Educational Software Review Assignment

Results

I reviewed two pieces of educational software: Bailey’s Book House, a program aimed at improving language and literacy for emerging readers, and Math Circus Act 4, a puzzle-based math program.

For Bailey’s Book House, the pedagogy seemed appropriate. The reading and writing goals were straightforward, and an oral voiceover helped the reader along. However, the technical deficiencies of the program overshadowed any positive learning opportunities. It tied in nicely to the kindergarten and grade one reading and writing curriculum, however, it was confusing and provided almost no instructions or navigational assistance. The look of the software was on the low end (really simple graphics), but I still think, once kids figured out how to work it, they would find it fun because it is so interactive and creative.

Math Circus Act 4 provided many different levels of difficulty in the realm of math puzzles. It could apply to the math curriculum for grades 3 and up, and the student can set the level of difficulty from puzzle to puzzle. I think this would be really helpful for differentiated learning. As for pedagogy, however, I am not sure if these puzzles would really help to teach new skills---I think it is more beneficial as a tool to practice math skills that are already established. The program was relatively easy to understand, and adequate instructions were given. The look of the software was pretty low-budget, which is surprising for a $110 game.

Discussion

I tested the software by reading about the games online to get an overview, and then playing them each for about thirty minutes. I made sure to test out each level of difficulty, and each different activity offered for each piece of software. I felt that I got a basic understanding of what these programs have to offer.

The next classroom I will be in is a grade 3-4 split, and so Bailey’s Book House is too easy for them. Math Circus is a game that I could feasibly use in my class. I will be in a classroom that is one of only two designated “Smartboard Classrooms” in the school---the kids have almost every lesson delivered via the Smartboard. The entire class is quite technologically literate. So I could explain the game to the whole class by displaying it on the Smartboard, and then have the kids go over to the computer lab to play it on individual computers. Would this game be an appropriate use of my very limited computer lab time, however? I don’t think so. It looks fun, and would be a good “filler” if students had their work done early, but because we don’t have multiple computers in the classroom, this would not be possible. So, I would not likely ever use this game in my classroom. But I could recommend it for parents if they wanted a fun math game to buy for their kids to play at home.

Evaluation Sheets

The first evaluation sheet I used was the one put out by Kathy Schrock. One of its advantages over the class evaluation sheet was that it asked for supplemental information about the program, the technical requirements, the price, etc. This is useful information to have, as a teacher and as a consumer.

Another advantage of the Kathy Schrock form is that it mentions ease of exiting the program---something we forgot to add as a class. It also notes the feature of allowing the teacher to set the user level. This is important, and was not mentioned in the class form.

One disadvantage of this form is that the “Category of the Software” section is potentially confusing for digital immigrants. I did not know what many of those terms were referring to. For example, “Standard addressed:”. What standards are these???

One advantage of the class-generated evaluation form is that it categorized the features into five sub-categories. This is well-organized, and helpful for both the evaluator and the reader.

Another advantage is that it allowed for lengthy “Other comments” at the bottom. The Kathy Schrock form only allowed for two lines of text.

One problem with the class-generated form is that it was impossible to fill in the little circles indicating your answer. I had to print out the sheet and fill them in by hand.

Recommendations

Overall, I think the class-generated form is concise, helpful, and appears professional. My recommendations would be to add a section for general information about the program (name, price, year, grade level, computer requirements). And also to add the two ideas (ease of exiting program, teacher control over difficulty level) that I mentioned above.

Edutech Games

I tried out "Bailey's Book House" and was confused about how to select a different game. The one that initially loads up is a choose-your-own-adventure type story writer. It is very basic, and the plot is pretty unsatisfying, but I guess it would seem neat and gratifying to a 3-5 year old.

After reading the review of it on SuperKids, I see that it is referred to as a "must-have" and a "classic". Who knew.

