External Document Assignment

Introduction

The websites and software that you encountered in your search were developed to meet the needs of as broad a range of audiences as possible. Hence, it is often that you find many of them do not always address the specific skills and circumstances of your students or your trainees. Happily, there are ways to rectify the situation. One of these ways, as we'll discuss in class, is to enhance the website/software with external documents. These documents can include extra readings, visual helps, individualized exercises, links to other technologies, or a host of other activities. Essentially, external documents are additional materials that you find and/or create to accompany the website/software. Here is an example.

A good external document can:

-add interaction
-get students to apply information
-get students to use the information for something
-make the information more authentic to students
-expose students to information in a different form
-let students express themselves differently
-give students more control
-add more information
Instructions:

The goal of this assignment is to help you find ways to work with a website or a piece of software to make it better suit your needs. You will create  external documents to go along with it. The documents will consist of additional instructions (or a lesson plan) and websites to go along with. We will be using TrackStar to create our documents. The process will be as follows:

1) Use the website/software you reviewed in the previous assignment.

2) Write instructions on how to use the website and/or create a short lesson (20-30mins) around the website/software.

3) Identify 1-2 other websites that you could use to in conjunction with #1 in the lesson.

4) Design/create your document on TrackStar by keeping in mind the characteristics of good external documents mentioned above.

5) Post the number of your TrackStar containing the external document on SSF.

6) One of your classmates will be assigned to lookover the external document and to give you feedback.

7) Revise and notify via SSF of the changes you made to your external document.

Evaluation
This assignment is worth 20 points, divided among these criteria:
(4 points for each criteria, 0 = does not meet at all, 1= needs modification, 2=somewhat meets but can be better, 3=meets the criteria, 4= more than fully meets this criteria), based on: