CH 1 Definitions on technology and social bookmarking ideas

 I think social bookmarking can be used in many aspects of education. Students can do group research projects and share links or look at others links in the class for ideas. Also Teachers can recommend links to students to check out based on certain subjects they are listed under. Teachers could use this site for a collaboration of many sites they use for lesson plan references and share those sites with other teachers. The administration can refer sites to teachers to use or look over by sharing it with them. Also teachers could have a type of electronic portfolio for students on their site that they can share with parents. The teacher could set up a site and save the projects students have done by having a link to them, that way parents, students, and educators can see what is going on in the classroom. Looking at it in a business perspective employers can have categories based on jobs within the business and have documents they think are important linked to it. But one business can share with another business to on affective employee happiness strategies or training strategies or even sales ideas. For instance GM could have one for all it's Chevrolet dealers, Cadillac dealers, Buick dealers, etc.

  Chapter 1 on the definitions seemed to be a lot of information I don't really need. It talks about how definitions have changed over the years and how one refers to media use and another refers to the overall instruction method of it. The instruction media focuses more on the type of instruction presented to learners. Instructional technology focuses more on the process of instruction, finding problems and solutions. By using these definitions I am able to realize that students learn by instruction where they can explore deeper into the subject, rather than the definition of what types of media are being used. The definitions just seemed to add things and leave some out but basically have the same concept. One thing I learned would be to make a proficient definition the first time so they don't have to keep being adapted by new concepts of that definition.

  One thing that I found surprising was that there were so many different definitions of the same term. One in particular was the 1977 version had 16 statements spread over 7 pages. Then in addition to that is 9 pages of tables showing concepts. I also thought it was interesting that in the 2008 version they added those who are in the profession have to have a high level of professional conduct; be ethical. There is one thing I thought was missing was that it didn't mention data entry directly. When I was in high school the only technology class available was one on entering data to create pages more like codes I think. That would have been instructional technology in one of the terms I would think. One other thing I found interesting was how early they are talking about these terms developing. Although it does mention that visual instruction and Audiovisual instruction were developed in these time periods, older people from earlier generations don't mention the use of technology. So it surprises me that it was being developed before I was born in the 80's.

Social Bookmarking

http://delicious.com/darcyrose Here is my Social Bookmarking site with various topics saved.

Wiki

Wiki Darcy Wellington Jan 26, 2012 10:24 PM 

A Wiki can be used to set up a syllabus for the classroom and the teacher can create links within the syllabus to guide students to other pages. It can also be used in the workplace for bosses to give information on projects they may be working on and everyone could access it at their own convenience. The general workplace could also set up a handbook for their employees by using a blog. Then they could put the basic information on one page and have links that stress the meaning of rules and can give the consequences for breaking those rules. Also if there are separate rules relating to different departments they could create a link to those.
Expanding on the handbook idea to involve learners it could be used as guided rules. Then there could be links within it taking each individual learner to the area they want to learn more about. If a learner already knows one area then they don't have to visit it. Using videos and images inside the Wiki can help with diverse learning. There are many options to helping someone learn, even connecting definitions to challenging words.
I didn't know exactly what a Wiki was before this project but found it to be fun to explore. I think this could be great when someone wants to stress a point to another person and they could link websites to their thoughts that can prove them right. So it would be an informative type of Wiki with proof of what the writer is stating.
My site: http://darcyedtechclass.pbworks.com 

RSS feeds and Blog use

 My first impression of what a blog is used for was that it is something only bored housewives or people who don't have a life do. But I now see that it can be used for educational purposes and I think it could be a great thing in a classroom. If all students were involved in posting on it they could have an assignment to write reflections on what they are learning in class or in a specific subject. The blog could then be accessed by parents and academic advisers to see what their kids and teachers are actually doing.

   Using the RSS reader was very confusing at first but I think I have it figured out now. I had no clue what an RSS reader was before this, so I was pleasantly surprised on what it is. The reader can relate articles for you giving you topics to choose from and then display them all on one site making it a magazine like format is what they say. I think it is nice to be able to access everything on one site.

  The part of the cone that these tools can be related to is the still pictures, radio, media because that section talks about data or experiences then portraying that on devices. Someone could put a picture of a tornado on their blog and then write about their experience with that tornado. They could also use the RSS feed to search tornadoes and read about other's experiences and how it affected the community. The person could then blog about what they read and create links to those sites.

  Siegels computer imagination means taking advantage of the computers strengths to achieve an important goal. The goal could be selling books on amazon, the computer uses the consumers search engine to refer more books to the consumer. This would be different than the physical store because they don't create reference lists for consumers and promote mass selling strategies. 

  Blogs promote a community of users by allowing people to subscribe and share the information so do RSS feeds. They can also disseminate information, which means allowing people to e-mail what they've read. students and teachers can use these tools to share information they find on the web that could relate to their assignments. They can also form groups through blogs to write on one subject but from different perspectives. This can't be done with simple technology because each person would have to write their own thing then they would have to combine them; instead of having it in one spot where everyone could view it.

Reflections On Article Readings

                                                 
In the article "Of Luddites, Learning, and Life" I find it interesting that one can protest technology so much when he knows how to use it. Although he claims not to protest it, it is obvious by his ramblings that he does protest it very much. I can see where he is coming from on some things like children learning from computers and not being able to accomplish things without them. In life there are times when a computer is not available and we need to be able to know how to do things without it. Just like doing math calculations, I don't believe children should be taught with a calculator until they get to more difficult math. During elementary years children should learn to compute problems in their heads or on paper.
I can relate to this man because I have been afraid of new technology but that was because of the unknown of it to me. When I've figured out how to use new technology I feel a great sense of accomplishment; also it makes things so much easier to use diverse technology. In some ways relying only on gadgets does make me afraid because computers crash and so do cell phones. The information that is on those can be lost if not backed up by more technology. But with that said I have gained a lot of information by getting on the web and Google, when I want to know something I just search it.

In the article "Beyond Technology Integration: the Case for Technology Transformation" I agree with the author on the fact that we need to be teaching kids how to use new technology. I was never able to use computers as a kid and rarely used them in high school. Only because they weren't readily available to me, so when I used one to type a paper that's all I did. I didn't realize how great they are until I got into college and was able to get a lap-top and start exploring the Internet. I wish someone had taught me how to use one a lot sooner then I probably wouldn't be so afraid of new technology.
As for the different learning abilities teachers are faced with students and being able to teach to all of them at the same time I think that is where the teacher has to utilize the buddy system. When students are in groups they can hide behind one member or they can grasp the concepts by learning from another. The teacher will be able to help more by doing this because she has many helpers and she can assist those individuals who are struggling. But using a computer and other technology meets the many diverse needs in the learning process. The child will be doing hands on, auditory learning, and it also meets the creative side with visual learning.
I do believe there are lots of people out there still afraid of technology because of their lack of knowledge with it. So by teaching this new generation of kids about diverse technology they can pass that knowledge on to family members. Children are in school to learn and they should be able to learn about how to succeed in the world by having new technology introduced to them.