Randy Paush

Randy Pausch’s video of his “Last Lecture” is an example of something that few people have really found or felt. Outright determination, throughout all he was going through and the way he came out of it shows what, in the end, being determined to be happy can really do. The brick wall he speaks of is probably the most important to me, and how if you face the wall, to get through it, you must want it, and anyone who does not get over it, didn’t really want it is about as true as words get.
His lecture was not about troubles, hardships, or his cancer. It was about it not being about any of those, not defining yourself by your struggles, but by your perseverance over them. Happiness is not free, its earned. You have to want to be happy to find what will make you happy, and want it even more to achieve it. Let nothing stand in your way.
I will say something about his courage though. Not only facing his own trials, but finding a way to use them to the advantage of others is nothing less than inspiring. We need more men like him in the world, more who see the potential in a strife, rather than the strife itself.

iTunes U

This ties back to the ipods in the classroom post from before. And in theory, it is a great idea.

The ability for students to download class information for use is a brilliant, if not, necessary tool for the times. Honestly the only problem that I can see with it is that it requires that you get an IPod, a similar service allowing for use with any MP3/MP4 player would be better in the aspect of user compliance, but that is neither here nor there.

This is a bold step in bringing the classroom further into the digital age, a fantastic venture in student/teacher interaction. As well as a sign of things to come in the idea of full classes being online, not only in the form of a weakly programmed web page hosted on a school’s most likely out of date server, but an opportunity to incorporate full, proper lectures, complete with audio and video, as well as access to the resources to take full advantage of the learning opportunity.
The hardest part of an educator’s job, I would think, is, what is the best medium in which to deliver the information allowing for the highest rate of data absorption on the part of the pupil. With weapons like iTunes University in their arsenal, it just adds one more way for the teacher to reach the student, and there is no problem or downside to a goal like that.

Technologically illiterate teachers

I must say that without any question, I agree with everything said. There is, in my opinion, no such thing as being technologically illiterate, only technologically ignorant. And ignorance is a choice. Any teacher who is willing to look at something that they do not understand and say “I cant learn that” or “I wont learn that” is lacking in the most basic requirement for a teacher, the appreciation of learning new things.

On a professional level, it is even more important. With the introduction of digital media to the world, there was a dramatic shift in the way we absorb information. What used to take days may now take minutes, I am not saying that physical media is completely obsolete, but anyone who disagrees that it is less efficient is, by all terms, a fool. Twenty years ago, I could understand a teacher not understanding the core technologies (internet, e-mail, data processing), I am even willing to give lenience to those teaching a decade ago. We live in the age of the internet and also of perpetual change. A teacher not understanding, or worse, not being willing to learn how to use the tools of the time needs to be pushed into it, not to conform, but to be better at what it is their job is.

And on a psychological standpoint, it can really just come down to the message that ignorance in a field, willful or otherwise, sends to the students. These are the people we trust to take charge of preparing our young to take over when we are gone, and I for one want the lessons learned to be that everything is worth trying for, learning, and experiencing.

iPod goes to school

From a teacher’s perspective the iPod allows you to integrate audio seamlessly into the curriculum. Every class, you can use music to set the stage, immediately jump to any point in an audio book, or play a famous speech accessed from the Library of Congress. Video, audio, and images can be loaded on the iPod and provide an excellent manner for bringing a student who missed a day up to speed. Or perhaps a student is struggling with a concept; they can watch a video a number of times on the iPod to fully understand the content. Students struggling with vocabulary can have flash cards on the iPod to see an image, hear a word used in a sentence, and read the word in text—and do it as many times as they need to understand it.

If a teacher records his lectures, then he can make them available for the students to copy, allowing for easier review during study time. This even allows students who use their iPods in the car to listen to the class they just had while driving home. Also with the addition of video, slide shows, entire lessons are converted into an easily transported form so that anyone can view them.

Even not including the media usage of the iPod, it still can act as a standalone portable storage device, reducing the risk of losing documents to and from class. Being able to carry around whole lesson plans from every class and even using it to bring your papers and homework to class avoids the "my dog ate it" issue.

