Week two - New tools to work with

Week two of the course unfolded interesting topics to work with. During this week I read about, researched and reflected on mainly two key topics, Web Searching and the ABCD Model for Behavioral Objectives.

I believe that the first topic, Web Searching, has a significant importance for me since it raised my awareness towards a tool that I have been using forever and it made me realize that I knew little about it or its endless possibilities. Until know, I thought that searching the internet for information on a search engine was a job done fairly easy as long as you wrote down the key words of the topic you were searching for. I also had some general information about the rules that you can apply when trying to specify the search or to do a more advanced one, for instance using quotation marks when searching for phrases instead of single words or adding filetype:pdf to get hits* accordingly to the file type specified, in this case PDF files (filetype:doc for hits including files in Microsoft Office Word, or filetype:ppt for Microsoft Power Point, etc). During this week’s exploration I came across numerous techniques which helped me do better searches and therefore find better results. By trying out different tips and rules to apply when searching for information on the internet will help me master this skill which in turn will save me time and will not only help me find other technological tools that can be used to facilitate learning, but it will also aide me in my work and daily life, it will help me find the right information, materials and answers.

Reading and reflecting about learning objectives reminded me of their importance, equipped me with further information about them and triggered me to research more in relation to this topic. The article on Writing Objectives by the Pennsylvania State University’s Teaching and Learning Office points out that writing a clear objective is important because it defines what the students will do and it provides a link between expectations, teaching and grading. Setting clear objectives facilitates learning since they help in organizing a lesson and the activities carried out which in turn contribute to students being more active and informed in regards to what they are expected to know and to what degree. As it is true that everytime a topic is tackled from a different perspective something new comes up, I received new information on how to write objectives using a very simple but well structured model, known as the ABCD method. (see below for more information on how this method works). I will start using this method because it is simple but well structured and it includes every important element of a clear, well written objective.

This week’s material has prompted me to look more into these topics and use the ideas for my daily work, and it has aroused my curiousity about the tools that we will work with during next week.

*hit: the result on the search engine that fit the criteria given 

You can find more information on Web Searching and Behavioral Learning Objectives on the following links:

Web Searching: http://pages.uoregon.edu/dhealey/techtips/june2009.html, Technology Tip of the Month by Deborah Healey.

Writing Objectives: http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/objectives/writingobjectives/, by the Pennsylvania State University’s Teaching and Learning Office.

Until next time

Krenare