Tech Task: MasterCard-Commercial

 Here is a mock MasterCard Commercial.  I used pictures of me from Table Mountain.

 

Voicethread: Group project 355

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Tech Task 6: Voicethread

Here is a link to my voicethread:  http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=68834″></param><param

What is Voicethread?  It is and can be used for making: 

Presentation Spaces

Put your presentation within a VoiceThread and start collaborating. Long after you’ve gone to bed your presentation is out there working for you, engaging viewers in a dialog and collecting feedback. Harness the wisdom of your audience then tweak your presentation on-the-fly, knowing that VoiceThreads are live and editable.

Asynchronous Conversations

Capturing a presentation within a VoiceThread and extending the conversation over time delivers far superior results than most synchronous group meetings. The flexibility to participate at any time, allows you to carefully listen, and thoughtfully respond.

Story-Collecting

The human voice is the most metadata laden tool ever created. Even a single spoken sentence describing an image can deliver a world of information. A VoiceThread collects the hidden stories and context within images, and preserves it, like amber for voices.

VoiceThread in the Classroom

A VoiceThread allows every class to record audio commentary about the ideas and experiences that are important to them. Whether an event, a project, or a milestone, students can tell their story in their own voice, and then share it with the world.

 

Tech Task 8: Four pictures with text that describe me.

 

Culture Diversity & School Systems

Reading about Brittany3eryn’s Weblog on Racially Separate Schools got me thinking.  As of 2009, there will be an African Focused School in Canada.  It will serve as an alternative school for African students who are unable to learn at other schools in Canada due to their European and Anglo Saxon teaching methods and styles.  Here are some of my uncertainties and questions about opening this school:

Will it be a dangerous step back towards segregation?       

By creating Canada’s first African Focused School I feel that our society, Canada, will never feel as one belonging and accepting community.  It could also create larger gaps between religion, ethnic, and racial issues.  Furthermore, is this a way of discriminating a minority group?  Lastly, are teachers held responsible to any extent for not incorporating more or any African ways of learning into the classroom?

It will not be a segregated school because anyone person will be able to attend.  Who do you think will attend this school?  I am uncertain, however I do think the majority will be African people.

Is this school just an ordinary alternative school to better suit the students learning abilities?  They do this by following the same curriculum guide but use different teaching methods.

          I think that this school will be similar in many ways to the way Cochrane’s High School and the First Nations University in Regina function in Regina.  Moreover, both the high school and university teach much of the same subjects as you would learn in other schools and universities throughout Regina.  The only difference is that they use and take different approaches to teach their students in order for them to have success.  I think that creating new school systems for people who do not learn well under our current learning ways (European and Anglo Saxon methods) is an appropriate choice.    

Will African people feel and be able to communicate better with the rest of Canada if they go to a separate school system?

Students that will attend this school will feel more comfortable and accepted because they will learn about African culture.  This is unlike mainstream schooling, which teaches mainly European culture.  I think that these people will grow up feeling and knowing they accomplished a lot more than what they would have in mainstream schooling.  In addition, I think that they are more likely to give back and prosper in the country of Canada.  The meaning of “giving back” means that they will be able to teach other Canadians new ways of learning and teaching in order to make our country a better place socially and economically.  Lastly, I think they will appreciate Canada more if they are able to learn and be recognized for their cultural differences.  In this sense the separation of their school system will bring them closer and better able to bond with the rest of Canada.

Here are a couple other thoughts and questions that I began to think about after reading Brittany’s blog:

Currently the majority of university students in education to become teachers are middle class, white, females.  This eliminates knowledge of cultural diversity.  Do you think there is a reason that middle class, white females are choosing to become teachers rather than males, or people of other ethnic background?  Does this mean that current school and university systems are modeled to best suit white, middle class females?  In relation, do you think our current schooling system should be remodeled to suit all cultural backgrounds?

To find out more about this topic go to:  http://www.thestar.com/article/297001

Let me know what you think!

 

STOP Racism, hatred, cruelty, etc.

 I feel that many people want change in our society today but struggle to put initiative into their beliefs, values, and morals.  Many people will watch a television show or listen to the radio about problems in our society but do nothing to change it.  Thus, watching or listening alone will not do any good, you must act upon in what you believe in. 

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” -Gandhi

Check this video out, I think it will help you understand the importance in voicing your opinion and making change happen.

On a smaller scale, the school is a place that has many challenges needed to be faced on a daily basis.  One of the biggest challenges in a school is to make everyone feel belonged.  Often the sense of belonging is removed in schools due to prejedice attitudes.  Tera Swan’s blog page displays a great project for students to increase everyones feeling of belonging.  This project allows students to explore and understand the affects of racism and why it should be abolished.  In addition, all students will be motivated and rewarded for their efforts to stop rasicm. For more information go to:  http://swan200t.wordpress.com/. 

