NASA - NASA High Definition Video

NASA - NASA High Definition Video

Hope that my friends and nephew and nieces to pass their exam with Flying colours..All the BEST

Civil defence Activities

SIXTH POSTING:MY EXPERIENCE USING BLOG

Hello everyone! This is my last posting of SKBP1023 Language and Information Technology course regarding my experience on blog . I am really happy because I have done all my six postings well, although I have faced lot of problems during blogging. Blogging really brought a lot of memorable experience to me. First of all, I would like to thank my Associate Professor Datin Dr. Norizan for helping me a lot when I faced problems. I will not forget all the assistence and coperation which she rendered to me. Thank you very much Datin.

Before I proceed further, let me explain briefly on what is meant by blog. The word blog is a shortened version of the term web log. When one writes a blog and maintains it by adding or removing entries that is called blogging. With blogging the author is not simply called an author but a blogger. And each piece that is written is not simply known as an article but as a blog post, post, or entry. Blogging started in 1995 and started with the express purpose of sharing one's thoughts with people that had similar views. Blogs can be written on just about any topic and are often like an online diary that allows the blogger to express his or her personal interests and views on everything and anything. Most people blog on a blog site that includes web pages, text, images, and even links to other blogs. While blogging started out as a somewhat limited media, now it has really exploded and you can find a blog on just about any topic you can think of. Blogging has really taken off because it allows authors to write in a fashion that is sort of outside the box. Blogs started out as a limited source of information, but they have become a great way to communicate, and get information on business, education, politics, photos, and your favorite celebrities.

Luckily, setting up a blog doesn't have to be difficult. There are a ton of free blogging websites out there that simply offer templates that allow the blogger to enter his or her text and hit the submit button. The hardest part of this process is deciding what category your blog will fall under, and then providing interesting text each and every time you post. Belonging to such a website will make posting easy, will make archiving simple, and will make it very simple for interested parties to return again and again. These websites also make it simple for interested parties to start discussions about the blog text, which can drum up even more interest. Bloggers can use their own software to establish their blog on their own, or they can look into Tripod, Yahoo, Google or America Online which all offer blogging opportunities.

There is no doubt that blogging has improves my writing skills. Blogging is now a great outlet for anyone whom wish to share his or her thoughts on any topic through a personal or even professional blog. Money can be made through blogging, but generally blogging can just be a great outlet and a way to meet people that share our opinions. Every week, we have something to do. From finding information, talking about the resources, finding for appropriate software to explain what we have got in a whole. By doing this, I have to say that I have actually improved my vocabulary skills and able to express my ideas and thoughts easily. Besides that, blogging is a place where people can view, read and give comments on the articles we wrote. This will be a great help in improving the writing skill and enhance the writer's general knowledge from other peoples' point of view. I conclude that blogging does improve my writing skill as I told before. However, for those who do not really care about blogging will just accept blogging as another web page in the internet to be viewed.

Furthermore, blogging has given an useful learning experience for me regarding the cyber world. This is the first time having a blog of mine in which I able to upload all my activities in the cyberspace. Before this, I do not have any knowledge about how to publish my writing online and make others to view my works. But now, I able to do so. Moreover, I am able to understand the nature of online learning and at the same time improved my knowledge regarding computers and the usage of that new technology. Blogging becomes a practical experience each time I post or posted my works in online on the orther hand I give rooms to others to comment on my work. In addition, blogging activities offer a place for me to communicate with my friends at the same time share learning experiences through in a more academical manner. As a conclusion, blogging activity gives me an useful learning experience and at the same time offers enjoyable moments.

Moreover, I need to equip with certain knowledge before I able to complete the blogging activity successfully. First, I need to make sure whether my writing attracts the readers and at the same time I have to complete the task with the given information. Next, I need to have knowledge to make my blog pleases and attracts the viewers; this knowledge (make orthers to attract to our blog) includes knowing all about the blog functions and features in terms of multimedia, colours, backgrounds and so on. So, in order to complete the blogging activity successfully, I needed to know the features of blogs as well as the topic which I supposed to write about by reading many reading materials.


Even though, blogging is really enjoyable and useful for me, but I really faced many problems and difficulties during blogging sessions. The main problem that I faced was, I did not have notebook of mine, I have to go to cyber cafes to find the informations and spent most of my time there to post my works. Sometimes I have to borrow my friend’s notebook when I couldn't finish my blogging activities at certain times. I even didn't sleep the whole day to finish my blogging activity. There are also some other problems which I faced such as Internet connection problem in UKM; let it be wireless or LAN. Sometimes, the same work had to be posted a few times before it could be published in the blog because of poor connection of saver and low signal of connectivity. Furthermore, I also faced problems in uploading pictures, video files and editing text such as alignments, spacing and also fonts. These are the difficulties that I have faced during blogging and its really gives me a memorable experience in my life in UKM. However all the problems have been overcame peacefuly. "No Pain No Gain"


Furthermore, I will surely tell my friends about the blogging activity because it's a good practice of writing and also very fun of doing that activities! Besides that, Now I can proudly say that I have an URL address on my own which automatically puts me in the website circle. But most importantly, blogging is probably the most famous of getting someone to be interested and recognized our writing skills. So, why not give a try? There is absolutely nothing to lose and a lot to gain!

I will definitely continue using this existing blog of mine in the future. Since I have interest in writing, I think that I will continue with my blogging activities by posting up whatever I feel is appropriate to be read by others. My current blog gives me an interest in blogging and I intend to continue as far as I can.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone whom has offered me helping hand whenever I faced problems. Have a wonderful life. May God blesses you all. Than You very much again.

FIFTH POSTING : ONLINE TEST

Personal Experience on Taking Online Tests

Welcome back to my blog everyone! How are you all getting on? Hope all of you are in the pink of health by God’s grace. Well, this is my fifth posting and my lecturer has given me a different task this time where all of my course mates and I are required to attempt an online test during the tutorial session and write about the results that I have obtained from the online test and the experience of taking it. Actually, we are required to attempt two online tests; The first one is Electronic Malaysian English Competency Test - Reading Test (Set 1) and the second is "Kemahiran Asas" ICT.

