I tried out Zoho Show and was able to begin a power point document about a geography assignment. It was quick and easy to put together the slides because they had many themes to choose from and visuals to add. You could add in clip art images and symbols and you have the ability to rotate these visuals. You can sort your slides and add your own images or import some from the web. You can save your presentation and choose to keep it private or share it with others. I have never made a power point document before, so it was nice it play around with this application. I would recommend this for people who’ve never made a power point presentation. It is an easy application to use.
Zoho Writer allows you to simultaneously collaborate with others on a particular project. You can embed media from flickr, youtube, and others. With this application you can create, edit, and store all of your documents on line. They have obvious features, similar to Microsoft Word, such as bolding, italicizing, and underlining text, changing text and background color, etc. It keeps a history of your document, so if you want to revert to a previous version it is not a problem. I like the idea that you can tag a document to more than one folder by a simple click of the button. I would recommend this to people who team teach and want to collaborate on a project/lesson plan together.
Picnik is a great online picture editing tool. You can fix over-exposure and red-eye, crop, rotate, and resize your picture. It keeps a history of your changes You can add custom-made effects as well as their choices of seasonal shapes, unusual fonts, and frames. With a premium membership ($24.95/year) you get advanced editing tools, unlimited photo history, priority help support, an as-free experience and much more! I would recommend this as a way for teachers to edit pictures from an activity or field trip.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
R/D13
Cindy Thelen
R/D13
Wow #1 – Advanced Performance Tracking – I can only imagine how this will make sports even more competitive than it already is…everybody doing the perfect serve! I wonder if we could use it for drivers’ training? That way everyone could learn how to perfectly to parallel parking!
Wow #2 – Application of Artificial Intelligence – the way the describe it, “future instructional systems will diagnose learning needs, learning aptitudes, and styles; develop instruction tailored to identify needs and aptitudes; modify the level and type of feedback and instructional strategy based on learner responses and progress; and implement best practices guidelines based on up-to-date research findings” (p. 326) – makes me wonder if I will be worked out of a job! J I know there will always be a need for the human component and actually can see many obvious benefits to have such individualized assessment and instruction.
I think I enjoyed putting the website together because I didn’t get so frustrated! The thing I like about the website is how easily each page is edited. It will be very user-friendly for me, my students, and my parents. I also enjoyed putting together a blog and using some of the ‘add a gadget’ features.
R/D13
Wow #1 – Advanced Performance Tracking – I can only imagine how this will make sports even more competitive than it already is…everybody doing the perfect serve! I wonder if we could use it for drivers’ training? That way everyone could learn how to perfectly to parallel parking!
Wow #2 – Application of Artificial Intelligence – the way the describe it, “future instructional systems will diagnose learning needs, learning aptitudes, and styles; develop instruction tailored to identify needs and aptitudes; modify the level and type of feedback and instructional strategy based on learner responses and progress; and implement best practices guidelines based on up-to-date research findings” (p. 326) – makes me wonder if I will be worked out of a job! J I know there will always be a need for the human component and actually can see many obvious benefits to have such individualized assessment and instruction.
I think I enjoyed putting the website together because I didn’t get so frustrated! The thing I like about the website is how easily each page is edited. It will be very user-friendly for me, my students, and my parents. I also enjoyed putting together a blog and using some of the ‘add a gadget’ features.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
R/D12
Cindy Thelen
R/D12
I enjoyed reading this chapter and was surprised by a few things:
Animated visuals aren’t any more education than still visuals.
Audio narration works better than text.
Unnecessary visuals and information distract learners from the real objective (I figured that much) and actual “depress learning dramatically” (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 319).
Using ID is more beneficial for low-knowledge learners.
Two ideas I can incorporate into my instruction are the use of simulations and working on building prior knowledge. Simulations are a valid tool for instruction. Simply put, they are imitations, reproductions, or models of the genuine article. Applied to the teaching of history, you can use role playing activities to help the students put themselves into the historical period. I can only think of a couple of ways that I have incorporated simulations into the teaching of history.
