RSS: Really Stellar Soup

The RSS feeds are something we have been using for awhile that I didn't even know about. The benefits of RSS feeds are, I think, very valuable to both teacher and student. By being updated on the newest and most relevant information on one website makes keeping track of all of your different sources viable. One use of the RSS feeds in the classroom is exactly what we did in our class. Set up a bloglines.com account and then suscribe to a variety of content. By becoming familiar with the process of subscription, students will then branch out on their own and find new things and learn new information constantly, without having to be prompted. Another use could be to have your students follow the blog of a certain person, probably a politician that they are interested in. Hopefully this person blogs often and then the students can see the usefulness of RSS' automatic updates in action and how useful it is not to have to search for new content all the time, for it is done for you. A third way to use RSS feeds is to suscribe to a news source (say CNN) and if you are not a big television watcher or don't read the paper much, then you will automatically be subscribed to the latest news information without having to leave your computer.

Tire Me

The NY Times article about College and it's prices in relation to what Friedman would think has raised some interesting issues for me. If Friedman read the article (which I'll presume he has, he does write for the NY Times as well), I'll say that he agrees with the issue of getting more from college than just an education. It exposes you to many different cultures (well at least most colleges do, but that's a completely different topic) and different technologies. Friedman travels all across the world and college students can experience somewhat of the same thing in your larger college campuses. And I think, I never would have heard of wikipedia or podcasts had I not been enrolled in college; or if I did stumble upon them I would have never used them to any sort of good to society, I'd use them for my own personal gains.

(Sweeping generalization warning!) Anyone who didn't attend college probably has some reason why they didn't and not having the financial means is not good enough (there is something called financial aid). Either they hated high school, have no ambition to do anything meaningful in life or are in a trade of some sort. If you are a plumber, electrician, carpenter or have some sort of skill in a trade and don't need to attend school, congratulations. You have found your niche and will probably make lots of money without spending any on a formalized education. But if you belong to one of the other two groups, you will miss out on a lot by skipping college. But try and get a job where you can make more than 20k out of the gate. Not only will you miss out on the culture of college and the fun of meeting hundreds of new people from different parts of the world and trying new things that you would never think possible.

But you will carry this stigma for the rest of your life: I never went to college.


This rings out clear to any employer who is looking for an employee with skills such as adaptability; you learn how to adapt to 18 credits and work and downtime in college and end up (somehow) successful. College is much more than an education; it teaches you what the world is going to be like in the future, how people will learn in the future. Look at this class! We have homework almost solely on the Internet! This class could be held on the Internet solely and it would have nearly the same effect towards my learning the material and the absorption of the message.

The room is getting smaller....

Looking back through my copy of The World is Flat (I needed to check in on 2.0/3.0) I realized that we were using the Globalization 3.0 in class last week with our presentations. Friedman says: "But Globalization 3.0 differs from the previous eras not only in how it is shrinking and flattening the world and in how it is empowering individuals" (11). In our projects, our entire class used technologies that individual students can use in the comfort of their own homes. This is incredible. By making the individual person responsible for what they are learning and giving them the reigns on making something important become of their education is truly, well, an education. This independence that they experience will benefit them greatly when they reach the "real world" of us and their parents.

Team Projects, a Reflection

Looking back on the projects that were presented, I liked all of them. I thought every group put a lot of work into their effort and it showed. I can see a lot of potential when looking at the information presented. With podcasts, teachers and students have a specific and unique way to publish their own content with an unlimited amount of variety. The websites are very useful because it is something that the entire class can contribute to and it's another way for students to use their voices in different ways and still participate in the classroom setting.

bow to your sen-sai!

This comes from somewhere out of left, left field but this could be a tool useful for students. It's a Grammar game featuring ninjas! Click it.

NCATES/NDOGS/NMICE

Although I have never been a big fan of standards being applied over a grand scale (such as standardized testing), I was pleasantly surprised to see that the NCATE standards for ELA do indeed include information about applying media literacy into the classroom. If I may quote: [pertaining to a candidate's TARGET result] "understand media's influence on culture and people's actions and communication, reflecting that knowledge not only in their work but in their teaching". Well, at least the big wigs enforcing our education standards understand the important of encompassing the mass media epidimic into education; something that both Hobbs and the PLS have understood.