For your information, the following are the results which I have obtained from the two online tests:

1) Electronic Malaysian English Competency Test - Reading Test (Set 1)

Score : 22 out of 35 - 63%

Time Taken : 10min 26 sec

2) Online Quiz Results : Kemahiran Asas ICT

Your Score : 24/30

Online Quiz Results Summary

Your Attempts : 1

Total Class Attempts : 578

Your Quiz Score : 24/30

Your Highest Score Ever : 24

Note: This may not a final marks anywhere. Due to some of the sections of examination (subjective and semi-objective questions (short essay and fill in the blank) not yet included.

An online test is simply a test which you take sitting at a computer console via the Internet. Instead of paper and pencil, it's all mouse action. Within a few seconds of finishing the test, your score (for an ability test) or the analysis of your personality is emailed to the examiner.

Taking these online tests is my second experience because I have taken an online test before when taking my driving licenses 7 years back. I would to say that taking the online test after such a long time is very interesting indeed. The Electronic Malaysian English Competency Test - Reading Test (Set 1) was based on four reading passages which can be found in a particular website and we were required to answer multiple choice questions too. Even though normally we think that objective questions are easy to answer, but here the passages were very complicated which needed a lot of focus, concentration and wise thinking. In orther word, the online test is tough!

Furthermore, the disadvantage of taking an online test is, you will never know when a system and the server would be down. This is an experience which I have faced when the Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage the moment I finished answering the entire question and pressed finish. It was very frustrating because I couldn’t retrieve back what I’ve done, so I have do it all over again. In my point of view, this is a disadvantage of online tests.

The second online quiz that was taken on the same day was "Kemahiran Asas" ICT which is an online test that is used to grade the level of computer literacy among students and others. The questions which asked were from all levels as some of them were easy as we use the application of it in daily lives but most of the questions were really confusing. This is not because we do not know much about computers and the applications but it was because we are not very used to the terms used in the computer world. This is the reason as to why the score is not very encouraging.

Multiple choice or true and false online exams are very popular at institutions with enrollment that does not follow any geographic boundaries. The advantages are a shorter list when using this model. First, the exams are available online so the students can access them anywhere at any time. Second, the pool of questions on the exams can be randomized to reduce the possibility of sharing answers. Third, the exams can be automatically scored online with the scores then available to the student and the instructor, saving the instructor many hours of grading. Fourth, students can get immediate feedback on their work when the exams are graded online. The disadvantages are numerous, but can be categorized as "technical difficulties". The primary disadvantage from an instructional standpoint is the poor ability to accurately reflect student learning using these sorts of test questions. Once you move on from the instructional problem, you run into a seemingly infinite list of possible technical problems. Students can become very creative when their grade is at stake. For example: "I dropped my calculator on the keyboard and the test submitted" (shall I ask the student how the calculator happened to bounce on the enter key since you must select enter to begin the submit process and again to choose the yes command for submitting), "something must be wrong with my server because it says that my quizzes were submitted but I did not take them" (interesting how the server not only submitted the quizzes, but filled in answers as well), "I cannot access my quiz to submit the answers but here they are" (amazing how you were unable to access your quiz yet it was submitted so all of the correct answers were returned to you with your grade of zero. Could it be that you were able to write all of the correct answers down after you submitted your quiz blank and the answers were sent back to you with your score of 0%)… Needless to say the list goes on.

In conclusion, I have learnt many new aspects of computer technology which is very helpfull in increasing the level of my general knowledge in this competitiv and globalization world. I would not forget this wonderful experience and i will continously use whatever i learnt in this course in all my future undertakings.

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FOURTH POSTING : CONCORDANCE

Hello there!!! Welcome to my blog again. This is my fourth posting. In this wonderful week, I have given another task by my lecturer to discuss with a partner the article “Beyond Concordance Lines: Using Concordances to Investigate Language Development” by Arshad Abd Samad page 70 in OTL book and write the gist of the discussion and the summary of the article.

This assignment was done in pair whereby my pair was Jamal Mohammad. Concordance softwares such as Wordsmith, MonoConc Pro and Microconcord help in the boring task of analyzing language data and greatly extended the potential of a corpus in language pedagogy. The database called corpora helps to inform on how words and grammatical constructions are used which proves to be very useful to teachers, students and also researchers.

According to Schmitt (2002:34), using a corpus in language learning language captures students in a whole new way instead of making them just memorizing rules of English, as what it has been done all this while. A lot of studies have been done regarding concordance and how it helps but the one that is discussed in detail in this chapter is English of Malaysian School Students (EMAS) corpus which was investigated by researchers from UPM, on language development using language production and lexical variety.

The EMAS corpus collected in 2002 and consists nearly half a million words in the form of three different essays written by nearly 800 students which involved Year 5, Form 1, and Form 4 students. The major criterion of selecting the topics was the amount of language the topics could elicit. This was why picture series topics were taken because students were expected to write better based on the things that they were familiar with such as incidents at a river.

Various methods can be used to determine the language development. But however, the research was based on the assumption that development of language patterns can be seen from comparing language usage of three different age groups. The performance of students was valued from various aspects such as language productivity, range of vocabulary and sophistication of vocabulary. Language productivity is indicated by the number of sentences per essay and the word per sentence. From this survey, we can detect a gradual increase in the number of sentences, sentences per essay and words per sentence from the standard 5 to Form 4 levels. It is encouraging to note that the older students produce longer essays, as well as longer and more complex sentences. Another aspect is range of vocabulary. The diversity of the vocabulary used in a corpus is determined by calculating the type to token ratio. This ratio is calculated by dividing the number of separate words in a text by the number of words in the text. The investigation indicates that the type to token ratio gradually increases from the lower to the higher age of groups. This signifies that the older respondents use a wider range of vocabulary in their essays. EMAS corpus is also a learner corpus that retained the students spelling and grammatical errors. Moving on to the other aspect which is sophistication of the vocabulary can be determined by using specialized software such as RANGE. It is a vocabulary analysis program which gives an indication of kinds of vocabulary used. This program analyses text by comparing it to several base lists of frequently used words. With this program, they observed that clear developments in the sophistication of vocabulary were used which is older age groups use a wider range and more sophisticated words.

In conclusion, the results of the concordance and analysis indicate some form of development in terms of language production as well as vocabulary range and sophistication based on written data of three age groups.

