Podcast

I actually listen to podcasts on my ipod and iphone all of the time. Although, not for the purpose of doing better in school. Podcast are interesting to me so many people do them over the every imaginable subject and sometimes they are beneficial and sometimes they are not. I think it is very cool that a lecture can be turned into a podcast so the students can use that resource instead of a book or filling out mindless pages of homework covering the same topic.
In all honesty, podcasting and the other web applications seem to be the exact same to me. Beneficial if done right but more time consuming than just standing in front of the class teaching. The only thing I even use my computer for is the internet, meaning, facebook and youtube, and for homework stuff. I understand that to a degree there should be an integration of technology into the classroom and the students should have other resources beside just the teacher. I could see myself using maybe one or two of the things I have learned in this class. If I were going to be a General Education teacher this class would be a lot more helpful.
I own an iPod, I have some Podcasts on it and I listen to them every once in a while. However, I don't feel like podcast are something practical when it comes to younger grades and Special Education services. Maybe in middle and high school this would be a brilliant idea that everyone loves but it seems to just be rather unhelpful in my situation, cool none the less, but unhelpful.

Web 2.0

I learned a lot of new, very interesting, information about some of the ways we can better education. The wikis are the most important to me. I think it is cool that instead of emailing back and forth you can have one wiki where everyone can go and leave their own input on whatever the specific topic is. In classes, especially, you could use it for group projects or homework assignments where the class could go and find out certain things about the project or assignment. Technology is so important to the classroom and I really love that classes have become so involved with wikis and the internet and smartboards. Students these days are used to having the internet and computers at their dispense. It is almost easier to involve technology than it is to try to get students attention without it.

Copyright

I have learned quite a bit about what is acceptable and what is considered copyright infringement or not acceptable. Those websites actually have pretty useful information on them regarding videos, audio, and pages on the internet. As students we should all know by now what is and is not okay to use as far as plagiarism goes but copyright and fair use is a little more in the gray area. I will admit that I am guilty of not going through the necessary process or taking the correct measures to ensure that I am not violating any kind of law. If I need to put something in a blog or in a powerpoint I usually do it the easiest and least time consuming way. I assume everyone probably does it like that or at least has done it like that in the past.

I'm sure there is more information on the internet machine about this topic than I could read in a lifetime, however, I am actually kind of glad I got to read up on this matter a little bit. I obviously don't know the exact "rules" of using media in the proper way, but now I at least have a jumping off point. I feel a though some of the lengths that people have to go through to keep themselves legal are a little extreme. However, we live in an imperfect world and things are much more difficult and time consuming than they should be. Do I think it is okay to pirate something off the internet and then pass it off as an original copy? No. Do I think that if I am a registered member of youtube and want to put something into a powerpoint or a blog I should have to go through a meticulous process to do it? No. There is a fine line when it comes to the internet and luckily now I at least have something I can reference when I am trying to go about the correct way of doing things on the internet.

MAPping

I pretty much knew how to search the internet and find what I needed previous to the MAPping activity. Most people who grew up in my generation are pretty well versed when it comes to search engines since we have been using them for most of our lives. When it comes to school work I use Google for just about every thing I research. You type in what you need to know and the more precise you are when you enter a search the more precise of an answer you will receive. Not exactly anything new there.

MAPping is fine too, I guess. Not really anything super new there either. MAPping just associates multiple elements into a given set and can give you a more concise search. Overall if you were to teach MAPping to students when they started learning about searching for things or websites and programs that would probably be the way students searched for things and did things. Mostly unnecessary though,

The way I learned to search for things was to bring up a search engine like google or askjeeves and type in what I wanted to know and look for an answer that closely matched my search. Usually search engines have a very broad arrangement or websites or answers to the thing you first searched for. However, the interesting thing is that most likely the thing that will be at the top of your search is probably what you are looking for since it relates most directly to the key words that were entered in the first place. All in all, I think I am just going to stick to my simple one word Google search.

Who am I?

My name is Jaci Bailey and I am a senior at Texas A&M Commerce. I have been in Commerce for close to four years now and I plan on graduating soon, hopefully. I am an education major and hope to teach high school life skills. I love music and like to write sheet music and play instruments. Outside of school I work a lot, other than both of those things I don't have time to do much else.

Technology is everywhere nowadays and kids are learning how to use different pieces of technology a lot faster than I did when I was a kid. Computers, Smartboards, graphing calculators, and other assisted technology devices are being used throughout school districts in every state and every country which is a wonderful thing. I would love to work in a district that was able to afford a technologically rich classroom setting, however being employed in a district where every teacher and every student has access to such technology is rare.

My goal in this class is to learn a little more about integrating technology into the classroom and learning how to use certain technology that may be more useful in a classroom setting than other pieces of technology. I want to make an "A" in this class so I can get my GPA up, and I would like to learn from the other students taking this class.

Power Point

So far my powerpoint presentation is going well, we have chosen the topic "Cell Phones in class." My partner is amazing, she is really helpful. If I dont understand something she takes the time to tell me whats going on, and we work better and faster together than I would be able to work alone.

Chapter 7 Post

1. I think its important that teachers match the technology that their students are using. Every teacher should be on the "same page" as her students even if it is technology. I think using technology in the classroom as long as its relevant is a good way to keep students interested in the course.

2. I think online chats and instant messaging could be very beneficial to the classroom. Its a great way for students to get help from their peers if they cant figure something out. It is also a good way for the teacher to stay in touch with their students. However, you have to be careful with the kids that abuse. Some kids it will help and other kids it will distract.

3. Personally I think face to face communication is always the best way to go with teaching children.

4. Seeing as how everyone uses podcasts these days I dont know why some school still dont use them. I think it is a fantastic idea. Its a newer thing and its more than likely going to hold kids attention. Podcasts also fit better in our fast paced world, everything is all about how much time it takes.

5.I think video games could be useful in the classroom but only for younger aged students. If a teacher brings games into an older atmosphere like middle school or high school all the students are going to think about is playing video games in the classroom, there goes all of the attention from the teacher to the video game and no learning takes place.