Guidelines for the Development
of microLESSONSä
(You may download a Word document version
of this page here.)
Powerpoint
Navigational Guide
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Objectives
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- The primary objective of this project is to develop highly focused
teaching materials that use the power of IT to enhance the learning process. These
teaching materials are not major development units (such as those that may be
found in many CD-ROMs). Those types of materials are usually intended to comprise
an entire lesson (such as teaching students how to multiply fractions).
Our microLESSONS, as the name implies, are instructional materials that are specific
enough for teachers to use within larger lessons. They are not intended to cover
a whole lesson or section of the curriculum.
- A second objective of this project is to make the lessons available
to all Singapore teachers in an easily accessible form. The microLESSONS you will
develop will span many curricular content areas, and will be suitable to support
a wide variety of learning outcomes. We intend to distribute these materials to
schools via Intranets, and in the future, through the Internet. These microLESSONS
will serve as resources for teachers who wish to incorporate IT into their teaching.
This is one way of overcoming the shortage of appropriate software for our school
curriculum.
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| The software tool |
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MicroLESSONS are developed on Powerpoint.
We are using Powerpoint as a tool because all schools have Powerpoint
on their computers. If we use other software, schools then need to buy additional
software and to install various kinds of application programs. Also, Powerpoint
is relatively easy to use and all teachers have been trained to use it.
Powerpoint
navigational guide - This site provides guidelines on how to do
the necessary tasks when designing your MicroLESSONS
(once you are at the site, click the bottom right
button to view FULL Screen)
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| Types of projects |
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We envision several types of projects that could be developed at NIE:
Using the enhanced features of Powerpoint 97 (e.g. hyperlinks, animation,
builds, etc.), microLESSONS that incorporate simple but effective presentation
techniques can be developed. They can also permit a useful degree of interaction.
MicroLESSONS can be prepared for use as self-instructional materials: the students
(either individually or as a group) sit at the computer and engage in the materials.
We are proposing 5 different learning models for you to follow:
- Resource-based learning
- Problem-based learning
- Case-based learning
- Collaborative-based learning
- Simulation-based learning
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| What you should concentrate
on |
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Do not be concerned with the colours and design of the microLESSONS. Instead
be concerned with the teaching strategy that you use. We are providing some design
templates that you can use so you don’t have to worry whether your design
looks good or not. Instead concentrate on the content and the teaching strategies.
In other words, ask yourself: how can you help the students learn? What kinds
of learning activities have you designed? Do the activities promote thinking?
You should also plan your microLESSON carefully before you start. We are also
providing a planning guide, a content
checklist and a design checklist
to make it easier to generate these lessons.
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| Some Do's and Don’ts |
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Since we are distributing materials to teachers in the schools, we have to
provide some do's and don’ts so that we do not run foul of the law or breach good
ethical behaviour.
A couple Don’ts
- Don't extract any text from printed materials, the Internet, CD-ROMS, or other
sources without quoting the source. If you use someone else's words and do not
attribute them, you are plagiarising (a serious ethical, and sometimes legal,
offense).
- Don’t overuse animation effects found in Powerpoint. (E.g. don’t use the "typewriter"
effect with sound on every slide and on every text that appears. It gets irritating
after a while.)
- Don't use commercial and/or copyrighted materials – videos, pictures, cartoon
characters, music.
- Specifics:
- No trademarked characters from books, websites, etc. This also means scanned
pictures from textbooks or storybooks are not allowed. (E.g. All of the Disney
characters are corporate trademarks, so you may NOT use them. The same goes for
the Simpsons, Peanuts, etc.)
- No copyrighted graphics, pictures, sounds, or video clips from the Internet.
- No materials from school textbooks, e.g. Pets workbook materials.
- No video materials from videotapes, VCDs, DVDs, or other CD-ROMs.
- No pictures from copyrighted CD-ROMs.
- No copyrighted music from audio CDs (e.g., no music clips from The Titanic).
Some Do's
- Do reword and rephrase text you find from an outside source. Remember copyright
does not apply to ideas but to the expression of ideas.
- Use pictures from many of the clip art CD-ROMs that can be easily found in
software stores or in our ECL library.
- Use royalty-free pictures from Internet (please cite web address in your "credits").
- Use only public-domain sound clips from Internet (e.g., speeches, classical
music MIDI files, etc.).
- Use historical pictures from magazines, books, but not from commercial CD-ROMs
(e.g., don’t use World War II pictures from Microsoft Encarta) – again,
please cite all sources from where you obtained this kind of information.
- Include music from royalty-free CD-ROMs.
- Do seek written permission if you use any copyrighted materials.
A more detailed checklist is provided here.
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