Besides that, we are also required to search in the internet for articles or publications on the applications of concordance and choose one of the following and give examples of the applications of concordance in : language teaching and learning, data mining and data clean-up, literary work and linguistic, translation, corpus linguistics and content analysis. In this given list, I have decided to write and discuss about “Applications of concordance in language teaching and learning” for my assignment in fourth posting.

Based on all my researches and findings from the internet, I have found out that concordance softwares are being beneficial and gives you the most effective, cost-efficient way to manage the high volume of documents, including depositions, transcripts, e-mail and other e-discovery - generated during litigation. Based on this link : "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordance_%28publishing%29" a concordance is an alphabetical list of the principal words used in a book or body of work, with their immediate contexts. Because of the time and difficulty and expense involved in creating a concordance in the pre-computer era, only works of special importance, such as the Bible, Qur'an or the works of Shakespeare, had concordances prepared for them. Even with the use of computers, producing a concordance (whether on paper or in a computer) may require much manual work, because they often include additional materials, including commentary on, or definitions of, the indexed words, and topical cross-indexing that is not yet possible with computer-generated and computerized concordances. However, when the text of a work is on a computer, a search function can carry out the basic task of a concordance, and is in some respects even more versatile than one on paper.

Next, a bilingual concordance is a concordance based on aligned parallel text. A topical concordance is a list of subjects that a book (usually The Bible) covers, with the immediate context of the coverage of those subjects. Unlike a traditional concordance, the indexed word does not have to appear in the verse. The most well known topical concordance is Nave's Topical Bible.

Strong's Concordance

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a concordance of the King James Bible (KJV) that was constructed under the direction of Dr. James Strong (1822–1894) and first published in 1890. Dr. Strong was Professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary at the time. It is an exhaustive cross-reference of every word in the KJV back to the word in the original text. Unlike all other Biblical reference books, the purpose of Strong's Concordance is not to provide content or commentary about the Bible, but to provide an index to the Bible. This allows the reader to find words where they appear in the Bible. This index allows a student of the Bible to re-find a phrase or passage previously studied or to compare how the same topic is discussed in different parts of the Bible.

Strong's Concordance includes:
The 8674 Hebrew root words used in the Old Testament.
The 5624 Greek root words used in the New Testament.

James Strong did not construct Strong's Concordance by himself; it was constructed with the effort of more than a hundred colleagues. It has become the most widely used concordance for the King James Bible.

The Strong's concordance is a very useful tool for studying the scriptures. It takes every single word of the King James Version and lists where each word can be found in the scriptures. It is useful for locating scripture verses that you know the words to, but don't know the book, chapter and verse.

Bible Concordance / Dictionary

This concordance / dictionary will help you learn the meaning of some important words in the Bible. It will also tell you where in the Bible to read about that subject or person. Please note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive concordance but a resource to help you understand some important words in the Bible.

Concordances are frequently used as a tool in linguistics that can be used for the study of a text, such as: comparing different usages of the same word, analyzing keywords, analyzing word frequencies, finding and analyzing phrases and idioms, finding translations of subsentential elements, e.g. terminology, in bitexts and translation memories , creating indexes and word lists (also useful for publishing).

KWIC is an acronym for Key Word In Context, the most common format for concordance lines. A KWIC index is formed by sorting and aligning the words within an article title to allow each word (except the stop words) in titles to be searchable alphabetically in the index. It was a useful indexing method for technical manuals before computerized full text search became common. The term permuted index is another name for a KWIC index, referring to the fact that it indexes all cyclic permutations of the headings. Books composed of many short sections with their own descriptive headings, most notably collections of manual pages, often ended with a permuted index section, allowing the reader to easily find a section by any word from its heading. This practice is no longer common today.

A concordancer is a computer program that automatically constructs a concordance. The output of a concordancer may serve as input to a translation memory system for computer-assisted translation, or as an early step in machine translation. Concordancers are also used in corpus linguistics to retrieve alphabetically or otherwise sorted lists of linguistic data from the corpus in question, which the corpus linguist then analyzes. Some concordancers used in corpus linguistics are AntConc (Freeware), ApSIC Xbench, WordSmith, MonoConc, GlossaNet, and CorpusEye. AntConc is a freeware concordance program for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems developed by Laurence Anthony of Waseda University, Japan. AntConc can generate KWIC concordance lines and concordance distribution plots. It also has tools to analyze word clusters (lexical bundles), n-grams, collocates, word frequencies, and keywords.Although the program was originally designed for use in classrooms, it has a powerful set of tools that are useful to researchers, including wildcard and regular expression searches.One useful feature of the program is the ability to process texts in almost any language in the world, including Asian languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It is fully UNICODE compliant and the developer welcomes comments from users and actively works to improve the software.

Concordance is being used in language teaching and learning, data mining and data clean-up, literary and linguistic scholarship , translation and language engineering, corpus linguistics, natural language software development , lexicography , content analysis in many disciplines including accountancy, history, marketing, musicology, politics, geography, and media studies.

There are numerous articles regarding to the subject of concordance in language learning. But one problem that we faced in the search of articles on the application of concordance is the language itself. Most of the articles are constructed in a complicated language of English, thus proving it difficult to understand concordance and the application of it in today’s world. However, we managed to come across an article that is written in simple English which can be understood by all. The concerning article is taken from http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/esl0224.html and gives a very good explanation on teaching English vocabulary.

According to this article, the best way to learn what a concordancer can do is to use one. We merely need to enter a word or vocabulary item in an input box similar to that of a Search Engine. The concordancer will return some example sentences from corpus data illustrating how the word is most frequently used. Some concordancers allow you the option or oblige you to select the categories of corpus data targeted by your search. However, if we limit our corpus data to the stories of Agatha Christie, certain search strings will yield few results.

If learners have access to the Internet, teachers can set them classwork or homework which involves the use of a concordancer. The tasks teachers give the learners could focus on vocabulary (e.g. lexical items in collocation), grammar (syntagmatic relations) or contexts in which syntax and semantics combine to differentiate meanings (e.g. "I think" versus "I am thinking"). It is possible to ask the concordancer to return a list of example sentences where strings of more than one word occur and it is also possible to focus on morphemes or difficult consonant clusters within individual words.

