Home	An Overview of the web site This web site is a practical guide for people who wish to learn the Java programming language to create applications. A programming language controls the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer. Java is a high-level object-oriented language which was developed by James Gosling and his team in 1991 at Sun Microsystems. This tutorial web site is organized as a collection of mini-lectures, lesson plans, simple hands-on exercises which could be found under the link "Tutorials". Also, provided is a digital story that shows the history of computing, audio podcasting of lectures and an image map for easy navigation through the site. Critical thinking and constructivism: This site supports critical thinking and constructivism - This tutorial is interactive in that it provides students with a rich learning experience to students, unlike the traditional classroom experience. Various digital media used in this web site include digital story, audio podcasts, PowerPoint presentations converted into Flash animations to visualize major concepts, video simulations and such. The tools and techniques used in this site assist in the development of cognitive strategies, prompting ideas, presenting the setting which encourages learning in a virtual environment. Also it provides use of cognitive models of instruction built into multimedia software, associated with an experiential and activity based education. Good design: The site adheres to good design principles. Every page has a site index in the left column from where one can get to just about every page on the site. Besides, the Table of Contents page assists the visitors through an outline to see the specific content. External links are opened in a separate window so this site stays on the screen. For example click on the link Java tutorial by Sun Microsystems, and try closing it, you will find that this tutorial web page stays on the screen regardless. Links are very selectively used and the users can find their way back to the home page or to other sections. Text is easy to read and does not stretch all the way across the page. Flow of the text is consistent and does not require the user to jump from link to link. The site also provides with a site map to see the structure of the entire site. Hypertext and multimedia: This web site makes use of hypertext and variety of multimedia. Multimedia elements are used in the form of text, sound, graphics, pictures, movies, and sound. The entire chain of hyperlinks connects a series of related Web pages on this site making a dynamic organization of information through links and connections. Hypertext and multimedia together known as hypermedia has opened doors for the students to explore topics and to create meaningful learning experiences for themselves. Multiple intelligences: This web site taps into Multiple Intelligences. The major types of intelligences that are addressed at this site are: Linguistic- The linguistic intelligence that this web site deals with does not relate to natural languages, but it is more inclined towards learning machine language in some form. Programming language is an artificial language which specifically constructed to communicate with computers and control the behavior of these machines. The students learn a whole new paradigm of artificial or formal language which is based on the abstract ideas and concepts in the natural language. Logical / Mathematical: The web site guides the student in problem solving by using algorithmic techniques. Students use binary numbers which is encapsulated into the language to “talk” to the machine. They use steps of software development cycle to plan, design, develop, implement, test, and make generalizations thereby creating a generic piece of software. Spatial /Visual: Learning is easier with visualizations. This website uses many such graphical representations to form mental pictures and models of the real world and map these pictures and models to solve problems. One of the main themes of Object oriented design is to solve real world problems and create appropriate software applications. Bodily / Kinesthetic: One description of this intelligence is “to be able to move the body with control and skill”. The web site eventually will incorporate several techniques to teach Java applets. One of the significant roles of a Java applet is to show the “change over time” concept with the help of animations. I have placed a link to an applet which is created by Professor David Eck, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Hobart and William Smith Colleges. This applet appears in his book, “The most complex machine”. Interpersonal: The web site helps the students to understand, communicate, interpret and interact with people. Although the interpersonal communication may not be seen here as an immediate result, the outcome is definitely geared toward an inter[personal communication. Naturalist: A student is able to relate, recognize, and categorize the natural world and interpret cause-and-effect relationship in this world. This is very much noticeable from the usage of image capturing software such as SnagIt, Adobe Captivate, concept maps using Adobe Dreamweaver, Video simulation software such as Windows Movie maker, Microsoft’s Photo Story, custom made software for problem solving: such as the binary converter, simulations such as the applet that I mentioned above. Thus, The web site provides the user with an enriching experience for learning computer programming using Java programming language.
TOC
Site Overview
Mini lectures
Lesson plan
Tutorials
Podcast
Take a quiz
Digital story
Image map
Video simulation
Contact me	jaych@frontiernet.net