Tuesday 28 February 2012

Educational software for Learn

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In a broader sense, the term edutainment describes an intentional merger of computer games and educational software into a single product (and could therefore also comprise more serious titles described above under children’s learning software). In the narrower sense used here, the term describes educational software which is primarily about entertainment, but tends to educate as well and sells itself partly under the educational umbrella. 

Software of this kind is not structured towards school curricula, does not normally involve educational advisors, and does not focus on core skills such as literacy and numeracy.
manufacturers, including many established educational book publishers. 

Educational software on custom platforms

Some manufacturers regarded normal personal computers as an inappropriate platform for learning software for younger children and produced custom child-friendly pieces of hardware instead. The hardware and software is generally combined into a single product, such as a child laptop-lookalike. The laptop keyboard for younger children follows an alphabetic order and the qwerty order for the older ones. 

The most well-known example are Leapfrog products. These include imaginatively designed hand-held consoles with a variety of pluggable educational game cartridges and book-like electronic devices into which a variety of electronic books can be loaded. These products are more portable than general laptop computers, but have a much more limited range of purposes, concentrating on [[literacy]

Software in corporate training and tertiary education

Earlier educational software for the important corporate and tertiary education markets was designed to run on a single desktop computer (or an equivalent user device). The history of such software is usefully summarized in the SCORM 2004 2nd edition Overview (section 1.3), unfortunately, however, without precise dates. In the years immediately following 2000, planners decided to switch to server-based applications with a high degree of standardization

This means that educational software runs primarily on servers which may be hundreds or thousands of miles from the actual user. The user only receives tiny pieces of a learning module or test, fed over the internet one by one. The server software decides on what learning material to distribute, collects results and displays progress to teaching staff. Another way of expressing this change is to say that educational software morphed into an online educational service. US Governmental endorsements and approval systems ensured the rapid switch to the new way of managing and distributing learning material.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Wiris Tools for Mathematical Formulas

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Insert Mathematical Formulas

WIRIS editor is a visual editor (WYSIWYG) that allows inserting mathematical formulas in web pages. It is based on Java technology and the standard MathML, so it runs on any browser and operating system, in particular on Windows, Linux and Mac.

WIRIS editor is a mathematical WYSIWYG editor. You can use a large collection of icons nicely organized in thematic tabs in order to create formulas for your web page, virtual learning environment, blog or forum.

Insert interactive mathematics

WIRIS cas is an online platform for mathematical calculations designed for education. You can access a powerful calculation toolbar through an HTML page that includes integrals and limits calculation, function graphing in 2D or 3D and symbolic matrices manipulation, among others.

WIRIS cas covers all mathematical topics from primary school to university level (Calculus, Algebra, Geometry, Differential Equations...).

Empower your Moodle Quiz module with mathematics

Moodle Quiz allows you to create questionnaires for your students. If you would enjoy such features as randomised data and automatic evaluation and feedback, then WIRIS quizzes is your solution. This component enhances the existing question types of Moodle with the power of mathematics:
  • You keep full control over random data (create a random matrix with a set range, for example, or a polynomial with a double root).
  • Add 2D or 3D graphics in your questions, answers and feedback.
  • The answers of the students are automatically evaluated and their feedback is provided taking into account the randomness of the question and that of the answer!
  • The evaluation checks for mathematically equivalent answers to the expected, but not exactly the expected solution. For example, if the solution were «math xmlns=¨http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML¨»«msup»«mi»x«/mi»«mn»2«/mn»«/msup»«mo»-«/mo»«mn»1«/mn»«/math», we want the system to interpret «math xmlns=¨http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML¨»«mfenced»«mrow»«mi»x«/mi»«mo»+«/mo»«mn»1«/mn»«/mrow»«/mfenced»«mo»§#183;«/mo»«mfenced»«mrow»«mi»x«/mi»«mo»-«/mo»«mn»1«/mn»«/mrow»«/mfenced»«/math» as a correct answer. This can only be achieved via a calculation engine as WIRIS.
  • The teacher decides if the student has access to a calculation engine session or a formula editor for introducing their answer.
  • The production and modification time of the exercises is reduced to the minimum through simple and visual edition.
  • NEW: WIRIS quizzes 2 allows you to control the format of the answer provided by the student: request it to be simplified, factorised, etc. Come and see us present the latest features at our nearest events.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Create graph "Love Function" Using Google

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Google continuesly spoils its users, and this time especially for you – the math lovers. Google has announced its new service by integrating a facility that allows users to plot graphs of mathematical functions in its search engine.


Simply start with the command plot or graph, and type the functions to be plotted using simple syntax. Google will display the graph function in a wink.

Here are the graphs of some basic functions.

plot cos x, x/5, exp x


Below is a graph of the "love function" that is panetrated by a straight line.


graph sqrt(cos x) sin(300 x) + sqrt(abs x) - 1, x - 0.5, from -2 to 2


If you want to do advanced computation online, you can try Wolfram Alpha that use Mathematica as its computational engine.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Download English Dictionary software

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TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a professional software package that integrates a complete dictionary and multifaceted thesaurus of the English language into a single and powerful language reference system.


TheSage can look up words directly from almost any program (IE, Word, Firefox, Outlook, Thunderbird,... ).

