In class this week, we talked about ethics involved with technology. As it becomes easier and easier to download videos for free off the internet, it also becomes easy to forget about the laws of coyright. It seems as though people think very little about what is legal and illegal to download and watch, because what are the chances of actually getting caught and punished? What we do on our own time may be our own business, but when we are bringing technology into the classroom, I think it's important that we are good role-models to our students. It may even be necessary to show the students how to find the copyright on ressources and explain that even though it may be possible to use certain movies in different situations, it may not be right or legal.
It is almost important to inform students that they should not believe everything they read on the internet. One example is http://descy.50megs.com/Emankato/mankato.html
When first looking at this site, it seems dated, unorganized and poorly written. However, readers assume it is real. Because why would there be a fake site? When looking more closely, one can see that Mankato clearly does not exist as it is shown in this site. The place is complete with an underground city, pyramids, whale-watching, hot springs, as well as skiing/snowboarding! Using common sense, one can realize that this seems very far-fetched. It almost is too good to be true, and that is why some people have actually gone to visit and been disappointed that it isn't real! Anybody can post whatever they want on the internet, which means that lots on the internet, will not be true. When doing research projects, this is an important point to make before sending students off to do research online. It is important for students to figure out how to find authentic and trustworthy sites, before quoting them as fact. The above site would be an excellent one to use to show students the danger of believing everything they read online, which can be expanded to believing everything that people tell them.
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Saturday, 8 October 2011
BLOG 4: Podcasts and Skype
This week in class we learnt how to use Podcasts. I had never seen or even heard of Podcasts before and found them pretty entertaining. I could see kids really enjoying them since you are able to make something that is pretty intricate and could sound professional, but it would have their own voices in it. I imagine kids in an Elementary class making a newscast with it; report on the weather, the news, game scores etc. Kids could study what would go into making a newscast and then make one for themselves. The kids' news might even be what has been going on in their classroom. Maybe even every month a different group of kids is designated to report on the exciting things that class has been up to that month, and then if possible, make it accessible to the rest of the school and the parents. This could be an interesting and fun way to keep parents informed about what is happening in the classroom. The fact that you can add your own voice, and put in sounds and music makes it very fun to experiment with this technology.
We also had a guest speak to us on Skype. I have used Skype many times before, talking to my relatives in California and Australia. The delay time is much longer speaking with them and can often cause confusion since you don't realize that the other person has started talking until a second or two later, so it can be difficult to keep a steady conversation going. However, it would be very cool to bring Skype into the Early Years classroom by inviting people from different parts of the world to talk to the students. I don't know how easy it would be to find these people, but say the kids are learning about Japan. If the teacher or a student had a connection there, maybe this person would be willing to talk to the kids about their country, and maybe even take their laptop around their house to show us some of the unique cultural pieces in their home. Skype allows people all over the world to be connected in such a personable way, and this evidently could have a meaningful place in a classroom.
We also had a guest speak to us on Skype. I have used Skype many times before, talking to my relatives in California and Australia. The delay time is much longer speaking with them and can often cause confusion since you don't realize that the other person has started talking until a second or two later, so it can be difficult to keep a steady conversation going. However, it would be very cool to bring Skype into the Early Years classroom by inviting people from different parts of the world to talk to the students. I don't know how easy it would be to find these people, but say the kids are learning about Japan. If the teacher or a student had a connection there, maybe this person would be willing to talk to the kids about their country, and maybe even take their laptop around their house to show us some of the unique cultural pieces in their home. Skype allows people all over the world to be connected in such a personable way, and this evidently could have a meaningful place in a classroom.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Managing Children's Technology Usage
In today's class we watched a video about 3 kids who explained the amount of time they spend on the TV, phone, computer, video games etc. They all spent a crazy amount of time on their own, with their technology evenings and weekends. Looking back on my own childhood, I wonder if my parents ever felt like I spent too much time doing these things. I definitely went through a major MSN phase, which is a program that allows you to chat with anyone you have added to MSN. I would come home from school and go on MSN before supper, after supper and sometimes stay up late chatting with friends. Although it would have been more beneficial for me to actually hang out with these friends in person, it also was something that everyone at school was doing. I know I wouldn't have had some of the conversations I had on MSN if I had been talking to that person face-to-face. It was a short phase, and I inevitably stopped going on MSN and moved on.
