Why do people want to be dishonest?

I enjoyed looking up information on Wikipedia and hate to hear that people in such high positions are using such unethical behavior. I do not believe however that any of us can trust Wikipedia any further until the process by which Wikipedia allows individuals to post correction or additives is changed. Why wouldn't they want their names or their User names to be listed unless they are up to no good? Therefore my proposal would be that Wikipedia needs to consider finding some way to monitor the posts in order to maintain the integrity of the site. Perhaps they should force people who wish to make posts to sign in acquiring a user name. Or if they do not wish to have User names they could cause the person who is trying to make a post to attach their names. Other than that the only way I see Wikipedia regaining its credibility is to possibly attach the site to an actual encyclopedia website, so that the information can be checked before it is posted. It is so sad that this type of thing has to be monitored, but as usual a few people ruin it for everybody.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture isn’t his Last Word!

This man is beyond amazing, which I am sure anyone who ever had the distinct pleasure of knowing him, would agree with. His ability to speak so precisely and clearly about the topic of Education was both comforting as well as inspiring. Dr. Pausch was able to elaborate on a theme which Sir Ken Robinson spoke on, in one of our earlier assignments. Creativity to Dr. Pausch seemed far more important than the data that could be shown from a standardized test. Which I believe he touched on as he expressed the scores he had received on his GRE’s or Board Certification. He believed in himself, and he was lucky enough to have shown his abilities to people who could help him, who also believed in him.

The fascinating beginning of his lecture took us on a trip of where his dreams began. Dreams are what fuel creativity and Dr. Pausch was opening the eyes to these individuals to the fact that without dreams the work is not grounded nor truly founded. His expressions of how he had dreams as a child and how he had chased those dreams as an adult were what made him an extraordinary Professor. A man who could see the importance of other’s dreams, and help them to reach for those dreams, made him a visionary.

He touched on so many fundamental ideas of leading a productive life, perseverance, enthusiasm, love, respect, as well as how to interact positively with people from all walks of your life. All of these fundamentals as well as many more ideals of truth and justice, were his legacy to his students, as well I’m sure, to his peers. He believed in life being an exploration, full of wonder, and dreams and I believe he imparted this in his position as a Professor.

One aspect to his lecture I found particularly motivating was that sometimes walls are not put there to keep you out! Now I know that some people probably completely missed this point, and probably may never completely recognize this truth. However, I saw Dr. Pausch’s statement as an exact replica of some of the situations of my life. I found this a unique understanding from a man who had followed so many of his dreams, and imagined that he used this as an explanation to many of his students when they were struggling to reach their own dreams. Randy Pausch used his life experiences and his personal dreams to assist his students. His method of teaching was life is worth dreaming everything you can dream and working as hard as possible to reach it!

Did You Know 4.0

We previously watched a “Did you know?” video, and this one hit on some new topics. However both bring to the viewer's mind how quickly life has changed in the last 10 years, and how much it will change in the next 25 years. We are in more than a technology age, it is an awakening! As I quoted before it seems to be a type of Technological Renaissance or Revolution. We have to be multifunctional individuals now more than ever. Children today are far more technologically literate than most adults. They have learned more in their first year of school than most adults learned probably in their first 5 years.

The purpose of these videos seems to be to cause the population to wake up to the undeniable fact that Technology is here and we are going. If you are not willing to get on board, we will have to leave you behind. Adults and teenagers who are technology savvy will soon be unwilling to compromise or cooperate with those who are not capable of keeping up with the “new times.” In the past ten years, computer illiteracy has been of little or no consequence, however these videos and many other aspects of society seem to be clearly stating, Technology is the Future! Are you coming?

Is it okay to be Techno-Illiterate as a Teacher?

Wow, this question is amazing to me? Are we even having this discussion? I am an older student, and can attest to the changes that have occurred in the education system in the past 20 years. The field of education is far more technologically based now than when I was graduating from high school 17 years ago. Mr. Fisch’s discussion of this matter is meant to be taken I believe in the same manner as my opening statement, as a facetious statement. Do teacher’s need to be aware of technological advancements is to me the same as asking if the President needs to know if we are going to war! Teachers are crucial to the lives of children for the entirety of their education careers. Once these same students enter the work force it is directly related to some form of teaching that has been imparted to them within their lifetime. It stands to reason then that education is fundamentally responsible for the achievement of our young people in the world. Of course there are factors that encourage or prohibit individual student development. This is not the topic of our discussion. Do teachers have a responsibility to their students to become literate in technology? Fundamentally yes they do.