Computer users without Internet access may find more difficulty in gaining access to corpus material. However, the size of computer hard disks still provides scope for vocabulary study, especially work at word level on prefixes, suffixes, initial, medial and final consonant blends [containing 2, 3 or 4 parts]. If you still have a copy of the popular Word Processor, WordPerfect 5.1, you may be familiar with a very useful utility called SPELL, which is accessed from the "wp5.1" directory rather through the main component of the software. This utility permits you to search the large number of words contained in WP5.1's Spell Check files and is excellent for solving crossword clues which you cannot otherwise complete. If you enter the consonant cluster *pth* as a search string, it will return the results 1. depth 2. depths 3. opthalmitis 4. upthrow 5. upthrows
6.upthrust 7.upthrusts.

In conclusion, concordancer is thus a very good way to analyze words, phrases or even sentences without having complications.

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An ADVENTURES experience at Gunung datuk!!!

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THIRD POSTING :THE IMPACTS OF USING ICT AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Hello everyone! In this wonderful week, I have given another task by my lecturer to write about the impacts of using ICT or wireless technology in various field such as in society, education, business, health and computer assisted language learning: applications and prospects. In this given list, I have decided to write and discuss about “The impact of using ICT and wireless technology in Education” for my assignment in third posting. Based on all my researches and findings from five references such as SCORPUS, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, Computer Database and LISAnet at Tun Sri Lanang Library (PTSL)in UKM, it is really proven that technology (ICT) has a tremendous impact and role in education. ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.

In the field of education, technology is playing a significant role in various aspects including teaching and learning process,data keeping, presentations in various occations such as meetings, seminars, forums and others.In other word,education without technology is merely lame. Besides that,the use of information technology in education and training has undergone several paradigm shifts over the last three decades. Very recently the notions of e-learning (learning supported by digital electronic tools and media) and m-learning (e-learning using mobile devices and wireless transmission) have emerged. These terms are often associated with a simplistic understanding of facilitating learning by delivering learning content. Content delivery using mobile devices has had some successes, for example the BBC’s ‘Bitesized revision’ materials delivered via SMS to mobile phones. The learning was facilitated by delivering content to students however, it was structured to encourage students to discuss the content. Other content-led m-learning possibilities include ‘just-in-time’ training in specific skills (such as how to operate a machine). So content delivery to mobile devices may well have a useful place in m-learning, however, there is an imperative to move from a view of e- and m-learning as solely delivery mechanisms for content. In this view, the learner is just a special type of customer and the learning content is another type of e-commerce product. This simplistic view ignores the fact that modern education and pedagogy, irrespective of different background theories and schools of thought, converge in their high valuation of active, productive, creative and collaborative learning methods much beyond the ‘absorption’ of codified information.

Moreover,ICT is supporting tools in learning process and particularly collaborative learning scenarios. These technologies offer the possibility of moving away from the stand-alone computer, thus allowing interaction with several devices and making information accessible through a wireless connection to a server. These technologies offer new opportunities for individuals who require information especially in the field of education. Therefore, many researchers as well as academicians are currently exploring the potential of mobile and wireless devices for supporting their learning and teaching processes.

In addition to the above fact, the usage of ICT has a decisive impact on the expectations of the design and the use of new mobile and wireless technologies in education. With the help of the newly invented technologies the objectives in the field of education; especially in teaching and learning process the quality of the service is optimised in terms of availability across time and space or in terms of multimedia support. Of course, improvements on these scales can also able to create interest using the technology with a distinct orientation.

Besides that, if these new technologies are used to support active and collaborative forms of learning and teaching process in education, there will be no doubt that computing devices allow for exploratory activities not bound to a special location, for example field trips, without losing the potential of taking electronic notes and retrieving information of various types. Such notes, ranging from data collections and digital images to handwritten annotations, can be easily exchanged and downloaded.These activities can be continuously monitored and coordinated between places, even in classrooms and training settings with more or less fixed locations, the use of mobile and wireless technologies may lead to substantial changes as small handheld or embedded devices are no longer dominating the interaction in the way that an explicit computer does. This can help us to move the technology to the background and to set the focus more on interpersonal relations and on the task at hand.

Furthermore, the approaches of learning with the use of the newest technology in the most creative and innovative ways has a great impact in the teaching process. The point is that the learning environment, including such aspects as the roles of learners and teachers, types of activities and physical settings, should not be adapted to the available technology but vice versa. The technology should be designed for and adapted to the learning needs with the hope that better technology should adapt and serve better. For intance, bluetooth is a data communication system increasingly provided in PDAs and mobile phones, giving reasonably high speed communication (up to 720 kilobits/ s) over short distances (up to 10 m. Whereas,GPS A system using satellites to provide positioning information, now with an accuracy of 5–10 m. Can be used to provide Location Based Services (LBS), such as showing where the user is located on a map, providing directions, or to sending information relevant to the location (such as a tourist guide). An extension of GPS, called Differential GPS (DGPS), can give an accuracy of about 2 m. GPRS is also a method of sending data to and from mobile phones, by producing ‘packets’ of data that are transmitted via the GSM system. The differences from GSM are that data can be sent about 10 times faster, and that the user only pays for each packet sent or received rather than for the time spent connected. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) the digital voice telephony system used for mobile phones in more than 100 countries and the de facto standard in Europe and Asia. Designed for voice communications, it can also be used for slow speed (9.6 kilobits/ s) data connections.

In addition, IrDA A standard defined by the Infrared Data Association to transfer data between computers without cables, via infrared light. The data rate can be up to 16 megabits/s but the devices must be within clear line of sight and less than about 2 m apart. Can also be used to remote control devices and LAN (Local area network) An interconnection of computers within a restricted area such as a campus or school, usually with high speed connections of 10 or 100 megabits/ s. Usually requires cables between each computer, though wireless LANs are becoming more common.PDA (Personal Digital Assistant - sometimes called Handheld). A handheld computer, originally focused on supporting mobile office needs such as finding contacts or managing a diary, now with a broader range of personal tools. Some provide communication through GPRS or WLAN. Its data can be synchronised with a desktop computer or network. SMS (Short Message Service)or system used for sending text messages between mobile phones. The message length is limited to 160 characters.
MMS Multimedia Messaging Service. An extension of SMS for sending multimedia messages, such as pictures and graphics. Besides that, Tablet PC It has the power and functionality of a conventional laptop computer, coupled with a fold-flat or detachable touch-sensitive screen. Has the ability to record handwritten notes and diagrams.at last, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) A method for delivering worldwide web information to mobile phones. It uses a version of the HTML web description language, WML, designed to describe pages of content for delivery over slow speed connections and display on devices with small screens and one-hand navigation without a keyboard. The need for WAP is now reduced, with new handheld devices able to display normal HTML web pages.


The considerable investment that has gone into introducing ICT into schools hardware, software, networking and staff development, It will be deemed worthwhile if there is evidence that it has made a commensurate impact on the performance levels and progress of pupils. In drawing conclusions from the available literature, it is necessary to acknowledge the extent and nature of the evidence available. The usage of ICT able to create motivation. At present the evidence on attainment is somewhat inconsistent, although it does appear that, in some contexts, with some pupils, in some disciplines, attainment has been enhanced. There is a need for more systematically gathered evidence although it is already apparent that, where ICT has been successfully embedded in the classroom experience.

In addition ICT also has created independence in learning. In which Understanding of the extent to which ICT can support creativity, including critical thinking skills and problem solving abilities, is developing, although some of the evidence appears contradictory. In the studies encountered, positive findings were associated with a range of technologies, particularly those with strong visual elements such as digital video, drama-oriented software and multimedia presentations. In general, impact is most clearly observed where tasks have clear educational aims, are designed to maximize the potential of the ICT in use and are perceived as purposeful by pupils.

Moreover, some areas of the curriculum have been the focus of considerable ICT development. Apart from initiatives to support literacy and numeracy, evidence of positive impact has been reported in mathematics, modern foreign languages, science, history, geography, physical education and the creative arts.There has been considerable development in the provision of online resources for teaching across subject areas, from a range of sources, commercial and pubic. More specifically, learning of modern foreign languages has benefited greatly from the increased availability of online resources as well as technologies such as digital video and photography, while animations and simulations have enabled pupils to grasp more complex concepts in mathematics and the sciences.

Nowadays, the range of technologies available for use in the classroom has increased rapidly as the infrastructure in schools has developed. Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have been the focus of a considerable number of studies, large and small, in no small part due to government endorsement and support for them. Display and presentational software, including animations and simulations, combined with IWBs, help pupils to develop an understanding of abstract concepts through concrete examples and graphical images of, for example, microscopic processes. Mobile technologies are growing in availability and, given their attractiveness to pupils, are gradually being introduced to support various educational initiatives, usually with a focus on communication. They have been shown to be effective in supporting learning for disaffected and ‘hard to reach’ pupils, where attending school is problematic for personal or family/cultural reasons. Laptops, which teachers have found particularly useful for management and administration, have been less enthusiastically received by pupils, who prefer the smaller technologies such as PDAs and multi-function mobile phones. Mobile technologies are being developed for use with hard-to-reach learners and in projects aimed at improving access to ICT for those pupils without a computer in the home.

In addition, educational software developers are beginning to capitalize on pupils’ enthusiasm for games and gaming, potentially benefiting the development of a range of skills including decision making, information processing and team working. Whole school approaches to implementing ICT supported education have often been more successful in primaries than in secondary schools; this appears to be a function of their size and the greater commonality of approach used. Technologies with a visual dimension digital video, photography, video conferencing engage pupils and provide a stimulus for collaborative working and discussion and, where the pupils are in control of the technology, give them a sense of ownership and control of the learning process. Such technologies appear to be especially effective when used with groups of pupils with special or additional needs. Learning platforms and virtual learning environments, are often used as repositories or communication technologies, although there is evidence that they are, for many schools, becoming central to a whole range of activities, linking various technologies and applications. They can make a significant contribution towards personalizing the learning and teaching experience, for both pupils and teachers. They have been shown to support discussion and collaborative activity as well as multi- and cross disciplinary work.


Furthermore, the needs of specific groups of pupils, such as those with special needs, the disaffected and the children of Travelers, are being addressed through various initiatives involving a range of technologies. Compared to the school population as a whole, the numbers in each group are relatively small and, as a result, much of the evidence of the impact of ICT use comes from small-scale studies. The very nature of the problems faced by the pupils involved means that the initiatives tend to be relatively intensive in terms of individual support. As a result, while the evidence may point to gains for the pupils involved, issues of scale and sustainability arise. There is a growing body of evidence on the positive impact that ICT can have on the learning of pupils with special educational needs, whether through adaptive or assistive technologies specially designed to support pupils with specific disabilities or through the use of mainstream technologies such as digital video and photography.


In addition, there is evidence that the new technologies are increasingly becoming integrated into the learning experiences of pupils and that learning is being enhanced by the new technologies, growth has been limited by the need to provide fast connectivity and a virtual learning environment (VLE) or learning platform. The little systematic evidence that exists indicates that good resources can have an impact on motivation and attainment. Once established, e-learning can offer flexible, personalised learning and bridge the gap between home and school learning. There is a concern, however, that there is not yet a good understanding of how teachers can support pupils and make the most of e-learning packages. A persistent theme in the literature is the extent to which ICT can make the learning experience more personalised, more targeted at the needs of the individual learner. Combinations of technology and applications give greater choice in relation to what, when and where to study, selecting according to interests, learning styles and preferences and need. Such systems can give the pupil more autonomy and independence with regard to learning and a range of sources of information to draw on. This can be unsettling for some teachers and may well change the dynamics of the pupil–teacher relationship. There is little in the literature on the potential impact on relationships in the classroom as schools develop e-capability and use ICT to support the learning process more widely. Internet has improve communication within schools has led to centralized attendance, assessment and recording systems, while links with the external world can support communication with parents and others within the local community as well as contact with schools and agencies in other countries.

