WEEK 2 - Microsoft Publisher

This week in Learning Technologies, we were expected to visit Microsoft Publisher and create our own brochure about a country of our choice. Microsoft Publisher can be used not only to create brochures but also newsletters, awards and advertisments as well as your own personal e-portfolio. Many students nowadays use computers to complete their homework tasks and are quite familiar with microsoft office - Publisher is an easy tool to use in terms of creating cards, resumes and different templates.

Students in the primary classroom will find it easy to navigate around the program and experience using different templates espescially if they are quite familiar with Microsoft word as these programs are all linked to one another. In the primary classroom, publisher in my opinion will be quite a useful tool for students to use when completing tasks such as brochures etc. Publisher can also be used by primary students to help them produce a letter to their friend/family using a template and background of their choice; also students will be able to create banners and produce their own personal post cards.

Microsoft Publisher has its many functions and this program itself is quite creative. I am a frequent user of Microsoft Publisher and i feel it has given a great sense of creativity and layout to my work. In a primary classroom i believe creativity should be a main focus and as a teacher, i aim to teach my students how to be creative and how to use programs that can aid in designing tasks to a great level.

ePortfolio for students and Teachers:

An ePortfolio can be used as a successful tool in reflecting what the student has learnt and achieved over time. One of our assessments for Learning Technologies unit is to design our own e-portolio and include in it our educational philosphy, Resume, Practicum reflections etc. It is a fantastic tool due to the fact that it gathers all the important information needed in order to reflect on a students learning and engagment throughout his/her study period. The use of Microsoft Publisher also helps in creating an e-portfolio, basically designing it to suit an indvidiual's wants in terms of colour, backrgound and layout.

Personally i wasnt familiar on how to create an e-portfolio, i created my own folio in the form of a large folder with plastic pockets however visiting Mircrosoft publisher made it so easy and much more understanding. An ePortfolio is definitely what should be taken into a job interview nowadays; the use of ICT is so important in schools and it is thus a manin focus on learning.

An ePortfolio should be introduced to students in order to reinforce how organistion is always needed in order to be successful and academic.