love. Pictures, Images and Photos

Thursday 30 September 2010

online education?

homework on computers may end up with a divide in social classses. e.g. people may not be able to afford laptops or internet which may be needed for the student to complete the homework.

the effect of ICT on the way people work.


Interactive whiteboard
A new technology that is increasingly appearing in schools and workplaces around the world are interactive whiteboards. This piece of hardware includes a projector and a large interactive display board.
The projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a pen or finger.
It allows the user to easily write or draw and easily wipe the display clean with a interactive board rubber.  
Many are being used when giving a presentation in board rooms and work groups.
Most of the boards now have extras that include graphs programs to easily present results in charts and graphs, this makes it easier for participants in meetings to see figures and how the sales of a product may be doing. 
The white boards are also being used in schools for the childrens work, most classrooms allow the students to be educated by interactive education games. It is also a great way to show notes to the class to be easily displayed and easily read.
Multimedia and video can also be shown on it which is an advantage over normal whiteboards.
Interactive whiteboard used in a workplace for presentation.
Crticisms:
  • If there is a problem with how it is working or if there is an error with the connection it may cause a workplace to not be able to give a presentation as they are relying on the ICT and in education if it does not work it may stop a lesson as the teacher may be relying on the ICT to teach the class.
  • In lower-ability groups in school classrooms it could actually slow the pace of the whole class learning as individual pupils take turns at the board.
  • Sometimes teachers could focuse more on the new technology than on what pupils should be learning.


Now that laptop's are becoming increasingly popular many workplaces are choosing to buy them for their employees so that they can work whilst travelling and when at home. Work places have also chosen to buy Blackberries, a smartphone that allows the workers to easily send emails, answer calls, sends messages, use an application that allows blackberry users to chat for free (Blackberry messenger), send files and pictures, compose word files, presentations and spreadsheets and much more. These allow the worker to easily stay in contact with other people in the same workplace whilst away from the office. By having a blackberry or laptop it also allows the worker to stay at home and work which can be extremely flexible and suited to the workers lifestyle. Using a blackberry or laptop whilst on a train or plane shows how much technology has improved, in the past computers could not be used on trains, they were bulky and not transportable.


Working on the laptop on the train.



Blackberry smartphones showing the displays of edexcel (spreadsheets) (on the right), word (documents) (in the middle) and powerpoint (presentations) (on the left).


Increase of teleworkers over the years.

Many people now demand internet for working away from the office also. Many workers now choose to subscribe to an internet provider and have a dongle which is inserted into a USB port and has a certain amount of minutes to use up of internet servicing. This allows the user to work using the internet when not at home or in reach of an internet dial up system. You can plug them into the laptop when out and about and use anywhere.



USB dongel plugged into the USB port of a laptop.


These ways of working whilst out and about have of course many benefits of work now. They have made working away from the office much easier yet have a few drawbacks, the main one being working overload. With blackberries especially, the buzzing and flashing of the device with messages, calls and emails may cause the worker to continue working for much longer and may not even have a time away from work as work is always with them. It is also very expensive for the company to pay for each worker to have one especially with the internet!

Smartpens
Many work places and universities are now choosing to  buy these smartpens for easiness of relistening to the meetings discussions or lectures.
Livescribe’s smartpen has two primary features: It records ambient audio along with every pen stroke of your handwritten notes.
Many people are finding these much more useful and reliable to use as they hold so much data and do not record the echo of the uneeded background noise. Many people have downloaded apps from the iPhone and used voice recorders but say how they have no comarison to the smartpens. They may cost a alot of money but it has been proved they have helped many students get the correct information and cleary understand what was said- helping to gradually increase grades. It also saves time making 
Unnecessary notes that may end up being misread and understood as you are under pressure to write the notes in a short amount of time.
It captures ambient speech remarkably well, even at distance. It even works fairly well recording a speakerphone-to-speakerphone conference call.
You can play back recordings using the pen’s built-in speaker, or by uploading the pencast to your computer.


The smart pen writing and taking in audio at the same time.

Smartpen files being transfered to the computer.





A criticism of using this pen is that you need to use a certain notepad to write in, where you select how you want the pen to work as shown in the video below:


-jing video of smartpen x2-

Newstories

"Whiteboard projector safety fears"
Interactive whiteboards have been heralded as devices that will enhance education and be a major plank in the government's drive for new technology in schools.
"Workers breaking office shackles"
Slowly but surely, Britons are becoming a nation that works on the move. A survey shows that 90% of firms are using flexible and remote working as part of their normal way of doing business.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4014315.stm


Interview
1.      In your workplace do you use an interactive whiteboard?
Yes, we use them quite frequently in meetings and discussions.

