Project 11

Blog Assignment 6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler:

     This video talks about students using a personal learning network as well as other tools and resources to learn through a class. It follows a student studying American psychology who does the majority of his class work online. His teacher believes in connectivity and teaches vetting resources, finding experts, and connecting to others. His class does not even use a textbook. His teacher also rarely lectures. 

     Connectivity theory is basically learning through social connections. Whenever someone learns about a topic, they can teach someone else about this knowledge. And whenever the student finds a resource that is credible he shares it. This student also uses many other types of technologies, including search engines to find information, and mp3 players for listening to lectures and other podcasts. The student is also able to read blogs. While blogs can be more opinion based then fact base, the student will be able to discern credible information. This can also open up the door for conversing with experts and sharing opinions. 

     I see more and more college classes switching to this format. This can save time, and can save money through using less paper and less gas because students are not using as many resources in class everyday.  This is a happy medium between in-class and on-line courses. The students are still able to meet face-to-face and spend time with their instructor, yet are also able to explore many resources on-line. I think it is a great idea to teach a class like this, and it would be something worth looking into. 

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment:

     I was very interested by this personal learning environment. Symbaloo is a very interesting program, and I really enjoyed how she had set her class up. She was able to complete assignments online and talk to experts while she was doing reports. She also talked about the fact that it was easy to become distracted because of Facebook and other resources online, but also the fact that she had more freedom made her feel more responsible, which also led to her completing more coursework than she might have done otherwise. 

Critiques of Smartboards:
     The two anti-smartboard blogs that I read were "Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative" by Michael Staton, and "Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards" by Bill Ferriter. According to Michael, one of the main reasons why Smartboards are dumb is because they are the least cost-effective way to try to improve learning. He says that anything you can do with a Smartboard you can do with a computer. He says that they just make the broken model more expensive, and that administrators like them because they are an easy way to spend money on technology that looks good.
     Bill Ferriter's blog made many of the same points. He said that he gave away his Smartboard and in the year he used it he only made two or three lessons using it. He claims that many teachers view them as "really expensive overhead projectors" because they do not have the time or training to use them effectively. He goes further than most of these teachers because he believes that even with training they do nothing to help classrooms. He says that they do not foster student's creativity, and that they are PR tools with no evaluation process.
     The pro-Smartboard blog that I found was The H-Blog. This person was from Scotland, and many pro-Smartboard posts on their blog, including "IWBs-the eternal battle continues...". One of the points made was that if they are provided and money has already been spent on them then teachers should learn to use them instead of abandoning them. This bloggers says that Smartboards are a great resource, and that the problems have to do with teachers not using them effectively. A good point included in this post was that if teachers are the problem then that will not change if you give them iPads, notebooks, or any other device. Teachers that do not want to learn or interact will not do so, no matter what technology is given, which means that teachers are the problem.

Project 9b

Blog Assignment 7

     For this blog I watched "Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". Randy Pausch only had a few months of life left at the time of this lecture due to cancer. He was a professor at MIT. Throughout the whole lecture he never seemed to let the short amount of time he had left depress him or way him down at all. He seemed to be in perfect health, and was able to do a wonderful job motivating the audience.
     One of the main points of this lecture was his childhood dreams and what he was able to do to achieve them. A very important part of this was being able to enable the dreams of others. His lecture also talked about lessons he learned and wisdom that we could take from them. He had a fortunate childhood and he was a very happy child and he was inspired by many of the current events, such as being in zero gravity.
     One inspiring quote from his lecture was "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." He also talked about how badly he wanted to play football. He was one of the smallest people on the team, and talked about how much his coaches inspired him. One of the main things he instilled on him was focusing on the fundamentals. He also talked about the values of enthusiasm and criticism. Even though he didn't make it to NFL, he still learned many valuable lessons.
        Another inspiring quote from his lecture came from Jon Snoody and was "Wait, and people will surprise you". One of his childhood dreams that he was able to accomplish was working for Disney. This lecture was very inspiring and I was very impressed with his wonderful outlook in life and his ability to live on through his work and the many lives he has touched.

PLN Progress report #1

     I have really enjoyed creating my PLN, and have learned much more from it than I thought I would. One of my favorite new tools is the iGoogle home page, I use this for keeping up with the class, as well as other things like CNN. Twitter and TweetDeck have also been useful for quickly getting information about what is going on in other people's lives. I have also really enjoyed the podcasts that I have been watching. I think that all of these are very great tools for keeping up with current events and learning.

