explorations within this group of tools, I attempted an on-line timeline using Dipity.  Sadly I didn't succeed or you would now be viewing my work of art.  Try as I might, I was unable to upload any of my images or text, so rather than loose another precious hour I decided this week's reflection would be admitting defeat!  The concept of online timelines is attractive and I intended to provide a timeline pertaining to the events surrounding the Eureka Stockade to further support my example, however the intention was there, and it would be a sound tool to incorporate into the classroom particularly when historical events are the topic.

I have dabbled using concept mapping tools and have tried out bubble.us and mindjet.  I found these both to be useful graphic organising tools.  Below are examples of my efforts.

Presentation Tools - Prezi
This tool is amazing, one of my favourites so far.  It is so easy to use.  The software is user friendly and there are heaps of You Tube clips available along the way if you get stuck.

The templates available are varied and attractive, and images and audio can also be included.  Podcasts could also form part of the chosen petagogy to encourage students to participate on a field trip where they are able to visit a sunflower farm.  This audio could act as a commentary for the presentation.

Below is an example of a first effort.





This would be a great tool to incorporate into learning design both for use by the teacher and for students themselves.  Students could create their own presentation.  For example a grade four class could collate a presentation which demonstrates their knowledge on the life cycle of a sunflower.  This learning could be a scaffolded element of a lesson which incorporated a range of technologies culminating in a Prezi document as their final project.

An example of this kind of scaffolded learning design which could be incorporated into a year 4 classroom can be viewed in this prezi (music source:http://www.last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads/classical)