Out of the listed criteria listed, I
would have to say the following are most important; STANDARDS, GRADE LEVEL,
ACTIVE LEARNING, HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY, and COST.
STANDARDS- The point of learning software is to help teach or
reinforce a lesson being taught to a student. If the program says it helps
teach a specific lesson, it should do just that, while also slightly preparing
students for the next step of understanding.
GRADE LEVEL- This is one of the most important issues I feel
personally. Students collectively learn as a group, by grade
level. If a program is too advanced, a child will feel discouraged
because they can't work it properly. If a program is not challenging enough for
a child, they will get bored and not want to use the program. It is a delicate
balance that must be made.
ACTIVE LEARNING- If a program is interactive, a child's attention
and focus will be thoroughly engaged. If the program does not let the
child be the engineer and steer the program to their own viewpoints, the
program is nothing more than an E-Book. This is nice, but not what it
is intended to do.
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY- It doesn't' matter if a program is the
best there is. If it doesn't work on the classroom computers, it's not good for
the classroom.
COST- Classrooms are run on a budget. If a program
is excessively expensive, it isn't right for a classroom. If it is
not available for abundant use, it's not right for a classroom.
As for the software selections I made, I chose four instead of
three. I couldn't choose just three.
OREGON TRAIL-This is a very interactive way
to inspire students to want to learn about the history of the
trail west.
INTERACTIVE ATLAS- A student can click on a certain country and
learn more about that country.
MICROSOFT PUBLISHER- Gives students the skills to create a mass
amount of products.
PHOTOSHOP- Gives students the ability to *perfect* an image for a
project.
I really like your idea to use the Oregon trail in your classroom. As a student I never got to do anything like that for history studies. I agree that cost should be used while picking out software.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, Kim, are you a History Teacher major? I agree about standards being on top. No matter what we WANT, we have to follow rules made up by people who aren't even in the teaching profession -- at least not in a K-12 classroom. If it helps us meet the requirements for the rules we're required to follow, then by all means, we should consider it. Compatibility is major. Where I sub, everything is outdated. They teach more old style, yet find ways to keep things interesting and interactive. I really like your idea of Interactive Atlas. Even I would like to get my hands on that. I'm one of those people who likes to know all about what's going on in the world. We have to if we want to have any rights or a say in the welfare of all American people. This could provide me with a little more info than what I get by reading USA Today and by watching world news. Photoshop sounds fun. I might be able to use something like this in my English classes. We could take a picture of Shakespeare and deck him out in wrap clothing or something fun to make him more modern. hahaha
ReplyDelete--leo
I did my blog differently, but I do agree that Cost is an important factor into what software we should use in our classroom. And hardware compatibility is important with today's computers. Not all computers work with all software so we must be cautious.
ReplyDelete