Using Microsoft Publisher was very difficult for me, as I have never used this program before and therefore I was very skeptical and negative about the overall idea of Microsoft Publisher. I learnt that this program is very useful as it enables you to create and manipulate pages that can be manually designed or designed by using a layout. As a teacher Microsoft Publisher will enable me to create numerous documents for example newsletters, worksheets, brochures, handouts and awards. Teaching my students about Microsoft Publisher will also help my students for future reference in educational ways for projects and so forth.
Week 5 lesson focused on web quests and the importance and involvement of web quests in a contemporary classroom. At first I did not understand the point of web quests but with some research I now get web quests. Web quests are useful for the classroom as they involve students and allow them to work together as groups. A good web quest enables students to interact with each other and know the importance of social interaction with other children. As a teacher I now understand that web quests are a great way to enable students to participate in class work, and use technology at the same time. Web quests allow students to provide information and give them a chance to ask questions and further develop their knowledge. In a classroom I would use web quests in numerous ways for different topics especially HSIE as there are numerous quality web quests available.
“Word processing is a natural part of a teacher’s life” (Fewell & Gibbs, 2003).
As you can see from the above statement this week I am learning about word processing and hyperlinked documents. Word is used all the time by teachers and students for many reasons as it can provide numerous purposes, and numerous presentation types. For example as a teacher I am able to use word for lesson plans, assessment sheets, notes and basic class work, while students can use word to write essays, make tables and so forth. In my practical year 4 students used word to type up their narrative stories.
This table reflects the results conducted of a web search in relation to a review of a movie called Step up 2; The Streets. The table gives practical information about search engines. At the completion of the table there is a reflection on how these results collected reflect what was taught in the pandia workshops.
Week 3’s learning was focusing on understanding the web. The worldwide web opens a huge door to classroom teaching and learning. The web provides both students and teachers with an opportunity to gather and develop a far broader research strategies other than what the usual classroom provides. The web is readily available in most schools as it becomes an easy source to use. The web nevertheless can provide some set backs as resources found on the internet are not always creditable and professional for educational sources. This can become a problem for students as they need to develop particular skills to notice that some sources are not always useful for what they are researching. In many circumstances students and both teachers become independent on the easy access to the web and never look at other resources that are also useful such as books and articles which are found away from the web.
As the weekly information presented to us states
“Education has also acknowledged the opportunities the www holds for teaching and learning in the twenty first century and the ability of the web to transform the “traditional” classroom into a virtual classroom where students can engage with an ever-increasing base of knowledge, resources and people.”
As a teacher the WWW (world wide web), provides ways for teachers to research lessons, look at syllabuses, and develop the technical ways that students know. Teachers can use the internet to conduct lessons as the net contains online learning in many schools.
It is extremely important that both students and teachers learn to develop skills which enable them to critically evaluate to quality of information found on the web for numerous reasons. As the web is so profound and contain so much information there are particular websites that can be used when finding creditable information.
When evaluating a website it needs mastery. Carefully apprising a web site is important to identity it’s purpose. For example students and both teachers need to consider the;
source
intended audience
date of publication
appearence
reputation
Here are the results of my Personal Competency Computer Test.
The computer competency test at first I thought it was going to demonstrate that I had fairly good computer skills. However, I was obviously wrong, only scoring a mere 45/75. I scored quite high in the areas relating to basic computer use, file management and email. Unfortunately I have not had great experience on computers when it comes to multi-media projects and constructivist learning, I display very little knowledge. Through the duration of the course I wish to perfect my computer skills in a board range of areas especially the weakness that I have listed above.
This computer competency test can reflect what individual aspects I need to work on to become more experienced with other aspects of computer use especially image and Constructivist Learning. This would help me later on when I am teaching as a visual means of communication with my children.
