Today's Technology

In this presentation what interest me was learning of the new technologies which I did not know existed online. For instance the Acrobat Adobe Pro Connect. It was a new discovery and wanted to venture more of what it really is. However, it would have been really beneficial for us if the presenters could have showed us more on that than just touching on the surface. It was the same with other technologies which was introduced merely stating maybe a detailed description would have helped us . This is because i'm sure most of us wanted to venture and apply with our students when we create a DE environment in the class. As I have mentioned earlier, we could try and test all this technology in our classroom to see if it is effective and perhaps students could use it when the teachers are on courses or not in school.

However, both presenters managed to create an interactive teaching by posing questions and activities.

Benchmark- Fazu & Mosayeb

In this presentation , Fazu & Mosayeb did try their level best in explaining to us the meaning of benchmark how to differentiate between benchmark and standard. Though there were some areas that can be questioned and not clear but both of them finally managed to achieve their objectives. As for me, I could now define what is benchmark and I felt the introduction was good example of benchmark though the presenters did not manage to utilize it to the fullest . However, the activites were good as it related to our daily activites which made us understand better the terms. I feel Fazu's working expereince has helped a lot in making this presentation a success since she could relate and explain what is the process that happens.

Overall, it was a well done job by both of them as they did come prepared as this topic is not an easy one to tackle.

Evaluation

This week was suganthi's and my presentation. The preparation for this presentation began one month ago. We identified three articles for this topic. First and foremost we read the Chapter 13 in the textbook many times since it was not easy to understand. Anyhow, I did create the first draft of the powerpoint based on the Chapter. Then, I went further to read three articles and synthesize the relevant and important information which was our second powerpoint draft. This was still the beginning stage of getting what is important to be presented to our freinds related to the module we are going to create. We added and deleted many slides before we can our fairly completed draft . We showed and discuss with Dr. Tee the draft and his advise pick and choose what you want to present and what you think your freinds should learn from this topic . It was not easy to choose which is to be included and discarded . Finally, we came out with the final copy after nearly 12drafts of powerpoint.

We were kind of nervous on that day as we wanted to create an environment that our freinds were actively involved and should be able to understand what we were trying to present. As teachers, I guess all of us would want our students to be able to understand our lesson. One thing, I learnt from my Form 4 Biology teacher at the end of the lesson she will ask us to sum up what she had taught for the day. So in her class I use to remember we use to be alert and make sure we know what she was teaching because everyone of us has to stand up and say at least a line of what her lesson for the day was.I liked the approach she used and I do use with my students so they know what the objective of the day.

Anyway, it was a relief when the presentation was finally over and I would like thank all my freinds who participate actively and gave full co operation in all the activites we conducted. Thanks to Mosayeb who participated or rather made him to speak as we seldom hear him giving his views. Maybe being the 'rose' among the many 'thorns' in the class he is shy to say things.

I would also like to thank Dr. Tee for guiding us in this presentation.

New Wikispace- Learninghaven

This week we also had a forum like to discuss our wiki which is sailing without direction so far. We brainstorm ,list out the problems and suggestions to overcome the problems. Finally a new wikispace called learning haven was born to help us . The new wiki is very much a 'baby' which is very much guided and taking us one step at a time .Dr. Tee is trying to help us by guiding to complete our wiki. The new wiki is very much easier for us to go through and relate to answer the given questions. This week we are supposed to 'play around' with this new 'baby' learninghaven.wikispaces and then answer these questions .

What do you think of the new "how people learn" wiki?
I think the new wiki is more structured and guided to help us to answer the related questions. The activities given in the wiki consists all the levels in bloom's taxonomy. Now I could relate better what the question' how' actually wants. The video though takes time to download but very helpful in guiding to answer the activites.


What helps you learn?
A really good question as I need to jot down things as that helps me to learn. Besides that using analogy helps me to learn better because I could understand any concept when I use analogy.Listening to lectures can help me to learn when I take down notes of what the lecturer is saying. Participating in activites also helps me to learn better because I'm relating to what I had listened or written down.



What gets in the way of your learning?
Well , one if I'm not prepared for the days lesson than it gets in the way of my learning as I don't know the head or tail of what input is being given to me. I have to read beforehand or not I will be lost. Another thing that could hamper my learning if I do not certain skills . For instance you are required to read the information given in the excel chart. If I m not familiar in using excel than it will be a problem to me.

'Copyright and distance education' and ' Managing and leading a distance education organisation'

Normie and Maryam did a good job in presentation this topic. It was not an easy topic especially Chapter 12. I was having really hard time understanding the chapter thoguh I read it twice. My problem was I could not relate to what we were doing. My style of understanding something I need examples which relate to what we are doing. That is the reason when Dr. Tee explains something using examples or analogy it is easy for me to comprehend and instal in my memory box. Anyway, back to Normie and Maryam, I liked the set induction on copyright was very captivating and related to the topic. Only setback is perhaps normie could have emphasize more on the gap filling she asked us to do. I could not get all of it as some part of the video the words/phrases were not clear to me. But not matter a good set induction. This Chapter made us see how unduly lose is the law in our country when it comes to copyright, we just take it for granted and copy right without any considerations compared to other countries who take seriously matters pertaining copyright issues.

The second part of Maryam's presentation I liked her layout of the presentation which she inserts all the information in diagram form. However, I did not really understand the managament part though I could see Maryram was trying her level best to explain. Perhaps one of the problem was the language. Maryam should have just used BM if she felt she would be comfortable explaining in BM.

Overall they did try their level best and was good considering the fact that this chapter was not an easy Chapter.

Assessment DE

I was a bit confused with the term assessment and evaluation during this presentation . To my understanding I thought we use the term assessment when it is for students' performance and evaluation is more for the instruction, product and implementation. However, when Dr. Tee explained it was clearer to me that evaluation is the big umbrella term and under it we have the assessment and measurement. The analaogy used by Dr. Tee made it easier for me to understand the terms. In short, both assessment and evaluation can be used interchangebly. Besides that i would like to share how I remember the formative and summative assesment. When the chef taste the soup, it is formative; when the diners taste the food it is summative ( Robert Stake, 1976 )