How can a student be educated by a teacher who does not understand the world from which that student is living now, or will enter upon graduation? Mr. Fisch stated that a teacher needs to know how to do something to teach it. I completely agree. I also believe the most important comment that Mr. Fisch said was that teachers need to teach students that it is appropriate to continually learn throughout their entire life. Teachers do not “know” everything, how can they, the world is moving so fast, and there are so many different areas of proficiency. However, teachers “know” how important and powerful knowledge is, and if we can indicate the severity of knowledge, as a tool to achieve success, we have taught our student’s life’s greatest lesson. Success is not how much money we make; success is when one knows how to find the answers one seeks. Technology is a wonderful tool for which to seek knowledge.

Mrs. Hines Blog on Technology

This blog was truly informative and I agree with the premise of her argument. Teachers must understand that educating students is a labyrinth of opportunities. However the way in and out of the labyrinth is ever evolving, changing as our world and society change. Technology should enhance teacher abilities to impart knowledge or expound on the process of information gathering.

The 21st century will take our world into an ever increasingly technological advanced society. These advancements will continue to enhance life as we know it. We will have new advancements towards, transportation, communication, learning, entertainment, etc. However this is not a new concept. This has been occurring in our world since the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. Technology advancement is nothing new, and it is not the technology that is “teaching” anyone. The advancements are due to individuals who are curious about anything and creatively solve problems. Thus, as a society we should understand that technology is the result of ingenuity and realize this is a fundamental skill for students to learn. Then we would reason that Educators have the responsibility to impart creativity and ingenuity to our students just as much as we have the responsibility to teach them subject matter. How better to encourage our next generation of inventors than to embrace and excitedly undertake the next generation of learning, with technology at the helm.

A Vision of Students Today:

The idea which Mr. Wesch was trying to portray was a pertinent topic for any educator to consider. Our world is moving so fast that certain applications are becoming outdated before many people even have the time to learn them. Basically, just as many people become familiar with a specific technological advancement, there is a new improved version of it available. The students made several points I found specifically pertinent to my life right now as a student, the cost of tuition, books, work load, and the hope of still maintaining some activity in my spare time that includes my interests. I liked the way the students went around the room giving different facts, even though some of them were difficult to read. It was a fast paced message, which also to me was indicative of how we learn today. Things are being pushed at us from so many different directions, sometimes we barely glance what was flashed in front of our face. We almost have to rely on all of our senses to process everything going on around us at such a high rate of speed. No longer can students sit in desks and write notes, listening to lectures. They need to be trained in the world of innovation, and coached in the process of critical thinking.

Mr. Wesch did a good job of explaining the idea he was trying to get across. Even the aspect of presentation was pertinent to how life is today, face paced, things coming from everywhere, and many different forms of information. However, I believe that the presentation could have been a little better if the students would have practiced there moment several times, being ready to pop up, not pulling their words down to quickly, or possibly using multiple students in place of some of the times one student had to change pages. One way of correcting the lapse in time where one student had to show two pages, might have been to have the person beside them ready to pop up the second half of the comment so the camera really didn’t even have to move. Another possible correction could have been for the camera person to practice moving the camera and focusing the lens, before this final presentation.

Next Generation Learning

How small our world is becoming, when only 100 years ago the world would have seemed too massive to grasp. The opportunities that technology is presenting in the field of Education, is merely astonishing. People can chat across the world, student’s can read, post, blog, email, twitter information to other student across the world too on research and presentations, or parents can view their children’s education daily.
The video I watched entitled, The Next Generation Learning, was exciting for me to view as a future Educator. No longer is learning one dimension, as the child said, “Children use to sit in desks all day, not anymore,” how exciting to think about all of the possibilities for tomorrow. Many children have suffered and been labeled with some type of learning disability, when often times they are struggling with the education method of the day. The new availability of technology for teachers to reach out with to students as more and more technology becomes available will surely revolutionize the world of Education.
I feel sure that I am going to take every opportunity to continue to broaden the world of learning for my students and expand their knowledge in the world of technology. Regardless to the subject area you teach, learning should be fun, and that is one aspect of education today that I find so fascinating compared to the past few years in which it has seemed more important to teach subject matter for standardized testing, than it has to make learning fun and interesting.

LangWitches Podcast

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to these ladies discuss technology and a conference they had attended during this Podcast. The ladies were merely eating and having a conversation and decided to share the conversation about what they had experienced during their conference. The conversation was lively, interesting, and it was easily related through this discussion the woman enjoyed and liked each other’s company.
Again, I believe it to be important to keep the Podcast interesting, and keep the listeners attention. The woman went back and forth from topic to topic easily and discussed very interesting points to becoming more technologically literate as a teacher.
One exact example in the conversation I found intriguing was how the woman said a presenter at the conference had used technology during his presentation. He was discussing how teachers could begin to use Flip Camera's in the classroom in many ways, as he was talking, he said, "Well let's see some of the ways," and went and typed on his twitter account, and people began to answer him right away with ideas on fun ways to use a Flip camera. Technology in this way is beginning to almost make learning three dimensional, and the possibilities seem endless.

Learning to Use Podcasts

After viewing the TechLiterateTeacher podcasts I am more aware of the definite distractions a video Podcast can present than an Audio Podcast. I deliberated on some of the possible pros and cons of the Podcasts, while considering the Podcasts I will be expected to create. I was specifically struck by the distractions of this video Podcast verses merely some of the Audio Podcast I have listened to so far this semester. Previously I listened to a Podcast, Kidcast, and Dan discussed some of the possible problems or special aspects to consider when creating a video verses an audio podcast. I completely agree and this will be of vital importance when we decide which type to produce.
If we are going to produce a Video Podcast, I think we should be very detailed in some of the visual aspects of the Podcast. As I am a multi-learning individual, the aspect of the background of the Video became a serious distraction for me to listen and relate to the topic. The movement of the individual people, and the facial expressions also became a focus point for me, rather than concentrating on the topic.
Rather Audio or Video, another aspect I decided would be of special interest to someone who is both an audio and visual learner, is that the conversation needs to flow easily, and the presenter’s need to be sure of what they are discussing. It becomes a similar distraction to the audience if there is a lot of silence in the Podcast, it is very slow moving, or of a monotone type performance. I think that if we are able to practice what we are going to discuss, have some pointers to keep the conversation moving, and be aware of how our body language can affect the audience if we prepare a Video Podcast, we will enhance the performance.

Picture Modifier

The Mystery of Podcasts

After viewing six podcasts I am overloaded with Pod! I know very little about podcasting and have honestly never listened to any to my knowledge. I found several things interesting concerning the output of the podcasts. Out of the six, only one seemed to be a bad connection or feed. The EdTech Talk (Teachers Teaching Teachers) had a very disrupted sounding feed, where the voices sounded digital. This specific podcast must have been different in some way? The other five podcasts had a very clear sound.
What caused the one to have such a different sound? My interpretation after listening to all six, would be that somehow, the podcast for EdTech Talk was a conversation being transmitted through a Skype phone call where somehow the feed was being condensed and able to transmit through internet. However the other five podcasts sounded more like some type of radio feed that had been condensed and transmitted.
Dan from Kidcast, commented on how podcasting through audio was easier to manipulate than video. He referenced a syndicated media outlet while using the audio feed. He explained how the audio feed was simple because it had only one media element to deal with and then could be easily aired by a syndicated media. I soon found out what the syndicated media type was that he was referring to. MacBreak Weekly, and This Week in Photography both referenced a syndicated media which one could subscribe to. Squarespace.com or Audiable.com would air your podcast at a reasonable cost.
Lastly, several references were made to media I am not aware of. Twit TV, netcasts, wiki, and interactive webcasts were some. If I were to make an assumption as to how all of these six podcasts were created my best guess with limited knowledge of this technology would be that radio, video, skyp, and internet transmission has allowed the feeds to somehow be condensed into a feed that can be transmitted through a fiber optic line. After thinking about this intensely, I find myself questioning my technological knowledge, since before this activity I thought myself fairly in the now. I understand how out of date I have become.

My First Image

University of South Alabama

Please visit the University I attend and use this link below.

