Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Week 6
For this week’s lesson, we are supposed to evaluate two multimedia lessons conducted for the students in school; one with action agents while the other without.
To be fair and putting aside the technical error that occurs at the beginning of the evaluation, I must say that the multimedia lesson with the agents will definitely spark off learning interest from the students as elements of cuteness – in term of using lively and cute agent graphics – are incorporated into the lesson. The contents to be delivered to the students are clear and concise, coupled with lively narration by the agents. Instructions to activate figures and answers by the agents, indeed, make the whole lesson more interactive and appeal to the students. While the lesson is conducted in a slow pace, it is not boring but manages to capture students’ attention due to the lively tone of voice and actions of peedy and its assistant. I took about 20 min to complete the whole lesson.
On the other hand, the time taken to complete the lesson without the agents took me about 5-10 min to complete. Hence, less time is used as compared to the lesson with agents. Information is presented in a straightforward manner and easily accessible. However, no attempt has been made to summarize the lesson, resulting in a large chunk of information presented under each section, which is not easy to digest at first reading.
Personally, I would prefer the lesson with the agents. The graphical elements are, in fact, a bonus to learning and will infuse students’ enthusiasm towards knowledge seeking. Learning naturally involves teaching in a step-by-step approach. The agents, effectively, act as teachers which go through each piece of information in a systematic and interesting way. Although it is more time consuming than the lesson without the agents, students will be able to absorb more. In contrast, students taking the lesson without the agents might require going through the lesson again to comprehend better. At the end of the day, the lesson with the graphical elements is considered more productive in term of learning.
There are certainly rooms for improvement with regards to the lesson with agents. Firstly, it is best if the introduction of the lesson by peedy and its assistant can be optional, meaning that a ‘skip intro’ option is introduced. Otherwise, an accidental click on the home button in the midst of a particular lesson will trigger the introduction again without an option to reject. In addition, students must be told, prior to the lesson, to deactivate the function which disabled pop-up window in order to be able to see the figures 2a and b in the last segment. Besides, the font size of the content could, perhaps, be enlarged to improve visibility. I feel that the content can be better presented if it were to appear after the narration of the agents as the display of the whole piece of content beforehand can be distracting to the students.
In a nutshell, I feel that the effectiveness of the lesson is based on the students’ passion and interest in the lesson and most importantly, the degree of adsorption of the content as well as the ability to apply them. In order to achieve these, educational tools should be user-friendly and not complicated to use.
To be fair and putting aside the technical error that occurs at the beginning of the evaluation, I must say that the multimedia lesson with the agents will definitely spark off learning interest from the students as elements of cuteness – in term of using lively and cute agent graphics – are incorporated into the lesson. The contents to be delivered to the students are clear and concise, coupled with lively narration by the agents. Instructions to activate figures and answers by the agents, indeed, make the whole lesson more interactive and appeal to the students. While the lesson is conducted in a slow pace, it is not boring but manages to capture students’ attention due to the lively tone of voice and actions of peedy and its assistant. I took about 20 min to complete the whole lesson.
On the other hand, the time taken to complete the lesson without the agents took me about 5-10 min to complete. Hence, less time is used as compared to the lesson with agents. Information is presented in a straightforward manner and easily accessible. However, no attempt has been made to summarize the lesson, resulting in a large chunk of information presented under each section, which is not easy to digest at first reading.
Personally, I would prefer the lesson with the agents. The graphical elements are, in fact, a bonus to learning and will infuse students’ enthusiasm towards knowledge seeking. Learning naturally involves teaching in a step-by-step approach. The agents, effectively, act as teachers which go through each piece of information in a systematic and interesting way. Although it is more time consuming than the lesson without the agents, students will be able to absorb more. In contrast, students taking the lesson without the agents might require going through the lesson again to comprehend better. At the end of the day, the lesson with the graphical elements is considered more productive in term of learning.