 

Reflection: Building Online Communities for Youth: By Lee Baber and Paul Allison

As a student at university, in Arts Education, the whole aspect of building online communities for youth grabs my attention.  In particular, I like how students and teachers can easily create personalized learning space.  Students can make their own space to engage conversation from their community to read and interact with each other.  In addition, to make an “artistically pleasing” space that engages the community can easily be accomplished.  Today’s online world of technology offers endless amounts of free guidelines and tools available for all.  Therefore, even those who feel that they have no artistic skill can feel and see success.  Letting students create their own space, gives them freedom of imagination and interest.  Thus, they are motivated while they learn.  At the same time, this changes the role of the teacher in a sense that they become people to guide their learning while observing their learning process achieved largely by themselves.  To conclude, an online class is sustained for students on a day-to-day basis.  Another aspect that I thought was worth mentioning is how students can take part in storytelling similar to those of the past.  Instead of reading a novel or storybook alone now, students can read other students stories and ask questions on how or why they chose to imagine or talk about a particular character, fantasy, subject, etc.  For example, the teacher can give all the students the same assigned topic to write about. The students can then interpret the topic in their own way by writing a story.  Once the stories are complete, they can post them onto their personal page.  Next, students can comment or question how or what each other came up with.    To listen to the audio session: http://feeds.feedburner.com/K12online07audio

 

Design Matters

Today’s world constantly introduces us to new or re-invented designs.  The media, with the help of technology, has a large influence on the way we choose to design.  The media expresses their designs and creativity through magazines, such as gardening or fashion magazines, to televisions shows, such as Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  Living in a society swarmed with the media, we are often inspired by it to transform us or our surroundings into something new.  Creativity and design in our world helps keep or create a healthier mind and body.   In particular, colour in design can influence our emotions, our actions, and how we respond to various people, things and ideas.  After my field experience for EPS 100, I gathered a better sense for the importance of colour in design for a school.  In particular, St. Matthews School (Regina K-8) uses specific colours, such as yellow, on bulletin boards to bring focus to students on their current work.  Reason for this design:  Yellow is known for giving clean light, clearing the mind, making it active, and alert.  St. Matthews also uses receding colours, such as blue, on certain walls to display work that is not currently being looked at or for things that are on display year round, such as alphabet letters or a calendar.  Receding colours, such as blue, are known to portray a feeling of distance, relaxation, and encourage feelings of communication and peace.  Using popping and receding colours in a classrooms design will help students and teachers focus better.  In addition, the schools design has plants and soft furniture throughout.  This helps to form an environment that feels welcoming, similar to a home.  Lastly, many of the school’s classroom desks are arranged in groups of four or “islands”.  This design often works well for group projects or activities throughout the day.  To conclude design often increases output in mind and body of both students and teachers. Thus, design can have a huge impact on our daily lives. 

To to listen to an online session about design and creativity in schools go to:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/K12online07audio

To find out more about the meaning of colours go to:  http://crystal-cure.com/color-meanings.html 

Question:  Why do high schools lack design and creativity more than elementary schools:  Both in structural design and subject matter?

 

Reflection:1 Sustained Blogging in the Classroom By Jeff Utecht

 As a potential teacher, I thought it would be important to further understand why the use of blogging is so great in the classroom.  Up until I started taking ECMP 355 I only knew bloggings use for journal writing and a way to publish your own literature for free.  However, I did not realize how it can and should more so be used as a tool for communication.  After listening to Jeff Utecht, I feel  more satisfied with the use of blogging in the classroom.      

Here is a summary of some of key parts to blogging that I thought were correct and interesting:

Including blogging to the classroom makes for a better classroom.  In general, blogs open a world to a variety of literature.  Thus, there are more options to engage to students personal interests.  No longer are books, magazines, and newspapers the only accessible pieces in the classroom.  In particular, students can read other students, cousins, or friends literature that have similar interests.  Reading others writings of interest creates questions, comments, debates, and anwsers (communucation and collaboration)to be written to and from one another.  This makes blogs become more of a conversational and learning tool rather a journal.   By doing so students will find their “work” a feeling of excitment and interest.  Therefore, blogs can make for a better classroom.

In order to have sustained blogging in the classroom, as a teacher, you must physically and mentally reconfigure two things.  First, you must adjust the way your classroom looks and secondly, adjust your schedule and time for your classes. 

To make students become successful bloggers, as a teacher, you can model your own to demonstrate this.   

Here is a link to Jeff Utecht’s online session: http://feeds.feedburner.com/K12online07audio

 

The “CrackBerry”

According to Wikipedia, the BlackBerry is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999, which supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services. Developed by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), it delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies. BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on e-mail. RIM currently offers BlackBerry e-mail service to non-BlackBerry devices, such as the Palm Treo, through the BlackBerry Connect software. While including the usual PDA applications (address book, calendar, to-do lists, etc.) as well as telephone capabilities on newer models, the BlackBerry is primarily known for its ability to send and receive e-mail wherever it can access a wireless network of certain cellular phone carriers.

According to CTV National News, today there are over 8 million Blackberry users worldwide.  The blackberry is becoming a popular technological device having many positive reviews.  For most, its ability to allow people to send and receive e-mails anytime and anywhere has been a positive.  In contrast, there are also many negative reviews for its ability to send and receive e-mails anytime and anywhere.  CTV news also said that blackberries are becoming addictive and create stress for many people.  For example, they interviewed a government business that makes it mandatory for all of its employees (over 4,000) to turn off their blackberries over night (7:00pm-7:00am.), weekends, and all statutory holidays.  In addition, blackberries are ban in meetings, as many employees became distracted, just as students do with their cell phones in the classroom.  Since these rules became mandatory the company says, the quality of messages has increased due to the quantity decrease.  Lastly, these rules have been made to create time for families struggling at home because of the parent’s addiction to his or her blackberry.  Thus, it is given the name “Crackberry”.