AOI 2-EDUCATION

ICT has had a huge impact on education, the way lessons are taught and how schools are run.

Here is a quick overview of some of the changes brought about by ICT in education

Prior to ICT


With ICT



This is how many of your teachers remember their days at school


This classroom is probably far more familiar to you.




Teachers used to write notes onto the blackboard using chalk and students would copy them into their notebooks. You are more likely to find an interactive whiteboard or digital projector in classroom nowadays. Students can participate in lessons by highlighting or selecting things on the whiteboard. Notes can even be printed off by the teacher and given to students.




School attendance used to be recorded twice daily in paper registers. Many schools are now moving over to using electronic registration. Details are uploaded to the school administration system and attendance is automatically updated within a few seconds of the register being taken.




Some schools are using technology to the full and have introduced swipe cards for students and even the latest fingerprint identification systems to check that students are actually in school.

Here are some other changes that have happened in the school environment due to new ICT technology

Prior to ICT


With ICT



Dinner money used to be sent into school each week as cash, in small brown envelopes. Nowadays, many schools use swipe cards. Students use a machine to ‘load’ up their card with money and use this at the till to pay for their food.




You would be warned that it was the end of break or dinnertime by a teacher ringing a hand bell. Most schools now use electronic bells which are on an automatic timer to tell you about the end of lessons and breaks.




When letters needed to be sent home, the school secretary would have to type them individually. Any mistakes meant that they would have to be retyped from scratch. All letters, reports and documents are now created using a computer. Any mistakes can be corrected immediately.




All student records used to be stored in paper files and kept safe inside a filing cabinet. Most schools are now using electronic Management Information Systems. They can search for a student using the computer and find out all of the relevant details in a matter of seconds.

Encyclopedias

Teachers have always encouraged students to use encyclopedias as a research tool. Encyclopedias are a set of reference books containing a wide range of factual knowledge, usually arranged by topic or by alphabetical order. Full sets were expensive and most schools could only afford one or two, which were stored in the library.

There has been a move towards using electronic versions of encyclopedias which can be stored on the school network. This means that students can access them at any time using any computer in the school.

Self learning

The traditional way of learning is for a teacher to stand at front of the classroom and explain the theory. They might then back this up by giving you some reading to do from a text book or further research from an Internet site.

There are other ways of imparting knowledge to students. Many companies are now producing ‘self -learning’ or ‘self- teaching’ packages. These are generally available as a CD-ROM or DVD. They are purchased from a specialist company and loaded onto your personal computer.

These packages contain all of the theory that you need for a particular course. The theory is broken up into logical sections and is usually accompanied by practical exercises and interactive tests.

Advantages of self learning packages


Disadvantages of self learning packages
No teacher needed No social interaction
Students can work at their own pace Cannot ask questions of the teacher
Students can revisit a section as many times as they need Cannot gain clarification if you do not understand a section
Students do not feel embarrassed by getting things wrong in front of others Generally expensive
Contain a wide range of multi-media materials Need self discipline to keep up to date with the course and do the work

Distance learning

Distance learning is not the same as ‘self-learning’.

Sometimes people cannot attend regular classes for a variety of reasons. They may live in a geographically remote location where there are few if any schools. They may be physically disabled or unwell and unable to leave their home or the hospital.

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Distance learning uses technology such as the Internet to enable a student to access the lesson and teaching materials from a remote location. The instructor and student are usually in physically separate locations but can communicate via video conferencing, e-mails and bulletin boards.

Most colleges and universities offer some distance-learning programmes now, from language courses to full undergraduate degrees, postgraduate programmes and MBAs. Some even offer courses or programmes entirely over the Internet – these are often call e-courses or online courses.

Area of Impact - Education

Define telelearning/e-learning.[2 marks]

Describe two of the technologies involved in telelearning/e-learning [4 marks]

Explain two ways telelearning/e-learning can benefit society? [4 marks]

Discuss two of the more important social and/or ethical issues involved with telelearning/e-learning? [10 marks]

Ready the following on Hardware resources

Hardware in the classroom: laptops, notebooks, teleconferencing
Laptops in Schools - A Wonderfully Cautionary Tale
Helpful Tool or Rude Distraction
Digital Heretics or Voices of Reason
Teleconferencing in Education
Using Web Conferencing to Save Travel Money
Educational Policy for Using Telecommunications

THE INTERNET

THE INTERNET

Introduction

“The internet and World Wide Web are omnipresent in contemporary society. This topic introduces ITGS students to the technology that enables access to the internet. The tools and applications that contribute to the creation of web-based resources and websites are addressed under topic 3.6, “Multimedia/digital media”.

