My favourite site

Google, simple, I love it. However there are many ways to use it that people aren't aware of, that I wasn't aware of up to a few years ago. Now I don't know how i got along without them. Define words, look up conversion rates for currencies or metric measurements to imperial. Can't get on a certain website at a school? Try using a google proxy to look at that YouTube video. Want to know if your friend's flight is on time? type the flight number into google and you get it! I'm not talking about looking through results i'm saying that all of these things are a result themselves. Try it sometime, you may find that you use Google for more than just googling.

Final project

Hello all. Well it's been a great semester, we've all learned alot and are on our way out into the world. Hopefully my final video project will give you a laugh and remind you of some of the things we learned in class. Good luck to ya!

Education by Educators for Educators

After several of my classmates made presentations on various ICT topics i'd like to make some observations and let my opinion be know (i know, blog, kinda the point) about some of the subjects. If i don't mention yours it's not because i didn't find it a good presentation but simply because I hold stronger opinions about certain subjects more than others.

One I found particularly interesting was Tim and Shaun's review of different personal ICT devices and their potential to be used in the classroom. One thing i do think warranted a little more attention is the potential of the netbook (the mini laptop if you will) these devices are commonly available for as little as $199.99 and do everything that a laptop can do other than read or burn disks, with the cloud and flash drives students rarely have to deal with disks anymore. With cost and portability being two of the main downsides to a laptop the netbook seems to be the ideal. The netbook is much smaller and lighter as well as being half the cost of an entry level laptop. With all the same abilities and excelling where the laptop was weak it would seem to to be the ideal platform for schools and students.

For Jesse, Matteo, Andrew and Tim's presentation I feel it is very important that we demonstrate to our students the Good, Bad and Ugly sides of the internet. We must show them not just good and bad sources for research on the internet that they may use for projects for us but we must also show them for the sake of the students being responsible online citizens. We want to keep them responsible on the web so that their digital footprint doesn't leave a stain on the rug.

Networked Kids

It is time for a revolution! No i'm not talking about anywhere in Africa or the middle East i'm talking about the classroom. Five years ago, not that long ago, I was in high school. I was in a high school that for a large part seems a far cry from the schools I student teach at today. Before I continue I would like to point out that that school has since my graduation made a great many strides in improving their abilities to take advantage of technological innovations that are present in today's classroom, i merely wish to reflect my experience against those that the students in today's classrooms will have.

In my highschool experience there was a very minimal use of technology. The most extensive projects that I can remember involved either creating a slideshow with powerpoint or researching things in the computer lab. Compare this to today when everyday in the classroom the students have the opportunity to use and be taught with all kinds of technology, Smartboards, Mimeos and Sympodiums. They have the chance to take online courses and be involved in online learning on school websites as well as contribute to collaborative online projects.

The beginning of the revolution has taken place but it is far from over. We must pick up the torch and carry it through to the finish. It is up to each of us to banish the purely lecture based classroom to the history books that we should barely be using anyway. It is time, pick up the torch of technology, interactivity and student involvement, and run.

Online Learning

While i definately agree that online learning is nothing but a beneficial thing it cannot replace f2f instuction and hands on learning. Online learning is good for those learners who can learn well simply by using a book and their own brain for those kinetic or visual auditory learners it is not the best choice. I may be slightly biased to this as i am a kinetic and visual learner but there are definately advantages of online learning. To those students in smaller centers online learning provides opportunities for classes and subject areas that they may not have had material to take or the number of teachers to teach some classes. For some classes online learning is obviously more difficult and the material of the class cannot be learned proberly. These include classes where practical application of skills is needed, such as home ec., wood shop or mechanics. For myself, note that for myself, I know i will not learn things such as chemistry or English as well if there are not other students around or a teacher. In highschool i bounced ideas off of other students and the teacher in English. In chemistry I learned much better when i could do the experiments. I would not be able to benefit as welll from online learning as students who can learn simply from reading.

PLNs

PLNs present almost limitless oppourtunities for a teacher.

First for themselves, as teachers we should always be learning, PLNs present an opportunity for that. A quick search led me to many different sites that networked teachers together in a place where they provided supports for eachother. A younger teacher perhaps hadn't tried a certain kind of project in their classroom before, they posted their problem and more experienced teachers responded with ideas and things to look out for. A teacher not well versed in new techologies wondered at how they could use it to teach their subject and they were given all kinds of new ideas on how to engage their students with this new technology.

Second for their students. Imagine if you will a website, a school website on which every teacher has their own section a section where they post information about their assignments and upcoming events in their classrooms as well as where they put all of the resources that should be available to their students. A place where students can post questions and teachers and even other students can answer those questions. What about abuse of the website by students you ask? Since the site is sponsered by a school the students will not be anonymous on the site and will only appear on the site under their own name. This will discourage most of the usual mean spirited internet behaviour seen on some websites also any abuse of other students online would fall under the school's cyberbullying policy. A site where every resource that they have been given in school is available online for the students to view and use at any time. Not only that but a place where they can post questions anytime and they would promptly be answered, possibly before they get to school the next day.

We can do it, we have the technology.

We Don't Do That

While at work (The Source in Shoppers Mall) the other day I heard something extremely depressing. A Couple about 60 years old came in looking for some speakers for their TV, we didn't have anything that they liked but we did tell them that they could check the website since it lists several things that we don't always carry in store. The response from them was "We're old we don't do that kind of thing." We were all dumbfounded for a second or two before we let loose some awkward laughter and generic "well alright then" comments they left the store (before you get mad we weren't laughing at them they we laughing at how our suggestion was shut down so we joined in). The incident was quickly forgotten by everyone else at the store but i couldn't help but keep thinking about it. These two people were cutting themselves off from so much. So much news and information, entertainment, everything. Why were they doing it? Were they not sure of the technology and didn't want to try? Did they not want to learn how to use it? Had they become victims of all of the internet fear mongers and believed that the internet was dangerous? I don't know and I don't want to speculate or contribute to stereotypes about older people and technology, i've just offered possible reasons. This is the kind of thing we need to stop, whether it be fear or unwillingness to learn, we need to stop it. New technologies that stick around for more than a year come around because they are in some way useful or convenient. If we learn how to use them properly and at our own pace then to me there should be no reason not to use the technology. Granted it is not a necessity to live our lives but this couple, instead of coming into the store when they made the trip into Brandon once a week, could check our website.