C4T #2 Summary

     For the past week I have been following John T. Spencer's blog named "Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration. He is a teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. The first post I followed, named "Acceptable Use Committee", was about him joining the committee regarding the Acceptable Use policy for his district. This committee outlines rules for his district, and he raises questions about why they focus on rules instead of ethics and the motive behind rules. He also says tongue-in-cheekily that if we are making rules for one issue, then why not make committees for math and history because of ethical issues with those subjects. The committee misses his point and decides to make rules for all of these subjects as well.
     The second post I read, labeled "5 Reasons for Leaving the Pencil Conference", discussed how disappointed he was at the content and speakers in this years Pencil Conference. His first major issue was that the presenters were unapproachable. The second was that the presenters were arrogant. The third point was that the presenters failed to grasp concepts like complexity, paradox, and mystery. The forth reason was that the presenters speak like addicts. The last point was that the "New School" folks will not accept good ideas from the past.  

Project 8

Project 9

Timetoast Timeline of My Life:

Blog Assignment 5

Eagles' Nest Radio Episode #3: Roamin' with the Ancient Romans:


     This podcast was done by a group of third graders speaking about Ancient Rome. This podcast was cleaver, informative, and very well-done. The third graders gave a very well laid-out podcast and know how to use this technology very well. This was an interesting way to teach technology and history. This can also be applied as a group project and also be used for students to gain confidence by teaching others about subjects that interest them. It can also help students who are shy about being on camera or public speaking to gain confidence.

Langwitches:


     This blog was very informative on how to break up podcasts into smaller groups. This blog followed a group of first-graders doing a podcast. The teacher also created a small pamphlet to allow students to better follow along while listening to their podcast in class, which I thought was a good idea for helping them focus. This blogger also provided a how-to guide for the parents to allow them to download and listen to their child's work.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom:


     This blog, done by Harry Dell, goes into using things such as podcasts and other ICT to teach modern foreign language in classrooms. He says that some of the benefits of podcasting include the fact that students can interact with the teacher outside of the classroom, as well as doing this in a medium in which the students are usually familiar. Podcasts can also be used for group or individual projects and allow the students to both think critically and creatively at the same time. It is also beneficial for absent students, and allows them to better keep up with the assignments.

Special Assignment 1

    I have used the site Wolfram Alpha several times before, mainly for class assignments. It has always been a quick and useful tool for finding information. However, I had never heard of Google Squared before. China's population has grown at an astounding rate, and is the most populated country in the world, followed by India and then the United States. China has over four times the population of the United States, and it's population is continuing to grow. India has about 3.9 times the population of the United States. The world is growing at a vastly increasing rate, and it is important to be connected to the whole world. I believe that both Wolfram Alpha and Google Squared will be helpful tools for students in the future, especially for seeing the comparisons within facts and statistics.

Blog Assignment 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?:
     This blog post was written by Scott McLeod, who is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University and CASTLE Director. This post was a very tongue-in-check look at the way parents and people in the school system view technology. His post pleaded "don't teach your kids to read for the web..." and "don't teach your kids to write online." There is little emphasis in the school system on technology related skills. In the last line of the post he teased "can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two can you?"
   In his blog he talks about the "evils" of the internet. Parents tend to not want their children on the internet because of things like predators, sexting, and other dangers of internet use. Parents can allow their children to learn computer skills in a safe setting, including the school system, and monitor children using resources like the internet. Parents and teachers need to realize that children can learn how to safely navigate the internet, and that banning technology all together will handicap skills that children need to develop. Exposure to technology in a safe setting will be very beneficial to students not only now, but in developing skills that will help them in their college careers as well as in the job market.

The iSchool Initiative (Mobile Learning):
     This YouTube video presented a very interesting idea that may hopefully catch on in the school system. Travis, a high school senior, presents the iSchool Initiative which he says can benefit the school in a multitude of ways just by using an iPad. If students used an iPad it would cut down on spending within the school system by eliminating things like pencils, papers, books, and more. It will also lessen greenhouse emissions and lessen the carbon footprint of the school system. It also allows students to keep track of a multitude of things on one device instead of having to carry around so many different books, notebooks, and other resources.
     I was astounded at the number of apps that students can already use to help them with school. Just by using one device students can plan, keep track of homework, record lectures, and use many other features to help them study. Students can even download certain textbooks to put on their Apple devices. Travis states that the average cost of a public school per student is $600, using the iSchool the cost would go down to $150. This is a very interesting idea, and I believe that it can work, a school system only has to be willing to try this novel concept.