The use of the internet for activities such as e-commerce, academic research and social networking can raise ethical issues and have positive or negative social impacts. These may include exposure to undesirable materials, cyber-bullying, e-fraud, improved communication between individuals and groups, intellectual property theft, plagiarism, spamming and the global dissemination of ideas.

Students are expected to discuss, where appropriate, possible solutions to a specified problem and evaluate their effectiveness. “

- From IBO ITGS Guide

Fundamentals

• WWW (World Wide Web), URL (uniform resource locator), internet, intranet, extranet

• Internet protocols: for example, HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol secure), FTP (file transfer protocol), TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol)

• IP address

• Modem, browser, internet service provider (ISP), bandwidth, download, upload, streaming audio/

video, compression, decompression, cache

• Domain names, domain name system (DNS)

• Features of a website: for example, hyperlinks, navigation, metatags, tags, forms

§ Tags – HTML tags are keywords surrounded by angle brackets like

§
Metatags – HTML tags that help you control how search engines index your site by using the keywords and descriptions you provide. They are usually used in web creation in order to enable key words in your site to be found easily by search engines thereby enabling your website to record many hits.

§ Form (in website) – is a webpage (or part of a webpage)that allows a user to enter data that is sent to a server for processing.

• Features of a browser: for example, bookmarks, visited links, tabs

• Bowser tabs allow you to open several tabs (web pages) within a single active web browser.

• Web-based languages: for example, hypertext markup language (HTML), JavaScript

§ JavaScript – a web enabled scripting language that uses JAVA – like command codes

• Adding functionality to a browser (for example, plug-ins)

§ plug-ins – programs which extend your web browser by making it able to
work with additional types of web content

• Data-driven websites: for example, active server page extended (ASPX), personal home page (PHP)

§ ASPX are web pages that have been scripted (written) using micsofoft .net programming language and the web pages are hosted in Micsoftt enabled servers (Servers running IIS)

§ PHP is a scripting language that is used to create dynamic web content. PHP enabled web pages are usually hosted on Apache web servers – Microsoft web servers do not host php web pages.

• Site management: for example, web hosting, uploading

• Other site use: for example, bounce rate, click-through rate (CTR), avatar, profile

§ Bounce rate – The bounce rate for a webpage, through which visitors enter your site, tells you how many people ‘bounce’ away (leave) from your site after viewing one page.

§ click-through rate (CTR)- Click-through rate tells you how many people are clicking through to your site from a third-party. For example from a link, search engine, banner, advertising or email campaign. Your click-through rate tells you the success of your campaigns.

§ Avatar- An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games or a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities.

Tools

• Search engines, web crawler/spider, search directories, search techniques, filtering, keyword density, keyword prominence, ranking of sites

§ web crawler – A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion with the aim of collecting websites, (relevant to the owner of the crawler), on the Internet. A Web crawler is one type of bot, or software agent.

• Social networking: for example, newsgroups, message boards, chat rooms, forums, instant messaging

§ newsgroups- A newsgroup is a discussion group of people in the intenrt who discuss about a particular subject consisting of notes written to a central Internet site and redistributed through Usenet, a worldwide network of news discussion groups.

§ message boards-an online discussion site where people
can hold conversations in the form of posted messages

• Email, email server, list server

§ list server- is a web server that handles subscription requests for a mailing list and distributes new messages, newsletters, or other postings from the list’s members to the entire list of subscribers as they occur or are scheduled

• Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and beyond, collaborative online tools: for example, wikis, blogs, micro-blogs, RDF, RSS (really simple syndication) feeds, mashups, forums, social bookmarking, online collaborative applications, podcasts, photocasts, vidcasts, social networking sites, templates, tagging, viral marketing, webcasts, widgets, virtual worlds and learning environments.

§ Web 2.0, Web 3.0 – a group of web technological advances that uses tools that make advanced web creation very easy and faster.