What should parents do about kids who spend this much time with technology? What can teachers do in the classroom to encourage kids to leave their houses, and spend time with their friends and family? As great as technology can be for teaching kids, I think it is also important to use traditional methods for teaching. It is still important to write with a pen and paper in school, instead of typing everything up on the computer. It is important to read real books to kids, instead of reading everything off of EReader. Exposing children to all these basic resources will show them alternatives to modern technology, and I do think that kids still appreciate these older technologies.
I think it's easy to look at all those kids in the video with fear, hoping our own kids don't turn out like that, and wonder how those kids will be years down the road. It is for sure excessive how much time they spend with technology but I do think that for some kids, it is a phase. They may be having a tough time with friends, or with school or are feeling too awkward about their teenager years, and technology is a good way to escape. Before jumping to conclusions about them, maybe we just have to give them time, and they will learn about the big world outside of their own bedrooms, and they will decide for themselves to explore it.
What should parents do about kids who spend this much time with technology? What can teachers do in the classroom to encourage kids to leave their houses, and spend time with their friends and family? As great as technology can be for teaching kids, I think it is also important to use traditional methods for teaching. It is still important to write with a pen and paper in school, instead of typing everything up on the computer. It is important to read real books to kids, instead of reading everything off of EReader. Exposing children to all these basic resources will show them alternatives to modern technology, and I do think that kids still appreciate these older technologies.
I think it's easy to look at all those kids in the video with fear, hoping our own kids don't turn out like that, and wonder how those kids will be years down the road. It is for sure excessive how much time they spend with technology but I do think that for some kids, it is a phase. They may be having a tough time with friends, or with school or are feeling too awkward about their teenager years, and technology is a good way to escape. Before jumping to conclusions about them, maybe we just have to give them time, and they will learn about the big world outside of their own bedrooms, and they will decide for themselves to explore it.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Real Simple Technologies
When I think back on my elementary school, I don't remember using computers very often. We worked with 'All the right type' to learn how to type, which I always enjoyed. We were taught how to send an email, but I remember emailing only once. It wasn't until Junior High that we really started using the Internet as a source of information for school projects. Apart from those rare computer experiences, my elementary years were full of non-computer oriented activities. I am realizing in University that it is not only Junior Highs and High Schools that use computers in the classroom anymore. A lot has changed since I was in elementary school.
Real Simple Technologies are really, truly just that. Super simple ways of using technology to help teach kids. The great thing about them is that they don't take much time, so it is simple to use them when preparing a lesson. Another great thing about them is that since they are so simple, young kids will be able to make use of them in the classroom. Wordle would be a good tool to use as an ice breaker. Each child could create a wordle in class about themselves, emphasizing the words that are most important to them. If the class has done any sort of research, each child could create a wordle about that topic and show which words are most important to that topic.
Zooburst is also a great tool online. Users have to sign up, but it is free for personal use (1 user only). If a teacher wanted to use it with the entire class, he/she would have to pay for it. Users can upload their own photos or use the clipart on the program to make a pop-up story book. Text can be added to each page as well as conversation through word bubbles. Each page can be rotated so kids can look at the page from all angles, but still maintain the 3D imagines. When working with younger kids, it might be most useful to make a story to show the children, since they might not be able to work with the program on their own. For older grades (grade 4 and older), they would be able to make their own stories about topics they researched and present it to the class once they are done. It is also a great opportunity to show kids how stories work. They need to understand that each page might have text on it to tell the story, but that the characters can also speak by putting in a speech bubble. They must also be taught that the first character to speak must come first so that the conversation goes in the correct order.
