"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." John Dewey

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Week 2. Search Engines and ABCD Learning Objectives



It was quite a productive week. And I found myself reading and searching more than I did last week. I learned more too. I don't know whether is was more but it definitely was just different kind of knowledge and to be honest I had much more fun playing with designing a blog than with exploring the search engines.

However I ventured into this adventure with just as much enthusiasm as I did in the previous assignment. And after I read the technology tip kindly provided by Deborah Healey I’ve been playing around with Google search trying all the search tips given. I didn’t know that searching can be that complex and that there are so many options. 

I wasn’t aware that on what you write in the search box depends the result which may be different from what you expect if you don’t know much about it.
The tips really work! It is amazing! It was interesting to see how the hits depend on the symbol you put in front of the key words. For example: excluding, by means of placing a “–“in front of the word you want to exclude the search for, or finding synonymous/associated in meanings results when placing a “~” in front of the word, or even simply using the key words you want to search for in quotation marks “ “ will find results where the whole phrase is present and finally + in front of the key words will enable you to find the results which will have all the words that have the + in the search result.

I was also surprised to find out how one can search a certain site alone by simply placing the site name after the query. I didn't know any of that! So that I guess, I learned quite a lot.

Another thing that I have learned this week is to use the ABCD model of formulating Learning Objectives. I quite liked it and it got me started on practicing that. I think that I will start using the ABCD model as preferred to the model I used before where I sometimes neglected the degree to which students should achieve the aimed behavior and the context.  And ironically enough this was the “area” where I got stuck. :) It gave me some trouble. But I will try to find and read more information on this as I enjoyed the ABCD model greatly. And I think it is easy and very specific which excludes confusion.

3 comments:

  1. Dear Liliana,

    I enjoyed reading your thughts. We are very similar, we are many times on the same ways.

    We, who are here in this course, are open minded. All of us already learned a lot, many of us have many years of teaching experiences. Yet we have to face with newer and newer techniques. We must agreee that life is changing so fast, that one can hardly cope with it, especially not in different areas of life. I already over some computer courses, yet each new course directs me to an unknown field. And all these things have happened within a couple of years.

    Our students grow up into this world. What is new for us, that is natural for them. They see the world differently, their way of thinking is also differs. But using libraries, reading books, writing letters with ink, writing adresses onto an evelope are unknown for them or they are getting far from them. It requires not just using a different technique, but different way of thinking, and application of different skills as well.

    Answering to your question: as medical and psychologycal subjects also develop, the early detention of illnesses are becoming more frequent. Just look around, there are more autistic, hypermotive, obese, impaired children than were, for example, a decade ago. Life was different.

    There are no entrance exams for impaired children into primary education. Their learning process is slower. At the beginning of their studies they are usually behind their peers. But with professional help they can reach them, and in secondary education they can cope with them.
    We do input survey at the beginning, and an output survey before they leave the primary education.

    Most of them will be able to cope with the normal population. I am very proud some of my students. There are lawyers, teachers, information technologist, interpreters among them. And it is our main aim to reinstate them back to the society, to the workforce. Just the beginning is usually slower and more difficult.

    Dear Liliana, keep doing your wonderful job. I wish you lots of strength and success.

    Csilla

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  2. Dear Liliana,

    I enjoyed reading your blog!

    I liked the quotation you used at the beginning of the blog. I completely agree with the words of John Dewey and I think that teachers have to learn all the time in order not to fall into the routine, make learning and teaching process captivating and motivating.

    I have the same feelings about week 2 as you do. I have learnt quite a lot this week. I didn't know that there are so many options and details that can make searching for the information much more easier. I loved the ABCD model of writing objectives and I think it will be of great help to all of us.

    I hope next week will be as productive as the previous ones. I hope it will bring you lots of positive emotions, success and pleasant moments!

    Wish you the best,

    Tania

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  3. Hi Liliana: indeed, some things we do in this course will resonate with your more than others. I am happy you are trying things out. If 20% of the things we try out actually stick, then that is a pretty good success rate, I would think.
    ~Robert

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