2.      If so, how would you rate them out of ten? 10 being really helpful, 0 not useful.
      9, they are so much easier to use than normal whiteboards or paper flipboards. Pictures and text can easily be edited or rubbed away. You can easily write over pictures. Graphs and charts can easily be displayed on the screen with annotations around/over them. It is simply an excellent piece of hardware that our workforce replies upon at least once a week. The only problem is the cost.

3.      If you do, do you use them in meetings?
Yes, every single meeting or dicussion sessions we have.

4.      Do you choose to telework?
Yes, it makes my life so much easier to be able to use my laptop on the trains and access my work files to continue work whilst travelling home, it gives me more time at home to relax so I have less to do in the late evening.

5.      If so do you think this a better way of working to suit your needs and is flexible to you?
Yes. It has my life so much more flexible.

6.      Do you have a Blackberry smartphone or device given to you by your work so you
can work when away from the office?
I have a business phone which has internet, access to work files, email access etc on it, it is very much like the Blackberry except there are no games, it is simply for work purposes only. I have another phone that I use for my social and personal life.

7.      If so do you find that you cant get away from work and are constantly reading work emails and documents via the phone?
Sometimes I can get an overload of work files and emails being sent to me, I make sure I sort these before 8pm and then the phone is switched off so i can have some time to myself. The phone is then switched on again at 7am so I can start the new day and sort any emails etc I recieved over night as soon as I am up and on the train travelling to work.


8.      Do you think teleworking is a practical idea?
Definatly!

9.      Do you use a plug in USB dongle allowing you to work on the internet away from the office where internet is provided?
Yes, I found it a cheaper way to have internet access, the speed is also very fast. Ive had no trouble so far of having one for 6months and its extremly useful for my work, I couldnt work well at home without it!

10.  Does your workplace use smartpens?
No, personally my workplace doesnt use them. My son at University uses one though.

11.  Do you know of many people who use smartpens?
My son and his friends use them at university and work, i don't have much knowledge on them. I bought him it for his last birthday and he seems to be extremely happy with it and uses it daily.

12.  What are your views on smartpens? Do you feel they are needed when we can use other ways of recording sound and writing for a much cheaper cost?
I don't know much about them but from others I've heard they are very useful and save a lot of time taking unneccerssary pages of notes when the pen records the sound so you can relisten to it and take notes later where you have more time to write symplified notes rather than rushing when the speaker is talking. i think if people can afford them they are very much worth it. Im told they are very easy to use and can be a great help.

Monday 27 September 2010

1.2 topics chosen.

1)the effect of ICT on the way people work.
2)the effect of ICT on the way we make decisions.
3)the effect of ICT on crime and the law.
4)the effect of ICT on the way we entertain ourselves and leisure.
5)the effect of ICT on the way we bank and shop.
1) (SCHOOLS- WHITEBOARDS, working on trains, planes, cars etc using dongals.
2) (COMPARE THE MARKET, KELKOO, GOCOMPARE ETC)
3)(DNA FINGERPRINTING, TRACKING RAGE CAR RACERS
4)
5)(use EPOS, VIDEO JOE,

communication?

the way we communicate? sms, skype, social networking.

Sunday 26 September 2010

Facebook Interview

I interviewed my dad on Facebook and its features


Do you use Facebook often?
Yes, a few times a week.


Do you find it an easy way to interact with friends all over the world?
Yes, its a great free way to talk to others and see pictures from Facebook friends from the other side of the world who I do not have the chance to see very often.


Do you use Facebook live?
No, but I have heard from others how successful it is.


Do you use the Facebook Chat feature?
Yes


Do you find this a good feature of the website, e.g. does it work well, easy to use etc?
The feature does not always work but overall it is a great interactive, instant way of talking to others. It also shows your Facebook friends who are currently online which can be a convenient.


Have you set up a Facebook event or have attended some before?
I havent set one myself but have attended some. I find it an easy way to quickly send invites to certain people as I know they will see the invite quickly and tell me if they can make it rather than sending an invite in the post which could take a few days to be received and then for me to receive a reply. So it saves time and can save money on postage stamps.