Dr. Christie

With a Ph.D. from Arozona State in Educational Tech. and Language and literacy, Dr. Alice Christie is doing what she can to help change the world she teaches in. With over twenty years of teaching Dr. Christie also gave speachs and did research on gender differences in their use of technology.

Dr. Christie also helped teach teachers in the use of such technologies as electronic portfolios for use in their classrooms. Not to be held back Dr. Christie even has slang terms that she keeps on her site to avoid any confusion that may come up between teachers and their students. The incorporation or instant messaging and LeetSpeak allows parents and teachers to also helps keep everyone on the same page.

Dr. Christie also uses and teaches about podcsats which I have mentioned in othe posts as being an ever helpful way of getting information out into the world. Dr. Christie is doing her best to not only keep up with technology in this changing world but incorporating it into the classroom and also helping teach it to those willing to learn about it.

Last Post

Though I had already gone through this class once and had my mishaps, I still learned things I had not even been aware of. To my surprise this occurred yet again this time through, I already possessed a decent amount of skill in this area before the first time through and to be honest parts of the class were dull and repetitive since the things being taught I found easy and common sense. This is what I learned though, patience. Being a teacher I will have to understand that some students will not be able to catch on to even simple concepts sometimes and I will have to be able to both understand that and come up with a way of helping them. Case in point Mrs. McManus who sat next to me needed help constantly on very simple tasks and in the beginning of the semester I didn't think she had a chance, but as the weeks went by she needed less and less help. As far as the class material I am glad that this time we went over google a bit more. I had never known what the iGoogle was or how convenient it was along with the gadgets you can add to it. As always excel was helpful but we both know I already had a good grasp on it. The class was fun as always and very educational. Thanks a second time.

Energy flow in the coral reef system

The video of the coral reef is always interesting to me. The shear complexity of everything going on at every location and at every scale it intense. The video first begins telling about what coral is and how it grows and survives. After it gets that set they spread out to the other components of the reef and how everything ties together. The reef cannot survive without all of these parts working in unison with each other. I think that this video gets to its point both quickly and efficiently while also delivering it in a relaxed way to draw thw viewer in.

This video was great. It gets the information about coral reefs out there for people to see freely which is great because some need since many people think coral is a rock. I myself love learning about new creatures and find the ecosystems underwater very intresting. For instance the ruffled sea slug was amazing. This is a creature which can use photosynthesis to help it make its own energy. The applications with this are incredible.

Imagine scientists being able to isolate the gene that allows for this and introducing it into humans. The amount of food we would need to produce would drop drastically and we would be able to use that energy for other goods. Not to mention the humanitarian aid possible with it. We would not only be able to send more food but give those in need the injections also meaning they wouldn't need as much either. And on top of that we would also begin to take more care of our planet since we would be getting one more thing from it through the sun for personal energy. Just this one little slug could change our lives forever, who knows what else in under that water.

Trust Wiki?

Wikipedia is a valuable source of information and is much more vast in both the amount of knowledge and variety of subjects. The issue being brought up is whether or not it could be trusted because people can edit it when and however they want, but we already experience that today with everything from FOX News to listening to your friend Jon or any other form of information. Information is always distorted, by those giving it out and by those it pertains to. People need to learn to take the information they are given and deduce from the facts they already know to quantify what is actually true.

In this case Wiki should be trusted because at least they are trying to fix the alterations that are not founded. People should also understand that Wiki should not be the last source the use to find information. I myself have a button on my phone that takes me straight to Wiki and I use it probably more than any other function on my phone. For quick answers to topics or wondering what year something happened or who sang that song kind of questions it is a wondrous tool.

Why wireless, I'll tell you

This is 2009 that should be enough of an answer, without flying cars the least we should be able to do is get onto the internet wherever we want and it should be used to the full extent of its ability. The uses allow freedom to anyone within range and how dose not like to have a class outside from time to time though I'm sure they are not doing that in high schools much. Either way the choice should be a simple one for why to have wireless and its simply, why not.

When students can have another way of connecting with teachers and each other and the material in a way that more and more children are becoming comfortable with why not try and introduce it to schools. The ability to check assignments and grades as well as any school events coming up would make life that much easier on an already hectic school schedule.

English teachers would be able to tell the class to pull up an article from a journal database and instead of having just some book in front of them the kids can see an actual scholarly publication. Science teachers can load groundbreaking reports for students to see where the world is heading and how what they are learning in class is being used outside the walls to change the world.

Many people react better to learning when they can see the results and that is sometimes hard for some teachers, but with the option to bring new information into the classroom they have a better chance of influencing those students. Group projects become easier to collaborate on since the participants could have access to items like Google docs and be able to make comments to each other on how they feel the project should go. the interaction of student with student in a more comfortable is what the world will be demanding of them when the attain "real" jobs in a world where most business correspond through the same kind of means they will be taught.
So not only why not wireless but almost, we have little choice but wireless.

Prior Student Podcasts

The first podcast that I listened to was about youtube and from the very beginning I felt it was off to a bad start. One of the first things people learn when talking to a group or anyone for that matter is to not use the word "umm" of "uhh". There were far to many instances in this particular podcast for me to be able to tolerate it for much longer than was required.
However the information itself was fine, the students at some points seemed to forget what they were talking about but one of the others would jump into the conversation to bail them out. The parts where they began to get into it and have more of a conversation were much better. The podcasts that I listen to are formatted in that way making it much easier to listen and retain information from. Taken from this podcast is to have what I want to talk about laid out in front of me at the time and to be able to have a conversation about it with whomever I am to do the podcast with.

The second podcast was talking about ALEX and ACCESS and was quite well done. Both students had plenty of information on the subjects and were able to get that information across without being terribly dull which can be tricky on not so upbeat subjects. Though they did not converse in the conversation style that I previously said I liked they almost never faltered and kept a steady rate of speech with few mistakes keeping my attention.
The only real falter is that one of the students sounded scared to death while she was talking. I understand that some people are shy and that this was a miserable assignment for them but if someone is going to do a podcast or speak to people in anyway they need to get over that shyness and fear. Again in this podcast I harden my thought that when my time comes to have the information at hand and to give the information straight out though hopefully I will be able to have a subject that allows for me and my group to be more upbeat.

Podcast

First off I love podcasts. More often than not I have one playing in my car anywhere I go, they tend to be filled with information and give you said information quickly and to the point. The podcasts for this assignment are naturally about education and tech and how they work together. Normally podcasts are formatted in a way that makes the listener feel as if they are in a conversation with the podcaster more so than getting a lecture.

At first I listened to the smartboard podcast and was impressed with the way it was presented though I wish they could get rid of the echo. The great part about their idea was to bring teachers and parents together with oneanother. Much like what we have read about ALEX and ACCESS this to is a new frontier of bridging the gap between classrooms and homes. Anything that brings teachers together to learn from one another and also allows parents tha sccesability to the information has my seal of approval.

Some classrooms may even decide to use podcasts in there lesson plans to bring other views and even ways of teaching into the class to give the students more variety and would increace their learning potential. I also enjoyed the Kidcast. Brilliant! Students talking to eah other and even teachers being able to see the students side of the learning expierence. This site puts the kids in charge and allows for them to post their own posts and that creates a doorway into their world that is wide open for parents and teachers alike.

One podcast that I listen to is 60 second science and though not an educational site it is a science based site. I was actually introduced to this from another teacher. The podcast has short snipits of new and up coming scientific information and breakthroughs. The podcast is not as interactive as the others such as Smartboard but since the entire thing is only 60 seconds the information does not need to be given in such a personal way.

Marisa L. Dudiak's second-grade class from Frederick County, Md. were told to sign on to their classroom Web log to write about their field trip to a Native American farm.They wrote about what they learned from using the bow and arrow,playing in a tepee and seeing a buffalo. Though the quality of the writings were still of a second grade level, there was a greater responce from the whole class. even the quiet children wrote out their take on the trip coming alive more so on the blog than in calss.



