Personal Learning Networks

I have thoroughly enjoyed building, and plan to continue building and utilizing, my PLN. I have become familiar with a number of social media tools which will only help foster my own learning as well as that of others. I have found that the compilation of blogger, rss feeds, social bookmarking, etc. are all great tools to stay connected to others and gain different insights based on what you may need and or want.
One of my favorite spots is blogger! No matter what my objective is for getting on a computer, I always check my blogs before logging off. By reading my classmates posts I have been introduced to some really educational and very informative blog sites that I will continue to navigate. I have also found myself searching for blogs based on my own hobbies, and I have gained a lot of neat information by doing so. I think blogger is great for classroom collaboration and I will encourage my students to incorporate it into their own lives, both personal and educational.

RSS feed has showed me a much easier way to keep up with everything new on the web! Before being introduced to RSS I would navigate several websites and often times have numerous ones open at once, but now everything that I need and want is coming to me using a single website. I can go to google reader and immediately have my favorite sites listed with new posts that I can scroll through...this helps me keep up! I always look for the RSS symbol on all of my most visited sites so that I can set up a connection. I find this option to be much more organized and efficient than the later!

Another tool that helps me to stay organized is social bookmarking. I used delicious to mark websites that I enjoy and I can sort them in delicious! By using tags and organizing sites by keywords I am better able to access them at a later time. One of the benefits is that I do not have to be on my own computer to access, like I would if I had a site under the favorites tab on my screen. I can share my sites with everyone and I have access to other's sites. As long as you know what you are looking for it is easy to find it and there are helpful tools to narrow your search in case too many options are available. One other feature that I enjoy is the popular bookmarks tab...if I am ever looking for something new I always go here and find something that catches my eye. Social bookmarking is yet another way to share ideas and gain knowledge.

Lastly, I will touch on websites! After learning about the many different applications available for creating websites, I have been able to use a couple of them in other courses! I completed a project and presented it in a website...this was an option available to me that I would have avoided before learning about making websites during this course. Everthing is so organized and easily accessible from ANYWHERE! I can refer back to this project without worrying about misplacing it, ruining it or storing it! I was required to have it password protected so I used google sites to accomplish this. Initially I wanted to use weebly, but needed to pay in order to create a password protected website, which I found to be a downfall to that particular creator! Either way, I am so glad I actually created a website to present the required information...it was so easy to navigate and find information when asked to do so...so many benefits to taking this route and I would have NEVER done it before this course...i would have stuck with the traditional binder...yuck!

I am so excited that I can finally say I am up to date with A LOT of the technology that's available...I just hope I can stay on top of it all without this course's guidance! I don't think I could ever abandon my personal learning network! So useful... :)

Students Protest Against Increases in Tuition

Students in the state of California are protesting against the 32% increase in undergraduate tuition

The students argue that this increase will negatively affect those who benefit from state funded education, but officials argue that this increase is necessary due to the budget crisis, which has forced reductions across California's government.

Looking back on the years...our tuition here at MSU has raised significantly too! It's unbelieveable how expensive a single credit hour costs...I wonder if the cost of tuition will ever decrease? Or will it just continue to rise...? Fewer students are going to be able to go to their school of choice due to these increases...and this isn't including living, books, parking, etc.

what do you think?

Yahoo! Kids

This week I decided to explore Yahoo Kids and found that it offers so much that could be so incredibly useful in many different subject areas. There are 3 main tabs (Kids Home, Study and World Factbook) all of which contain other subtags.

World Factbook is really neat and definitely easily capable of being integrated into the classroom. The world factbook contains information on all of the countries incuding flags and maps. When you enter this page all of the countries are shown alphabetically...there is a linked alphabet at the top of the page so if you want to find out more about Haiti, all you have to do is click the H and then find it! There are all sorts of useful tools here...some more include a conversion calculator and currency used around the world.
Under this tab students have access to a reference tab, which contains a dictionary & encyclopedia! This could be extremely useful in writing. Many times students want to use a certain word, but they don't know the meaning so are unable to use it in the appropriate context.

Another really neat tab under World Factbook is ASK EARL! this is a space where students can enter any question they may have and get an answer! They can also view other questions that have been asked and the answers that Earl provided. Students are full of questions and a lot of times are embarrassed to ask it in front of the class in fear of being made fun of, even though others may have the same question, so this tool is useful for answering the many questions that kids may have!

There is also an animal page that includes clips from Planet Earth, for example. When you enter the animal page there are tabs for amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles...when you click on them there is a short paragraph explaining these animals and a list of all the different animals of that kind including so much information! There is also a similar page for science, including supernovas, NASA, solar system and space station tabs...you can watch videos here too!

Other fun things include, games, music (with music videos & music artists listed alphabetically) movie trailors and clips, jokes, sports info, ecards for different occasions, horoscopes ...some of this oculd be used during free time or when students finish a test or something else early. Something else I thought was pretty neat was the ability for kids to invent the toy of their dreams and enter in a contest for a chance to have their dream toy become a reality...

This site has much, much more and it is so interactive!! I think it is great and kids would definitely think so too!

Shoes for Africa

I found this story to be very moving. It's great to see people taking action to make a difference...just one image(shoes worn by african children made from pop bottles) started this movement and will continue to keep people aware of the situations elsewhere around the globe and hopefully will inspire them to act as well.

ePals

The technology that I decided to learn more about was ePals. ePals is named the "global platform for learning online." 200 territories, including teachers, students, etc. are using epals to collaborate with one another. ePals is both safe and protected and connects individuals globally via ePals school mail, ePals school blog and classroom match to name a few.

Anyone interested in SchoolMail can set up a free account that will allow them to have home to school connections, which reinforces in-class learning ...
Features of SchoolMail include: 1. inbox, delete box, sent box (similar to many e-mails accounts that we are already familiar with) 2. Commands such as read, compose, reply, forward, forward to all, and print messages 3. Ability to add attachments and address book names and start email study groups 4. Instant language translation in 8 languages 5. Virus protection and scanning 6. Anti-spam filtration 7. Spell checker
8. Manuals and tutorials.

Check out another capability: School BLOG
This allows students to create their own personalized domain name...there are separate areas of the blog for classroom only, parents only and public..it is easy to search past postings, there are powerpoint presentation capabilities as well as audio and video streaming...students have the ability to submit work online...teachers can review and track student participation and achievement, review and delete unwanted or inappropriate info, post important school information, including school closings, important upcoming events,etc..they can also provide permission slips online and showcase student work! These are some of the many capabilities!

Classroom match allows classrooms to connect from all areas of the world to exchange learning experiences. ePals classroom match lets you select learning exchanges with other ePals classrooms according to student's needs and academic targets, and lets you navigate and track projects through a classroom profile.
You can find a classroom in several ways, but I have included some below:
~search on a topic or interest
~use maps
~see recent joiners

This is mainly used in schools so everything it offers can be incorporated... students can use different types of maps to gather information about where their ePals live..after the lesson, they will learn the ease of using specific maps to find specific info.

This is SOOOO NEAT! you can share so much! There is even an epals earth with added videos and all sorts of things! It is hard to narrow this site down in order to explain it all so check it out! students can tell world leaders what they think about several earth issues (global warming) they can share digital stories, add videos that have translation available, you can search ePals projects based on all kinds of different subjects and connect with a classroom to work together... SOO MUCH! very, very cool.

"I'm going to be an angel."

Many of you may have heard about the 5 year old boy from South Lyon, Michigan who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer 2 years ago...for those of you who have not, his parents sent out a word explaining that their family would be celebrating Christmas early due to the fact that Noah does not have much longer to live and may not make it to Christmas day...they asked that anyone send cards because that is what Noah wants this Christmas.

Post offices have been BOMBARDED with thousands of heeping mounds of cards and gifts!! I saw on the news one night inside a post office, and wow! it was incredible how many people responded...there was a whole section with bins dedicated just for Noah.

The reason why I chose to post this was not only to spread the news further, but also because I found it to be relative to the course...reporters said: "In this CYBER AGE, word spread quickly." I thought that was pretty amazing. There is a Facebook invitation page with over 10,000 guests and wall posts as well as a post, which is at the top of the list, on REDDIT(source for new and popular news).

You can see their address on REDDIT, but I will include it to make it easily accessible incase anyone is interested in sending a little something:
1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI. 48178

People from all over the world are sending cards, but one person in particular sent something unique...an angel ornament...and when Noah was asked what it means to him he replied by saying, "I am going to heaven, and I will be an angel."

