PowerPoint presention

 

The use of Microsoft PowerPoint in teaching and professional development

PowerPoint (Microsoft Corp.) is a widely used presentation program that originated in the world of business but has now become common place in the world of educational technology. However, its use is far from controversial in this educational context and opinions as to its use range from highly supportive to significantly negative (Szabo & Hastings, 2000; Lowry, 2003). One of the major problems is that its current use is frequently limited to an information mode, often with excessive content, a usage that obscures the wider potential for diverse professional and pedagogical-sound presentations.

PowerPoint is a wonderful tool for learning in both a student and teacher directed situation. It adds a new dimension to learning allowing teachers to explain abstract concepts, while accommodating all learning styles.  Used properly, PowerPoint is one of the most powerful tools for disseminating information ever known.

When effectively planned and used, PowerPoint helps enhance classroom instructions. The PowerPoint helps teachers to cue and guide the presentation rather than project long and complete sentence. We can also use the notes pages features to add contents to add our presentation which the audience will not see.  There are many options for using PowerPoint in teaching and learning.

 

PowerPoint presentations offer students a structured way to present information, enhance visual learning, improve communication skills and encourage creativity in organizing content. They help in summarizing complex topics, fostering engagement and facilitating learning among students. Moreover, creating presentations can also develop technological skills and proficiency in using multimedia elements.

Camtasia Studio

 

INTEGRATING ICT USING CAMTASIA STUDIO

What is Camtasia Studio?

Camtasia Studio is a popular screen recording and video editing software developed by TechSmith. It is commonly used for creating video tutorials, presentation and other educational or informational videos. Camtasia allows user to capture screen, record audio and the resulting footage to create professional quality videos with added effects and more. It is widely used by content creators, educators and businesses for a variety of purposes. It is easy and fast video editing software.

 As our ICT tutor assigned us an assignment to make a video tutorial lesson using camtasia which is very new to many of us. To complete the assignment, I have discovered a lot of knowledge on how to use the software by exploring through YouTube videos and from the expertise. Today I am able to use the software in a simple way in my daily teaching learning process. I found the use of tutorial video lesson a very useful and effective tool in teaching even to the smaller children in primary schools. We could share the lesson for children through telegram and let children learn in their own space by replaying or pausing videos as needed. Camtasia is well suited for online or remote learning environments, making it a valuable tool for children learning from home. This software not only reduces the work burden of teachers but also saves time and resources.Since learning is a process, I have yet needed to explore more on camtasia studio in times to come.

 

We can use camtasia studio presentation in any field of teaching and is a powerful tool to use in 21^st century technology world. No other software comes even close to the quality and versatility of camtasia. The biggest benefits of using camtasia are the ability to create unlimited videos, publish videos to You Tube directly from the user dashboard, and powerful integration with Microsoft PowerPoint offering a wide range of benefits for both teachers and students.

Blending and Segmenting

 

Blending and segmenting

Blending (combining sounds) and segmenting (separating sounds) are essential skills for learners to progress in pronouncing words. Learners gain the understanding required to read and write in an alphabetic language when they comprehend spoken words. Words can be broken down into separate sounds (phonemes) and letters can be used to represent those sounds. This lesson contains how to introduce blending and segmenting for kids and some fun activities to check their progress.

Competency: Understand the knowledge of phonemes including segmenting and blending to pronounce words accurately.

Topic: Blending and Segmenting

Strand: Reading and Literature

Objectives: At the end of the lesson, each learner should be able to;

• pronounce words by blending and segmenting.
• pronounce at least 6 words (dog, cat, fan, hut, mug and pig).

Prior knowledge: Can sound out the letters of the alphabet.

 

Introduction

The teacher writes "a - m" on a chart/board and instructs the learners to sound out the letters. The teacher then sounds each letter slowly and explains to the learners that they are attempting to combine the sounds in order to pronounce the word.

/a/+ /m/ = am 

/i/+ /s/ = is

/i/ + /t/ = it 

Now that the learners have some ideas about combining two lettered words, the teacher should introduce them to three lettered words.

After the learners have comprehended how to blend letter sounds, a teacher provides clues on how to segment letter sound from a blended sound.

Teacher pronounces the word slowly, “H-a-t” and the learners are expected to break down each letter sound.

