Evaluating an example of online education: Net Frog

The website's homepage where
all the information is avaliable

Net Frog is an educational site used used for carrying out a dissection of a frog online. This website would be mainly used for students who are studying biology and anatomy and would be able to handle the graphic nature of the website.

It guides you through the dissection step-by-step, starting with the set-up, then the incision procedure before going on to the frog's actual organs, finishing with cleaning up and then a quiz. This ensures the website covers all the areas in the dissection, which allows the viewer to get the fully experience. It offers narration, interacting pictures, facts about frogs,  videos, a glossary of the key terms/tools (which are underlined on the website) and images to help you with the various processes. These clever additional factors to the site engage the viewer and retain their attention , allowing them to focus and learn efficiently.
The website is key for people who are learning how to dissect various animals and provides them with resources to help them learn more about it before they attempt it for themselves. Some people may be squeamish around the actual animal, or feel sick at some of the smells which the frog may emit, which prevents them from fully trying it themselves. Using a site like this will allow them to feel comfortable with the procedure, as someone else carrying it out instead of them, whilst they still learn all the vital parts.

It seemed unlikely that this sort of piratical procedure could be carried out online, or to the degree of detail that is achieved by physically dissecting the frog yourself; but the site offers so much information and assistance, that it manages to work. It seems if a dissection of a dead animal can be carried out online, that a huge number of other procedures could, such as science practicals or french speaking tutorials etc. It offers a service to students where they are more likely to engage and listen, and allows them to take part in one of the easiest ways possible: by simply using the Internet. It  opens up the door to many other ways online education could be used and is an exciting prospect.

Evaluating an example of online education: Making The Modern World



Exciting Rich Media Scene on the
Making The Modern World website



Making The Modern World is a website aimed for A level and vocational students to help them with their studies and learning about ICT and the internet. The site's main purpose is to display information for students to read from and make notes from for their own personal studies; this purpose to me calls for a site with short snappy notes and an exciting display to catch people's attention and hold it whilst giving them something in an interesting format to focus on and understand.

The site teaches lessons about the history of the internet and some major pieces of technology, as well as some huge major breakthroughs in machinary. The website quotes that the 'Stores Timeline' contains all the "powerful stories about the world we have made through science and invention. It also offers the icons of invention, going into depths about Science, Technology and Medicine, as well as guided tours such as 'Technology as a passport' which is considered vital information for A Level students.  



Example of text on a page
of the website



The first thing I noticed about the website, Making The Modern World, was it's ineresting display and extremely creative graphics on the homepage. The text is clear to read and the site is modern and up to date which what students want. When I went on the page 'Stories Timeline', the timeline graphic caught my attention whilst I rolled my mouse over it, as well as clicking on the indivdual eras to find a sliding driop down menu appear, but as soon as I clicked on the link for 'Personal computers and information networks', it all changed. 

I found the text was underlined and badly displayed in a grey font against a white background; it was also in huge chunks of text which was hard to scan through quickly, as well there being awkwardly played photos: overall just a bad layout. I found having the text displayed this way made it harder to understand and process and take in. I found myself becoming bored instantly and finding it hard to concentrate.

Then I came to the first of the Rich Media Scene which then instantly brightened up the website and made the facts more interesting; I then took in moe information due to the creative animations, such as the spinnng wheel for the companies bidding to become the leaders in the computer market. These rich text scenes where instantly a hit and I felt more excited about the website and more eager to learn. If only the rest of the text about personal computers was as exciting as this. I find that as a education website, that this site doesn't quite offer what students are looking for on it's information: it needs to keep up these colours and graphics on most of it's pages and give smaller bullet pointed facts to quickly make notes from, instead of these huge chunks of text. It needs to be useless and not cause more confusion



E-Commerce

Online stores

Online stores allow you to browse and then purchase items online, using a credit card, which can be delivered to your house, completely erasing the need to go out to the shops and browse there. The sites often have a homepage and then links to parts of the site dedicated for differently grouped items, such as 'Mens' and 'Womens' for clothes, or grouped items such as 'Chairs', 'Tables' etc. The sites use pictures to display the goods and include information about the products such as price, size, uses and a short description. A shopper can choose an item and put it into a virtual shopping basket, which then totals up the price of every item added. Then you go to separate pages for paying for the costs using a credit card and then for your delivery by adding the address of where you want it delivered to. This way of shopping is comfortable and practical, with all the items on one site for easy searching and finding, plus most sites now take information from you looking at products to then calculate items which you may like. 
Online BankingOnline banking uses computerized systems which allow customers to access and manage their accounts online, instead of having a bank clerk or employee do it for them. This then allows customers to see their balance, make a payment to another account of theirs any time of the day and to also be available to SMS banking, which can notify customers via their mobile phones about any unexpected transactions or to gain information about their account at any time. Like online stores, this allows you to have all your data right in front of you at home, without requiring you to go to your local bank; it's easy and simple and the websites often help you along setting up and account or with any queries you may have. Online banking has to be completely secure though, as phishing can occur quite regularly. An example of phishing would be if you received an email from a site appearing to be your bank, which asks you to give in your details or says you need to enter them to sort out a problem. If you do so, then the site then has your bank details forever and can go into your account on the real website, stealing your identity as well as your money. This sort of activity has occurred on banking websites and also on the well known bidding site eBay and is a serious crime.
Advantages and DisadvantagesThe major disadvantage with E-Commerce would be the phishing scam which allows people to steal your money and identity. Another disadvantage is with some online stores such as eBay, there is no guarantee of product quality, so you could be receiving products you've paid a lot for, but are in bad condition. Plus website problems may pause transactions or delay them or even stop them at all, which could mean you lose money.
But the advantages are that you can do things now in the comfort of your own home, without needing to venture out to look for items in stores which might not be available, or going to the the bank to find it's closed when you need money. It's simple as well, with added guidance to help you whilst you search for things and purchase them. E-Commerce also means it's really easy to start up a business and gain money which will enable more sales and more trades to come through online to make money, which is always a plus.
References:http://www.esalestrack.com/blog/2008/09/advantages-and-disadvantages-of.html

