The purpose of the ET-IT CD-ROM is to provide prospective teachers with an interactive learning environment. ET-IT as it is contains only one chapter -- the theory chapter.
The information map on the content panel of the homepage consists of 11 icons; and above or below the icons there are text fields labeled: the Need Help,Click Here billbboard, Information Bureau, Intro Avenue, Theory Boulevard, Behavioral Arms, Cognitive Constructivist Subdivisions, Social Constructivist Community, Critical Theory Apartments, Library, Software Circle, Community Center. All the icons and text fields on the content map are hypre linked to the appropriate sections of the instructional material.
Need Help, Click Here billboard: This section includes an overview to the ET-IT electronic textbook.
Information Bureau: This section provides information for first time users.
Theory Boulevard: This section discuss the ways of connecting theory and practice.
Behavioral Theories section: This section examines the behavioral theories of teaching and learning.
Cognitive Constructivist Theories section: This section examines the cognitive constructivist theories of teaching and learning.
Social Constructivist Theories section: This section examines the social constructivist theories of teaching and learning.
Critical Theory section: This section examines the critical theory of teaching and learning.
Library: This section provides an annotated list of Web-based resources books, articles, or project links for educators as well as a reference of the authors and literature mentioned in the electronic textbook.
Software Circle: This section lists the software and web sites referred to in the electronic textbook. Users may choose between “text version” and “graphic version” for different needs.
Community Center: This section provides a means for learners read other students' comments, and add their own on core issues related to approaches to learning and teaching. This area supports interaction among teacher education faculty, preservice teachers, and other users.
The major content of the theory chapter in ET-IT are the four theory families: the behavioral theories, the cognitive constructivist theories, the social constructivist theories, and the critical theory. A user can click on either the icon or the label of any of the activity on the theory families pages to link to the specific activity related with that theory family that they want to explore.
For example, a click on the “Programmed Instruction” icon in the Behavioral Theories page will link the user to the programmed instruction page. The programmed instruction page consists of two parts: the introduction part and the example part. The instruction part provides definition of what programmed instruction is. The example part of the gives students the option of reading explanations of how a software program or a web-based project works with screen capture illustrations, and then they may choose to install the demo or shareware programs on their computers to try out or click on the hyperlinks to connect to the proper web sites for more details if their computers have web connection.
The entire package, including the homepage, uses frames and is written in HTML with graphics in either GIF or JPEG format. Each screen consists of two frames: a small left frame for table of contents that can be clicked to link to whichever section the user wants to navigate to in the package, and a larger right frame (the content panel) that displays material selected by the users. On the initial homepage, hyperlinks on the table of contents panel and the content graphic on the right frame have the same function -- they serve as the navigation guides to the users.
While the collections in this package are organized in separate units, their underlying structures are a web of interconnections. Material on cognitive constructivist theories, for example, may also be part of the links about social constructivist theories. The users can navigate in many different paths by their individual needs and interests. There maybe external links or internal links embedded in this package. External links are links that take you to other web sites on the Internet. Internal links are links that take you to a page within the electronic textbook package. To differentiate external links from the internal links, URLs are provided after the underlined “hot words” to indicate that the “hot words” are external links, while internal links will remain without any URL after the underlined "hot words."
Throughout the package, once the icons or the labels are clicked, the content the learner want to explore will be displayed in the content panel. For example, clicking on either the “Welcome to Learning City” hyper link on the Table of Contents or the “Welcome to Learning City” icon on the content map takes the use to instructions on how to use this package. Or the user has the option to bypass both the Table of Contents and the content map and just start reading the Welcome to Learning City section by clicking on the "Welcome to Learning City" icon or "hot words."
Intro
to the ET-IT CD-ROM
Information
Bureau
