Distance Learning

There are a lot of opinions on the distance learning programs & the full time learning environment.

There is a lot of universities and colleges that offers the distance learning programs, but still there is a large number of students that prefer the full time learning rather than the distance learning, as they like to be surrounded by others, attend class rooms, participate & face the instructor with their different opinions and decisions.

Distance learning programs has cons as they are not based on semester schedule, also they offer flexibility and do not have any set class times.

Also there is cons of distance learning programs, some students prefer to interact and participate but distance educational programs do not have any interaction with instructor.

Despite technology is playing a huge role in everyone's life but students who is learning through distance educational programs must be highly skilled in advanced technology and computer which is not existed in everyone's skills.

From my point of view as am I a full time learning student I thought that distance learning programs will suits me and help me a lot as am a wife and a mother, which will give me a lot of free time to take care of my children.
But after a deep thinking I noticed that am from those kind of people who likes to discuss topics & subjects with instructor as I will be face to face interacting and participating sitting in a class room.

Educational Website Review

http://www.starfall.com/n/short-o/so/load.htm?f

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dg3.shtml

http://www.little-g.com/shockwave/beginning.html

From the above 3 website, I choose:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dg3.shtml

This is the website of British Broadcasting Corporation Schools for all, starting from pre-school and the age bracket that I have sleeved is from 4 to 11 years.

Design – The website’s background is all white with a green bar across the top, this makes matter of the website stand out and legible for reading. It sends out a message of being a very professional website. The basic design and layout is not at all clustered and very simple. The graphics used are simple and with a message for the user. There is cartoon character that represents each of the icons and they all have a name with the object of study making it simple of the young surfer to associate the required task with a name and character. The texts are written in simple and bold font that makes its simpler for the young surfer to read. It is a fast site and loads easily on the browser. The main tabs are on the left hand side of the website and laid down very simple again and easy for further navigation.

Navigability – The main tabs are on the left hand side of the page and always remain there and this makes it simple to navigate back. It is simple to move within the website. It lacks a site map, but it has filled in the gap by providing a tab that takes the surfer to the contents of the site and more of them are hyper linked to its location with interesting graphic icons. Through the tab for teachers and parents, the activities, curriculum, lesson plans and worksheets of the students can be reviewed and it’s an easy and simple way to get into the details based upon what is required. The website also has a search engine as well as an index for all the contents listed under the alphabets A – Z.

Authority – The website belongs to the BBC, UK and there are related links to various authorities that would address the issues of the surfer, other than that there are other relevant hyper links for further reading if a surfer needs to obtain additional information. The index gives a listing of the topics with hyper links for further reading.

Bias – The question of bias does not exist as all the content is designed by the BBC, UK. The view points that are mentioned are not associated with a person and as such they are of the BBC. There is a lot of variety in the content provided in the website.

Citations – The sources are properly quoted with hyper links but there is no bibliography in the website.

Dates – Dates of creation on articles and activities is missing. Another noticeable thing missing is the calendar of activities and a class schedule for the use of parents to monitor their children performance in case they want to.

Content –The content of the website is nice and simple. It also can be views in text only form for slower internet connection. The images are very simple and are designed so that the young surfers can associate with them easily. Subjects are separately displayed for the ease of the surfer. There is an option whereby parents can also have a say under the parents advice tab.

Links – There are relevant hyper-links that the website is linked to that are related.

Relevance – The website is simple, neat, and tidy in presenting its content. It is exceptionally nice and it certainly delivers its message and can be said to exceed its instructional objectives.

Art Therapy

Art therapy with children is a technique about creating pictures that allows children to express what is uppermost in their minds more genuinely and spontaneously than they do in a discussion with the therapist. Thus, pictures help the therapist understand the children’s perceptions and feelings about what is happening to them and explore possible alternatives to solving problems. Accordingly, in one of my psychology courses, I was required to do an art therapy with a child to know more a bout her or even to confirm what is already known. So, some facts, child’s drawings and interpretations about those drawings will be discussed in this paper.

I did an art therapy with my friend’s daughter ‘Sadeel’ who is a girl about six years old. I chose ‘Sadeel’ because I have a good background about her family which would probably help me more on building better understanding and giving better interpretations about her illustrations. In the first session, Sadeel was really focused and exited when I ask her to draw me two pictures. First, about something she likes, she drew me a boat sealing in a sea with lots of colorful fish and a sun shine sky. She said that she likes being in such a boat, looking at colorful fish and enjoying a nice weather. Second, when asking her about drawing her family, she drew her mom, dad, herself and only her step sister holding each others hands. So I asked her ‘are these the

only members in your family?’ She paused for a second and replied, ‘no there are more’ and took another paper and drew the same figures again with the same sequence but adding her step brother. Surprisingly, I asked her about her little sisters at home, and then she said ‘yes I will draw them’ and she did. Sadeel drew all females in her family with wings saying that all girls are like butterflies. Moreover, it was unexpected to me that she included her step siblings who are far, in her drawing and not to include those who live with her in the same house. My own interpretation is that she loves and views her step sister and brother as models in her life due to the good influence they have on her more than her sisters at home who are younger.

