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DDD-E Model, Media Components

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Hello everyone, this week we are going to talk about the media components of the DDD-E model as part of the third phase, that is the Develop Phase. In my last blog, I mentioned them by giving a little explanation for each, but this time I will explicate them a little bit further. These components, as I have previously mentioned include text, graphics, animations, audio, and video. Media elements such as graphics, animation, audio, and video are key components of multimedia projects. They add life and build more interest to a presentation and make it more attracting for the eye.Their effective use adds up to a lot of benefits, enhances visual literacy, and address several different intelligences and learning styles. Graphics refer to images or any information in the computer that is presented via pictures, drawings, or paintings. There are a lot of ways to obtain graphics. They can be created with a computer program or they can be imported from an existing file. Graphics can eve...
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Develop Phase

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Hi everyone. In this blog I am going to talk about the Develop Phase. The Develop Phase induces the media components, such as text, graphics, audio, video, and other forms of animation to design and introduce the media. If these components are used effectively they enhance visual literacy and add other instructional benefits. One media component worthy of mentioning is graphics. They can be either created from scratch with a computer program or imported from an existing file or scanned from a hard copy or digitized with a camera. Another form of graphic are animations that are graphic files that include movements. They serve to add more information and excitement. Another media component is audio. These elements can include recorded narration, music, and sound effects Audio can assist students’ learning, as well as add realism, excitement, and motivation to the program. Audio can be recorded with a computer and stored in a digital format on computer disks, networks, or CD-ROMs. Digi...
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E-assessments

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Hello everyone, The topic for this week's blog is e-assessments. We all know that assessments are important because they are given to measure student's learning performance through tests. They give valuable feedback about a student's progress and also about the teacher's instructional effectiveness. But what is e-assessment? It refers to the use of information technology in innumerable ways to assess performance and measure student learning. The notion of e-assessment was presented to overcome all the inadequacies of traditional pen and paper assessment modes. Electronic assessment arises from the use of Web-specific tools for assessment. It can be used to assess theoretical knowledge (using e-testing software) as well as practical skills (using e-portfolios or simulation software). E-assessments use IT to help evaluate the students by creating e-portfolios, e-quizzes, e-surveys, and e-rubrics.  Questionnaires and ability tests are the most important component...
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Design Phase

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Hello everyone, I'm starting this week's blog by wishing health to you and your families. The topic I'm going to introduce you with is "The Design Phase of a PowerPoint presentation." I chose PowerPoint from all of the other alternatives because it's a lot easier for students to work with, and it is the most popular amongst apps used to make presentations. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the design phase of a presentation such as goals and outcomes, the outline of the components, intent of the project and its target audience. First things first, when stating a project we have to determine the target audience; how will the audience contribute and influence the content.  Next we have to create flowcharts. But what is a flowchart? A flowchart is what depicts the sequence and structure of a program. There are several ways we can build a flowchart, for example by using tree structures, clusters, star designs etc.  From my experience the pro...
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The use of critical thinking in vocabulary teaching.

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 Seeing critical thinking as a complex process, some questions arise naturally. One of them for example is the level of English skills learners need, before they are ready to actually use critical thinking. The answer comes with the definition of what critical thinking actually is. Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. This process is also considered as hierarchy for teachers. So the learners need to acquire these skills before they efficiently use critical thinking in their learning process. Critical thinking helps us link the already familiar with known language in order to reflect on what we know and what we need to know. Let us consider vocabulary. There are 600.000 words in the official Oxford Dictionary. In order to comprehend...
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Best online platform to save the day!

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Google Classroom is part of G Suite for Education, and is becoming increasingly common in schools, offering a great way for teachers to connect with students online.  On the one hand, it offers a way to directly teach, but the provisions of teaching materials also means that students who are unable to attend classes can still be provided with catch-up works and notes, and the same additional homework. With the recent pandemic forcing a lot of students into distance learning, this means that G Suite for Education can really make a difference to teachers and students who might not have already used an online learning platform. Google Classroom uses the standard G Suite office software tools such as Google Docs as well as spreadsheet and presentation applications, audio and video conferencing, not to mention Google Drive for online storage. Additionally, there are administrative tools to make it easier for teachers to manage their classes. A key benefit of Google Classroom i...
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Constructivism

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Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well. This week's topic is related to Constructivism. As the word implies, constructivism is the process of learning through the construction of language. Students weight new information against their previous understanding, thinking about and working through differences and then come to a new understanding.  Now lets trace its meaning back into history. Constructivism can be found in the work of Jean Piaget, identified with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget focused on how humans make meaning in relation to the interaction between their experiences and their ideas. His views tended to focus on human development in relation to what is occurring with an individual as distinct from development influenced by other persons .(source: Constructivism, Philosophy of Education). Learning in a constructive way is active because you construct knowledge rather than just aquire it. --- But what does ...
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