How Often Does Domestika Have Sales?
1 year ago
February 23, 2009
Fab Blog
Check out Danny Nicholson's blog: The Whiteboard Blog for links to great tech resources that can be implemented in your classroom.
February 22, 2009
SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast
A load of great education podcasts hosted by Ben Hazzard & Joan Badger can be found at SMARTBoard Lessons Podcast. Check it out!
February 2, 2009
G-G-G-Google Reader
Google Reader is a cool little tool that I probably would not have bothered with had it not been for this week's task. I will definitely make use of it now to follow the latest news releases on CNN and to keep up with the pile of blogs that amuse me.
I figured I would reflect on something that was sent to me through Google Reader from Color Me Katie this week. Katie is a freelance photographer who turns ordinary everyday things into something extraordinary. I think this idea could be turned into a really neat art project for students; a simple thing like cardboard cut out eyes can bring inanimate objects to life!
I figured I would reflect on something that was sent to me through Google Reader from Color Me Katie this week. Katie is a freelance photographer who turns ordinary everyday things into something extraordinary. I think this idea could be turned into a really neat art project for students; a simple thing like cardboard cut out eyes can bring inanimate objects to life!
Educational Software Review Assignment Finito
RESULTS
After careful consideration I chose to review Mathville Jungleway and Math Strategies Primary for the purpose of this assignment. Both pieces of software have been developed with primary school aged children in mind: Jungleway is meant for children in grades 1-3 and Math Strategies for children in K-3. I thought it would be interesting to compare two math games aimed at children in the same age group.
Jungleway was a complete disappointment: boring, confusing at times and outdated. Math Strategies on the other hand was age appropriate, engaging and worthy of including in a classroom.
At first glace I assumed Jungleway was for older students because of the lack of auditory direction. A voice provided some prompts such as how to begin the game and provides brief explanations of what the goal is for each activity but there is no specific direction provided. I'm a grown woman and I struggled to figure out what was expected of me in some of the activities. While playing a few of the Jungleway's games I was unsure of whether or not the buzzing sound was telling me whether my answer was right or wrong; it was only by keeping track of my score that I was able to decipher when I had made an error.
Math Strategies provided clear instructions in both print and speech. Clear and instant feedback was provided when I answered questions and never was there any doubt as to whether or not I was on the right track.
Although some curriculum expectations are addressed by Jungleway it would certainly not be something I would incorporate into my classroom, nor would I recommend the software to parents looking for additional math tools to use with their children at home.
Math Strategies Primary is a program that I certainly would recommend to others. Many curriculum expectations from the number sense and numeration strand are addressed within this program and a variety of onscreen manipulatives including, but not limited to, number lines and ten frames provide the user with additional support.
DISCUSSION
In order to test these two pieces of software I spent some time playing with them. I spent at least an hour with Math Strategies Primary and only thirty minutes playing with Jungleway. My intention had been to play with each program for an equal amount of time but time moved far too slow while I fumbled my way through Jungleway; after just fifteen minutes I was ready to give up but I forced myself to keep playing.
Only a few activities kept my attention long enough to complete them in Jungleway, the games were neither fun nor terribly engaging. I would certainly not include this program on my classroom computer if I had the choice.
It would definitely be viable to use Math Strategies Primary in the grade one classroom I am currently spending time in. The cartoon chipmunk host(ess) would appeal to both boys and girls as would the various games found in this software. Unfortunately I was unable to test the teacher functions on my demo program so I cannot comment on how useful the teacher control function is. It appears as if the teacher can control what activities are presented to students and if this is actually the case it would be beneficial.
I do not see any issues with the Math Strategies Primary software; of course even with the excellent auditory component some of the grade one students would struggle with using this program therefore I would have students work in pairs. Unfortunately we only have one classroom computer so there would be limited opportunities for students to access this program. The class does have weekly computer lab visits but I am not sure that I would want to have my students spending those few golden moments of computer time playing math games when we could be doing other things.
