Blogs as e-portfolios

Teachers can use blogs as e-portfolios for their students and can also provide resources for students on their own teacher blog. In creating a resource blog, teachers can post class assignments and provide background information, research resources, and rubric information. Also, classroom information such as rules of the classroom, scheduled course times, upcoming topics to be discussed can also be listed. If there are areas that won’t be covered in the classroom, but you’d like to make available for students to do further research, you can provide those resources.
If you’d like to use the blog as an e-portfolio, you’ll have to decide how you’d like posts and assignments to be displayed. For instance, do you want everyone to see all assignments, do you want only students in a particular class to see their respective assignments, or do you want students to only see their own works? E-portfolios can be a great asset for students to keep track of their work, and they’ll have works to present if ever they need to show their capabilities.
The following is a helpful resource page for creating e-portfolios: http://blog.helenbarrett.org/p/resources.html

Reference: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0450.pdf

Organized Online Debate

In setting up my personal blog I never had any trouble, although figuring out how to use the features, including editing and deleting posts, or adding to the group blog was a little more confusing. The blog was much more useful for collaboration than even the study group area in Webtycho. For use in my future classroom, I do like the idea of students’ assignments being posted and available for review and also having the ability to comment and communicate back and forth about discussion-worthy or related items. Students from other classes, other schools, or even other countries can join discussions as well. Creating a two-sided debate between schools would be a great way to address some science questions, and help students in developing arguments for or against a topic. Organizing an online debate between two classrooms would be a challenge for students that would allow them to learn about blogging and technology functions, while still accomplishing a class project. It would also encourage coordination between teachers and even school districts. The following resource provides support for student debates and topic ideas for teachers.
http://debate-central.ncpa.org/

Ideas for Inspiring Student Learning for K-12 Classrooms

Connecting students to learning opportunities in a very innovative and stimulating manner is critical towards student learning in this 21st century. You will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list.

Ideas for K-12 Classrooms

Implement these great ideas in your K-12 classroom to have students learning stimulated in a dynamic and innovative way.

1. Make literature real. Have students create a Facebook page for a character from a literature they are studying from their classroom curriculum.

2. Pursue famous people. Several famous people are on Twitter. Have students pursue someone related to what they are studying, such as following President Obama when looking at government.

3. Twitter treasure hunt. Use GPS treasure hunting to send students to search for edifying clues.

4. Get knowledge to know more about probability. Elementary teachers can use Twitter to teach the concept of probability.

5. Read and study geography. Use a combination of Twitter and Google Earth to help teach geography-based lessons. Teachers can use network of Twitter followers to create an interactive lesson for the younger students. Use your ideas to spark your creativity for ways to use these two resources.

6. Connect with other classrooms. Collaborate with another classroom, no matter where they are in the world, to expand learning opportunities.

7. Be updated with recent public updates. The recent public updates on Twitter shows the most recent posts from all users and is a great tool to use when studying current events.

8. Virtual field trips in the classroom. Use Skype to bring the field trip into the classroom when it is difficult or impossible for students to go to the source.

9. Introduce parents’ forum. Stay connected with parents through social media to communicate about their child’s progress.


Additional information can be retrieved from the Online Student Learning Universities.

The Social Media has Inspired Student Learning

Social media was emerged from an entertaining way to connect with friends and families, but it has developed into a powerful tool towards inspiring student learning in this 21st century. Additionally, sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in a very innovative and stimulating manner. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with Student Learning Universities and Science Online 09:Learning Science with Social Media.

Blogging Activity

Blogs are reshaping our classrooms. They are appearing everywhere in the educational field and offer great potential to transform teaching and learning. This experience of working on our group blog has helped me to understand the role blogging can take in the classroom environment. It reflects the way today’s students think and learn better than the older methods of producing written communication could ever do. It is said that today’s students want to share information and work collaboratively more than ever and blogging allows for exactly this type of activity. Teachers can guide students in their writing for classmate readers, and can teach students cite correctly. Commenting allows students to work together on a particular goal. Blogging supports teachers allowing students to use information wisely and with a critical eye. Students need to learn how to digest all of the information available to them and blogging can help teach these skills.