Mr. C's class at Noel Elementry school in Missouri. Mr. C posts numerious videos up on the site andhas the students make comments on them. The site brings parents into the lives of students more by allowing them to see what is going on in their childrens lives. The site has links to other items such as writing assignments, class itenerary.

Did you know?

I first saw this presentation about three years ago, my friend had to watch it in a business class. The version I saw was Shift happens and a new Did you know 3.0 is out basically the same thing with better music and graphics I think. Some of the things are mind-blowing still though, the amount of graduates from India all speaking english when so few Americans speak a second language, and the fact that english will be spoken by more people in China than in the United States. Scarier than anything else is the bit about trade schools and collages teaching information that will be out of date so quickly. The issue there is that we cannot do anything about it, we cannot hold off new information and technology so the eventual outcome will have to be some sort of balance between what we are able to do with what we have.

This information has changed some since then though, today India has a shrinking population as does China some years, so since nothing is constant predictions cannot be made. We may have the fiber optics to transmit vast amounts of data but there are also companies working with computers that will require better than what we have already just to work. Computers that understand: yes, no and maybe. This concept will alter everything that we think we know and all that we hold constant because shift does happen.

ACCESS

ACCESS, Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide, is a site developed to link educators in less fortunate areas to a more varied and "higher-end" classes. This tool brings the more privileged classroom to any who want it, teacher and student alike. Since most areas have some method of internet setup the only thing keeping these places from gaining from the program is their own laziness or ignorance of the program.



The classes themselves are not in the traditional teacher spout off information to idle students. Instead the entire system is interactive, with teachers talking to other teachers and students conversing with other students. This ability allows for better questions to be asked of both sides of the classroom increasing the learning of both sides of the class as well.

The site and the concept are wonderful evolutions in the educational world. This makes the gap between less-fortunate schools and the more budget-tight ones closer together in their ability to provide a better quality learning experience. The world itself is shrinking and the freedom of information allows everyone to have access to anything allowing everyone to have everything. A great tool that hopefully is being used in other states as well.

Alabama Learning Exchange

The Alabama Learning Exchange is a teacher resource site, also known as ALEX.The site is used by students as well as hosting links for teacher and other faculty. It is a very helpful resource for Alabama school teachers of all ages. The site also offers lesson plans for multiple courses. Accounts can created to form ones own workspace.

Educators can log in to their own workspace, and upload or create lesson plans to submit and share. There is also help for professional learning, links for teachers to websites that help them to maintain and build upon their own learning process, furthering their skills as educators.

This site is has a wide range of resource tools that help all who are affected by it. There is virtually no reason why all teachers do not use this program. Other states should fund like programs so that their teachers and students have the opportunity to grow.

First Post

My name is Phillip Howell I am 25 years old. I am doing my best to hunt down a history and education degree. As I have said I have had this class before and enjoyed it quite a bit. Though I did get hamstringed by the blogs, which are not hard, I did learn quite a bit. DO THE BLOGS!
When I do graduate I plan to move to Alaska to teach there, I love the country up there. Also one fo my favorite web sites/ web comics is Control Alt Del

I recently joined a group called the Hash House Harriers, known as a drinking group with a running problem and have wondered where they have been my whole life. The group started in the 1800's with British officers and evolved into a great old time. We meet about twice a month and jog/walk/run for about five miles. It is a great time and at the end of the run is cold beer and an onslought of jokes and drinking songs. Anyone 21 who is intrested let me know we are always looking for new people.

I have a girlfriend of seven months who suprised me with tickets for Cirque de Soleil for April and I am looking forward to it quite a bit. For our first month anaversery I took her to New York for a weekend so I think this is her way of saying thanks.

Also I am out of work at the moment so anyone who knows of anything opening up please let me know. I had been working at Best Buy but had to leave due to my school schedule. Money is getting tight and I hate being tight.