The two evaluation tools I used for this assignment were the class generated page and Kathy Schrock's review. I found the class evaluation questions to be much more thorough than Schrock's. Schrock's is a simple check system that takes little time to complete, which was great, but the questions are not specific enough for my liking. What I did like about Schrock's evaluation was the 'General Information' section; this information is definitely worth including on an evaluation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I think the class evaluation tool could be improved by including the general information asked for on Kathy Schrock's review page. Besides that I think the tool could be left as is; the categorized statements along with the rating scale are easy to use and cover all of the important aspects of software evaluation. I think that overall we did an excellent job in the creation of our class tool.
After careful consideration I chose to review Mathville Jungleway and Math Strategies Primary for the purpose of this assignment. Both pieces of software have been developed with primary school aged children in mind: Jungleway is meant for children in grades 1-3 and Math Strategies for children in K-3. I thought it would be interesting to compare two math games aimed at children in the same age group.
Jungleway was a complete disappointment: boring, confusing at times and outdated. Math Strategies on the other hand was age appropriate, engaging and worthy of including in a classroom.
At first glace I assumed Jungleway was for older students because of the lack of auditory direction. A voice provided some prompts such as how to begin the game and provides brief explanations of what the goal is for each activity but there is no specific direction provided. I'm a grown woman and I struggled to figure out what was expected of me in some of the activities. While playing a few of the Jungleway's games I was unsure of whether or not the buzzing sound was telling me whether my answer was right or wrong; it was only by keeping track of my score that I was able to decipher when I had made an error.
Math Strategies provided clear instructions in both print and speech. Clear and instant feedback was provided when I answered questions and never was there any doubt as to whether or not I was on the right track.
Although some curriculum expectations are addressed by Jungleway it would certainly not be something I would incorporate into my classroom, nor would I recommend the software to parents looking for additional math tools to use with their children at home.
Math Strategies Primary is a program that I certainly would recommend to others. Many curriculum expectations from the number sense and numeration strand are addressed within this program and a variety of onscreen manipulatives including, but not limited to, number lines and ten frames provide the user with additional support.
DISCUSSION
In order to test these two pieces of software I spent some time playing with them. I spent at least an hour with Math Strategies Primary and only thirty minutes playing with Jungleway. My intention had been to play with each program for an equal amount of time but time moved far too slow while I fumbled my way through Jungleway; after just fifteen minutes I was ready to give up but I forced myself to keep playing.
Only a few activities kept my attention long enough to complete them in Jungleway, the games were neither fun nor terribly engaging. I would certainly not include this program on my classroom computer if I had the choice.
It would definitely be viable to use Math Strategies Primary in the grade one classroom I am currently spending time in. The cartoon chipmunk host(ess) would appeal to both boys and girls as would the various games found in this software. Unfortunately I was unable to test the teacher functions on my demo program so I cannot comment on how useful the teacher control function is. It appears as if the teacher can control what activities are presented to students and if this is actually the case it would be beneficial.
I do not see any issues with the Math Strategies Primary software; of course even with the excellent auditory component some of the grade one students would struggle with using this program therefore I would have students work in pairs. Unfortunately we only have one classroom computer so there would be limited opportunities for students to access this program. The class does have weekly computer lab visits but I am not sure that I would want to have my students spending those few golden moments of computer time playing math games when we could be doing other things.
The two evaluation tools I used for this assignment were the class generated page and Kathy Schrock's review. I found the class evaluation questions to be much more thorough than Schrock's. Schrock's is a simple check system that takes little time to complete, which was great, but the questions are not specific enough for my liking. What I did like about Schrock's evaluation was the 'General Information' section; this information is definitely worth including on an evaluation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I think the class evaluation tool could be improved by including the general information asked for on Kathy Schrock's review page. Besides that I think the tool could be left as is; the categorized statements along with the rating scale are easy to use and cover all of the important aspects of software evaluation. I think that overall we did an excellent job in the creation of our class tool.