There are certainly rooms for improvement with regards to the lesson with agents. Firstly, it is best if the introduction of the lesson by peedy and its assistant can be optional, meaning that a ‘skip intro’ option is introduced. Otherwise, an accidental click on the home button in the midst of a particular lesson will trigger the introduction again without an option to reject. In addition, students must be told, prior to the lesson, to deactivate the function which disabled pop-up window in order to be able to see the figures 2a and b in the last segment. Besides, the font size of the content could, perhaps, be enlarged to improve visibility. I feel that the content can be better presented if it were to appear after the narration of the agents as the display of the whole piece of content beforehand can be distracting to the students.
In a nutshell, I feel that the effectiveness of the lesson is based on the students’ passion and interest in the lesson and most importantly, the degree of adsorption of the content as well as the ability to apply them. In order to achieve these, educational tools should be user-friendly and not complicated to use.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Week 5
The discussion for this week’s lesson is on MSN Discussion Forum. I’ve learnt that technology can be put to great usage in education if we understand the constraints prior to implementation. In my opinion, if the discussion forum were to be utilized as an educational tool, a direction should be set by the teacher. It can be a discussion on a detective story or maths puzzle thrown to the students. Teachers can come in as moderators to give some hints as and when necessary. Otherwise, the discussion forum will be relegated to a chat room without any focus and direction. In this way, teachers who want to grade students based on their discussions can develop appropriate and clear-cut rubrics. On the other hand, the topic chosen for discussion must be something that is not factual and hence can facilitate discussion to take place.
The discussion forum can be started by teachers conveniently. All that is to be done is essentially to register for a group and invite the students to come into the forum to discuss relevant issues. Of course, beforehand, teachers have to inform the students to register an account with MSN as well as setting ground rules for discussion, for instance, no flaming, before embarking on this project. This is to prevent a sense of loss by the students and results in a state of confusion when the discussion forum starts.
Moreover, besides using the forum as a discussion platform, I feel that it can also be used in other ways. One instance would be utilizing it as a common online storage to display photos from class outings or Sport day etc. As such, the forum would not be under utilized and deemed it as merely another format of boring school work.
Most importantly, the usage of the discussion forum can bring about the bridging of ideas and thought. Comments from fellow classmates in the class can be new and constructive perspectives to the others. It is a platform for one to exhibit or express his burning ideas as well as a chance to reflect on your own or others’ discussions. Hence, if used effectively, it is definitely a good avenue to air one’s thought in an analytical way, which is considered a luxury in the limited time period during lesson.
The discussion forum can be started by teachers conveniently. All that is to be done is essentially to register for a group and invite the students to come into the forum to discuss relevant issues. Of course, beforehand, teachers have to inform the students to register an account with MSN as well as setting ground rules for discussion, for instance, no flaming, before embarking on this project. This is to prevent a sense of loss by the students and results in a state of confusion when the discussion forum starts.
Moreover, besides using the forum as a discussion platform, I feel that it can also be used in other ways. One instance would be utilizing it as a common online storage to display photos from class outings or Sport day etc. As such, the forum would not be under utilized and deemed it as merely another format of boring school work.
Most importantly, the usage of the discussion forum can bring about the bridging of ideas and thought. Comments from fellow classmates in the class can be new and constructive perspectives to the others. It is a platform for one to exhibit or express his burning ideas as well as a chance to reflect on your own or others’ discussions. Hence, if used effectively, it is definitely a good avenue to air one’s thought in an analytical way, which is considered a luxury in the limited time period during lesson.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Week 4
Yahoo Instant Messaging (IM) is a tool that we’ve learnt this week as a teaching aid. It is actually a tool that is useful in conducting counseling session whereby face-to-face interaction with the student can be avoided to allow him to be more at ease and in a way more conducive for sharing of innermost thoughts. This is also especially useful for students, who are not so vocal in class, to ask question online. At the same time, IM provides teacher with the ability to cater to many students at a time as well as a mean to archive individual conversation with the students which can be useful for future referencing.
