514-5 Educational Software



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|(1) General Software Review. In this activity you will be reviewing software that you would find useful in your roll as a teacher. |

|Note, this is a review of software, not websites. Websites can be used only if they have a high level of interactivity and |

|animation such as those at . Although we have software on our local servers, much of it is antiquated, and |

|students are best served by downloading freeware and shareware. |

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|Review five or more pieces of educational software. You are free to choose any piece of software that is of value either for |

|instructional, administrative, or professional purposes. You must have hands-on experience with the software... watching someone's |

|software review is not sufficient. |

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|Write a paragraph describing each program and your professional opinion of its usefulness in education. |

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|At least one of your titles should be freeware or shareware that you have downloaded from the Internet. |

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|Include a screen capture from the software. |

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|Choose the best one from among these 5 for the formal software review/presentation. |

| |Title |Review |Screen Capture |

|1 |Grammar |(My best pick)This software helps a student to learn about grammar rules |[pic] |

| |Fitness |in English. It might be very useful for students who have difficulties | |

| |Evaluati|with writing because of their lack of grammar knowledge. After using this | |

| |on-Unit |software, writing assignments will be more enjoyable for any student. | |

| |2 | | |

|2 |AceReade|AceReader Lite is an educational self-improvement reading software. It |[pic] |

| |r Lite |helps learning to read faster both on and off your computer. Includes | |

| |4.7c |reading/comprehension tests broken out by grade levels. Utilizes two | |

| | |technologies: Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), and Tachistoscopic | |

| | |Scroll Presentation. It can be used for all ages. | |

|3 |Animal |This software provides an easy and colorful way to learn the alphabet. |[pic] |

| |Alphabet|Different language versions are also available. It helps kids to become | |

| |Screen |familiar with the letters of the alphabet. Customize options such as delay| |

| |Saver |before starting, picture duration, display of picture titles, transition | |

| |1.3 |effects, password protection, etc. Images can be cycled in order (A-Z) or | |

| | |randomly. | |

|4 |Academic|The Academic Game Maker & Player software allows teachers to quickly and |[pic] |

| |Game |easily create fun educational games for their curriculum. Teachers use the| |

| |Maker & |Academic Game Maker to create learning games and then save them as game | |

| |Player |files. Students can then load these game files and play the games using | |

| |2.2 |the Academic Game Player. | |

|5 |Little |This is a talking program/software that teaches a child reading, writing, |[pic] |

| |Genius |and spelling. The program uses music, sound, and eye-catching graphics to | |

| |2.2 |grab the attention of kids. Interactive lessons make computer sessions | |

| | |exciting and enjoyable. It can be used by kids of all ages. The program | |

| | |increases a child’s comprehension with true animations-simulations that | |

| | |show the correct steps in drawing an alphabet. | |

|(2) Formal Software Review. In this activity you will be reviewing software that you would find useful in your roll as a teacher. |

|Note, this is a review of software, not websites. Websites can be used only if they have a high level of interactivity and |

|animation such as those at . Although we have software on our local servers, much of it is antiquated, and |

|students are best served by downloading freeware and shareware. |

| |

|Select one software product for formal review and presentation to the class. Write reviews for each according to the format |

|guidelines provided on the following page. Post you selection. |

| | |

Title: Grammar Fitness 1.0

(1) Description of Program:

The program is designed to help students improve their skills in using proper grammar. It presents one sentence at a time and asks student to find the error. Two words/ phrases are underlined in the sentence and no error is offered as a third choice. After the question is answered, it says if your answer is right or wrong. It explains the grammar rule and gives the correct sentence. It provides teachers with measurable results. The complete grammar Fitness Series, Sets 1 and 2 include 82 grammar concepts and 1640 questions.

(2) Basic Information:

Title: Grammar Fitness 1.0

Publisher: Merit Software

Cost: Free to try; $35.00 to buy

This is a shareware program.

(3) Target Population: This program is designed for students to use in English at grades 6 through 10. It can also be used by advanced intermediate ESL and adult students. It would be useful for all the grades 6 through 10 while reviewing the grammar and punctuation rules. It covers the basic grammar rules so it can be used as a review activity once every week. I think it will maintain my student’s interest. It has some graphic themes such as confetti, congrats, geograms and fixit team that will encourage students to answer the questions correctly.

 

(4) Content Goals

This program may not be used to introduce new concepts but provides a good review of the grammar rules taught in English classes. It may be used as an assessment tool to check student knowledge of these rules. It includes a broad range of grammar concepts. The program implements strategies which help students cope with many troublesome points of grammar--including usage, diction, idioms, grammatical relationships, and punctuation. After an assessment, students advance through the program at their own pace. They are able to track their progress through their progress-to-date and session scores. Students' scores are kept in a management system that allows teachers to view student progress and print reports. This will give the teacher a chance to see how much the student learned about the specific grammar concepts and plan his instruction accordingly.

(5) Process Goals

This program encourages students to do analysis of the sentence(s) and eliminate the two choices that are not true. Students need to read the sentence(s) carefully, think about the grammar rule that the question addresses and apply their knowledge into the question to decide on the right answer. It is not very different than the traditional techniques in terms of stimulating these reasoning skills. The students need to use their reasoning skills in the process of understanding and answering the question which makes the question main focus of this activity. But the question format is the same as the ones in the traditional forms. So this program doesn’t accomplish more than what traditional forms of instruction do in terms of stimulating reasoning skills.

   

(6) Lesson Plan

Write three specific tasks, questions, goals, or projects that you would have your students accomplish or answer after using this software.

1) Write a worksheet/ study guide listing the most challenging grammar concepts for you.

2) Make your own assessment tool. You may use any technique such as multiple choice questions, true/false or correcting the mistake.

3) Write a journal about the grammar rules you learned after using this software.

 

(7) Summary

Assuming that you had access to this software, would you use it in your classroom? Explain why or why not.

I would definitely use it in my classroom as a tool to have my students review grammar concepts and to assess student knowledge on specific concepts. I believe it will help me maintain student interest on grammar concepts and it will serve me as a tool to enhance my teaching.

|(3) Formal Presentation of Software: One or two sessions will be scheduled for formal software review. During these sessions you |

|will present your software in small groups or to the class using network sharing software such as Apple Remote Desktop. Once you |

|have decided on software to review, post your decision on the newsgroup as specified in class or on the web-page. first-come, |

|first-served. |

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|Make a presentation of your software using the following guidelines Each presentation must be limited to 15 minutes. |

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|Your presentations should stress how this software can be used effectively in the curriculum. |

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|Do not spend time discussing mechanics (menu structure, etc.) nor shortcomings |

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|Illustrate how the software can be used to enhance instruction. |

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|Provide your peers with a "hands-on experiences" lesson if at all possible. |

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