Online Entertainment

The Internet is changing in many ways, one being online entertainment. Online entertainment includes online gaming, radio and watching videos online.

Some examples of online entertainment are:

• Youtube
• Video Google
• Mousebreaker

Online entertainment is very useful for us, this is because:

• The ability to speak to friends from other places
• Enjoy a game or video with millions of others
• The interactive between people who are usually unable to do the activity (in online games)

But with everything, there are also downsides to this, some of them are:

• The possibility to online bulling in games and videos
• The lack of age restrictions on the web
• The fact that what you post can be accessed by anyone

Online Services Im Studying

The five online services i wil be doing are:

• News Groups
• Instant Messaging
• Blogs
• Video Conferencing
• Email

Downloading

From all the stuff that we have downloaded and have found many advantages and disadvantages.
Below are some of the stuff we have downloaded and good and bad points about the idea of downloading.
Stuff we have downloaded

• Music
• Films
• Computer Updates
• Computer Programs

Advantages

• Cheaper than physical products
• Quick
• Free
• Can try before we but

Disadvantages

• Virus
• They can download stuff of you
• Downloads can traced
• Hackers
• Filed under false name
• Often Illegal sites

As a final overview I believe that the in general downloading software, songs and programs from the Internet is every good. But I believe that the idea of Internet downloading can be greatly improved. Such as being able to see the original source of the program and that it is possible to be 100% sure that a file does not contain a virus before you download it.

VLE

I used Wikipedia to find the definition for a VLE.
A VLE is a virtual learning environment which is a software system designed to support teaching and learning in an educational setting, as distinct from a Managed Learning Environment (MLE) where the focus is on management.
A VLE will normally work over the Internet and provide a collection of tools such as those for assessment, particularly of types that can be marked automatically, such as multiple choice assessments, communication, uploading of content, return of students' work, peer assessment, administration of student groups, collecting and organizing student grades, questionnaires, tracking tools, etc.
New features in these systems include wikis, blogs, RSS and 3D virtual learning spaces.

Advantages to having VLE’s in school are:

• The lesson can be done anywhere where there is Internet connection- No student will require to miss a lesson.
• All work will be able to be accessed via teachers computer.

Examples of VLE’s at Abbeyfield School are:

• School website
• Blogger
• Samlearning

Online Learning

Bitesize, Sam Learning, Net Frog, Science Museum and AQA

Internet learning is a very useful way of learning things that sometimes may not be possible to do in school. They can be used in and outside of the classroom and are also for people of all ages.

Sam Learning is a very good website which I personally used and found useful myself. One of the best things about Sam Learning is that you can track your progress of what you’ve done, how well you did, and the grades you received on each task. There is one massive downfall that this site has which none of the others do, this is that you have to pay to use it, although this is paid for by the school at £4,500 per year.

BBC Bitesize is also a quite useful website but it is not as good as Sam Learning. Some of the main differences are firstly that it’s free and you don’t need login details to use it. Secondly, because you don’t have your own login you cannot track your progress which is one of the best advantages of Sam Learning.

Net Frog is also another good website to help students learn things that possibly aren’t possible to do in school like the dissection of a frog. This is a very good website for science practicals and experiments. The disadvantage of this site is that a lot of the videos dont work due to the website being very old. Some people may also find it too gorey.

The AQA website is very useful for revising before exams. This is because it has lots of past exam papers on it and the mark schemes so you can mark your own work. The main disadvantage is that it is very boring to use so therefore you need a lot of self motivation to do them because they take so long to do.

The Science Museum is an OK site but most defiantly not the best one of the others ive reviewed. This is because there are not a lot of interactive things to do on the website.

Finally, I have came to the conclusion that the best online learning website is Sam Learning due to how good the revision activities are and how you can track your progress.

The Disection Of A Frog

To compare two education websites I went on a site which teaches students how to dissect a frog using technology. Although for some it may be a bit horrific, I believe it is a more practical method of dissection instead of loads of students doing it themselves. Also before taking the final test there is a step by step guide in how to conduct the dissection correctly. The website is very old, however it is still very useful if you want to know how to dissect a frog.

The Science Museum, 'Making Of The Modern World' Page Evaluation

I read through the information on the http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk website to se how educational pages on the internet have evolved in recent years. I feel that it gives alot of very valuble information which is very interesting and teaches me facts i diddnt know before. The site also shows pictures and videos of how the PC has evolved over many years which also keeps the reader interested and maybe amused.
It shows the life of a computer and how it has changed from the type writer, to what it is now.
This site shows that internet and online learning is easy to use, but is also very educational.
Also it is informative information which fits its purpose correctly.