Joe+Wolking

Joe Wolking Dr. Mossey ED 280 February 10, 2013 Software Evaluation For: I Love Phonics

1. Explain the purpose of the software program. What are the appropriate grade levels and subject areas for this software? The purpose for I Love Phonics software is to teach children ages 4-7 (Preschool through first grade) the essentials of phonics, such as the alphabet, letter recognition, sound recognition, reading, spelling, etc.

2. List and Explain what software categories this software program falls into. The software categories include: drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem solving. This software would cover tutorial, instructional, and simulation games.

3. Describe a scenario where you would be able to integrate the use of this software program into your curriculum. How would the software integrate into the other classroom activities? I would divide my children by the number of computers available and have them work together in winning the games. If I had four computers in my classroom and twelve children in my class, I would assign three children to each computer and monitor each group closely to make sure everyone understanding the game and participating in it.

4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? The four screenshots available: letter bingo, letter maker, word builder and rhymes and sounds covered a good spectrum of skills necessary in learning to hear the sounds, recognize the letter which makes the sound, develop patterns for making words and hearing the phonetics of the sounds; however, there were always pictures available. As the student continues in the process of learning how to read and write, he or she should be drilled on all of this information by the teacher without pictures to make sure that there is good memory and recall of the information they are getting from the games.

5. What is the cost of this program? Where can it be purchased? Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer? What are the system requirements of the software?

The official price of this software is $14.98, and can be purchased at “Children’s Software Online”. The System requirements are: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP (Windows 8, Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit), Vista - as tested by Children's Software Online)Macintosh System 7.5.3 to 9.2 []

Software Evaluation For: English Made Easy

1. Explain the purpose of the software program. What are the appropriate grade levels and subject areas for this software? The purpose for English Made Easy is to give children ages 9-12 lessons about English grammar, spelling and effective communication.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. List and explain what software categories this software program falls into. The software categories include: drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem solving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software falls into tutorial and drill and practice.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. Describe a scenario where you would be able to integrate the use of this software program into your curriculum. How would the software integrate into the other classroom activities? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I would divide my students into groups by the number of available computers. I would have each group perform two lessons. At the beginning of the next period, each group would demonstrate what they learned.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? The strengths of this program is the amalgamation of learning styles and twists, including diagnostic testing, vocabulary reviews, quizzes and instant feedback on exercises. As a teacher I would want to have interaction with the students as they were working on their exercises to make sure that everyone was understanding the lessons as designed by the software. I would want to know that they not only understand but can put it into practical use.

5. What is the cost of this program? Where can it be purchased? Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer? What are the system requirements of the software?

This program costs $14.98. It can be purchased at “Children’s Software Online”. The system requirements of the software: Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95Macintosh 7.61/8/9/OS X 10.2+ []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Software Evaluation For: Speed Study Sixth Grade Language Arts

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">1. Explain the purpose of the software program. What are the appropriate grade levels and subject areas for this software? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The purpose for this software is to educate children ages10 and older in Language Arts in preparation for higher grade levels.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. List and explain what software categories this software program falls into. The software categories include: drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem solving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software would fall into drill and practice.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. Describe a scenario where you would be able to integrate the use of this software program into your curriculum. How would the software integrate into the other classroom activities? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I would assign this program as homework for my students. They would have an assignment every night and would demonstrate the lesson to the class the next period. If my classrooms had computers, my students would work on their lessons together and ask me if they had problems.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The program’s description doesn’t mention quizzes. I believe quizzes are important because they test the student’s knowledge. Each student learns in a different way and quizzes are crucial to assessing what the students are learning. This software contains another weakness which is the operating system. It only appears to work on Windows software, which means, it doesn’t operate on Macintosh systems. Macintosh operating systems are becoming more prominent in our society and software needs to be universal not limited to just Windows systems. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This program does look like it would be a fun program for the kids in that they would learn to write using ready-made background, characters, music, etc.

5. What is the cost of this program? Where can it be purchased? Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer? What are the system requirements of the software?

The cost of this program is $9.98, and can be purchased at “Children’s Software Online”. Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer. The system’s requirements for the software: XP (Windows 8, Windows 7 (32-bit) - as tested by Children's Software Online) []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Software Evaluation For: Reader Rabbit Reading Builder School Edition 2

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">1. Explain the purpose of the software program. What are the appropriate grade levels and subject areas for this software? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software is to teach children grades 1-3 the essentials of phonics

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. List and explain what software categories this software program falls into. The software categories include: drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem solving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software falls into the instructional game and tutorial category.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. Describe a scenario where you would be able to integrate the use of this software program into your curriculum. How would the software integrate into the other classroom activities? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I would have my students gather into groups of three and work together on the lessons. Each group would use their learned reading skills by participating in a full classroom reading session.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the strengths of this program is it makes reading both entertaining and engaging for the students by actually using stories as well as comic strips. It also incorporates activities which will encourage the students to respond to the literature, giving it a personal touch. There does not seem to be any testing method built in; however reading skills would be difficult to test online, unless there was an application that would allow recording a reading session built into the

5. What is the cost of this program? Where can it be purchased? Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer? What are the system requirements of the software?

The cost of this program is $69.95, and can be purchased at “Children Software Online”. The system requirements for the software: Macintosh/Windows 98/ME/00/XP []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Software Evaluation For: Ultimate Writing and Creativity Center

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">1. Explain the purpose of the software program. What are the appropriate grade levels and subject areas for this software? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software is intended to instruct children ages 6-10 in the skill of writing.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">2. List and Explain what software categories this software program falls into. The software categories include: drill and practice, tutorial, simulation, instructional game, or problem solving. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This software would fall into Tutorial and Drill and practice

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">3. Describe a scenario where you would be able to integrate the use of this software program into your curriculum. How would the software integrate into the other classroom activities? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I would assign teams of two students each to learn how to choose a writing project from the software and assign age appropriate reports from each team. The writing projects would all have to be different from the others, but still found within the software and

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this program? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This program addresses several important aspects of learning how to write creatively, for example, pictures, sound clips and animations, all of which can let the imaginations flow. Children of this age group enjoy easy cut, copy, and paste projects. The software show some weakness in making too many projects available. Having 1000 possible projects could be overwhelming to the students.

5. What is the cost of this program? Where can it be purchased? Provide a web link to a manufacturer or retailer? What are the system requirements of the software?

The cost of this program is $14.98, and can be purchased at “Children Software Online”. The system requirements of the software: Windows 95, 98, Me, XP (Windows 8, Windows 7 (32-bit), Vista - as tested by Children's Software Online)Macintosh OS 7.0.1 to 9.2, OS X Classic mode []