Reflection on Storytelling

The story that I told through images and vague captions was that of the children in Africa and some of the many struggles they are faced with in their daily lives. I feel as though the pictures speak a thousand words and could generate an endless amount of questions, which makes it useful for teaching.

This would be a great opener to a discussion on other areas in the world. It would really take the audience's attention and have them engaged and eager to learn more...and hopefully continue this learning afterwards to find ways that they can help people other than themselves. I like the idea of teaching about world issues because it makes students globally aware of the way of life in other countries besides the one in which they live.

I think this kind of a lesson accompanied by such a visual story would be extremely useful for students. Not only will it make them globally aware, but it will also teach them not to take anything for granted. It may also get them thinking about places that they wish to visit and why... It may be difficult for children to relate to such a video, maybe not so much for others...it may bring up past family history...it may touch the lives of students...it may trigger a need and want to help...it may make students cry...or question...it may bring up a story of their own, but whatever it does I think it would be impactful (if that's such a word), which is what learning should be.

I would have an end of a lesson assignment in which the students could explore a place in the world and make their own digital story with a writeup telling their peers why they chose the focus that they did. The story that I show could help students decide that they too want to pick a place that they would like to help, or maybe they would like to focus on a different struggle within the same country or within their own country...maybe they would want to look into a thriving country...I think digital stories are a great way to engage students and get them excited about learning.

I really liked the program that I used. It was my first time with it so of course it was a bit foreign, but it was very user friendly. I am sure there was more that I could have messed around with if I navigated further, but I was successfully able to accomplish what it was I came there for so I would say it was a good first experience. I don't know if it is possible to download your own music, but that would have been something I would've liked...some of the songs that I would have liked to play were not listed so I put in a music video from YouTube, but it gets in the way of the show (covering some of your captions)...I liked all of the different transitions and skins and that you could design your own! it was easy to upload pictures from several different locations, which was another plus. Overall I liked it and would use it again.

Storyboard

Twitter in Church

I read an article in the TIME magazine today about "Twittering in Church" and I found it pretty interesting..maybe just shocking because I wasn't expecting to come across such an article.

A pastor from a church in Lansing, Michigan was attending a conference and tweeting about ways to make church more interesting for many people. Right away, I thought that some people may actually take offense to this because of their strict beliefs about church and the seriousness that many people take to such a setting. In other words, the thought that a pastor is trying to think of ways to make church "not suck" could be taken offensively, but on the other hand could be pure genius. I would be interested to hear more about the reactions to such a statement because as I said, I'm sure some people would have an open mind to such an idea while others would shut it out completely calling it a distraction and a burden on quiet reflection.

Either way, a two week lesson was given to the congregation at Westwinds Community Church to teach about TWITTER!! Congregants brought in their laptops, iphones and blackberrys to check it out and work with it! Some are using it to ask questions about the sermon and others are using it as a note taking tool, but however it is being utilized its purpose it to build community and relationships with God and eachother. Many people say they enjoy learning about what others are saying in regards to what God is doing in their lives...

So do you think there is a time and a place for technology, and church is not it, or are you open to the idea of encouraging the integration? Do you think this will connect people with god and with eachother or is this going too far? Do you think this new idea will stretch amongst churches everywhere or will it stay the minority?

HA-HA!

Vicious Virus via Facebook

This past weekend I heard about a virus that was attacking Facebook and in turn ruining your entire computer. Although I recently deactivated my account, I still paid close attention to the news...

From what I understand the virus is sending out e-mails to users everywhere about resetting your user name and password so be careful not to open anything claiming to be from facebook!

A computer professor was talking about how easy it is to fool sites like facebook...he talked about making a fake page look identical to someone elses, which would fool them into logging onto his and giving him access to EVERYTHING!

This seems obvious...JUST DON'T BE STUPID ENOUGH TO OPEN EMAILS CLAIMING YOUR PASSWORD HAS BEEN, OR NEEDS TO BE, CHANGED, but it is sneaky and always finds a way to get a desired amount of people...so BE CAREFUL!

These attackers are adding spam and all sorts of malicious content to your computer!