Learning blog #4

        I learned this week that a good teacher, when choosing what materials to help teach, has a lot to think about before choosing the right activity. A teacher has to take into account that children have many different learning styles that should be accommodated. There have been plenty of thoughts on how to incorporate these issues to scientific reasoning and methods. A learning theory can be developed to help understand the complex nature of learning. Students can be conditioned to learn a certain way through a behaviorist's eyes. The uses of consequences can especially effect the learning of a student. There are also theories that say the mind has three different memory storage units to help register, process, store, and retrieve the information taught to them. Some theories suggest that learning occurs when the student is able to learn their own unique knowledge of the materials at hand.
       In my major, and the career path I am taking, I need to know all of this information. I know that teaching requires quite a bit of knowledge on sociological and psychological principles. To know and understand all of these differences and similarities in learning can help me become a better teacher. A good teacher must understand that every child has their own version of retaining the information provided to them, and they must accommodate to them.

>>>>http://www.educationplanner.org/education_planner/discovering_article.asp?sponsor=2859&articleName=Learning_Styles_Quiz

I chose this link because I found it interesting. It is pretty extensive and asks about 20 questions that allows you to find you own personal learning style. I found out that I am more of an auditory learner, which makes perfect sense. It also gives you a comprehensive summary about your learning style, and tips on how to manage with it.

Learning blog #3

This blog is about what I learned about multimedia and hypermedia as a teaching and learning tool. Multimedia is any combination of audio, video, text, etc, and can promote flexibility in learning while stimulating other interests. Hypermedia is a program that contains media that are connected by links that allow a person to navigate through the lesson in their own way. This also can promote proactive learning and help learners choose their own way of learning. I found that there are also limitations in using this form of teaching. Sometimes there are not enough funds to get the technologies necessary, the lack of training necessary for the programs, along with the fact that a typical school day does not have enough time to start big hypermedia projects.
I think that using these particular programs and lectures filled with multimedia are great for students. I feel as though if I were teaching I would also need something other than a textbook and the sound of my own voice. I am pretty sure the students would enjoy a video or gag reel about a subject they are learning. It is fun to get creative as a teacher with the learning styles used and these materials allow for more flexibility in that.
http://home.iag.net/~ksking/mmedia.html
I chose this link because it is a helping tool with plenty of links for teachers. This website can help teachers integrate hypermedia into their lesson plans and classrooms. This website gives links from PBS, BBC, and Nick Jr. as some examples. It looks like the perfect place for teachers to see how including media in their lessons will stimulate the interests of the students.

A Video for Creative Commons

learning blog #2

   This week we had a copyrighting tutorial to glance over filled with information. I never knew how many stipulations there were in using published materials. The one thing that caught me off guard was that the copyright spans out in ever country that signs the copyright treaty. It's nice to know that so many people take creativity so sacred and secure. It intrigued me that the things that are not covered under copyright are things such as slogans, phrases, and lists of ingredients.. it makes me feel better that not everything is under some kind of control. Copyrights can also exist up to 70 years after the person who copyrighted their material is deceased.

   The idea of the copyright is something I am going to have to pay attention to being a teacher. I would like to have a wide span of other materials for my students that I find to be helpful, but now I know I am going to have to jump through some loops to do so. I will have to ask permission if I choose to teach the children something other than what the school can provide for materials. The organization listed Creative Commons sounds like it might be the place to look for for teaching materials. This non-profit organization does not seek out the use of their materials for commercial purposes, which works perfectly with my educational purposes.. :)

    I decided to choose this picture this week because I feel that with the Fair Use Act info I have found, that everyone has a right to written materials as long as they are used for learning purposes. I completely agree with this idea, and it allows students a wider range of materials to learn. This law can help me expand the knowledge of the children that I will teach. I just hope that our government allows this law to keep on going...

learning blog #1

In class this week, we watched a pretty frightening video on the advancement of technologies within the past few years. It was filled with info that I never knew beforehand. I had no idea that the 25 percent of people in India ith the highest IQs surpass the total population of the United States... it's incredible how advanced they are as a country. It is terrifying to know that 1 in 8 people actually found love over the internet.. creepy stuff, it's like we get the internet to do everything for us. The most controversial thing I found in that video was the fact that a computer is actually being made that can exceed the human brain.. I honestly believe technology is going to take over us all if we don't slow down.

     I am an elementary education major. This video showed me that computers may take over the job I want to have in the future. If a computer is smarter than a human being in a couple of years, why would students even need fellow humans teaching them? It's a scary thought. I am going to have to keep up in the world of technology with this major, so I can be on somewhat of the same level as my students. I want to be able to teach with hands-on activities and eye contact, not the glow of a computer monitor.

This video shows that in some of the more technologically advanced countries, teachers are going to be replaced. I can't believe that human contact is just dissipating into oblivion.