Itunes University

Itunes University is part of i tunes, it contains different lectures form different universities, some in videos and some through audio. The Universities that use this are Stanford, Duke, MIT, Arizona State, and more. At learn out loud .com you can choose from hundreds of different lectures from many of the Universities that use Itunes Universities, they are broken down into lists under the name of the university.

This is helpful to students because if u are at a university and don't understand something in class, than they can listen to a lecture form another university, pertaining to the same class, and maybe get a better understanding of that subject. Another advantage is that if you school uses Itunes University and you miss class, than you can just download the lecture.

This is also helpful to teachers because they can use other teachers lectures as resources, maybe learning something they didn't. They can also use it as a way to give students missed notes if they were not in class for that lecture. I think this is a great! it really makes learning easier for all, you can just download all kinds of information.

My Presentation

i pod's

Duke University has been using i pods in the classroom for years.They have created a program called the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI), which is experimenting the use of technology in teaching.The incoming freshman who are signed up for an i pod enhanced class receive a free i pod as part of their required materials, and have to keep up with them as long as they are taking an enhanced course. They are using these i pods to download information for that class, such as lecture notes ,pictures, and diagrams. The students seem to like this was of teaching, it is teaching them to also use a new form of technology.

I think this is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom, it is small enough to carry around and it lets you store tones of information. This also allows teachers to use the internet in class without having to take the whole class to a computer lab.
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html

Dr. Alice Christie

This is an awesome wed site, it shows many ways in which you can take teaching to a new level, from GPS satellite and the Internet. She also has workshops that you can attend, all having different topics, so that you can learn all types on new and exciting things. If you have any questions you can e-mail her and talk to her about anything that she presents on her website.

I chose the photography part of the website to focus on because she has wonderful pictures from flowers to animals. This shows how you can take a photo and manipulate it however you choose. She gives many resources for teachers to look at in order to learn how to use some of the photo shops that she uses, giving the students a fun way to learn how to use the computer. It think this site is great, it gives teachers new and exciting ways to teach, while giving them the resource they need in order to teach their students.

Wikipedia

Where do i start i mean its crazy how much information on the Internet is not true. This just proves it! So can wikipedia be a trusted resource? I guess it can be only if when you go to wikipedia scanner and see that it has been edited by a reliable source. For example if you are looking something up about the catholic church and it has been edited by the catholic church than yeah i would say that it is a reliable source. However, others might not find a person or group to be a reliable source because they might be biased. Also keep in mind that people are also taking information out, not giving you the whole story. So, i think that it can be but i would try to use it as a last resource and take it with a grain of salt.

Why Wireless?

The second fischbowl article that i chose was November's Best, titled "Why wireless?". This blog started off as an article in a school newsletter, in which it was informing the schools parents about why the school had recently gotten wireless Internet installed for the use of personal devices.

In this article he gives obvious reasons of why wireless Internet was a good choice and why they found it to be beneficial. He said that it gives children great resources, teachers can use it to post class information, via their home pages, etc. However, he went a little deeper by adding quotes from philosophers stating that people need to learn and grow with change. He simple was saying that times have changed and we are now in a world of technology and we need to embrace it and learn from it, its not the world it use to be. This is how he made his argument for wireless Internet in the school. I think he did a great job and that he is totally right , we might as well start early and learn how to use technology because it will be all around us in the working world.

"The Best of"

This post is titled "Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?", this is a blog that a teacher wrote about how teachers should know how to use computers. she gives a list of 7 things teachers should know how to do with computers. She says quote "We should finally drop the myth of digital natives and digital immigrants", meaning that there is no excuse to not know how to use computers, since they have been around for years. Teachers should embrace new technology, such as computers, and know how to use them, she compares is to "teachers 30 years ago not being able to read or write". I think this is kind of extreme but that is my opinion, i think teachers should know how to use computers but they don't have to know how to do everything but they do need to know how to use the basic functions of a computer. This includes word processing, excel, PowerPoint, and how to use the Internet.

U.S school Blogs

The First U.S blog i found was from a 6th grade English teacher in Georgia. The 6th Graders come to this site and answer questions pertaining to things they read, like the first assignment to write about there summer reading books. Their teacher Mrs. Osteen helps other teachers incorporate technology into their schooling as well, seeing that she has been a teacher for 21 years i think she knows whether using blogs works or not. She uses this blog to help improve student communication skills with other students and help them collaborate with others.
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=17192

The second example of blogs used in the classroom i found was in Wayne Illinois. This blog is a class blog in which the teacher uploads pictures ans messages from the whole class. She has uploaded a slide show of her class for viewers to see. this is another way in which you can show students about computers, by example. She has mad a class blog that they can go onto as a class and the teacher she them how to create one and upload picture. This is safer for a second grade class because they are still a little to young to be able to use a computer on their own.

http://secondgradersreport.blogspot.com/

International schools using Blogs

The first school i found that is incorporating blogging is Joseph H. Kerr School in the Canadian town of Snow Lake, Manitoba. This is a combination of seventh and eighth graders who go onto their blogs and talk about school assignments and their social lives. This has created not only a way of communication between students for school but it gives them a way to communicate socially, which keeps their interest. The teacher who is setting this up is Clarence Fisher, who says "he thinks the online journals will spark students' enthusiasm for computers, writing and opining". He goes on to say that he loves that it gives the students a voice, they are learning that their opinions matter. I think this is great because it prepares them for the real world, where you will meet all kinds of people, some with the same views and some who have different views.
.http://news.cnet.com/Blogging-101--Web-logs-go-to-school/2100-1032_3-5895779.hml

The second wed-site i found was about a teacher named Mrs. Robertson, who is an English teacher in Ontario. Her blog is for her seventh grade class, in which they can discuss novels. Once again it gives students a voice, She really has a great point when saying "“The beauty of it is that my really shy or my weak readers get to respond to the novel discussion with as much power as my mouthy or my ‘great’ readers,”. Her blog consists of questions about novels they are reading in class, not only questions they can answer themselves, but doing things like interviews and having them post their conversations and answers on the blog.
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/06/using_blogs_as_a_novel_approac.html