Friday, October 4, 2019

Teaching Computer Programming


Learning to program or coding is difficult.....some would say. But have you thought about Computational Thinking ? If you need to solve a problem you have to break it into small chunks or pieces first. (A problem into pieces? Again a problem? Oh no....Define patterns-same thing common/similar and different points ,abstraction- taking out all the details )
Let's see what computational thinking looks like and how to use it in classroom as a teacher.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Training - Website Designing @ PICTEC CP


Three Day Training on Web Designing with WordPress was on the work schedule.A lot of preparation is needed as this is my first session with WordPress, to create websites.(Earlier they were on Dreamweaver). A lot of different aspects have to be considered;Participants are not going to be students under 22 years old or the teachers, whom I am well comfortable with working. Management assistants of provincial departments are going to be the participants of the workshop. Duration is just 03 days. So I had to plan certain things...."Am I going to start with WordPress online or doing it on local server first?"  Anyway my colleagues suggested to start with HTML at first day.That was confirmed and got ready for practical support in basic HTML tags. And it was done! Second and third days are for WordPress - on local server and online.. I checked all the twenty computers by installing WAMP server on them..... Three different operating systems and some errors! In WAMP Sever 2.2 installations the error
“403 Forbidden Error – You don’t have permission to access / on this server.”, ocuured due to permission mismatch both on "Localhost" and "phpMyAdmin". Online research helped to overcome them. And WAMP server could not be started (Not become green) .On Command prompt "iisreset /stop" was the solution.. So that's it. I thought.Hopefully started the day2 by introducing WordPress on WAMP server. Few error handling was done.All participants successfully created two sites on local server.First one with me. And the second one by their own. As a teacher I am happy. I have trained them successfully to work with localhost.
Waiting for the third day- Websites Online ...

Saturday, May 27, 2017

BBC microbit

Introductory lessons on BBC micro:bit circuit board was done for students who are interested.





BBC micro:bit pocket size minicomputer was introduced with the following hardware features and options.


  • ·       BBC  micro:bit  with two AAA batteries, battery case with the white connector and the  USB cable.
  • ·       5×5 LED matrix with 25 red LEDs
  • ·       2 programmable buttons
  • ·       Bluetooth connection
  • ·       Digital Compass
  • ·       Accelerometer
  • ·       Light Sensor
  • ·       Coding on Web based IDE -https://pxt. micro:bit .org/?lang=e
  • ·       Practice codes with emulator
  • ·       Microsoft Block Editor and downloading .hex file to  micro:bit .
  • ·       Using IDE Online and Offline
  • ·       Working with Kodu

Friday, February 27, 2015

PBL 30 years ago and citizens of 21st century

This is something I am trying to analyse. Beyond 25 years, I had noticed how my mother taught to her students. She was teaching in primary classes. So, I heard always the phrases “subject integration”, “learning by doing “with regard to her professional talks with her colleagues; and I was not a teacher. I review that, John Dewey’s idea of “learning by doing” advanced and applied in education as a teaching learning methodology called Project –based learning (PBL), was well implemented in her classroom. Her class often went out of the school; surely with permission and with an assistant teacher. (As a child of her, I remember I was worrying about her walking and getting tired, with a class of kids).She had walked along village roads with her students creating a playful and enjoyable atmosphere. She had visited some places with streams or small lakes, tea plantations, paddy fields and official places like surveying institute. Students had come back with a lot of knowledge and experience and brightened up. Definitely she may have made students observe ,inquire and create things with authentic learning situations .Often she had brought home drawings, handicrafts, poems, essays and lot more to show us as students' creations. A lot of integration of subjects was there - Environmental studies, mathematics, languages, Aesthetics with skills of creativity, knowledge construction, communication and collaboration. I remember she was always against with grading students! Very often, her school had organized exhibitions, demonstrations parades and concerts showing the students’ learning. Community participation and collaboration was very high. However, I wonder about integration of technology except the tape recorder and a camera she used seldom. These two tools did serve a lot then. There were many audio cassettes with recorded songs and dialogues of students; A lot more albums full of photographs of events. Memories of my mother's professional life arise when I meet students of her. I remember once I met a medical student in a bus. He was talking how he enjoyed environmental studies then, how he practiced patience in observing things in the environment-insects, caterpillars, ants...etc. After that wrote verses on his thoughts. At my mother’s funeral, a young carpenter told me with tearful eyes how he loved her. Because she had made others in the class to praise him, even he had been a "weaker" one. He had become confident with himself; even though he had not scored "good" marks, he is successful with his skills with confident. Even after 11 years of my mother's death, her students still have precious memories to live with and enjoy.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Inspired by Students

Its amazing! I was becoming lazy,frustrated,willing to give up anything and so on.Because I was tired after the stressful GCE Ordinary Level exam paper marking.Then,schools opened officially for the new year and closed again the  day after for the presidential election.Schools were re-opened on 12th January.It is only one day I spent at school.Kids gave me the strenghth! Everything in the year plan just started breathing. Frustration vanished.Newer ideas overflow with students' interaction.I have become energetic agan.
Students started with questions on what I have promised last year.Skype with students from another country,present animated stories in powerpoint and videos to others,Doing projects using cameras and field trips (thats how they,last year grade 6 students, have perceived PBL).They do not worry about other things happening around.So,I have to start with them quickly.




Monday, January 12, 2015

#SwayOneNote Love

#OneNoteLoveSway-Champa
"SwayOneNoteLove" is a contest arranged by Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Programme.All the MIEEs participate with their experience and features they love in #OneNote.Here is my OneNoteLove#Sway!

Monday, December 15, 2014

My SWAY

Understanding



Advanced and Boolean Searches -This is a continuation from the previous stage.A very good understanding is essential for creating ,modifying and refining searches to suit the searching requirements.
(Eg:Bing)

Blog writing-The learner can type,write or talk on a specific topic or a daily journal.Reporting is done through basic understanding.The blogs can be used for discussion and collaboration,which develop higher level thinking of the learner.
(Windows Live Writer)


Twittering-Twittering helps understanding and collaboration,although facilitates simple forms of messages based on " what are you doing?"


Categorizing-Digital classification-organizing and classifying files.Using folders and other tools.
(Windows Operating Systems-file management,Auto Collage)

Tagging,commenting.Annotating-Learner develops understanding by tagging commenting and annotating on the pages.
(Microsoft Word-Ink tool,Review tab options-New Comment)


 

 

Microsoft Operating systems- Windows 7, Windows 8 –File Management,Auto Collage
Microsoft Word-Inking tool and New Comment in Review tab 
http://www.microsoft.com/en-lk/default.aspx