Wikipedia

Virgil Griffith

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Wikipedia is is a very well known online source by most most people, but is it accurate? Virgil Griffith, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, has put wikipedia accuracy to the test by creating a scanner that can actually trace the source from where wikipedia edits are being made. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit or make postings. In ways this is a good thing because you get a high range of different oponions, but in alot of cases people are using this tool to misrepresent the truth, or edit any harmful comments made by other people. Although, making edits to this online encyclopedia is not illegal it can really effect the accuracy of the information on wikipedia.People could make edits to certain cites, and choose to stay unannomous, until Virgil Griffith created this scanner. Now when people make changes to cites they can be traced back to the source it was made from. Although, the name of the person's name will not be shown it can show where the edit was comming from for example a computer in a certain company. Some examples are companies like Dow chemical who deleted an entire section labled Enviromental and Human Rights Controversies. Also, Debold an electronic voting system company was traced back to have deleted ten whole paragraphs of critisizim and conterversy of their company. Wal-mart is another example where a statement was edited to make wages of the company sound better than they really are. These are all examples that clearly show that Wikipedia might not be as reliable and accurate as you think. Although, there are some negative aspects of wikipedia I did notice some postive aspects. For example wikipedia has created a hyperlink to some words that you might need further definitions or examples of which I think is very very helpful.
For example you might me reasearching what what is made up of and they will have hyperlinks to hydrogyn and oxogyn and their definitions. Another thing I like about wikipedia is the mass amount of information it retains, and the different perspectives. Wikipedia is one of the largest search engines, and you can find pretty much anything you are looking for in minutes. Through the addition of the scanner, I think it will improve wikipedia's accuracy in a sense because people can no longer hide behind their edits, but I think the problem will always exist. To prevent virgils scanner from determing what company the edits are comming from the company simply just to use a computer that is outside of the company itself. SO if for example exon wants to delete or edit remarks all they would have to do is go to the local coffee shop down the road that has internet access and change the information. So I do believe the wikipedia scanner will scare and intimidate some editors to think twice about what they change. In return wikipedia will be a little more reliable, but there are still many ways to get around this system.I use to consider wikipedia a decent source, but I have now changed my mind. I think wikipedia is good for finding information that is a generally accepted fact or well known around the world. I would not reccommmend wikipedia as a source when looking up information that is more specific and in depth. For example I would not recommend using wikipedia for a research paper ect. In conclusion, I think wikipedia has alot of information to offer, but I would recommed to take a little more time and find a more reliable cite that can be trusted.

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Randy Pausch

Randy


I really enjoyed Randy Pausch lecture, and it was very inspiring. The topic he spoke about was called the last lecture. Randy explained in his speech if he had only one more lecture to speak before he died what it would be about. The irony of this speech is that Randy was diagnosed with cancer, and in fact this would be his last speech.he shaped his speech about his upcoming death to be something celebrated, not feared, and most importantly positive. Death, all of a sudden became something completely different from what the average person identifies it with, and became something each person could identify and relate to. I was drawn to him from the start because he was a man dying with just months to live, yet he was far from appearing sad or discouraged. He used his up-beat lively personality to automatically catch my attention.

Randy Pausch’s supporting material is what made his speech amazing. Randy spoke on life, and how to achieve your dreams. There have been thousands of speeches about this topic, but what set apart randy’s speech from all the others were his examples about each topic he spoke about. Through his examples and explanations he brought laughter, emotional connection, and simple wholesome truths that every person could relate to. For example, Randy used the quote “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want” He was explaining that just because you do not reach your goal, like him not becoming a professional football player, does not mean you have not gained anything. He drove it home to always keep dreaming.

Humility was another point he touched on that had a great example behind it. He explained that his father fought in WWII, and one day his mother was going through some old things and found out that when fighting randy’s father had earned the Bronze Star for Valor. In 50 years of marriage “ it had simply never come up” Through a 30 second brief story Randy Pausch was able to define the true definition of humility in a touching and personable way.

Other moving explanations he had included painting his bedroom walls, and pouring the soda onto the seats of his brand new car when he was trying to portray the importance of people over things.Randy did a good job closing the speech by reinforcing that you can reach your dreams by living a good life. If you live a good life, your dreams will come to you. In conclusion, I think all of the main points Randy mentioned in his speech were strong yet simple, and each one of them should be used in classrooms today. I learned very much from this lecture, and really enjoyed it.

Karl Fisch: Is it okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

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.Is it Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?


I found Karl Fisch's blog Is it Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher very
interesting. One of the first things in this blog that intrested me was when Mr. Fischer said that in almost 80% of parent teacher meetings he had with students struggling in math atleast one parent would say that they were never good at math with a since of pride. His point about mentioning this was that today you would never here someone say they could not read,but when it came to math is was socially acceptable to not be good at math. The same goes for technology, as Mr Fisch points out, it's socially acceptable to "not get computers", or even try to broaden understanings of technology. I agree with Mr. Fisch when he said he does not believe education is hinged on technology, but it is a "indespensible tool" as he calls it. Technology is pretty much connected to everything we do, so why not learn to use it effectively.

