Week+5

There are a number of things that I look at when choosing appropriate software these include • The students prior knowledge • Students skills • Age level of the students • Prior experience • Ease of use I am also largely influenced with my experience and knowledge of the software. It is also important that the software chosen will help students achieve the outcomes and support the student learning. For junior primary the use of kidpix and word seem to be the trend. For my own personal use ease of use is a large factor when choosing software for myself.
 * How do you select software that is appropriate for your students or yourself?**

One main criteria that I would look at is its suitability to both the students age level and its effectiveness as a learning tools. I would also look at how it was going to support my students learning and outcomes. It is also to be wise to look at the content of the software.
 * What are the criteria that you would use to evaluate MM software to be used with your students?**

The strategy that I would use to evaluate software is to explore and play with it myself. Through doing this it will be able to tell me if the content is suitable and educational and that it will help my students achieve the outcomes of the work. Being a junior primary teacher I would be looking to see if the software is easy to navigate and simple to learn.
 * What are the strategies/methodologies that you would use to evaluate software?**

Strengths • Engages the students • Enables students to take control of their learning • Supports higher order thinking (McFarlene) • Promotes problem solving • Beneficial for students with learning disabilities eg dyslexia • Caters for different learning styles Weaknesses • Cost of some software • Difficult to explain • Difficult to students to navigate • Students do not reach the outcomes wanted for the subject area due to concentrating purely on the technical side. Software such as kidpix and PowerPoint are easy to access in any classroom. However, kidpix is mainly for junior primary.
 * What are some of the MM package strengths and weaknesses and what age levels would you see the program as being useful?**

I think that McFarlene(2000) put it well when he states that issues relating to evaluating pupils’ understanding in terms of what is revealed through their section and arrangement of subject content in a multimedia presentation is important. This needs to be separated from issues relating to the possible assessment of pupils’ knowledge or skills in terms of the operation of the technology needed to produce multimedia presentations. There are a number of ways I would assess • The layout – font, colour and overall look. Eg it is easy to read • Graphics, images and video connect to subject area • Presentation flows easily • Students have shown a good understanding of the subject area • Students had a sound understanding of the software used
 * How can MM authoring be assessed in your classroom?**


 * Articles on multimedia authoring:**

[] [|Multimedia projects in the classroom]

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