Spend 15 minutes or so looking at various entries above.
Try to find 3 techniques that are effective (they work well)
as well as 3 techniques or deficiencies that are ineffective.
-- Documentation --
Documentation is similar to instructions, except that it normally refers to how to USE an IT system, as opposed to engaging in a hobby.
In a school like ours, students and teachers use computers in a variety of ways. There are two ways to look at these uses:
concentrate on the IT tool(s)
concentrate on the educational task(s) to be accomplished
For example:
Tool Oriented Documentation
Task Oriented Instructions
Using a Search Engine Effectively
Google is the most popular search engine - you probably should use it
Google has several different sections:
- text (the normal page)
- images - for finding pictures
- videos - for finding videos in YouTube and also on other video sites
Most searches produce too many results, so you probably want to type at least 3 or 4 words,maybe more
If you have an entire sentence that you need to find, "put it inside quotation marks", then Google will search for exactly that sentence
If you get a page in a foreign language,
you can click the translate link to see it in your own language
.... probably continues for a long time ....
How to Research an Essay
choose a clear and specific topic
select specific key words that define your topic
type your keywords into a
search engine, like Google
if you get too many results,or inappropriate results,try typing in more key words,or perhaps changing some of them
you might want to use the Google Images search to find some attractive pictures to include in your essay
use a bookmarking tool like Evernote to record your results, so that they are available from any computer,including at home
remember that you MUST keep a complete record of the LOCATIONS where you found useful information
use Noodle Tools to record your sources and make citations
Notice that the tool oriented documentation approach produces an enormously long list of hints about features in the particular tool. This is similar to the Help files and Tutorials that accompany most software.
In task oriented instructions, there are generally a fairly short list of steps and hints. Also, it's often the case that a task requires multiple tools, but only a couple features from each tool. Sometimes task oriented instructions need to include some details of specifically useful features in the IT tools.
A middle ground would be a task-specific use of a single tool. Consider the problem of drawing a cartoon using Inkscape. This task probably only requires the one single tool. But since it has a very specific end product in mind, there is no need to cover ALL of the features of Inkscape. The instructions can concentrate on just those features that are useful for drawing cartoons. Also, since we are more interested in the finished cartoon than deep technical skills, any documentation of specific features can be relatively short and without too many small details. Furthermore, if there is only one tool and one task, it's possible to give instructions that lead from the beginning to the end of the task. In fact, it's possible to create an instructional video similar to the following:
The two examples above use multimedia techniques - one is a video, the other is a PowerPoint Slideshow.
Multimedia is effective because:
it is attractive, interesting and sometimes entertaining
information is clearly sequenced, like a step-by-step set of instructions
it presents information in context, by displaying pictures
"a picture is worth a thousand words" - multimedia contains more information than pure text
Multimedia also has some disadvantages:
creating multimedia presentations generally takes longer than just typing text
multimedia requires a computer - it usually cannot be copied to paper
it might be difficult to distribute multimedia - for example, it doesn't always work if it is saved on a web-site
some multimedia is incompatible with some computer systems - for example, not all computers will display Flash videos
The disadvantages are not necessarily a reason to avoid multimedia. Rather, they mean that some care must be exercised when using multimedia tools.
Remember, the only real goal is to produce effective instructions, meaning that the viewer/reader (a student or teacher) must be able to understand and absorb the instructions, and in the end they should be able to successfully and efficiently complete the task as described.
-- Power in Numbers --
We have 24 students enrolled in Computer Technology. If we spend 3 weeks writing documentation/instructions, and each student produces at least 4 sets of instructions in that time, we will have about a 100 sets of instructions at the end.
The goal here is to make clear, brief, effective instructions that will enable other students to use our school's IT systems effectively. We will concentrate on educational tasks, although some other basic IT skills would also be useful, like "how to log-in to the school network".
This is a large-scale "group project". In the end, all the instructions must be organized and accessible in a single web-site. That doesn't mean a single web-page, but there must be one clear starting point, with links to all the other items, with the links clearly organized into groups. The following table is a preliminary list of tasks. We need to add more tasks, and probably more categories.
Suggested Items
Writing and Publications
Type essays - Google Docs (Text & Tables)
Printing an essay from Google Docs
Collaborative writing in Wikispaces
Writing a web-page with iWeb
Formatting text and images in MS Word
Data Tables for science in MS Word
Writing essays in a different language - MS Word
Making a poster in Open Office
...
