nicole’s ND blog

This was the final week of Uni, and to be honest i can’t eblieve how fast it has gone and gow much i have learnt in such as short time span.

Overall this course has been very satisfying, as it enabled me to determine my strenghts and weaknesses when it comes to comptuer programs that i am familiar and unfamailar with. The introduction to these new programs have been very helpful and i strongly believe these programs will have a large imput in to my classroom.

Despite technology constantly changing, i beleive the skills i have gained from these programs, can be adapted to future technology within classroom situations, such as formula skills i have learnt form the program ‘Excel’ can be later implimented into similar progams that may be produced in the future.

To be honest i strongly believe that after completing this course my skills have improved dramatically, and now the only thing i really need to do is continue to practice these skills over and over again. The program i struggled with the most was actually the blog itself, particularly when it changed format and i was unable to upload my attachments successfully.

Overall i have made many improvements and i have found this course to be very helpful in terms of later teaching and also in terms of my current uni work. I have learnt many knew things and skillsand have greatly improved on my skills and prior knowledge.

Thanks again Mark for all you help you have provided over the past semester.

For these past two weeks, i have been trying to understand the newly introduced program - photostory. At first i thought this program was simple to use and download off the net….i was soon proved wrong. After exploring for some time on the internet trying to download the program, my dad eventually fixed it - good old dad what would i do without him.

Once i began using the program i found it very simple to use, as it kind of reminds me of a wizard of some kind. i really enjoyed maing my photostory as it brought back a lot of memories and fun times with my family. This is why i chose to do my photstory on them.

This program is a great way for students to present their findings to the class similar to a powerpoint but purely using pictures and the occasional text. This program is valuable for teachers and students however i think some of the other programs such as word and excel would be of more use within a classroom setting.

Overall considering i had no knowledge of this program except from watching the beginners help tools on the weekly outline. Thank you very much for that i don’t know how i would of completed this task otherwise.

Reference: Music

Kurtis, J. (2007). Pictures of you (recorded by the last goodnight). on Poison Kiss [CD]. Connecticut
United States. Vigin records. 

 My family photostory

This week was the first week that i really felt confident in using a program. I have previously use powerpoint throughout high school, and hence had a good understanding. I found it quite funny really becasue many other students were asking me for help, and usually it is the other way around. The only thing i really struggled with was adding sounds to my powerpoint, i tried to get them to work, but i found that each time i added one, the sound would not  work, even when the powerpoint was runing and the speakers were on.

Powerpoint is one of the best waysof teaching i personally believe as it is so engaging for students. Even for myself, i find it very easy to learn whilst a powerpoint is displayed rather than just a teacher or lecture standing out the front talking and writing on the board. However in saying this, the degree of engagement students have varies depending on the animations used to attract their attention. This is the main reason i tryed to use a different animation for each slide.

Powerpoint would be a great tool, particularly for older primary grades to present information on assignments to the rest of the class and teacher.  Learning how to make a powerpoint also assits in students presentation skils as well as their speech and interaction with the rest of the class. It can also be used to build students confidence. as students realise that their peers are not always watching them, instead they are focussed on the powerpiont.

Overall i believe this program has many uses within the classroom and is simple, functional, and easy to use and gain information from.

 Interactive whiteboard powerpoint presentation

interactive-whiteboard-2.doc

This week i found to be very interesting, as i had never heard of the program ‘inspiration’, let alome have an understadning of how to use it effectively. At first i found the progam not be as useful as i had first hoped, as i saw other ways in which i was familiar with in producing effective diagrams, flow charts and mind maps, by using the ‘word’ program. However once i had a clear understanding as to how to use it and how to make these types of works more effective and interesting, i was very impressed by the simplisity of the program for the user and also for the viewer. The use of images as captions is also another interactive and engaging way this program uses to hold students attention, and allow them to remain focussed and on task.

In classroom environments, the program will assist students in more than just increasing the ways computers can be used, instead it provides a simple method of recording complex information, into a logical manner which is easy to read and comprehend.

Overall, i have changed my mind about this program, and by using it to create my personal diagram on smartboards, i have sen just how easy the layout used by the program is to read and understand.