Friday, July 17, 2015

Blog Assignment #3

How can learning to use search engines help you/students find better information?


Students can greatly benefit from learning about different search engines as well as the strategies that go along with using these search engines.  With so much information on the web, knowing how to search for the facts you are looking for is a valuable skill according to our text “Now there is so much information that companies have developed special searching programs to help us locate things” (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg. 219).






Website Evaluation Video 


This website evaluation video explains how to tell if a website is a reliable source of information. This will be useful in my classroom for students researching business topics that may come across several websites that are not reliable sources for information. Due to the vast amount of majority on the web there contains information that is “incomplete, inaccurate, and/or out of date” (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg.255). 

Favorite Web Site #1 


The website I chose is investopedia.com; this site contains a massive amount of resources for people needing information about business/finance. This website has a good structured and organized home page, with tabs across the top of the home page as well as two search boxes; one for searching topics and another to enter in the symbol of a company to receive stock quotes and/or information on that company. This search feature is mentioned when discussing easily navigable websites in our text, “larger sites have their own built-in search engine” (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg.255). According to our text good structure and organization is determined by “how clear a user can find the content that they are looking for on the website” (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg.255).
Favorite Web Site #2 


The Wiki site I chose is actually from a Canadian high school, but as I searched for example wiki’s for business content in high school I realized my options were limited. Luckily this example wiki I came across is very well done and will be helpful when I create my own. Much like my first site I mentioned, this site also is very well organized and structured. I think having the list of classes on the right hand side of the page gives the user fast access to the class page they want to navigate to. According to our textbook “a website has to have good user design, meaning that it is easy for a user to experience the features of the website” (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg.255). Another great aspect of this wiki site is the “How to” section, which provides links to the following information: How To- Search Internet better, Use Google Docs, create a blog and many more great topics.

References
Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2012). Integrating educational technology into teaching (6th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill Prentice Hall.

3 comments:

  1. I think your video choice and both website choices would be greatly implemented in the business classroom. I never knew that there was an Investopedia! Can it be edited like a wikipedia? I also think that the wiki you chose would be great for a business classroom. You could just download the lesson plans to your computer and implement them the way you wanted to in your classroom. Roblyer and Doering (2012) stated that "Many instructors use wikis both in their classes for their students to develop their own wikis or they develop wikis to communicate their own content" (224). This is both effective for the students and teacher because teachers can assess more easily than perhaps hand-written projects!

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  2. I used this video in my blog as well. I really liked it. It was very short and too the point while also getting the point across. I also looked into your first website. I really like the visual design of the webpage. Roblyer and Doering (2012) stated, " pages are designed for good readability and aesthetics" (pg 255). This page, is very business professional looking. There is quit a bit of information on the front page, but it is still easy to read.

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  3. I checked out the wikispace account you found and thought it was neat and would definitely be an asset for students. This wiki has a calendar for students to see upcoming assignments along with everything neatly laid out for students to find whatever they need. Roblyer and Doering (2012) stated many instructors are using wikis not only for student use but to "communicate their own content" (p. 224). Students can definitely access their material given by the instructor online. This is great!

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