Click here

Digital Smarts

I recently viewed a short video of a high school teacher who explains her method of teaching as one where she employs every available technology to her students and allows them the opportunity to teach other students, as well as her, any new technology being made available. As the article I read earlier, Did You Know? Implies, this is an extremely innovative way of teaching since technology is being released every day, month, and year that is deleting what we learned yesterday. She also seems to be inline with Sir Ken Robinson’s lecture, “The Importance of Creativity”, which explains students need the opportunity to take risks and not be afraid to fail.
Our society is going to have to find a new way of encouraging entrepreneurship in the youth of America in order for technology to continue at the rate it has for the last 50 years. In the days when immigrants where coming to America these people were taking great risks already, and were not afraid of any new challenge. Students need to be encouraged not to be afraid of the unknown, but to grasp it tightly, hang on for the ride, and fight as hard as possible not to let go. I am moved by Ms. Davis’s passion for teaching, and foresight, to understand her position in these students lives is far more than a mere year of their presence in her classroom. She is preparing them for the working world in a very disguised and obvious way, I applaud her.

Why can't students be creative and intelligent?

Sir Ken Robinson made many points I agree with in his lecture called “The Importance of Creativity,” and I highly recommend everyone view his lecture, or read one of his books. He is not only highly enjoyable to watch, and very personable, but I believe he will challenge them to rethink their idea of our education system. The ironic aspect to his message is, as an education major myself, I fully agree with his interpretation of the education system being that students are discouraged to be creative, unless they are in an arts related class. In my education there have been few teachers or professors to applaud any level of individuality seeming it easier for them to lump us all into a bucket and pour us out the same.
As an educator I hope to be the type of teacher who as Sir Ken stated, helps to develop the whole person. No matter what area of education I teach, I hope to find ways to encourage each student’s abilities not only mentally but creatively. For I understand as an adult student, information is forgotten, but passion will last a lifetime.

Did You Know?

The Industrial Revolution altered life for those in the 18th century in a profound way. No longer were people working with their hands using intense labor to complete a task. The ability for machinery to do the work of an individual at an alarming ease, must have been stunning to behold. Today our world is experiencing the same type of Revolutionary awakening. This revolution is one which is not only changing mankind’s physical output, but mental output as well. In essence the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, may well one day be looked at as a Technological Revolution.
The use of the internet has sparked a multitude of inventions and uses. Since the years when I was a teenager to what life is like for my son , every home has a computer, most family members carry cell phones, Iphones, Ipods, lap tops, and other gadgets of communication or entertainment. The short movie labeled Did you Know? is a prime example of how much life has changed in the last 30 years. It is strange to realize we as humans are becoming outdated as technology surpasses our own intelligence and abilities at an increasing rate. As the movie indicated we are outdated before we will even graduate from U.S.A. I believe technology is a great additive to life and has given human beings many luxuries. However, this video for me was a striking reminder of how much human relationships, work ethics, marketability, and individual worth has been altered due to technology. What will our grandchildren's sociological capabilities be, when technology in a sense is taking over human need to have a meaningful debate or conversation. Children are becoming technological junkies, and missing the point of how technology is meant to enhance our lives.

For My Classmates

My name is Angel Shay Padgett. I am 34 years old, and willbe 35 in December. I am married to a wonderful man, Kevin, andhave a 10 year old son, who will be 11, in November. We justbuilt our first house, though we have owned a house previously.I have wanted to be a teacher since I was 15 years old, when I took World History my 10th grade year at Pascagoula High School. My teacher was so passionate about history, and the day I remember thinking, "I want to teach," was the day she announced we were going to watch videos about the Holocaust and she wept in front of the entire class after the video. She moved me so much, for I too had cried silently as I watched those atrocities for the first time in my young life. I have never forgotten her, though I have not seen her since I graduated in 1993. I hope one day, to complete my teaching degree and to affect a young person's life the way she affected my life. I choose to attend USA because it was close for me to drive, so that I do not have to be away from my family a lot. I love spending time with my family, and although I really want to finally graduate, I do not want to take any more time away from them than I have too. I hope that we are all able to look back at the end of this semester and feel satisfied at the time we have spent. When you feel overloaded try to think of a day that made you smile, like my picture above. This photo always makes me think of when I was a child, or lying with my son on our backs looking at the sky and guessing what the clouds are. I hope you feel peace during your time at USA, remember life is too short to waste a moment. Find happiness in your heart, and live a longer life! See everyone Tuesday!

Welcome To EDM 310 Fall Course

Hey Everyone!!! I am so excited about meeting all of you and can't wait for this year to take off! I look forward to getting to know all of you better...Good luck with your Fall Semester!