Wikipedia: Can It be Trusted?

I don't use Wikipedia already. I never need to look at it for sources of information when there are tons out there already without having to worry if it's been edited or not. I'm not scared its true or false, I just don't find it a great wealth of knowlege like so many others do. I don't use it for assignments because usually assignments are going to invlove up to date information that has been tamperd with at Wikipedia. I already found several things wrong with it for simplistic uses for those who are not computer literate. It's not the easiest to use when you are rushing to get assignments done. I've found that the important and historical searches are the same as you find in a text book. Since I already have the text book and know where it is in the text book, why search through an unreliable source. I don't think it will ever be reliable as long as you can edit its information. IF you feel it is inaccurate, why not put restraints and a check board of people to go over the information to make sure it is accruate. So its having to pay more people...so do tons of law firms, doctor offices, etc that pay others to sit a desk all day doing paper work and looking things up online. Why not do the same for a world wide used encyclopedia. I don't use it now, and I don't consider using Wikipedia anytime soon if ever to do my important research, homework, and classwork.

iTunes University

iTunes University I found this link first. Of course its going to be the Apple website since its iPod usage with iTunes. As a teacher I can create, distribute and access podcasts. On the opening page, homepage it has a list of courses and easy access links to to campus related events and information. It's accessible 24/7. Each course has its own page that is created by an administrator. As an instructor I can prepare the content (videos, recordings of lectures, assignments) and then upload it to the course page. Each course page can consist of mant or few tabs up to my discretion. There can be dropboxes for assignments. There is a user guide that is actually in dumbed down english so those who have never done this before can do it easily and painlessly. This can be an advantage. It's really like eCollege in a way, perhaps maybe a little more user friendly.

iPod in the Classroom

Well looking at the actual experiement that they have posted, I would think it would be a great tool to use if everyone could afford an iPod. I myself do not own one so that might be a draw back to actually incorporating it into the classroom. It would be a great tool according to the findings with recording lectures, discussions, and verbal feedback. It could be used for out in the field work to record sounds, capture field notes, and interviews. It'd be great for studying because you could listen to repeated original content of commercials, music audio books, rehersals and vocabulary lists. It's portable content to courses such as lectures, songs, speeches, Blackboard management tool, and podcasts. I myself have never used an iPod but it could be useful for students that can afford such a tool. I could use this in my classroom to relay notes, different historical speeches and/or lectures. This tool could help me review past lectures and help make them better for the next class. This opens my classroom to more knowledge and a variety of sources. It would depend on if they were funded though. I myself can live without a luxury as such but as technology grows they will need new ways to access information.

Herbie

I tried posting this one earlier. It seems to have fallen between the cracks so I'm posting it again just in case the other one never comes back. This is Herbie our outside cat. He's taking his afternoon nap on the bench. :)

Me in A Nut Shell

I have plenty of hair styles let me tell you. I'm naturally curly and this was one of my better pictures. This was a long time ago. I can also make it go straight, but I've yet to perfect it. Usually I just wore a hat that naturally straightened it after a few hours. This is a pic a lot of people seem to like of me. This picture is actually rather old.

Annabelle

This is my sister Kandice's cat Annabelle. She thinks she runs the house hold.

My Pixie

This is my sweet cat Pixie. She's so photogenic don't you think? :P

Seymour Papert

This is a site that I found on Seymour Papert Click here. It gave insite to what organizations he was in and what he had accomplished through his technological advancements. He's on the advisory board of MaMaMedia Inc. and LEGO Mindstorms. He is a cofounder of the Artificial Intelligence Lab. MaMaMedia is actually used for families to learn how to use the internet together. It's aimed towards kids 13 and younger helping develope exploration, experession, and exchange. IT also lets kids reply about world events. The Logo programming link took me to Link. It seems that it is a program in multiple languages that you can actualy download where students can experiement with making moves, science simulations, and mathematical experiements, and much more. There are programs for different age groups from K-12. There are workshops added weekly and there's a link to those. At the bottom it talks about the Seymour Papert Recovery Fund.

Disney

Little Mermaid
Riding Rides

A Cultural Revolution

I believe that what I said in the last blog still stands true. Students are moving towards watching and listening and ahve less focus or writing and reading. I see it everyday in classrooms that I have to observe. The students are more attentive if the have a movie in front of them on a Friday afternoon rather a book to read. I think in my classroom I'm going to have to share the difficulty of incorporating not only reading and writing but listening and watching. I would rather my students not have a television stamped in their face everyday or even once a week, but they are now raised in front of a television so now they learn in incriments of 15 minutes just like commecials on a television. Our technolgy grows by the hours and I will have to adapt to it just like every other teacher out there. I'll have to have technology available for those who have it at home and have other forms of learning for those who do not have high end technology at home. We are approaching a very difficult age and I will have to remember that though most are technologically advancing, there are still those that do read and write and do not have technology available to them as the rest of the class might. To adjust my curriculum for those types of situations shall be the toughest, and for any future teacher of this up coming age.

My Picture Change to Sepia in Picasa

My Picture Change to Black and White in Picasa