Reection!

EDU 3105

Writing is a difficult task for everyone. Even for an English teacher like me, it takes time & spirit to deliver what we have in our mind on a piece of white paper that seems like an endless white void that can never be filled with enough words. But, Im writing this paper not to complain nor to tell you about the difficulty of writing, Im writing this to share with you my journey or call it an epic journey of building my own video and learning package. This coursework starts of with a briefing about what are required by the question paper. Briefing was given by Miss Sumitra Kan Fong Kuen, my EDU 3105 lecturer. It was brief but full of information and how to do steps about the coursework. I would say it was a shocked for me when I get the question paper as I am needed to build my own website. I told myself that I will never be able to do this coursework as I dont have any knowledge about website building. Then, I told myself to be positive about it and my lecturer will definitely give a workshop on how to do it. To tell you the truth, she did do workshops with us to help us to build the website. It was a short workshop as I recalled. The workshop consists of how to use Kompozer, Audacity, & Core FTP. Well, those are computer software that will help with the completion of this coursework. Miss Kan gave us a concise and elaborate workshop on how to use this software. It is worth the time and energy that was used to attend this workshop. Without the workshop, I would never be able to complete this coursework with the current product that I have on my web. This coursework revolves around computer literacy that a good teacher should have. This definitely gives a big drastically impact to me as a trainee teacher, it helps me to expand my knowledge on my journey to become a fully computer literate teacher for future undertaking. Unfortunately, before I even started building my own website. My laptop broke down because of installing video software. I never knew my laptop cannot sustain more than 5 years of shell life. It is true electronic device these days werent to survive. Its another trick played by giant electronic maker to rake in more money by using cheap materials and sell their product a lot more expensive than the base price. Therefore, my mother had to buy me a new laptop. This isnt about me bragging about a buying a new laptop but it is about me complaining that how technology increases our living cost. This is a worrying matter these days, in aid to contend with advancement, we are spending millions as consumers to buy gadget because we want to be called as tech savvy person. Now, enough about blabbering on how we are cheated by electronic giants. Back to the website making process. After installing all the software needed, I have to choose the
Ainul Hakim Bin Hashim! 920105-01-6511

Reection!

EDU 3105

right web template for my website. This is because I dont have any basic know how on how to build up a website from ground up. Due to complexities and short of time, I choose a free HTML website easily available on the internet through google. Thank you Mr. Google for your help! The website template that I have chosen is Pollena Minima. The idea of the template is all about simplicity and minimalistic. Well, that is a kind of one of the criteria must be met as I really love simple and minimal stuff. I dont like fancy and over exaggerated stuff. Simple is easy and minimal is functionality. This template meets all the criteria. It has few buttons that increase accessibility for users to navigate on my website. It is very easy for my students in the future to use it. They do not have to read on many links which can be distracting for young children. Children have a short concentration span, thus this website prevents them from straying away from the purpose of accessing the learning package on my own website in the future. After having the web template, I have to choose the right learning content for my students. I chose to make learning package revolving on the Process of making something. Process is a vital skill needed to be taught to young children as it teaches them a step by step stages on how to do things. Everything we do is a process. Breathing is a process. Sleeping is a process. Bathing is a process. It is everything. Thus, teaching them about process if very important. As quoted from Steve Jobs, The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient. Process provides them with insight on how to plan before making decision to do things. It teaches them the importance of planning. Considering the chosen learning content, I produce my learning package based on it. I used my mothers recipe of a healthy egg sandwich. This egg sandwich is very healthy and has a lot of nourishment needed for a person. It can be eaten during breakfast or tea time. Then, its time to tweak the HTML web template. To be honest, this part is the most crucial yet the most strenuous part of this coursework. I never had any experience on building a website before. This is something new and alien to me. Trying to read all the HTML coding in computer language is very difficult. Spot on, during editing the website, I started appreciating all the hard labour done by Computer Engineers to provide us, users, with a seamless and high accessibility product or internet websites. I swear it is very difficult if I were to make a website from ground up. Editing is just a bit of hassle but starting from square one is the real deal. Nevertheless, I buckle up myself and started editing the HTML codes using Kompozer. I actually tried to use other software like
Ainul Hakim Bin Hashim! 920105-01-6511

Reection!