January 24, 2009
Math Strategies Primary
I played Math Strategies Primary trying to see it through the eyes of a grade one student. The squirrel who led me through the activities was cute and very animated; his voice was engaging and not as annoying as the monotone animations in some of the other games I explored.
I was provided with immediate feedback when I completed tasks; I was either praised or encouraged to try again. When I was unable to figure out the correct answer after a few attempts the squirrel provided me with a clue to guide me to the correct answer; this would certainly be beneficial for students who struggle with math.
Some of the games had me choosing between multiple written answers e.g. All the same, Only two the same, All different, the words were read aloud to me when I placed the cursor on top of them - this was another plus of the program. I think if I was in grade one I would find the activities to be fun and somewhat challenging. I like the fact that there is an option of skipping the demonstrations so that if I was visiting the game for a second or third time I could go ahead and play without spending time watching the demos.
I was provided with immediate feedback when I completed tasks; I was either praised or encouraged to try again. When I was unable to figure out the correct answer after a few attempts the squirrel provided me with a clue to guide me to the correct answer; this would certainly be beneficial for students who struggle with math.
Some of the games had me choosing between multiple written answers e.g. All the same, Only two the same, All different, the words were read aloud to me when I placed the cursor on top of them - this was another plus of the program. I think if I was in grade one I would find the activities to be fun and somewhat challenging. I like the fact that there is an option of skipping the demonstrations so that if I was visiting the game for a second or third time I could go ahead and play without spending time watching the demos.
From an educators perspective I see this game as being beneficial to students. There are a plethora of well developed activities within this game incorporating a variety of useful strategies including the ten frames, number lines and computer graphic manipulatives. I certainly wouldn't use this program as a substitution for classroom instruction but I think it could be used by students during free time to build on skills being taught in the classroom. There are expectations from number sense and numeration strand in the Ontario math curriculum that are met through the various activities found on Math Strategies Primary.
I was unable to locate an online review for Math Strategies Primary.
January 16, 2009
SMART Goals
SMART Goal #1: By February 4, 2009 review literacy education based software appropriate for use with grade one students.
Prescribed actions met by goal #1:
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
SMART Goal #2: Create technology-based lesson plans for grade one students by February 18, 2009 that ensure needs of both struggling and exceptional students' are met.
Prescribed actions met by goal #2:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* prepare a set of engaging, motivating learner-centred technology-based lessons
* implement tech-based opportunities for exceptional students
SMART Goal #3: Incorporate the use of the SMARTBoard for at least one lesson in my final practicum; plan the lesson by the end of this course.
Prescribed actions met by goal #3:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* observe and actively respond to student progress while using technology
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
Prescribed actions met by goal #1:
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
SMART Goal #2: Create technology-based lesson plans for grade one students by February 18, 2009 that ensure needs of both struggling and exceptional students' are met.
Prescribed actions met by goal #2:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* prepare a set of engaging, motivating learner-centred technology-based lessons
* implement tech-based opportunities for exceptional students
SMART Goal #3: Incorporate the use of the SMARTBoard for at least one lesson in my final practicum; plan the lesson by the end of this course.
Prescribed actions met by goal #3:
* select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
* start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
* observe and actively respond to student progress while using technology
* start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
Tech Skills Inventory Reflection
Completing the technology skills survey was not the easiest task; I found that some of the questions were unclear and therefore difficult to answer. That being said I do believe my technology skills inventory gave a pretty accurate summary of my strengths and areas where I could use some improvement when it comes to accessing technology. I have chosen to comment on each section of the inventory separately to make it easier for you to follow my train of thought.
Technology operations and concepts
I think this area of the summary describes me accurately. I access tech based resources regularly to meet many of my professional and personal needs and I am comfortable doing so. Most of the issues I encounter while working with technology I am able to fumble my way through successfully. My previous career entailed daily exposure to a variety of technical devices used by a young woman who is visually impaired; the responsibility for troubleshooting any issues – which there were many of – landed on my shoulders. I am grateful for this experience because it has certainly helped me become more confident when it comes to using technology.
