CyberFair Project ID: 7777

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Beautiful Moments
Category: 5. Local Attractions (Natural and Man-Made)
URL: http://beautifulmoments.zohosites.com/home.html
Bibliography: http://beautifulmoments.zohosites.com/bibliography1.html

School: C S Ramachary Memorial Mat Hr Secondary School
    Madurai, Tamilnadu, India

10 students, ages 14 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 15, 2014. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2014

Classes and Teachers: A G Maran, Papitha Banu, Vijay P, Karthikeyan P, Sumathi

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.csrschoolindia.org

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our Community is the people around us with no discrimination of age, color, caste or creed. We want the younger generation to realize that we should have a community with high moral values, good education and a great social responsibility. Human values and a caring nature should be enforced in their minds and hearts right from their childhood. A sense of belonging to the people and place will bring out wonders to the community. Community is not defined by boundaries. The entire human race is one community spread over the earth. It is the duty of everyone to respect the culture and traditions

2. Summary of Our Project

Our CyberFair project is about the Local attractions - Natural and Man-made. We divided the students into groups and they visited most of the places and collected the details about the importance of the place from the people living there. Most of the language in the website is their own and from the details collected live. Our city Madural is called as Temple Town and it was the capital of ancient rulers. So we find masterpiece architecture in temples, palace, caves and buildings. We have natural elements in its beauty – waterfalls, hills and forest. The project students had earlier gone for trekking in the forest and they have used the details. The theme park is a favorite picnic spot of the city. It is really amazing to see the students realize that they understood the attractiveness of the city they live during these three weeks. When the students talked with the people who work and live near the places that they visited for the CyberFair project, they understood the importance of the place. The students organized a School Meals Day and added this to the project. We organized a prayer meeting for the MH370 flight that went off the radar. The students have visited all of the local attractions detailed in the website .

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:2-3

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:2-3

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

We have broadband connectivity of internet. We had to share the computers among the students.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Time was the factor that affected us most. We came across the details of the project in the last week of February. We wanted to participate as we felt this is a good exposure tot he students.

We wanted to add Flash to our website, but we were not trained in that. So we used the Slideshare. The hosting that we selected had page restrictions for the free usage. We did not know this when we started. Then we wrote to them and they immediately removed the restriction and we were able to proceed.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

The participation lifted the spirit and confidence of the students. The school is happy that the children have great exposure.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

The Category that is selected by us does not fit into our regular curriculum. We were encouraged by the school authorities and our parents to visit the local attractions around our city, Madurai. All of them encouraged us to speak out and explore.

We learned to handle the digital camera and use the GPRS fixed in the school vehicle. We worked on the Software Photoshop. We understood how to create blogs and add content. We also realized that we need to gain knowledge about a place before visiting it. We learnt how to search in Google for specific keywords that best describe the place. We learnt how to use video and to record, retrieve and upload in the website. We are now thorough how to enter the details in Microsoft Word, run Spellcheck. We divided ourselves into teams and selected a team leader. We prepared the list of things to do and we agreed upon who has to do what. We checked the work done before uploading in the blog. When we started to work on the details of a particular place, we thought we knew everything. While we discussed and compared our notes, we realized there are different views of the same concept. So we discussed everything among ourselves, confirmed with our teachers / parents, before executing our plan. We need to submit an activity every year in our school apart from the academic program. We will be submitting this project as our activity. After meeting and communicating with many, we feel there is a maturity in our behavior. We have leant to listen to others, able to organize plans and execute them. We need to check every details to achieve perfection. Using internet is a quick tool to gain knowledge. We are able to browse different sites for the same details and there is no limit for reference and we get ourselves tuned to the flow of the results. There is tremendous saving of time.

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Project Elements

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We used 6 computers and a broadband internet connectivity. We used Digital Camera for taking photos and Camcord to take videos and interviews. We used scanners to capture the artwork of the students and upload it in the website. We used Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Paint. We visited the libraries kept in the places that we visited and the museum. We took many oral interviews with the visitors who came there when we visited the places in our project. The hosting that we selected, - Zoho Sites -offered us the benefits of Paid membership for one month. They allowed more space and allowed us to add more pages and use Slideshare and tools to build the blog. Our School Principal allowed us to handle Camera and Video Recorder and we used the school transport to travel to the places. Photoshop was very useful to us for designing the banner. Our school allowed us to use the software in the computer lab. We easily transferred the video files to our computer and then to our website. We were amazed with the technology. Conferencing through Skype was very helpful when the students were not at the school. More than the tools, there was a sense of involvement among the students. They worked as a team and were supportive to one another. We have never seen such interest among the students in other activities in the school. When they were designing the banner using Photoshop, they followed the Instructor very closely and they created many samples and decided on the current one.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

While doing this project, we decided to use zohosites.com which we found was a easy to build website tool. While we were working on that, we were not able to add pages and when we contacted them Support, they said the limitation is due to the basic membership. Then the students wrote an email to the Support asking them to allow more pages since they are doing a project in Cyberfair. The website owner agreed to allow more pages to our website and allowed us all of the facilities that are extended to the subscribers. When the students went to the Tiruprankundram temple, the Commissioner graciously gave an interview and allowed the students to go into the temple with cameras and a video. Usually these gadgets are not allowed inside the premises. When the students explained the project and showed the website, they were immediately permitted to contact the workers and visitors there. A few parents , during a holiday, accompanied the students to a Palace and took part in the Treasure Hunt that were held there by a Newspaper. The parents thought it is a nice opportunity for the students to learn about the culture and heritage of the community.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

The collection of data for building the website has brought out many new facts that remained hidden to the students community. Most of the students have visited the local attractions that we have talked about in the website one time or other. But they were not aware of the details about the place. When the project students discussed and showcased the details, everyone were thrilled to know the details. Our School administrators felt that the website brought out a sense of belonging among the students. The students showed the website to their parents and their friends. The idea of adding an art gallery came from one of the artists in our place. He encouraged the students to try their hands on sketching the beautiful landscape. The students organized an event in the Primary Campus – International School meals Day. Two chefs from a well-known restaurant volunteered to tech two dishes to the students and then saw the website with the students. They appreciated the efforts of the students and congratulated them for their sincere efforts. The cyberfair participants organized a prayer meeting for the passengers and the relatives of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight They wanted to let others know that they are aware of the incident and shared their compassion to others. Many people in our community attended this and said the students have managed to give a platform to express their support to the people suffering.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

Once we decided to participate in the project, the students selected the places nearby so that they can visit and collect details. The Chief Engineer of the Tiruparankundram temple, whose children studied in our school, helped to arrange an interview the Joint Commissioner. The students sent the letter from the school and they immediately allowed the students to interact with people there. The Zoho sites, the hosting of the website , gave us free access to their website, for which we normally had to pay a subscription. The students sent an email requesting them to help and they got immediate response. The school allowed the students to use the school transport and the Computer Lab and the Audio Visual room. The Computer teachers stayed extra hours to guide the students in the project. Our school is located in a semi-urban area. We feel very proud to have participated in this project. As far as we gather, we are the only school participating in an international online contest.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We really are glad that the students are now aware of the rich culture and heritage of our city. Before the project the students did not seem to like the places around us and they were always discussing about educational tours to far off places. Now they say they want to visit all the other historical places around our city. This truly is an welcoming change.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7777)

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