You Can't be my Teacher:
     This video, by Darren Cannell, showed a small child asking if his teacher was going to be using the internet. The child stated that if the teacher could not use technology the teacher could not teach the children because they were digitally and technologically literate. This video brought up some very interesting points, including the fact that the children we will be teaching more then likely know much more about new technology and networking then we will. The child also stated that he would not want to learn from only textbooks, he wanted to learn how to use everything on the internet.
     This video also brought to light the importance of interactive lessons using technology. Using lessons like this will teach the students about technology and how to use these resources safely. Interactive lessons also help to keep the students engaged in learning and keep them interested. The more interested the students are and the more they know how to learn these skills and to remember the lessons. Also, the more students know how to apply skills the more likely they will want to learn because they know they can apply these skills in their lives.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir:
     This virtual choir was an incredible use of technology. In this video 185 singers sang without ever meeting in person. With technology they were able to combine these voices into a choir despite the long distance between performers. This piece came together beautifully and really opened my eyes to some of the things technology can do.
     This video displays the way technology can serve to unite collaborators and open our eyes to experiences that we otherwise never would have had. Technology can also be used by students for long-distance projects.  It can also be used in the arts to bring people together for projects like this one. I had never thought that technology would be able to bring people together in this artistic way.

Teaching in the 21st Century:
     This video, done by MathMadeSimpleVid, brought up a very interesting yet disturbing point. This point was that students now can access so much information on the internet that if teachers can only provide students with facts then they are of no use to students. With the multitude of information on the web, basic facts can be found anytime, so schools need to become more than just teaching students with facts. The teachers are no longer the main source of information, they serve as a filter to their students and direct them in the proper course for their individual goals. Teachers must also show students how to use and direct their resources to meet their goals.
      The new curriculum in schools should become more skill based instead of solely focusing on facts. Schools should also serve as a setting for students to be able to apply social skills and logic that will serve students throughout high school, college, and in their careers. Teachers should also focus on increasing creativity within the classroom and showing students positive outlets for their energy. Teachers also need to rethink the questions they ask of their students and how their students can find the answers to these questions.
   

My Sentence Video.

C4T #1 Summary

     For the past week I have been following Beth Still's blog. She is a teacher in Nebraska who blogs and has very informative posts. Her first post, entitled Need Your Help: Making the ISTE Newbie Lounge a Success, introduced me to the International Society for Technology in Education, an event that I might not have heard of otherwise. This year they were having a new area, the newbie lounge. This lounge allows newcomers to the conference to become accustomed to the event without becoming overwhelmed. Still stressed the importance of making these newcomers feel comfortable, eating lunch with them, and helping them with whatever questions they may have. I think that this program is a wonderful way for teachers to connect and share ideas. This can help educators learn which techniques work best for helping their students learn. It can also allow for wide-spread change within the school system.
     Her second post, What My Connections on Twitter Mean to Me, discussed different relationships on Twitter. These include people you follow but have little interaction with, people you interact with on Twitter only, and friends. She says that people can be friends through social networking, and people should consider people from PLN to be friends. She believes that friendships can exist in a virtual world and it is not a waste of time. Since EDM 310 just started using Twitter, I thought that this post was very well timed for this class. The ability of someone to use Twitter to foster so many relationships is inspiring. This tool also allows contact with people across the world, people that we otherwise may never have met or even known of.

Blog Assignment 3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
     This movie, in my opinion, provided a very accurate account of the lives of many students that I know. This video was very interesting because the information in it was provided by students editing and surveying themselves through technology, instead of just a teacher or administrator providing a survey. One of the most important points made in the video was the class size. With classes taught in a huge auditorium it is almost impossible for a professor to make sure that all students understand and have access to the material, as well as being able to monitor the progress of their students. This experience closely matches the feeling that I sometimes get when I walk into a huge college classroom.
     Another point that the video made, which closely matches my own experiences, is the time constraints on students. One of the answers in the video was students having to multi-task because they needed to complete twenty-six and a half hours worth of things in one day. Many students today have time divided between work, school, studying, family matters, and so much more. However, many students use technology in ways that will cost them time instead of helping them manage their time more efficiently. The video stated that the average student spends three hours on Facebook a day, and is commonly on Facebook during class or when they should be studying. I think the video needs to add more information about non-traditional students, as well as students with significant family obligations to provide a more diverse view of student life.

