Reflections

Overall of the course that i have attended for "PKEY 3101", i can say that there are so much things that i have learned through out the semester. I used to be the person who is so allergic when it comes to technology. I cannot work in front of the computers for long hours and i even just sit back when i join a group of my friends when they talk about "technological gadget" and "software" that they have been using. Well, I have to admit that this course has open up my eyes the important of using technology as a part of our daily lives. Whether you like it or not, the world now is just 'a mouse click away'. Little that i realized that, i am accepting the changes now and i guess now i wouldnt just sit back and pretending to listen when my friends talk and brag about what they know about these 'latest technological gadgets and softwares', but now i can even participate and share with them.

Moreover, from this course, I have learned that producing a video is not that difficult at all. A future english teacher like me can also produce a good quality video with the aids of helpful software such as "Cyberlink Power Director" and "Movie Edit magic". Instead of that, i also learned that storyboard is the most important thing in creating a video. As what Prof. Raja Maznah once told us that 'story board' tells what your video is all about. I guess, 'story board' is the first impression to the video product.

Besides, from this course I learned how to produce activities by using IWB software. It wasn't that difficult though, but as for me, things like this requires you to really sit in front of the computer and discover the features yourself. It is undeniable that it really takes a lot of courages to come out with a good quality product at the end. It is just that we need to be patient and explore more. In addition, discussion with freinds and group members are also important so that all of us can share our discovery and ideas.

In conclusion, this course has opened up my eyes towards technology and its benefits to our lives nowadays. By hook or by crook, i have to admit that technology is no more an option but a need in the world nowadays.

Second Presentation on IWB

This is the second presentation for the 'smart board' activities that we have came out with. As for my group, we chose Siti Zarne's activities as the best to be presented. We are glad to receive some positive feedbacks though they are negative ones as well. Prof. commented on our presentation as simple but yet interesting and variety. However, we still to work on the fonts and the picture size so that it is large enough.

Overall, based on the presentations, Prof. Raja Maznah and her team member, Miss Ng, Miss Chin Chin and Mr Hafiz, emphasize on what we should consider on before submitting our final products.

First, we need to justify why we chose that particular activity. Every single step and activity need to be justified why included the rubrics used as well. Next, pictures used should be related to the kids' knowledge. They must be familiar to pupils and are able to catch pupils' interest. Last but not least, learning outcomes must be specific to what you intended the pupils to achieve at the end of the lesson.

So, it's time to work on the final touch....

Smart Board : Presentation

Well, this is the day when we chose the best smart board activity among five of us to be presented. Based on what all of us have presented, i have to admit that the products that we came out with are 'up to the standard' yet. And thus, i am glad that we are given more time to polish our smart board activities.

We all also given some tips by our lecturer and the rest of the tutors in order to make our 'smart board activities' more appealing to 'young learners'.

First, of course the font used should be large enough to be seen by the pupils especially to those who are sitting at the back. Next, the activities should provide immediate feedback such as " Well Done" and "Try Again". Then, of course, we need to beware of the grammar mistakes since we are teaching young learners, it is for sure that we do not want our pupils to fossilize the incorrect grammar use in them. Again, background used in the slides should be appropriate. I guess for some people who used 'too many characters' background, this makes the activities too compact and heavy for the pupils. Last but not least, the content must be related to the Curriculum Specification that we use. It is a must, otherwise your objectives won't be achieved at the end of the lesson. =D

Smart board 90 % in progress

Now, i think Prof. Raja Maznah and the rest of the tutors had made it all clear regarding to the criteria that we should take into consideration when doing our 'smart board' activities.
I used to think that when it comes to 'teaching young learners', there is a must for us to use large and clear wordings and thus i always use "Arial" to be safe. But now i realized that it is important to make the wordings interesting and 'eye catching' to pupils in order to trigger their interest participating in the activities that we will carry out in classroom. "Arial" or "Times Roman" are too boring for them. Perhaps i could change to "Comic Sans" or "Jokerman" then.

Moreover, we need to consider on the background colour and the images that we use in our slides. The colour should be 'nice to be seen' but it cannot be too striking beacuase it will distract pupils to pay attention on the input that we have prepared for them. Meanwhile, the images should be related to the topic chosen and of course images should also be interesting and suitable for young learners.

Another criteria that we need to consider on are 'various activities' and 'types of activities'. Well, i guess what i understand here is that the activities should be variety and interesting to pupils. and of course, when creating and activity, we need to make sure that all pupils are able to participate in the activities for examples in giving feedbacks or let them work in a group. Of course we don't want any of them to miss the activities, right?

