dun drink and drive (playmobil stopmotion video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dETxDmIgZVQ

hi guys this is a video done by my wife and her students

very meaningful and educational

pls take a look =)

Weekly Reflection (Wk 11)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Students as Designer: Project-based Learning
2) Hands-on activity using MASH (Microsoft Agent Script Helper)

From point no.1, I learned about the following:
1) Students are good designers of learning themselves. They can decide on how much they want to learn and how extensive the involvement is. This can be achieved by allowing students to engage in Project-based Learning (PBL).
2) When guiding students to engage in Project-based Learning, we should:
a) Focus on the central concepts and principles of a discipline.
b) Involve students in problem-solving investigations and other meaningful tasks and allowing them to work autonomously to construct their own knowledge.
c) Inform students that the end products of the project must be realistic.
d) Encourage collaboration between students and let them take control over their own learning/work (When students embark on a project, they assumed the role of professionals such as experts or scholars).
e) Focus, in depth, on central ideas and salient issues and ensure that the Content is authentic and relevant to students’ lives.

We learned that just having information does not solve a problem. It is more difficult that that. If we simply just provide information to students, there is no difference from asking them to read a textbook. We learned that Problem-based Learning is not the same as Project-based Learning; the former focuses on a real problem that affects content syllabus and takes a longer time to complete, while the latter emphasizes on investigating a phenomenon and takes a shorter time to complete. In Project-based Learning, very often students discover that there are a few partial solutions to an issue. These solutions are to be discussed, analyzed, and evaluated. Students are to find the most feasible solution through discussion (Social Constructivism).

Scene is also related to Project-based Learning. When using Scene, we can use one Scene to portray the problem background, and use another to show the essence of the solutions (what these solutions meant to solve). There must be implications in the Scene. A trigger event should be present and it must be real e.g. how does a five-day work week affect students’ activity. This issue has a direct implication on students. We should then come out with problems that relate to students’ learning e.g. calculate the number of hours spent in 5-day work compared to last time. We should also provide scaffolding for students in their project.

We then have hands-on activities in using MASH. In this lesson, we learned how to add a pop-up window showing a GIF file to the script. The script is as follow:

Set Win1=window.open ("image1.gif", "f1", "menubar=no, toolbar=no, left=300, top=100, width=500, height=300")

To close the window, we can add "win1.close" to the script.

Mr. Woo also talked about some technical issues. The reason why we use VBSCRIPT is that there is a default debugger in Windows XP. We will be able to know where the script goes wrong by using the debugger.

What I learned most from this lesson: the problems we presented to students must be real and related to their lives.

Weekly Reflection (Wk 10)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Teacher as Designer: using the model ADDIE as the guiding framework for the MS Agent
Project
2) Hands-on activity using MASH (Microsoft Agent Script Helper)
From point no.1, I learned about the different stages of ADDIE:
1) A = Analyze. This included analyzing the students whom we are going to teach. As teachers, we should understand students' needs and their background knowledge / level of proficiency. We should be able to explain why we need to use this web-based learning and not other alternatives.
2) D = Design (the lesson plan). In this stage, we take into considerations the type of learning theories and the technologies used to support the learning process.
3) D = Develop. We should pick the kind of course which students are most interested in. A contingency plan should be put in place. If ever we find the course too demanding, we should make adjustments to it. In our MS Agent Project, the Scene must be short. Between Scene I and II, there should be activities for students to do (cannot have a Scene which last more than 10 minutes). There should also be a feedback channel for checking students’ progress.
4) I = Implement. Before we implement the course, we should decide the strategies we use to help students learn. We learned about the differences between Internalization and appropriation; the former emphasized more on learning from conversation while the latter is more on skill-based learning (non-verbal interactions, such as gestures in manual work or in sports).
5) E = Evaluate. We should ensure that we are able to take a step (or steps) back to improve the course, if anything went wrong in the stages as mentioned above. We should run the course a few times and evaluate the results (collecting feedback along with the progress of the course).
We then had hands-on activity using MASH. Some technical issues brought up by Mr. Woo: 1) Possible problems when using older OSes: If we were using WIN98, we would need to manually install the Agent characters. 2) The default speech engine used by the software is American English. We could also install a British speech engine. There is no Chinese speech engine yet as input using Chinese is difficult (however, it is in the developing stages as the Chinese market is huge). 3) We should always save our project as a MSH file, as once we save it in html format, we cannot make any more amendments to it. 4) Best resolution to display the MS Agent Project is 1024 x 768.

Mr. Woo also reminded us the importance of Storyboarding. Storyboarding gives us an idea of how the sequence of actions and conversations of the characters would run. An example of Storyboarding given by Mr. Woo:

Peedy : Appear (X, Y)
Greet
Rest pose
Speak ( )
Gesture left
Merlin: Show (X, Y)
Greet
Rest pose
Speak ( )

We were taught how to edit the html script in Notepad. We also learned how to add in manually the background color to the script.

What I learned most from this lesson: the ADDIE model is a useful guide for us to plan the MS Agent project. There must be careful planning when we draft our Lesson Plan.