At last but not least, Improving communication with parents is considered to be important in reducing the home–school divide in that parental attitudes to schools and their support for the work of the school are viewed as critical factors in ensuring that pupils gain as much as they can from the learning opportunities provided. While much is written about the potential for using ICT to bridge the gap between in- and out-of-school learning and to gain parental support, improved home–school links are as yet unrealized in many instances. This is an aspect that has developed relatively slowly, although there is evidence of the benefits to be gained if it can be realized, and studies are under way of alternative technologies, such as using PDAs to compensate for lack of access to a computer out of school. Other obstacles identified include limitations on the networks and connectivity as well as a lack of interoperability across systems. schools are becoming better at identifying the data to be gathered and in using it strategically, for self-evaluation and monitoring purposes Most schools are linked to the wider community and beyond through the internet, providing a rich source of resources for teachers and learning opportunities for pupils. Schools are developing links with schools in other countries through video conferencing, and with other services and agencies such as libraries and the careers services. However, as ICT becomes an everyday experience for pupils in classrooms, schools also have to consider how they ensure that all pupils have similar learning opportunities and the ‘digital divide’ does not develop into a system-wide disadvantage for those who have limited or no access to ICT out of the school. Pupils, teachers and parents seem to benefit from good home–school links using ICT and the newer, cheaper, mobile technologies might go some way to providing a solution.


In conclusion,. the development of ICT in schools is progressing unevenly across and within schools and technologies. Some seem to be content with achieving the government's targets in terms of numbers of computers and connectivity, while others are being highly innovative, attempting to capitalise on the benefits that ICT has been shown to bring. As schools grow in e-confidence, ICT becomes embedded in the everyday practices of the school, drawing on a range of technologies to support learning, teaching and attainment particularly with a longitudinal element, should shed light on the processes that schools go through in becoming e-confident and e-capable, the impact on relationships within the school, between home and school and across networks, and on pedagogical practice. Using ICT effectively in schools is about more than changing resources; it is about changing practices and culture.

SECOND POSTING : Computer Assisted Writing

Computer Assisted Writing

This week, I’ve given a task by my lecturer, to write about Computer Assisted Writing and post it to my blog. I’ve done some reading and researches about the given topic by using “Online Teaching and Learning in ELT” book and also internet. Based on my findings, the use of computer expended rapidly during the 1980’s to the end of decades. Computer functions such as word processing have been of great assistance to writer in modifying their writing. Word processing programs with its capability to add, delete, and rearrange text are seems to be far advance from the traditional writing process by using pencil and paper approaches. Most researches in this area indicate that the use word processor in writing lead to a better writing outcomes than the use of paper and pencil or conventional typewriters. Computer assisted writing is a process that determines writing performance in which it involves prewriting activities, drafting, revising, editing and final publication. Before indulged further, we have to differentiate between online and offline writing.

According to Harasim et al, 1995, various methods have been proposed to make teaching more effective and attractive. Online learning is one of the latest additions to the currently practiced delivery methods. Furthermore, based on Barker’s research in the year 2000, a rapid growth in the use of online materials and electronic teaching webs in realizing educational objectives. In fact, the number of studies on the use of tools are available on the internet is fast growing. Among the tools that have been tried for language teaching are the electronic mail, the bulletin board, the online chat room, the computer conferencing and web based online learning system. A number of researchers found that students’ participations increased greatly in the electronic mode. Among the researchers, who compared the two environments are Sullivan and Pratt (1996) and as well as Kern. Sullivan and Pratt reported 85- 92% participations and Kern mentioned 86-88% participations in each the two classes (online and offline) spent their time in online discussion compare to face to face class discussion, which is only around 37- 39%.

In addition, there were also studies that compared the performance of online with offline students. One of the studies was conducted by Thirunarayanan and Perez- Prado (2001/2002). They claimed that online students did better in the course than their classroom based counterparts. In contradict, other studies have found differing results about the performance of online and offline students. According to Barry & Runyan 1995, Johnson et al.2000, and Johnson 2002 there is no significant difference in the performance of students who are taking face to face classes and students taking online courses. Based on my findings from “Online Teaching and Learning in ELT” book, there was no obvious difference between the performance of the online and the offline students in term of their coursework but, there is a small difference between the two modes of the students. In which the offline students seemed to do better in their end of semester exam and the final exam compare to online students.

Although, there are many researches on the performance of the students in both modes but, in my view, the computer assisted writing helps students to perform better in their writing skills. Moreover, the better performance in computer assisted writing normally based on some specific computer soft wares. Computer software is the overall term to describe the computer data and instructions that are installed and stored electronically within a computer. Software can be divided into both system software and application software. System software (operating system) and associated utilities are the information that essentially directs, runs and organizes the computer hardware and overall features of the computer to make it a functioning unit. Application software includes specific material or programs that are loaded onto the computer by the user for a purpose, such as word prediction or word processing software. There are many computer software products on the market which can make life easier for computer users with disability such as Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) software for reading, Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) software for writing, grammar checking software, Internet browsers—text-based, screen reading software, speech recognition software, and spell checking software.

Besides that, computer programs for writing help students with developing ideas, organizing, outlining, and brainstorming. Word prediction is one of the computer programs which helps students to identify words that student uses repeatedly; when the student types the first few letters, the program lists frequently used words that start with those letters and speeds up the typing process. Next is speech-to-text program which helps student to speak into a microphone and the program types the words; program must be "trained" to the student's word pronunciation and speech style; student must be taught how to use the program and increased speed from thought to text. Another program which helps students to hear what he or she has typed to check if it says what he or she wants it to say and good for editing is text-to-speech program. Spell-checker helps student to identify misspelled words and automatically corrects words if the teacher set the program that way .At last thesaurus offers student other words that mean the same as the word he or she is using and adds variety to student's writing and increases student vocabulary.

Furthermore, the performance of students also can be developed through computerized writing activities. There are various websites which host computerized writing activities. One of the activities is Computer assisted sentence production which we can find from http://www.manythings.org/casp/. This activity mainly asks us to fill in the blanks and answer a few questions which already designated in the program in order the computer or Java script codes to write the entire sentences for us. This program designated mainly to improve writing skills of students.

The next activity is the Computerized Pre-Professional Skills Test in Writing assesses the ability use grammar and language appropriately and the ability to communicate effectively in writing; this ability are essential to a well educated adults in a profession role. The writing test is 68 minutes in length has separately timed sections: a 38 minutes multiple choice section containing 44 multiple choice questions on the use of standard English and a 30 minutes essay section that requires a writing sample based on an essay topic.