Real Time Information System

Real time information, is information that is fed out automatically and quickly on a website, so that people are updated instantly on news or facts all on one site, which is carried out using a system thast can respond to imput immediately.

There are many websites that have real-time information on their page: the BBC website does this with their news updates, adding to them when recent news comes in. Heathrow airport also uses real-time information on the arrivals section of their website, updating all the different flights and when they are expected to land and at which terminal. Buses and train services can use RTI to tell when the bus/train is due at a sop by sending a signal to a satellite in space of it's location, this is then sent to a computer which calculates the time it'll take for the bus/train to reach the stop; then this is shown on a board for people to see. Stock websites and sites where the weather is shown, also are examples of real-time information. By updating these wesbites regularily with new infiormation, people can be kept up to date regularily and all on the same place, within a few minutes.


Advantages of RTI- exceptionally quick information
- updates 24/7 for people to be kept on the loop
- can allow mjaor transactions like stocks to work, which is a huge business
- very convinient for it to all be in one place
- it's a piece of techbnology which can improved on further.

Disadvantages of RTI- complex system which requires a super-loop which can be complicated to work
- there can be no interruptions, or the information being fed might not go through
- there must be someone to update all the information 24/7
- multiple informtation might get cluttered or not posted in chronological order

References:http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/real_time.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_data
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_operating_system
http://www.keil.com/rl-arm/rtx_rtosadv.asphttp://www.derby.gov.uk/TransportStreets/PublicTransport/Buses/realtimeinformation.htm

Bulletin boards and Newsgroups

Bulletin boards are a place on the Internet that allow you to post small notices, adverts and messages, as well as uploading and downloading files and images that are there. It has been around since 1978 and there are many bulletin boards being used for discussion forums, which allows individuals to talk about a topic of interest which an online community of people can add to and develop further. Bulletining boards are even used to find free or inexpensive software products.

Newsgroups are considered part of the "old Internet and are very similar to bulletin boards: they allow people to read and post messages into a hierarchy of subjects using an online browser such as Google Groups. The name is made up of two+ parts, separated by full stops and these parts organise the hierarchies. The two common hierachies are most relevant to the topic you searched and the most viewed groups.

There are many different parts to add to your search topic to find the revelant information:
atl. = any conceivable topic
biz. = business, products,services, reviews
comp. hardware, software, consumer information
humanities. = fine art, literature, philosophy
misc. employment, health and much more
news. = information about Usenet, News
rec. = games, hobbies and sport
sci. = applied science, social science
soc. = social issues, culture
talk. = current issues and debates

I used Google Groups to look at the groups for the topic "digital divide" and I found that whilst using Google Groups, some of the discussions did not give the information about the topic, but simply redirected you to a new website about the topic. I thought this was a good way of giving credit to websites, instead of just copying the information across to the group (maybe without referencing the site), but it complicates finding the information and often the website links had been deleted or moved/changed, so the information wasn't accessible. When looking at the discussion, your key words are highlighted for quickly finding the relevant information which allows quick and easy browsing, and most of the discussions aren't that long so you can quickly skim the information. However Google Groups encounters many errors whilst trying to locate discussions which is frustrating when trying to find information, as a lot of the groups that come up, are not available.

Chat, Instant Messaging and SMS

Short Message Service or SMS is a form of sending short brief messages usually via mobile phone and is now a preferred way of communicating over phone conversations. You can type on the phone's keypad a small message e.g. "Hi, how are you?" and then send this message to any one of your contact phone numbers. This is a good way of quickly and also discreetly gaining information from a contact without needing to call the contact which may take up time and the contact may not be able to speak at that time. The only disadvantage of SMS is that if you lose signal, just like with a phone call, you are unable to send your message and gaining signal might take long periods of time. Also it is not as instant as a phone call as some people may not notice the message, as you would a phone call and you are also limited to how many characters you have to write your message.