Constructivist learning theories tell us that children need to talk and share in order to learn. Blogging would allow children a way to explain their learning which is necessary for the learning to occur and become part of the student’s foundational knowledge. By participating in this blogging activity I was able to share information and work collaboratively. I had an opportunity to express my opinion and have a voice in the overall conversation. I was able to see a developing connected set of ideas come together in a way that produced a cohesive and yet ever evolving document. The blogging experience allowed me to use the internet to find information to support my thoughts and ideas.

Clearly, all of these things that I did in this activity were done to help me see how the blogging activity functions from the student perspective. One of the things I always get a lot out of by participating in my educational technology classes is an opportunity to be the student. All school year long, I am the teacher. It has always been invaluable to me to also be in the role of the student. It makes me a better teacher. This blogging activity was a very good example of where an activity helped me see the students’ side of the equation.

Overview: Types of Instructional Software

Instructional software can be divided into several different types. These types include applications, drill and practice, tutorials, simulations, instructional games, problem solving, multimedia and teacher utilities. Application software refers to software that is used to automate task such as report cards and grade books, attendance sheets, student databases and word processing. The MS Office Suite® products fall into this category, as do databases. Drill and practice software is very useful for tasks that require rote memorization such as learning multiplication facts or learning how to type. These types of software attempt to help students memorize by repetition usually in the form trying to beat ones best score by achieving a task with better accuracy in less time. Tutorials usually consist of linked pages that introduce a new topic and then allow for some exploration of the topic. These may be linear or they may be branching but either way, the learner is guided through a progression from an introduction to an assessment of the learning. These will occasionally be available as textbook resources and are produced by the publisher of the textbook. Simulations are visual representations of concepts that would be difficult to otherwise describe to students. These are sometimes called animations and are usually artist’s renderings rather than actual video recordings. They are especially useful for describing things that are either too small (atoms) or too far away (cosmic events) to be seen. Instructional games are designed to make learning fun and are often purchased rather than downloaded as a free resource. Examples include Knowledge Adventure® and Reader Rabbit®. Learners play games and lessons are embedded in the game. This type of activity is sometimes called “edutainment”. Problem solving software provides a problem to be solved with a certain data provided and learners must use logic to solve the problem. I do not find this type of program to be in widespread use at this point but I do believe many such applications are under development. Smartboards® are the perfect tool to pair with problem solving software and will make it much easier for teachers to capture the step by step procedures for solving complex problems that involve multiple steps. Multimedia refers to using video and audio production software to make things like documentaries or oral history reports. Slideshows, video clips on Youtube, and other presentations require creativity of students. Mac computer software is often thought of as the ideal resource for media instructional software. The last type of instructional software is teacher utilities. This might includes lesson plans and test banks. It also may include applications such as PCR Educator or HeadMaster. These are school administration software applications and are packages of software for school wide use. These can also include online grade books to improve school to home communication. Sadik, A. (Producer). (2008). Types of instructional software. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/alaasadik/types-of-instructional-software-presentation#

Atomic Microscope - The World of Atoms

I have been using Atomic Microscope for years now and my students really enjoy it. It is exceptionally useful for explaining the Gas Laws in Chemistry. It is a molecular modeling tool that is simple and inexpensive. http://www.atomicmicroscope.com/

Students enjoy the fascinating world of atoms. The software allows one to see how atoms respond to changes in volume, temperature and pressure. By exploring the affects of changes between variables, students come to understand direct and indirect relationships. Many students consider themselves visual learners, and even if they are not, most students find visuals help to facilitate constructing one's understanding of a phenomena. It is sometimes difficult for some students to understand why matter behaves in a certain way, but given a visualization of the situation, it is easily understandable. Learning is imroved and further building can occur. The more visualization we provide the less likely it is that students will develop misconceptions, a common problem in chemistry.

Digital Story Telling Benefits!

“When done as a part of programming, digital story telling can help build the 21st century skills that students will need to succeed in school and eventually in the modern workforce” (Czarnecki 2009). This is our job as educators; to prepare students for the modern workforce. If we are not using technology in the classroom we are hurting our students learning experience, hence hurting our future leaders of tomorrow. Along with many other software programs digital story telling is a great way to incorporate technology into the curriculum. Students will use images, audio, video, and many other applications to create a story. The students will be more engaged and the final product can be shared with a large audience. Students in the Online Leadership program run by Global Kids partnered with the New York Public Library and created digital stories. Their stories were presented at an annual festival for the public were they engaged their audience with the use of technology and displayed what they had learned and been able to do.