Do you have a phone that supports the Facebook application that you use regulary?
Yes, I use it regularly and it can be a easy way to quickly sort my notifications and update a status.


Are there any other features of Facebook that you find useful
Fan pages can be an entertaining feature of the site, seeing how other users share the same interests.
Tagging of photos is a great way to keep in touch with your past. It keeps me updated in any photos of me that my Facebook friends have uploaded.

Facebook Timeline


Since Facebook was launched in 2004 it has come a long way. It has developed much more over the years and has many more features now than it did when its first few users signed up to the site.

Company Timeline

2010

  • August
    Facebook launches Places
  • July
    Facebook reaches over 500 million active users
  • July
    Facebook launches beta of Questions
  • February
    Facebook reaches over 400 million active users

2009

  • December
    Facebook reaches over 350 million active users
  • September
    Facebook reaches over 300 million active users
  • August
    Facebook acquires FriendFeed
  • July
    Facebook reaches over 250 million active users
  • June
    Facebook launches Facebook Usernames
  • May
    Digital Sky Technologies makes a $200 million investment for preferred stock at a $10 billion valuation
  • April
    Facebook reaches over 200 million active users
  • February
    Facebook reaches over 175 million active users
    Facebook joins OpenID board
    “Like” feature added
  • January
    Facebook reaches over 150 million active users
    CNN Live/Facebook integration

2008

  • December
    Facebook Connect becomes generally available
  • August
    Facebook reaches over 100 million active users
  • April
    Facebook launches Facebook Chat
    Facebook releases Translation application to 21 additional languages
  • March
    Facebook updates privacy controls to include Friend List privacy
    Facebook launches in German
  • February
    Facebook launches in Spanish and French
  • January
    Facebook co-sponsors Presidential Debates with ABC News

2007

  • November
    Facebook launches Facebook Ads
  • October
    Facebook reaches over 50 million active users
    Facebook launches Facebook Platform for Mobile
    Facebook and Microsoft expand advertising deal to cover international markets; Microsoft takes a $240 million equity stake in Facebook
  • July
    Facebook acquires startup Parakey
  • May
    Facebook launches Marketplace application for classified listings
    Facebook hosts F8 event to launch Facebook Platform
    Facebook Platform launches with 65 developer partners and over 85 applications
  • April
    Facebook reaches 20 million active users
    Facebook updates site design and adds network portals
  • March
    Facebook reaches over 2 million active Canadian users and 1 million active UK users
  • February
    Virtual gift shop launches as a feature

2006

  • December
    Facebook reaches more than 12 million active users
  • November
    Share feature added on Facebook, simultaneously launched on over 20 partner sites
  • September
    News Feed and Mini-Feed are introduced with additional privacy controls
    Facebook expands registration so anyone can join
  • August
    Facebook development platform launches
    Notes application is introduced
    Facebook and Microsoft form strategic relationship for banner ad syndication
  • May
    Facebook expands to add work networks
  • April
    Facebook raises $27.5 million from Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and others
    Facebook Mobile feature launches

2005

  • December
    Facebook reaches more than 5.5 million active users
  • October
    Photos is added as an application
    Facebook begins to add international school networks
  • September
    Facebook expands to add high school networks
  • August
    The company officially changes its name to Facebook from thefacebook.com
  • May
    Facebook raises $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners;
    Facebook grows to support more than 800 college networks

2004

  • December
    Facebook reaches nearly 1 million active users
  • September
    Groups application is added; the Wall is added as a Profile feature
  • June
    Facebook moves its base of operations to Palo Alto, Calif.
  • March
    Facebook expands from Harvard to Stanford, Columbia and Yale
  • February
    Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm room

    Bibliography

My maths interview.

How often do you use mymaths?
whenever I get homework, usually 4times a week.

Do you find the service has helped you in the past for improving your grades?
Yes, in the past when studying for GCSE's as my class was big it was sometimes difficult to ask the teacher to explain a topic in more detail and help me so mymaths is a great way to selfteach yourself if you misunderstood areas of a topic or to revise for a test, where you can answer questions and can get help on the lessons online for free.

Along the menu do you use the "my results" tab? If so is it easy to use and helps you in any way?
Yes, by seeing my past results for the worksheets I have completed it makes me see if i am on target or if i need to push myself a little more and ask for more help to further understand a topic.

