Technology # 3 Teacher Tube

    The last Technology? The final frontier? To go where no student has gone before?  Hardly, this is my opportunity to clear the air on a few things and make nice-nice with a few people who I sarcastically called out this semester, oh, and also talk about Tech # 3.  Let's see where should we start?  Maybe first off apologies are in order.  I do want to express my sincere apologies to anyone who I offended, when I commented or critqued your blogs, spreadsheets, and any other material that was submitted that needed our collective input and feedback.  This was not the forum for delineating such critiscism and I regret my tongue lashings.  Having said that, I do respect each and everyones effort in pushing through the semester and finishing the work at hand, that in and of itself is an accomplishment that should be exalted and admired.  So kudo's to all of you!!

    Technology # 3
   
Teacher Tube!!
   What a kick!! This site is everything and more, a wonderful extension for the use of many of the best resources available to teachers on this planet, other teachers!!!  I love the format, very much like YOU TUBE, very easy to navigate, and so much information, from data input and output, to text, and video with verbal instructions.  Many teachers leave past assignments and lectures that are free to use.  Many photos are provided along with video instruction, while this seems like a site exclusively for teachers, it can also be used very effectively to help tutor students, a valuable resource for any tutor, or for parents who just want to help out, or even for parents who are home-schooling their children.  All of the video and text features are easily uploaded and can be edited effortlessly.  The search bar allows for quick and effective searches, and because of its data base that is indentified with google, the search engine is almost limitless.  Forums can be set-up for discussions amongst groups.  These groups can be privatized or made public to involve all feedback from all people in all professions.  You can quickly find blogs and post your own blog, searching for new and creative information through the blog sites.  This allows us to identify some of the most creative thinking and use it continually.  The audio references on Teacher tube are linked to many podcasts, as you learned in my previous post, podcasts are an extremely effective tool for time management of your educational resources.  There are many other features evolving through this technology, hopefully allowing us an even better educational resource enviroment, but for now, Teacher Tube will be a great asset to help me and hopefully you chart a path of excellence in teaching for years to come.
    

YouTube

YouTube type in robvincent, and you will find my video, please excuse the bad hair, and face contortions, but, I was rushed and had to just do it before I put my make up on!!

Emerging Technology #2

I'm back!!

That's right it's time for your dose of who cares what kind of technology I have mastered, because it's all about you and your grade.  I know that sounds cynical and just a little flippant, but think about it, do you really care whether I tweeted? or if I did an about face on facebook? Of course you don't you just have to humor me or humor someone else!!  So let's get on with it

I sat at the technology table and had a smorgasbord of tech this time around, I twittered, and I joined the facebook revolution, and finally I posted a video on You Tube!! That's right the 15 minutes of fame underwriter.  let's start with You Tube.  One word, "easy",  I found this technology to be very easy to maneuver and interact with considering I still love my corolla typewriter from years ago.  The process was simple and non time consuming unlike some other things I could reference...hint..hint.  I set up an account, painless and effortless, screen name, password, and they love me.  Second, I hit upload a video, since I didnt have any to upload, it let me do it from my webcam, so I took the time to do an impromptu session on how this technology can help an up and coming teacher like myself.  The first thing it can do is help you communicate in a context that captivates students, they buy into this stuff, so it seems only logical that if you posted a You Tube video, their natural curiousty will help overcome any homework apprehension in taking the time to view it.  I think this technolgoy will gain steam and become a serious tool in the future, when all kids have access to their own laptops, it will be a good way to introduce them to the online educational environment.  They will get a taste of what its like to do online course work, at ages as young as elementary school.  This is also a great medium for allowing them to explore their creativity within the context of what they are trying to learn, what better way could a kid learn about the civil war, than to possibly participate in their own reenactment of a battle or scene that is well known in history.  The interactiveness of a You tube video really speaks to the transformative process in teaching that is needed so badly today.  Lectures are antiquated for young minds, you have to distract them into learning, and tools such as You Tube can facilitate that process quite easily.  You Tube is a great source for engaging fellow teachers in a way that shows them what your working on with kids, and allows you as a teacher to see new and innovative ideas, we always trust what our eyes see.  I enjoyed working with You tube, and will certainly use it to instruct my students in furthering their education through a more autonomous role.