§ Wiki - is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of
interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified web editing language

§ Blog- (web log)- is a web site with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events or notes – www.kennedyb.co.nr is a blog

§ RDF – The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a set of rules that enable the encoding, exchange and reuse of structured metadata. RDF is an application of XML that provides clear methods of expressing semantics. It has come to be used as a general method for conceptual description or modeling of information that is implemented in web resources, using a variety of syntax formats.

§ RSS (really simple syndication) –is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format

§ Mashups – In web development, a mashup is a web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. This enables easy, fast integration of data sources to produce enriched results that were not necessarily the original reason for producing the raw source data.

§ Tagging – like in facebook,

§ viral marketing – refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness

§ widgets- is a small self contained program that you can easily put on your website, blog, or personalized start page in order to add more functionality to your web page and/or web site.

• Web databases, encyclopedias

Services

• Online advertising and marketing technologies: for example, banners, pop-ups, cookies

• Push–pull technologies: for example, email newsletters

§ Push–pull technologies- Push – pull technology: Contrary to “Pull’ web pages where users request data from another program or computer, via a web browser, “Push” enables services to be targeted at the user, without them having to initiate the information collection activity. Instead, information finds the user.

• Content management systems: for example, Moodle, Blackboard

§ Content management systems (CMS)- is a software system which provides website authoring and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages to create and manage the site’s content with relative ease.

A content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site, much like your local public library keeps track of books and stores them. Content can be simple text, photos, music, video, documents, or just about anything you can think of. A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage. Since the CMS manages all your content, you don’t have to.

• E-commerce technology: for example, business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), payment services, secure transactions

• The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

§ W3C – is an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards.

Internet threats and security

• Internet security: for example, firewall, proxy server, SSL (secure sockets layer), encryption, public and private keys, digital signatures

§ SSL - Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient.

Whereas SSL creates a secure connection between a client and a server, over which any amount of data can be sent securely, SHTTP is designed to transmit individual messages securely. SSL and SHTTP, therefore, can be seen as complementary rather than competing technologies.

• Internet threats: for example, global viruses, hackers, spam, phishing, pharming, spyware, adware

Practical techniques

• Collaborative online tools: for example, wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, mashups, forums, social bookmarking,

online collaborative applications, podcasts, photocasts, vidcasts, social networking sites, templates,

virtual worlds and virtual learning environments

Reference:

§ http://www.opentracker.net/article/bounce-rate-and-click-through-rate

§ http://en.wikipedia.org/

§ http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum47/3336.htm

§ http://www.tech-faq.com/browser-plugins.html

§ http://www.newprosoft.com/web_spider.htm

§ http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/definition/newsgroup

§ http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/list-server

Search Engines : How they Work? IB1

Using the links below as resources, describe how web searching works. Useful links:
http://www.xseo.com/making-sense-of-search-engines.htm
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2168031
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/search-engine.htm
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/animate/search.html

Answer the following questions and submit your work at the end of the lesson for grading: Note that sources used in this work should be cited, and attempt the tasks individually.

1. Write a list of the most commonly used search engines.

2. What is meant by page ranking ?

3. How does Google rank its search results?

4. Define White Hats and Black Hats SEO (Search engine optimizers).

5. How can you improve your page ranking?

6. What is search engine ‘spamming’?

7. Why do different search engines come up with different results?

8. Explain ‘cloaking’?

9. The English language is for sale! Have you noticed that when you search your first page begins with a sponsored listing. People pay for keywords. Visit the site http://www.overture.com/ and watch the demo if it is possible. View Advertisers Max bids and look at the results. Describe how the advertiser will pay Overture for this service.

10. Read the article BBC News ‘Cheating’ the search engines, 05/04/07 and describe in your own words how search engines were tricked.

11. With the ever increase of Internet content being multimedia e.g. images, video clips and podcasts – how can these be searched for? Describe how
a) podcasts may use transcription,
b) images use segmentation mapping,
c) how Marvel is used to help search for videos
d) how tagging is being used by individuals.

Internet Task IB1

1.
Read and make brief notes in the links below about the internet if neccessary

http://www.open2.net/ictportal/comm/internet/introduction.htm

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm


2. Prepare brief notes on the tasks assigned to you. Be ready to present your findings in the next lesson

Agape and Kunal
a) Describe the types of connections that one can connect to the internet

b) Visit www.brunet.bn/ name the internet connection available and compare their speeds.