I wish I had quick time so I could have placed this video in my blog but unfortunetly I do not.
http://www.dtc.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/garth911_T1.mov

You can also find more digital stories that students created from Georgetown, Kentucky at:
http://www.dtc.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/studentstories.html


Reference:
Czarnecki, K. (2009). How digital story telling builds 21st century skills. Library Technology Reports, 45 (7), 15-19

Automated Essay Scoring – WriteToLearn Software

Automated Essay Scoring is defined as the computer technology used to evaluate and score the written prose (Shermis & Barrera, 2002). As previously noted, this type of technology originally became available in 1966 with a system call Project Essay Grader, or PEG, designed by Ellis Page at the request of the College Board, which was looking for a more efficient and effective way to score the vast amount of written essays they deal with annually. (Dikli, 2006). Since then several other researchers and companies have developed their own technologies and methods of scoring essays automatically. One such company is Pearson Knowledge Technologies.

Pearson Knowledge Technologies markets its Intelligent Essay Assessor system (IEA) as part of its WriteToLearn software. Write to learn is a web-based tool that combines IEA, which focuses on students responding to essay prompts, with another tool called Summary Street, which has students read short passages and summarize the information they have read. The goal of these tools is to provide students with immediate feedback for their writing activities. Both components feature tutorial feedback and opportunities for revision. (Landauer, Lochbaum, & Dooley, 2009). According to a case study performed by researchers from the University of Colorado, the use of Summary Street has a statistically significant positive effect on all students using the program. Students were given four expository texts over the course of the four-week trial. Half of the class was given access to Summary Street and the remainder was kept as a control group. The authors point out that since the essay prompts increased in difficulty students showing no change in their raw scores should be considered as improving. A summary of the shows an obvious pattern of improvement for students using Summary Street in all but one category, mechanics. One must note students in the control group were allowed to use a word processor that included a spelling and grammar checker. The authors go on to point out that although students with higher skill levels, based on the previous year's standardized test, had higher overall raw scores, as would be expected, but students from the lower- and medium-ability levels made the greatest gains. The researchers concluded their case study with student interviews. As part of these interviews, students were asked to name components of a good summary. Those students who had used Summary Street were reported as giving the more detailed and substantive answer. (Franzke, Kiintsch, Caccamise, Johnson, & Dooley, 2005)

References

Dikli, S. (2006). An overview of automated scoring of essays. Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment, 5 (1).

Franzke, M., Kiintsch, E., Caccamise, D., Johnson, N., & Dooley, S. (2005). Summary street® : Computer support for comprehension and writing. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 53-80.

Landauer, T. K., Lochbaum, K. E., & Dooley, S. (2009). A new formative assessment technology for reading and writing. Theory Into Practice, 44-52.

Shermis, M. D., & Barrera, F. D. (2002). Automated essay scoring for electronic portfolios. Assessment Update, 14 (4), 1-5.

More Sharing Ideas About Educational Software

In following on Tom's post from earlier, I want to share this with everyone. As part of the class discussion we compiled this list with a recommendation from each of us for piece of software that we find useful in the classroom. I hope you find this list as valuable as I do. Also included below is a compilation provided by the Centre for Learning.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 View more presentations from Jane Hart.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is a multimedia project that can be used by most teachers to supplement their lesson plans because:

 It provides an opportunity to integrate technology into standard base classroom curriculum. For example student can learn how to use the digital camera to take a picture of images to develop and participate a a particular lesson. Click on URL:
http://polaris.umuc.edu/~jdasilva/edtc/Eagle.Harbor.html and it will further demonstrate how you can use the digital camera to capture very resourceful images.

 If the appropriate software is selected it can enhance pedagogical skills and stimulate student learning on a need-by-need basis. For example it can match the needs to develop the senses and potential for students with different learning abilities, such as seeing and hearing impairment students.

 Digital stories can be created to teach various subject areas and other topical issues that are required to promote student learning. For example this media can be used to conduct classroom tutorials with step-by-step instructions to promote further visual education awareness activities.


Question: Do think digital storytelling is a multimedia project that can be used by most teachers to supplement their lesson plans? Why?

