Week 12 - iTunes University

I discovered a few articles on iTunes University, a program offered by iTunes itself, that stream audio and video files on certain college class campuses. The files can be listened to anywhere an iPod can be used.

Books and lecture are offered as well as philosophy, literature, poetry, engineering, and guest speakers. Educational content is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from literally hundreds of schools and universities. This would allow students to take the "classroom" with them anywhere they want to go.

I could see the benefit of this if I were teaching, by giving responsible students more access to subject matter and material on the course. The iPod could be a valuable tool for quick access when a pc is not available. Stressing the emphasis on "responsible students" to not use the device for frivolous web browsing.

This advance in modern technology makes information much more accessible and quicker than ever before. Teachers and students alike should take advantage of this device and utilize it in a classroom, and non classroom environments.



http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html
http://www.learnoutloud.com/content/blog/archives/2007/07/best_of_itunes.html
http://itunes.stanford.edu/

Week 11 - iPods in instruction.

I had never heard of classroom instruction containing the use of an iPod, but I was not surprised to learn of it. The "glorified tape recorder" is in use at several major universities, including Duke University. Students can record lectures, and listen to podcasts that supplement an instructors material. Although many articles refer to the 20 gigabyte device as containing 90% music and 10% class info, One professor was grateful to have that 10%.

I think that the use of an iPod in a learning facility can be very valuable if used by a properly motivated and responsible student. Several articles I read mentioned that the technology would inevitably be misused and things such as plagiarism and copyright infringement would occur. I supposed with the iPod we will have to take the good with the bad. All in the name of advanced technology.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0419/p11s01-legn.html

http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/reports/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf

Week 10 - Alice Christie

Dr. Christies' website is an important communication tool for teachers and administrators. Teachers can take advantage of this tool by learning to create purposeful and well-designed Web sites targeted at their students, the parents of their students, other teachers, and community members.

The website provides resources on designing Web sites for educational audiences, tutorials on creating Web sites, and examples of well-designed sites. It also provides rubrics to help guide educators in the creation of their sites.

Dr. Christies' workshops engage, challenge, and invigorate participating teachers.
They are designed for the grade levels, content areas, and school-wide goals of the participants.

I see many ways in which this could help me as a teacher. Dr. Christies' site could help with the utilization of computer technology for a new teacher and assist in taking internet technology to the students.

Week 9 - NPR blog on Wikipedia

Week 9 - NPR on Wikipedia

Upon reading the articles about Wikipedia, I feel that at this current time, it cannot be trusted as a reliable source for controversial subjects. If someone who has a political or financial motive can edit a subject out of fear of bad publicity, or edit due to a prejudice, then Wikipedia is not a reliable source.

Some known historical subjects are closed to editing, and in these cases, Wikipedia could be used as a source. Virgil Griffiths' I.P. address identifier is a good step in making it more respectable. It makes it impossible to hide in the cyberworld, and could even make an edited entry more controversial depending on who is doing the editing. It could also identify an overly dissenting opinion as biased if negative or false information is added.

I feel at this point, Wikipedia should be read for its informational value, but not used as a "cited" source for direct information.

Week 8 - Why Wireless ? (Thoughts on Nov. 2007 blog)

"Why Wireless ? ... Because their century demands it". I thought this summed it up very well. Since the students will need to be technically literate in the coming years. I must agree that having a wireless network available is a big help to accessing information.

Students can continue learning outside of the classroom and not just between 7:30 am and 2:30 pm. The wireless network can make class blogs and teacher instructions available 24/7 and make learning a lot easier for the students with personal web access devices.

The only downside to this is giving students access to a wireless network could encourage frivolous web browsing. Web sites such as myspace or ones that allow video games could easily distract from a students regular learning needs. If the wireless network has security in place, it could block such websites so that easy web access doesn't become a hindrance to learning.

Week 7 - The Fischbowl and Technically Illiterate Teachers

In reading Karl Fischs' blog about teacher illiteracy, I found it irritatingly fascinating that anyone (especially a teacher) would be proud to be illiterate when it comes to computers. No one should be proud to be stupid, not even in Alabama. Taking pride in not knowing something is intellectually lazy. Therefore I must agree with Mr. Fisch that anyone who refuses to learn new computer technology will be equivalent to someone 30 years ago who could not read or write.

I also agree that any such person should be shown the door. Including administrators that overlook said inadequacies.

Learning is lifelong and should never be closed off just because it is bothersome to some people to have to learn something new. Times change and improve, and those who do not change with the times will be left behind. In the case of teachers, it would be the students who suffer if the instructor is not able to prepare them for a world that operates on computer technology.

Web Accessibility and Adaptive Technology

Steve showed the class new technology that improves accessibility for handicapped or impaired persons on the computer. He passed around a braille device that looked like a laptop without a screen that spoke in letters and words. We viewed the "Jaws" program on the big monitor that showed us how a person who was legally blind could use a PC and keep up with the class.