EDUC 286

I think that EDUC 286 is a very helpful course that I have learned alot in. Before this class, I did not know anything about blogs or wikis. I heard of blogs in the past because some of my friends from school had made one, but for the most part, I did not understand their use and I definitely did not think that they could be used in the classroom. However, after taking this class, I now know that it is possible.

My favorite lesson was probably the group assignment we had. I enjoyed coming up with a lesson plan for my potential class. It provided a sense of realism, since that is what I strive to do one day. Also, it was interesting to see how with such a simple lesson plan, so many different techonological aspects could be incorporated.

Searching the Web

When searching the web for a specific topic, one may always run into problems. Many times you can get a million responses, but only a quarter of them are actually helpful. Search tips can help you navigate through the web for efficiently and essentially save you alot of time. Many times, you are required to use specific commands to narrow your search. Most search engines except many of the symbols required, such as +, -, "", and OR. If you don't include one of these symbols, the search engine will pull up any website that contains any of the words within your search.
For example, I am researching about World War II. If I just type World War II into the search engine, it will pull up any website that has the words "world," "war," and "II" in them. This poses a problem because many of the time those websites are useless. If you include "World War II" in quotes, it will automatically narrow down your search because it will only pull up the websites that have the phrase in it.

The Use of PowerPoint

PowerPoint has become a craze in the schools over the years. It is used as a multimedia tool for children to interact and learn to the best of their ability. The program can include images, links, video, and audio. The good thing about PowerPoint is that not only is it updated every year, supplying even more uses, but teachers can manipulate it to carry out many different lesson plans. In the past, teachers have used PowerPoint for tutoring, lesson reviews, simple presentations, reports, autobiographies, and quizzes.

Within my high school, every teacher used PowerPoint; it was an essential. I even took a course my sophomore year to teach me all about the program. Many times, my research papers or book reports would be linked to a PowerPoint presentation. The students themselves had to learn how to use the program too. Luckily, it is easy to use and there are many different ways to make it unique and your own. My favorite way of using PowerPoint was reviews before tests. Many teachers would set up a jeopardy or some kind of game using PowerPoint not only make it fun and interesting, but collaborating with the class and learning as well.

Copyright Laws

Copyright laws have become more of an issue now a days because of the illegal downloading of music, plaigarism, and so on. The United States has very strict laws that will surely punish anyone that goes against them. Copyright laws secure the individual to have all rights to their work, how it is copied, how it is contributed, and who is allowed to receive it. Some authors or artists sell this right, which means that someone had hired you to do the work. Usually, you establish this before hand.

The reason copyright laws have come to my attention over the past several years is because of illegal downloadin. Ipods have become a huge trend and many do not want to purchase the many movies and songs legally. If purchased on iTunes, it could come to quite a bit of money. Therefore, most kids resort to illegally downloading. Overtime, people have had to receive consequences for their actions. However, now there is a new music website where iPod users can download music for free, and it is legal.

A SMART Way of Learning

The SMART boards have become more popular over the last couple years within the classrooms. During elementary school, I did not have the benefit of having SMART boards, but in my last few years of high school, they were becoming more and more common. Each subject department had at least two SMART boards that were circulated among the teachers. They were always so interesting and cool. All of the students loved them! Even as seniors, we were fascinated with the voices it made and the typing skills of the board. It really does the job: holds your attention.

What does society, teachers, and the makers think of this idea? They believe there are a million advantages to the use of SMART boards in the classroom. The teacher is able to interact with all students and really collaboarte together. It is easier to work as a large group with such a technology advanced white board. Also, students with learning disabilities can grately benefit from the SMART board. It allows different teaching styles to be implemented and involve all different types of learning style based children.

Plagiarism

Over the years, plagiarism has become more and more common among students in schools. Why do students plagiarize? Because it is clearly easier than thinking for themselves. Our society has become dependent on the Internet and many times students forget that what they find is not their own. Plagiarism in the past was easier to suspect because of the child's limited resources. However, now, if the teacher suspects plagiarism, because of the size of the Internet, it is still in the plagiarists favor.

Today, plaigarism does not go without any consequences. Websites have developed that teachers can use to check if a child has plaigarized on a paper. One website, often used at my school, is turnitin.com. Most of the time, if a child gets caught plaigarizing they will fail the assignment and sometimes, if so severe, they could fail the entire class. In college, a child can be thrown out of school for plaigarizing a paper.

Copyright laws have become alot more popular and the obstruction of them are carried out now more than ever. People do not want their work passed off as someone elses. It's not fair and it's definitely not right.