Graphics and Multimedia
Drawing cartoons with Inkscape
Drawing math/science diagrams with MS Word
Creating a photo slide-show on Flickr
Creating a slide-show with PowerPoint
Editing a video with MS MovieMaker
Changing video file formats with AnyVideoConverter
...
Various Academic Tasks
Doing math calculations with Windows Calc
Drawing math graphs with Geogebra
Doing research in the web with Google
- using books.google.com
- using Google Translator
Using Rosetta Stone to learn a language
Accessing library resources
Drawing charts with a spread-sheet
Typing math formulas with Equation Editor
...
Library
How to find a specific book in the library database
How to find a magazine in the library database
MLA rules and procedures
How to enter footnotes in a MS Word document
...
Web 2.0
Using Wix to create an ePortfolio
Create a podCast with Audacity
Maintaining CAS info in a blog
Using a Wiki for a group project
Submitting an essay as an eMail attachment
Creating an eMail account at Yahoo
Saving a YouTube video on your local computer
...
Computer Technology
Connecting to school wireless for Web access
Installing Flash support in Linux
Using dropbox for transferring files home/school
Backing up your files onto an external hard-disk
Cleaning up your hard-disk
Copying documents from a Mac to a PC
Download and install Firefox on your PC
Uploading essays and other files to StudyWiz
...
We will add more tasks and tools as we go along.
-- Your Contributions --
Each student should use their best skills to produce effective results. If you like making videos - and you are good at it - then use a video camera or CamStudio. If you are good at creating web-sites, you should do that. It would actually be good if you use your best skills repeatedly. Each set of instructions that you create should go faster than the previous one. If it takes 4 days to do the first item, the next should take 3 days, then maybe 2 days - that way you will finish at least 4 results in 3 weeks - hopefully MORE than 4.
Each item (see the list above) must involve a specific educational task (not entertainment) and a specific IT tool (or more than one). If your item/topic is about Computer Technology or maintenance, you will concentrate on the tool - but you still need to have a specific task to accomplish, although it might not be termed "educational". "Educational" could include CAS activities, like the yearbook, but you still need to concentrate on accomplishing a specific task. You may do other items than those listed above, but you must get teacher approval before you start.
Your documentation/instructions should include some pictures (photos or screen-shots), and possibly videos (made with a camera or CamStudio). It is probably better to avoid using sound, but in some cases it may be appropriate. Try to think of you documentation/instructions as a STORY that takes the viewer from the beginning to the end of the task.
You will probably need to use more than one single IT tool. If you need to use a tool that you are not so good at (not very fast), you should GET HELP from the teacher or other students. Don't permit yourself to get STUCK due to lack of skill(s).
All of the little projects must be saved and linked together in one place. The central organization needs to be done by students - the teacher will help, but students should do most of the work. That probably requires 1 or 2 students to devote their efforts to central organization. Volunteers?
* Due Date for the Entire Project = Friday 20 May *
You may work together with other students, but you must be PRODUCING USEFUL RESULTS each day, not just chatting and having fun. But each item (set of instructions) will have ONE AUTHOR who takes responsibility for the quality of the result.
Better IT Systems and Documentation
We wrote instructions for some hobbies. The results are here:
Finished Instructions
Try to find 3 techniques that are effective (they work well)
as well as 3 techniques or deficiencies that are ineffective.
-- Documentation --
Documentation is similar to instructions, except that it normally refers to how to USE an IT system, as opposed to engaging in a hobby.
In a school like ours, students and teachers use computers in a variety of ways. There are two ways to look at these uses:
For example:
- text (the normal page)
- images - for finding pictures
- videos - for finding videos in YouTube and also on other video sites
you can click the translate link to see it in your own language
.... probably continues for a long time ....
search engine, like Google
In task oriented instructions, there are generally a fairly short list of steps and hints. Also, it's often the case that a task requires multiple tools, but only a couple features from each tool. Sometimes task oriented instructions need to include some details of specifically useful features in the IT tools.
A middle ground would be a task-specific use of a single tool. Consider the problem of drawing a cartoon using Inkscape. This task probably only requires the one single tool. But since it has a very specific end product in mind, there is no need to cover ALL of the features of Inkscape. The instructions can concentrate on just those features that are useful for drawing cartoons. Also, since we are more interested in the finished cartoon than deep technical skills, any documentation of specific features can be relatively short and without too many small details. Furthermore, if there is only one tool and one task, it's possible to give instructions that lead from the beginning to the end of the task. In fact, it's possible to create an instructional video similar to the following:
or a slide-show like the following:
-- The Power and Pain of Multimedia --
The two examples above use multimedia techniques - one is a video, the other is a PowerPoint Slideshow.
