Microsoft Publisher or Microsoft Office Publisher as it is officially known is a ‘desktop publishing’ application from Microsoft. It is an excellent application for creating pages and designs using templates that help a person to create his/her own brochures, booklets, certificates, visiting cards, invitations, etc.
What can this do for a teacher or for a student? That’s the question that always pops into my mind whenever Greg shows us a new application or software that can be used to create stuff.
The Microsoft Publisher can help a student to improve his/her presentation of material. I have just completed the creation of a ‘Web Quest’ along with my colleague. Our topic for the Web Quest was from the ‘Civics and Citizenship’ domain and we concentrated on learning standards pertaining to the government of Australia.
I am so glad that we got to learn about Microsoft Publisher because we have included it in our Web Quest as a means to complete one of the activities. We believe that it is possible to use this application to improve the creativity of students.
Each time, I am impressed by the immense possibilities that computers have in facilitating knowledge. At the same time, I am appalled at how little we use them as teachers.
Are we afraid of computers? Is that why we allow our students to play games on them without really using them as a means to teach a lesson or ‘earn time on the computer’ if they have been good? Or, are we afraid that our students will be smarter than us when it comes to using technical gizmos?
We live in a world that is more digitalized than ever. Though computers cannot take away the aesthetic appeal of paints or crayon or any of the other art materials, they can help students to get over their fear of creating and presenting material for their assignments. It is easier to use a template in the beginning than starting from scratch for those students who find it difficult to ‘put pen to paper’ so to speak.
I am not asking teachers to computerise every activity that they introduce in their classrooms. At the same time, I believe that it is time for us to embrace the immense possibilities of the internet and the applications of computers. I believe education is a means to making learning independent of teachers. We are only facilitators. We are not there to molly-coddle our students. So if that means using computers to generate more independent work, then so be it.
Though I have not mentioned the various templates and possibilities of Microsoft Publisher and instead have spent more time talking about the importance of using applications to facilitate knowledge, it is of primary importance that the reader understand the importance of using applications to improve learning in his/her classroom.
I hope that I have not only enumerated on the use of Microsoft Publisher but also made teachers understand the importance of being more tech-savvy.
