Software

In this post you will get to know very useful software called "Hot Potatoes" and "Quandary".

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like.

http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/hot_pot.php

Here are some examples of what one can create with the help of Hot Potatoes:
http://hotpot.uvic.ca/wintutor6/index.htm
http://www.finchpark.com/courses/hotpot/

Tutorials for the program: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/wintutor6/mashertutorial.htm
http://hotpot.uvic.ca/tutorials6.php (for Quandary as well)

Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name "Action Maze".

http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php

Here are 2 examples of Quandary (for you to experience it and just have fun)
http://www.hlw-dl.at/content/maltaexperience/
http://surfingwithsarah.com/Documents/FairyCrystalHunt.htm

http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary/version_2/tutorial/tutorial.htm (tutorial)


Here are 3 more websites with tools you might want to use:

http://www.toolsforeducators.com/

http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx

http://busyteacher.org/wordpuzzle/

Your assignment is:
1. To explore these two programs
2. To choose one of the following topics (and subscribe for them in the comments - do not choose the topic that is already chosen!):
1) Appearance and character
2) Family and relatives
3) Houses (inside and outside)
4) Household chores
5) Food
6) Eating out (all over the world)
7) Weather
8) Education
9) Shopping
10) Clothes
3. In groups of 2 or individually to create examples of activities on your own (at least 1 assignment for each type of activities):
1) Quiz
2) Crossword
3) Matching exercises
4) Fill-in gaps
5) Jumbled-sentence exercises
6) Quandary

WebQuest

WebQuests
WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning, says workshop expert Bernie Dodge. This means it is a classroom-based lesson in which most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web. Beyond that, WebQuests:

* can be as short as a single class period or as long as a month-long unit;

* usually (though not always) involve group work, with division of labor among students who take on specific roles or perspectives;

* are built around resources that are preselected by the teacher. Students spend their time USING information, not LOOKING for it.

This is the website where teachers can create their own WEbQuests and find the existing ones:

http://zunal.com

Your assignment will be:
1. To complete the following WebQuest (50 minutes - 25 minutes for viewing the WebQuests and 25 minutes for analyzing them in groups of 4)

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestwebquest-hum.html

Please read carefully and follow all the instructions in the WebQuest!

2. To present he results of your research (last 30 minutes of the class).

3. To create your WebQuests (either individually or in groups) and to add links to the comment section of this weblog post.

4. To analyze each others' WebQuests (at home) and to comment on them (whole group discussion during the class).

GOOD LUCK!

Wikis

Wikis

"Wiki" is the word for "fast" in Hawaiian. A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses them to contribute or modify the content easily. Wikis are often used to create collaborative sites and to power online communities. Wikis are used in education to allow students to co-create documents and research topics collaboratively. Watch the video on wikis (4 min.)

The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page is the most popular example of a wiki today. Wikis have several key characteristics, which include:

• May invites all users to edit any page or to create new pages within the wiki Website, using only a simple Web browser.

• Promotes meaningful topic associations between different pages by making page link creation intuitively easy and showing whether an intended target page exists or not.

• Seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Website landscape. A wiki enables documents to be written collaboratively, iteratively, in a simple markup language using a Web browser. A single page in a wiki Website is referred to as a “wiki page”. The entire collection of pages, which are usually well interconnected by hyperlinks, is "the wiki". A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Many wikis are open to alteration by the general public. Many edits can be made in real-time and appear almost instantly online.

Taken from: http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=28813

Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki and http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki
Watch these videos and create your own wiki workspace following the instructions below.

Watch these videos and create your own wiki workspace following the instructions below.

This video will help you to understand what wikis are.






This video will give you a clue on how to create your own projects in wikis.




Directions:
1. Follow the link (pay attention to the number of the group in the URL)

http://philology2010.pbworks.com/w/page/34957233/543-544m

2. Press the button "Edit" (at the upper left corner). Ask for a permission to edit this posts by sending a request to the page administrator. you will have to enter your email address.
3. Enter your email box and wait for a confirmation to arrive.
4. Follow the link from your email box and create your own account on pbworks.com
5. Edit the post (the task is set in the comment under the poem).

Your home assignments are:
1. Finish translating the poem.
2. Watch the video below and leave a comment on the usage of blogs versus wikis.
3. Create your own wiki and add your ideas about usage of wikis in teaching (you have the time till the end of the term)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xANd6Gyel_A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mNceeQi9Y&feature=related

Blogs

Please answer the question (don't forget to research!):
How can teachers use weblogs on their classes of English and literature? What project(s) could one carry out using weblogs?