Along the menu do you use the "My levels" tab? If so is it easy to use and helps you in any way?
Very rarely, this doesnt interest me so much but perhaps my teachers may find it more useful to see the difficulty of the worksheets I have been completing.

Have you used the Booster packs on the website? Do you find it helpful/useful?
No, but my friend has and said how much it helped!

Do you think the games on the website help improve grades and learning in a positive and fun way?
Yes! some are really fun, they are a great way to finish off a revision session after completing a few online worksheets and viewing a few lessons.

Do you use the newsfeed? Do you find it helpful?
No, i don't use this part of the site, perhaps parents and teachers would find it more useful.

Are there any other features of Mymaths that influence you to use the site more?
Just really how you can change the levels and if the worksheets are 'higher tier' or 'foundation tier' which can be helpful for pushing yourself or for choosing to complete an easier worksheet.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Online Education

Online Education

Definition:
Learning delivered by Web-based or Internet-based technologies.

Newstories

"New online tutoring tool helps boost maths grades"
For the first time, BrightSpark Education (http://www.brightsparkeducation.com/) is offering all 7 to 16 year-olds one-to-one maths tuition online, delivered by top maths graduates and former teachers.
http://www.24dash.com/news/education/2010-09-10-New-online-tutoring-tool-helps-boost-maths-grades

"Education Online education 'increases inequality'"
Computers in education can deepen the divide between rich and poor, claim researchers in the United States.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/323272.stm

Advantages & Disadvantages of Online Education

Advantages
  • No need to pay for teaching or tutoring. This saves money.
  • You can save money on travel costs, e.g. now many courses can be worked on at home saving to go to a college or school to study the course.
  • Many online sites are free, e.g. bitesize are free to use and can used as much as you like as long as you have internet access.
  • Students often comment that online learning lets them attend class when fully awake and attend when they find it convenient, rather than rigid 2 or 4 hour stretches once or twice a week.
  • Online educational sites can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students have the ability to read and re read lectures, discussions, explanations and comments. Often spoken material in the classroom passes students by due to a number of distractions, missed classes, tiredness or boredom.

Disadavantages
  • there is probably no one checking your progress on a regular basis. You may be given some guidance along the way, but you and you alone are usually responsible for working your way through the course. Since you can work at your own pace, some people find themselves putting the work off until they don't have enough time to finish the requirements.
  • Communication - the lack of interaction. You aren't in a classroom and don't have the opportunity to hear questions and discussions from other students.
  • If you have no understanding of the topic/subject, there is no extra guidance to help you fully understand it.
  • Health risks - e.g. headaches from looking at the computer screen for a long period of time.
  • The internet/site may not at times work which could cause you to not be able to complete a piece of work on the website.


Online education is useful for schools, colleges and universities. There are many different types of education resources on the internet. Most online educational sites are free, others may be paid for as the schools can subscribe to them, to allow pupils and teachers to share files.

Resources that are free for everyone to use can be useful as they enable students to revise what they have learnt in lessons or read about the upcoming lesson.
Teachers can use these sites to support their lessons. The information provided is summarised meaning the key points are included and are concise and easy to read and learn about.
The main problem with these websites is that they may not cover the syllabus one certain student is studying but may cover another students syallbus, this is a problem as the student may learn the wrong information which could effect their education and perhaps results on a test.


Bitesize

Bitesize Homepage.

This is an example of a free online educational site. It is available for young children studying KS1 up to higher levels including GCSE and A-Level revision. It includes games, videos, notes and other helpful activities to help learn about a certain subject/topic. Tests can be taken also which are mini quizzes marked usually out of ten which can be taken after studying a subject/topic to test your understanding.
List of Bitesizes revision games specific to certain subjects.
Video for the subject business studies.
Geography notes for revision. You can print this
by selecting the print button on the top right hand corner.
Here is the start of a revision map for maths. You can select what subject,
then the topic of the subject (e.g. algebra here) and then add labels and
web links around the spider diagram. Branches can be added to the labels.


Bitesize biology test.







Bitesize also offers audio clips that can be downloaded as MP3's onto ipods and music software on the computer. This is another great way for students to revise-especially when out and about away from the internet and not having to carry around bulky, heavy books. The audio clips are also free to download and take very little time to download. As many can be downloaded as you wish also.
There is also an online message board where you may choose to post ideas or discuss certain topics/subjects. This is another great revision technique for students to use from the site.
You can download an audio file. Here is an example
of downloading an english file on non-fiction text.
An english message board showing many discussions. It shows
the topic on the far left, then if it had replies, who sent it and
when the reply was sent.


