Module 2

Commercial Hypermedia Product

http://www.storylineonline.net/white-socks-only/

 

I found a website with stories that are being read to the students. I chose this particular site because each book is read by someone who’s famous so it keeps the students attention. I linked to the story “White Socks Only” and I think this would be really good to have the students listen to during our study of civil rights. I could have the students listen to the story and then discuss it. An advantage to using an online story is that the students think that they’re listening to a video so they may be more apt to pay attention than just listening to the teacher reading the story. Students can also this as a small group activity while doing daily five; during their groups time at the computers they can listen to their own story and learn from the reading that way.

 

Chosen Multimedia Authoring tool

Student presentations:

http://edu.glogster.com/

I chose glogster to help students with their presentations because there are so many ways students can create presentations with glogster’s many tools. Many people think that presentations mean a powerpoint, but there’s so much more out there that students can use to get the information across. One of the really cool aspects I like is that the students can make their own poster. Students can import their own pictures or download some from the internet to go along with what they’re presenting. They can style their poster with any background they choose and put all of their information in it while keeping with the feel of their poster. This website gives students creative freedom to make their presentations that a simple powerpoint doesn’t allow for, which I think is a very positive aspect to keep the students engaged. If students feel like they have more control over their projects, they’ll enjoy it more and put more effort into it.

 

 

This video is Ellen teaching kids about technology from the past. I think it's important for students to understand how technology has evolved because they can then understand better how it works this day in age. It's a cute video to listen to the students responses.

 

Module 1*

 

Word Processing

The impact that word processing has on education is that it saves time because you can save/edit your work, allows you to share documents, enhances documents appearances, and it allows teachers to collaborate on documents. The issues with it though are what age children should start using it, necessity to teach keyboard, can impact handwriting skills, and it can impact assessments.

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet’s can help save time and organize the display of information. It helps support asking “what if” questions and increase motivation to work with mathematics. The main issue with spreadsheets is student’s fear of mathematics. Teachers have to allow time for students to get to know the software and practice so that way they get more comfortable with it.

Presentation Software

Presentation software can help organize thinking about a topic and enhances the impact of spoken information. This software allows students to collaborate on presentations. Presentation software has some issues as well. Some teachers use it as the sole way to present information to their students which can get repetitive. Another issue is that people focus more on the slides than the actual message of the presentation.

Classroom Use

As a teacher, using these software programs can get your students interested in a subject. Instead of just reading about it they can use a visual to really understand the topic. The software programs can be a lot more interactive than just a textbook or lecture could be. The issue with using technology to present the information is that technology is so unreliable and can crash or not work, so as a teacher you need to have a backup plan.

 

I like the use of presentation software because there is so much more than just powerpoints that you can use with your students. A lot of people think that the only way to present the information is in a powerpoint but with the new technology that has come out, there is so much more. You can make videos, prezzi’s, gifs, or webpages. There is such a variety of ways to get your information across so that the students aren’t getting bored with repetitiveness. You can have the students make a webpage or mock facebook page for someone that are currently studying in history so that the students can be creative but still research and learn about their topic.