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From:
Valerie Sutton Date: Thu Jun 7, 2001 2:41 pm Subject: SW Review from Merlot: MultiMedia Education Resource | ||||||||
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SignWriting List June 7, 2001 SignWriting Web Site Review From: Merlot: MultiMedia Education Resource For Learning and Online Teaching https://www.merlot.org/Home.po May 31, 2001 To: Valerie Sutton Sign Writing Organization Dear Ms. Sutton, Thank you for your willingness to participate in the MERLOT project and the peer review of your materials. Below is the review. We had two reviewers who have expertise in the relevant discipline apply the MERLOT-Teacher Education criteria (see below). The report contains: (1) a description of the learning goals, targeted student population(s), prerequisite knowledge/skills, type of learning material, summary of procedures for using the software, and technical requirements, (2) an evaluation and observations on the quality of the content, potential effectiveness as a teaching-learning tool, and ease of use of your materials. We hope this format is useful for you and the faculty who will be searching MERLOT, looking for materials like your own. MERLOT-Teacher Education Discipline Peer Review Report for: Sign Writing Learning Goals SignWriting is very useful for Deaf children and adults in developing more precise thinking and focus in the use of sign, and improved translation abilities between languages. With SignWriting you can read Sign Language, write Sign Language, learn Sign Language, research Sign Language, read stories in Sign Language, preserve Sign Language theater, and bring Deaf & hearing people together. Target student populations Although with the complexity of the site, the most appropriate student audience is the teacher education student who has some experience with signing. The instructor could use it as a class demonstration with students without sign language knowledge. Prerequisite knowledge/skills It is most helpful if the student has some experience with sign language prior to using this site in order to gain the most from the benefits. The student who must master both sign language and sign writing will need significantly more guidance. Type of Material Some downloadable instructions are available in PDF format, and acrobat reader is necessary for users. However, the same instructions are also accessible on the web. There is a trial version of the Signwriting software that can be downloaded. This runs in MS-DOS, although instructions do indicate that it coordinates with Windows and Macintosh programs. The website is in web frames, so the user's browser must be able to support frames. A no-frames option is available, but is not always immediately apparent. The signwriting fonts can be downloaded for both platforms; however, they work best with a laser printer. Quality of Content Ratings: (5 of 5) Feature of Excellence: This website is very rich in its depth of content. Students can explore the use of Signwriting in different organizations, states, and countries. Sample lessons on how to do Signwriting are available, in addition to a library, and a how-to guide on how to do your Signwriting. The web author has also expanded into other areas of movement writing, such as DanceWriting. The site includes some wonderful children's stories put to SignWriting that enables the more inexperienced to draw connections between a known fairytale and the symbols. The content of the website is easily accessed through an effective menu system or searchable in a number of different ways. Features of Concern with Recommendations: The content is immense and could easily be overwhelming to a student without instructor guidance. This is not a site that the student can examine superficially. The depth of the material on the website is both a feature of excellence and a concern for the teacher educator. Faculty who lead students to the website need to understand that it is easy to be overwhelmed by the quantity and diversity of information available. Many students, particularly undergraduates, will find the amount of information and the number of links within the site overwhelming. Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool Rating: (4.3 of 5) Features of Excellence: The SignWriting website provides another alternative for the student and instructor to explore communication to the deaf community and will also further reinforce learning of sign language. Those students who are more visual learners are likely to connect more quickly to the content presented on the website. Students who are working with sign language will benefit from the fairy tales, the glossaries, and the concept of how to capture signing in notational format. This site could be used in several ways. Instructors could use it as a source for an introduction to signwriting or assign it for independent study. The best use with those students who have limited knowledge of sign language would be as a part of an instructor-lead classroom demonstration/activity with a specific homework assignment for independent exploration Although the focus of the website is obviously on deaf communication, signing, and SignWriting, the section on DanceWriting could have immense appeal to physical education preservice teachers. For those students with a dance background, the DanceWriting and MovementWriting sections could be a motivator for learning about different modes of communication and representation of communication. Features of Concerns and Recommendations: Those with some knowledge of sign language would best use the site. Prior to use in a classroom, the instructor would need to become thoroughly familiar with the content and navigation of the site in order to facilitate learning experiences for students Ease of Use Ratings: (4.4 of 5) Features of Excellence: All links worked well and the navigation is easy and apparent to the user. At any point the user can easily return to the home page, or many of the other related links. Overall the navigational structure provided on the website is excellent. The search feature is helpful and permits the user to locate specific information. Features of Concern and Recommendations: It is often difficult to determine what is an element that needs to be purchased, if part of the information is being revealed, but the remainder needs to be purchased, or what is available to online users entirely. The downloadable shareware also poses some difficulty. We hope this information is useful. As presented in the initial invitation letter, the next steps in the peer review process are: 1. You are welcome to provide feedback to the review team. Response should be received at the above e-mail address no later than June 8, 2001. 2. If you are satisfied with the review, the report will be posted on the MERLOT website along with a pointer to your material. 3. Your work will be featured as a learning object of the week on the MERLOT Teacher Education home page. Thank you again. We look forward to further collaboration and participation in MERLOT. Sincerely, Darrell R. Pearson, Ph.D. Teacher Education Discipline Co-Editor https://www.merlot.org/Home.po MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education. With a continually growing collection of online learning materials, assignments and reviews, MERLOT helps faculty enhance instruction. MERLOT is also a community of people who strive to enrich teaching and learning experiences. | ||||||||
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