I would say that art therapy is such an effective and interesting method for both the child and the therapist. It releases the child’s emotions smoothly and gives us as beginners the feeling of being able to interpret may be some facts about a certain child through his/her drawings. Of course, we can not assume from the child’s drawings that this must mean that, but rather we could know something that we would never know unless the technique of art therapy is used. According to Sadeel, neither I nor her mother knows about the much of attachment she feels towards her step sister which was obvious in her both drawings of her family.

Proving Piaget’s Developmental Stages

According to Piaget’s developmental stages, children at the preoperational stage center on the most obvious aspect of seen and they lack reversibility of what they have seen earlier. Accordingly, in my courses of teaching science and math to young children, I was asked to experiment the theory of Piaget by applying it to children of that age. Thus, I chose my 6 years old daughter, “Ghena” who proved Piaget’s thought of centration and lack of reversibility. As when I showed her tow glasses with the same amount of water and then poured the water of one glass into a shorter wider glass, she assumed that there was more water in the tall glass. Whereas for “Jana” who is 10, she could realize that both glasses were having the same amount of water even after being poured in a shorter wider glass. That is because she is in the concrete and formal operational stage in which children are able to conserve and solve problems in a logical manner. Yet the same responds happened when I showed them tow sets of 8 marbles, one set being spread in a line and the other moved closer. For “Ghena”, she said that the line of spread marbles has more than those which are moved together. However, “Jana” had to count and then she answered that both sets have the same number of marbles.

Fitness and Pregnancy

Fitness and exercising are of great logical steps towards anyone’s good health. Interestingly, the benefits of exercising expand to include women who are expecting a baby. In fact, these benefits during pregnancy are the same as those for people who are not pregnant. In spite of that, the majority of pregnant women are not aware of the importance of being fit during this period and think that pregnancy is not a time to improve performance in strenuous sports. Yet, I think that ideal exercise for a pregnant woman gets her heart pumping, keeps her limber, manages weight gain, and prepares her muscles for the hard work of labour and delivery, without causing undue physical stress for her or the baby. Low-intensity activities such as walking, jogging, and swimming are fairly safe and recommended for an expectant mother, specially the one who has not regularly exercised, although some of these activates may not work for her during the last few months of her pregnancy. Nevertheless, she will be better off avoiding activities that could put her at risk for slips and falls, such as bicycling, rollerblading, horseback riding, and skiing.
As a general rule, a pregnant woman’s body will undergo many changes during her pregnancy. But understanding the roles of nutrition and exercise can ease the transition and keep her (and her baby) healthy. Exercising during pregnancy does help prepare pregnant woman for childbirth by strengthening her muscles and makes getting her body back in shape once the baby is born much easier.

integrating technology in learning

Now a day, good schools do not just happen; they are made. By knowing this, one of the things that we should be attended to is integrating technology in all aspects of learning and teaching. Means, we should go beyond computer labs which eliminate technology in the students learning environment. Therefore, effectively, students should be encouraged to use technology in organizing their academic tasks, such as setting examinations , quizzes, home works and reminding them of their assignments due dates. Also teaching would interest students more by using these big monitors for displaying lessons that include relevant pictures and drawings, instead of using old styles of teaching, such as black or white boards and markers. Moreover, schools should have technology facilitators/coordinators to consult with and who can assist students as well as teachers.

Technology and my Life

Technology and my life is no further than using a computer for searching or typing and a mobile to get a name and call someone. It is basically more than I really need and makes my life easier. I do not find myself really interested in looking for how something should be fixed in the computer, and then I have to send it to someone to fix it for me. I know it is really annoying because I have to wait for hours or maybe for days until it is returned. As a result, my work will be accordingly delayed. Sometimes the problem is minor, that with a little knowledge I should have fixed it myself.
Moreover, I am a very slow typing person and know nothing about things I always hear like photo shop, making backgrounds and designing websites, even my email if I do not know that somebody sends me one related to my study, I never check it. Therefore, my account is always blocked. I always wonder when I hear or see some people, how can they sit for these very long hours facing that small monitor just for pleasure. For me, I can’t stand sitting for more than an hour unless I have to get my assignments or projects done. However, sometimes when I need some information quickly and easily, then searching the net is the best where I can get it. As a wife, a mother, and a student, it is really saves my time. For example, when I decide to cook something that is not in my cooking books, I easily search the net for the ingredients. Also another example is when I need information about something concerning my children, recently, potty training, I find it really helpful to search the net then to search my books!