To wrap up my ruminations: by incorporating the different facets of the media diamond in education, especially ELA, the students will benefit greatly from the different sources of information available and gain a greater and more rounded out education that the kind you would get from just a textbook. If students can incorporate a higher level of thinking by including media sources that they are very comfortable with, then it can apply to other areas of studies and help with their overall education.

My Belt is Awesome, Much Better than Kaitlin's Scarf, Which Is Sea-Green and Weird

Looking at the core values of PLS, everything it includes makes sense for me as an upcoming educator. Since almost every person is immersed in some form of media, it only makes sense to implement an atmosphere of education through use of the media at a young age. If you think about how much kids use the Internet, whether it be the Facebook or YouTube, it only makes sense to educate using a medium that children and familiar and proficient with. The media is so unavoidable that it only makes sense for us to use it to our advantage; as the old adage goes: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. To build on this, since students already discuss what they watch on television and the silver screen anyway, why not attempt to have them a) talk about it in a way that encourages actual digestion of material and b) help them establish connections between what they may have seen on the TV or Internet and the books and other educational materials they will encounter in (and hopefully out of) school.

The Internet media is one of the most important and (usually) reliable source of information available to everyone. Politicians are using blogs/bloggers on their campaigns, wikipedia is helping to spread knowledge for everyone. If students are shown to use these sources for their own enlightenment, much less homework, then this will be a boon to themselves for the present and for the future.


I know I've talked about this before, but PLS also wants students to be able to use media to present their ideas. As we've discussed and read a lot of material on, this is definitely an advantage for the students, for publishing information on the Internet allows for the potential of mass feedback and interaction with an unlimited number of people.

Cause Every Girl's Crazy 'bout a Sharp Dressed Blog

Project Look Sharp and Hobbs' Reading the Media have a slew of similarities. One of the biggest and most important aspects is the attention being paid to media in terms of education. Pop culture has always been a prevalent factor in maintaining a rapport with different generations, but what is being investigated in PLS and Hobbs is essential for keeping our students' attention and helping to further their education.

Although what students may watch isn't necessarily supporting a learning environment per se, from what I read in the beginning of the first chapter in Hobbs is very thought provoking. If a teacher can engage her students in meaningful student-led discussion where major concepts and ideas are being proposed and considered by the entire class, then I am all for it. And it doesn't just have to be about television. Being somewhat of an amateur film critic (not to mention an English kid), I spend a lot of time during the movies I watch dissecting and comprehending the different symbols and themes being presented by the author. I think about things that I would notice in literature; why does this seemingly unimportant doorway keep popping up? Did this guy really have something to say about the war in Iraq when he said this? I feel that if I watch a movie and I don't understand every aspect of it to my satisfaction, then I feel like I am missing out. And if we can get students to think critically about everything they watch, then hopefully this type of thinking will spread to other parts of their lives, (insert lightbulb here)
such as homework!

The Machine is Using Us for Us

I just watched that video on Youtube and I thought it was rather cool. What struck me about it, is that it corresponds with everything we have been learning in our class and it makes sense. The way that we are publishing our thoughts and ideas is so much different then it was twenty, hell, five years ago. The fact that we are indeed using technology that was potentially scary to make our lives easier is incredible. We can publish our thoughts and people will read them. People can respond to our thoughts by clicking a button. No need for phone calls or text messages or even telling the person face-to-face what you think. Web 2.0 is radically changing the way we operate as people with something to say. I know this horse has been beaten dead a long time ago, but I feel that it's still worth repeating.

In other news, our Wiki is up. We had a meeting yesterday and got a lot accomplished. I like the fact that we, as students (as compared to professional educators) now have the opportunity to educate our peers and others in Web 2.0. So check it out and make any edits or changes that you want to, as long as it's correct and impartial!

I really don't think unlearning is a word...