Ashiraf and Yvvone

a) Wimax is a new Internet connection technology being developed, research what it is and describe your findings


b) How does data travel the Internet? Understanding Internet Protocols TCP/IP and packet switching and how data travels over the internet. Use this http://www.learnthenet.com/

Teshin and Ali
a) In your own words describe how the Internet using TCP/IP and packet switching for data to travel over the Internet. Using a diagram would also be useful.

b) Point of Interest IP addresses are running out at present there are over 3 billion IP addresses available but we are running out. So the new IPv6 is being developed. Explain why the IP addresses are running out and how the IPv6 will be a solution

Nilusha and Sirak

a)Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Online Service Providers (OSP). Describe what each of these is?

b) What are the differences between the Internet and the WWW?

Becki and Cythai
a) URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the naming system and addresses for each web address. Explain by giving examples.

b) Define the term ‘Cookies’

Trevor and

a)Identify two pieces of information that would be stored by cookies.

b) Discuss the use of cookies and their impact on web surfing.

c) Define bandwidth

Ashan and Thelma

a) What is Internet 2 – What is the future of the Internet 2?

b) How will internet 2 solve our present challenges?

Avani and Rishma

a) What is web 2?

b) Describe the future of Web 2

Robotics (Social and Ethical issues)

Robotics (Social and Ethical issues)

Research on the assigned task and post your findings in this blog. This work will be graded

Claire and Vishal
- Name some of the robots that have been used in situations dangerous for humans to work.
- Describe how one of the robot works
- What are some of the benefits and limitations of using such robots
- Outline some ethical decisons regarding the use of such robots.

Linda and Dhavarl
- Name some of robots that were designed to be used as pets.
- Describe how one of the pet robot functions is used as a pet.
- What are some of the benefits / limitations of using such pet robots
- Outline some of the social impacts of thier use.

Aliacai and Harsmita
- Name some of robots used to care for the disabled.
- Describe how one of the robot functions.
- What are some of the benefits and limitations of using such robots
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.

Vernon and Tendo
- Name some of robots used in warfare(military).
- Describe how one of the such robot was used.
- What are some of the benefits and limitations of using such robots
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.

Solomon and Carol
- Name some of robots used to care for the elderly.
- Describe how one of the robot functions or is used to care for the elderly.
- What are some of the benefits and limations of their use?
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.

Martha and Nasser
- Name some of robots used in exploration.
- Describe how one of the robot functions or it is used in the exploration.
- What are some of the benefits and limations of their use?
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.

Prera and Alicai
- Name some of robots used surgery.
- Describe how one of the robot was used.
- What are some of the benefits and limations of their use?
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.
Zahara
- Name some of robots used to car assembly.
- Describe how one of the robot is used.
- What are some of the benefits and limations of their use?
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use.

David and Joan and Vernon
- Name some of robots designed for entertainment.
- Describe how one of the robot functioned.
- What are some of the benefits and limations of using entertainment robots?
- Outline some of the social / ethical issues arising from thier use

Case Study IB2

Case Study . we will need this for the Friday lesson

Compare between eBay and Amazon online businesses in terms of
a) Setting up. Hardware and special software requirements.
b) Security
c) Operations
d) Benefits
e) Concerns/limitation
f) Payment of services

Robotics Class activity DP2

Visit the following sites and write some brief notes on robotics

a) Things robots can do today
b) Things robots will be difficult to do
c) Complicated things can do in future
d) What the next generation of robots will do in future

http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02423/new_page_9.htm

http://bettscomputers.com/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=26

Go thro this link on robotics thinking, sensing and acting. MAKE SHORT NOTES where possible.

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/robotics/


Individual task. Define the assigned terms and post your findings in the blog.

Claire - Robot

Linda- Cyborg

zahara- Humanoid

Alicia -Sensors

Vernon - What is the limitations and capabilities of robots in term of vision

Prera -What is the limitations and capabilities of robots in terms of sound and movement

Carol - What is the limitations and capabilities of robots in terms of touch

Dhaval -What is the limitations and capabilities of robots in terms of processing power



Study the following articles and write a paragraph for each one stating the social/ethical issues and the area of impact of each news item.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6200005.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6919271.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4647258.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4275245.stm