1. Name of Website: i4c – Internet 4 Classrooms – Helping You Use the Internet Effectively.
3. Copyright date and/or last update: Internet 4 Classrooms, LLC ©2000-2010; the website is updated at least monthly, as can be witnessed by the “November Tips” and i4c Featured “Picks of the Month.”
4. Author/organization credentials: Internet4Classrooms is a collaborative effort of teachers, Susan Brooks and Bill Byles that began in 1997 to offer assistance to fellow teachers. In November 2000, they formed Internet 4 Classrooms (i4c), a free web portal designed to teachers in finding high-quality, free, Internet resources to assist in classroom instruction. Susan and Bill have over six decades of classroom instruction experience, from Kindergarten to College. Susan is an Instructional Technology Consultant and Professional Development Trainer, and Bill is a retired Staff Development Coordinator for the Teaching and Learning Academy.
5. Web site design and ease of navigation: This website is extremely easy to use. There is a tool bar across the top of the page, and the same tool bar runs down the left hand side of the page. For visual users, there are also links with picture icons in the center of the page that offer the same menu choices as the two toolbars I’ve mentioned. Once you decide where you want to go, you just click on the tool bar or icon. Choices include “Grade Level Help,” “Links for K-12,” “Technology Tutorials,” “Assessment Assistance,” “Daily Dose of the Web,” “On-Site Training,” and “About Us.” Once you click on a link, the next page has a list menu of topics that you can choose for more specific information. For example, under “Technology Tutorials,” you can further select from choices like “Microsoft Excel,” “Microsoft Word,” “Microsoft Power Point,” “Dreamweaver,” “Internet Explorer,” and “PC Troubleshooting.” Under these sub-titles, you can further select from a menu to get exercises or tutorials on the specific topic of instruction. As an example, if I click on “Microsoft Excel,” I can choose from topics such as “Keyboard Shortcuts for a Mac,” “Advanced Tutorials on Charts/Graphs,” or “Graphic Organizers Tutorials.” Then, there are eight activities to choose from that will help students understand how to make a custom graphic organizer.
6. Website Response and Recommendation for Use: I love this website! I think internet4classrooms.com is an invaluable tool for teachers, regardless of their content area. Since there are so many menu choices, you can find activities for most any teaching topic. I would use this website for individual activities when students have finished their classroom work. For example, if I were teaching students how to navigate a spreadsheet, I would ask students to visit the Technology Tutorial page and practice with the Excel Spreadsheet exercises when they completed their in-class assignment. This would reiterate the points I am teaching students, and would offer them some additional practice with that particular skill.
_______________________________________
1. Name of Web Site: Business News for Kids
3. Copyright date and/or last update: BusinessNewsForKids.com ©2007;The newsletter is published every Monday.
4. Author/organization credentials: There is very little about the author of this web page included. If you click on the “About Us” tab, you read that the author is a father-son team. A man and his two young sons are the core team of this effort, but they often consult experts in a particular field for specific information.
5. Web site design and ease of navigation: This web page is extremely easy to use, as most of the information I would require is on the Home page. The Home Page has current financial and economic news updates, Stock market updates, Foreign Exchange Rates, and Business Fun Facts listed. Terms that students might not be familiar with are highlighted in red, and can be further explained by mousing over the term. There are also links to specific topics from their archive, such as credit history, mergers and acquisitions, consumer confidence, and supply and demand.
6. Web site Response and Recommendation for Use: Although the author and validity of this site is questionable, I might be tempted to use this page as the “Home Page” for my students’ computers. I think it is important for students to develop an interest in the business world, so they can understand the economics of the world we live in, once they become adults. By presenting the information on a student’s level, you can encourage students to follow the stock market, watch financial news updates, etc. I would start class each Monday morning with a discussion about the current events presented on this page. It might also be fun for the class to pick a stock at the beginning of the semester, and pretend to invest in it. Then, students can follow the performance of that stock throughout the semester, and see if they made or lost money on the final day of class.
_____________________________________
1. Name of Web Site: Blair English – Free Online Business English for Busy People
3. Copyright date and/or last update: Blair English ©2011
4. Author/organization credentials: Blair English is a group of native English teachers based in Madrid, Spain, who have many years experience teaching Business English and working in the business/corporate world.