After browsing through all of the different elements of change that I've been faced with, and I have made some conclusions:

• The actual school part of education will have to be radically changed for students to actually be successful later on in life
  

This comes from one of the unlearning curves from Will's blog, the one that says: "We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process." Along with what Will says, the Toffler article makes certain points rather clear to me. Why should we be forced into the mold of having a nine to five job, because with different technologies, it isn't necessary for this to happen any more. Nor should it be necessary to go to school from 7-3:30.
The classroom needs to change to meet the technological demands of the time period that it lives in. True, up until recently most jobs were 9-5, so it would make sense for school to operate under a certain time frame. But our future generations need to adapt their own time frames to keep up with the current climate and public education has been extremely stiff in changing it's ways.

• School work needs to be done, not on dittos and paper, but working with other students outside of the classroom

"We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills".

Education needs to adapt because with all the advanced methods of collaboration available (even across the globe) chances are you will not be working by yourself with a No. 2 pencil and a worksheet to fill out. You will be working in real time, using your ideas and others' to create a cohesive work environment. Also, Friedman mentions about the future uses of Google in his book. By having this much information available all at once will make most educational faculties obsolete, or as Toffler would say, 'obsoledge'.

• Every student needs to have some sort of specialized education in a field that he or she is interested in

"We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning."

Another idea that struck me while reading the Toffler article and Will's blog, there is no point for students to be learning subjects that they are not interested in. I remember being in certain classes that I had absolutely no interest invested in, and my grades suffered. Granted, I feel that there should be standardized subjects up until high school, but then there should be an almost collegiate level of variety of classes for students to study.

Toffler suggests that students should be able to visit and shadow members of various professions, which is an excellent idea for students in public education to have access to. Not only will students be happier, but they will have the opportunity to decide if this is the field that they really want to have a career in.

uh-oh!

Just checking on the Yahoo! homepage, and I saw this article. A blogger on the John Edwards campaign squad resigned over comments made that caused her to catch a lot of heat. Another example of watching what you say, because everyone is or has the ability to read what you say!

Web 2.0

I have been listening to the podcast that was on Will's website (conveniently downloaded and listened to through my iPod). Although a little dry and boring in places, the presentation was overall enlightening. What corellates between this podcast and Warlick's Great Question (What is important for us to teach our students?) is the application of this technology outside of the classroom. For example, the Houston Chronicle uses over 30 blogs in their coverage every day, presenting a "conversational model of journalism". To me, this would make reading the paper infinitely more interesting, because if people are presenting news in a more colloquial fashion, it will be easier to comprehend. John Edwards and other presidential candidates are using blogs and Youtube to announce their candidacy over the Internet. This is incredible! What is a better way to connect with people, especially younger people, than to use the technology that they are helping to perfect? If you wanted to see a speech, but missed when it aired (if it was even aired at all) a simple Youtube search can solve your problems.

What's amazing is that school has the potential to no longer be just a 7:30-3:00 application. You can learn anything 24/7 and connect to your students or classmates whenever you are able, even if school is out of session. One of the examples I see is with the Science Learning Academy that Will and Rob were discussing. The instant messenger problem really opened my eyes, that students would be interesting in attempting to further their own education by removing troublemakers by singling them out. But what really suprised me was that it happened in June. School didn't start until September. Kids are using the Internet to have discussions with classmates that they don't know and won't see for months! They were forming the learning environment that they wanted, not what their teachers had envisioned.

Blogging and podcasts lead to greater student engagement and it allows teachers to tap into a huge, secret underground resevoir of crude oil of talent and creativity from their students. For example, check out this class. I would normally not express myself in the form of a blog unless I was forced to, but yet I rather enjoy it. I like having people see what I have to say, how I write, how I choose to express my ideas. And this blog makes me want to contact my favorite authors, because if kids in Will's class can do it, why can't I? Why can't I strive to make a difference for myself and anyone else who chooses to read this? Wow. I can say that I am hooked now. Another example from the presentation was the third and fourth graders from Maine who wanted to do podcasts, even when their teacher was doubtful about it. WHAT. When I was a fourth grader all I wanted to do was read Goosebumps books and watch Eek! The Cat on FOX. I never wanted to apply myself towards school, hell, I still don't. But these kids, I daresay they are inspiring. And not only did they want to make podcasts, but they wanted to do it during recess and naptime!

