Testing our creativity and skills on Excel Worksheet

Hi there,
It's me again.
So, today, I have something new to share with all of you. In the previous class, I learnt about Excel and it was about making English worksheet. I had quite a hard time to be creative with my electronic worksheet. I have no problem in preparing and selecting the content. My biggest challenge is to 'decorate' my worksheet to make it look colorful, fun and enjoyable. I hope this is acceptable. I learn a lot about Excel and getting better at it now. Thank you for this wonderful lesson. I hope many would enjoy my worksheet.

Good night bloggers
=)

Please click here,

I voiced my worry of not being able to make a screen shot of my Excel work. Well, that problem is finally solved, thanks to 21 Anis Hafizah for her great advice. Her thorough explanation would be very helpful not only for me, but also for other technology novice learners. So, this is the preview of my work. Enjoy it~

To Begin with...

Guess that I missed the first task of assignment. I’m not sure if I am the only student misses this out or everyone is in the same boat as me. However, I believe it will never be too late for a simple, sweet short introduction about me.

1. Please introduce yourself.

Hi and Assalamualaikum. Hello bloggers, my name is Nor Atikah Binti Aznan. People always call me Atikah. I am a final year TESL student with minor in Counseling. I enjoy my degree program here. Actually I also did my foundation program at this faculty. I enjoy internet surfing, travelling as well as reading. I hope to enjoy this course and to learn as much as possible about CALL. Like everyone else, I’m new with this course, please assist me in this learning and I will give my best effort to gain the best score. Let’s work hard and make the best out of it. =)

2. How would you rate yourself in terms of your computer skills and why? (e.g. expert, novice, savvy, geek, illiterate etc)

I would rate myself as a computer savvy. There are a lot more that I need to learn about CALL. I know many of my friends who are a lot better in using technology and I’m always referring to them when I get stuck with computers. So hopefully by the end of this study, I manage to learn and be more skillful in other programs and software.

3. What computer software and hardware knowledge do you have?

I know how to work with the basic software in a computer like paint, Photo editor, movie maker and Audacity. For Microsoft Office software, I mainly use and familiar with Microsoft Word, Excell (database), Publisher and Note. When I was doing my summer study at Ball State, I got a chance to learn I-movie, Apple final-cut Pro, and basic adobe photoshop. So, My low point is with technical software like adobe series. In addition to that, I am a novice learner in constructing website and to make software.  

4. Have you experienced learning via the computer (online, using courseware, etc)?

Yes, it was a brief learning experience I had last year. I was offered to learn basic Adobe photoshop but it wasn’t long. I dropped the course due to study constrain.

5. Did you try to incorporate technology in your some of your lessons during your practicum? Was it a success or a failure? If you did not what was/were the reason(s)?

I use videos and powerpoint pictures in my lesson plan. My lesson plan was not about the videos or the pictures, but they act as an extension to my teaching and learning in the classroom. Both are interactive and students love that because the sounds, color and objects connect to their experience and imagination. The use of technology, although just a brief period during my lesson, brings a better environment and motivation in learning. From What I had experience, students are better at communication when I use technology in the class, they respond much often and pay more attention to my lesson. I could see that they want entertainment in the classroom and I try my best to make sure they are learning well and have a good time in my class.

6. What is your opinion on the use of computer/technology in language teaching?

I love the idea when teachers incorporate their learning and teaching in using technology. As technology develops, so are we as teachers. What I mean is that, we should pull the advantage of technology to make learning much enjoyable and meaningful. Technology itself is not a key for successful learning or boosting the effective teaching. However, it is an accelerator for teachers to be creative in teaching, generate students’ interest in learning, makes learning full of fun yet meaningful and most importantly it educate students to become independent learners. There are a lot of software and courseware on the internet for us to choose. Teachers should select carefully which are suitable for students considering their culture, age, cognitive skills etc. Technology, if it is used wisely, help students experience the different way of learning and expanding their horizon about knowledge. All in all, with computers is an interactive medium of learning. Technology or CALL carries both advantages and backwash effects depending on how we utilize it.   

7. What are your expectations from this course?

I would love to see improvement in my computer literacy, especially on software and courseware. Based on my experience in previous classes, this course is really enjoyable, fun and meaningful for us as teachers. I would love to score a solid A and hopefully, with hard work, perseverance and blessing from my lecturer, I nail my target.