Weekly Reflection (Wk 9)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Using scenes for Teaching and Learning

2) Hands-on activity using MASH (Microsoft Agent Script Helper)

From point no.1, I learned about the following:

1) Scene is a small segment in a movie or play with a purpose to provide audience additional information to help move the storyline. Scene normally consists of the following:
a. Dialogue
b. Actions and gestures
c. Expositions
d. Setting
e. Plot advancers

2) Dialogue is a conversation between people. It is used to enhance event development and deepen the audience’s understanding of a particular area. It must be well-scripted and free from error, like what we hear in the movies. In Scene, any dialogue is meant for the audience, not for the characters in the scene e.g. When A speaks to B, it is not meant for B but for the audience.

4) There are 4 Microsoft Agents for us to be used in Scene. 'Peddy' is the most powerful among them and it can do at least 70 actions.

5) Through conflict & paradox e.g. why these two characters cannot agree on something, the audience can learn something from the conflict.

6) Constructivism: When we use Scene, great emphasis is placed on constructivism, whereby learners construct their own knowledge. We learned that constructivist learning must take place in a certain context. Learning has very much to do with the environment and setting e.g. two persons arguing in the scenes, so that audience can learn from the conflict (must achieve something in the end). A plot must be present to connect the scenes.

From point no.2, we had hands-on activity using Microsoft Agents to create simple dialogue and actions. For scripting, we were encouraged to use VB script, rather than Java Script, because the former is supported on all Microsoft platforms. Mr. Woo also showed us a sample of a website using scenes, whereby the main character had a dilemma of whether he needed to go for a slipped disc operation. In the scenes, a contradiction was stirred up; there were both pros and cons for the main character to consider for the operation, and after evaluating all factors he must make a painful decision. The evaluating part served as a learning process for the audience, who would later give their opinions on the character's decision.

Before we had hands-on, Mr. Woo briefed us on the process of using scenes for our project:

1) Come up with comprehensive Lesson Plan

2) Storyboarding

3) Create Scene 1/2/3

4) Create meaningful tasks for students e.g. Students to write Web Blogs after watching the three Scene.

What I learned most from this lesson: the purpose of using Scene is to stir up learning. If Scene is not organised or properly scripted, there will be no pedagogy implication behind it and the audience would not be able to learn anything out of it.

Weekly Reflection (Wk 6)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:

1) Analysis of survey on Internet Tools & Services (Done in Wk 2)
2) Concepts of Synchronous & Asynchronous Communication

3) Hands-on activity in creating a web page and uploading it to NIE myDisk

From point no.1, we learned that the top three Internet Tools & Services which we had voted were:
1) Discussion Board (87 percent)
2) World Wide Web (60 percent)
3) Web Blog (60 percent)

Mr. Woo noted that many of us were not in favor of using Internet Conferencing, SMS Services, Internet Chat Rooms or Instant Messaging etc as teaching tools. Some of the problems we foresee using these tools are as followed:

1) Internet Conferencing: There may be a problem with bandwidth as not all students have access to Broadband Internet. There may be delay in audio/video transmission, resulting in jerky videos and lagging conversation. However, one of the advantages of Internet Conferencing is that the software is provided by MS windows free of charge.

2) SMS Services: Limited by the number of characters (160). Communications through SMS tend to be casual and some people may be put off by the use of improper English through SMS.

3) Internet Chat Rooms: May have risks for students as the identity of the communicators are usually not known. Communications through Internet Chat Rooms tend to be casual and unregulated.

For Instant Messaging, we were encouraged to explore for ourselves in this lesson and decide whether it is a suitable tool for teaching. We were provided with an Instant Messaging script to be included in our web page. We learned that Instant Messaging could increase connectivity and interactivity between teachers and students. If students have doubts while reading our web pages, they can click on the Instant Messaging button in the web page to reach us. Instant Messaging is meant to be synchronous but can be used asynchronously as well; if the teacher is not at home, students can always leave messages and the teacher could respond to them at a later time.

From point no.2, we learned about the following:

1) What kind of web-based communication tools (Synchronous & Asynchronous) are available on the Internet?

2) Which ones are more suitable to use in teaching? (Some can be used but with caution)

We learned that synchronous refers to real-time communication. The tools that fall under this category are: Chat, ICQ, Messaging and Windows Netmeeting etc. Asynchronous means that communication is not done in real-time, there is a delay between send and receive between the parties. Some of the tools are: Email, Discussion Boards/Forums and Blogging etc.

We learned that there are caveats in using tools such as Chat or ICQ. ICQ means “I Seek You”; people may have ulterior motives when they use such tools. Hence they must be used with extreme caution and consideration. We were also guided to compare and contrast synchronous and asynchronous communication and we concluded the following:

1) Asynchronous communication (e.g. Email) gives learners time to think and reflect about their work. It also provides permanent records for archiving (with the exception of Instant Messaging)

2) Discussion Board: Some students may have anxiety when using Discussion Boards, as they express their conversation differently; these students may require more hands-on or visual aids in their learning.

