Oh, the topic of Distance Education! On one hand, I love it. Wouldn't it be great if Middle and High School students could log onto grade appropriate classes they might find interesting without actually having to be in the room! Think of the potential for motivated students who may not attend schools that offer much in the way of AP courses, college prep work, or specialty classes like art history. This makes my mouth water.
On the other hand, classes without teacher contact in the flesh can have more pitfalls than a roller rink for the blind. Viruses, technical problems, and the potential for misdirection of inexperienced learners must be addressed, and I'm not sure that there is an acceptable safety net other than the presence of a teacher.
A great idea, overall, but it needs more time to develop. Ask me in 20 years.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Teachertube video: 1066 Choosing a King
Here's the link for this video http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7df047d63d66fe4ac560
Now as to what I thought of it:
I have to say this one lost me entirely. I'm a history major with a taste for the Middle Ages, especially the Viking period. This video was supposed to have been done by a middle school History class. It says it's about the succession crisis after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1064, but if so they got several major facts very, very wrong. They also have about as much concept of the succession of English kings under Danelaw as I do of rocket science, and absolutely no picture of feudal society that William the Bastard would bring from Normandy.
Not as bad, but annoying; the music accompanying this video made no sense for the subject. Don't waste your time!
Now as to what I thought of it:
I have to say this one lost me entirely. I'm a history major with a taste for the Middle Ages, especially the Viking period. This video was supposed to have been done by a middle school History class. It says it's about the succession crisis after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1064, but if so they got several major facts very, very wrong. They also have about as much concept of the succession of English kings under Danelaw as I do of rocket science, and absolutely no picture of feudal society that William the Bastard would bring from Normandy.
Not as bad, but annoying; the music accompanying this video made no sense for the subject. Don't waste your time!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Picture This
Well, obviously, I still can't get a picture to move. I'm just going on without one.
I noticed the article on the Creative Commons website regarding copyright laws. They seem pretty negative about the protections that exist for artists who make a living off their work. The idea of comparing Disney's retelling of Grimm's Fairy Tales to the pictures of Mickey Mouse that were shown on that website seems ridiculous. For one thing, by the time Disney made his movies, the Grimm brothers were long dead and their families weren't depending on their work for financial security.
Yes, Creative Commons exists as an alternative to "normal" copyright protections. Artists who choose to share their work through CC are certainly willing to do so. However, not all artists wish to have their work clipped, edited, collaged or mishmashed by everyone and his brother.
A copyright is like a lock on the door of your house. You can choose to leave your door open and allow anyone who wants to come in and help himself to do so, or you can maintain control of your posessions. In the case of copyrighted art, the posessions are mental energy, creativity, inspiration and skill that the rest of us may not have. Derek Slater can choose to leave his door open, but he should not criticize those who prefer to lock their property safely in.
I noticed the article on the Creative Commons website regarding copyright laws. They seem pretty negative about the protections that exist for artists who make a living off their work. The idea of comparing Disney's retelling of Grimm's Fairy Tales to the pictures of Mickey Mouse that were shown on that website seems ridiculous. For one thing, by the time Disney made his movies, the Grimm brothers were long dead and their families weren't depending on their work for financial security.
Yes, Creative Commons exists as an alternative to "normal" copyright protections. Artists who choose to share their work through CC are certainly willing to do so. However, not all artists wish to have their work clipped, edited, collaged or mishmashed by everyone and his brother.
A copyright is like a lock on the door of your house. You can choose to leave your door open and allow anyone who wants to come in and help himself to do so, or you can maintain control of your posessions. In the case of copyrighted art, the posessions are mental energy, creativity, inspiration and skill that the rest of us may not have. Derek Slater can choose to leave his door open, but he should not criticize those who prefer to lock their property safely in.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Instructional Software Tour
I really didn't think I would find much available for a history class, but with a bit of good luck I discovered ABC CLIO's American History. This is basically a database for historical research, with American History and Geography, World History and Geography, and Current Events at your fingertips.
The tour didn't give a lot of information, but from teh impression I got the pages are clear and the search feature screens out non-history related references. In other words, it says that if you have students studying Rennisance art their research won't get hung up by the school's porn filters. The links to current events will also be handy for relating historical events to what's happening today.
I also liked the links to primary sources available on the research pages. It was surprising to see the Zimmerman telegram in full detail on the screen, rather than a picture so small that nothing could be read.
