Educational websites that are going to be considered in our study include:
1. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/ILACourse/course/index.htm
2. http://web.archive.org/web/20070429151915/http://www.trainingcafe.com/members/coursesite/
3. http://www.publishnotperish.org/
4. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/gantt/index.htm
5. http://patientnavigatortraining.org/course1/menu.htm
The websites are used for educational purposes and have different features that aid in their use in the classroom.
1. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/ILACourse/course/index.htm
This is a website that is used for designing effective electronic courses.
The diagram below shows the screen shot for the home page of the website.
Features of the website that makes it suitable to be used in the classroom include:
1. Usefulness in the classroom (for teacher or student)
This website is very useful for both the teachers and the students. It is divided into two frames. The page is simple and contains information that can be easily accessed. The students can easily navigate from one part of the website to another since the links are all included on the home page. The lessons are divided into eight different sections. As the learning process progresses, the level advances. It gives the students an opportunity to learn from the simplest features to the more complicated ones step by step. The teacher can easily demonstrate how to design an effective electronic course without much difficulty.
2. Ease of use
The website is very easy to use. When a link is clicked on the left frame, it opens up on the right. The left frame remains visible at all times. This makes it easy for the users to cascade from one page to the other of the website without difficulty.
3. Cost
This website makes the learning process very easy since most of the resources that are required for the course in electronic design are easily available. The website is also simple which makes the design work and the maintenance work very easy.
4. Reliability
This website is very reliable as the information in the website is constantly updated so as to meet the constant change/advancement in technology.
5. Availability
The website’s availability is guaranteed. There is a database that holds the information included in the website. Whenever there is some information that is required, a link is clicked which directs the use to the database where the information can be extracted.
6. Teaching or learning outcomes
Lessons taught using this website are easy to understand and follow. The systematic way in which the lessons are arranged makes it very easy for the students t understand and hence easy to follow. Most students and teachers who use this website are likely to experience an improvement in the learning and teaching process respectively.
2. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/gantt/index.htm
This is a website that teaches on how to use Gantt Charts. The following screenshot shows how the homepage for the website looks like.
1. Usefulness in the classroom (for teacher or student)
This website is also divided into two frames. The frame on the left shows the links to different pages in the site. The website is very simple and most of its features are listed. It shows different topic s on how to use Gantt charts. Each topic has a clear elaboration on the use of Gantt charts and their uses.
2. Ease of use
This website is also very easy to use because of its simplicity. The topics are arranged in an ascending order. The website opens in an explorer design whereby the left frame remains as the contents of the links open on the right side. This makes it very easy for a person to move from one topic to another in the design without much difficulty.
3. Cost
Designing the website is however relatively expensive. This is because it has a lot of contents. Obtaining the contents could be a major hurdle since some of them are protected by copyright laws. However once the contents have been obtained it becomes cost effective as the resources can be accessed by a large number of people (students and teachers)
4. Reliability
Most of the information in the website is from legitimate sources which are properly referenced. This makes the materials more reliable and can be used in nay academic setting for passing of information from the teachers/ instructors to the students.
5. Availability
The process of availing information to be used in the website can be a major challenge during the design work. However, once the information has been availed it is very easy for both the students and the teachers to use the information since the site can be accessed from any location.
6. Teaching or learning outcomes
This website gives a very good learning and teaching experience. The information is presented in a very systematic manner whereby the users can easily follow the events and get to understand how to use the Gantt charts better.
3. http://patientnavigatortraining.org/course1/menu.htm
This is a website that is used for giving healthcare system course.
1. Usefulness in the classroom (for teacher or student)
This website is very useful in giving information to students on healthcare systems. It has different modules which contain comprehensive information on the lessons about the healthcare systems.
2. Ease of use
This website has three frames which makes the site very attractive and simple. The top frame and the left frame contains pictures on health issues while the right frame contains information about the courses. The course is divided into three modules and arranged in a systematic manner for ease of use by the students and the teachers.
3. Cost
Designing this website and using it for the teaching process is relatively cheap. This is because it looks simple and precise.
4. Reliability
The information found in the website is more reliable and the steps indicated in the website are easy to follow which makes it easy to use and reliable. The contents of the website are also constantly updated thus making it to comply with the latest technology.
5. Availability
The contents of the website is also available always since the website can be accessed from anywhere across the globe.
6. Teaching or learning outcomes
This website gives a very good learning experience since the information therein is properly arranged. A student can start learning from the least complicated to the most complicated lessons in the website.
Essay on the plans
The three pieces of technology which have been reviewed above contains educational information which can be used in any classroom setting. The three pieces of technology have procedures that can be used for studying different subjects in the areas that they cover. The first article, about electronic learning contains a lot of information of the process of designing and electronic course and has a lot of information. The teacher needs to give an overall introduction of the course and the course contents. The students should be familiarized with the use of the website resource. Once they have been familiarized with the use of the website, the learning process can then start. There are some websites which can be used for online learning by students in different parts of the world. Unlike the use of traditional learning methods, the use of the websites increase flexibility in the learning process. (Arleen, 2009) Students do not need to travel to the classroom so as to learn since all the information needed can be easily obtained from the internet. This option also gives the students and the teachers an opportunity to do other jobs and perform the learning process at their own time. This is because classroom sessions are not restrictive. Students or teachers can access the website at their own time and get access to the information available. The use of these types of learning resources also makes the process of gaining knowledge much easier and cheaper as compared to the traditional teaching methods. (Lisa, 2007)
Procedure
The students need to register so that they have an account with the providers of the services/the website. Once a student registers, he/she is given the required login details. The student can then use the details to login into the system and access the learning resources which are available in the website. The teachers need to take the students through an orientation course whereby the students are familiarized with the use of the website. Students can then be able to access the resources at any given time. When planning for the lessons, students should be categorized into different groups depending on their learning capabilities. More training time should be allocated to students who are less sharp so that they grasp what is being taught and what the learning resources is all about. The use of this technology is very effective as it contains a lot of information which can be used by the teachers during the learning process. The students can be able to access all the information related to their field of study without any difficulty. This makes the use of these resources a very good method for imparting knowledge to the students. (Donna, 2006)
References
1. Arleen P. Mariotti (2009) Creating Your Teaching Plan: A Guide for Effective Teaching AuthorHouse Publishers
2. Donna E. Walker Tileston (2006) Teaching Strategies for Active Learning: Five Essentials for Your Teaching Plan. Corwin Press
3. Lisa A. Dieker (2007) The Co-Teaching Lesson Plan Book Council Exceptional Children Publishers
4. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/ILACourse/course/index.htm
5. http://web.archive.org/web/20070429151915/http://www.trainingcafe.com/members/coursesite/
6. http://www.publishnotperish.org/
7. http://www.horton.com/portfolio/gantt/index.htm
8. http://patientnavigatortraining.org/course1/menu.htm