With regards to the six elements of Constructivist Learning Approaches, IM provides an excellent Just-In-Time platform for students to enhance the Questioning aspect during an allocated IM session and concurrently allows the teacher to find out how much they have learnt (Exhibit) as well as to set up the bridge by extending the problems raised by the students, developing their analytical thinking skill. At the end of the day, students can reflect what they have learnt and discovered after giving it some thought and return to the next IM session to relate to the teacher.
Since Yahoo IM can be downloaded freely from the web, it is considered a convenient online discussion tool. However, it can pose some problems. Does the teacher want the session to be held in school? Then, does the school allow downloading of the IM? Again, will the students be hooked onto the attractive and fanciful IM such that they dabble on it the whole day and miss their homework? And, most importantly, parents might not want their children to be addicted to IM, which undeniably presents certain elements of danger especially if the children were to talk to other strangers and meet them up without the parents knowing.
Hence, IM is essentially a double edged sword. It can facilitate teaching and learning but on the other hand, if it is misused, the consequences can be detrimental.
With regards to the six elements of Constructivist Learning Approaches, IM provides an excellent Just-In-Time platform for students to enhance the Questioning aspect during an allocated IM session and concurrently allows the teacher to find out how much they have learnt (Exhibit) as well as to set up the bridge by extending the problems raised by the students, developing their analytical thinking skill. At the end of the day, students can reflect what they have learnt and discovered after giving it some thought and return to the next IM session to relate to the teacher.
Since Yahoo IM can be downloaded freely from the web, it is considered a convenient online discussion tool. However, it can pose some problems. Does the teacher want the session to be held in school? Then, does the school allow downloading of the IM? Again, will the students be hooked onto the attractive and fanciful IM such that they dabble on it the whole day and miss their homework? And, most importantly, parents might not want their children to be addicted to IM, which undeniably presents certain elements of danger especially if the children were to talk to other strangers and meet them up without the parents knowing.
Hence, IM is essentially a double edged sword. It can facilitate teaching and learning but on the other hand, if it is misused, the consequences can be detrimental.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Week 3
For this week’s lesson, we have learnt about something more theoretical: the six element model of constructivist learning approaches – Situation, Groupings, Bridge, Questions, Exhibit and Reflections. The model represents the onset of education based on cognitive knowledge construction whereby students build new knowledge based on their past experience and interaction with the environment. In addition, the design loop is introduced to us to facilitate the designing of a lesson for the students.
Essentially, I feel that the education should incorporate the awareness of the ever changing paradigm in reality -- a lot of phenomenon do not have a single solution. Different perspectives towards a particular issue can sharpen thinking and looking at matters with different angles. The constructivist approach thus serves this purpose of illustrating the imperfect world outside there to the students. Hence, it is pragmatic in using this approach in classroom teaching. Moreover, the emphasis on student-centred learning and the vision of Thinking Schools, Learning Nation highlighted the importance of adopting the constructivist approach in teaching and learning. In short, the vision that students are to assume a great role in their own learning is in line with the constructivist approach of learners being active learners –constructing their own knowledge-- with the teachers being facilitators. The role of the facilitators cannot be overemphasized. Students might be wrong when searching for answers in the world of knowledge. During the exhibition and reflection phase of learning, teachers must be alert and knowledgable enough to eliminate any deviation and error-- before they propagate-- in learning of a concept.
Basically, for the design loop, it is a useful guideline which focuses on the resources available, environment factor and objectives to produce a good lesson. However, I feel that the constraints should be analyzed after the conceptualizing of an idea. The placement of the constraints at the very last, will results in the tools and methods being formulated. As such, it might be difficult for us to make major adjustments to the strategy for fear of a tight deadline.
On the whole, the constructivist approach in teaching does fit well in the 'teach less, learn more' education paradigm.