"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write" this one one of the most controversial quotes of the entire blog, but I think Mr. Fisch brings up a very good point. In the 20th century a person was severly limited in opportunities if they could not read. They had less chances to suceed compared to those who could read. The same goes for technology in the dawn of the 21 century. Technology in this day and age is expanding, and will keep growing larger and larger. If people are computer illerterate they are limiting themselves durring this technological day and time. In conclusion, I think Mr Fisch's blog made some very good points, and in my opinion not only are teachers and schools need to be technoligically litterate, but students and parents should be too

A Vision of Students Today

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Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today was a very intresting video, and it was very similar to my college expierence. This video basically gives a very good definition of what students in college today are like. One of the first things about this video that I can relate to is the large class sizes. It states that students average class size is 115 students, and only 18% of their teachers know their name. I went to a large collge in Mississippi for 3 years and this is mostly what I expierenced, very large classes and a non exsistent relationship with teachers. This video also mentioned paying hundreds of dollars for text books that they never open, which I also have had this happen to me. Alot of times in my college career I have never even opendend my book in the classroom. Next, this video stated that the average student would read 8 books, 2300 web pages, and 1281 facebook pages which in my opinion is very acurate. Alot of times students will do more web surging than homework or reading. This fact really applies to me, the internet is a very big distraction for me. Other distractions mentioned on the video applies to me also like t.v., being online, and talking on my cellphone.

One of the main points of this video that really hit home with me was being a multi-tasker. After working, going to class, studying, and factoring in distractions it adds up to 26 and a half hours a day doing these things. I have thought to myself countless times durring my college career there are just not enough hours in a day. My college expeirence at most moments have been sheer chaos trying to keep up with everything I have to do. Although, technology, has been mentioned to be the key to some of these problems, in my opinion, technolgy sometimes causes problems in the classroom. Students are facebooking durring class, and alot of them bring their labtops just so they can do other things durring class, which I have been guilty of doing on many occasions. The only other thing that I differ from in this video is the average amount of sleep I get per night which is not 7 hrs. Most of the time I average 5 to 6 hours at best. Overall I think this was a very accurate video describing a students college expeirence, and I enjoyed watching it

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung

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."What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung


I really enjoyed Mr. McClung's blog, What I've Learned this Year. Although, he was just a first year teacher he gave so many vital tips and information about being a teacher.The first point Mr. McClung made was that teachers always need to remember where their focus should be in the classroom. The focus should not be on the teacher or even on the delivery of the lesson, but the main focus should always be on the students no matter what. Next, he mentioned that teachers had to be flexible, and not try so hard to give the perfect lesson. He points out that lessons never go as perfect as you plan, but when activites go wrong the best thing to do is make the best of the situation. Mr. Mclung also touched on the importance of communication with your fellow co-workers and students. Communication helps build relationships and work out any problems that might occur.

Another good point Mr. McClung mentioned was that teachers must be reasonable. Many times teachers set to high of standards for their students, and then scold them when they do not meet those standards. The important thing is to never lose sight of who you are dealing with, childen, and every one is different. Another important topic mentioned in this blog is that teachers should not be afraid of technology. Technology is a good thing, and can really make great things happen in the classroom. Mr. McClung also said, which to me was one of the most important tips, that teachers should listen to their students. Know about their personal lives and get involved this shows your students that you care and listening also builds a strong student teacher bond. Lastly, Mr. McClung says that teachers should never stop learning which is very important. Always learn from every circumstance you expierence to grow as a teacher. I enjoyed this blog very much. Although, all of these tips from Mr. McClung were very basic, and I believe that is what made them so helpful. I think so many times we over analyis education, and really teachers should get back to the basic points like the ones above

Langwitches

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I went to langwitches.org to get more information about podcasts, and I found this information to be very helpful. I clicked on "producing a podcast" link and found great insight into podcasting. One thing that suprised me very much that I learned on this cite is that podcasting can be incorportated at any age. Three kindergarden teachers incorported podcasting into their classrooms, and it was very sussesful. Important aspects of podcasting I learned was that it is very important to choose a theme or a purpose for your podcast and stick with it. I also learned that it is very important to explain to your students what podcasting is, and prepare them on what to expect.

The next thing that is very important to incorporate when using podcasting in the classrooms is to practice. Practice high and low voices, excited and boring voices. It is important for kids to understand they are speaking directly to a audience and to know how to use their voices in a expressive way. I listend to one of the podcast on this page made by kindergarders, and I was very impressed. These young children knew how to use their voices in a very excited and intesting manner. They spoke clearly and I could feel their emotions just by the sound of their voices. Overall, I realy enjoyed this website and learned alot about podcasting with children

Should All Teachers Be Technologically Literate?

The Technologically Literate Teacher

The videocast made by EDM 310 Students gave me a very good idea of what a videocast needs to be like, and I also found some areas in this videocast that could use some improvement.

The first thing I noticed immediatly about this videocast was that the students were not dressed very professional. I think dressing nice would would greatly improve any videocast, and alow the listener to take the videocast more seriously. The next thing I noticed that could have been improved was the tone of the speaker's voices. For the most part the voices of the students were very monotone, and the pace of the converstation was a bit slow. To improve my videocast I think we should have a variation in our voices, and move are converstation at a quicker pace to keep listerners intrested.

The next improvement I believe that can be added to our class videocast is the postion of the speakers. I think the audience could relate better to the converstation if the students were facing the camera more. The audience could feel more included if they could see the speakers entire face for example. Lastly, I think this videocast could have been a little more positive. The speakers spoke alot about the reasons teachers are not Technology literate, but they briefly touched on positves outcomes. Possibly when our class does a videocast we can give a more balanced conversatoion touching on the positives and negatives.