Digital Citizenship and Creative Commons Project

The Digital Citizenship project was a great experience in creating content that expresses what we learned in a different style than a traditional class. By actively researching and creating content about digital citizenship I was able to learn in an active way and demonstrate that understanding through my work. Working in teams with different people I had not worked with before was a good experience that taught me how to work in groups and bounce ideas off others. We all had a goal of creating the end product our group was assigned and we worked together to reach that end. In the end our class created a very good resource by working together and focusing on exploring the topic through research and creation. The Creative Commons potion of the project was also informative. I interviewed a student who creates his own music and uploads it to some websites. He used Creative Commons and shared his views on how it allows him to share his work with others and remix other's work into something new using Creative Commons. He had a different perspective as someone who has used CC licenses to his advantage.

This article describes how Waldorf School in Silicon Valley does not use technology at all in any elementary schools. The school continues to focus on traditional teaching techniques that include interaction, pens and pencils, and books. This approach is gaining momentum in California and is a counter to the new push in many school districts to better equip all schools with the latest technology. The learning environment at the school can be more interactive than BHS, but that is to be expected in an elementary school. Technology can be very useful if there is a lack of traditional learning tools to use, which is not the case in elementary schools. Elementary schools should usually be obligated to teach children about technology so they know the dangers and can make positive decisions when they go online. This type of school and its unique characteristic of teaching children, whose parents work at many high tech companies, have the luxury of leaving that up to parents. Technology can create more distractions than new opportunities in education at this point, but if it is not incorporated it will not improve.

Social Media Misuse

Arian Foster expressed his frustrations on Twitter at people who only root for him because of fantasy football. This article explains how he tweeted that people who are only worrying about his hamstring injury are "sick". Many NFL fans who play fantasy football took offense to this, and later he tweeted two responses stating that he loves all his fans and was not trying to be negative. This entire controversy was unnecessary because he never should have responded to people tweeting him about fantasy football to begin with. The right thing to do would be to ignore those people and avoid the downfalls of alienating a large segment of NFL fans who play fantasy football.

Independent Schools and Backchannel Tweets

The independent project at the high school really improved the education of the students who took it seriously and enjoyed the creativity they were allowed to have. They were all interested in specific careers that involved being creative and could be learned best through research and creative studies. This type of education is best for those careers, but not every subject would benefit from this type of learning. Also, if a much larger number of students tried to learn this way it could create confusion and laziness in many students, who need the structure and authority schools provide to motivate them to learn important subjects.

The Twitter backchannel discusion was an interesting way to view others viewpoints while still viewing the movie. When you had time to look at the tweets, some provided a different way of thinking or a new question I had not thought of on my own. At times it was difficult to keep up with all the tweets and I may have missed small parts of the movie, but the overall effect of the backchannel discussion was positive. You could also just view the movie at any time without having to view the tweets if they were too distracting for you.

Your Own Internet

Right now many popular internet sites like Facebook and Google are filtering the internet to fit you personally. This means they are not showing you important information you may need to know, but would not usually click on. Eric Schmidt of Google has said that "It will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them". Internet searches have to allow people to access certain information that is important to them, not just what someone wants to see. Eli Pariser talked about the "filter Bubbles" that have been created by companies and the problems they present. The internet still has to work for people, but sometimes important ideas and information has to be offered to everyone even if it does not fit their interests they have shown in the past. This sharing of important information cannot be kept from people just because they are likely to ignore it right away. In the long run people need to have access to things beyond their own interests to fully understand what is happening in the world.  

How to Read

This week I learned about Google Reader and all its applications. This tool will be useful for gathering information and finding what I need to find quickly. It will help specifically in my International Studies and Environmental Science classes, where current issues and articles are important. In college I will be able to link RSS feeds to my Google Reader to follow sites and blogs geared towards teh subjects relating to my classes.

Ipads For Science

This article http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/ipads-help-mandan-students-get-excited-about-learning/article_5003e5f2-e949-11e0-afcd-001cc4c03286.html explains how Mandan High School is currently experimenting with the use of Ipads in their science department. They are only using the Ipad in class, and only some students are allowed to bring their Ipads home. This limited use is good at enhancing the productivity of the Ipad because it is only used on class for specific classroom uses. A major problem with for the students taking Ipads home is that their is no insurance for the $500 Ipads. Ipads are much easier to damage or break than books, and many accidents can still happen. Also, restricting Ipad use to only in class assignments for certain science classes does not take full advantage of all the uses of Ipads in school.

Colleges Monitoring Social Media Is Not That Important

Many colleges are now trying to recruit and evaluate students through the use of TargetX, a company that now monitors what these students are saying on Facebook and Twitter. This monitoring system will provide the colleges with a much better view of what some students are thinking, but much of what they are thinking will not matter all that much to each college. Looking at these social media sites can help colleges recruit students who might be interested in attending their college, but you can still learn much more about what a student wants by contacting them directly. The new monitoring tools will help, but other forms of learning about students will still give a more accurate picture of who they will be in college.