Multimedia is effective because:
Multimedia also has some disadvantages:
The disadvantages are not necessarily a reason to avoid multimedia. Rather, they mean that some care must be exercised when using multimedia tools.
Remember, the only real goal is to produce effective instructions, meaning that the viewer/reader (a student or teacher) must be able to understand and absorb the instructions, and in the end they should be able to successfully and efficiently complete the task as described.
-- Power in Numbers --
We have 24 students enrolled in Computer Technology. If we spend 3 weeks writing documentation/instructions, and each student produces at least 4 sets of instructions in that time, we will have about a 100 sets of instructions at the end.
The goal here is to make clear, brief, effective instructions that will enable other students to use our school's IT systems effectively. We will concentrate on educational tasks, although some other basic IT skills would also be useful, like "how to log-in to the school network".
This is a large-scale "group project". In the end, all the instructions must be organized and accessible in a single web-site. That doesn't mean a single web-page, but there must be one clear starting point, with links to all the other items, with the links clearly organized into groups. The following table is a preliminary list of tasks. We need to add more tasks, and probably more categories.
Suggested Items
Type essays - Google Docs (Text & Tables)
Printing an essay from Google Docs
Collaborative writing in Wikispaces
Writing a web-page with iWeb
Formatting text and images in MS Word
Data Tables for science in MS Word
Writing essays in a different language - MS Word
Making a poster in Open Office
...
Drawing cartoons with Inkscape
Drawing math/science diagrams with MS Word
Creating a photo slide-show on Flickr
Creating a slide-show with PowerPoint
Editing a video with MS MovieMaker
Changing video file formats with AnyVideoConverter
...
Doing math calculations with Windows Calc
Drawing math graphs with Geogebra
Doing research in the web with Google
- using books.google.com
- using Google Translator
Using Rosetta Stone to learn a language
Accessing library resources
Drawing charts with a spread-sheet
Typing math formulas with Equation Editor
...
How to find a specific book in the library database
How to find a magazine in the library database
MLA rules and procedures
How to enter footnotes in a MS Word document
...
Using Wix to create an ePortfolio
Create a podCast with Audacity
Maintaining CAS info in a blog
Using a Wiki for a group project
Submitting an essay as an eMail attachment
Creating an eMail account at Yahoo
Saving a YouTube video on your local computer
...
Connecting to school wireless for Web access
Installing Flash support in Linux
Using dropbox for transferring files home/school
Backing up your files onto an external hard-disk
Cleaning up your hard-disk
Copying documents from a Mac to a PC
Download and install Firefox on your PC
Uploading essays and other files to StudyWiz
...
-- Your Contributions --
Each student should use their best skills to produce effective results. If you like making videos - and you are good at it - then use a video camera or CamStudio. If you are good at creating web-sites, you should do that. It would actually be good if you use your best skills repeatedly. Each set of instructions that you create should go faster than the previous one. If it takes 4 days to do the first item, the next should take 3 days, then maybe 2 days - that way you will finish at least 4 results in 3 weeks - hopefully MORE than 4.
Each item (see the list above) must involve a specific educational task (not entertainment) and a specific IT tool (or more than one). If your item/topic is about Computer Technology or maintenance, you will concentrate on the tool - but you still need to have a specific task to accomplish, although it might not be termed "educational". "Educational" could include CAS activities, like the yearbook, but you still need to concentrate on accomplishing a specific task. You may do other items than those listed above, but you must get teacher approval before you start.
Your documentation/instructions should include some pictures (photos or screen-shots), and possibly videos (made with a camera or CamStudio). It is probably better to avoid using sound, but in some cases it may be appropriate. Try to think of you documentation/instructions as a STORY that takes the viewer from the beginning to the end of the task.
You will probably need to use more than one single IT tool. If you need to use a tool that you are not so good at (not very fast), you should GET HELP from the teacher or other students. Don't permit yourself to get STUCK due to lack of skill(s).
All of the little projects must be saved and linked together in one place. The central organization needs to be done by students - the teacher will help, but students should do most of the work. That probably requires 1 or 2 students to devote their efforts to central organization. Volunteers?
* Due Date for the Entire Project = Friday 20 May *
You may work together with other students, but you must be PRODUCING USEFUL RESULTS each day, not just chatting and having fun. But each item (set of instructions) will have ONE AUTHOR who takes responsibility for the quality of the result.