Kinga87's Blog

Wordle

kinga87 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:56:31 +0000

I “wordled” the longest and most boring Hausarbeit I´ve ever written.

This is what I get:

I realize that I often repeat a lot of useless words like “wurde”, “beim”, “deutlich”, “ebenso”, “mehr”, “besonders” etc. which I could replace by others. Maybe that is also a reason why my grade wasn´t so good

I had a lot of fun by using wordle. It´s interesting for children, because they can learn by playing. Wordle can be used for example for speculating what a story is about. It can also be used for repeating a topic.

It is also possible to use it for older students by making it more difficult and by doing regular contests.

Here is a link about wordle in school

Positive /negative aspects of Podcast (introducing Moodle)

kinga87 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:59:05 +0000

Moddle

Learning platform / digital classroom / should moddle play an important part in school?

Podcasts

positive aspects

always available
another variety for mp3-player
it is suited for people who like to do more things at one time (f.e. listening to podcasts and cleaning up)
podcasts in school: pupils design podcasts on their own; they improve their fluency; they learn to listen concentrated

negative aspects

imagination is better if one read alone
it is not easy to listen concentrated
one learn more while reading alone
the reading pace changes

Basic informations about Podcasts

kinga87 — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:14:55 +0000

The term “Podcast” is made up of “iPod” and “Broadcasting” –> this are digital media files (audio,video,…) which are available for downloading

People who create new content (podcaster) for the podcasts are often not only producer, but also consumer
There are no contract obligations and the podcasts are usually available for free –> the podcaster can get through to a lot of users
The content of podcasts can be various (sport, education,…)
It is easy to create and upload podcasts
The podcast user gets regulary informed if new files are added
Educational podcasts have the aim to impart knowlegde (f.e. a language) through video presentations, courses, audio files, interviews, etc.
a positive aspect is the possibility to retrieve data anywhere

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

http://www.podcast.de/

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Lgxxl/Sandbox/Educast

General facts about WebQuests

kinga87 — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:04:27 +0000

The tasks of a WebQuest should not be easy, so that the students can´t just copy and paste the informations they get in the webressources
Nevertheless the learners are partially guided by the teacher (hyperlinks), but they still have to do a lot of researches on their own (also in books, articles, etc.)
The students aquire knowlegde on their own. It is not just an reproduction of knowlegde facts
There should be an discussion how to start working on a task, so that problems can be avoided early
The final presentation and the evaluation help the presenters to better themselves

Analysis of the quality of specific WebQuests

kinga87 — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:45:05 +0000

To analyze the WebQuest of Jochen I used a list of criterias to evaluate it:

1) The first thing which has to be analyzed in a WebQuest is the opening page:

The opening and the introduction is described in a few short sentences and is accompanied by some pictures, which makes it clear; BUT the description does not make the learner curios on more informations about the topic. The navigation of the opening page is good.

2) Question/ Task

The task formulation is ok, but not very imaginative. I´m not sure if the pupils will be keen on doing this task. I even think that they are too old and that this task is not really a challenge for learners.

3) Background

Background knowlegde is not expected and there is not much attempt to access prior learning. Links help the students to find informations on that topic.

4) Roles/ Expertise

The roles are clear defined for the groups. In addition every student get an individual task which is realistic.

5) Use of the Web

Some resources and links may help the learners. Besides they have to look for current informations in the web.

6) Transformative Thinking

For students at this age, the task might be too easy, because there is no higher level thinking required. The students just have to collect informations and later on present them in class.

7) Real World Feedback

A feedback loop is included and an evaluation of the groups is already made by the teacher.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the formulation of the task is too easy and not very interesting for the students. I also cannot imagine how the webquest could help the students in school.

Hyperlink exercise: Interpreting a poem

kinga87 — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:04:11 +0000

First Day at School

A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don’t let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up. And the railings.
All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don’t take sweets from?
Perhaps they’re to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.

I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there’s puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

Roger McGough

For my interpretation I choose a lot of colourful pictures to show the positive impressions of the first day at school. There are also a lot of different terms which are new for the children and which I marked in a different way.

Hypertext Projects

kinga87 — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:02:52 +0000

In general, the creation of hypertext projects is complex although it is not necessary to know how to create a website. Hypertext projects help to make logical connections. The learners try to connect the informations they got about a book with informations from the internet. Therefor they use hyperlinks which f.e. define a specific term. The learners often have problems to find useful informations for the links and the visualization of hypertexts can develop unclear.

I like the hypertext project about the text ”Dead End for Murder” created by a group of pupils (approximately 11-13 years old).

The start page and the navigation is clear. The informations of the hyperlinks are short and not very detailed, but I think they are ok for pupils at this age. The pupils learn to work with the internet, not only with the text and the informations they got in it. A problem could be that they try to find everything (summaries, characterizations etc.) in the internet and do not try to interpret some aspects on their own. Hypertext projects are good experiences for the pupils, but they should not take place every time at this age, because some pupils might take advantage of the internet and unlearn how to work on a text on their own.

What do learners say after their blogging experiences?

kinga87 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:12:31 +0000

This is a collection of experiences a group of pupils made during blogging on a book…

positve aspects:

pupils get a lot of help, because of the comments made by others (also by the teacher)
they help each other and they can complete their knowlegde through reading other blogs
through an evaluation they got feedback by more people (not just the teacher)
pupils improve their writing skills (they are always in practice)
they collect informations and aquire new knowledge on their own
one can re-read the brief informations one had collected during weeks
pupils can search faster for informations on a topic
it is fun to work on a interesting topic
no one gets disadvantaged, because every learner get the same informations
blogs are good for pupils who do not like to talk in class
the pupils are forced to work on a topic
blogging as a new experience

negative aspects:

pupils are under pressure to publish new posts regulary (for which you need A LOT OF TIME)
pupils try to outperfom each other
they maybe cannot differ between useful and useless informations, they find in the internet
marks are not always fair, because pupils add some informations they find in blogs of their classmates

–> As you can see the positive aspects of blogging overlap the negative ones and it is worth experiencing, BUT it also takes a lot of time to create a blog about which you are satisfied!!

Analysis of a group blog (California exchange)

kinga87 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:19:32 +0000

I analyzed a group blog of an exchange to California (made by german pupils)

use of hyperlinks to put names of cities, institutions and other sights in the foreground, so that others can get detailed informations, when they click on it
the first impressions and further experiences are listed up very detailed
the blog is worth using for those who are interested in a similar exchange
categories help to find useful informations faster
the pupils rotate doing their posts
pictures make the blog varied
to much widgets–>the blog seems unclear

One-word-a-day

kinga87 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:39:46 +0000

Maybe some of you already know this website. It is another way of learning english vocabulary.

Description from the website: OWAD is the FREE e-mail service which systematically improves your professional English. Every weekday you receive an important word or idiom selected from the international press. An amusing mini-quiz allows you to immediately test yourself, you can check the German translation and listen to the pronunciation.

–> take a look at it !!