Every year I plan an “Ancient Egyptian Feast” or a “Medieval Feast”, depending on which period I’m covering. Students are expected to make a costume for a specific role they will carry out in the feast. As they act out their role and observe others doing the same they learn so much about what life was like back then and how it differs from our way of life.
Each year when we cover inflation we always do a simulation called “The Thelen Candy Factory”. Each student is given a role card. They might be the CEO, packager, truck driver, mixer, receptionist, etc. This activity helps students imagine what it is like when our money cannot buy what it used to be able to, and how negatively this affects families.
My students especially enjoy these activities and I definitely think I could apply this more often. I am hoping to try to think of at least one simulation for each quarter. For instance, for the American Revolution we could:
Role play the key ideas that led to the revolution. One student would be king, one could be a tax collector, a few could be members of Parliament who refused to allow colonists a say in their taxes, several could be colonists, etc. Imagine taxing students who were wearing tennis shoes, belts, white socks, etc. and giving them no say on what they will be taxed.
For the Civil War I could take them to a Civil War Re-enactment where they could watch others acting out what life was like as a soldier, civilian, slave, etc.
One other key issue that really stood out to me was how having more related knowledge stored in long-term memory enables the working memory to handle more information. So prior knowledge is critical in education and something as simple as a KWL activity can give students a chance to articulate what they already know. This is an important part of the process because it gives students something to “peg” new information on. KWL discussions are also beneficial because one student’s memory will trigger someone else’s memory and the prior information of the class as a whole tends to expand. My favorite quote from this chapter is:
“The learner’s level of prior knowledge is the single most important individual difference variable involved in learning, and is the most important characteristic to know to help you design appropriate training.” (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 320)
R/D12
I enjoyed reading this chapter and was surprised by a few things:
Animated visuals aren’t any more education than still visuals.
Audio narration works better than text.
Unnecessary visuals and information distract learners from the real objective (I figured that much) and actual “depress learning dramatically” (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 319).
Using ID is more beneficial for low-knowledge learners.
Two ideas I can incorporate into my instruction are the use of simulations and working on building prior knowledge. Simulations are a valid tool for instruction. Simply put, they are imitations, reproductions, or models of the genuine article. Applied to the teaching of history, you can use role playing activities to help the students put themselves into the historical period. I can only think of a couple of ways that I have incorporated simulations into the teaching of history.
Every year I plan an “Ancient Egyptian Feast” or a “Medieval Feast”, depending on which period I’m covering. Students are expected to make a costume for a specific role they will carry out in the feast. As they act out their role and observe others doing the same they learn so much about what life was like back then and how it differs from our way of life.
Each year when we cover inflation we always do a simulation called “The Thelen Candy Factory”. Each student is given a role card. They might be the CEO, packager, truck driver, mixer, receptionist, etc. This activity helps students imagine what it is like when our money cannot buy what it used to be able to, and how negatively this affects families.
My students especially enjoy these activities and I definitely think I could apply this more often. I am hoping to try to think of at least one simulation for each quarter. For instance, for the American Revolution we could:
Role play the key ideas that led to the revolution. One student would be king, one could be a tax collector, a few could be members of Parliament who refused to allow colonists a say in their taxes, several could be colonists, etc. Imagine taxing students who were wearing tennis shoes, belts, white socks, etc. and giving them no say on what they will be taxed.
For the Civil War I could take them to a Civil War Re-enactment where they could watch others acting out what life was like as a soldier, civilian, slave, etc.
One other key issue that really stood out to me was how having more related knowledge stored in long-term memory enables the working memory to handle more information. So prior knowledge is critical in education and something as simple as a KWL activity can give students a chance to articulate what they already know. This is an important part of the process because it gives students something to “peg” new information on. KWL discussions are also beneficial because one student’s memory will trigger someone else’s memory and the prior information of the class as a whole tends to expand. My favorite quote from this chapter is:
“The learner’s level of prior knowledge is the single most important individual difference variable involved in learning, and is the most important characteristic to know to help you design appropriate training.” (Reiser & Dempsey, p. 320)
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