Features:

1. Comprehensive Dictionary - Multiple detailed definitions (+210,000)
2. Complete Thesaurus - Nearly 1,400,000 relationships between definitions (synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms, hyponyms, meronyms, holonyms,...)
3. Example Sentences - A large collection that already includes approximately 50,000 examples of usage.
4. Pronunciations - +70,000 phonetic transcriptions.
5. Information Integration - Each definition has its own specific thesaurus.
6. Cross-Referencing - Any and all displayed words are clickable, triggering a new lookup.
7. Wildcard Search - Match single/multiple characters as well as filter by single/groups of vowels and consonants.
8. Anagram Search - Only valid English words are returned.

Download TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus is a professional software here

Monday 20 February 2012

How to Make Technology in the Classroom

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The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) is an observation tool developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The association’s purpose is to engage in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through technology. The association is also responsible for developing the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators. The classroom observation tool was designed to evaluate the amount of technology being used in the classroom as well as its effective use based on the NETS.


Why use ICOT as an Observation Tool?

There are several good reasons for using an observation tool such as ICOT to evaluate the effective use of technology in the classroom. The authors report that technology spending in education will reach $56 billion by 2012. A final reason for using such technology to evaluate the use of technology in the classroom is for administrators to better prepare and plan professional development for teachers in the use of technology. The components of the ICOT instrument consist of setting, groups, activities, technology, NETS, and charts. The technology component is the meat of the observation tool. The NETS component reports on what teacher or student standards are being taught or used during the lesson.

Observation

For the practical purposes of this article the writer used the ICOT instrument to observer a fifth grade teacher at the writer’s school. The teacher is a fifth year teacher who has taught traditional classes as well as boys’ single gender classes. There are five fifth grade classes containing approximately 23 students per class. Teachers are encouraged to engage students in the use of technology at least on a daily basis.

There were 23 students in the classroom at the time. Each student had their own lap top computer provided by the school. Students were creating, researching, collaborating during the lesson. Second, the teacher created a developmentally appropriate learning activity for fifth grade boys. Third, the technology used during the lesson enhanced instruction. Fourth, the technology supported learner-centered strategies. Fifth, the teacher applied technology to develop students’ creativity. Finally, the teacher modeled legal and ethical technology practices by using the interactive board to show examples.

ICOT is a useful tool for administrators to safely document the effective use of technology in the classroom. The tool allows educators to observe technology being used by both students and teachers based on the NETS. Many general classroom observation tools touch on technology in the classroom, but very few if any go in to as much detail as the ICOT does. As administrators observe in classrooms and upload data to the website, district administrators can generate and view reports that can guide professional development and future purchases.

Effective Classroom Management

Let's not also forget that a large proportion of pupils in our classes are EBD, ADHD or on the autistic spectrum and as such, have a genuine need for unambiguous, precise instructions.

The following example illustrates this need perfectly:

At the first EBD centre I taught in, the pupils (11-14yrs) were allowed on the yard at break to play football.

The instructions, which sound incredibly pedantic, broke the short 200 yard journey into very small segments and went something like this...

(wait for them to stand in silence before giving next instruction) "Walk across the hall to the fire door and wait in line." "Go though the doors and walk down the corridor to the outside doors. Here's another example to show how vague instructions are such a waste of time...

On the way back from the yard at break one day, Mark was deliberately lagging behind, bouncing the football.

"Come on Mark, quick... Hurry up Mark, lessons have started... Mark! Break's over Mark!... Quickly Mark!... Mark!... Mark then proceeded to enjoy the undivided attention of two members of staff as they altered their approach from friendly cajoling and encouragement to aggressive shouting and frustrated threats. Had the teacher altered her instruction slightly at the beginning, the situation could have been very different. "Mark break is over.


References
Collier, S., Weinburgh, M. H., & Rivera, M. (2004). Infusing technology skills into a teacher education program: Change in students’ knowledge about and use of technology. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 12(3), 447-468.

Moskowitz, S. & Martabano, S. (2009). Administrators accessing the effectiveness of technology. Retrieved from http://www.schoolcio.com/default.aspx.

Sunday 19 February 2012

Educational Software for Learn With Fun

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School software are created to effectively teach kids or even adults courses of choice either as a classroom supplement or as an educational source for self learning. It is an innovative learning tool that can effectively transfer information in a unique enjoyable way.

For classroom purposes, having school software may be a major expenditure for teachers. With the wide collection of different education software available, it is critical that you are choosing the right ones. Is it easy to finish the course by themselves or does it need help guides that would aid them through the course?

It is also critical for effective learning that the navigation is simple and easy to comprehend. Some might cost a little higher but offers a broad curriculum that displays the learning curve. Natural Motivation.

Saturday 18 February 2012

New math software

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Math learning need support so learning more interesting and meaningful. Therefore, teachers must prepare learning material as well. In order to create a good teaching material must be supported with math learning software, because of the inordinate use of mathematical symbols. Here I refer to mathematical software that can be downloaded.

1. CalcuTray
CalcuTray is a simple, quick and easy to use calculator that resides in the system tray and enables you to quickly perform a mathematical calculation by simply typing in the numbers, using the standard mathematical operators (+, -, *, / etc.). In addition to basic calculations, CalcuTray also be used to solve square roots and convert fractions to decimals. You can also use Pi in any of your calculations.

2. Kalkules
Kalkules is an universal scientific freeware calculator with an amount of untraditional functions, which can be used particularly by high school or university students. It also offers a wide range of tools, which make your calculations easier and faster.