8. What is the topic chosen for your Academic Exercise? Why have you chosen the topic? Who is your supervisor?  How do you plan to complete your AE so that it follows the designated processes (chapter by chapter) and can be submitted on time?

I am very anticipating my AE progress. This is something new for me and there are many to learn. I AE topic the effect of stress level upon administrative workload towards teachers in the secondary Cluster School teachers in Lembah Kinta District. Basically, this topic is the one that I had plan over a year ago. The idea was inspired by my mother. She is a senior secondary school teacher in a renown Cluster School in my hometown, Ipoh. Having a mother as a teacher, living in the school environment (our house is nearby the school), personal experience of helping her in school and observation I made on teachers in cluster school help me to have quite a well verse knowledge about teachers and cluster school. Many teachers in the cluster school experience difficulties in their career since the school branding, resulting many apply for school transfer. The same scenario happens in other district in Ipoh. Thus, I plan to do a research related to teachers and cluster school and as a result, that is the topic I've chosen for my study.

My supervisor is Madam Shareena Bt Sharom. She is very helpful and taking a good care of my AE progress. I started the work since last semester and now finishing chapter 2. My goal is to complete the first 3 chapters before final exam this semester. I meet my supervisor once a week of twice a month depending on my performance. According to my plan, it is possible Insya Allah to finish it on time but it is still early to say much about my progress. The experience is wonderful for me although it is tough. And I think that joyous feeling is because I choose a topic that is dear to my heart. Hopefully, I can settle the first 3 chapters by the end of this semester. This is because I would like to start my data collection during the brief break and practicum.

When you have the time please sign up for a free account at mediafire.com. It's a site for keeping documents which can be downloaded by others.

I just registered my account yesterday sir.thank you =)

That is all about me,for now.

=)

Good night bloggers

Be creative with CALL

Assalamualaikum, Hello everyone!

In our previous class, we learnt more about CALL and we touched about advantages and disadvantages of CALL as well. Well, that was a part of the learning. Another thing that we learnt was also about wonderful features that Microsoft Word offers in facilitating teaching and learning in classroom. Microsoft Word makes work becomes easier, enjoyable to use, simple and time saving and most importantly, it is much better than traditional paper used in the classroom learning. Although it looks like basic, there are many things in Microsoft Word that we can explore and to experiment with. So, at the end of the class Dr Izaham instructed us to make use of Microsoft Word as CALL in learning English. Here is my work. Till Then, see you again~

=)

http://www.4shared.com/file/4KuMPACj/CALL_exercise_for_blogpost.html


Since this link is not accessible for everyone, I have provided another link using Mediafire. before that, I would love to share the print-screen pictures of my work.

 For a full review, click here

Thank you, hopefully this would be helpful for everyone.

of being professionally ethical through WORDLE

This is my Wordle~!! 

in commenting the wordle above(squeal in delight because I really love it!)..here is some comments from me:

A piece of mind towards the professional ethics...well, it speaks most of what I interpret and believe in..What you should put a highlight here  is the RESPECT and ALWAYS..

RESPECT~~

A respect is earned, not asked. It's critical for us to know that the honor of being respective mostly come from our moral and professional ethics. 

ALWAYS~!! 

Yeah...Being ethical is not just in seasons. Nail this in your mind~!

That's all my say for now..cheer the precious moments we have together as SUSI-BSU folks.. Best of luck in life..Hugs and love to all^^,

Social Media part.3

How do  candidates & campaign managers integrate social media into their political strategies?

Social media has now becomes new trending to the political figures in strategical their political campaign, not necessarily occur in United States of America but all over the world (including my home-country, Malaysia). The concept of using online social media to promote political candidates or to run the campaign has increasingly become popular. It is proven as an effective strategy as being shown by Obama’s campaign success in the last U.S president election. Obama’s Internet campaign has changed the view on politic. Well, it’s the same concept used when John F Kennedy making good use of television as his campaign medium to win Presidential Election and how he changed the political structure at that time.  Youtube for example, pull off Obama’s popularity through his public speech that viewed by millions of Internet users. Visit this website for further details on his successful campaign.  

