Most Appropriate Applications Used to support My Teaching

There are a number of applications which have been appropriate to support my teaching, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Moodle, and Sage Accounting.

Microsoft Word:  “Perhaps no other technology resource has had as great an impact on education as word processing” (Roblyer and Doering, 2014).  Well, the majority of my lesson planning is done using Word where I can use it to prepare a draft lesson plan and then finalise it without using or wasting paper.  This is the same for any lesson worksheets where I can tailor them to the specific lesson.  The learners get eligible typed lesson documentation which is easy to read, understand and use.  Answer sheets including workings are also provided, again typed to avoid any ambiguity.

Microsoft Excel: Excel has been the most appropriate application when teaching the learners about Forecasting and Cash Budgets.  Petty (2014) states that accountants and other professionals make use of spreadsheets and teachers in the subject area should be as well. I have used spreadsheets to demonstrate how to construct a cash budget and what formulas need to be entered at relevant cells.  The demonstration which was projected on the Smartboard allowed all learners to learn through the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learning (Adams 2015 p.152-153).

I also use Excel as an attendance tracker in my volunteering role.  At the University attendance is recorded by a paper register and by the electronic swipecard reader.

Microsoft PowerPoint: So far, my use Powerpoint is to prepare lecture content has consisted of slides which consist of text, pictures, graphs and the format of the layout of financial statements.  This has enabled me to differentiate in the delivery of the topic to different learning styles.  The slides hold key points and I lecture and discuss these points to develop the topic and learning.  The slides are printed, three per page, and handed out at the start so learners can make notes.  Whilst I have focussed on PowerPoint, I will be looking at using Nearpod in a lesson in the future.

Microsoft Outlook: I use Outlook at University to correspond with my lecturers and keep up to date with events.  Outside of University, I use Outlook to correspond within the Air Training Corps. The University account is also set up on my mobile.

Moodle: Moodle is used to check on course documents and upload assignments at present.  I am familiar with Moodle and it is a very useful portal.

Sage Accounting: I taught myself how to use Sage after being given a course exercise booklet.  What an excellent application to use and teach learners with. After completing a couple of exercises it was straight forward what menus and options to use.  I have been involved in teaching learners to successfully use Sage and again it is related to accounting theory and practice.  Again, as with the Excel spreadsheet exercise, all three of Bloom’s domains of learning are used by learners (Adams 2015 p.152-153).

References:

Adams, NE 2015, 'Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives', Journal Of The Medical Library Association, 103, 3, pp. 152-153 2p, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 January 2016.

Petty, G. (2014) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide 5^th edn. Glasgow: Oxford University Press.

Roblyer, M.D, and Doering, A.H. (2014).  Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching 6^th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.