Social Networking

I've never been too much into the social networking crowd. I do have a Myspace and Facebook page, and I am also on Twitter and another site called SocialVibe. Although I am on these sites, I hardly log on to them and talk to others. I think it's a great way for people to get in touch, but for me, I find myself getting burned out on it. I wonder if at somepoint, there will be people who swing back to the old days and start writing letters. I don't think it will get that far, but I think there might come a time when more people simply email again rather than message on a social networking site. Maybe not though, maybe I'm just tired of it. I'm not saying I abhore these sites, I think I'm just missing the old ways of things, although I should be one to talk, I met my boyfriend online.

copyright video

So, working on the copyright video reminded me of how much I dislike time constraints when working on things such as videos. I hate having an idea that has to be cut down to fit. This time wasn't as bad as previous assignments I've had in video classes. The worst was probably a short film I had to make. The original script I had written for myself years ago was about 20 pages long. The video could only be up to eight minutes. So of course, I had to simplify and settle for a sub par short film that really didn't touch base on very much of anything that I had originally written. Technology wise, I didn't know if it was okay to use other tech so I stuck with the animoto. If I could've I would've used something else like FinalCut. Animoto is great but I think that they shouldn't count their animated logo as part of your 30 seconds. It takes up about 3 minutes of your video time which I think is a bit unfair.

Cheating and Technology

I agree with David Thornburg's statement, "ban questions for which technology provides instant answers." With the advancements in technology, information has become so easy to access that the current method of education is about to become obsolete, or atleast is should. Seeing as much of education today asks students to merely read, memorize, and retell, if information is so readily available there is no real learning happening if they can merely go online and look the information up at any moment.

By asking students to think critically rather than fill in blanks, students can still access the information but then also create a new individual and intimate connection to it. This would allow the information to stay with the students longer and in a more meaningful way.

In regards to copyright, by having students go to sources for papers or projects, students can have a better and closer relationship with copyright law. By using project-based learning, teachers can have students create projects that use materials under Creative Commons as well as using some within copyright law in order to fully understand what they can and cannot do with materials that are out there. It will also allow them to put together their own portfolios, using the copyright and Creative Commons guidelines, that they can use in their educational career.

I also think that by steering away from the traditional way of teaching, students will become better critical thinkers and problem solvers. As it is now, students are becoming critical thinkers and problem solvers in a negative way, by finding better ways to cheat. As seen with the many sites that give out research papers and other things such as that. I think that logical sources of information such as Cliff’s Notes, have taken a harsh hit and because of that, students feel that cheating is the way to go. If we label aides such as Cliff’s Notes and Spark Notes as unfair and cheat aides, then students will see cheat sites and paper sites as a possible source because if something that is legally sold in stores is cheating, then a site can’t be that much worse.

The main problem is that people have not truly taken the time to show students how to properly research and use the many sources that are out there for them in this day and age. In the past, it was simpler because the main sources out there were books, newspapers, magazines, and other print sources. Now, there are more through technology such as podcasts, wikis, blogs and other various online resources. The key is educating students in how to use these sources and how to think about what they are doing rather than going through the motions of education.

I really like David Thornburg’s idea of having students either write a paper or analyze the papers that are available online. This lets the students know that yes, the teacher knows about those sites, but there are still ways to decipher whether or not the student actually read the book or assignment. I think that in order to keep on top of cheating and copyright as well, teachers must adapt and become more creative in the ways they teach and impart information to the students they teach.

Overall, copyright is a very confusing thing that I believe can only be truly understood by actively working with it. Only reading the facts gives a superficial look at it, it isn't until you work the materials that real understanding begins.

Blogs and Education

For my Senior Seminar class I have to spend 15 hours in a classroom. I was having trouble finding a class to work in. I wanted to pick a class that I would have no problem working in for that long of a time. Luckily, I went online and searched some school websites and stumbled upon this blog . After seeing it, I decided that this was the room I wanted to observe. I think that Mrs. Arreguin does a good job of keeping up with the technologies even though she is an older generation teacher. In her classroom she has six computer and even has a smart board.
She is trying to get something called a airliner working that allows her to work with the smart board from a little further away. I think it's great to have a smart board because so many of the kids jump at the chance to work with it.



photo by popofatticus.

Mobile Searching Moment

This past weekend my boyfriend and I were shopping for ingredients to cook some pasta. While we were there we realized that we didn't really know what two of the ingredients were. So, I took out my cell phone and texted "define arugula" and "define radicchio." Following the radicchio search, I had to look up chicory sense the definition was "a type of chicory." It actually helped us find what we needed. It also helped me win a debate between my boyfriend over the definition of "minced."