This technology is important to learn because it broadens horizons and breaks barriers. The classroom is no longer a five day a week, morning to afternoon enterprise. It has become limitless. It is this idea that our students need to learn, that they are completely uninhibited. They can learn anything they want, they can take classes from MIT online for free (minus the degree, but who needs one anyway). The time is here for students to begin to educate themselves and along with guidance and additional instruction from teachers, they can take the reigns of their own educational lives.

Untitled

Reading "Don't Fear the Digital" feature by Steven Johnson, I agree with what he says (especially about not needing algebra). Although my parents may have thought I was just a lazy kid on the computer, I was actually learning helpful utilities that will truly impact my life in the future. It may look simple to some, but customizing a myspace page really does takes a lot of work to make it just how you want it. In a sense, this perfectionist traits that are being shown do appear in other parts of my life. Now in other things, I become finnicky, almost obsessive with details.

And not just customizing a profile, but Johnson touches upon multitasking. Even as we speak, I am listening to music, writing this blog, reviewing the article, text messaging on my phone and thinking of about four other things in my head, and (at least I think) this sounds somewhat coherent. If I didn't have a computer handy when I was a kid, I feel that I wouldn't be capable to do more than two or three things at a time, and even those would be at a diminished pace. Now that I think about it, when I was a kid, I used to play typing games on my old computer (Mario Teaches Typing, I believe). And although I thought it was fun as a kid, I think about how much my typing, and therefor affecting everything else I do on the computer, benefits because I was having fun and learning new technology and techniques at the same time!

Reading the second article, I see the other side of multitasking. The destruction of the nuclear family as we know it. They say in there that "Thousands of years of evolution created human physical communication...that puts broadband to shame in its ability to convey meaning and create bonds". This is definitely true, if you've ever had a comment taken the wrong way and spent the rest of the day feeling like Lindsay Lohan's PR people. But this is something that our parents and the older generations have to become accustomed to, because it is impossible to stop. Tom and Mark started this huge social networking avalance and there's nowhere for it to go but to keep on growing. But regrets to the family, this new way of accomplishing many tasks simultaneously will change the world. As I've read in the Friedman book, people in India are answering my help calls for my computer. This flattening of the world can't be stopped, and if you can't adjust to it, then move to the mountains (preferably in a nice little cave, with plenty of berries and stream water (we'll be ordering groceries online soon, so don't even think about walking into the Big M without your groceries being ordered ahead of time). 'Cause the world won't wait for you to adjust on your own schedule. It could frankly care less, because there are enough people out here that are ready to take on this challenge, while texting, recording a podcast and updating a wiki on David Wright.

Trying to Find a Balance

After reading the article on Girl Power (sadly with no mention of my Spice Girls) I agree with what the author says. The quest to find a proper identity has been well documented through the annals of time, I deal with it in every college English class I have ever taken. From what we've primarily been reading, most of the leaders in web 2.0 technology are male. Which should not be suprising, because when you think of a computer nerd, you don't exactly think of hot chicks (I think of the stereotypical Star Trek fan, glasses and he likes to play Dungeons and Dragons...not to say that there is anything wrong with that, but, oh forget it). The point I am eventually getting at is that I read in the article that it says that "Girls received less attention in the classroom than boys and less encouragement for their efforts" (Brown).

But with technology today, I feel that the attention will be more centered. Because, at least from my experiences, the girls in my classes are much more creative and writing-oriented than the competitive boys I've seen. In a class room where blogging becomes a part of daily routine, I feel that girls may even receive the upper hand. The playing field, as Friedman says, is being leveled. There will certainly be competition, perhaps even more so, but it won't be as unfair as it may have been in the past.

It's Like Comparing Apples to ...PC's?