Working on The Smart Board

Well, I guess that the rough idea of the whole lesson is already there. But it seems that it is not as easy as it looks to start working on the assignment itself. I have asked my group members regarding the ideas that i came out with, and they came out with positive feedbacks towards the idea. I guess that perhaps they couldn't say much because i haven't put it in slides. i could say that working in a group like this is even helpful to me. Why? Because i am a last minutes person or pehaps i could say it was now. However, having a group work like this, had pushed me to start working on my assignment rather earlier since. Of course i cannot be selfish when it comes to work in group, so i follow the time that we have sceduled for the progression of our works so that all of us can give feedbacks to what we have came out with so far in order to improve our work. I guess, 'all the best' to all'.

Happy working..

Assignment 3 : Smart Board

Well, first and foremost of course we need to work in a group. But as for my group, we are more comfortable to stick with the same group. The next thing is, we need to decide the subject for our smart board lesson, where here, we choose either mathematics or English. I guess i was a bit late to make my my own choice since they have already decided their own topic. so, i go for mathematics.

The first thing that i should always bear in mind in preparing a smart board activity is that it should be interactive and interesting enough, or otherwise, there's no use of using the "IWB" anyway. Next thing would be the originality or our own activity which i could say here is that the interactive activity should be original which is not the ready-made one that we can simply get from the 'smart board software'.

Well, i guess in order do start working on this, i should seek some opinions and advices regarding to the activity that we are required to create. I better get going then.

Video reflection

First of all, in order to create a video, the most important things to do is create a story board for the video. Story board is important because it is the outline and the first impression of the video itself. It is also important to plan first before we start working on the video making so that the video is progressing based on the storyline that we intended to produce. And what i have learned from the storyboard making is, a narration is the explanation of what will appear in each of the frame in the video.

Based on the video that i have produced, there are several new things that I have learned from it and one of them is the software that I used in the video making. To make a video, i guess it's important to choose the suitable software and for that I chose to use the "Cyberlink Power Director" and "Movie Edit Magic". This is because, Power Director provide interesting features and options to be used in my video making and this really help for a beginner like me. Meanwhile, Movie Edit Magic gives me the 'fast mode' feature so that i can show most of the part of the video that I have shoot within the lenght requirement which is 3 minutes.

More over, from the video making project, i have gained soft skills such as teamwork, communication skills, critical and creative thinking as well. From the video making, I have learned that it is important to have a clear instruction in the video depends on the purposes of the video itself. If let sat the target group is the primary school kids, thus, the instructions should be clear and precise to be be understood by the target group.

Getting Smarter...

As far as i remembered during my schooldays, tool that i can consider as the smartest is using the whiteboard and present our presentations in 'Power Point' with the aid of the LCD. That was about 6 years ago. And now, perhaps I could say that we are all moving much more steps ahead in the name of technology and globalization where our presentation nowadays is not only can be online but also interactive at the same time. When it comes to interactive, I guess it is even helpful in teaching and learning process in the classroom as young learners are encouraged to actively involve in the classroom activity with the use of interactive whiteboard. When they are actively involved, it means that they participate and concentrate to the lesson carried out. this could be a good sign in controlling them in class in term of the classroom management.

Moreover, using interactive tools like 'Interactive Whiteboard' aids young learners to understand the concept better especially in learning 'Mathematics and Science' and Grammar in English as well. When using interactive tools, teacher can simply assess the learners' understanding based on the answers given by them in the teacher's presentation. It is quick and easy.

However, in my point of view, it is quite costly to be implemented in all schools in this country. And therefore, not all schools are well-equipped with this 'Interactive whiteboard' yet. As a result, not all children have the opportunity yet to experience lesson in the classroom by using the 'Interactive Whiteboard'. I hope things will change in years ahead so that those children especially in the rural areas will not be left out.

Finishing the video project

Working on the video has made me realize that, it really takes a lot of courage to finish this entire video thing. To be frank, recording the video is not a big deal for me, but the part where I need to put more efforts is on the process of making the video itself. This is because, I need to download the software that I want to use in making and editing the video while I actually don't have the internet access yet in my house. There is a time when I went to the nearest cafe just to download the software, and I have waited for few hours only for the half part of the software which means that I need to wait another few hours to finish downloading it. When I went to buy the CD at the Digital Mall, unfortunately the CD cannot even be played by my computer. so, this is what I call as courage and patience. Well, it is a student's life after all. What do you expect then?

However, working as a group is a bliss. There are times that sometimes we cannot even figure it out how to find the solutions of our problem where we just feel that everything is so messed-up. Discussions and opinions have at least given me some ideas in making the video and improvise my work. This really works especially for a person like me who once have very little knowledge about computers and high technology. But I guess now that things changed, and I started to get used to it. And again, this is what we call 'student's life', isn't it?

Should I or shouldn't I?