EDU 3105

netbeans to edit the coding but it is much more difficult than using Kompozer. It is such a loss when a software like Kompozer stop receiving updates from its creator due to problem in funding or in maintaining the usability of websites. We as users often argue and blame software engineer when their software cost a lot when it actually looks easy to be use and made but the real story and hardship of making a software is only experienced by those software engineer. Thus, please do appreciate their hard work. After editing the web template, i started building my questions using another simple an easy-to-use learning package developer software. I just need to have my questions and answer right. Without needing to know the actual HTML coding of the software. It is quite easy using this software to build the set of questions. First, what you need is to choose what type of questions u want to set and you can choose among 6 different type of questions. Then, click on the desired question type and start inserting your own questions and answers. Well, i managed to set my questions in 2 hours time. I definitely not trying to show you how easy it was but I want to tell you that if you are a competent teacher. You can actually use this software to make your learning environment as more interactive than any other teacher. This is very important. Using books and papers seems to be outdated for young kids these days. They were born with iPads, iPhone, tablet, Pcs and etc. It is unquestionable they will be bored if learning were to be monotonous. Learning needs to be interactive as suggested by Philip Dormer Stanhop when he said, "Learning is acquired by reading books; but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading man, and studying all the various editions of them." Learning should be in various forms and i guessed it is very good to have my own website when I graduated from this teacher training centre. I can turn my classroom into an interactive and enjoyable environment. My dream is to be a competent teacher my whole life and produce the best future generation. Next, after having all the html files needed to be uploaded on the hosting server. I learnt how to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Reading file transfer protocol might be easy for you but choosing the right file with the right name to transfer is a bit of a jibber-jabber in some ways. I need to have the right name as the server will retrieve the right file when they type in the address of my website. If not, the page wouldnt load and its going to be a problem for me and the users. Then, after uploading the files. I tested the website using Safari but the outlook of the initial website doesnt look good and easily accessible. I had to revise the website for almost 5 times before publishing the actual website. Told you it wasnt a day work.
Ainul Hakim Bin Hashim! 920105-01-6511

Reection!

EDU 3105

Well, its kind of frustrating when I got back to the Institute when I heard stories that the actual coursework didnt ask us to make our website but actually we just need to make a working learning package that is accessible by CDs. I cant believe my ears, when I actually spend most of my holidays to work on this website. It is just unbelievable but I take it as a positive input for me as a trainee teacher to have a knowledge on how to build my own website using softwares. It was a good practice for me. That isnt all I needed to do, there is one more thing. A video about my learning package. Basically, what I needed to do is to make a video based on the chosen learning content. Sounds simple but editing takes time and I used the software iMovie which made it more easy to edit than Windows Movie Maker. Shooting the video took me roughly 20 minutes but editing took me more than 5 hours. After applying all the transitions and editing the exposure, the video needed to be processed and this process took a long time because the format which I chose to process is 1080i. 1080i is a standard HD video format that supports high definition video. It is very important to produce high definition video as it gives a clearer view on the knowledge that we want them to learn or view. For me, the strengths of this coursework are that it improves my Information & Communication Technology knowledge. It definitely turn me into a tech savvy geek but in a good way. Furthermore, I learn to appreciate website making process and understand more about instructional design theory. I believe knowledge is available abundant everywhere but the method of delivery needed to be versatile so students can acquire it easily. A good teacher needs to have a deep understanding in this theory for them to deliver knowledge in the most efficient way. As for the weakness of this coursework is, probably Im more prone to the frequent use of internet. Trying to maintain the website will definitely cost my time and I will probably spend less time doing physical activities. Moreover, I would say that using technology in teaching involves the use of a lot of money or funding just to get the things started. Life is definitely not easy for everybody in this world. Some can afford some things and some cannot. A further consideration should be made before asking students to do difficult stuff. Im not trying to bash anyone here but please and do please consider other peoples obstacle. Life is about give and take. What you give is what you get. Enough said, every good things will come to end. Even fairytales faded with maturity. Thus this is how I end my writing, this is my reflection on the coursework EDU 3105. Thanks for spending time to read about my ups and downs in the journey of completing this coursework. Have a good day!
Ainul Hakim Bin Hashim! 920105-01-6511