Reflection on my Educational Technology Skills Inventory

According to my technology skills inventory, I am in need of improvement (and in many cases vast improvement) in most areas of technology skills. More specifically, I could use some improvement in operating technology and understanding technological concepts (this would include solving routine technical problems on my own---I always get my husband to do it; and increasing my use of tech-based media, tools, and resources). Professionally speaking, I definitely need to do more review of educational technological resources, as I currently use very few. I am also quite skeptical about the place for an abundance of technology in the classroom, so I need to explore the benefits of technology to make a more informed opinion of what technology has to offer the primary/junior classroom.

With regards to planning and designing learning environments, I could benefit from using technology to collate, analyze, and present research findings. We have an action research project coming up for our seminar course that will require some statistical analysis---this would be a good place to implement some technology. And when it comes time to manage my own classroom, I am aware that there is great educational software available for managing marks (Markbook). I have yet to use this. I don’t think that I will have the opportunity to use a vast range of technology in the classroom in my next practicum, as the technological resources at our school are very limited. I may be able to reserve a data projector for certain lessons, but it is not always guaranteed that there will be one available even if you have reserved it. Perhaps the technology that I will focus on for this practicum will have to revolve around a CD player or an overhead projector.

When it comes to teaching the curriculum, again, I could benefit from learning more about how technology could help me better deliver certain lessons. I am already somewhat skilled at preparing power point presentations, and would love to further improve this skill, as I think that a good PowerPoint slideshow can be highly effective. It would also be beneficial for me to learn where on the internet I can find dependable, appropriate resources to help me plan lessons and units.

As for assessment and evaluation, I almost never use technology tools for processing data or reporting results. I do, however, use online resources for collecting information. As I mentioned earlier in this reflection, I believe that in the near future I will have a need for this type of software in my professional life when it comes to analyzing student marks for report cards.

I have used Microsoft Office for doing creative work, and I really enjoy digital scrapbooking. I also enjoy digitally enhancing photos. I think I could derive a lot of pleasure from learning more about what technology has to offer for promoting creative work. I love to write, and would like to learn more about exactly what the term ‘desktop publishing’ means, and how this could help me to turn my written work into a more polished form from my own laptop. As a teacher, I would be open to encouraging the use of technology software for creative pursuits, and I would love to learn more about what’s out there. Two programs that I came across this year at my elementary school site were Garage Band and Comic Life. I had not encountered them before, and would like to learn how to use them as well as other creativity-promoting programs.

I learned how to download songs from Napster before I even knew that it was illegal. I admit that I thought it was amazing to be able to burn any song I wanted for free. I have since caught a few nasty computer viruses because of this, and no longer download anything from peer-to-peer software. If viruses weren’t an issue, I have to admit that I would be pretty tempted to continue downloading free music. So I need to improve my technology use with regards to social, ethical, and legal issues. As for awareness of other social ills and safety issues, as a mother, I am acutely aware of the unsafe people who can be lurking around on the internet. As for internet security issues that would deal with credit card fraud or identity theft, I don’t really understand the finer points of how hackers commit this type of crime, and would benefit from understanding how to better protect myself.

The general area that I would like to improve is my knowledge of the tech-based resources and tools to help promote creativity and facilitate learning (from the row entitled “Teaching, Learning, and The Curriculum). I am a creative person, and so this area of technology really jumps out at me as something that I can see myself using in my own personal creative pursuits as well as in the classroom as I teach my students how to tap into their own creativity. I would love to develop a portfolio of education-related technology products, as well as creativity-promoting technology products for my own personal endeavours. I would also like to explore technology based opportunities for continuing education. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had just started a continuing education course at Conestoga College to learn how to use Dreamweaver for web design. I was thrilled to be learning this, as my husband and I run our own business with a website, however, I became so sick due to my pregnancy that I was incapable of doing school work or attending class. In the future, I look forward to having the time to take this course again, as I derive a lot of pleasure from doing design, be it on computer-based or not.

