Entry 003

Dragon's Log
StarDate: 14th. March, 2010.

KIDSPIRATION

     WHAT IT IS

     Kidspiration is an educational software program that focuses on developing thinking, literacy and  numeracy skills using the forum of proven visual learning principles. According to the website, the software helps students acquire strong thinking skills, strengthen their reading and writing skills and builds their conceptual understanding in Math. Students are able to interact with the software in visually appealing environments, for example, they can build concept maps, bubble and Venn diagrams, they can expand their visual ideas into written expression and they can us visual math tools like graphs and charts to understand essential Math concepts.

USES/RELEVANCE IN CLASSROOMS

      Research has undoubtedly shown that visual learning is one of the best methods for teaching thinking skills. This approach is actively preached as a need in our teaching environment and this option should be fully explored. With an iota of the financial backing from the Ministry of Education, a very powerful educational software and teaching tool can be made available to schools throughout the country. The new option at the website to obtain site licences now make mass awareness and interaction of the software a reality.

     Kidspiration provides built-in lesson plans which, apart from being perfect in curriculum delivery, saves teachers a lot of time. There are also many video and webcast integrated material to inspire students in their visual realm.

     Results obtained from S.E.A. and National Test examinations show that the literacy rate of students  across the country is declining. Kidspiration is an opprotunity to turn the wheels of our country's literacy awareness in a positive direction. The approach to reading and writing assists students in creating, organising and explaining ideas and information with audio and video assistance . This caters for students with dynamic learning processses and will inspire and motivate them  to required outcomes.

The following are further links to Kidspiration's functionality and uses:

General Review of Kidspiration.

Kidspiration Demo.

Talking Interface in Kidspiration.

Bubble Maps In Kidspiration.

REFERENCES

Kidspiration - The Visual way to explore and understand Words,  Numbers and Concepts. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from

      http://www.inspiration.com/kidspiration

How Concept Maps, Webs, Idea Maps and Plots help students in the classroom. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from

     http://www.inspiration.com/Parents/Visual-Thinking-and-Learning

Use Concept Maps to graphically illustrate relationships between information. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from

     http://www.inspiration.com/Parents/Visual-Thinking-and-Learning/ConceptMaps

Kidspiration supports success across  the curriculum. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration/Details#Visual_Math_Tools

Kidspiration supports success across the curriculum. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration/Details

Scientifically based Research on Graphic Organizers and Visual Learning. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.inspiration.com/Educators/Research

Inspiration Software Site Licences. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.inspiration.com/sitelicenses

Kidspiration videos and webcasts for using visual learning in your classroom. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.inspiration.com/videos/Kidspiration

YouTube - Review of Kidspiration. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vocCAcFtmQ

YouTube - Kidspiration Demo. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN0aOiCIcQk&feature=related

YouTube - talking Interface in Kidspiration. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLhUqhUReg&feature=related

YouTube - How to create a Bubble Map in Kidspiration. Retrieved March 14th, 2010 from
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY7uSMKWPVI&feature=related

SITES I COMMENTED ON

1. ANDREA SIMMONS' BLOG

2. FAZEED ABDOOL'S BLOG

3. SAMDAYE RAMLAL'S BLOG

    

   

    

Entry 002

Dragon's Log.
StarDate: 20th. February, 2010.

FREE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE SITES

A tool used to find the perfect tools! 

It's a bird....It's a plane... It's Freeeeeeeeeeeee

Free Educational Software for Learners Video

BRIEF ADVERTISEMENT

You teach at a challenging school and the pay could be better..... You strongly feel about the whole-school approach to teaching and learning, but dang it's sooo expensive..... You frequently dip your hands into your pockets to cater to the needs of your 'adorable' students, but realise that at the end of the day you have no money for yourself to buy your girlfriend/boyfriend chicken and chips.....You have a strong belief in reflecting and lesson planning for your dynamic array of students, but it's sooo expensive and your employers say the same thing too....