It's Not About the Technology
     In this article Kelly W. Hines discusses how technology alone will not save the school system. She states that technology, 1:1  learning initiatives, and internet connectivity are all great tools that help students learn. However, it does not matter what level of technology is placed in a classroom if teachers are not motivated to help their students or learn themselves. She advocates overall change to teaching and learning by implementing four steps to effectively and positively impact the lives of students and teachers.
     The first step is that teachers must be life-long learners to be successful. This includes being up to date on technology, as well as knowing about the lives of their current students. The second step is for teachers to learn that teaching and learning are not the same thing. She advocates success through working smarter, not harder, as well as helping the students to do the same. Thirdly, technology is useless without good teaching. If teachers are not motivated to keep up with technology and use it effectively, it is useless in their hands. The last point she makes is that teachers should customize learning plans for individual students. Basically, if technology is to be effective it must be used by an effective teacher to reap maximum results, it alone cannot fix the education system.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
     In this blog, Karl Fisch discusses his opinion on technological illiteracy in the classroom. He believes that all teachers can, and should be technologically literate. He compares the fact that people seem to be proud of not understanding technology to the opinion parents had about not understanding math. The ease at which people admit these things, yet seem to never do anything to try and change them, makes it seem like it is an acceptable part of society.
      He then compares not understanding technology in this century to not being able to read in the previous century. As the last century went on, it became increasingly difficult for people to function in society and be afforded the same opportunities if they could not read. He believes that technology will increasingly follow this pattern. Right now being able to function with technology affords you many benefits, but it is becoming increasingly necessary to function in today's society. If you are an educator in charge of providing your students the best learning opportunities for their future, you should be able to use every media you can to provide this objective.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
     This site monitors the Social Media Count. It monitors several social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and others. This site keeps track of the amount of comments, minutes, and other social media currency per second. This site also provides statistical information about purchases, iPads, Flicker, and many more.
     This site really raises awareness about the amount of time people use social media throughout the world, as well as the rapid expansion of global networking. It allows a rapid exchange of ideas, as well as far reaching effects throughout the world. Educators should tap into as many of these resources as possible to reach their students and be able to communicate more in ways the students are comfortable in using. Social media also allows students to get a far-reaching perspective on life by being able to see different areas and cultures that they would never have seen otherwise. This also allows for increased world awareness and cultural perspective.

Project #5 Google Presentation

Blog Assignment 2

     For this weeks assignment, we were required to watch five different videos dealing with the current education system and technology. These videos spanned from discussing the exponential rate at which technology is growing and the fact that educators are not keeping up with this phenomena, to the current education system stifling student's creativity. Some of the videos also talked about examples in which classes greatly used technology, and showed the benefits afforded to these students. One recurrent theme through these videos was that most classrooms are not making full use of resources to enhance their student's educations.

Did You Know? 3.0 
  This video, by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, had an astounding amount of facts. Most of these facts had to do with the expanding population of the world and the exponential rate at which technology is growing. This boom in technology allows the entire planet to be connected through various resources. One of the resources discussed was the social networking sites Myspace and Facebook. If  Myspace were a country, the video states, it would be the fifth largest in the world. Facebook only took two years to go to mass market status, compared to the radio which took thirty-eight. Another part of the video looked at the massive amount of information that we have access to now through technology, while wondering how people got the answers to their questions "before Google".
     One of the most interesting parts of the video had to do with educating students for their future job market.  For example, the video states that the top ten jobs that are in demand now did not even exist in the year 2004. Educators are in the difficult position to teach students skills that may not even be in demand yet. Because of this we also have to deal with the fact that skills we are teaching now may be obsolete by the time students enter the job market. With the current advances in technology, most things are becoming obsolete after about two years, meaning that a student pursuing a four year degree must constantly work to stay ahead of the curve. This also means that educators must prepare students by exposing them to technology and the benefits of it so they will seek independent learning and use resources to further their careers.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
     This video, by Mathew Needleman, was one of my favorite videos that I have watched for class so far. It tells the story of Mr. Winkle, who has been asleep for one hundred years and just suddenly woken up. He walks into a huge skyscraper and is overwhelmed not just by the size of the building, but also by the technology inside. He is uncomfortable with all of the changes, screens, and by how readily people communicate over great distances. Feeling sick, he goes into a hospital. The hospital does not help him at all, because once again he is taken aback by all of the machines used to treat people. Leaving the hospital, he walks along until he finds a school. The school reminds him of his education and old life. The students take notes on paper and listen to the teacher lecture in the same way that they did while he was in school.
     This video shows a very disturbing trend within the school system, the fact that it has not changed in so many years. We now have so much technology available to us on a daily basis, yet most schools make little to no use of it. Why should the education system stay the same when everything around us is changing at an almost constant rate? Mr. Winkle described the school as completely undisturbed by the outside world, but we should be preparing students for the outside world and give them as many skills as possible to succeed in their future. We should also take advantage of the fact that we can communicate with almost every area of the planet, and we should implement technology to do so within the classrooms.

