Reflection on Webinar: Action
Track – Learning by Experience
Attended on: 1st August 2014
By: Dr Jhuka Holm and Maija
Loikkanen
Another interesting webinar that i got to attend during the three
day MMVC 14 was about Action Track
an innovative tool for android tablets and smart phones, developed by a Finish
company called TAZ Team Action Zone. It was a very interesting session, I got
the opportunity to ask questions from the presenter, was a very engaging and
interactive session.
It allows the
creation of both location based and location independent learning experiences.
It can be used to create different types of games, interactive stories (users
can be part of the stories, and their decisions impact continuum), create
puzzles etc. Teachers could create their own personalized lessons and exams.
The tool could also be used for classroom training, remote training etc.
My understanding
is that it allows the creation of both indoor and outdoor activities, which
could be evaluated using any method; an activity is a template which can
include text, images, audio or video combined in any form to achieve a certain
target. These images, text, audio or video could be captured using any device
and then inserted into the activity.
I explored the
website, found effective use in the education field. I think teachers could use
it to create activities for early years, a simple example teachers could create
a story to introduce learners to numbers from 1 to ten, learners could move
through different stages in the story, attempt different sums in the story,
teachers could add comments to help move to different levels, or add
differentiated feedback, give rewards etc .Learners will get an opportunity to
learn through play. Teachers could develop some really innovative and
challenging tasks for learners using this tool.
There were no
issues downloading, was easily download on the smart phone. The interface seems
simple but needs to be explored. I have requested the team working at TAZ to
share a video tutorial demonstrating the use of this tool in schools
particularly in early Years. Since we have introduced tablets in early Years,
this app could be useful for them. I need to download and install the app on
the tablet to further explore it.
One of the
challenges at the moment is to identify specific areas/subjects where this tool
could be used. We could initially start with any one subject like Math’s and
select few core objectives from a few lessons and try to develop games/puzzles
to meet those objectives. The type of activities that could be created needs a
thorough working on part of the teachers.
Second challenge
would be to see if the app works fine on our tablets. It needs to be determined
whether both teachers and learners have the required skills or need training.
Question: How to
design activities for younger learners using actiontrack? Where will the data
be stored? How will this data be accessible? How could this be effectively
integrated into our curriculum? etc
Find below two examples of
the sort of activities that could be created using actiontrack admin tool.
Learners will download the app on mobiles or tablets and access the activities
created by the teacher using admin tool. The best part is even learners could
be engaged in creating interesting activities for themselves, but these needs
to be explored further. I am looking forward to a detailed discussion with the
TAZ team, have been in touch through email and the interaction has been
extremely meaningful.
Details can be
found the website: http://www.taz.fi/?lang=en
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