Folksonomies / Tagged Websites


Hello colleagues


Have you come across the term "folksonomies"?
Well, a folksonomy is a very useful way of collating and tagging relevant websites around a topic or theme.  For instance, I am interested in having my students find out the various sightseeing places in Singapore. Instead of getting them to list the places of interest, I can have them tag the sites according to features that distinguish them e.g. 'museums', gardens', 'amusement parks', etc.  A website can have more than one tag.  The result of tagging the websites you have researched on is a 'tag cloud' which presents the websites in terms of the tags used.  The larger a tag appears, the more it has been used, and so forth.


The tag cloud below was created by delicious.



What is great about a tag cloud is that different people can contribute towards it by way of evaluating the tags used or simply adding on new websites that they have come across.  In that way, the tag cloud grows and becomes well-designed.


Other than delicious, tag clouds may be displayed differently using Wordle or Word Mosaic.  Try this out with your students. I am sure they will not only enjoy it but learn as well in the process of searching for relevant websites and figuring out the most appropriate way to tag the sites.  The end result is a collection of places of interest that one could visit in Singapore.


Once again, do share with us your reflections:

• Have you found this a useful social media tool for classroom teaching? Why/Why not?
• Does this tool support any particular theory of learning?
• To what extent will this complement the preparation of your students for coursework?
    

Up and Coming Events

Hi everyone

The Commerce Unit is once again planning its annual sharing session for EBS teachers.  This will be a time for you to share interesting things that you have done with your EBS students this year.

If you have tried out a new idea with your classes and would like to share it with us, please contact Queenie at 68796288.  We shall be happy to discuss with you how to best present your idea/lesson.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Activity on Travel and Tourism

Hi
I came across this UK Business Education website that features many teaching resources for teachers of Commerce.  Find out more by visiting this site:
http://www.bized.co.uk/

I found this activity that will require students to explore the factors that affect the tourism industry:
http://www.bized.co.uk/educators/16-19/tourism/industry/activity/factors1.htm

It is certainly very relevant if you are looking for more activity tasks to prepare your students with coursework skills!

You may wish to contextualise the activity though as it is based on UK tourist spots. Decide if modifications to match the ability levels of your Normal (Technical) students may be necessary.
 
Have you found this useful?
Drop us a line using the 'comments' box.

If you have an interesting idea or lesson plan on the same topic, do share it with us. We would love to hear from you.

Warm regards.

Digital Storytelling Using Text, Images & Sound

In today's blog, you will learn about Capzles, which is a free software for creating a a multimedia narrative. Also commonly known as a digital story, a multimedia narrative essentially combines text, images, audio and possibly videos, to tell a story about a topic of interest. A capzle is easy to create.  Find out how to create one at the Capzles website or view this video. 

For my illustration, I have selected photo images on store display from the depository in edumall2.0. Capzles allows me to categorise images under different forms of merchandise displays e.g. store front displays, in-house displays using racks, shelves, island units and so forth. It also allows me to include background music which is a prominent part of any store's display efforts. 

More images of merchandise display may be accessed from flickr at Merchandise Display Photos

Multimedia narratives are fun to create and use, and are also a good way of assessing your students' understanding of content. In addition, students get to practice a range of multimedia skills and learn how to work collaboratively.

We hope you have found this snippet on Capzles useful. If you have a query on the above or have tried something similar with your classes, please write and share with us your thoughts and experiences, using the comments post.

We would also love to hear your views on the following: 

• What are your initial impressions of digital storytelling as an instructional tool?
• To what extent would digital storytelling appeal to your students?
• What is the potential, if any, of the use of digital stories as a mode of assessment? as individual or group work?
• What are some challenges that you forsee in using digital storytelling for classroom teaching and learning?

 Till the next installment, happy exploring!

Welcome!

This blog has been set up to provide teachers of the Elements of Business Skills (EBS) course with regular updates on the latest developments in the world of EBS. 

It will feature interesting news about the programmes that the Commerce Unit has lined up for you as well as what different teachers have tried out in their respective EBS classrooms. From time to time, useful resources such as videos, picture images and lesson ideas would be posted or links provided in this post to widen the repertoire of teaching strategies under your belt. We will also feature suitable Web2.0 tools that you may consider as instructional strategies or for assessment of students' work.

We welcome your comments and feedback on how to improve this blog. More so, you are invited to post any query related to EBS content, pedagogy or assessment.  

See you soon!