Post #5

The website I critiqued was the Florida State homepage. The website did a fairly good job at remaining within the range of the guidelines established by the text. There was a cohesive color scheme (the school colors) and very little changing between different types of fonts. There was a large flash graphic which switched between (seemingly important) stories. It was a little distracting, but other than that information was displayed well. To the right was a bulleted list making information pop out at the reader. And the toolbar remained in the same location when navigating through the pages. The color scheme was also closely related as the viewer went from one page to the next.

I feel there are more disadvantages than advantages to using presentation software in K-12 classes. This could be that I am just not well enough acquainted with how to get the most out of using programming software to teach, but I feel that sometimes technology detracts from the lesson. In instances of technology taking awhile to set up or going through the proper steps of problem solving a teacher can lose the class's attention and take fifteen minutes to get it back. I can see how it would be valuable if you were a travelling teacher, instead of having to write a flow chart up on the board eight times a day, or even if you remained in the same classroom, but erased the board to cover other information. I just feel that outside of obviously easier applications that these new technologies are too heavily used/relied upon. Also, I think if I were to try and get my students to use these technologies that I would have to spend more time teaching them about the computers than the content.

Power Point could easily be incorporated to one of my lessons and accommodate each of my students and their different dimensions of knowledge. An example of incorporating Power Point in the classroom would be getting my students to put together short presentations to help prepare for vocabulary tests or go over topics we have been discussing in class. Specifically, students could create a presentation in which was colorful, interactive, and displayed creative ways to help remember the words definitions and spelling. Also, they could include bulleted lists of study tips. I would group my more advanced students with beginners and hope that the more advanced would help the beginners understand the process more.