Assignment 2 Foreward

For assignment number two, we Ryan Ferber and Curt Banicki decided to prepare an encompassing lesson that includes a specific authoring tool, e- learning, with scientific lesson for a fourth grade science class. Do to the increased amounts of technology students experience in contemporary education we thought it be beneficial to explain the concept of e- learning, and a definition of what authoring tools are. Although they are may be complicated concepts, we agreed that fourth graders would not only comprehend them but also be able to determine at the end of the lesson whether e- learning added or inhibited their learning.
For our first lesson we decide to begin e- learning and authoring tools, hoping to engage the students. We also believe that since these concepts are intangible, students may require a great deal of repetition and further explanation to comprehend the assignment. During the lesson, the instructor should make sure that students demonstrate understanding of what e- learning is and what authoring tools are before moving on to what their science assignment entails. We felt that buy ending the lesson with what the scientific lesson will entail, would allow for reflection and student engagement.
Lesson two is designed to be a basic explanation of what iWeb and how a person uses it to create websites. Moving at a slow pace, students must pay attention and ask questions when a concept is not clear to them. Lesson three allows the students to work with the knowledge that they have acquired in the previous lessons. By taking baby steps we hope to make working the iWeb as enjoyable as possible. Follow the Power Point step by step students should be able to use the templates and enter basic information on the welcome page of their site.
We decided that by including other programs included in the iLife software package students might gain insight into bundled applications and how they work together. Also it is safe to assume that some percentage of the students would be familiar with iPhoto or iTunes and feel confident moving forward in an e- learning process. Lesson five is where the scientific component of the unit plan begins. Buy dividing the parts of the ocean into different web pages, we though this would help the students compartmentalize the different areas of the ocean. We also though that this would be an ideal time to let the students perform some independent research for the assignment.
Lesson six may be the most complicated of the whole unit plan. The Inspector menu of iWeb is the central nervous center of the website. The inspector menu allow you to control your website, link it to your files, and link it to other websites. In addition the students can control the text, color, and effects of their websites. The designers of iWeb have kept the program as simple as possible. The Inspector menu is where all the complicated facets of building a website are contained, and this is why we have dedicated an entire lesson to it. In order to keep students engaged and sell the fun aspect of building a website in lesson eight we decided it would be a good idea to include more media sources. Many students have iPods, are familiar with mp3 programs, and that including how to put songs on a website would peak student interest.
Lesson nine is an opportunity for students to showcase what they have put on their website. We believe that having the students make presentation will drive students to search out unique information and pictures for their websites. This is a good opportunity for student to practice public speaking.
Lesson ten consists of a survey that is designed to facilitate reflection, and classroom discussion on the students’ part, and also to help the teacher to refine the use of e- learning. We believe that using the findings of this survey may be helpful for other teachers considering new uses of educational technology.