WEB RESOURCES AND HOW THEY ENHANCE LEARNING.

Educational Websites provide resource, and also guide for the teachers and students. They also provide activities for the students.

Once the website resources are updated regularly, they are current and accuracy is proved then the website   is an ever-growing reference and research medium for teachers. Indeed the value of websites resources in this digital age is so vital that for any teacher using technology in teaching can never do it successfully without visiting the web, which to me is like a sea full of all sorts of information and it only depends on what one is interested in. So once one knows what he/she is looking for then the right net can be used to fish out the right information.

I have continued to find out how web resources can enhance learning, for to me as a teacher, there is content for my Physics subject, well organised practical activities, sample lesson plans, articles on how to use technology in teaching. With the web you get different views about a concept which widens the knowledge in the subject.

More still there are some websites that are useful to both the teachers and the learners. They provide interactive platforms, online exercise for students which I believe makes learning easier and accessible everywhere.

Some of the websites I have found very useful in my subject and have relevant deep content, which is regularly updated, accurate  and I believe will be so useful even to my students are.

These I have also curated on my curation site which you can visit on this link.

pearltrees.com/juliusmukama

1. Khan Academy

An impressive collection of simple and clearly explained video tutorials about a range of physics topics (as well as maths, chemistry and more) suitable for secondary school level students.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. It covers almost all subjects.

2. The Physics Classroom

Comprehensive physics website started by a teacher covering forces, motion and optics, waves and electricity. Lots of animations, simulations and other handy learning tools.

3. School for Champions

Lesson notes on many physics topics presented in a straightforward manner. Quizzes at the end of each section focus thoughts and give you an idea of how much you understand.

4. S-Cool Revision - GCSE and A level

It has  revision guides, which helps to test the  knowledge or find careers information. Aimed at GCSE and A level students.

5.Cyberphysics

A useful revision site for GCSE and A level students, created by a physics teacher.

6. http://teachers.net/lessonplans/subjects/science/

It is a very good site for teachers mainly when it comes to lesson plans. It has good samples of teaching resources.

7. http://www.teachersfirst.com/subjects/phys                              

TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format.

8.http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/science/contents_circuits.htm

It contains thousands of free lesson ideas, activities and resources which you can use in the classroom.

9.http://www.studentguide.org/physics-resources-for-students/

StudentGuide.org is a collection of useful resources for students to assist their scholastic goals. It provides articles on hundreds of student related topics to help them improve their study habits, writing skills, organizational skills, and analytical skills.

We can get together as educators and document all the useful resources on the web that will enhance our teaching experience. There are so many websites out there that are just waiting for us to find. Let's get started. 

A DAY AT THE OFFICE

Changes in teaching and learning are happening at break-neck speed. Students are coming into the classroom with new ideas about communication and collaboration and the role of technology in their lives.

Advances in computer technology have caused a paradigm shift, and digital presentations are quickly becoming part of unit planning for classroom presentations

What has changed? These days, teachers expect to be architects of their own classroom experience. They understand that technology must integrate seamlessly with pedagogy and that it must deliver measurable outcomes in terms of student experience and teacher efficiency.

Therefore in this article as a teacher today, I look at some of the values of office software in teaching and learning process. Office software includes Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Data base management etc.

Microsoft Word 

(Simply referred to as Word) is a sophisticated word processing application program/package specially designed for performing various word processing tasks, such as typing, editing and printing out of textual information. It allows adequate control over the creation and presentation of the typographic work. Microsoft Word also offers facilities for basic graphic design, statistical report of a document, spelling and grammar checking tasks, etc. These and numerous other features and facilities Word offers make it stand out among word processing programs, as well as make the difference between it and other mechanical devices for word processing (e.g. typewriter).

Importance of Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Word is an effective tool for creating all kinds of documents like , Lesson plans ,scheme of work, letters, memos, reports, term papers, and typesetting novels and magazines, etc.

• Microsoft  Word offers you specialized tools for formatting your document in various ways; perform spelling and grammar check to produce standard and error-free documents; in-built thesaurus for finding appropriate synonyms to replace repetitive words/phrases; word count feature for a statistical report of your document; drawing and graphics editing tools to add a touch of graphics or images to go with your documents; sounds and video handling tools to add multimedia feature to a document; numerous wizards and tools for creating and distributing, form letters, labels and envelopes, all these I have found in Word, etc.
• Microsoft Word is highly useful for creating text of large volume and the output file size is not so large compared to PowerPoint.

• You can easily create and maintain mailing lists, create personalized documents and create newsletters in Word.

• It also helps you send documents to learners for feedback.

• Word provides customized assistance in many ways.

• With Word, you can import files or objects from other programs and use them in your documents.

• Word also offers facilities for exporting documents to other packages, e.g. WordPerfect, etc.

• Much like Google Drive, Microsoft Office consists of a cloud storage service (OneDrive) along with Word, Spreadsheet, and PowerPoint.

      Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint has emerged as the most popular digital presentation software and is currently used by many teachers with and without significant computer expertise. The user-friendly platform of PowerPoint enables even the novice presenter to incorporate digital presentations into his or her profession. In the classroom, PowerPoint offers many advanced options that, with a minimal investment of time, can be used to create more interactive and professional presentations for teachers. Examples of advanced PowerPoint applications are presented in a step-wise manner to unveil the full power of PowerPoint. By incorporating these techniques, teachers can easily personalize, customize, and enhance their PowerPoint presentations.

• PowerPoint is an amazing tool for any teacher to use because it helps those who fall under the 3 types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. It helps those who are auditory because you are reading the information out loud and you might even choose students to read it out loud. Those who are visual learners have a visual aid to fall back on and you may even incorporate diagrams, charts, or pictures. For kinesthetic learners, you purposely engage them to keep up with the PowerPoint and also, it's great when making games like Jeopardy

• PowerPoint should, if integrated and used properly, encourage and support more professional delivery of teaching and learning materials and thus, facilitate student learning. So familiarization with the technology provides a whole range of pedagogical options that can be incorporated in the curriculum to facilitate learning by those with different learning styles. Positive and fruitful results can be gained once the technology through appropriate pedagogical approaches is carried out. In terms of its use within the curriculum, there are many potential options available, limited only by the nature of the subject and the creativity of the user.

·         PowerPoint presentations enable teachers to increase the quality of written material and visuals they present to the students in the class. The alternative to PowerPoint presentations are using blackboard/whiteboard, and flip charts. Though to completely eliminate the use of blackboard, the PowerPoint offers some distinct advantages. First the PowerPoint presentations can be made in advance, thereby effectively increasing the time available to the teacher to teach. Also the PowerPoint makes it possible to provide a much richer quality of visuals including multi-coloured complicated diagrams and pictures.

SPREADSHEET

Spreadsheet applications have an advantage over other teaching technology tools in that most students already have spreadsheet programs on their computers. Spreadsheets are also an attractive technology because students are likely to use spreadsheets in future projects, careers and in personal life.

Spreadsheet programs are enormously flexible, familiar, and relatively easy to use. As such, they can increase both the breadth and depth of the topics covered in a class. For example, spreadsheets can be set up to numerically solve complex systems of equations, find trends in data, or discover the optimum solution to a problem.

While at first it may seem that giving students access to computers complicates assessment, in fact spreadsheet exercises may make it easier to judge learning and assign grades in some contexts.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet application that can be used for anything from a simple database all the way up to a full-fledged Windows application full with windows forms, macros, and add-ons.

What's Good About It?

Using Excel can enhance understanding of content within a graphic presentation of the information; it provides a visual representation of data that makes it easier to analyze.

Excel reduces the difficulty of plotting data and allows students a means for interpreting the data.

You can also reverse the traditional process of analyzing data by giving students a completed chart and see if they can reconstruct the underlying worksheet. This goes a long way toward helping them understand the relationship between the data and the chart.

Excel can easily convert any chart or data set into a web page, making it very easy to share information among groups. Schools can use this model for data sharing between students who aren't even on the same continent.

Excel's ability to dynamically generate charts and graphs in seconds makes it easy to quickly demonstrate relationships between numbers.

As a teaching tool, students can see how different types of graphs and charts can be used to represent the same series of data. As one teacher stated, "For years it took me three to five days to teach kids the use a pie chart, bar graph, and/or a line graph to accurately represent information. Now with Excel, it makes it so much easier because the students are far more motivated to use the application to manipulate data and to chart any information."

One of the best things is that you can compare data between any two or more variables. Using storage devices (disks), you can store data and use it to conduct a comparative analysis of any information that you have collected over time. For example, you can compare data collected by a group of collaborating teachers within one school, one county, or around the world.

Therefore teachers today and schools that are embracing technology integration office software is a must for it helps in many classroom and school management.

Reflection on SAMR AND TPACK MODELS

Looking at some of the  important models designed to help infuse learning today that is TPACK and SAMR, as a teacher undergoing professional development with technology, I have been greatly moved by the way these models place technology in the teaching and learning process. The two models are twins and work best when all are incorporated in the classroom. It is evident from these models that, it’s not just using technology that's important, it's HOW you use it.

SAMR is a model of technology integration comprised of four levels, two enhancing levels:  substitution and augmentation, and two transforming levels: modification and redefinition.  Technology can be integrated at all of them; technology used at the transformational levels transfers into a positive effect on student learning in other areas. 

 It is a way of thinking about how the lessons that you are already doing in class can be adapted (and possibly enhanced) with technology. The SAMR model can serve as a scaffolding blueprint towards technology integration in your classroom.

Look at my current status when it comes to integrating technology, I am still at the lower levels of SAMR that is Substitution and Augmentation because basically I have been simply using technology as a direct substitute tool without a functional change and sometimes with functional change. But I am certainly going to move to the transformative levels. 

TPACK

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a framework that identifies the knowledge teachers need to teach effectively with technology. TPACK tries to identify what teachers need to know in order to integrate technology into their teaching. It provides a structure to identify how technology, content and pedagogy combine to support a variety of learning opportunities and to help educators choose the most effective combinations.

Technology is and always will remain a tool, but it does alter the ways in which our students learn and we must do our share in changing some of the things that we do to facilitate better learning for our students.