Although I am indeed a lowly PC user, I am slightly infatuated with Apple, Inc. and I don't think I am alone. As we saw in the first class, almost every person in class has an iPod. That's cool, I have one too. But I never realized the power of Apple until my iPod went kaput. I called their tech support and it was the best calling-for-help experience in my life. The ladies I spoke to (count 'em, two of them) were very friendly and not the most bit surly. They sent me a box to ship my iPod out the day after (Tuesday) and I received my new one tonight (Monday). I am nothing but absolutely impressed with the way that they do business. They have set up a dynasty.

Apple, Inc. has integrated all of their products so that each one fits into it's own place. I feel that with using Windows, if you install something, it becomes a patch on the pair of jeans of personal computing. But with Apple products, it becomes a mosaic. It all flows seamlessly together, from your iPod to iMovies to iWhateverelse. They seem to understand that people don't want to be confused about which ports to plug this into, or which program I need to open these pictures I just took. I think of my father when this comes to mind. Almost once a week he'll ask me what program to use to open this or how to organize his mp3 files. I tell him he should get an iPod to avoid these problems...he doesn't care much for my sass. But the point is this: Apple is soon going to take over the computer industry. Just wait. Sure, Windows just put out their Vista processor. But look at it. It is basically a rip-off of OSX, copping the idea of widgets and the dashboard. Windows needs to find some way to get out of the typecast that they have acquired. Just look at the commercials that Apple puts out. How stupid does Windows, (hell even Windows users) look while the smug, snarky Apple has everything and is SO MUCH COOLER.

Man, every time I look at my stupid, huge tower with all of the extraneous and twisted viper's nest of cords, I get a little bit more depressed and frankly feel a little bit stupider.

The World Isn't Exactly Flat, But It's Looking Mighty Svelte

So. After poring over the reasons why the world is flattening, I have come across a somewhat familiar topic in the Uploading section. And although I haven't read anything groundbreaking, I have encountered some new evidence into why this new movement is going to change the world. One example has to deal with the experiment that Goldcorp, Inc. used the technology seen through open-sourced programs such as Linux. The mining corporation knew that there was gold in their area, but were having difficulty obtaining the gold. So they held a contest of sorts, where different companies were given the opportunity to use all of Goldcorp's resources to see if they could find gold for a big cash prize. And as crazy as the idea may have seemed, it worked with suprising gusto. "For McEwen [CEO of Goldcorp, Inc.], the contest itself was a gold mine. 'We have drilled four of the winners' top five targets and have hit on all four,' he says. 'But what's really important is that from a remote site, the winners were able to analyze a database and generate targets without ever visiting the property. It's clear that this is part of the future.'" (Friedman 115)
So. It can be seen that open-source software has a multi-lateral potential for every industry. And regarding Warlick's question of 'what our students should be learning', this has limitless boundaries. If a mining company, perhaps the strangest (at least on paper) recipients of the benefits of computer technology, can use technology that we will be using in our class rooms successfully, then uploading is bound to be a boon in our classrooms. If we can show students examples such as these, then hopefully they will feel uninhibited in their willingness to experiment and test the waters of using sources like Wikipedia and blogging (I would say Linux, but that's a little more complicated to use and understand).

Kashmir

While reading the second chapter in the Warlick book, I did indeed encounter some websites that I had never seen before. Being the curious student that I am, I checked out the Backflip site. Although the idea of bookmarks are nothing radical or even that exciting, this is a little different. The difference occurs in the fact that you can view your Backflipped bookmarks from any computer. The world is flattening, indeed. So if I had some extremely relevant information on this computer and I needed to help a friend on a project to which the information is applicable, then a simple log in to Backflip and there is all the information that I need, with no need for tired and dinosauric conventions such as "remembering the names of websites".

In addition to Backflip, Warlick uses the PiNet Library (not just to shamelessly plug his book) but as a very useful reference guide for educators. By adding different pages and references that can be seen by other teachers, you are helping to create a community of technologically aware (if not savvy) educators. Not only can you share information that is amassed through research, but your classroom can have it's own page on the Web.

The last bit of new technology that I researched after reading the chapter was the Catalist program. Like blogging, this mailing list is very useful in obtaining extra information from people you might not otherwise become in contact with. By being able to suscribe to different mailing lists and hearing the opinions of possible experts or at least people with experience can be an invaluable tool for research and enlightenment.