As this is history research, violence is prevalent. If this is a problem, we need to find a nicer Napolean.
American History is a subscription service rather than a CD or DVD download. It costs $599, which may be a bit steep for most smaller districts. It works with either MAC or PC, and needs at least Win 95 or 250 K of memory to work properly.
The advertizement said this software has won several awards, and that it is geared to work with most textbooks used in public schools. Were I about to buy this product, I'd check that last claim closely.
The tour didn't give a lot of information, but from teh impression I got the pages are clear and the search feature screens out non-history related references. In other words, it says that if you have students studying Rennisance art their research won't get hung up by the school's porn filters. The links to current events will also be handy for relating historical events to what's happening today.
I also liked the links to primary sources available on the research pages. It was surprising to see the Zimmerman telegram in full detail on the screen, rather than a picture so small that nothing could be read.
As this is history research, violence is prevalent. If this is a problem, we need to find a nicer Napolean.
American History is a subscription service rather than a CD or DVD download. It costs $599, which may be a bit steep for most smaller districts. It works with either MAC or PC, and needs at least Win 95 or 250 K of memory to work properly.
The advertizement said this software has won several awards, and that it is geared to work with most textbooks used in public schools. Were I about to buy this product, I'd check that last claim closely.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Digital Frog Scratched
I looked at the Digital Field Trip software, as I might actually use these in a geography class. It would be great for students to be able to see a rainforest instead of just studying about where they are.
The Digital Field Trip is from Digital Frog International, and the CD runs in both PC and Mac systems. It requires Windows 95, a Pentium II or Mac Power PC 180 and 3 MB RAM. The cost is $99 for the educational version that includes a teacher workbook. The system is a closed system on a CD.
The program involves full screen video and keyboard access, with text-to-speech and closed caption capabilities. This would be usable for all students. The program is low in violence and has full movement, so students can look around the screen.
I wasn't able to try anything on the program myself, so I don't know if it loads consistently. There is a free demo to download, but the computers in the library would not allow me to run it.
Were I able to open the download and try this myself, I think I would recommend it for use.
The Digital Field Trip is from Digital Frog International, and the CD runs in both PC and Mac systems. It requires Windows 95, a Pentium II or Mac Power PC 180 and 3 MB RAM. The cost is $99 for the educational version that includes a teacher workbook. The system is a closed system on a CD.
The program involves full screen video and keyboard access, with text-to-speech and closed caption capabilities. This would be usable for all students. The program is low in violence and has full movement, so students can look around the screen.
I wasn't able to try anything on the program myself, so I don't know if it loads consistently. There is a free demo to download, but the computers in the library would not allow me to run it.
Were I able to open the download and try this myself, I think I would recommend it for use.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Teaching sites
After looking at the various websites, I feel less discouraged than I did last time I posted. There were actually things here that I could use.
Learn NC was particularly helpful. The ideas about collaborative teaching, blending lessons in English and Social Studies, made a lot of sense. The lesson plans were more comprehensive than I had anticipated, and it looks like they expected a decent term paper to come out of the lesson. Of course, this was for an AP class but I think it could be used by all levels of teaching.
Turner Learning did nothing for me -- as in the page didn't move, there were no connections to any ideas anywhere.
TrackStar took a minute to figure out, but once I did I found great connections. I especially enjoyed the track on the Salem trials. I love the idea that teachers can share lessons that worked well in their classrooms.
The CDE website seemed to be all about internet safety, filtering, and giving guidelines to safe surfing. Time for a rant, so brace yourself. We can put all the safety systems and filters we like on the computers, we can warn students to stay away from trouble, but it's all for nothing if there's nobody looking over a shoulder occasionally. Students will find ways around the filters, and they've more time to devote to the task than we as adults do. Filters also seem likely to block the "good stuff" that we want our students to get at.
The Journal had an interesting piece about a program to control student computers from a teacher's main computer. This looks good, and might address some of my concern with the CDE articles as a teacher could monitor an entire classroom from one screen. My only thought is that I'd better be very familiar with the system before I used it in front of students. I can't think of anything worse than having to ask one of my students to help me work the system.