The Importance of Creativity
     This talk was done by Sir Ken Robinson dealing with creativity within the school system. One theme used commonly throughout his speech was that the current education system is killing the creativity of the students. He also states that everyone has an opinion on the education system, this can be brought out by positive or negative experiences. One of the reasons why the school system needs to be reformed is because teachers are preparing children for futures we cannot even imagine yet. Most educators are not using most forms of current technology to help students prepare for this future.
     He also states that creativity should be as important in education as literacy, because it necessary for problem solving. Because of the current schools system's emphasis on science and math, subjects like the arts are looked down upon, if they are even taught at all. Another way the current system is failing students is because by the time they are out into the world they are so terrified of getting a wrong answer that they rarely think outside the box. This fails students by teaching them that solutions outside the norm are always wrong.

Cecelia Gault's Interview with Sir Ken Robinson
     This interview was done by a young student in Finland who wondered what things Ken Robinson would change about the current education system. The main changes that he would like to see are a more balanced curriculum between science and the arts, better use of technology for younger people, and a stronger link between schools and the community. He also talked about the three myths of creativity: only certain people are creative, creativity only extends to certain things, and that creativity is something you must be born with. I believe that schools should take greater steps to insure that students are exposed to as many outlets for creativity as possible, and that implementing more technology in the classroom is a great way to help accomplish this task.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
     This video is about Vickie Davis' classroom and her extensive use of technology to provide a better learning environment for her students. She is an IT director and firmly believes that technology is one of the main keys to increase the learning abilities of her students. She believes that her students are allowed to express their areas of interest and creativity more so than they would through only pen and paper. One of the main things that she wants for her students is for them to be comfortable with technology.
     She has her students work on projects that connect them with the entire world, and this allows them to have experiences that they would otherwise never be afforded. She commonly makes use of group projects and collaboration, which helps the students with their social skills. This classroom also allows students who are more proficient in certain areas to help students with problems, and also allows students to help answer each other's question. This also serves to make them more comfortable in groups, not just within their own classroom but with other students through out the world.

Wordle 1

Blog Assignment 1

 About me:
  
 Hello, my name is Kathleen Lemoine. I am twenty-one years old and am an exercise science and physical education major at the University of South Alabama. I am a sophomore and began to attend this university because it was close to home and had a good physical education program. I live in Mobile, Alabama, and have lived here all of my life. I have two pets, a peek-a-poo named Peppermint and a manx named Set. For those of you who do not know, a peek-a-poo is a mix between a poodle and a pekingese to form what is called a designer dog breed. A manx is a breed of cat that is commonly born without a tail or has a bobbed or half-length tail.
     Some of my main interests include exercise and athletics. I enjoy many forms of exercise, including weight training, yoga, running, and cycling just to name a few. I work at the University of South Alabama's Recreation Center as a personal trainer. I am also a certified pilates instructor and am currently preparing for my certification in group fitness instruction. I want to enter the field of education because I have a passion for exercise and want to teach youth how to implement the benefits of exercise, nutrition, and other areas in health within their own lives. This will not only improve the health of students while they are in school, but will also help them in overall wellness throughout their entire lives.

Randy Pausch on Time Management:


     This video provided a great outline for improving time management strategies regarding work and school. Dr. Pausch lists several strategies that I believe will help me in this class, as well as with my other responsibilities this semester. One of the points that he stressed was creating a plan or to-do list, even if the plan will change you need a summary of the tasks you need to complete and when you need to have them completed. Two of the questions to help with planning this list were "Why am I doing this?" and "What happens if I chose not to do it?". The first question will keep you on the right track by making sure you know why you are doing the task and making sure you keep your goal in mind. In this class the goal is to learn as well as to complete the assignments to receive a passing grade to progress towards a degree. The second question will help when temptations to procrastinate or to not complete work arise. The answer to this question in class is simple, if you do not complete assignments you will  not receive a desirable grade. These strategies will prove to be useful in many aspects of life, not just obligations for school.

Practice Post

My first post.