Also, the idea of delivering tech-based lessons that promote student engagement and creation of original products sounds appealing to me. I would like to learn more about what’s out there and then begin learning how to use the various programs that I feel would be most beneficial for my class. The prescribed actions I will focus on to improve this area of my skill set include:

1. increasing my use of these types of programs
2. starting to use content-specific resources for my own learning (e.g. educational computer programs, writing software, computer programs that could be used for presentations, art software, music software, math computer programs, etc)
3. delivering more presentations (or more varied, advanced presentations) using educational technology
4. evaluate work created with these types of programs/software to get a better understanding of which resources I think are appropriate for me and my future students

Statement of Goals

Here are my SMART goals that correlate to the actions I have chosen:

Goals for action #1: Increasing my use of these types of programs: S: I will be asking peers and my teacher about what programs are out there, as well as searching on the internet to see what I can find. At home I will download some free trial versions of the programs that I am interested in, if possible, as well as try to dabble in the ones at my elementary school site that they have in the computer lab (e.g. Garage Band and Comic Life). A few requirements will be that free trial versions exist, and that I can squeeze in enough time at my PDS site to get an understanding of their computer programs. And also that I first learn my way around the Macintosh computers, as our school only has Macs, and I have only ever worked on PCs.

I think it is a lifelong learning process to keep up to date with creativity-promoting and educational software, so it will never be complete. I do hope, however, to have learned a lot by the time I become a teacher next September. I am setting this goal because I think it is really valuable to be able to use other mediums to do creative work and to teach children certain things. M: I would like to learn at least 3 new programs by the end of this semester. A, R, T: I believe this goal is achievable and realistic, and can be done within this timeline. The learning itself will be in my head, but the effects of this learning will be tangible once I put these programs to use.

Goal #2: Starting to use content-specific resources for my own learning. This is very similar to my goal #1, and entails an identical set of SMART goals.

Goal #3: Delivering more presentations (or more varied, advanced presentations) using educational technology. S: I have a number of Laurier classes that will require presentations this semester. If I could learn a few more advanced functions on Microsoft PowerPoint, or learn how to add music or sound, I would be happy with that. If I could increase my skills on the Smartboard, that would be great for presentations as well. Hopefully, we will be learning about both of these applications during our Technology class time with Nancy Nelson. If not, I can do an online tutorial for both of these applications (provided there are some free ones out there). The first requirement, then, is that our teacher chooses to teach about these applications. The other is that there are free online tutorials available. This goal will be complete at the end of the semester. I am setting this goal because I think it is a very valuable skill to be able to deliver effective presentations, and delivering lessons in class is just another form of a presentation. M: I believe I have about 4 presentations to deliver throughout this term. A,R,T: I think this goal can be met within the semester, and that it is reasonable. My teachers and classmates will see and hear me present, so it is tangible.

Goal #4: Evaluate work created with these types of programs/software to get a better understanding of which resources I think are appropriate for me and my future students S: This goal will involve me asking my peers if they have any work that I can take a look at, asking my teacher Ms. Nelson if she has any resources I can look at or knows where I can find them, and searching on the internet for examples of work created by these types of programs. The constraints lie in what I am able to find online at home, and which programs we will be looking at in our technology class. I have set this goal because as a teacher, I will likely be overwhelmed with the number of educational programs/software resources out there, and would like to get a grasp on some good ones before I begin my career. M: I would like to see samples from at least 3 programs that I have not used before, by the end of the semester. A,R,T: I believe that this goal is achievable, reasonable, timely, and my results can be tangible, as I could put together some samples of work from these programs, and perform an evaluation of them based on a few criteria such as: user-friendliness, aesthetics, usefulness, and appropriate grade level.

Stephen Downe's article, Things You Really Need to Learn, http://www.downes.ca/post/38502
is basically a compilation of the top ten concepts he thinks people need to keep in mind to live an authentic life and get the most out of their education. While none of his ideas struck me as particularly fresh or deeply insightful, I found them helpful as a reminder to focus on what is truly important in life.

Reflection on Setting up the Blog

Setting up the blog was pretty quick and painless. I am completely new to this, and am doubtful that this will be read by anyone other than our teacher, but so be it.
As for updating this blog, I will do it because it is a course requirement, but would not otherwise be spending my time on this.

Access to technology

My school has limited access to technology. The class I'm in doesn't have a computer, and there are only 3 data projectors shared amongst all of the school's teachers. All of the classrooms in the school share a computer lab that has about 25 computers.