But then, that's why I'm taking this class. :-)
Learn NC was particularly helpful. The ideas about collaborative teaching, blending lessons in English and Social Studies, made a lot of sense. The lesson plans were more comprehensive than I had anticipated, and it looks like they expected a decent term paper to come out of the lesson. Of course, this was for an AP class but I think it could be used by all levels of teaching.
Turner Learning did nothing for me -- as in the page didn't move, there were no connections to any ideas anywhere.
TrackStar took a minute to figure out, but once I did I found great connections. I especially enjoyed the track on the Salem trials. I love the idea that teachers can share lessons that worked well in their classrooms.
The CDE website seemed to be all about internet safety, filtering, and giving guidelines to safe surfing. Time for a rant, so brace yourself. We can put all the safety systems and filters we like on the computers, we can warn students to stay away from trouble, but it's all for nothing if there's nobody looking over a shoulder occasionally. Students will find ways around the filters, and they've more time to devote to the task than we as adults do. Filters also seem likely to block the "good stuff" that we want our students to get at.
The Journal had an interesting piece about a program to control student computers from a teacher's main computer. This looks good, and might address some of my concern with the CDE articles as a teacher could monitor an entire classroom from one screen. My only thought is that I'd better be very familiar with the system before I used it in front of students. I can't think of anything worse than having to ask one of my students to help me work the system.
But then, that's why I'm taking this class. :-)
Copyrites in a classroom
Well, I'm back. Nothing puts a person behind like a really nasty bout of something, but I'm at least catching up now.
My thoughts on copyrite use in a classroom:
First, as far as written work goes, if you don't credit it and you use it, you're stealing from the author. You're cheating yourself, your students (by not modeling proper behavior) and of course the person who did the actual work of writing the piece.
TV shows, movies and music are usually OK for classrooms. Of course, anything over 75 years old is safe since copyrights expire.
The Creative Commons looks good. The Open Library particularly caught my eye, as I'm wanting to use primary sources, if possible, when I teach. If there's a way I can download parts of old books and print them off for students without having to travel to the nearest big city, all the better.
My thoughts on copyrite use in a classroom:
First, as far as written work goes, if you don't credit it and you use it, you're stealing from the author. You're cheating yourself, your students (by not modeling proper behavior) and of course the person who did the actual work of writing the piece.
TV shows, movies and music are usually OK for classrooms. Of course, anything over 75 years old is safe since copyrights expire.
The Creative Commons looks good. The Open Library particularly caught my eye, as I'm wanting to use primary sources, if possible, when I teach. If there's a way I can download parts of old books and print them off for students without having to travel to the nearest big city, all the better.
Well, I've looked at the three websites listed on the module. The first, the AACE, seemed to be mostly technical. I'm not going to teach computer literacy (thank God!), I'm just wanting to be able to use computers et al in my normal classroom. Also, this site had lots of acronyms and idioms, lists of letters with little explanation.
AECT seemed more useful, although it too was directed at tech experts. I glanced at the piece about "A Culture of Technology" and soon realized that it wasn't an actual article. Again, not much for the dabbler.
The ISTE site had actual information! I found several articles on the Digital Divide, Gender Equity in the classroom, and ways to equalize the playing field for students who don't have a lot of access or ability with computers. What's more, these articles were written in actual English. What a concept.
ITEA was yet another organization that seemed to think I might want to join them without knowing anything about what they do. No articles, no editorials, just jargon and lots of advertizement about an upcomming convention.
AECT seemed more useful, although it too was directed at tech experts. I glanced at the piece about "A Culture of Technology" and soon realized that it wasn't an actual article. Again, not much for the dabbler.
The ISTE site had actual information! I found several articles on the Digital Divide, Gender Equity in the classroom, and ways to equalize the playing field for students who don't have a lot of access or ability with computers. What's more, these articles were written in actual English. What a concept.
ITEA was yet another organization that seemed to think I might want to join them without knowing anything about what they do. No articles, no editorials, just jargon and lots of advertizement about an upcomming convention.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Here Goes
Well, here goes . . . A woman who can't keep a diary for more than two days is trying to publish a blog . This should be interesting. And short.
There's not much to say about me. I have two children, a husband, and a cat who thinks she runs the house. My main hobbies are fiber arts, cooking, and anything Tolkien.
There's not much to say about me. I have two children, a husband, and a cat who thinks she runs the house. My main hobbies are fiber arts, cooking, and anything Tolkien.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)