E-Mail Scams

E-mail has become a prime way of communication over the years. Even attending the University of Delaware, without an e-mail address you could virtually be lost among the crowd. Therefore, students, teachers, and other e-mailers should be more away of the scams that have become more and more popular. Recently, Nigeria has become the world's place for most of the e-mail scammers. Now these same scammers can break into the victim's e-mail account, impersonate them, and send a pleading e-mail to all the members in their account asking them to forward money to Nigeria. These scammers have entered people's Yahoo, gmail, and hotmail accounts, so beware.

Personally, I think that many people have to be extremely gullible to believe these e-mails. If someone is receiving e-mails from you, don't you think that you to converse alot and are close friends or are aware of eachother's travels. I think that many people believe to quickly and that is how they get into trouble.

Podcast = iPod Broadcast

Podcasting is an audio broadcast that has been turned into an MP3 or another audio file for playback on a computer or digital music player. Recently, podcasting has become more and more popular. Where did the name originate? "Pod" came from the very popular iPod. The iPod has become the dominant digital music player. Even though most of the podcasts are mostly verbal, they can contain some music at times. Podcasts have become available to any subscribers.

Podcasting primarily started because of these broadcasts. However, the term can be used for recording anything and everything back on a digital player. Today, many people broadcast their traveling experiences, museums are making their audio tours available to download, while art students and professors are supplying their "unauthorized" art work on the web.

Technology in the Classroom

Classroom research used to consist of books and the card catalogue found in the school's library. However, the internet has made all of the difference in the past years. Now, most teachers and their students have access to the internet in their classroom. This has changed the way many assignments and research papers have been administered. Research has become the main purpose for children's use of the Internet. Some of the time, the library will not offer the exact topic you are interested in and even so, there is always a limited amount of information. The internet solves this problem. Although there is the overall concern on how accurate the information is, students can receive thousands of searches, providing them with plenty of options to work with.

Teachers themselves can also use the internet to enlighten or draw in the students. Just by using a PowerPoint presentation for a lesson will attract the students. The colored slides, cool fonts, and constant animations can draw the students attention to the screen and allow them to follow the information more clearly, without it being a distraction. Some teachers have gone as far as posting essays, debates, panel discussions, role play, videos, and websites on the internet soley for their class to use.

Blogs in the UK

Blogs have recently hit the UK becoming the newest phenomena. Almost four million people just in the UK alone are contributing to blogs on a daily basis. From teenagers to musicians to political leaders, blogs are being written by all. The entries truly represent the interests of the masses in Britain.

What are the statistics? One out of five blog users update their blog at least once a day. It was also found that women have become more dedicated to their blogs at 23%, where men were only 17%. However, many journalists fear that these same bloggers are trying to steal their jobs. It seems as though they are setting the political agenda. However, this is certainly not the case or the objective all of the bloggers. "They are attracted by the ease with which they can publish online, the instant nature of the medium and the opportunity to make contact with like-minded people all over the world."

Vlogging?

Blogs have become extremely popular over a short period of time. Now, vlogging has become the new craze. People used to post everything from technology ideas, politics, and any sort of topic on their blogs, but now they can take it to the next level. Now these blogs are primarily video types and images, rather than text. This new term, called vlogging, goes hand in hand with podcasts. Podcasting is when people sign up to receive regular downloaded videos. It seems that Apple iTunes podcasting will now include vlog subscriptions as well.

Most of the vlogs portray an experimental feel. Most of the people try and capture moments from their everyday lives. Some post cooking lessons for others to view and use, others post family events such as a child's graduation, but most are short films or videos. The best and most popular vlog visited is Rocketboom. It has put together somewhat of a daily news program. Go check it out!

How are Blogs and Wikis being used in the classroom?

Today, unknown to my knowledge, blogs and wikis have become more and more popular in the classrooms. Many teachers use them because it helps enhance a students writing, brainstorming, and active learning without having to fully learn the technological skills to transferf a file and save. Blogs and wikis are a much easier approach and they get the job done. However, each of them serve a differnet purpose. Blogs are better known as journal entries, where one can place their thoughts and later be commented on. Wikis tend to be used for more encylopedia information, more textbook writings.

Researchers believe that even though students tend to at first be new to blogs, they quickly attach and become 'hooked.' This is because blogs are a way for children to create their own look and be creative. "Blogs look sharp, polished, and publishable right away." This is extremely appealing to younger students. They can format their blog the way they wish without many regulations which they may often experience in the classroom setting. Wikis on the other hand are better for collaborative efforts. Students can work together to come up with logical and useful information. This assignment usually is harder for the instructor to grade and monitor, but helps the students tremendously.