Links to the message board and a link to download the audio clips.





A problem many people find with bitesize as it may not cover all the subjects you are studying. Another problem is that bitesize sometimes does not have all the examining bodies which can lead to someone reading a syllabus from the wrong examining body and therefore not learning what they need to.

Bitesize Subjects.




Fronter

Fronter is a sight used for students and teachers to share files. It is useful to get files from school to home and vice versa. It can be extremely useful as there is no need to print off sheets of homework or notes saving time and money on ink for the printer. 
Marks can easily be sent to the student quickly and can displayed in many different ways e.g. a letter grade (A*,A, B etc) or as symbols (status) e.g. tick for completed well, cross if not given in or not sufficient or an arrow meaning good but improvement can be made. 


Marks shown including the subject "room" the homework set, date graded, the  mark/grade/status.




It also ensures the work is sent in a good condition (no tears or creases in the paper) and it cannot get lost if saved and sent correctly.
Teachers can use it for sending sheets, handouts and powerpoint presentations that may help with revision and for their notes.


Along the top of the screen there is a drop down list which can contain the subjects you are studying and you can select them to see the work or sheets the teacher has uploaded and provided for you to use freely. The subjects are a named  as a "room" e.g. Psychology Room, in this "room" contains any worksheets, handouts, presentations etc that can be accessed by the student.
As schools can be big with a wide range of subjects you may choose to select the certain subjects you are studying and set them as a favourite so that it can be much more convenient and easy to get onto each subject.


The "room" with a box next to them. When the box is clicked and
you click "add or favourite rooms" the room will then appear in the
drop down list which is easier to get onto the rooms in future rather
 than scrolling through all the rooms each time. As you can see

I have selected Psychology and Sociology as "favourites" as stated
in brackets next to the "room" name.


This shows my favourites in the drop down list; IT, Biology, Psychology & Sociology.
These I have selected so that it is easier to get onto in the future.

Fronter Login.


Fronter Homepage.



A problem with the website is that it has limited capacity for files. This isn't a problem for simple documents, but it can prevent movie files, presentations or projects with many pictures from being uploaded. This may be difficult to show/send to your teachers as it may seem you haven't completed the homework when in fact you just cannot upload it to Fronter.


MyMaths

Mymaths Homepage.
MyMaths is a website that the school/college have to subscribe to so that pupils can use the site to revise and do homeworks set by the teacher.
This website only specialises in maths but contains many online worksheets and help lessons for many maths topics. The student is given a login and password so nobody else can access their work and they can find the homework set by the teacher. The worksheets are easily completed by entering characters into the boxes provided.

The menu's are easily visible and helpful along the top of the screen.
The worksheets scores you have completed in the past show up along with the percentage and a face; showing if you did well or not; green being excellent, orange; improvement can be made and red meaning work and help is needed this is shown under the button in the menu reading 'MyResults'.


'MyResults' tab showing my marks and percentage and smiley face
showing how well I did in the tasks I have completed. It also shows
how long ago I completed the tasks and how many times I have completed
that particular task.




Any homework you have been set by your teachers can also be shown in the menu under the option 'MyHomework' which makes finding the worksheet much easier so you do not waste time searching through all the topic lists.


'MyHomework' tab showing what homework teachers have set for me to complete. At the moment I have none set.




The levels of how difficult the worksheets were, are displayed under the button 'MyLevels' this shows what percentage of your worksheets have been difficult or easy which is shown in a type of bar chart.


'MyLevels' tab shows the difficulty of the tasks I have completed.




'MyBoosterPacks' under the menu bar is helpful for students to do extra work to help 'boost' (improve) their grades, it is like extra revision sheets and activities that allow the student to complete.

'MyBoosters' tab shows any extra worksheets I have completed.
At the moment none are shown as I have not completed any.



Also on the website is a list of fun maths games that students may choose to use. These can help boost the students knowledge without them loosing concentration and enthusiasm by reading a textbook or doing a maths activity, they are simply fun and helpful.

List of games on MyMaths.



Mymaths also offers a newsfeed where any news about courses, games, worksheets or just gernally about maths is posted for students, parents and teachers to read about. This offers helpful notices that may help the student by giving them extra points and tips for helping use the website and its features.

MyMaths Newsfeed.




Bibliography
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm