Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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During Day 6, students started to work on their 2nd part of their research process – evaluate one of the websites they had searched before. They began to apply the evaluation criteria that they had learnt. We then did a Tutorial which discusses the case study of Youtube. We brainstormed ideas on what contribute towards the extreme popularity of Youtube, its downside and future directions. I shared how Youtube had enhanced my entertainment and professional life. Students really enjoyed the time discussing and brainstorming ideas using the old-fashion way of face-to-face interaction. They laughed and joked as they discussed. It is hearthening to see the lighter side of my students.

We had a good time viewing videos of the world’s most renowned legendary performer Elvis Presley – the King of Rock and Roll. I continue to marvel at Elvis’s great passion for music and love for his ex-wife Priscilla Presley and daugther Lisa-Marie.

Labels: Youtube - We can live Without You...

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
4:33 PM

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During Day 5, we started to go into topic of evaluation of websites. We learnt about the different evaluation criteria and problems related to Internet information. Students had the opportunity to work on a practical activity to evaluate a website – Talkingcock.com. Laughter filled up the class as students started to unravel the hilarious information content of this website. It is indeed an entertaining website. We enjoyed ourselves very much today, especially after viewing the MoneyDollar video. I can still hear your laughter till today!

Labels: Talking Cock and MoneyDollar Video

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
4:21 PM

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Today (Day 4) I had the privilege of listening to students sharing of their interesting experiences participating in discussion forums. They talked about their valuable experiences where they mentioned that they were able to confirm what they had found in their research findings through asking and talking to others in the forum on topics including bad effects of Social Network Services (SNS) on youths; bad effects of fast food on health; cyber bullying; eating disorders; possibility of robots replacing human beings, SNS replacing traditional face-to-face, benefits of Facebook use of artificial intelligence and whether mercy killing is considered suicide.

Students acknowledged that discussion forums do provide a good way to do research as they are able to talk and confirming with people with similar research interests. On the other hand, students also noted that there are forumites who provided irrelevant responses.

Students also discussed on OLE on the effect of Internet on their academic life. Most noted that usefulness of Internet resources and tools in helping them to do research projects and communicate with teachers and classmates using MSN. Some noted the usefulness of E-learning portals on their learning, but mentioned that the slowness of connection to the portals can be a drawback.

It is very heartening to note students’ keen efforts in class to earnestly & seriously work on their research report on evaluation and comparison of search facilities. These wonderful batch of DPA Mar 09 students has proven that they not only can joke and play but more importantly they are able to know when to prioritise and focus on their work. It has been a fruitful day for all of us. Continue the good work all.

Labels: Serious at Work and Play

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
4:18 PM

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

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We spent a fruitful 7 hours of learning during our Day 3 of EIR. We had so much fun learning together the lessons for the day. Our day started on a lighter note when we reviewed lessons learnt during day 1 & 2. We shared interesting stories about what we had found during our research using search engines related to legalizing mercy killing, AIDs, games addiction, eating disorder, alcoholism, social network services.

We covered concepts related to meta search engines, subject directories and invisible web (databases). It was so nice observing these students’ interest in searching and comparing the search results related to their individual research topics. They are all so hardworking as clearly evident in their impressive Blogs where they wrote comprehensive reflections of lessons learnt for the past 2 days!

I am very privileged to be given this chance to teach and interact with this batch of DPA Mar 09 students who are attentive, disciplined, smart, bubbly and abit cheeky sometimes. MSN chats and jokes were also shared to add more fun and laughter to the class. Indeed, their sense of humour act as a good de-stressor which helped them survived 7 hours of lessons today, which is normally done in 3 weeks for semester batch of students. These long hours we spent together had also brought about better bonding and good rapport amongst all of us in class today. Well done all…Continue the good work! Look forward to another fun and exciting day tomorrow. Stay cheerful always!

Labels: A meaningful long but fun learning day..

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
3:43 PM

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

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During the 2nd day of EIR, students had to commence on more serious research work. They started doing search strategies and used search engines Google and Google Scholar. Students become more serious and talked less as they earnestly try to complete their work of having to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of Google and Google scholar. These hardworking students are indeed serious about getting good marks as can be seen from their serious faces focusing on their work. Keep up the good work all!

Labels: Using Google and Google Scholar

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
4:09 PM

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During the first day of EIR, the PPP Mar09 students had much fun interacting with one another via MSN chats while doing the ice-breaking online game. There were so much excitement as they exchanged the answers to the trivia questions posed on topics like games, celebrities and science via MSN. Next the shopping spree activity further enticed them to the web world as they surfed shopping websites to fill up their wish list of virtually shopping using $500.

The first day ended on a high note when students started creating their very own EIR blog as they were able to talk about themselves, hobbies, friends, include links to their favourite websites and posted photos of their shopping items.

Labels: PPPMar09 - Excitement on First Day of EIR

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
3:54 PM

Monday, March 23, 2009

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Dear PPP Mar 09 Students,

Greetings and A Warm Welcome to All of You !.

This subject Effective Internet Research (EIR) allows you to make use of Web 2.0 and other internet resources for effective internet research. EIR gives you the chance to establish your presence on the web by creating your own blog, participate in discussion forums, chat on MSN and set up group Wikis.

Let’s work together to make our EIR Journey a meaningful one.

Enjoy your EIR journey !

Best regards,
Ms Farida
Subject leader & Tutor
PPP Mar 09

Labels: Welcome Onboard EIR - A Journey To Remember.

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
11:20 AM

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Dear PPP Mar 09 Students,

Welcome to the EIR Blog!

EIR allows you to create your own Blog so that you can document and reflect on the lessons learnt and meaningful exciting experiences throughout your EIR journey. Weblogs or personal blogs is a simple online journal that contains stories, links and your commentary about topics of your choice. Weblogs are easy to design and maintain.

You will create a personal blog that provides information about yourself, including your academic and personal interests.

Here's how you can start :
1) use a free blog hosting service and follow the directions to develop your personal site.
2) tell us about yourself (diploma, family, hobbies, etc).
3) using any search facility, find 2 exciting websites that are particularly interesting to you.
4) add links to these websites in your Blog, together with a brief description and commentary.
5) once your blog is up and running, go to the OLE discussion board forum and add a thread to post the URL for your weblog to enable your fellow classmates to visit and get to know you better.
6) remember to update your weblog weekly by adding additional links and commentary.

All the best in your Blogging experience.

Ms Farida
EIR Subject Leader & Tutor
PPPMar09

Labels: EIR Blog : A Personal Blogging Experience

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
11:05 AM

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Labels: Good memories of EIR Oct 08 semester

{she was all that I needed} // and my eyes change accordingly.
10:48 AM