Teacher Training:my brainshark

5. Being creative + constructive alignmentWith Phil Longwell

phil.longwell@btinternet.com

Any presentations to show narrating a PDF or PPP?

Today we will look more at the editing features, additional features that exist on MyBrainshark and we will discuss the alignment of speaking practice, presentations and the work the students will be asked to do on the IFC art course.

Q. What technology do the students have access to at CAFA? - ‘ Bring Your Own Device’

Reflection on previous lesson

A reminder about pedagogy… discussed in lesson 2…. Pedagogy + the Digital Age:

What kind of learning theory or theories are we drawing on by

using a tool like my brainshark?

We usually talk about pedagogy being an approach or methodology which is applied to our teaching.

my brainshark

‘Constructive Alignment’ is a concept first written about by John Biggs, who did a lot of research in East Asia.

In designing this course, I am trying to demonstrate the ‘constructive alignment’ principle proposed by Biggs (1999) in that outcomes, activities and assessment can be consciously aligned (Sharpe and Oliver, 2007: 42). I am suggesting this approach to the teaching. The power of assessment to shape students’ experience comes into this, in terms of the feedback that teachers can deliver from the presentations the students create. By connecting their speaking activities to the wider art course, I hope to inspire the teachers to make this alignment, engender motivation to complete activities and, ultimately, perform more confidently in both IELTS speaking tests and overseas institution applications.

Constructive Alignment

◦“In Fine Art, the stimulus may be, for example, a painting, a photograph, a critique or a body of work that students are required to respond to in some way. They may discuss the work’s significance or explore a concept that it is intended to illustrate. This discussion might then inform further work. The stimulus will produce a response but no an ‘answer’.”

(Derek Harding and Bruce Ingraham, in Beetham and Sharpe, 2007: 144. Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age, London/New York : Routledge)

The art of design

Here is an example of a photo album which has been used to show a timeline:

Editing features + More

Please sign in to your MyBrainshark account and open your previously uploaded photo album.

Editing Options:

http://tinyurl.com/d7prpwp

Additional features of mybrainshark:

1. Tracking and Viewing Reports

2. Sharing Options

3. Add attachment or URL link

4. Add a question

5.Print slides

6.Link to or download the podcast of the presentation

Some of the additional features, such as merging content, adding a guestbook

managing privacy and password protection and running a detailed viewing report,

usually meant for businesses. NEED PRO TRAINER – 19.99 per month.

Play video: Open Day at CAFA in 2009.

The whole essence of teaching students on the IFC at CAFA is the obvious autonomous creativity required to pass the course.

General discussion: how can MyBrainshark (and other tools) be used in the English language class to tap into that creativity that is obviously there and the autonomy which is obviously required to progress and survive in an overseas institution?

Being Creative

One of BrainShark's signature offerings is their SlideShark service for sharing PowerPoint presentations over iPads. SlideShark converts your PowerPoint files without losing any of your original formatting, transitions, or animations. To use SlideShark just upload your PPT files to your free SlideShark account, SlideShark converts the files for you, then you can access your converted files on your iPad at anytime using the free SlideShark app. See video below:

Slideshark for BoxBrainShark also offers myBrainshark for Android to share presentations that you narrate on myBrainshark. Here's how myBrainshark works; upload a slide presentation that you've created then use your computer's microphone to record your voice over each slide. If you don't have a microphone My Brainshark provides a phone number that you can call to create a voice recording.

(Jason Byrne, FreeTeach4Teachers, 2012)

What have we discussed so far?

Creativity + Technology

There is only one more class, but you are probably all set to go…. Unless….. you have….

Any more comments or questions at this stage?

Summary