In addition, we also able to find some more computerized writing activities on various websites as follows:
www.wsu.edu/~aaa/activities.htm
www.writngcenter.uottwa
www.school-news-usa.com/NYC_Lesson_Plan.asp
www.homeschool.com

In conclusion, no doubt that computer assisted writing has tremendously helps the students and others to improve their writing skills. Although there are various and different types of opinions arise on this matter: whether computer assisted writing is helping to enhance the ability and the performance of the user or not, its basically depends on the types of the computer assisted writing soft wares used and the activities involved.

ADVERTISMENT...

This task is about designing my own advertisement based on the original copy. The advertisement we create are based on our creativity and how it can give impact on the others'. There are loads of ways we can decorate it either by using microsoft word document or microsoft power point.

For your information, I have created my advertisement in the Microsoft Word Document and I must say that it was really fun and interesting! Having your own advertisement is pretty intersting and fun. All of you guys do not miss the chance to try it!

The original copy of this particular advertisement is not colourful enough and apart from that its important information is not highlighted. Therefore, when this happens, it can be said that it would be rather difficult to be viewed and this disables the people around to get the information.

I have designed it in a way that it is colourful and looks more lively. The title or the main purpose of the advertisement has been highlighted which makes people easier to look at. Not only that, I have inserted some images that makes it more understandable for the viewers.

This advertisement can be downloaded at http://www.mediafire.com/?unzodjkmygx.

Hope you all like it.

Online Games

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago.

The name of the game which I’ve played is “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago”. The game is under the Communicative CALL. In short, winning or losing of this game is dependent on whether we manage to catch a wanted robber or a convict who is maybe in the country or migrated to other countries. We as an Interpol officer, have to arrest the convict. Before we indulge further in the game, we have to fill in the general particulars of the convict such as gender, hobby, physical identification, color of his hair, vehicle used or using by him and etc. This is one of the elements (using forms) requested by the game and needed by communicative call. Next, we able to upgrade our language (implicit and explicit) as all the commands of the game are in English. Furthermore, to play this game successfully, the player must possess vast geographical and historical knowledge. For instance, countries flag, currencies, some important capital cities and etc. In addition, the game will guide us to fly one country to another when we are unable to find the convict in certain countries or in other word, it help us to generate more than one option but it won’t gives us any judgments as well as reward. The game only tells us whether our mission is successful or not. When I notice that all the elements of this game related to communicative call, I strongly like to tell that this game is under the communicative call.

FIRST POSTING : Computerized Reading

READING COMPREHENSION

Reading comprehension can be defined as the level of understanding of a passage or text. There are various types of reading; reading for pleasure, information, task completion, instruction and incidental reading. “Persian Warriors Defeated” is the text which I have chosen, taken from http://www.abcteach.com/free/r/rc_history_alexander_pdf website. The below attached comprehension is mainly for the purpose of information and task completion. It will be useful to all categories of people but mainly for secondary school students. In which they are able to get information about the Persian War and the warrior Alexander the Great and able to answer questions related to the text.

This reading comprehension has questions to ask to readers before reading the text. This method is very much useful in giving guideline to readers about the basic contents or idea of the text. The readers may use this prior knowledge to read and understand the text. This strategy is needed to acquire content knowledge and encourage the readers to read more and more. Besides that, it is able to create the readers interest and abilities although they do not have a strong foundation or knowledge about the content of the comprehension. The main aspect of this strategy is, it also able to develop motivation among the poor readers to read continuously.

Here are some guidance and strategies to help readers on reading and to do more than just read the words on a piece of paper. The skills of a strategic reader in the content areas can be broken down into seven areas;

a) Predict – declaring in advance on the basis of observation or experience.
b) Visualize – forming mental pictures of scenes, characters and events.
c) Connect – to link two things together or to associate and see a relationship.
d) Question – to inquire or examine.
e) Clarify – to make understandable or to become clear and free of confusion.
f) Summarize – to concisely obtain the essence or main point of the text.
g) Evaluate – to form an opinion about what you have read.

These seven areas can be linked to various strategies to improve the effectiveness of each reader. The “predicting, visualizing and connecting” areas are implemented as before reading strategies. The “question and clarification” areas are implemented as during reading strategies whereas, “summarizing and evaluating” are implemented as after reading strategies. “Word Splash” helps build student interest and involvement in reading. This particular strategy emphasizes vocabulary skills. Next, “Word Map” helps the students deepen their understanding of concepts and vocabulary words by expanding on definitions. Word mapping helps students learn unfamiliar words and concepts by expanding word meanings. Whereas, KWLWH chart is one of the most successful strategies suggested throughout research. This chart is commonly used consistently throughout the reading lesson beginning with students predicting and connecting new information. KWLWH chart breaks down the comprehension strategies into five columns. Students answer the following questions throughout the lesson:
1. What do you think you know?
2. What do I want to learn?
3. What did I learn?
4. What else do we need to learn?
5. How will I find out?

In addition, Questioning and Clarification are strategies used by the reader during reading process. It will help reinforce their comprehension and maintain self-interest. These particular strategies help the readers engage personally and respond to the text, consolidate ideas, and find a reason for the sequence of information. Examples of these strategies include making graphic organizers, semantic maps, marginal notes and drawing pictures. The more the student is actively thinking while reading, the more they feel like participants in the learning process. Sticky Note Symbols is one of the most popular strategies. This activity teaches students to focus on what they are reading and to deepen their understanding. Students use post-it notes during the reading process and write down questions or comments, or placing the note in a particular area with an arrow. Besides that, Selective highlighting is a strategy that helps students select what is important in the text. Specific steps are taught to distinguish critical information from information that is not critical. This strategy is in line with the sticky notes.

Last but not least, summarizing and evaluating are strategies used by the student to thoroughly understand what they have just read. Many of the students should begin to recall information from the text allowing the evaluating process to occur. Picture This is a after reading strategy which emphasizes visual representation. Students work together as a team to think about the text they have read and organize their thoughts to create a visual representation of the text. This activates class discussion on creativity, artwork and the important points of what they have just read. Next, Graphic Organizers give the students graphic representations of the relationship that links together facts, vocabulary, and concepts of texts. Graphic organizers come in many variations. They are designed to organize ideas, represent abstract ideas in more concrete ways, and to help students store and recall information.

