Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that can be used and edited by anyone. While Wikipedia can be a great source to just read for fun it can never be trusted unless the facts are verified from elsewhere. While all of my teachers in college have informed me to never use Wikipedia as a resource I never fully understood why, until now. Wikipedia has been known for getting edited by politicians, church groups, and even big corporations to enhance their image. While the person who invented Wikipedia had a great idea behind it, it just didn’t quite work out. The idea of having a collaborative source for subjects would be amazing if you could actually trust everyone.
A college student named Virgil Griffith created a program to scan Wikipedia in order to tell who is editing posts. It traces the edit back to the computer to let you know where it is coming from. Therefore, if you are reading about a corporation and you see an edit by that corporation you know that it is not reliable. While this helps the source out a little bit it does not eliminate this issue because anyone could just go to different computer (in say a coffee house) and edit again. While this Wiki scanner does help the source become a little bit more reliable, Wikipedia should still never be used as a source for anything factual.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Week 8, Creating Personal Learning Networks
This blog is about a teacher who wants her students to set up personal learning networks. She wants to help them set up an aggregator and then seed them with a few feeds to get them started. Her plan is to get them comfortable and then have them find some feeds on their own of anything they are passionate about. This will go along with their personal blogs and they will be responsible for keeping up with theirs and commenting also on classmate’s feeds. The two goals of this idea are to help them foster critical thinking (and things along that line with in the curriculum) and to also help them establish their own learning network. She wants them to be able find trusted sources and to also learn how submit trusted sources themselves.
I think this is a great idea! I wish that my high school teachers had started something like this for me. This is such a different approach to learning and I am almost positive that it is effective. This idea is establishing skills for the students that they can essentially take with them to college and even further in life. I know that when I first started surfing the Internet for sources for projects and papers I trusted almost every source I found. I know it sounds silly but at that age I just didn’t know. I did not know how to tell the difference from a source that is legitimate and source that was not. I wish I would have had a project along these lines to help me. It would have been so useful and effective. Not only does this project sound useful it also sounds fun. I would have loved to be doing something like this in my high school classes. I really enjoyed reading this blog and I think this teacher is a very smart woman with great ideas!
I think this is a great idea! I wish that my high school teachers had started something like this for me. This is such a different approach to learning and I am almost positive that it is effective. This idea is establishing skills for the students that they can essentially take with them to college and even further in life. I know that when I first started surfing the Internet for sources for projects and papers I trusted almost every source I found. I know it sounds silly but at that age I just didn’t know. I did not know how to tell the difference from a source that is legitimate and source that was not. I wish I would have had a project along these lines to help me. It would have been so useful and effective. Not only does this project sound useful it also sounds fun. I would have loved to be doing something like this in my high school classes. I really enjoyed reading this blog and I think this teacher is a very smart woman with great ideas!
Week 7, Fischbowl
Week 7, Fischbowl
I really enjoyed reading this blog and thoroughly agree with him. I think that is beyond important for the teachers of this century to be able to work a computer and know how to well. If I as a teacher am technologically illiterate then I cannot teach anyone else how to use technology. He makes very good points about technology being a necessity instead of an addition these days. And I wouldn’t have thought of it that way until he said it.
The comment is made that teachers who are illiterate to technology today are equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who can’t read or write. While this is a brave post to be made, it is pretty true. If you think about it there are numerous things we use on the computer in the classroom every day. Half of them we probably don’t even realize. Think about all the power points for teaching, grade book, email between parents, etc. If you cant do these things I would imagine it would be a lot harder to keep up with the classroom. I think that if a teacher were technologically illiterate then it would be wise to go learn for the benefit of themselves and their class.
I really enjoyed reading this blog and thoroughly agree with him. I think that is beyond important for the teachers of this century to be able to work a computer and know how to well. If I as a teacher am technologically illiterate then I cannot teach anyone else how to use technology. He makes very good points about technology being a necessity instead of an addition these days. And I wouldn’t have thought of it that way until he said it.
The comment is made that teachers who are illiterate to technology today are equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who can’t read or write. While this is a brave post to be made, it is pretty true. If you think about it there are numerous things we use on the computer in the classroom every day. Half of them we probably don’t even realize. Think about all the power points for teaching, grade book, email between parents, etc. If you cant do these things I would imagine it would be a lot harder to keep up with the classroom. I think that if a teacher were technologically illiterate then it would be wise to go learn for the benefit of themselves and their class.
