Monday, October 26, 2015

Working on Group Projects

Group work helps us learn more as we need to interact with our group members. When we interact we pour in our thought about the topic and as we discuss we learn a lot of new things from each other. While working on these two projects, we interacted a lot and I learnt a lot of things. The two projects we worked on were Project 1. Creating Quiz and Project 2. Creating Video Tutorial. We were four in the group - Sonam Choden, Jigme Norbu, Sonam Tenzin and me.

Project 1- Creating quiz was done using Wonder share quiz creator. As I download and went through it showed the different types of questions that we can make. We discussed in groups about the question type and then we divided the questions among ourselves  for a faster result. So we agreed to work on this way- Multiple Choice and multiple response - Sonam Choden, Fill in the blanks and word choice- Sonam Tenzin, Matching, sequence, and click on map questions- Jigme Norbu and True and False and short essay type was done by me.

Creating quiz using this software would be interesting because we can have animations, sound effects to make the quiz fun and enjoyable. The children now a days know a lot of skills using computers so if we can manage some more computers at school then we can also create quiz to conduct end chapter test. The children in our class would also love to do it in a different way. So learning to create a quiz will help me conduct a quiz at my school.


Project 2- Creating a Video Tutorial was another fun activity we did as a group. I downloaded Camtesia Studio 6 and discussed with my friends on wechat. Jigme Norbu explained to us the how we can import videos, add text, transitons to produce a video.

To create the video tutorial we need to plan a lesson which was drafted by Sonam Choden. She shared this on wiki for editing and refining. We did it and divided our parts. We then captured our part and uploaded on drive to be shared to our group members. Though we worked together in groups the last part- producing the video was done by Jigme Norbu. He always shared to us what he was doing, how to do it on wechat and would sometimes call us to tell what he was doing and what we should know. Finally, the video was produced and was submitted for assessment.

While working on Project 2, I got busy whenever Jigme told us to do this and this. I was very much enthusiastic to learn to produce a video because if we can do this we can produce teaching learning materials in videos and animations. The students in the lower classes are very much keen to learn songs and rhymes but the prescribed songs and rhymes do not have video clips. Now I can use whatever I have learnt here to produce video clips to enhance my teaching and learning process. I can also produce my own video tutorials to substitute my own class while I stay on leave.

It is never too late to start, so let us all gear ourselves to move on with this 21st century learners and be able to cater to their needs.


Blogging and Wiki Day VI -10th July

I was very excited to learn about blog and wiki as I have heard people talk about blog pages they have. These are also sites where we can share information to our friends far and near. Once we know one's address on blog, we can access to it from anywhere. It is also an important site as we can post our views and receive comments on our post. It is going to be very useful in our day to day life.

To be able to create a blog, we need to have a gmail account. Then we got to click on google apps and choose blogger. After that make an address and give a blog title. We can then add information into our personal profile. Finally we can write, add videos and images to a post by clicking on to new post. Click publish to appear on our blog page. Click view blog to view our page.

Wiki is another website where we can participate as a group and work on same task/activity. As in blog, we can write, add images and videos and share it with our friends. Wiki site allows not only to comment but also to edit a friend's work. To create a wiki site we need to login to our gmail account and go to google apps. Scroll down to find sites to create the wiki site.Finally create the page by adding a title , friends that we want to share our information.

Learning about all these sites were informative as we get to explore and experiment on our own and in the process we come to learn so many things that we never thought of, so learning is never ending. These sites would be more useful among teachers as we can share information, our experiences, views and opinions on issues and achievements that come our way as we teach and learn everyday.

I would like to share it with friends and ask them to create a blog and a wiki page. We can ask each other our concerns and also share our professional experiences on these site so that we can be of some help and benefit each other in the teaching profession. Lastly I would like to thank our tuotor for his support and guidance.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Co-constructive tools Day IV and V Date - 8th and 9th July

As the session began for today’s lesson I became more interested as I was sure that I was learning a lot from the ICT classes. We were introduced to the Google Apps like Drive, google doc and google form. After each introduction on the apps we were also left to explore on our own, with support from the tutor and friends too. To be able to access to and use these apps we needed an account in gmail. Some of ou friends did not have a gmail account so they were asked to open one to make use of the apps. The following are the google apps that we were taken through during the session.
1.      Google Drive
2.      Google Doc
3.      Google Form
1.      Google Drive
I had some knowledge about this as we were asked to upload files and documents on drive during our 10 day training under the Chigphen Rigphel Project. It is an online drive. It can store documents online. We will be able to access all the files and documents uploaded and saved at all times with an access to internet. The files that are heavy can be uploaded on drive and then shared to our friends.