In conclusion, students have to use the above reading strategies in order to solve reading difficulties The before, during, and after reading strategies which mentioned above have been proven to help students with a longer lasting knowledge about reading. The successes of these three strategies rely on the teacher’s willingness, patience and persistence to actively engage the learning process at every opportunity. So, reading with strategy is vital and significant for the readers to understand the reading text or materials


Reading Comprehension- History – Alexander the Great.
Name ____________________________________ Date _______________________

PERSIAN WARRIORS DEFEATED

Questions to ask before reading the story:
• What is a counter offensive move? How is it different from a defensive move?
• What is the meaning of the statement “The surest defense is a strong offense”?
• What does it mean to “snatch victory from the jaws of defeat”?

Alexander the Great stood with his army on the western shore of the Tigris River. He and his men had marched north from Tyre, crossing acres and acres of blackened land. Darius III had his “Immortals” burn to the ground the long wheat grass that had been growing there. He had hoped to slow the advance of Alexander and his mighty fighting force.

Darius’ strategy had done little to delay the progress of the Greek forces. They prepared now to ford the Tigris, and to continue onward toward the village of Mosul. They knew that Darius III and the Persian warriors were camped nearby on the plain of Gaugamela. They remained unaware of Darius’ newest tactic.

When Alexander and his men reached the plain of Gaugamela, they found that the ground had been made level. The Persian chariots stood in formation, ready to attack across that flat surface. Darius expected his scythed chariots to propel themselves forcefully into the Greek forces, with their curved blades ripping at the flesh of both horses and men.

The chariots began their rapid drive toward the army of Alexander the Great. The Greek general, having made a quick assessment of the situation, ordered the ranks of the Greek fighters to split apart. This maneuver left the Persians moving forward, without having anyone to mow down. Because they traveled at great speed, the Persians could not get turned around. Caught between enemy lines, many Persian chariot drivers fell victim to the spears and arrows of their Greek opponents.

Still, Darius was not ready to surrender. He spotted places where his men could outflank the Greeks, sneaking around behind the enemy ranks. Some enemy units met the fate that Darius had intended, that of being run over by the Persian chariots. None of this, however, seemed to faze Alexander the Great.

The Greek general ordered the Companions, the cavalry, to form a wedge. The point of the wedge charged directly at Darius. The Persian King fled, leading to a collapse of whatever resistance he had managed to muster. Alexander the Great again emerged as the victor.

Alexander’s first impulse was to direct his men on a chase after the fleeing Darius. He chose, instead, to go south to Babylon, where he allowed his men to have one month of rest. From there Alexander headed his army east, toward the treasures that lay in central Persia.




Vocabulary
assessment- act of estimating the worth or quality or likelihood of something
faze- to disconcert, to fluster
ford- to cross a body of water bywading, riding or driving through
formation- a particular arrangement ororder
impulse- a sudden inclination to act, without thought for consequences
muster- to cause to assemble; to summon
ranks- lines of people or things


Reading Comprehension - History – Alexander the Great
Name __________________________________ Date _______________________

Review Questions
1. Where did Alexander the Great and Darius III have their second meeting? ________________________________________________________________________

2. What pointed object did the flanks of the Greek Companions resemble when they
charged at the Persians?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Who won the battle on the plain of Gaugamela? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Darius III hoped to beat Alexander by using scythed _____________________________.

5. After defeating Darius III, Alexander the Great took his men to Babylon, where they
rested for their journey to central ____________________________________________.

6. In order to have their second meeting with Darius III, Alexander and his men crossed the _________ River.

7. Did Darius give up when he found his chariots surrounded? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What do you think? Was Alexander a better general than Darius? Why or why not? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Multiple Choice:

1. Alexander the Great marched northeast from Tyre, taking his men to:

a. the Euphrates River
b. the Tigris River
c. central Persia
d. a charred plain

2. Which of the following tactics did Darius III not use?

a. burning wheat grass above Tyre
b. having scythed chariots
c. outflanking the Greeks on the Gaugamela plain
d. none of the above

3. Which of the following helped to insure the victory of Alexander the Great?

a. having scythed chariots
b. having the Greek warriors part ranks
c. formation of a wedge
d. b and c

Matching

Tigris River site of second meeting between Alexander and Darius

Plain of Gaugamela where Alexander the Great headed after he had defeated Darius III

Central Persia crossed by Alexander and his men

Answers to review questions for “Persian Warriors…”

1. on the plain of Gaugamela
2. a wedge
3. Alexander the Great
4. Chariots
5. Persia
6. Tigris
7. No
8. Answers will vary

Multiple choice:
1. b
2. d
3. d
Matching
Alexander crossed the Tigris.
Alexander met Darius III on the plain of Gaugamela.
After winning the battle with Darius, Alexander went to central Persia.

Introduction to Weblog!

My name is Thanapackiam D/O Sammugam @ Shanmugam. My matrix no is (A120309). I'm studying BA ELS course at National University of Malaysia (UKM). Now, I'm in semester two (first year). In this semester, I'm studying Language and Information Technology course which conduct by Prof Madya Datin Dr. Norizan Abdul Razak and Pn. Zaini Amir.

This course consists of several objectives. The main objectives are as follows:

a) To create an awarness on the applications of computer (IT) in language learning and research b) To help students develop language skills with the use of computer based instructions

c) To apply language processing software in analyzing the basic language structure

d) To help students discover language structure and use with the applications of computer (IT)

In order to achieve these objectives, my professors has given me a task to create a weblog. I have created mine and my weblog's title is Thanapackiam's Special Web Page. I have some ideas on what I'm going to do with the spaces given to me in the weblog. At first, I will post all my assingments of my above mentioned course in the blog. Then, I'll decorate my weblog with a beautiful layout, animation pictures, my entire family pictures, music and also some interesting video clips, so that it would be very interesting and acttractive with the hope that my lecturer will be impressed when she look into the weblog and give her comments.

At last but not least, this is the first time I'm doing weblog assignment. This task really gave me new experience and knowledge which will be very useful in my future undertakings. I hope that the knowledge which I have gained through this assignment will help me to do better in my other assignments in future.