Thursday, July 26, 2012

Podcasting

     Podcasting has been around for a wile, although its been available to us for a wile it has only been popular the last few years. Podcasting is a free/cheap way for people to get information across, either in audio or video formats. The main reason podcasting is a success is how it is utilized in the education community. As an example, If you go on itunes most of the podcasts are an online lecture from different professors around the world, great for both the students and people wanting to learn for free. Podcasting is great because anyone can download it to their laptop, mp3 player, or evan their phone. You can listen to it while you drive to work or studying for a test. My opinion is that it is better listening to a lecture than reading over the chapter in the book, podcasting makes that possible anytime anywhere.
     Podcasting is very different from web 2.0 and very alike in other ways. In web 2.0, information is gathered in one place from anyone who goes to the site. Podcasts are made by one source and are not edited by others. Both web 2.0 and podcasting are designed to give the public information, though podcasting has been proven to be more accurate based on the huge amount of professors recorded lectures. Itunes podcast library and wikipedia have alot in common: spread of information, unlimited facts, easy to use.  But the main reason wikipedia is used more than podcasts is the time it takes to find an answer, with podcasting a student would have to watch/listen to the whole clip(which could take ten minutes) a student could find the answer right away on Wikipedia, everyone knows wikipedia is not very accurate but most pages have a work sited section, this is very helpful if a student is trying to find a starting point for a project.
     My entire life I have liked to learn things more than anything, when I first learned about podcasts a few years ago I watched an entire semester worth of MIT's computer programming class and recently I have gone through  Oxfords business lectures. Each week i drive a little over 200 miles, I cant buy enough music to keep me occupied and the radio commercials bug me too much, so I listen to tons of podcasts from Itunes   University podcast section during my travel, I hook my ipod to my cars audio. I don't use my Ipod for anything other than a "DVR" and podcasting. I use my phone for music, though podcasts are able to be put on any device Itunes has revolutionized podcasting, making it time consuming to try and download it to a device other than an Ipod. I use podcasting all the time.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Web 2.0 Applications

     Web 2.0 applications in todays society is common, For an example. A&M Commerce along with many other colleges use them to teach their online classes. It's like an online class room, group work is the same as if they were in the same room, the only down fall is limiting physical interaction between the students. If you look at Web 2.0 as any site that takes everyones input, It could be Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter. Web 2.0 is growing more and more popular in todays society, web site designers are realizing they don't have to do as much work if they switch from 1.0 to 2.0 they count on others to fill in the pages for them. In the future, web 2.0 will be used more in the k-12 schools, high schools are just now starting to use sites like these to implement their schooling, its just a matter of time before middle school follows in their foot steps.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Copy Right, Fair Use & Online Safety

     Copyright, In a school setting it is usually fine to break curtain copy right laws. There really is not a standing set of rules, but courtesy and ethics is involved. If a teacher makes a powerpoint for an astronomy class and uses a clipart of the constellation, it would be fine as long as it was used in the class room. On the other hand, if a teacher used the same gif for a banner in the cafeteria for a star party on friday, That would be wrong. A teacher can use a small music file in a presentation, but the theater teacher could not use it for a musical. In this case ethics makes sense. When I was in high-school we watched documentaries in history, as long as these videos were about the lesson we were learning that day it was ok. If a teacher wants to put on a movie that doesn't relate to the class as a reward there are ways to do that legally, there are permits that one can purchase from the publisher to play to a public audience.
     Fair Use and Online Safety, This one is kind of tricky. This one just takes common sense, When you are online don't post things like your address, ways to find you, and personal information with strangers. It is safe to use sites like blogs and Facebook, just don't give personal information on public networks, when someone starts asking for phone numbers, addresses, or a stranger asking to meet up with you, say no and if your a kid tell your parent/teacher. Cyber bullying can be just as wrong as physical bullying, but is more preventable than physical bullying. One example can be Facebook, If someone persists on making fun of you on Facebook  after you tell them to stop, simply de-friend them, problem solved. If it becomes a problem that cant be solved by the kid, he should tell an adult either a parent or teacher.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Mapping Information Activity

     Before this activity I thought I was an expert at researching, especially after 12 college credits in english. I knew about searching with quotes, I frequently used +/- but never knew about  using country codes, that will come in handy when writing about other cultures such as writing a paper about England, it makes more sense to get information from them rather then from an American website. These tools greatly reduce the amount of time needed to research for a paper or project. Without these shortcuts a student could still write a good paper but could have missed out on information, along with taking twice the amount of time needed to make a good paper. While I was working on this assignment I found something useful, Google's advanced search does allot of these shortcuts If you know what the terms mean, so even if a student can't remember what they have learned about internet shortcuts they can be reminded by using advanced search.
     After taking this Mapping Information Activity I think my habits will change, I found that Ask.com is a faster place to look for common questions. While there are many other search engines Google and ask.com are the only ones I would be willing to use on a project, though the others seem useful I can't compare it to these too. Yahoo is a very common search engine, over the years yahoo has degraded their system, and is now just an out of date Google. Search engines like Excite and Go spend too much time throwing adds in the users face making it annoying to do searches with them. Hotbot, I'm not exactly sure what this browser is used for but I am liking it. Whatever I search it seems to find the sites I like most at the top? I think I will be using this browser in the future.
     This activity has taught me allot, The main thing I can take out of this activity is that I should be more open to using different browsers, not just Google. Browsers are made differently, though Google is the most known and the most advanced, other browsers have an objective. As an example Ask.com is used for frequently asked questions, Ask uses 100s of people whose job is to link up websites with questions. Go.com and yahoo are mainly used by travelers, they seem to have the best searches for hotel, rent a car, and flight rates. I want to spend more time with Hotbot.com, I still can't figure out what its primarily used for. This lesson has taught me more about browsing and how to make it more convenient.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

First post

     My name is Chris Bankus, my hobbies is anything outdoors, anything from basketball to backpacking. I was an intern at my high school working for the technologists for two years, I was also a lifeguard and swimming instructor. At least half of my life goes to the Scouting program, which I teach swimming, computers, architecture, first aid, and many other activities/skills. My summers consist of teaching at summer camps, online schooling, and being the 5th grade leader at my church (1st Baptist Church Euless). When I'm not doing any of those I enjoy barbecues with my friends at the lake.
     My vision of Education Technology is that it should constantly change, it should be cost effect yet teaching students with the newest most efficient technology. I would like to digitalize everything and incorporate more of a “self-paced” program. Technology in the classroom should be decided by the school, not all grade levels should have the same technology. Technology should also be based on what is used in real life, not the school district spending tons of money on new Macs to show off.
     This class is about "Integrating technology into the curriculum" my goal is to become a technologist for a school district. I hope to expand my knowledge in the subject and use this class as a building block for the rest of my life. The first year I was working with the technologists we spent a huge amount of time and money setting up the STARS test on all the computers. Technology is great but sometimes people rush into future technology too soon. During the test at-least 100 students in my school alone were logged off the test in the middle and couldn't get online again. through countless phone calls to Pearson (STARS) we were able to get a few students back on to take their test. My goal in this class is to learn how to integrate using technology right by being prepared, not rushing into it.

Chris Bankus