Blog Assignment #2

Commercial Hypermedia Product

http://www.livecareer.com/resume-examples/business

This commercial hypermedia product is an online resume builder. The product provides many templates and also provides a step-by-step tutorial for creating a professional resume. Not only is this product useful to job seeking professionals, it also has major benefits in the classroom. Students can utilize this product to create their own resume as an assignment. Providing this product to students as a guide to resume building will greatly increase their knowledge on what goes into a successful resume. According to Roblyer and Doering (2011), this type of product will encourage students to be proactive learners (pg.176). Having students personalize their resumes with this product will help them develop the creative and critical thinking skills required to be successful in the professional world (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg. 176).

Multimedia Authoring Tool

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/teachers-guide-on-use-of-podcasting-in.html

The link above is information on one example of a type 2 multimedia-authoring tool: the podcast. By creating podcasts, educators provide students with additional access to lectures on topics that they may need extra assistance with. Podcasts have become an increasingly popular way to deliver content (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg.189). Roblyer and Doering (2011) also note that podcasts can be used as “student-produced media for instruction” (pg.189). This empowers students to engage the material hands on. Other forms of type 2 multimedia-authoring tools include video sharing, video editing, and audio editing (Roblyer & Doering 2011, pg. 189). All of these tools can be interactive, creative ways to help students better understand the material presented. 

Hypermedia Video 

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

Blog Assignment #1

Word Processing Software

            Its’s hard to imagine going through school without word processing software, but this was done not too long ago. For most of my generation, using word processing software to complete assignments for class is an automatic assumption. This assumption is an example of how great of an impact this software has had on education (Roblyer and Doering, 2011, p.116). One positive of using word processing software is the ability to easily share documents virtually which is a huge time saver in education. Although this software has many benefits, which in my opinion outweigh the negatives by a long shot, there are some issues that critics have found with the use of this software in education. One issue is the impact word processing has on students’ handwriting. This is a legitimate concern and should be noted when designing early education curriculum. My personal opinion is that the knowledge of using tools such as word processing software is more valuable than having perfect handwriting.

Spreadsheet Software

            Most people shy away from spreadsheet software and simply worry about the learning curve that this software brings to the table. I, however, enjoy using this software and am not an “excel wizard” by any means. I can perform the simple tasks and find this software very useful for working with any type of numerical data. In the classroom, this software has much potential to help educators save time, stay organized and even help present material to students.  Roblyer and Doering (2011) also note, “students can use spreadsheets to create neat timelines, charts, graphs, as well as products that require them to store and calculate numbers” (p.125). This software is very valuable to education and does not present many issues besides getting over the fear of working with numbers and a small learning curve.

Presentation Software

            Presentation software is used in education for a variety of different subjects. It brings many benefits to the table. One of those benefits is how it can enhance the impact of the information being covered.  “When a presentation product is well-designed, it supports and supplements what the speaker says, using graphics and multimedia to give illustrations and drive home points with images and sound” (Roblyer & Doering, 2011 p.128).  As beneficial as this software is in education, its impact still “largely depends on how teachers use them and how much time they spend with the material” (Roblyer & Doering, 2011 p.25). 

Classroom Use

            In my business class, I would use presentation software as a visual aid while discussing strengths and weaknesses of company mission statements. As Roblyer and Doering (2011) say, “though using presentation software does not assure an organized coherent talk, its emphasis on sequencing and breaking information into component parts can promote a more organized approach.” Therefore, I would have a current Fortune 500 companies’ mission statement on each slide and have my class discuss what they like about the statement and what they would like to change. 

References

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