PODCASTING

Podcast til your ears bleed!!




First off let’s cover a little background on what podcasting is. Podcasting was developed as way to use your Ipod as a tool or device to broadcast anything you would like to broadcast, such as your political views, humoristic tastes, research knowledge, music tastes, it even allows you to be able to set up a broad casting show. The word podcast was derived from taking pod from Ipod and cast from broad casting and combining them.

Podcasting is just another form of communication with the ability to be able to do it asynchronously. To simplify it, think of it as a sound based Tivo or DVR player. Different shows, programs and information can be downloaded onto your computer thru the use of a software application called an aggregator. Aggregators come in many forms and are provided by many of your online giants such as Yahoo, google, and Itunes. I choose to use an aggregator called Ziepod. I went with this aggregator because it was free and it also has the ability to podcast videos. I like the graphics of Ziepod, its very user friendly, the graphics are vivid and the format for downloading podcast’s to it is easy and quick. Many of the podcasts have commercial interruptions, but like a DVR, you can skip past them and move on to the content that your there to listen to.

There are thousands of podcasts, otherwise known as feeds that can be found on the internet. They are formatted in many different ways, but all of them allow you to search for your interests and have different libraries that cover a slew of content information form A-Z.

While podcasts on the surface seem like a cool alternative to entertainment, I have been finding that one of the biggest drawbacks to downloading feeds is that they are very dated. Most of the subjects that interest me were very hard to find up to date and current downloadable subject matter. It seemed like every time I downloaded a podcast, the feed was two to three years old, I had a hard time knowing whether or not a feed was current or not. Another problem was after trying to download some podcast’s, I would get error messages stating that the podcast was no longer available. Once again major PITA (pain in the ass). These providers need to develop a system that shows you how up to date these podcasts are before you take the time to copy and paste the feeds into your aggregator. Having said that, the feeds that I was able to download and listen to are cool and very informative, but you have to take this kind of information for what it’s worth, mostly entertainment value. Don’t be fooled into believing that the information and material discussed is always true and factual, just like Wikipedia can be changed and manipulated to give erroneous information, podcasts can achieve this same kind of misleading disinformation.

I have not taken the time, or I should say I don’t have the time to get involved in the making of my own podcast, but when I do have time, I think I will definitely give it a try. It seems like a fun project and I would love to put my sarcastic thoughts and ideas into a show type format and let the world laugh along.

Podcasting looks to be on the rise and will be another alternative to television, and radio. The beauty of it is being able to listen when you want to and can, which is a huge positive in the life of a guy like me who values time like the Pope values stepping through the gates to heaven.

I'm back!!!  After spending more of my precious, unreimburseable time doing delicious dawdling, I'm here to prove the fruits of my labor!!  Here you go my delicious account information, enjoy looking up all of the practical sites that I find worthy.

http://delicious.com/rovincen

Gotta run!! Caio

Is this over yet??

Ok, Ive made it through the blog, 12 hours gone...vanished..poof!!  So the final part of this assignment, tips for the web weary traveler.  I have one.

• Don't try this at home, you have way too many other things to do!!!

Ok, that's all Ive got, used up all of my energy on hours of searching through mindless gadgets to make my blog an extraordinary piece of CRAP...Don't forget the acronym. 

Ta Ta for now......."All In"

Catching up!

    WOW!! Developing a Blog, yep I said developing. This is meant to be characterized as arduous, and exhausting, which it is. Sitting in front of the computer and trying to think coherently, while putting together sentences that have some redeeming value is work.  Blogging in the truest sense, I think is supposed to be fun, an art form, meant to search out and find your creativeness, find the meaning behind the things you value and direct you to be able to describe them with as much detail as possible.  Were we all meant to be writers?  Do we all express ourselves with conviction, and tone that captivates our audience?  Whether it be talking about our daily activities, interests, or the things that just plain piss us off, should we blog?  is it therapeutic?  Do we find ourselves entertaining the idea that we could actually affect someone else with the words that we write, or do we see this as an opportunity to just let off steam, start a conversation, or even worse actually believe that we can enlighten someone.  I'd like to believe that, this is nothing more than an exercise in gaining new knowledge of technolgy and applying it in a context that will help me educate kids someday.
     Honestly Ive spent four hours reading, and exploring this whole web 2.0 environment.  One could say well that is what we are supposed to do.  I'd like to think in simpler terms, technology is supposed to be presented in a way that is non-intimidating and motivates the user to embrace it.  Not so!! This technology puts me on edge, I wrestle with knowing that my privacy is compromised, YES!! my privacy, I'm not comfortable putting all of my info out there for the world to see.  Really who actually cares??  I do see the value in it from an educational standpoint.  New and exciting ways of communicating through the asyncronous environment are always welcomed, but what happens when you have to look people in the eye and search for acceptance of what you say?  Then all bets are off, we lose the capacity to exchange ideas with people in real time face to face, when we spend too much time communicating digitally.