Essentially, I feel that the education should incorporate the awareness of the ever changing paradigm in reality -- a lot of phenomenon do not have a single solution. Different perspectives towards a particular issue can sharpen thinking and looking at matters with different angles. The constructivist approach thus serves this purpose of illustrating the imperfect world outside there to the students. Hence, it is pragmatic in using this approach in classroom teaching. Moreover, the emphasis on student-centred learning and the vision of Thinking Schools, Learning Nation highlighted the importance of adopting the constructivist approach in teaching and learning. In short, the vision that students are to assume a great role in their own learning is in line with the constructivist approach of learners being active learners –constructing their own knowledge-- with the teachers being facilitators. The role of the facilitators cannot be overemphasized. Students might be wrong when searching for answers in the world of knowledge. During the exhibition and reflection phase of learning, teachers must be alert and knowledgable enough to eliminate any deviation and error-- before they propagate-- in learning of a concept.
Basically, for the design loop, it is a useful guideline which focuses on the resources available, environment factor and objectives to produce a good lesson. However, I feel that the constraints should be analyzed after the conceptualizing of an idea. The placement of the constraints at the very last, will results in the tools and methods being formulated. As such, it might be difficult for us to make major adjustments to the strategy for fear of a tight deadline.
On the whole, the constructivist approach in teaching does fit well in the 'teach less, learn more' education paradigm.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Week 2
This week has been a fruitful week. I've learnt to use the two web tools; using Microsoft Word to create webpages as well as NIE online file storage and website server, MyDisk.
Pertaining to using webpages for teaching purposes, will it be merely used as a platform for students to download supplementary materials for the subject or can it be used more prevalently? I personally feel that unless we can attract students to come to my website designated for the course frequently, otherwise the online file storage MyDisk would suffice for students to extract or upload relevant exercises or material. Hence, to increase the practicality of setting up a website, we can add in information that are of interest to the students, for instances, fashion, graphic, computer games etc and set up related discussion groups for them to discuss their interest. In this way, the website will serve as a gathering point for like minders in the class to raise their points and also avoid them to surf other such websites and run into the danger of meeting lurking predators who prey on innocent students. We have better control, so to speak, if we can attract the students to surf the websites that we've created. Moreover, the website can serve as an avenue for students to relate problems to teachers without the coyness of face-to-face talks. As such, problems can be addressed quickly without them being complicated in time to come.
Furthermore, the using of Microsoft Word to create webpages has it advantages; websites can be set up quickly and the software is available in all schools. Being in a technological era, the using of websites to teach will also be in synchronous with tech-savvy students and hence increase their acceptance to this tool.
To sum up, the setting up of a website will be a successfully one if it can be visited regularly and act as a bridge of communication between the teacher and students. The failure of these objectives will deem it as a glorified online storage system.
Pertaining to using webpages for teaching purposes, will it be merely used as a platform for students to download supplementary materials for the subject or can it be used more prevalently? I personally feel that unless we can attract students to come to my website designated for the course frequently, otherwise the online file storage MyDisk would suffice for students to extract or upload relevant exercises or material. Hence, to increase the practicality of setting up a website, we can add in information that are of interest to the students, for instances, fashion, graphic, computer games etc and set up related discussion groups for them to discuss their interest. In this way, the website will serve as a gathering point for like minders in the class to raise their points and also avoid them to surf other such websites and run into the danger of meeting lurking predators who prey on innocent students. We have better control, so to speak, if we can attract the students to surf the websites that we've created. Moreover, the website can serve as an avenue for students to relate problems to teachers without the coyness of face-to-face talks. As such, problems can be addressed quickly without them being complicated in time to come.
Furthermore, the using of Microsoft Word to create webpages has it advantages; websites can be set up quickly and the software is available in all schools. Being in a technological era, the using of websites to teach will also be in synchronous with tech-savvy students and hence increase their acceptance to this tool.
To sum up, the setting up of a website will be a successfully one if it can be visited regularly and act as a bridge of communication between the teacher and students. The failure of these objectives will deem it as a glorified online storage system.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Trying for the first time on this blog....
