Glory Glory Internet!

When i came for my lecture class two weeks ago (or so…) i was wowwed my lecturer told the class how much the internet has been evolving. It is said that web has developed firstly known as PC ERA…this is the time where Windows, MMO’s, MacOS were introduced to the world.
I remember when i was in Form 2, we had a computer club. Our seniors would teach us how to start the computer by inserting the limp-big-disket like into its driver before we can operate the PC. To my excitement, the screen only showed me lots of lots of and lots of green words with black background. Still i found it awsome.

Believe me when i say that at that time i imagined myself typing to an imaginary friend and having conversation with her just by typing through the screen. And it had made me laugh when in around 2007 i found that the scenario i was imagining finally became reality, and its called chatting! Hahaha! (Yeah, i know i was a little bit late to know the world of chatting…its not like i live in front of computers..)

Then there was the WEB 1.0 era…..
Remember the time where we surf the web to read..and read more? Without doing much. Yep! It was called Web 1.0 era. Then we have email, and cute GIF buttons on web pages, guestbook, publishing and many more. And some with good database skills would be grateful with the introduction of SQL at that time.

And of course we are at the WEB 2.0 era…and some parts of this world has already gone for Web 3.0…see how fast-scinating internet is? This is the era where we get to control our page according to our priority. You want to connect with friends from all over the planet, knock yourself out in http://www.friendster.com or http://www.myspace.com or whoa! there are hundreds of the same free service out there in the web. You got Flickr to share yout enthusiasm in photos, you got blog just like what i have here, you got Wikipidea, web services, e-commerce, internet banking, web portal and much more.

However, the fascination of an internet to one’s life is depends on several conditions. The bandwith for example, if you have slow connection at home, it would be enough to bring your spirit down to surf on youtube or doing your internet-banking for instance. I hated it so much when my broadband couldn’t works out well especially in non-3G area. And you will be surfing for nothing for hours.

Another condition is the the plug-ins. I once facing a problem opening pdf file from the internet. But once i installed the new version of Adobe Acrobate Reader, it’s all set and go. I bet there are loads of plug-ins people need to install before baing able to surf their heart out of the web.

And the last condition to be taken into consideration of the improvement of internet is of course the compatibality of a browser. The one i remember was Nestscape Navigator, and then of course Internet Explorer and since my Windows Vista is somehow having unsolved conflict with my I. E, i now prefer to use Mozilla Firefox.

Well, that’s all for now….by the way, the is a local movie called Pengembaraan Upin dan Ipin…or sum’thin like that. So, instead of watching those Isreal allies’ movie, let us watch Malaysian although i have waited for so long of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to come out…blimey!

EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE

Last year, i thought Science for Form 2 students. This year i’m being ‘upgraded’ to teach form 4’s Science. As usual, i love using internet as part of my teaching aids. This website really useful. I still can use this page even i’m teaching Form 4 now. I’m so happy with it so i want to share it with you. You can find it at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools

Who should be interested in this page?
The field is very wide. Students, teachers, even parents will find it useful and informative. And for teachers, this website covers almost ALL subjects from Science to Mathematics, from Art to Physical Education.

The Author?
The author is British Broadcasting Corporation.

Why You Should Love It?
It has:
1. Wide range of subjects.
2. Simple notes with diagram and even printable
3. Interactive activities (using FlashPlayer)
4. Useful for teachers, students, and even parents

The Drawbacks
1. This website is so good it requires high speed internet connectivity to upload the activities faster and or play at real-time, otherwise, if one wants to play on it, he/she needs to upload it for quite some times before it can be runned.
2. The page is so wide, one needs to explore one or two days before able to track which part he/she wants to go or he/she will be lost in cyber space..hahaha!
3. As this is from BBC, the syllabus does not 100% suit Malaysian’s. So one needs to filter which information to suits his/her needs.

My Experience as Teacher Who Use Web in T&L

I was once questioning myself…

“How to put an internet access in a normal classroom without going to the computer laboratory?”

Of course in theory we could say there are quite a number of options to do so. Some might say WLAN is the best solution. But I’ve experienced it myself that only the first two blocks adjacent to the computer lab (where the router is located) are able to get the net access. Even so, it is not like everyday the teachers are able to get the service for somehow the server keeps breaking down. This flustering situation does not help inducing the eagerness of the teachers at my school to use it in regular basis of their T&L.

The other option is using broadband. Lucky enough that our country had released the licence to provide broadband services to its people via the three major telcos. So what I did is I buy a high-speed data card that costs me RM 800 and a laptop. So I have the convenience to surf at any classroom that I’ve planned on showing some good educational web sites that related to my teaching subject, Science. Of course another problem arises, I have to select which classrom is equipped with projector and white screen so I can project what I see on the loptop on the classroom’s wall. Although this has limits my ‘freedom of access’, it is just a small speed-bump to me.

My students LOVE IT! when I show so many informative web pages to them in the classroom. They enjoy the interactive activities provided by these pages, although they are only being able to do so when they come to the front and press the mouse on my laptop, it is enough for the rest of the class to share the excitement.

But I wonder, how many teachers out there would do the same. I’m not either trying to brag at what I do nor feel shame of doing it. It’s just the fact I’m trying to impose here. And how many students are lucky to get the real deal of the wonderful world of the World Wide Web in their normal classroom?

The next post will be a discussion on the most useful educational web site that i ever use in my T&L. And it is so good.

YEY! I’M A BLOGGER NOW

This is my first experience as a blogger. This event occurs as to complete my assignment of WEB BASED MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT subject. My effervescent lecturer, Assc. Prof. Dr. Zaidatun bt Tasir, who is an expert in web and IT has been asking us to post some articles on some topics. This is quite an interesting experience as i really do want to blog, but have no time and urge to do so..

By having myself forced by Dr Zaidatun, i have to explore the blog world with some help of my friends. I also have been forcing my boyfriend to learn it to..hahaha! FYI, i have no experience in web  development whatsoever, but i trust myself as a quick learner. So i take the challenge and we will see in the next post..and i’m so thrilled!

So, the first week of the class covered the topics below:

1) introduction to web site and its relation to education

2) exposure towards the usage of web for teaching n learning

3) concept of web developement

4) introduction to the concept of portal

5) concept of server computers n ways to upload files to servers

But this is not the only stuff i have to review. For the first assignment, i have to do an analysis report on an educational website from the net.

The first part of my blog will contain the following details:

1. Title and URL of the website
2. Target group/audience
3. Information on the developers
4. Features/strength of the website
5. Weaknesses of the website

Wish me luck and….May Allah be with me… i want to get ‘A‘ for this subject, and i am and will do the hardest to get it.

I am to keep my good record of my examination results.

feel free to leave your comment…especially to my classmate Izah, Miza, Faza and Irwan.