NOW FOR THE GRAVY!!

Here comes the critical thinking paper, don't everyone trip over themselves to get this read, I'm sure it won't be as popular as Dan Brown's new book!!  But here it is anyways

Critical Thinking W-200


Robert Vincent

9/02/09

The writer makes a point to identify how teachers teach; specifically outlining a behaviorist approach geared towards learning through time tested lecture teaching, but also points out the more revolutionary techniques of constructivism and connectivism. These latter techniques in my opinion are the key to real learning. There is an Old Chinese proverb that illustrates this point, “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand” This quote reflects poignancy to learning that is unparalleled. The problem is how does accountability manifest itself to be able to have tangible evidence that children are actually processing and learning the fundamental curriculum that has been taught through involvement? I can certainly identify with this kind of learning process, and actually I reinforce it within my business. Let me give you an example, every time I hire someone new, on their first day of work, the majority of their training for that day involves going around and physically touching every single item or food product that I carry. This kind of hands on involvement bridges a connection to where things are located quicker, which in turn gives the employee a stronger sense of confidence and awareness of his or her new working environment. Does this answer the question of accountability? Only to one person..Me. Identifying new ways to test these new ways of learning is the answer. What those new ways are, I will leave to the politicians and higher level educators.

The main issue of this article is accountability, and how it can be enforced? The author lances the boil of outdated standardized testing methods, and gives a fair assessment of how they do not work, or how they do not give verifiable results of students learning and understanding capabilities. The only problem I have is she stops short of offering real constructive ideas for change. She offers a solution that is clearly laid in the lap of the student. Connecting accountability to whether the student is allowed to advance or graduate. This could easily be seen as punishment or worse, deferred accountability by the educators, which would lessen their credibility with parents and students, because they have evaded their own accountability.

No one ever speaks of a reward based system. Rewards for teachers who alter students learning abilities and who also help foster renewed motivation and responsibility. Offering real rewards for the student that face the challenges of learning, while coming from very different and challenging socio-economic backgrounds. Tying learning to advancement is the answer, so why not tie real rewards that are equitable to gaining admission to higher level learning institutions? This concept needs to be visited by the school boards and administrators in the school systems.

There is a lot of rhetoric being promulgated upon us relative to “No Child Left Behind”. Many of my friends are educators. In fact my best friend is a High School Principal. I hear over and over how the constraints of NCLB are so hard. I never hear about how NCLB was a long time coming, or how it can be retooled to allow educators more latitude to adjust their teaching methods, which in turn creates positive adherence to the standards. This writer attacks NCLB as a vehicle for increasing and focusing on standardized testing. Well if that’s the case, then why are so many classes taught with engaging and group inclusive learning? I have experience substitute teaching in two different school systems. I eat lunch with teachers, carry out their lesson plans. A lot of their course work is involvement based, versus lecture oriented. I may not have enough experience or knowledge of the different teaching environments that are out there, but the experience that I do have, characterizes a more engaging form of learning then when I was in school.

My bottom line is this, education with all of its flaws, is still a priority in this country. While we do have substantial poverty and areas of economic distress. We are putting more students into college than ever before, this in and of itself is an indicator that higher learning and the fundamentals that students have gained through secondary education are working. They may not be working at the pace that political rhetoric demands, but working nonetheless!!

Well that's enough for today...tommorrow we will cover my tip sheet on how to enjoy and navigate this CRAP!!
thats an acronym

Caustic
Redundant
Arduous
Project

Enjoy your day!!

The first post

My first post???

Short and sweet is the motto today.  If I cant have a shoulder to lean on, then I will stand with my eyes towards the sky!!