GABRIELA BRANDUSA HORLESCU, teacher ALEXANDRA BĂDIŢĂ, student

1. COLEGIUL TEHNIC “GHEORGHE CARTIANU” PIATRA NEAMŢ B–dul Traian nr. 165 tel/fax 0233/222800 E–mail: CTCartianu@bluebottle.com My house project - advantages and limits using elearning and classical didactic tools simoultaneusly GABRIELA BRANDUSA HORLESCU, teacher ALEXANDRA BĂDIŢĂ, student The 4th International Scientific Conference eLSE "eLearning and Software for Education", BUCHAREST, April 17-18, 2008

2. …education has to prevent the blind application of the new information technologies, has to combat the alienation, has to fight against the desire to be permanently entertained, has to fight against the irrational fear against the new technologies, and to stimulate the creative spirit. G. de Landsheere • The Project of My House raises awareness on the advantages and disadvantages of computer assisted learning along with the classical methods of teaching and learning. • Our educational system currently gives a lot of attention to the development of new skills related to the use of informational and communication technologies, with the main purpose of facilitating our students’ integration in the informational society.

3. Consequently, this project had been accomplished under the supervision of the first author, by the student of XII H, specialization IT operator. We have chosen this topic together because we wanted to create a real product in order to emphasize the advantages of informational systems. • This project involves the knowledge from the Utilization of CAD application module covered in XI grade, as well as the knowledge from Informational and Communication Technologies covered throughout the entire high school.

4. The main objectives of this project are the following: • to develop the skills of planning and implementation • to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills • to develop technical competencies regarding the computer assisted design • to develop the basic skills related to the new information technologies- the use of Internet • to create a modern graphic interface when presenting a product

5. We used emoticons to present the several stages of our project: Resources: board, paper, wall-paper, toys, glue.

6. The students worked simultaneously on the design and execution stages of the project: • Hardware and software resources: • -Computer, computer network and printer; • -AutoCAD; • -Notepad, Paint, Microsoft Word, Windows Movie Maker.

7. Using 2D projection we designed the house plan for the first and second floors. Second floor First floor

8. But we did not stop here. We continued our project using the 3D projection. This project gave students more confidence in themselves, and in their theoretical knowledge. Proiectie NW Proiectie SV Proiectie NE Proiectie SE

9. At first, the stages of this project seem similar. However, students’ enthusiasm after they finished the practical part and their feelings of happiness felt at the end of the application cannot be expressed in words. As a teacher, I tried to coordinate the students throughout the entire project. I tried to help them avoid the monotony and the boredom, and to encourage them continuously through the project. This is why they had the strength to move on. I am convinced that if we haven’t worked simultaneously, at the practical part and at projection, they would have abandoned their work on this project.

10. I found that the gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills may be stimulated by an attractive presentation of the programs. The skills of execution and projection are acquired after a lot of practice, moving from a simple to a more complex level of analysis. Thus, this project helped us accomplish the general objectives of the Communication and Information Technology disciplines: • The development of teamwork and independent work skills – the continuous exchange of information, has become nowadays possible between more computer users, connected through various networks, especially the Internet. These benefits of the new technologies remove the weaknesses of the traditional means of communication. Using the principles of teamwork, we divided the duties and responsibilities among the team members. The students worked simultaneously, and then they put all the stages of the project together. This assignment strengthened students’ personal abilities of communication and research, which are basic skills necessary in any career. • School projects like this have to be useful and enjoyable at the same time, so that students can be stimulated to create new products in the future. Students have to be challenged to create useful products, so they can strengthen their innovation and creativity. This aspect is frequently found in the projection activity: a designer must constantly rely on current resources, or try to search for new innovative solutions. • The exchange of information is vital in any field in our contemporary society. This is why the students must understand the connection between the information technology, and the using of the computer and society.

11. In conclusion, I consider that the combination of contemporary teaching strategies facilitated by computer and of traditional teaching methods facilitated by the teacher have a strong and powerful impact on increasing the level of education for our students. We wanted everything to be perfect, so our students created a dynamic site where they posted the results. We have also posted some attractive elements such as tests, evaluation forms, movies and some pleasant surprises.

12. The site has been made with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the manual, writing the source code with Notepad. We have chosen HTML because it has been projected to be read and edited using a simple text editor. In spite of the hard work of making a Web Site, our students choose HTML because they had acquired the knowledge of HTML in the 9th grade of High school. Wishing to consolidate their knowledge, we have worked in JavaScript too, because nowadays Java Script is a well-known scripting language standard for Web, which is recognized by Microsoft Internet Explorer and it matches easily in HTML. Also it can be used in lots of contexts and evolves in an accelerate rhythm.

13. The information offered on the site is linked to our objectives. We used a horizontal menu to navigate easily through links, showing in the bottom of each page the following options: • Presentation • 2D matches • 3D Projects • AutoCAD Projects • Movie realization • Evaluation • Paper description • Bibliography • Contact The students also created a movie in Windows Movie Maker in order to remember all the phases of the project. We have chosen this application because it is easy and fast to make a movie that combines photos with special effects and sounds.

14. When you watch the movie, you can witness the hard work of our students and their satisfaction while working on the project. But let’s not forget that this evaluation must be centered on the creative interpretation of the information, on the capacity to solve a problem-situation with the computer. We want to help other students and teachers by creating tests, work papers as well as games, The basic criterion in choosing the test items is the gathering of theoretical knowledge on AutoCAD. We have chosen the following objective items: with multiple choices (with only one correct answer), with dual-answers (true/false), with selective but also semi objectives: with short answer, in order to complete a structured-type sentence. In our evaluation forms, we combined the objective items, semi objective, but we also used subjective items, such as problem-solving type. In order to develop the logic and creative reasoning we have also introduced several elements for entertainment, such as puzzle games, like a complementary instrument for auto evaluation. If the users encounter any difficulties in solving the problems, they can easily access Help that includes commands from AutoCAD.

15. Our curriculum as well as the Auxiliarul Curricular pentru Ciclul Superior al Liceului by Ministry of Education and Research (authors: prof. doctorand. Cristina Moisi (Păunescu), prof. ing. Maria Drăghici, prof. ing. Vasile Maniga) have been extremely helpful for us. Along with these traditional reference materials, we also used other interesting information from the Internet. In the end, we would like to introduce to you our team and their supervisor. We all have supported each other very much with advices, ideas and encouragement. In the end, the only thing that matters is that students become FRIENDS. As their teacher I wish them success in the carrier that will follow, and as a human being, I wish that their friendship will last forever. http://proiectulvilla.110mb.com/