Overall, everyone should admit that the class was a great success!. I am pretty sure that everyone of us has learned new things about technology that we didn't even hear about before this course. What made this class a success was that it was very well designed, very organized. Also, the articles, the videos and the assignments were well into the core of the course content. In addition, thanks to the professor's continuous help, support and PATIENCE that this course was easier than I have thought at the beginning.
I was not expecting that I am going to be able to do the work I have been doing. It was kind of challenge for me especially that I come from a develpoing country where technology is still not well introduced in the school curriculum. Now, I am really proud of myself and I am thinking to introduce what I have learned here to the people who are in charge of the school curriculum back home. I am sure I will be a good asset for them:-).
Compared to all the other courses that I have taken at Saint Peter's, I want to admit that this is my favorite class ever! (no kidding). This is what I said to all my friends here and back home all along this course!. I really enjoyed it and hopefully technology will be introduced in all the other courses as we are living in an information age, and we cannot do much without technology!.
Finally, I want to thank Dr.Luongo for this great success that made my accomplishment even more valuable. Also, I wanted to thank all my colleagues and all the team who were participating to the success of this course (helpdesks, operators, etc).
Have great Holidays!
Najet Gharsallaoui
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
CLRN
The California Learning Resource Network was really amazing!
It is a great help to find the standards aligned-software, video and internet learning resources we need.
It is very useful in the fact that it distributes news, resource reviews, and web information links.
CLRN is really exciting as they now have enabled a user feedback system where teachers can rate and comment about the enormous number of web link reviews.
In this respect, I advise you to check out the free resources that CLRN' team has identified about the Web Information Links (WIL): http://clrn.org/weblinks/
It's really enjoyable searching WILs' that had been reviewed by users!
It is a great help to find the standards aligned-software, video and internet learning resources we need.
It is very useful in the fact that it distributes news, resource reviews, and web information links.
CLRN is really exciting as they now have enabled a user feedback system where teachers can rate and comment about the enormous number of web link reviews.
In this respect, I advise you to check out the free resources that CLRN' team has identified about the Web Information Links (WIL): http://clrn.org/weblinks/
It's really enjoyable searching WILs' that had been reviewed by users!
Lesson plans
Planning is a pschycological process of considering goals and ways of achieving them.
Planning a lesson is arranging materials and activities as well as testing and evaluating teaching and learning. It is a pre-active decision-making that takes place before instruction.
Planning a lesson is about developing a coherent system of activities that facilitates students cooperation and understanding of the subject matter. In this respect, teachers should be creative in planning their lesson plans as planning is a guide to teachers' decision-making in planning strategy.
I do believe that planning a lesson is very helpful for teachers to conduct their class. In other words, I don't think a teacher will accomplish as much as it should be if he/she walks without a lesson plan before tackling any lesson.
Planning is helpful not only for the teacher, but for students as well as they will learn as much as they can because planning is about time management too.
Planning a lesson is arranging materials and activities as well as testing and evaluating teaching and learning. It is a pre-active decision-making that takes place before instruction.
Planning a lesson is about developing a coherent system of activities that facilitates students cooperation and understanding of the subject matter. In this respect, teachers should be creative in planning their lesson plans as planning is a guide to teachers' decision-making in planning strategy.
I do believe that planning a lesson is very helpful for teachers to conduct their class. In other words, I don't think a teacher will accomplish as much as it should be if he/she walks without a lesson plan before tackling any lesson.
Planning is helpful not only for the teacher, but for students as well as they will learn as much as they can because planning is about time management too.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Social Networking!
Social networking has its advantages and disadvantages as well!
It is very good to have social networking, to get to know people, to communicate, to learn from others' experiences, to share ideas, etc. However, one should be very careful especially when using the internet to socialize. It is sometimes very risky to go to some websites like facebook, yahoo messenger, twitter, skype... Sometimes people get deceived by wrong names or pictures or announcement. In this respect, we and especially our kids should be careful before posting anything or communicating with anyone, and here the role of the parents becomes very crucial. In other words, parents should always be behind their kids especially teens to check what kind of websites, programs, peaople are dealing with. It is a serious issue when it comes to chat or communicate with people over the internet, sometimes people get hurt or maltreated just because they are associating with deceitful people. So, it is very important to know what to do and with whom to associate.
It is very good to have social networking, to get to know people, to communicate, to learn from others' experiences, to share ideas, etc. However, one should be very careful especially when using the internet to socialize. It is sometimes very risky to go to some websites like facebook, yahoo messenger, twitter, skype... Sometimes people get deceived by wrong names or pictures or announcement. In this respect, we and especially our kids should be careful before posting anything or communicating with anyone, and here the role of the parents becomes very crucial. In other words, parents should always be behind their kids especially teens to check what kind of websites, programs, peaople are dealing with. It is a serious issue when it comes to chat or communicate with people over the internet, sometimes people get hurt or maltreated just because they are associating with deceitful people. So, it is very important to know what to do and with whom to associate.
Videos!
Personally, I do believe that visuals are more helpful than the print media. For example, when I have a book to read, I find it more attractive to see the movie than to read the book!. In other words, when I start reading a book especially when it is a long book, I sometimes find myself losing track the fact that takes me back to the previous pages to read them again. However, while watching the movie, I am fully concentrating and it is that kind of suspense to see the following events is what cateches my attention and everybody elses's attention I guess.
Movies have a tendency to make people get the message quicker and do not forget the content, that's why sometimes at school, teachers insist to show us the book in a movie, so they make sure we better understand it and not to forget it.
I really liked the movies that were presented in modules 8 and 9 especcially the "Introducing the Book" movie which was very funny:-). It reminds of myself the first time I was trying to use the computer. I was overwhelmed with the fear of accessing a new technology, but later on when I discovered the benefits of that machine that I was doubtful to use at the beginning, I was really excited and happy to learn a new method about how to do things faster and more efficient.
"Special Education and Social Networking" was very intersting in the way that the teacher was devoted to help disabled kid to have access to new technologies so that they could have better jobs just like the other regular students. However, more care should be given to those kids as they might fall in the wrong use of some sites or be victims of deceitful people who may take advantage of the higher risk of being more vulnerable to such kind of practices!
Movies have a tendency to make people get the message quicker and do not forget the content, that's why sometimes at school, teachers insist to show us the book in a movie, so they make sure we better understand it and not to forget it.
I really liked the movies that were presented in modules 8 and 9 especcially the "Introducing the Book" movie which was very funny:-). It reminds of myself the first time I was trying to use the computer. I was overwhelmed with the fear of accessing a new technology, but later on when I discovered the benefits of that machine that I was doubtful to use at the beginning, I was really excited and happy to learn a new method about how to do things faster and more efficient.
"Special Education and Social Networking" was very intersting in the way that the teacher was devoted to help disabled kid to have access to new technologies so that they could have better jobs just like the other regular students. However, more care should be given to those kids as they might fall in the wrong use of some sites or be victims of deceitful people who may take advantage of the higher risk of being more vulnerable to such kind of practices!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Web-Based Educational Resources!
It is very important to use technology in our nowadays classrooms, and the fact of using web page educational resources facilitates the learners' and educators' job of learning and instructing. The choice of resources, however, should be selected carefully in order to ensure the effectiveness of the learning process of our kids. In other words, it is very important to take into considration all the needs of students while designing an educational software. While accessing a web-based educational resource, students should be able to easily find whatever information are looking for and that might be helpful to their studies.
For example, the WebQuest was a very good web-page educational resource which was organized in a certain way that help students have access tot he different activities. Also, the Starfall web page is another example of creativity in helping students to read.
For example, the WebQuest was a very good web-page educational resource which was organized in a certain way that help students have access tot he different activities. Also, the Starfall web page is another example of creativity in helping students to read.
Creating a Web Page!
I think that creating a Web Page can be a lot easier than creating the WebQuest. Using "Scholastic WebPage Builder" facilitates the work as it offers a Web Page Builder through its teacher site. It also offers a number of Web-based services that guide users through the process of entering text, adding links to other Web sites, and even uploading pictures. 'These tools also help teachers to post homework assignments, publish announcements, post calendars of importand dates, and highlights of classroom activities'. In other words, Scholastic Web Page makes the work even more attractive and easier to proceed. It is really a good guide to do the work step by step!
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