New me blogging

A little confession to make; when I started this course CEP-811, I had no idea about web 2.0 resources. Every assignment I had; made me realize the meaning of the learning journey in this course.

Writing this growth statement reminded me of a job interview I had in a school in Abu Dhabi last week . the school has fully integrated most of recent technology applications, in the interview there were many questions related to web 2.0 tools, quickly I remembered each reading assignments, stairs, web quest, web page creation, Zoho applications, blogs, Wiki, podcast, then I started to reflect on what I learned and experienced in the course assignments. First I had to list all the effective teaching strategies and match them with the different technology tools.

Better communication: blogs will help create better communication between parents and teachers, between peers or groups and also between students and professionals, teachers. 

Collaborative learning: wiki will create the environment for collaboration when every student has the chance to add a piece in the jigsaw puzzle. It is motivating and challenging as they are publishing their contributions for others to view.

Scaffolding: stairs as a standalone tool will scaffold the students learning and reinforce what they learned, Teacher may also record lectures on podcasting and students can listen to it on a media player. This will also help, off task and absent students. 

Opportunity to learn: wiki, blogs, Zoho, Google applications, stair, web quest and  web page, all these tools can provide that opportunities as it provides activates and the teacher continues emphasizing maintaining the students engagement in those activities. Like image sharing for visual learners on blog then students comment on this image, or brain storming on Zoho writer shared documents, or projects on the web quest.

Establishing learning orientation: web quest the constructivism learning style will prepare students for learning by providing the structure to clarify intended outcomes in projects designed query. Students will learn through this experience how to be lifelong learners and take part of their own learning in an achieved task.

I would say that web-technologies tools like other tools it has benefits and challenges, it is powerful to teachers, students, and parents if the school can cover the cost, staff professional development and monitored the use of these tools from inappropriate content and cyber bulling.

After learning some of the web technologies in this course I feel that I m a better teacher, it has   empowered me with so many ideas to achieve my teaching strategies, and engaging both students and parents in the learning process.

I m planning to reach my goals by using web technologies tools more in my classroom, and create stairs in Arabic language as the resources are very limit in this field.  Also sharing what I learn in this course with other teachers in my school.

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Zoho Writer Evaluation

Describe your experience as a user of the application. What functions did you like and what functions did you find frustrating? Why?

Creating a Zoho writer account was very easy. Navigating the different application on Zoho was easy too. Zoho writer is similar in many ways to Microsoft office with the advantage of creating the documents online which gives users the flexibility of accessing the information from anywhere and gives them the ability to share and collaborate with many other users, like the ability to post on to your blog. Unlike Microsoft office, Zoho is completely free. Zoho also was an easy application to learn and navigate, sometime you feel frustrated if the internet connection is very slow or down. I was able to import other files with different formats to Zoho.  The other feature that I really liked is that Zoho offers new tab format like the newer version Microsoft word but at the same time it kept the traditional drop down menu on the toolbar. Also the set up page tab allow you to make changes without highlighting the text, you can review the page from the same menu and re-change again. The things that I did not like about Zoho were it took a long time inserting images to the document. The lack of advanced editing features that Microsoft office has ware also missing in Zoho.

What knowledge or skills would students need to use the software?

Generally, the Classroom resources for using Zoho are similar to the resources needed for using Microsoft office. The main difference is that Zoho would need access to the internet in the classroom.

How can you share the products you create with this application?

As an online application, Zoho offer the advantage that multiple users can collaborate and share different documents online. Also post to your blog.

How could you see the application being used to teach a particular subject matter?

Zoho can help create an interactive learning environment. It can be used for brainstorming, sharing ideas and for communication,

What are some things a teacher could do to help students collaborate using this application?

 Teacher can insert an image for students to post their comments, (brainstorming).

 Teacher can assign different groups to do different tasks and students post their ideas on Zoho. Also the teacher can insert tables and the children can import Zoho spread sheet with their graph drawn onto it to Zoho writer and write their conclusion. Also teacher can insert the key vocabulary and students can define the words.

Teacher can post their question for Students to post their predictions, draw their plan for fair test investigation. Also it could be handy for evaluation of the lesson. Teacher can post a question to assess the learning that took place.

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What sort of organization or managerial considerations will a teacher have to take into account?

• Privacy and confidentiality issues.
• Cost
• Availability of resources.
• Training and Education.
• IT Support.

Web quest

Working in a primary school where the ministry switched the learning to be in English three years ago. Is quite challenging for both Arabic speaking teachers and students, and integration is another challenge too.

Looking at the learning experience the web quest offers seems to help both teachers and students with its authentic tasks, clear process and organizational thoughts underpinning Using Scaffolding to support students learning. A quote from Bernie Dodge’s “the goal of instructional scaffolding is to gradually remove the scaffolds once the students have internalized the strategies or processes”. Researching on the internet is quite difficult for them; they end up off task most of the time, the web quest uses time effectively by providing them with quality resources “the emphasis for learning the learning activity switches from what they do with the information to locate information.” Also it is spouse to support students thinking at the level of analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

However the main challenge would be in my school is to train teachers of how to create a web quest and how to use it. How about you guys?

I like to share this web quests as an example for a clear, easy to follow, and use of rubrics.

http://teachers.emints.org/FY04/colemang/plantexpwebquest/credits.html , it is in a child friendly format; clear and big font size, not too wordy process, stimulating and inspiring through creating a role like scientists; as you know kids like pretending, doesn’t have any flaws or broken links.

The second one, for its ability to guide through steps of; how to design a web quest?

http://step.nn.k12.va.us/elemscience/el_sci_wbq.htm

Hi ,

 I’m a primary school teacher,learning a new tricks.

I love swimming and painting. Walking is my best inspirational moments. I think I will add blogging to my hobbies soon. Im getting better, did you notice the changes?