Second Life as a Virtual Learning Environment

This concept fascinated me. My head started spinning with the idea of Second Life classrooms. I have never visited second life, but my understanding is that it is a virtual space where users can "build" almost anything. Imagine having a science lab with limitless equipment that never broke. Imagine being able to take a History class to Gettysburg, during the battle, that is. If simulators are good enough to train fighter pilots and tank drivers, why can't they be used to educate our students.

In the case study presented, the following methods were used to prepare for and implement the activities:

1. Interviews were conducted to build the team of teachers and fellows. Potential fellows were also asked to write an essay detailing their philosophies on gaming and education as well as their perceived abilities to work with the students in question

2. Teachers and fellows were brought together for professional development in order to ensure that the instructional modules aligned to standards, addressed proper topics and took into consideration classroom dynamics.

3. Teachers and fellows worked together to create modules and lesson plans that complemented each other

4. Fellows worked in the classrooms to assist the teacher in implementing "gaming" days.

5. Pre and post tests were created to assess student learning.

6. Steps were taken to ensure safe and secure use of technology for all students.

7. Observations were conducted by the College of Education to ensure goals were being met.

From the findings we know that:

1. Varying states of technology in the schools had to be considered immediately by the designers.

2. Student enthusiasm was high for the games

3. Unit test scores for these difficult concepts showed improvement form earlier years

4. Scores on the state test increased 10-30%

As encouraging as this project is, there are improvements that I would like to see implemented. I think it would be important to have a control group to compare with. Finding a way to have all students working with the same quality of equipment would also be important. Computers are expensive, but if the researchers are serious about gathering true data, all the participants should be on a level playing field. These should be students receiving the same quality instruction in the classroom with a more traditional activity used in place of the games. The authors mentioned a more formal methodology being implemented in the second year. It would be interesting to know what changes they made.

Franklin, T., Mayles, J., Liu, C. & Chelburg, D. (2007). Games and engineers in the middle school science classroom: A case study.

Sharing Ideas About Educational Software

Educational software is a valuable resource to the classroom. There are many programs that have been created that can enhance the learning in the classroom but are not being utilized effectively be educators. One of the reasons is that educators do not know that they exist. New technologies and educational programs are created on a daily basis. How can we all keep up? Luckily we are taking the biggest initiative and taking classes in instructional technology. Throughout these courses and even this past week I have found and been introduced to different programs that educators have used with their students in the same curriculum area that I am teaching also.

A fellow classmate introduced me to a program called Algebra upgrade. I have been teaching Algebra for the past 4 years and there is very little technology incorporated into the curriculum. This could be a great program to use with the students. I am excited about implementing this program this upcoming year with my students.
Reading blogs and sharing ideas with other educators is essential. If each person in our group has 1 good idea and we share them with each other and discuss ways to implement these ideas, now everyone has 5 great ideas. A very simple way to share ideas and experiences in using educational software is in blogs.

Tom Fetherman

Simulation/Animation of Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment

One of the commonly used simulations in chemistry is the silulation of Rutherford's Gold Foil Experiment. Here is an example from YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pZj0u_XMbc

Simulations improve student understanding by showing the student an image of what may be too small to actually see. In this simulations atoms and alpha particles are visible when in fact, they are way too small to see.

"Scientific discovery learning is a highly self-directed and constructivistic form of learning. A computer simulation is a type of computer-based environment that is well suited for discovery learning, the main task of the learner being to infer, through experimentation, characteristics of the model underlying the simulation." (De Jong). I use simulations all the time in my teaching. I have found the best ones are those that are available as textbook resources. Simulations can also be found on the internet or on YouTube. They do not tend to be quite as good as the textbook resources but they are sometimes more fun. The textbook simulations are usually very serious in nature but sometimes the ones found on the internet are created by students and have fun music or fun images. I would highly recommend the use of simulations for those who teach either the physical sciences or the life sciences.

De Jong, Ton and Van Jooligan, Wouter R., REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH June 1998 vol. 68 no. 2 179-201

Multimedia Promotes Early Learning

Learners have different learning abilities and the multimedia software is a very fundamental tool for special needs and early learners. This software can assist in several ways to stimulate students to reach their goals and allow them to achieve their fullest potential. For that reason teachers should use a variety of methods with appropriate software tools in their classroom that would inspire students to learn and obtain a qualified educational content level. Hence, students with special needs can use graphic organizers with speech capabilities to write and they can also record words and listen for verbal feedback towards that would allow them to improve their learning skills. I also believe that assessment resources should be available to users to evaluate either their research findings or their online lessons. Nevertheless, in my Pre-Kindergarten classroom I do ensure that I use a mulit- approach to demonstrate the classroom lesson study to my early learners and this verifies each child is learning. This is based on the feedback after a lesson review.


Reference

Google Image. (2010). Early Learning Site. Retrieved on July 5, 2010 from
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:OAQwlTVH8hM2M:http://www.childrenshospital.org/clinicalservices/
Site1850/Images/symbols.jpg

Sharp, V. (2005). Computers in Special Education. In Computer Education for
Teachers: Integrating Technology into Classroom Teaching, (5th ed., pp. 320-352). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Evaluation of Chemistry Tutorials

There are several very well designed Tutorials available as additional resources for the Chemistry text called Chemistry, the Science in Context.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/chemistry/gilbert2/tutorials/interface.asp?chapter=chapter_05&folder=heating_curves
The publisher refers to these tutorials as "Chem Tours" and the "Chem Tours" have been designed by a company called Science Technologies.

Each tutorial begins with an introductory statement defining the key concept being explained in the tutorial. Usually an image is also shown and this image is often chosen to link to some prior learning or prior understanding. For example, in the tutorial on perecnt composition of compounds, the first visual shows the percent composition of elements in the earth, a concept the students already understand. One of the most exceptional tutorials I have ever used is their tutorial on heating curves as it relates to phase changes. The tutorial shows a curve, a graph and an animation of the molecular view of the arrangement of water molecules. There is a point marked with a red dot on the graph and the curve and students can watch how the point moves as the temperature of the water chanes and how this change affects the molecules. The way the images are tied together is key to the enhanced understanding generated by the tutorial versus a more standard approach. The educational value makes these tutorials a very worthwhile resource. In the ideal sense they might be used either to introduce a lesson, or to wrap a lesson or both. Students learning is enhanced by these tutorial because the students get key concepts, with visuals, often with analogies in way that is easy to see and interesting to use. At the end of the tutorial the last five or so pages are questions and answers in the drill and practice style. Students recieve immediate feedback to their answers and also get help if needed. The opportunity to review is also available and so a click takes you back to the section of the tutorial where the concept was explained.

I think tutorials can be very useful for many different kinds of learners. Students that need more time to process can benefit by reviewing these tutorials on their own at their own pace. This is a tremendous advantage to these students that will miss certain key ideas in a class that is moving through aterial very rapidly as many do today.

21st Century Learning in the Classroom

Recently educators are integrating Literacy Media Software in their classroom curriculun towards stimulating student learning. Currently I also use some of those software with my Pre-Kindergarteners’. If educators integrate appropriate software in their classroom curriculum, they will definitely stimulate student learning.
This is a very useful website that can also be used to support student learning. This website can also be used for students who are physically impaired. I do hope you found this website to be very resourceful.This website will also support the Framework for 21st Century Learning in the Classroom.

I am currently exploring both websites towards a further enhancement of my pedagogical skills.

Evaluation of Phonics Based Reading Software

The elementary grade students that attend my learning center come to me with various deficits. Chief among these deficiencies is word decoding and phonics skills. Lexia Phonics Based Reading is a program designed to help student master these early reading skills. It is a drill and practice software with branching capabilities. It allows students to work individually and at their own pace. Information on the purchase of this and other Lexia products can be found at www.lexialearning.com.

Educational Value

Phonics skills are best acquired in a one to one setting. Students need to hear the phonemes they are expected to master. In addition, the instructor needs to be able to hear words and sounds pronounced by the students and provide immediate feedback for both oral and written work. The goal for each student is to master all of the phonemes that they will encounter in their daily reading. Live instruction in these skills is often done in a drill and practice manner. This can be very time consuming for instructors.

Lexia Phonics Based Reading, or PBR, follows the appropriate developmental sequence for phonics acquisition. As it is branching software, students progress through various skills at three pre-programmed levels. The activities and games within each level gradually increase in complexity until the student has mastered all objectives for that level. It also allows the teacher to customize the learning to each individual student in the class. For example, if a student is proficient in short vowel sounds, the teacher can program the software to skip those modules for that individual student.

In addition to the highly customizable nature of the instruction, PBR gives the instructor both whole class and individual student reports that can be used to track performance. These reports can be itemized but date range and skill. This allows the teacher to track not only the mastery a student gains on particular skills, but also the time needed to reach those goals. The improvement the student makes from one session to the next is also evident in these reports. For a teacher trying to differentiate instruction for every student in the class, this type of data is invaluable.

Interest Level

The greatest deficiency of this version of Lexia Phonics Based Reading would have to be the level of interest that it garners from the students. The graphics are not of the sophisticated quality to which most students are accustomed. They are not unappealing, but they lack the depth and detail that children see every day on their Wiis, Playstations and PCs. The software allows the student to choose the game of their choice, within the teacher prescribed level. However, the games are rather simplistic. For example, one game asks students to place phonemes in proper order to spell a spoken word. Each correct response helps a sneaker reach the top of a set of steps. However, students will likely prefer using the software when compared to the alternative worksheets that they would need to be completing to master these skills in a classroom setting.

Ease of Use and Installation

This software was very simple to install on all of the PCs tried, except the one with Windows Vista. Even using the compatibility functions of the operating system the software would not function properly. However, a newer version is available that works with Vista. On the Windows XP machines, the software took less than three minutes from start to finish installing. PBR is very simple to use as well. Given that the majority of the students using it will be between the ages of five and eight, this is a great plus. The software models each of the actions needed before the individual activities. All of the activities performed by the student can be completed with a series of mouse clicks. There are no complex actions required. Teachers will also find PBR easy to use. Setting up classes and adding students is done in a simple user interface. Reports can be printed to file, a printer or the screen, and the interface used to create them is very user friendly. There are explanations of not only the reports themselves, but of the activities completed by the students included in the reports interface.

Absence of Bias

As this software is designed for phonics instruction that requires the user to both see what is on the screen and to hear the voiceover, PBR is inappropriate for students who are deaf or blind. As for other biases, none were found. The images were innocuous, ranging from, sneakers, and basketball hoops, flowers, balloons, etc. However, as this is a tool to teach the basics of the English language, it is possible to consider a bias against other languages.

Creating Electronic Tutorials for the Cyber World

Library patrons are online with an expectation for librarians to offer online instructional content that would connect them in the cyber world. Therefore it is critical that we educate library users so that we can meet them on their computers with electronic tutorials. Electronic tutorials could be useful in various instructional tasks such as teaching users the fundamental elements of a library catalog, illustrating the advanced features of a database, or demonstrating a precise procedure for a step-by-step task.

It is also critical to emphasize that, developing an electronic tutorial may be an unapproachable assignment to several librarians, particularly to individuals who are not technology savvy. As a result it is necessary to design simple initial issues pertaining to the tutorial creation process. These issues include identifying the areas, such as, staff availability, audience to be targeted, objectives and outcomes, desired level of interactivity, instruction style, informational and design content, storyboarding, target length, and evaluation (Plumb, 2010).

In concluding, it is imperative to propose tutorial creation essential tips that would identify the initial considerations, as well as, developing software assessment and reviewing tools that follow best practices. After the completion of my graduate program I will be looking forward to play a vital role towards developing successful electronic tutorials that would guide librarians and other library patrons efficiently in the cyber world.

Reference:

Plumb, T., K. (2010). Creating Electronic Tutorials: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, (22) 1/2, 16, 49-64. DOI:10.1080/1941126X. 2010.486729. Retrieved on June 28, 2010 from Education Research Complete data base.

Evolution of drill and practice

Back in the day drill and practice meant that you were taught a concept together as a class and then you practiced this individually using paper and pencil. With the movement of integrating technology into the curriculum there are numerous ways to practice this concept that you just learned.

In math, when working with multiplication facts, there are many instructional games and software programs for the students to use to gain their attention and motivate them to complete the practice. One program that I have used is FASTTMATH. Students create an account so that their games are specific to them. The students can work on adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. The software will give the students questions and record the facts that students have mastered and the ones they need more practice. Then when the students go to play the instructional games it was focus on the facts that the students need more practice with. This is a great program to practice because it is specific to each student and will use the facts that they need to practice most during the instructional games.

In an English classroom, students learn about the different elements of a story. Instead of reading a story and discussing these elements students work together in small groups and create a short movie that contains the different elements of a story. They are practicing the skills and concepts in non-traditional ways. These are just a few examples of ways that drill and practice have been improved over the years. Students are more engaged and motivated when it comes to practicing what they have just learned with the use of technology.

Tom Fetherman

Evaluation of PCR Educator as a School Administrative Tool

PCR Educator is software for school administration which primarily sells to the independent school market. It is database software that allows schools to effectively manage all of their data in one place. PCR Educator provides software modules that allow the various constituents to update and maintain school records and allows schools to share this information appropriately. The system is designed as various product modules so schools can choose which components they need much like a cafeteria plan. You may take what you like and may leave off what you do not need. The various components are for 1) admissions, 2)registration, 3) scheduler, 4)teacher for grade books and attendance, 5) health, 6) school development and 7) school finance and finally 8) campus which allows for linking the database to a school website.

This is a very well designed system of networked databases that can be linked together into one comprehensive database for the school. It is very useful for independent schools because it includes components that are important to independent schools such as a finance piece and a school development piece. The content is appropriate for the intended users and the system simplifies many tasks while effectively managing school resources. Also, there are many ways that the sytem can be customized so that it can fit the needs of a variety of users. Faculty and staff find the program generally easy to use and require minimal training. One improvement would be to allow teachers more ways to manage classes specifically whena teacher has more than one section of the same course. Because each class needs to be entered seperately teachers need to often repeat the same data when teaching multiple classes. It is always difficult to balance the need for unifomity in data management in a database with individual user control for entering the data. Student information is readily available to users and allows users to increase productivity. The main advantage to schools using a system like PCR Educator is improved communications among constituents. By improving communications all vested parties can work better towards the goal. In education, student outcomes are ultimately improved when information about the students progress or concerns are being effectively communicated to parents, student support services, other teachers and even the students themselves.

Through my own use of PCR Educator, I have found the system to be very useful in managing my students success because it allows me to track students with greater ease and accuracy than I was able to manage before using PCR Educator. I can analyze test results, see how often a student has missed class, get a student's grade sorted by assessment type, etc. I can also very easily give a student a snapshot of their grade in order for them to see what types of assessments they should focus on to improve. This type of information is very useful to both students and parents. Using PCR Educator has alleviated some of the administrative task burden that falls on teachers which should then ultimately allow for more time to do the real work of teaching. Our school has made leaps and bounds in the area of communication with the PCR Educator system.

USING INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR SETTING UP GROUP 1 BLOG

The instructional software tools are very user friendly towards setting up a blog account with http://www.blogger.com . This is the first blog which I have created and I did not encounter any problems in using the tools to create this group project. This Blog was designed for our Hardware and Software Instructional Development (EDTC 625) Group 1 Blogging Assignment. Group 1 consist of four members including my self (Julia Da Silva-Beharry). Members of this Group are: Julia Da Silva-Beharry, Kathleen Flood, Pamela Ensminger, Robert Brackett and Thomas Fetherman. Consequently, this Blog was named to succeed our group activity. Very skillfully, I approached the settings of this Blog to determine who would read and comment on our Group Activity. Postings and comments can be viewed by anyone. Therefore this site is not totally private, since we can have a maximum of one hundred authors. Subsequently, I invited all the group members of our group to be authors as well as our Professor, Michael Ruffini to read and evaluate our Blog. Nevertheless, your constructive feedback is appreciated for further improvement on Group 1 Blog.

GROUP 1: EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE

My educational service remains committed to excellence and I ensure this by remaining updated on the most current teaching methods. Updating technology and educational training, particularly in instructional software are an important part of my routine operation as a future curriculum specialist and policy maker. Therefore it is imperative that I participate in the evaluation of instructional software programs for K-12 classroom setting.

The application of hardware and software programs in K-12 classroom settings is critical towards sustaining student learning. Appropriate software programs should be integrated into classroom curriculum that would enhance pedagogical skills, stimulate and improve student learning. Students have different learning abilities which should taken into consideration, educators and other stakeholders should develop a variety of teaching strategies and management techniques for using computer in different school setting.