Assessment and evaluation
I am a little confused with the comments under general preparation here. I access technology 98% of the time when seeking information and I do access a variety of sources, yet the summary suggests I should increase my use of technology for locating, evaluating and collecting information from sources.
I would definitely like to explore how to assess and evaluate students’ work that has been prepared using technology as the summary suggests. I would also like to learn more about technology-based assessment and evaluating strategies. I hope we discuss these issues in class; it would be great to see some samples of students work and the tools teachers use for assessment of technology related assignments.
Learning to assess the validity and reliability of information found online is something else I hope to be exposed to during this course; I think I am a fairly good judge of reliable information but I am not confident enough to teach my students this skill.
Productivity and professional practice
I really like the idea of using technology to facilitate communication with parents/guardians as well as with my colleagues once I am teaching. I am aware of the potential problems relating to electronic communication but while exploring online I have found some really great blogs/websites created by teachers. While I would not give out my personal email address I think it would be great to have a page set-up online where parents could go to find the class calendar, reminders etc. How often do students respond to their parents by grunting “I dunno” when asked what they did in school today? A class blog would allow parents to see for themselves what is going on in their child's classroom.
Social, ethical, legal and human issues
I am very aware of how I need to improve in this area. The summary suggests I aim to identify potential legal and ethical issues while also considering equitable access; the reality is I am quite aware of the issues that exist. Although I may slip on occasion when it comes to my personal use of technology, I understand one hundred percent that it is my job as an educator to model safe and responsible use of technology for my students.
Planning and designing learning environments AND Teaching, learning and the curriculum
While I have no real issues in the General Preparation areas of these two skill sets I definitely need to work on the skills mentioned in the Professional Preparation and Student Teaching columns. I’ve combined these two sets because of the fact that the ‘aim to’ lists have very similar suggestions. My hope is to work on the following prescribed actions during the duration of this course:
Technology operations and concepts
I think this area of the summary describes me accurately. I access tech based resources regularly to meet many of my professional and personal needs and I am comfortable doing so. Most of the issues I encounter while working with technology I am able to fumble my way through successfully. My previous career entailed daily exposure to a variety of technical devices used by a young woman who is visually impaired; the responsibility for troubleshooting any issues – which there were many of – landed on my shoulders. I am grateful for this experience because it has certainly helped me become more confident when it comes to using technology.
Assessment and evaluation
I am a little confused with the comments under general preparation here. I access technology 98% of the time when seeking information and I do access a variety of sources, yet the summary suggests I should increase my use of technology for locating, evaluating and collecting information from sources.
I would definitely like to explore how to assess and evaluate students’ work that has been prepared using technology as the summary suggests. I would also like to learn more about technology-based assessment and evaluating strategies. I hope we discuss these issues in class; it would be great to see some samples of students work and the tools teachers use for assessment of technology related assignments.
Learning to assess the validity and reliability of information found online is something else I hope to be exposed to during this course; I think I am a fairly good judge of reliable information but I am not confident enough to teach my students this skill.
Productivity and professional practice
I really like the idea of using technology to facilitate communication with parents/guardians as well as with my colleagues once I am teaching. I am aware of the potential problems relating to electronic communication but while exploring online I have found some really great blogs/websites created by teachers. While I would not give out my personal email address I think it would be great to have a page set-up online where parents could go to find the class calendar, reminders etc. How often do students respond to their parents by grunting “I dunno” when asked what they did in school today? A class blog would allow parents to see for themselves what is going on in their child's classroom.
Social, ethical, legal and human issues
I am very aware of how I need to improve in this area. The summary suggests I aim to identify potential legal and ethical issues while also considering equitable access; the reality is I am quite aware of the issues that exist. Although I may slip on occasion when it comes to my personal use of technology, I understand one hundred percent that it is my job as an educator to model safe and responsible use of technology for my students.
