This week we learnt how to make a brochure on Microsoft Publisher. Students are often asked to create brochures for various tasks at school. During my last practicum students were working on a unit of work on an Australian state or territory. One of the tasks was to make a brochure. My mentor teacher was not very technologically inclined and so had them complete this task by hand. Problems with this approach were that the students were not very engaged; their work was very messy; and it wasn't substantially different to the other tasks in this unit (poster, website design, etc.) Everything was done by hand (even the website design.)
(Here is an example of a brochure design created on Publisher.)
If I was leading this task I would first make the students confident with any software, information, resources, and techniques they may need. For example a lesson could be spent on how brochures are written. Have a look at real-life examples. What kind of language do they use? What information goes where? What kind of format do brochures follow? I would then get them to create a practice one.
During these sessions, I think I was asked by 50% of the students "What should I write?" in regards to the brochure. This would be a fun interactive way to help them with their task. (And also practical! This is a skill that they may need later on; as useful as word processing.) Using Microsoft Publisher was never something I enjoyed because I simply didn't understand it. Some of that mystery has now been unshrouded. The portfolio/website template could also have been used in that unit from my practicum for the website design.
We also had an in-depth conversation about job applications. This was a very informative session. I received many answers to questions I have not yet formed. This course is so compact with information and assignments that I have been doing my best just to keep up to date with classes and deadlines. To have this advice session was invaluable. I am very grateful for it. The application process seems lengthy and precise, but it does make me wonder how effective it is. It is no secret that there are some teachers in the field that could do better to improve themselves. How do they get these jobs? Even in my classes here at university I can see there are people who may become "at-risk" teachers. The daunting thing is that they have a good knowledge of theories and pedagogies, and also have a silver tongue. With this they will be able to slip through the interview process and into a school where the students will suffer for this person's lack of passion for their profession. I think there a many people who have potential to be amazing teachers but they just haven't had the time to get themselves together in this short year.
We also learnt how to create e-Portfolios. I have only one reservation about ePortfolios to support learning. To create an extensive portfolio spanning a student's entire school life, each teacher each year will need to be committed to compiling the portfolio for each student. This demands a lot of cooperation and work.
ePortfolios and regular paper-based portfolios have been discussed. The benefits of ePortfolios are indisputably greater than those of a paper-based one. Multimedia is described as a collection of all sorts of information representations: text, audio, graphic, and video. Paper-based portfolios at best are restricted to text and graphic. The addition of video and audio open up a whole new world of information to transmit to an intended audience; and in such a digital society, may even do this more effectively. C. Armitage printed an article in The Australian on the 16th of December 1998 entitled The benefits of pause for thought. In this article Armitage argued that ePortfolios result in higher student motivation and self-confidence as their work is being published in a sense rather than merely complied (paper-based approach.)
It seems that ePortfolios have clear benefits for both teachers and students.
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