Database Form

Modbook

So, although we have not discussed anything like this in class, I must say that the Modbook looks awesome. The Modbook from Axiotron takes your everyday Mac and makes it even better. I'd say it would be best suited for those in the design field though, but it looks fun no matter what you use it for. The Modbook is different from the standard Mac in this really great way, it's a tablet. This means you can use a stylus and write on it and have what you write/draw appear on your screen. I'm sure some people are thinking, "Wow, big woop, I can do that on my phone...whatever." As a former graphic designer, this is amazing. Instead of having to "draw" using a seperate tablet and pen device, hoping that you lay the pen exactly right, you can simply draw on the monitor of the Modbook just as though you were drawing on a piece of paper. This is a step up from the tablets with interactive display and the whiteboard types as well as the HP Touch because you get the ability to use the Modbook as a regular laptop as well as a drawing tool. Pretty awesome.


top left photo by Rojer.
bottom right photo by Vincent® .
bottom left photo by zerojay .

I was bored so I sent a post from my phone just for kicks.

Random Rambling

I changed my layout because I was bored. I used an image of a sugar glider because it's random. I enjoy random things. I also enjoy reading, so I really like it when an author writes about random happenings. For example, David Sedaris talking about an old couple who look really posh but every other word is an expletive. Now enjoy this random picture.



photo by Mike McCaffrey

Crystal Ball Prediction

After researching One Laptop per Child, I believe that education and society will be greatly affected by it in the future. For example, in the classroom alone, after we had finished our presentation, many of the students in class were supportive of it and said that they would like to participate in the Give 1 Get 1 project because they find the laptop to be such an ingenious product. I think that the OLPC project is a springboard for more things to come in technology in the classroom.
I feel that in the future, the One Laptop per Child project will be in many of the developing countries and will be so prevalent, that we will have mass communications between students in different countries. I think that, along with the OLPC, schools in developed countries will turn more toward technology as well. I think that once more people see what can be done with the XOs, such as class projects involving media and program design, as well as problem solving through program writing and troubleshooting, they will implement some sort of laptop system in their own education.
Overall, I think that the XOs from the OLPC project will usher in a new era of education. where students are the creators of their learning. They will dictate what they learn because the assignments can be more open ended, rather than the current regurgitation that most schools teach. We will have a new generation of problem solvers and innovators. Classes will be more connected because they can utilize mesh networks and work on class projects and even connect with other students around the world. Who knows, maybe one day students will be doing projects in Columbia with students in Mongolia. With this sort of technology, it's possible.

Digital Immigrant/Digital Native

After reading Prensky's articles on the subject of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, I think that I would, for the most part, fall in to the former category. Although I did not have a personal computer at home until the age of around ten, I do vividly remember working on computers in school from about the age of seven. In some ways though, I am a Digital Immigrant, but only in some areas, such as cell phones. I have only recently purchased my own cell phone, so I have much to learn about them, but my knowledge of other techonologies and the troubleshooting skills I've learned with them, will most likely help me if I ever encounter problems with my phone.
I agree with Prensky's assertion that we are teaching children the wrong way. It is hard for a student to learn when instructed with terminology that is not native to them, and vice versa for the instructors. I think that a lot of the problems that arise in education today come from an unwillingness, on the part of the instructor, to "get with the times." It may be harder for people already set in their ways to learn something new, but it isn't fair to ask the younger generation to adapt to old ways that are slowly becoming obsolete. It is almost the same as asking someone to only learn and speak in Latin, a language that hardly anyone uses anymore.
In response to those who have thought that the younger generation is dumb, I think it is easy to dismiss what one doesn't understand. I think that if many of the people in the older generation truly understood how much troubleshooting goes into education with technology, they would see that the younger generation is intellegent. They are also very good problem solvers because with technology, one must be able to find creative ways to work around any obstacle that might arise.

Laddie!

This message is from a Virgin Mobile user. Enjoy.
_____________________________________________________________

New phone that works...hopefully.

Shift Happens

In the Shift Happens video, I was surprised at some of the numbers presented. Such as the text messaging slide, where the video stated that there are more text messages in a day than there are people. I think that although some would say we are losing communication skills, we are also gaining easier connections to people further away. As with anything, the pros and cons of technology depend on the person using it.

Another fact that made me think was the slide about how we are preparing students for jobs that don't exist yet. I find this to be a true yet fascinating concept. Just today I had read about a young nine-year-old boy in China who created and wrote the programming for a finger painting application for the iPhone for his younger siblings. The father said his son had been using computers since he was two. This is just one example of how children are more suited for this new world of high tech than many of us are at this stage in our lives.

Also, the slide about students pursuing technical degrees was not all that surprising to me. I have a degree in Multimedia Design Technology, and from the beginning they told us that what we were learning in class would be outdated by the time we graduated. It was because of this fact, that all professors would always update us on what new technology was out there and what we may have to learn later in life. They were always big proponents of keeping your ear to the ground to keep up on the new technologies that we would have to learn. Even if it was just an update to the new Adobe Suite, we would have to become acclimated to the new features.

Overall, I think that Shift Happens is a good video for anyone to watch, but especially for those who don't really keep up with the newest technologies out there.