Creating A Video using Movie Maker

This video was based on substance abuse. The purpose of the video was to bring awareness as to harmful effects of substance abuse and the methods used in creating some of these drugs; the different types of drugs were also highlighted. Adolescents are the individuals who are most widely affected by substance and drug abuse. As a result of this, the video was created with the intention of targeting students (adolescents).

Videos can be used to improve classroom instructions by catering to different learning styles. It also serves as a creative tool in bringing across a lesson. The teacher can incorporate different elements such as audio, music and even insert other relevant videos making it more interesting and fun for the students to learn.

This video on substance abused was produced as an instructional and informative tool to bring awareness to students about the harm and danger in using illegal substances/drugs. As a result of this piece being a group project, it was difficult for the members to collaborate and put the piece together; however, in the end we all were delegated roles and saw the successful completion of the video. The piece was well put together, however a smoother outro of the audio before the insertion of the additional video clip would have enhanced the overall quality and production of the video.

Creating A Wiki

 Hi All,

I have created a wiki pertaining to library skills. You can view for information or share your information with us @ https://libraryskillstutor.wikispaces.com

Wikis can be used to improve classroom instructions by enabling students to collaborate in a space that is immediately updated and serve as a computer supported collaborative environment. Wikis can also be used to encourage collaboration among students by allowing them to read and edit each others' work. Collaborative writing assignments with wikis encourage students to review each others' pieces and truly reflect on and critique what is being put together instead of just pasting separate components together. Each time a wiki is edited, a separate tracking feature makes note of what changes were made and who made those changes. Wiki users can also create signatures to accompany any edits they make .Wikis can be used to facilitate ongoing, thought-provoking discussions about many topics over the course of semesters or academic years.

The wiki produced covers the subject area of library skills. This piece was a group project that posed some challenges in terms of time management and group meetings. Additionally, it was difficult to maneuver the wiki page so as to make it unique and original.  However, the group members were able to use emails and phone calls as communication mediums, for the successful completion of this piece. More photos and additional applicable videos would have improved the overall function and presentation of the wiki piece.

Creating a Podcast

A podcast is an essential teaching tool because it is a new, original and dynamic to make a lesson interesting. You can record your own voice or conduct interviews with resource persons etc. and then group them all together to make a complete lesson. One can also incorporate music and other interesting sounds to make the lesson unique, interesting and attractive for the students. A podcast pertaining to the issue of student teachers being overloaded with assignments was produced. Now at the latter part of the first semester, student teachers have been giving most of their graded assignments at the same time; this has caused stress and frustration for both student teachers and lecturers, hence the reason for producing the podcast. The podcast prepared had interviews with both student teachers and lecturers giving their opinion on the overload of assignments and coming up with recommendation to ease the burden. A podcast can be used as a teaching tool if a teacher is absent or wants to use a different teaching method and as mentioned earlier it can be used as tool to bring across information from interviews with resource persons etc. This piece will be used as an informative and recommendation tool to find solutions in minimizing the workload being presently experienced by the student teachers. As a result of the podcast piece being a group work assignment it posed a challenge in regards to timing for us to conduct our interviews; however, we all took personal time to make sure that our presentation (podcast) was successful. Due to lack of timing the interviews were a little bit sketchy but it all worked out. If we had more time, the audio quality for the interviews could’ve been a little better to enhance the overall audio for the podcast.

Family Genealogy

Photo of a Handout about Family Genealogy

Family Genealogy is the study of family history; this piece is a handout which was created as a tool to enhance the students understanding of this topic. It also colorfully illustrates two types of family trees, and also states the importance of keeping family records. This creative piece was designed to grab the students attention, and serves as a creative and unique way for students to grasp and understand the concepts. It will be incorporated into the lesson as a visual example of a family tree so that students can imitate it by creating their personal family tree.
However, it was a bit difficult to fit all of the information on a one page handout, which was the initial plan. In essence, the handout was creative and would serve its purpose as a learning tool in the teaching of the lesson "Family Genealogy".

Importance of Lesson Preparation

Lesson preparation can be hectic however, planning lessons can be very strategical for the following reasons:

1. Sequential activities need to be set for the interaction between teacher and student.
2. Lesson plans need to be organized so that the teacher's instructions can be clear, as he/she would have an order to follow.
3. Students know when teachers are unprepared which can allow chaos in the classroom; prepared lessons will allow the teacher to always have students engaged in an activity i.e. a good lesson plan will be structured to suit an appropriate time schedule.
4. Teachers have a curriculum guide to follow and planning allows a teacher to physically see what has been covered and what topics need to be covered in upcoming lessons. In addition, feed-backs are a requirement after each lesson which will provide the teacher with the knowledge as to whether or not the lesson was successful; these feed-backs can also show which activities or learning styles are most suitable for particular classes.

Additionally, Information is constantly being updated and new methods of teaching and approaches to presenting lessons are always being introduced. Society is becoming more and more technologically advanced, and so methods, materials and lesson plans that were used for teaching students in a library skills class five years ago will not in anyway entice or excite students in a modern day library skills class. Therefore, teachers should always prepare new lesson plans to suit particular generations and their level of advancement in the ever changing and improving technological age.

Importance of Library Skills 101

Good day all,

Library Skills 101 was designed to create an appreciation and awareness for the subject area 'Library Skills'. Many students and teachers alike view Library Skills as an unimportant subject, as it is not a CXC subject. However, Library Skills not only teaches you skills necessary to use a library efficiently, but teaches students proper research skills and also formats for writing SBA's and other projects, to include plagiarism and the various formats for writing a bibliography and citing sources. Hence, the reason for this blog.

This blog will not only serve as a platform for socialization and sharing ideas, but it is a forum whereby students can appropriately analyze and critique each others comments i.e. they learn from each other rather than taking what the teacher says at face value. This blog will also help the to teacher share information that will serve as prerequisite knowledge for upcoming classes; hence, the class discussions will be more meaningful and more interactive, as students will be fully aware of the upcoming topics.
Check out this link for more info on learning Library Skills.

Lets start blogging!!!

Library Skills Intro

Good day all,

Welcome to Library Skills 101; hope you will find all the necessary information to aid in you becoming successful Library Skills students. Make sure you use this blog to assist you with assignments and other related course matters. Feel free to comment and share additional information pertaining to this course.

Looking forward to working with all of you!

Rhea Lake