Visualizing With Technology

Using technology to help students to visualize what it is they are learning is a vital part of the education process.  We've all been in the position where we have had to listen to a teacher drone on and on without anything to either capture our attention, or capture the imagination.  Mathematics is one of the more abstract subject-matter domains, visualizing the concepts is useful in helping students make math real. Images that break down the equations in order to help students understand the why when it comes to math is key. Graphic calculators can be useful when plotting out equations, it furthers the understanding of the relationship of the x and y axis, and shows the plot of each equation entered into the calculator. However, I would think there are websites to help further understand the use in real life application. Being the questioner that I am, I have trouble with someone just telling me "that's the way it is." or "because I said so" I want to know why and if I the reasons make sense to me. Why is it important to know how to plot an equation on a graph.

Technology is rapidly improving and there are many things you can learn how to do simply by looking it up on youtube. However, I think it is impossible to learn to do something from tv alone. Whether or not you are learning how to tie a tie, or cook a meal, it is impossible to watch something on tv and then be able to perform the feat impeccably. Just like anything it takes a lot of trial and error. Learning from your mistakes and getting better. Learning from your mistakes means not learning from tv alone. Plus, you can't ask the tv show host a question if you get stumped. Then what do you do? I do believe that it is beneficial in learning and the access of information is very simplistic. Recently I purchased a game called GO, and the directions were incredibly difficult to figure out, so I hopped on youtube and followed along with the instruction manual and finally figured out how to play... I think I got it figured out. 

Web 2.0 applications

So, I recently did a journal critique about using wikis for a physical education project. Basically the teacher set the students into groups and charged them with creating a game. He then set them up all up with wikis so that they could all collaborate on the creation of the game. At the same time, the teacher could monitor progress as well as comment on things to help the students along. I thought this was the most brilliant thing I had ever heard of. Not only is it incorporating technology into physical education, which I originally thought would be impossible, it gets students to think about physical education more than just once or twice a week. If given the chance I would like to be able to do something like this with at least one class a semester.

In regards to social bookmarking, I thought this was a really great idea too. Years ago, I discovered this online playlist. For me, this was fantastic since it seemed like I was sitting at a new computer every day. With my online playlist, I could listen to my music without having to sit at the same computer, or plug my mp3 player into some portal, or having to have earphones on. I have small ears so earphones just don't work for me. Okay, back on topic, social bookmarking seems to be the same concept. Not only can I sit at any computer on any network and get to my bookmarks, I can also view other's bookmarks and see if they have found anything useful or interesting. My favorites bar across the top of my computer is constantly used, honestly I don't know if I could even write in the url anymore if I needed to. I'm very reliant on my favorites, so the social bookmarks seems to be a pretty great idea. I couldn't really get any of the voicethread links to work, I didn't really understand it. It does seem to be pretty neat, but not something I would ever put into application.

I had the pleasure of exploring Tapped In, this is an awesome website! Having great teachers is the key to having highly educated students. The whole idea of having teachers collaborate worldwide is rather intoxicating. I will most definitely be interested in using this type of learning community

Copyrights and Fair Use Laws

Copyright and Fair Use

Copy right laws are vitally important in education today. With countless numbers of videos, papers, music, and other forms of media readily available over the internet, the rules and regulations become more important today than they were before the information age. With the implementation of fair use it get a little confusing. I would surmise that if one is in doubt, and unable to find a difinitive answer when looking at the laws, don't use it. The safest way to assure oneself as a teacher is to create your own material. When teaching students about copy rights and fair use, it is also important to inform them of the difference between plaigarism and copyright laws. It can be very tempting for a young student who is an ESL student to cut and paste an entire paper and pass it off as his own. This is completely different from the copyright laws which demand compensation for original works used by others.

Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon much created by the advent of social networks such as facebook or myspace. Before the internet, kids were bullied on the playground and in the hallways or on the way home from school. Every kid who was bullied knew that once they were home, they would be safe and live to fight another day. However, with these new social networks, the bullying continues even in the safety as ones own home. The difference between online safety and cyberbullying is online safety is the protection of those being bullied online, and safety from online predators. Information on people is readily and easily accessable to the trained stalker. Computer hacks can get any information about a person they want with virtual ease. Even if you try to be safe and not post address, phone number, school address, predators can still assertain from pictures posted where your neighborhood is, what places you visit frequently and where you may go to school. It's a scary world out there, and parents and educators both need to be careful what information is posted about their children online.

This weeks assignment was very enlightening. I was regretably informed of the fact that I know nothing about copyright laws. Cyberbullying has been advertised lately with commercials run during popular sporting events and television shows, so I had base knowledge of that. I thought, however that I was pretty well educated about what was legal and what wasn't regarding fair use, and copyright laws. I scored a 72 on the quiz which was disappointing. Everytime the quiz told me I was wrong I was surprised. It will be beneficial to have the "cheat sheet" about what is okay, and what is illegal. Overall, I think I'm still a little confused.

Newsome, C. (1997). A teacher's right to fair use and copyright. Manuscript submitted for publication, Educational Technology Leadership Program, The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Teachers and Fair Use

Introduction

Hi there fellow classmates, as I'm sure you'll be the only one's reading this, I figured I'd address you all in particular.  My name is Rhys Shelton pronounced (reese), and I currently reside in Dallas, TX.  I'm originally from a small town near Waco called Whitney, TX.  I have two little boys who are 9 (almost 10) and 7, their names are Ben and Gabe respectively.  I am a hardcore lefty liberal, which is like sacrilege here in the state of Texas. 

My vision of technology in the classroom is limited since I am an all-level kinesiology major so there is not a lot we are afforded over in my department.  Hopefully this class will help me learn some ways to get technology involved even in my classroom/gym.   

In  regards to sports there are so many amazing technologies that can assist in motor learning and development its startling.  However, most of these technologies are not affordable so it would be nice to discover some new technologies that are both affordable and servicable in a physical education classroom