Week 6, International Blog
International School #1
The first international blog I found was by a teacher named Mr. Gary Coyle at The American Embassy School in New Delphi, India. It is used for his eighth grade Humanities class. He has them exploring a theme per quarter that addresses the concept of power. He posts a question each quarter and each student has to respond. He also includes a class hall of fame where he posts some of the best answers. In addition he includes links to his weekly assignments.
I think that Mr. Coyle has done a wonderful job with this blog and I find it very interesting that even children in India are blogging. He has done a great job with getting his students to use the Internet as an additional source to the classroom. He seems to really be getting them to think and I am sure in return his classrooms scores reflect it. I love the idea of having a class hall of fame. This makes the students want to do their best so that they can be included. It also allows students to feel proud of them for the good job they have done.
http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/
International School #2
The second international blog I found was a website called epals. This sight allows students and teachers from all over the world to communicate. Not only is there blogging but also projects, email, and forums. I think that this is one of the best sights I have found. Using this in the classroom can take education to a whole different level. Teachers and students can exchange ideas with more than just the people around them but with some of the best teachers and students of the world. I find it very fascinating that in my classroom in the U.S. I can connect my students with another classroom in China or anywhere else. This is a great way to get new ideas and different perspectives on all types of subjects.
http://www.epals.com/
The first international blog I found was by a teacher named Mr. Gary Coyle at The American Embassy School in New Delphi, India. It is used for his eighth grade Humanities class. He has them exploring a theme per quarter that addresses the concept of power. He posts a question each quarter and each student has to respond. He also includes a class hall of fame where he posts some of the best answers. In addition he includes links to his weekly assignments.
I think that Mr. Coyle has done a wonderful job with this blog and I find it very interesting that even children in India are blogging. He has done a great job with getting his students to use the Internet as an additional source to the classroom. He seems to really be getting them to think and I am sure in return his classrooms scores reflect it. I love the idea of having a class hall of fame. This makes the students want to do their best so that they can be included. It also allows students to feel proud of them for the good job they have done.
http://mrcoyle.edublogs.org/
International School #2
The second international blog I found was a website called epals. This sight allows students and teachers from all over the world to communicate. Not only is there blogging but also projects, email, and forums. I think that this is one of the best sights I have found. Using this in the classroom can take education to a whole different level. Teachers and students can exchange ideas with more than just the people around them but with some of the best teachers and students of the world. I find it very fascinating that in my classroom in the U.S. I can connect my students with another classroom in China or anywhere else. This is a great way to get new ideas and different perspectives on all types of subjects.
http://www.epals.com/
Friday, November 7, 2008
Week 5, Blogs in the Classroom
Blog in the Classroom #1At South Valley Junior High in Liberty, Missouri a teacher named Mr. Langhorst is using blogs for his 8th grade History class. His blog contains ideas, pictures, videos, news items, and general thoughts about the topics related to his lessons. He updates it regularly to better help his students in his class and to simply get them thinking. Also in his blog he has links to “podcast” and “studycast”. These are both audio programs used to show videos and quiz his students on the material he is teaching. Everything he covers he uploads on the internet for not only his students to access but also their parents. Also he adds some fun into the blog by adding pictures and videos of the class itself.
After looking at this blog I am simply amazed. He has put so much time and effort in it and it really shows. This is a phenomenal way for the students to have further resources besides his lectures and the book. Not only is he going over the required material but also he is posting general news information to help keep them updated in their current events. He seems to make things very interesting and easy to access. I think that this is a great way to get students using technology and to also help them further their knowledge of the subject material.
After looking at this blog I am simply amazed. He has put so much time and effort in it and it really shows. This is a phenomenal way for the students to have further resources besides his lectures and the book. Not only is he going over the required material but also he is posting general news information to help keep them updated in their current events. He seems to make things very interesting and easy to access. I think that this is a great way to get students using technology and to also help them further their knowledge of the subject material.
Blog in the Classroom #3
At Hooper Elementary in West Hooper, Utah every teacher is using a blog to reach out to students, faculty and parents. This allows them to distribute information quickly and accurately. By making a blog, employees of Hooper elementary can dispense information to students and parents online, which allows them to access it during their free time and in the comfort of their own homes. Using text, pictures, and attachments the blog makes for an easy log of daily events, upcoming happenings and even can assist sick students catch up to work they may have missed.
Every teacher at this school is required to use a blog and I think that is fantastic. This makes things so much easier for everyone. The students have somewhere to go if they need help and the parents as well. I believe that this helps everyone to communicate smother and it also gets the students using technology. This is a great asset to a classroom and also a great way further the education of the students.
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