It has been the third week, and I guess I’m under pressure to get the internet access in order to finish my work. How I wish that our application for the streamyx access at our house is now approved. Only God knows how frustrated I am when the wi-fi at this café is not working. I guess I’m stressing myself for the assignment and perhaps I need some kind of refreshment after this. Well, I think it wouldn’t be a problem if I have the internet access at home. As for a person like me, I need to satisfy my psychological needs (a convenient place and facility) before I could concentrate and finish my work. Until then, I would feel motivated and comfortable to do the work. So, the moral of the story, I should be well-prepared before the semester starts for at least I won’t work under-pressure in case you need to work online most of the time.

Regarding to my video project, as I went through the reminder posted by Prof. Dr. Raja Maznah, I have the fear that my video project does not really align with the questions guidelines posted. Should I just stick to the previous idea and improve on what is necessary or think of something else? Last night, I have thought about making a video on “Obesity among Kids-The Effects and solutions”. The reason why I suddenly came across to that idea is because I felt that there is no use of having that video which contains merely instructions since such instructions actually can be easily found from books or any other resources from the net. However, Perhaps I think I should give it a try on the earlier idea which is “How to Make Your Favourite Animal’s Paper Weight” but at the same time searching for more information about the second idea from the net. Fuh!

First Assignment On The Go

Well, it's the second week of the semester and I guess I'm doing quite fine so far. Technology subject is not as 'boring' as I've ever imagined, though i'm not a 'computer person' myself, but I still feel like enjoying myself learning and exploring in the class. As I have said earlier, things like this really requires us to sit and spend time in front of the computer to explore and get expose.This week, I'm proceeding the video project that had been approved earlier by searching on the net on various examples of 'youtube' video for kids so that i can get wider picture to work on the video project for the days onwards. For me the problem does not lies on the process of making the video itself, but the video editting part in order to make it 'smooth' and 'flawless' look. Though the assignment is an individual idea, but I like the idea of working in a group so that all of us could help each other while working on the project and now I've got a better picture on how to work on the project. The brief explaination that was given by Prof. Dr. Raja Maznah and her team, had really help me in getting the real picture of what the 'video project' is all about. Now, I shall start planning and try working on the video making =)

As future teacher..

This is to answer the questions from Prof. Dr. Raja Maznah posted in the forum.

Technology has given a great impact in teaching and learning nowadays. With the aid of technology, students are more stimulated to learn and engage in the classroom's activities carried out by the teachers. This is because, young learners tend to get bored easily. In order to attract them, teacher should really get them occupied in the activities conducted. This is where technology plays role in teaching and learning process. For example, the use of interactive software or visual presentations, students are able to interact and response to the teachers and other students as well, especially for young learners who will learn better visually and interactively.

In teaching profession, teachnology makes our life simpler and easier. This is because, with the application of technology nowadays, teachers can easily access the net to look-up for new ideas and activities that can be used in the teaching and learning with a simple 'click' on their hands. Moreover, teachers can also interact or exchange ideas with other teachers through-out the world. In my opinion, to be a teacher is to be creative and innovative. In relation with the use of technology, a teacher can be creative and innovative in his or her own way because with the aid of technologies nowadays, teachers are given the opportunity to explore and expose themselves to new and interesting ideas and strategies that can be applied ans manipulated in the classrooms. Therefore, it is a vital for teachers to always keep updated with the latest informations and technology skills so that we are not left out in the name of globalization.

Reflection:Technology in Primary Education

Well, it was what i should really call it something when i first entered the class where the fact that all i could say is "i'm not very good in using technology". Though the class was not so comfortable initially (since we had to share the computers for the first few hours), it has made me realize that technology is not an options anymore but it is a must instead. Though i'm not a 'computer person', by hook or by crook, i have to ensure myself to really 'get to know' this techonology thing and make use of it, for sure. Of course i have to accept the fact that the world nowadays has made everything only a 'mouse click' away. So, why struggling myself? Technology should make my life easier and simpler, isn't it? Hopefully, i could improve my technology skills far much more better that i ever thought.For me, to really understand and make use the ICT is to really sit and spend your time with it. then, you will 'get along' with it. as i quoted from our professor Prof. Dr. Raja Maznah, "Do NOT teach them, let them LEARN". Therefore, it is important to learn the technology by heart and get to know it.
However, I wonder how this technology can be used in teaching young learners in rural area? Yes, i had experienced this usage of technology and visual presentations in most schools or private kindergarden in town, but how about the schools that are not well-equipped with the facilities to access the technology itself? would they be left out in the name of modernization? Although if the teachers are well-trained in using technology to be used in teaching and learning process, will they be able to practice the knowledge and skills learnt once they are posted in rural areas where the access of technology is not available? Well, let's hope that the world is changing then....and i believe that it is...

New lesson that i learnt

This is the first time and ever that i really have to 'befriend' with this techno thing. As what i can say, i'm not a techno savvy myself...and perharps i could say that i'm allergic to work in front of the computer for long hours...well, maybe it's time for me to make some(or i should call one of the biggest) changes in my life then..Huhu...