Instant Messaging (IM) and chat is now available to many social networking sites such as Bebo and Facebook, where you can instantly send messaging

 using your keyboard to a contact. Skype also offers a service where you can both video and voice call as well as IM a contact online, which is amazing feature brought in during 2003. You can also have web-based chats offered by ISPs such as MSN and Yahoo, website-based chat usually found on ISPs such as Virgin and Sky, where you can speak to someone about a specific problem you may be having, private chat rooms online or even by chat rooms on a mobile using SMS. It allows two or even more people to have their own private conversations without other unnecessary people to see as well; the simplest IM services are just between two people, but more advanced IMs allow up to maybe 10 people to converse simultaneously as well as sending images and even files across to each other.

It is used for social purposes and is very popular amongst young people. It allows you to again chat to anyone you want, without a limited amount of characters also well as the fun option to use emoticons to show your emotions whilst conversing. You may also remain anonymous which means your name and any information about yourself cannot be seen which is an interesting feature. IM's name also suggests it can be more instant than SMS, receiving replies quickly. But again it has limitations of needing to be online, with your contacts also being available to chat. Sometimes the sites may crash and you may lose your current conversation or any text you were typing which can be frustrating. The anonymous feature also can promote online bullying as the identity of the bully is not shown and this is an example of cyber bullying which is difficult to track and stop.

Email

For many people, emailing someone is just a part of their every day life. With a simple email account name, you can sit and send messages to friends and family, attaching images which you can show them within seconds of receiving, or email a co-worker an important document or PowerPoint needed for a meeting. That same email account name can then set up accounts for various websites, including this one right here. Email is a fundamental aspect of and to think, the first email was sent just 40 years ago by a man named Ray Tomlinson, who was working for a defense department at the time, whilst experimenting with a program they used to send notes to each other on a single computer. It works by using two different things which are able to receive and send your mail. POP3 (Post Office Protocol) downloads your mail from your ISP, whilst SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is able to send mail. POP3 works by taking your email address (e.g. nicole.wheatley.ict@hotmail.co.uk) and the password to your account and then taking all the emails which are labeled to be sent to that account and stores it in your inbox.Your SMTP server will be the same as your POP server so it will take any labelled from you, read the recipient of the mail, and then sends it out to that address. 

The traditional method to send mail would be to use computer or laptop with internet access, but now as technology has advanced, there are more ways to connect with people by sending mail. The iPhone has a Mail application meaning their users can send and receive mails to their phone; other smart 3G phones are providing email as well such as HTC and Blackberry.

There are many benefits from using email, such as it's quite a simple to pick up and easy to use service, as well as being free of charge to the user. There is also the huge benefit of being able to send messages to anyone in the world as long as you have exchanged email addresses so contacting distant relatives or business partners is now a lot easier than sending a letter or trying to fax information. You can also send the same information to a range of people and include them in a conversation, so then you can all know the same thing at the same time so no one is kept out of the loop, such as wedding planning and of course at the workplace.

However, with emails come junk mail, an increasingly problematic aspect of email today. A single message is often sent to many recipients as a way of for some companies to gain some business and is often sent a few times to you or repetitively if they continue to use your email address, which means a lot of our email inbox is filled quickly with messages so we may lose track of real messages sent for us that we need to reply to, causing complications and confusion. It is predicted nearly 85% of our mail is spam and by opening some spam mail, your computer can often be infected with virus' which shut down your computer and infect your files. Another negative side to using email is that you must have an internet connection to do so, which some people do not possess. 

I think the development of emailing has been a revolutionary things, changing the lives of many by allowing contact to family and friends, whilst also offering a huge help for businesses. I know my father and mother both rely on email hugely in their home life by contacting my Granddad who lives in America and also with their work, with my mother sending important mails about patients and meetings at her doctor's surgery whilst my father is constantly receiving updates about the mortgages and houses sold at the company he works at. For me, email hasn't yet become a huge part of my life that I rely on, but using an email address has helped in the use of many social networking sites. I don't feel there is any way to improve email apart from dealing with the spam and junk-mail issue as it is harmful to the machine you're working on and is irritating to receive.

What is a blog?

A blog is a special form of website which can be used like a journal online where you can post thoughts, ideas and work. It is a website that would require you to make your own account where you can sign in and out of your blog, which you can keep personal or you can share to other people. You can personalise a blog and make it your own to suit your personality and it is normally used to regularly keep other people, also interested in what you have to say or do, updated in what’s going on in your life by posting. Blogging can be used to connect to people and can even be used to find more people who have similar ideas and interests to you; you could also possibly make friends whilst running a blog. Blogs can have themes, such as a fan page for a band or actor you like, or it can just be a mixture of things, and there are a range of things you can usually post, such as text posts, images, quotes, video clips and even sound clips, to make sure you can express your every mood freely. Popular blog sites such as Blogger and Tumblr are aimed for all people, of all ages.


On the internet, there are hundreds of blogging sites which enable people to go and express their thoughts and ideas. Some of the most popular sites would be:
Blogger - www.blogger.com/
Tumblr - www.tumblr.com/
Wordpress - www.wordpress.com/
Live Journal - www.livejournal.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/ (also could be classed as a social networking site)
Weebly - www.weebly.com/