Planning and designing learning environments AND Teaching, learning and the curriculum
While I have no real issues in the General Preparation areas of these two skill sets I definitely need to work on the skills mentioned in the Professional Preparation and Student Teaching columns. I’ve combined these two sets because of the fact that the ‘aim to’ lists have very similar suggestions. My hope is to work on the following prescribed actions during the duration of this course:
- select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
- design inclusive tech-based learning experiences
- prepare a set of engaging, motivating learner-centred technology-based lessons
- start to select education-specific resources to meet specific objectives
- implement tech-based opportunities for exceptional students
- observe and actively respond to student progress while using technology
- start testing potential ed. tech applications to ensure appropriateness
January 14, 2009
Of Course!
According to Stephen Downes' article Ten Things You Really Need to Learn, what is taught in schools is basically useless information. He suggests that what useful bits students do manage to learn are not intentionally taught by educators.
I do agree with Stephen's list of things students need to know, but I also believe that most teachers do incorporate the teaching of these concepts/skills in their lessons. Teachers may not teach them explicitly but through the teaching of the supposed "useless facts" and through their interactions educators guide students to learn the importance of creativity, empathy, communication, self-value, empathy etc.
I do agree with Stephen's list of things students need to know, but I also believe that most teachers do incorporate the teaching of these concepts/skills in their lessons. Teachers may not teach them explicitly but through the teaching of the supposed "useless facts" and through their interactions educators guide students to learn the importance of creativity, empathy, communication, self-value, empathy etc.
Access? More Like Lack Of
I'm working in a grade one class right now and the students have little access to technology. There is one computer in the class which I have yet to see a student touch.
The kids do have access to the 18 computers found in the school library (there are 25 students in the class) once a week for forty minutes - barely enough time to complete anything meaningful. I don't want to sound negative but the reality is that I have not yet seen any exemplary lessons involving the computer lab, as a matter of fact I have barely seen ANY lessons using the computers. I'm guessing this would not be the case if teachers had more opportunity to expose their students to the technology.
There is one SMART Board in our school which is connected to the grade six class; the board is available for use by other teachers during specific periods each day but it never leaves the classroom in which it is housed. I think the fact that the board is linked to a particular teacher and because the availability of it is so limited, teachers are afraid to play with it; if their lesson runs long or they want to return to it later in the day it is not that simple.
I hope to integrate technology into the grade one class while teaching during my next block. The teacher is open to learning new things and I'm hoping that by exposing her to some lessons using technology she might be more open to trying something similar in the future.
The kids do have access to the 18 computers found in the school library (there are 25 students in the class) once a week for forty minutes - barely enough time to complete anything meaningful. I don't want to sound negative but the reality is that I have not yet seen any exemplary lessons involving the computer lab, as a matter of fact I have barely seen ANY lessons using the computers. I'm guessing this would not be the case if teachers had more opportunity to expose their students to the technology.
There is one SMART Board in our school which is connected to the grade six class; the board is available for use by other teachers during specific periods each day but it never leaves the classroom in which it is housed. I think the fact that the board is linked to a particular teacher and because the availability of it is so limited, teachers are afraid to play with it; if their lesson runs long or they want to return to it later in the day it is not that simple.
I hope to integrate technology into the grade one class while teaching during my next block. The teacher is open to learning new things and I'm hoping that by exposing her to some lessons using technology she might be more open to trying something similar in the future.
Feelings About Blogging
Setting up my blog was a painless process; Blogger's prompts simplified what could have been a frustrating experience.
I have been thinking about creating a personal blog to keep track of the many useful educational resources that I have come across so I'm happy to be doing just that with the bonus of receiving a mark for it.
I have been thinking about creating a personal blog to keep track of the many useful educational resources that I have come across so I'm happy to be doing just that with the bonus of receiving a mark for it.
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