From point no.3, we had hands-on in creating a web page and uploading it to NIE myDisk. We discovered that one of the disadvantages of myDisk is there is no preview button for viewing the webpage before publishing it on the Internet.

What I learned most from this lesson: It is not feasible to use the same teaching tool for all students. As teachers, we should use different tools for different students, so as to maximize their learning potential.

Weekly Reflection (Wk 5)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Common considerations for teachers when setting up a website
2) Hands-on activity in creating a web page with frames
3) Introduction of Microsoft Agent Technology
From point no.1, I learned that 1) when setting up an educational website, it is important to consider the Pedagogical approach, how and what students can learn from it. There must be a context for students to work in and teachers must provide scaffolding. Scaffolding can be provided, for example, by breaking the website into manageable pieces, so that students can read and understand its content better. 2) As we do not have the capabilities to set up a video stream server, small video clips should be provided in the website, instead of one huge chunk of continuous video stream; some students may also not have broadband access to the Internet. 3) Hyperlinks should also be provided for easy navigation in the website. 4) For visuals, it is important to consider how items or objects are composed e.g. we should not have too many pictures on one side of a web page, or too many text at one time, so as to achieve a balance in weight. 4) The pictures and the text in a web page must also be closely related; we should not have just a few description beside a picture and then write about something else. This refers to the proximity to the text concerned. 5) For navigation, we should consider how much control students have when surfing the website, whether it is easy to navigate around. We should provide separate buttons to lead students to different pages in the website. 6) Technical aspects include the following: whether we want to put videos in the website, what kind of plug-ins we should use and whether streaming technique is necessary. It would be easier for students to download videos by right clicking and saving them for viewing later, rather than viewing it as a streaming video. 7) Security concerns: we should use scripts to password protect the website. To protect copyrighted materials, we can program the web pages to disable the ‘print screen’ function or the ‘save as picture’ function.

We then have hands-on using MSWORD to create a web page with frames. We were also introduced to Microsoft Agent Technology. We discovered that the software is very human-like, however it may require a lot of programming. We will learn how to use Microsoft Agent to create a character with scenes in the next few lessons.
What I learned most from this lesson: I learned that MSWORD is a very powerful tool in creating attractive-looking web pages. I did not know that I could create web pages with frames with MSWORD until today.

Weekly Reflection (Wk 4)

In today's lesson, I learned about the following:
1) Recap of last week's lesson

2) Students as Researchers (Research-based Learning)
3) How to create a jump page (Hands-on Activity)
4) What is scaffolding
5) Limitations and Pitfalls of Web Searching (Class Discussion)

From point no.2, we learned that in a knowledge-based economy, the shelf-life of knowledge is getting shorter with time. Knowledge are becoming obsolete very fast, and as teachers, we cannot just teach students knowledge; we must make them learn knowledge by themselves as well (to enable them to learn just-in-time). When we ask students to do research on the web, we should assist them by giving them some guidelines. This can be done by creating a jump page or issue them with worksheets which contain guiding questions and important instructions. When we ask students to do a project, we must not present all the necessary information to them. On the contrary, they should be asked to look for the information by themselves and make good use of it. Knowledge can only be acquired when students connect the information they discovered to their own understanding.

From point no.4, we learned that as teachers, we should scaffold our students to become independent learners, gradually reducing the amount of help until they become capable researchers. The jump page is also a form of effective scaffolding as teachers can narrow down the scope of search for students, provide them with the relevance and making the Web safer for students to surf. The Web is a good tool in teaching students to teach themselves. Students learn fast nowadays and open-ended topics e.g. Can lies be told? Can people keep tigers as pets should be given to them. We must not give students a topic which they can get answers directly from the Web, as it will be no different from asking them to read and find answers from a book.

From point no.5, we learned that because of the 'free' nature of the Web, people can abuse it for their personal benefits. Students can be exposed to harmful threats while they engage in their internet search e.g. by going to websites such as http://www.chinese88.com whose contents had already been changed and become inappropriate for young children. Students can also go to the wrong website if they type the wrong URL e.g. http://www.geocity.com. These two examples are just some of the many traps used by unscrupulous web venders. Students must be shown and make aware of such practices when they are searching for information on the Web. We were also asked to reflect on some questions, and we concluded with the following in a discussion:

1. How can we prevent unwanted sites from popping up?

(We can use freewares such as pop-up killers, or run a home server for students to exclude unwanted websites. However, as the server would be run 24x7, there is a danger that it may be targeted by hackers)

2. How much control we have?

(We have very little control over the Internet; however we can minimize the dangers and threats with close supervision)

3. Is there a way that we can prevent or at least limit such a threat when our children search the Internet?

(We can use the Jump Page to regulate their search, or use software like Cyber Nanny to block out inappropriate websites, or use digital certificates)

What I learned most from this lesson: We cannot control what students surf, however we can minimise the dangers by teaching them how to search for information 'smartly'. They should be make aware of the dangers of the Web and scaffolding should be provided for their research.