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/

The Internet also changes the way politicians govern. Mr. Newsom learned that last year when he ran for re-election. These days, Mr. Newsom is “obsessed with Facebook.” It strengthens his connection with his constituents and their connection with the causes they care about. Politicians learnt that these new medium demands authenticity from them- something that they are not used to do before.  The real time contact in the internet has changed the way president of the United State  governs. Mr. Obama start a Web site called MyWhiteHouse.gov to talk with citizens. (Mr. Obama just started a different site, Change.gov, on Thursday to keep in touch with people during the transition.)

Facebook, is also a broader concept of using online social media to promote political candidates and campaigns, and Facebook is probably the best Internet social networking website for generating votes, volunteers, supporters and donations.  While many local politicians prefer to use good old-fashioned shoe leather campaigning and eschew new technologies, it’s going to become more and more difficult for them to ignore the phenomenon of social media like Facebook fan pages and groups. When the  opponents start effectively utilizing new technology like Facebook to help their political campaigns, then you either have to adapt your strategy or eventually get picked off by a challenger. Last but not least, the rapid growth of social media influence has changed and touch many life in this era. I just wondering how the pattern will be in the next five years later.. Any ideas??

Social Media part.2

How is social media changing the structure of information?

Well, in my view, it does change a lot. The changes of structure information really has an impact in my country the same as in United States of America but in U.S, the changes happened are greater as compared to our country. It changes on how people receive information and in a way it changes the way people seek for information. How information is delivered is the biggest changes that occur in this country. Newspaper publisher (companies) are the most affected because people start to shift their preferance in ways of seeking information. The virtual world in the internet offers many new ways for people to seek information with more effective, lower time frame and with lower cost. Online newspaper are available from many trusted website, blogging, twitter and facebook become a new medium for having an instant news, extra information of what public want to know and alternative information or news that are not available from daily newspaper copies at home.

People have lower dependency on printed newspaper and it really affects very much of this industry. Structure of information becomes faster, easily accessible, instant, and unlimited. It changes a lot of how people received and delivered the information and with such transformational, newspaper publishers should be more aggressive and more creative in catering this demand.

What effects do these changes have on political institution?

It brings not a slight changes towards political institution because with this new trend, political institution must become more creative and not only able to depend to traditional media (newspaper, television, radio) but to be reacheable anywhere people are. Most of them are now more accesible with the information from social media as they spend a lot more time on the internet. Political insttitution should realize this opportunity because with an effective campaign strategies, good timing and  some taste of luck, politician figure can boost their popularity and makes people to know them much closer. It needs courage, creativity, and strong determination to be able delivering news. Best example to illustrate this idea is the success of Obama Presidential Campaign that makes him a new president of United States.  

New Trend-Social Media

What is social Media??

Social can be defined as a living organism characteristic. It refers to an interaction of one living organism (or more) to another and it happens either voluntarily or involuntarily. Besides, ‘social’ also  refers to the attitude/behavior that takes the interest and needs of other people into account. Thus, it is the opposite of anti-social.

Media, however refers to communication and it takes many forms of media in the world today. Newspaper, radio, television and all printed matter are considered media and they are the earliest forms of media. These forms of media is often used for expressing ideas,publishing news/facts or visionary of individual , group of people, organization etc. Media are accessible to everyone.

What makes it unique from other forms of media??

In my opinion, what makes the new media unique in his own class is that new media offers better communication, especially the two ways of communication. It brings a huge transformation knowing how the way people get connected and communicated has changed due to this new media influence. Facebook is the biggest medium in new media. New media offers virtual and non-virtual communication with people all across the world.New media defines a new way of communication that has no boundary in time, space and geographic. By posting and updating status on facebook, people able to share their view of interest, express their feelings and opinion just in a few second after the clicks on the mouse. The virtual world enable them to get connected with anyone they are interested with. Besides, it saves a lot of time and money wise in doing things fast and easy. A meeting, discussion, face-to face interaction by video call or non face-to face interaction by chat room makes connectivity just a piece of cake. For YouTube on the other hand, internet users are enable to get access to their favorite video or songs and with the flooded crowds and traffics in YouTube, it helps company to create bigger opportunity for advertisement to make more money. It serves like a mutualism interaction where people get access to entertainment and companies make a good money. Well, as an avid new media user, above are genuinely the opinions that reflects my feeling of experiencing the best thing about new media and how it has changed my lifestyle as a modern generation.