Activity

Show the phonic cards for children. Let children break down each letter sound for the following words.

c-a-t                                                                                                  h-u-t 

                      

                                                                             d-o-g

                                                                                 m-u-g       

 

     Let children draw and write the words in their book.

For the extended learning activity, show the link below to explore more in blending and segmenting.

Share the link through telegram so that children could do revision at home as a blended learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HepY63hl5b

Closure: Give childern a segmenting cheer

Segmentation Cheer 

Listen to my cheer. 

Then shout the sounds you hear.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Let’s take apart the word fun.

Give me the beginning sound. (Children respond with /f/) 

Give me the middle sound. (Children respond with /u/) 

Give me the ending sound. (Children respond with /n/)

That’s right! /f/ /u/ /n/—fun! fun! fun!

With the introduction of phonetics in classes PP to three,blending and segmenting words really  help both the teachers and children to develop literacy foundations,such as improving in reading,spelling skills,vocabulary development,phonemic awareness,decoding abilities,reading comprehension and phonoics knowledge.Children are also prepared for the language developmet, reading readiness and confidence from the early age.

Blended learning

 

What is blended learning?

.

 Blended learning is an approach of education in which traditional in-person classes are supplemented or supported with technology and learners take advantage both of online and offline resources. It is a style of education in which students learn via electronic and online media as well as traditional face to face  teaching.

 Blended learning is also defined as a formal education programme that's made up of in-person classroom time as well as individual study online using e learning software. It is a type of multichannel method that incorporates tutor-led activities, images, video, digital tasks and face-to-face discussion

The 4 Key Elements of Blended Learning

•          Face-to-Face instruction/learning.
•          Digital or online instruction/learning.
•          Allowing students to control the pace, place, path, and/or time of their learning.
• An integration of the face-to-face and online learning workration of the face-to-face and online learning work.

Types of blended learning.

1.Flipped classroom

 

2.Self blend model of learning

3.Flex model of learning

4.Rotation model of learning

The most commonly used method of the blended learning is the flipped learning, where the teacher introduce new topics online through videos or interactive content .Later reinforce  and discuss them in the classroom. Blended learning helps in providing home work support at home by sharing educational apps aligned with the curriculum. For the lower classes blended learning  are mostly done through telegram. I share the digital worksheets for children to follow up their lesson .The most common things I share are pictures and short videos related to what children learn. Blended learning develops the best of efficient learning and deepens children’s understanding of the particular topic. It also promotes collaboration teaching and learning with the parents.

Introduction of Microsoft Paint

 Introduction of MS Paint in grade 1

 The Royal Education Council has come up with the ICT National School Curriculum guide to teach basic skills in operating computers. With the initiatives from the government, the education ministry trained teachers across the country with coding. The government launched a flagship project to provide ICT facilities to all the schools in the country. All the schools in the country received laptops and Desktops, received internet connectivity too. 

 This year I took an opportunity to teach ICT in Class 1. The basic

skills in operating a Computer such as shutting down and opening of the computer were taught to them. Children were also introduced to the parts of the computer in class PP.

Microsoft Paint

Microsoft Paint is a drawing software to produce digital art.

I introduced how to open MS paint on their computer. Children were taken through the

drawing tools available on Microsoft Paint. Children were also introduced on how to use shapes and colours  to draw and paint. I demonstrated on how to draw 2 D shapes by using the shapes and colours features of MS paint to the children. After my demonstration, children were made to explore on using the tools and create their 2 D shapes. Most children were able to create 2D shapes by using the MS paint tools. They found it very interesting and showcased their drawing of 2- D shapes their friends. Children were given opportunity to watch video on how to draw angry bird in MS Paint and let them draw a similar art. After the introduction of MS paint ,children explored on their own and  came up with their own creative drawings. They even share their drawing with the friends and felt proud of their creativity . At the end of the lesson, children were aware of  using MS Paint to colour and draw  art by using the shapes.

link to watch how to draw angry bird by using MA Paint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlfIMkPFABk

These 21st century children are to be groomed with 21st-century devices to meet the demands of the digitised world. They are very much competent to utilise and explore the current technologies. We are fortunate  learn and educate our future generation with the right and appropriate tools to handle the modern technologies. Let's hope for the bright and digitised future generation of Bhutan

Tshering Yangzom

DE third year