If you suffer from two of more of these harsh realities, and you like 'freeness fuh so', then fear no more my fellow teachers.... the above hyperlink is our light at the end of the tunnel!!!

DESCRIPTION

There are numerous Free Education Software sites on the internet that indeed provide the definitive Software Tools that can be utilised by teachers to achieve most of their objectives from the Technology perspective. With greater focus on the holistic development of students, creative, attractive, innovative, fun and entertaining means of lesson planning and presentation must be incorporated. This is usually achieved by  the usage of available software that is very expensive and difficult to operate. On the other hand, Free Educational Software sites provide tools as well as software that are relatively easy to use to make teaching more effective and efficient.Best of all, these Educational Software and Software Tools are free, so they can be accessed and used by virtually anyone to achieve desired results and propagate the education system into the technology oriented future.

USES/RELEVANCE

The uses and relevance the free educational software site will be discussed in relation to some software tools . These can be accessed for free at this and many other free education software sites on the internet.

Firstly, Audacity will be discussed. But before we do that, it should be noted that although the homepage for Audacity is given in the hyperlink, it is very easy to find  it at the free educational software site which is the main focus of this blog entry. Audacity is a free audio editing software that has a range of uses relevant to teachers including live recording, sound mixing and CD burning. It should be noted the functions of audacity are outlined at the software site so teachers know what can be done with the software as well as a nearby link is provided for easy download.

Another powerful advantage of using free educational software sites, is the fact that great software titles that are free and relevant to teachers, but not so popular can easily be found. The perfect example of this is Avidemux. Avidemux is a powerful video editing software that can be used with all popular formats of video including DVD for editing video for classroom presentations. Again, the download hyperlink is conveniently given at the free educational software website.

 

  

Free Educational Software Sites provide a very wide range of free Software Tools and Education Software for teachers to utilise at their heart's pleasure.With their ease of use, zero cost factor and comprehensive software capabilities, teachers have little excuse for being negative about the availability of powerful tools necessary for technology-based learning.

Below is a list of Free Educational Software Sites that can easily be found using a search engine such as Google Search Engine.

Educational Freeware 

Classroom Software 

Free Education Software designed with Parents in Mind 

  REFERENCES

Free education software. Retrieved February 20th, 2010 from

     http://www.schoolforge.net/education-software

Youtube- all educaitonal software for learners of all ages. Retrieved February 20th, 2010 from

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9A87doC2po

Audacity: free audio editor and recorder. Retrieved February 20th, 2010 from

     http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Avidemux- main page. Retrieved Februay 20th, 2010 from

     http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

Entry 001

Dragon's Log.
StarDate: 31st. January, 2010.

These are the voyages of the Starship..."SilverDragon".

The Saga of the second semester course..."Educational Technology".

Educational Software is  computer software which is used primarily for  teaching or self-learning.

The Reader Rabbit educational software will be discussed. 

WHAT IT IS:

 This franchise was created in 1986 by The Learning Company. The Reader Rabbit series makes up  the greater part of software titles available in the franchise. The software is grade-based and subject-based and designed to teach skills such as Language Arts and Mathematics in a fun environment of music, games and lovable characters.

RELEVANCE/SUITABILITY/USEFULNESS:

Reader Rabbit titles are available for all age groups up to nine years old including toddlers. The software is user friendly and the curriculum addressed in each title is relevant to each age group. The approach of learning via song and games is the perfect example of our ideal of the holistic development of the individual. Our curriculum is also based on teaching Language Arts by applying the phonics approach. There are many Reader Rabbit titles which have great emphasis on the use of phonics. The characters are lovable and portray positive values like honesty and teamwork, which make them good examples of role  models for students. With the proper permission, I think that Reader Rabbit should be made available on computers in the school environment since it has proven beyond a doubt to enhance the Language and Math skills of students.

Below are some youtube.com links showing the application of Reader Rabbit Software.

Reader Rabbit Ages 4-6

Reader Rabbit Pre-School

2 year old using Reader Rabbit Software