This week I used Photo-story for the first time. I found it really similar to creating slide shows on social networking websites such as myspace, so not too hard. This sort of program will be excellent to use in schools for children to make movies, etc. Using this kind of technology in lessons will not only improve and encourage students to use technology skills, but will also help to motivate students to complete tasks as it is a different approach to learning that students are sure to be intrigued by and excited to use. Children can add photos, images, music and recordings using this program.

This week I created a PowerPoint presentation based on last weeks inspiration mind map and pretend that we were presenting it to a board or school to encourage the use of information technology in the school curriculum. I choose online games as I believe that with the emerging concept of online games both educational and recreational and because they are of great interest to most students as they should be integrated into the curriculum, as an encouragenment to student motivation and eagerness. I had not really used PowerPoint before but now I feel a lot more confident with it and hope that I can use it in my teaching as well as in my uni assignments and presentations. A great invention in the world of ICT!

Okay so this week I finished my inspiration map. I discovered that there are many online games both educational and recreational available. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages, however I came to conclusionthat there are more benefits of online games which seem to outweigh the negatives as long as they are used in proportion and are not the only source of learning for the students.

 I had never used inspiration before but now I can make use of it in my classroom, especially with Kidspiration which is basically the same but more suitable to children of a primary school level.

I will continue to work on this mind-map and link it next week to the power point presentation. I choose to do my mind-map on online games and have focused on educational and recreational games, their benefits and their disadvantages. I’m sure that I’ll add to this mind-map next week and to my power point.

Welcome again! This week we created a personal profile using Microsoft publisher. I found this portfolio item fairly easy and although I have not really used publisher before I found it very easy to navigate through since it is quite similar to Microsoft word. I hope to use this program more in the future in teaching and teaching children also how to use this program so that they may use it for assignments etc. I think that publisher is a very useful program which I am glad to have learnt how to use and look forward to using more in the future.

rubric1. Passport Geography!

   This Web Quest was designed for a grade 2-4 class. It includes colour and relevant pictures to the task of having the children take a pretend trip around the world to different continents. Children are required to complete many fun, yet relevant activities through this authentic activity. The introduction aims to prepare and excite children for a trip around the world telling what they will need in order to go on this trip. Activities such as creating a passport that contains a real photo and relevant real-life passport information, as well as making a list of things to take on the trip, giving the children a chance for hands on activities and allowing them to use knowledge and skills they already have through completing activites which involve using previously aquired skills, such as making lists, writing their addresses and deciding what clothes they will need for the climate in different continents, etc.

    Navigation on the Web Quest is easy for students of this year level and tasks are set out very clearly in Step by step process with the use of exciting words such as first, then, now etc. One area that I feel could have given more cognitive and motivation  effectiveness would be in the introduction, it did motivate children to an extent, but could probably have elaborated more on what the students would learn etc from completing the task.

   This task would be very achievable for students from grades 2-4. It is also very relevant to real life situations and children can apply their new knowledge of not only continents but also about passports to future situations and understandings. The processes was very clear in explaining to its student audience and each activity provided relevant sources for the task outside the Web Quest. Its evaluation criteria would also be helpful for students to refer to while completing the task when seeking to find out what their expectations are.

    Over all I think this was a great Web Quest with high authentic relevancy. I definitely would use it in my classroom, in-fact it has given me plenty of ideas that I can build on and use in future classes!

rubric2 The Lost Food Pyramid

This Web Quest is designed for K-2 students and uses a great amount of colour and pictures to stimulate students of a younger age’s interest. Navigation is easy on this Web Quest for an older student or teacher, however it could be difficult for kindergarten and year one students to use it without assistance, however I think that this would be the case for very young students with most Web Quests. But the help of pictures in navigating the Web Quest would be most likely to help these young students who may not have developed excellent reading skills yet.

  The task set for students is definitely achievable and is designed for students to work in the group to solve a problem…finding the missing foods from the food pyramid. Directions are fairly clear but again younger students would most likely need assistance with navigating their way through the Web Quest. The task is very relevant to learning about the food pyramid and allows students to use constructive learning through looking at foods they already know and deciding how healthy or unhealthy they are and what food groups they would belong in.

   This Web Quest does not give links to other resources however it provides students with resources on the actual Web Quest itself, this is probably more suitable considering its student audience is very young and probably not very familiar with the Internet.

 The activities and processes in this Web Quest are very straight forward and clear. Group work should make early work and developing technology techniques for these infants students easier than working individually. It allocates different roles for students which still makes sure that all students get involved in their group and that one child is not doing all the work.

  The evaluation on this website is very suitable for its audience because it is set out in out easy to follow points, rather than in rubric or evaluation criteria form.

   Overall, this is a great website for introducing children to computers and the web as well as helping them with revising and learning more on healthy foods and the food pyramid.  

I look forward to using Web Quests in my teaching and maybe even creating some of my own. They are an excellent idea, fun,  and a real-life way to keep students motivated to fun relevant work. 

 After searching the same topic: Teenage drug abuse, into each of my three chosen search engines:Google, Alta-vista and Yahoo, I came to conclusion that all three of the search engines were of approximately the same speed and all provided sites that were relevant to my topic. However, I found that Google was the least helpful and relevant in relation to my topic and that Yahoo the most helpful and relevant.  Yahoo seemed to be the most helpful in providing both facts on and definitions of teenage drug abuse, as well as providing sites related to helping and treating teenage drug abuse.

From this activity I have discovered more search engines other than Google. I think that a good knowledge of different search engines and how they work will be important in teaching and helping students in research etc. In the future I will refer to these other search engines, or when I cannot find the sites I want through Google search, I will try using a mixture of search engines, including the ones discovered in this activity and hopefully more useful search engines that I am yet to discover.