There are many programs out there that could be very useful when teaching early years, it is only a matter of putting in the time to find them and brainstorm their uses in a classroom.
Real Simple Technologies are really, truly just that. Super simple ways of using technology to help teach kids. The great thing about them is that they don't take much time, so it is simple to use them when preparing a lesson. Another great thing about them is that since they are so simple, young kids will be able to make use of them in the classroom. Wordle would be a good tool to use as an ice breaker. Each child could create a wordle in class about themselves, emphasizing the words that are most important to them. If the class has done any sort of research, each child could create a wordle about that topic and show which words are most important to that topic.
Zooburst is also a great tool online. Users have to sign up, but it is free for personal use (1 user only). If a teacher wanted to use it with the entire class, he/she would have to pay for it. Users can upload their own photos or use the clipart on the program to make a pop-up story book. Text can be added to each page as well as conversation through word bubbles. Each page can be rotated so kids can look at the page from all angles, but still maintain the 3D imagines. When working with younger kids, it might be most useful to make a story to show the children, since they might not be able to work with the program on their own. For older grades (grade 4 and older), they would be able to make their own stories about topics they researched and present it to the class once they are done. It is also a great opportunity to show kids how stories work. They need to understand that each page might have text on it to tell the story, but that the characters can also speak by putting in a speech bubble. They must also be taught that the first character to speak must come first so that the conversation goes in the correct order.
There are many programs out there that could be very useful when teaching early years, it is only a matter of putting in the time to find them and brainstorm their uses in a classroom.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Use of Technology in Elementary
This week in class we talked about using technology in elementary classes. We started out the class by watching a short video clip, about a man who gave a speech, and the technology seemed to be in charge of the presentation, and not him.
The video started out with him coming up on stage, and rifling through the notes he had jotted down, and seemed to get flustered since he couldn't find what he was looking for. This is an obvious mistake when teaching, but I think when it comes to technology, it is very obvious when the teacher does not know what he/she is doing. Children today are very technology-savvy, and being a teacher who will be older than them, it would be easy to fall behind in the times. Then, when I am using the new technology for lessons, if I am not up-to-date with how to use the program, it could be frustrating for the kids to watch, as they probably know how it works. I think this is an important point when using technology as a teacher.
Next, the man in the video tried to use the microphone, but it kept ducking/jumping away from him. He spent almost the entire video trying to get the microphone to work. Technology doesn't always work properly. Computers can get viruses, they can be extremely slow some days, and they can just simply not work properly when you most need them to. A teacher could spend his/ her entire day trying to get a program to work, and waste hours of school time. Not only are kids missing out on learning, but they will also be extremely bored and restless. I think that if technology is not working out on day, it's important to move on with something else, and come back once you have figured out how to solve the problem.
The video started out with him coming up on stage, and rifling through the notes he had jotted down, and seemed to get flustered since he couldn't find what he was looking for. This is an obvious mistake when teaching, but I think when it comes to technology, it is very obvious when the teacher does not know what he/she is doing. Children today are very technology-savvy, and being a teacher who will be older than them, it would be easy to fall behind in the times. Then, when I am using the new technology for lessons, if I am not up-to-date with how to use the program, it could be frustrating for the kids to watch, as they probably know how it works. I think this is an important point when using technology as a teacher.
Next, the man in the video tried to use the microphone, but it kept ducking/jumping away from him. He spent almost the entire video trying to get the microphone to work. Technology doesn't always work properly. Computers can get viruses, they can be extremely slow some days, and they can just simply not work properly when you most need them to. A teacher could spend his/ her entire day trying to get a program to work, and waste hours of school time. Not only are kids missing out on learning, but they will also be extremely bored and restless. I think that if technology is not working out on day, it's important to move on with something else, and come back once you have figured out how to solve the problem.
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