Learning Blogs Set 2 #4

This week we learned about Google Docs. It is an application of Google that actually allows you to create a document, and share it with whoever you allow. The movie showed in class was the descriptive portrayal on how the program works and it's various uses. The docs application really gets rid of the hassle of having an attachment to put in an e-mail. A lot of the time the e-mails don't go through or match up to the other person's computer. Google Docs allows for all versions of a document made on the program to be matched up and easily shared.

In the educational system, this is a great tool to use, and I had no idea that it even existed before this class. I realized that taking attendance, editing student's papers and even field trip forms could all sit in one program. This is could be scary if your computer crashes, but with Google Docs, it's all right there on the internet, available from any computer. I also feel that teachers can come together and share lesson plans to make sure they are all on the right track or at least have some idea. Google Docs seems great and I plan to use it a lot.

I chose this video because it is a tutorial for teachers in Google Docs. I plan on being a teacher and this video shows the organizing patterns you can pick up to be organized and have everything written down in the perfect file or folder.

Learning Blogs Set 2 #3

This week we found out some information about Podcasts. I never even knew what they really were, but after reading the articles, I found podcasts to be a great idea. Podcasts are simply audio files that can be attained by signing up for them. They provide people with music, stories, and any other audio file really. Podcasts can help college students for example, if they can get podcasts of lectures by their professors. This allows students to be able to listen to something not understood more than once, and keep up if they are absent. Music students can listen to their audio files and critique, and people who speak foreign languages can speed up the process of learning english.

Podcasts have a great impact on education, the field I am going to enter into. Students who get in terrible accidents or get sick have the chance to not fall completely behind. Students can go on the internet and hear what they did in class, if the teacher is willing to take the extra step. I would gladly take the time out to do that for my students. I also think that in my absence, I could provide a podcast for the things that substitute teachers might not understand. Also in my absence, the sound of my voice on a podcast could scare the students to act straight. I think they are an amazing invention.

http://www.northville.k12.mi.us/hillside-imc/podcasts/
This is a link to one of many podcasts for students. This example is one of "reading roundup" for middle schoolers to listen to. This is part of the virtual media center in hillside Middle School. This example is a prime case of podcasts being used in the classroom.

Webspiration Project

http://www.mywebspiration.com/go/620065

Learning Blogs Set 2 #2

This week we learned how digital technologies are transforming the faces of educational activities. The simple fact is is that there are so many new technologies being created everyday, that are transforming what we expect out of life. The idea of digital vs. analog is quite intriguing. Many people these days want the crisp, almost realistic photos when they use their camera. Others want to revert back to polaroids and other early forms of technology. It shows that although some people are ready for the world of the "new", many want to keep their fond memories of past times in tact; they don't want to lose that. The past is the link to who we are as a people these days. The past is also a great device in the classroom.
I believe that in the classroom, students must learn about the past in order to understand why society is the way it is now. It is important for children to know about propaganda tactics and about the technology of the times then. Knowledge of these helps round the students and look behind them instead of always looking ahead. Sometimes when it is hard to find the answer to something, it is much easier to look for it in the past.

This movie shows wartime propaganda in the 1950s. Many people were afraid of nuclear carnage, so the government made a bunch of propaganda movies to help the public out with saving themselves from one. As you see, it starts with a turtle hiding in it's own shell to escape dynamite. Humans though, do not have shells, but the "duck and cover" might work. Allowing kids to see htis can show them what not to believe when they watch the TV.

Learning Blog Set 2:#1

This week we learned about the Adobe Photoshop program while on the subject of Visual Literacy. Visual literacy is incredibly important because we are living in a very visual culture. It is "the ability to understand communications composed of visual images as well as being able to use visual imagery to communicate to others."(museumca.org) We learned that photography greatly influences how we think about history, the pictures really give a visual stimulus for what was going on at that time. This also gives light to the fact that photography is malleable, and can make any kind of image to appear within its context. In advertising for example, models in magazines are portrayed as flawless beings, which brings about a fallacy because programs like photoshop can make anyone beautiful.

Photoshop influences what I plan to do with my life in a lot of ways. I have to make sure that in an elementary school setting, the picture does not lie to the students. Children are incredibly susceptible to lies in the media, and it truly begins when they are young. On the bright side though, I can create more interesting learning materials to make the children more interested in the information they are receiving. Programs like photoshop can provide an interactive world of learning for students all over.


I chose this interactive article because it really portrays how fake the media can really be. The stars that woman idolize and men fantasize about are never really what they say they are. A simple computer program can make it look like your favorite movie star lost 10 pounds, and maybe so should you. This shows how unfair the media can be, and how we shouldn't ever pay attention to those people in the magazines. Children see these magazines in grocery stores, and start at a young age believing in the hype of beauty. It just isn't fair..
http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010/unattainable-beauty.html