5. Web site design and ease of navigation: The website, www.blairenglish.com is very easy to navigate. There is a tool bar at the top of the home page that offers to take readers to “About,” “Exercises,” “Forums,” “Contact,” or “Services.” There is also an Exercises Menu on the home page that is probably where most teachers will use. The Exercise Menu consists of lessons for ESL students on topics such as Meetings, CV & Interviews, Numbers & Figures, Emails, Presentations, Projects, Phrases/Phrasal Verbs, Social English, General Business, Negotiations, Food & Drink and Technology & Web. Once you choose a topic, a sub-menu comes up where students can choose a particular lesson to take. For example, if you click on the Exercise Menu tab for “General Business,” you can choose from lessons on Absence from Work, Losing a Job, Leaving a Job, Corporate Hierarchy, Business Time Vocabulary or Time Phrases: Requesting & Responding. When you choose a particular lesson, there is a script from a real-world scenario explaining the topic or vocabulary terms that are difficult for ESL learners to understand. There is also link to a dictionary, and a link for users to actually hear the pronunciation of selected vocabulary words, used in context.
6. Web site Response and Recommendation for Use: This website has an author/credentials that I was unable to verify, which is cause for concern. However, the website itself offers invaluable tools for ESL students who might be struggling with much of the terminology that is used in Career/Technology classes. I would use this website in my class for ESL students who seem to be struggling. By giving these students a broad base of knowledge regarding the vocabulary used in the business world, you increase their chance for success, both in class, and in the real world. I would use this website as an individual tutorial for ESL students to work on in their spare class time. I would also offer to allow students to come in and work on the tutorials before or after school, or during my conference period. With an increasing ESL population in most public schools, I can see how this website could be an asset to Business Education teachers.
_______________________________________
1. Name of Web Site: Hands On Banking web site
3. Copyright date and/or last update: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. ©2003, 2006
4. Author/organization credentials: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
5. Web site design and ease of navigation: The site is easy to use and navigate. When you open the Home Page, you have four colorful icons that allow you to choose “Adults,” “Young Adults”, “Teens,” or “Kids.” Since “Teens” indicates that the link is for 6th to 8th graders, I clicked on that icon. It takes you to a page titled “Hands-On Banking for Teens.” The page opens to an audio tour of the site, showing what lessons are available to pursue. There is also a link to click on for a site tour. Lessons included are You & Your Money, Budgeting, Savings & Checking Guide, Credit & You, Smart Investing, and there is an assessment that students can complete to check their understanding of the concepts. Students will be able to print off a certificate of achievement when they show mastery of all of the topics presented. The lessons include audio and visual graphics, and there is an option for closed captioning or lessons in Spanish.
6. Web site Response and Recommendation for use: This website is geared toward age-specific groups, and I really like that. Lessons are both visually and audibly stimulating, catering to both types of learners. I think this website could be used in a Personal Finance class for any grade level. The lessons have questions and/or activities that the student completes before moving on, to check for understanding. I would go through the Budgeting lesson, and then ask students to compile their own personal budget for a grade. It would also be fun to have students develop a budget and savings plan for an item that they would like to purchase. We could check at the end of the school year to see how many students stuck to their budget, and find out how many students were able to make their planned purchase. Learning to form a budget, and more importantly, how to live by a budget, is a crucial lesson for today’s students.
_______________________________________
1. Name of Web Site: Career Explorer
3. Copyright date and/or last update: Career Explorer ©2011
4. Author/organization credentials: CareerExplorer.net, Lenexa, KS
5. Web site design and ease of navigation: The Career Explorer website is easy enough to use, but it requires that you enter personal information (name, e-mail address, zip code) before gaining access to the Aptitude Test. Offers to sign up to receive updates from sponsoring companies (mostly universities, career training colleges, etc.) will pop up, but you are able to decline them. Once you access the Aptitude Test, there are a series of questions about how you like to work, how you learn, and how you relate to other people. To answer each question, you simply click on the scale to choose whether you “strongly agree,” “strongly disagree,” or fall somewhere in between. At the end of the test, you are given a summary of which types of careers might be best for you, based on your responses.
6. Web site Response and Recommendation for Use: While I do not like the fact that you have to submit some personal information to use the site, I do like the Aptitude Test, and the summary of career choices that are provided to the user. Because of this, I would probably use this website in class, only with the approval of the student. I would discuss the website with students, and suggest the Aptitude Test for those students who are unsure about their career goals. I would make the information available to students in a handout, outlining the benefits of taking the Aptitude test, as well as the potential for having their e- mail addresses shared by the website. Since I couldn’t find any credentials of the author, other than the name and address of the company, I am suspicious of their intentions, and believe that their ultimate goal is to get referrals for their sponsors (the universities and colleges mentioned above).
No comments:
Post a Comment