2.      Google Doc
I thought this is going to be complicated as I have never heard of it but as the tutor took us through his presentation I found out that it was like working on Microsoft word. We can create document, edit and share online. As google drive we access to all documents that we created with an internet access.

3.      Google Form
This app can be used to gather information of a survey in a faster and effective way. We can create survey questionnaire online and then share it to our friends or the stakeholders. The responses are automatically stored in google spreadsheet which can be analyzed easily. It saves a lot of time and resources.
After we are given all these information on google apps , we were then asked to work on creating a questionnaire using form.

Critical Analysis of the topic
The google apps were very important to us. Storing files and documents online can be safe as there are fewer chances of losing or damaging a file or else forgetting at home when needed. We can produce the all the documents at any time if we have uploaded the file on drive and with an access to internet.

Google Doc, as said, is like working on Microsoft word, we can use this app to have a question and answer session in higher grades to assess them at the end of the chapter or the day’s lesson. We can also have activities like word building, word search for English lessons. I have found this app a useful tool that can be used in our class if we are provided the facilities.

Google form is going to be very useful to collect data for conducting survey. I am sure that this app will useful when I pursue my higher studies. I have seen my friends pursuing higher studies conducting survey for researches. They print their questionnaire as move from one place to the other to gather information. Then at the end of the day some friends have such a handwriting that they are not able to read. If we use google form then we can gather information at a faster rate and whatever is written will be clear and readable. The responses will be stored on spreadsheet making it easier for analysis. So I will definitely benefit from whatever I have learnt during my residential school


As a saying goes “Practice makes a man perfect” , so whatever I have learnt today will be remembered and practiced in my day to day teaching and learning process. I am also going to share all these information with my colleagues so that they will also be benefited as I am. Lastly I would like to thank my tutor for his support and guidance.

Day 3 - Web Search Date- 7th July, 2015


Familiarization on Web searching and its benefits was the main focus on today’s lesson. Web searching was looking for information on internet that helps us in particular use.
The popular search engines used today are Google, Bing and Yahoo. The results displayed are typically prioritized by relevance, so those who search the Web can quickly find material that is relevant to their needs. Without a search engine, finding information and resources on the Internet is very difficult, especially when specific servers and domains containing desired information are unknown.

Introduction of Operators when using search engines introduced to us were; 
Boolean Operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT or AND NOT) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search, resulting in more focused and productive results. This should save time and effort by eliminating inappropriate hits that must be scanned before discarding.

Using AND operators The AND & OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition. The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition AND the second condition are true.

Using Truncation
Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.
  • Examples:
    child* = child, childs, children, childrens, childhood
    genetic* = genetic, genetics, genetically
  • Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #

Using  Wildcards:
Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word.
  • This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning

Using site operators
We were also enhanced on how to carry out complete search omitting the www. and instead adding specified domain. For example, a search for site:bbc.com would encompass not just www.bbc.com, but also news.bbc.com, sports.bbc.com, and so on. The site: search operator works even when just the domain extension (like .com, .org, .gov, or .co.uk) is specified. Thus, we can restrict our search to .com sites with site:com, to .gov sites with site:gov, or to .org.bt.  

Searching by format  
we can restrict our search to Word documents, to Excel documents, to PDF files, or to PowerPoint files by adding filetype:doc, filetype:xls, filetype:pdf, or filetype:ppt, respectively, to your search query.
If we want a PowerPoint presentation on How to integrate ICT in subject  Simply query Google for “Diagonals and Symmetry filetype:ppt


Towards the end of today’s lesson we were briefed on the benefits of using Google application and Google help centre. Google Books is a Google service that makes discovering book content easier for us on the web.