I think that it is in a song somewhere about one gun getting added to one gun and then one gun is added on. Same thing with your voice. Once someone stands up and says hey that's not cool, another person soon follows until there is a huge body of people saying, hey that's not cool.
The story in the attached video is of a six year old boy who had a brain tumor that the doctors told his parents would make it impossible for him to meet any of his milestones. This little boy has and he walks, runs etc. Part of his disability is a severe speech impediment. Of course, if you did not hear him speak you would not know anything was wrong with this little boy, kind of. For what ever reason, he has decided he wants to wear a shirt, tie, jacket and hat. It makes him feel comfortable. This is were the bullying started. Fortunately he participates on a football team as a water coach and when they found out, they rallied around him.
For most children living through this there is no football team to back them up. What they need is us. We need to start telling children that they need to be brave and be the first voice saying it is not cool. We need to make sure that they know if they are the first voice, lots of voices will join in. An adult voice will not stop it and sometimes it actually makes it worse.The voice needs to come from a peer. It is hard to be brave for a child as most adults are not. When we see bullying happening it only takes one voice to stop it and I hope we all become the first voice.
Watch the video and please be that voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq7ZgXz_YLc
When school starts back in January I will be wearing a hat. I hope I am questioned so I can share my one voice.
Have a great Holiday
Jeff
Jeff's Blog by Jeff Murrell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Monday, 16 December 2013
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Math Comes up Again.
Only a week ago we heard about the poor state of math in our education system and the numerous suggestions on how we can improve it. This subject came up as part of a meeting I was attending as a member of HAT (Heads of Apprenticeship Training) with OCOT (Ontario College of Trades) and the Curriculum Development Committee for Carpentry. The group had assembled to work through some issues that have came up due to the transfer of the curriculum from the Ministry of Training for Colleges and Universities to OCOT.
The change in the curriculum is well over due and very needed. The Curriculum committee has done a great job putting together the proposal. The conversation centered around the details of what needed to stay and what we would have to remove. One subject, that in my mind, should not be part of the curriculum, is Math. This time would be better spent applying math that the apprentices have been exposed to in their secondary education to the trade. Then it happened. The statement was made that people with a grade twelve College level math did not have the basic numeracy skills to be successful as a carpenter apprentice.
Of course the suggestion was made that they would need to change the entry level requirement into the trade. There are a number of options for a College level certificate or two year diploma related to the field. This option was actually considered as a possibility until it was determined that establishing this was totally outside the scope of anyone at the table. The Math has stayed.
What it has made me wonder is if these students are not able too be successful at apprenticeship then how could they possibly succeed in an advanced diploma. The answer to the question is of course they can not. Students who take the college level math in their secondary education have actually made it very difficult for them to achieve success in any of the technology programs offered at anyone of the Colleges in Ontario. Also, if we looked at the data, we would find that this is why we are suffering a problem with retention and completion of apprenticeship.
I don't know the answer. I do think that the education system has to change and start holding students back who do not demonstrate basic numeracy skills. By doing this it will give back value to the completion of a grade twelve diploma.
Have a great week,
Jeff
The change in the curriculum is well over due and very needed. The Curriculum committee has done a great job putting together the proposal. The conversation centered around the details of what needed to stay and what we would have to remove. One subject, that in my mind, should not be part of the curriculum, is Math. This time would be better spent applying math that the apprentices have been exposed to in their secondary education to the trade. Then it happened. The statement was made that people with a grade twelve College level math did not have the basic numeracy skills to be successful as a carpenter apprentice.
Of course the suggestion was made that they would need to change the entry level requirement into the trade. There are a number of options for a College level certificate or two year diploma related to the field. This option was actually considered as a possibility until it was determined that establishing this was totally outside the scope of anyone at the table. The Math has stayed.
What it has made me wonder is if these students are not able too be successful at apprenticeship then how could they possibly succeed in an advanced diploma. The answer to the question is of course they can not. Students who take the college level math in their secondary education have actually made it very difficult for them to achieve success in any of the technology programs offered at anyone of the Colleges in Ontario. Also, if we looked at the data, we would find that this is why we are suffering a problem with retention and completion of apprenticeship.
I don't know the answer. I do think that the education system has to change and start holding students back who do not demonstrate basic numeracy skills. By doing this it will give back value to the completion of a grade twelve diploma.
Have a great week,
Jeff
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Math - Something does not add up
This past week the international report on how 43 countries are preforming on math was released and of course the usual media activity soon followed. Canada, while doing much better then the other "western" nations, came in at 13. Not bad if you ignore that this is a six spot drop on the list over the past two reports. Of course this was pointed out by several news reports which also tried to point out the problem with Canada's school system. Most pointed at two main possible causes. Poor teachers who are not prepared to teach math, and of course the curriculum needs to be adjusted back to a more traditional one. This for me just does not add up.
I visited a local high school as a representative of our College and was asked a question by some of their faculty that kind of made me understand the first point in these news casts. They said "What do we need to teach our technology students to better position them for your trades and technology related programs, and don't say math?" These teachers don't want to teach math because it is boring. They want to teach all the things that are part of the learning outcomes in our technology programs instead of preparing them for post secondary by giving them a proper foundation.
It is so easy to point out that this is a problem in our elementary and secondary school systems. They are the ones with the task of teaching these very fundamental subjects. One suggestion of the media is very true. We need to go back to traditional curriculum. This will help but only take us part way. We need also to remove all of the calculators from math class. Children need to be able to figure things out in their head. This will put us back on a path of strong mathematical skills in our youth giving them an opportunity to meet the skills shortage of tomorrow.
After this there is nothing else the school system can do. No magical fix that some of the other countries are doing that we do not know about. They need to just hand back the traditional curriculum's to teachers and take away all the cool subjects they want to teach.Also make a hard fast rule that indicates when and how calculators can be used in math class. Yet, even with some of our Canadian schools teaching a more traditional curriculum, they are not preforming at the level of other nations. This is where things do not add up and there has to be something else. I believe there is a very big piece missing, but it can not be supplied in a school.
The way our children play is ever changing and I think in here lies a key. I was shopping last week for my grandchildren for Christmas and picked up a Monopoly game. This will be great, I thought, they are at the age when they will need to be doing the math required in this game. The picture on the box was different and on closer examination I found that this game now has a computer to figure everything out for them. They don't do any math at play so it is little wonder that they can not figure things out, they have never have to. Games is a big part of the reason that these children do not know how to do math. I know that I enjoyed the times I would play crib with my grandfather and the entire time I was learning math and strategy. Kids are competitive and by giving them a game in which they have to do simple math to win, they will quickly learn the simple math as well as fundamental problem solving. This allows the school to teach more complex math, thus preparing them for post secondary and to help fill the skills shortage.
Parents, the best thing you can do for your child is to play.
Have a great week,
Jeff
I visited a local high school as a representative of our College and was asked a question by some of their faculty that kind of made me understand the first point in these news casts. They said "What do we need to teach our technology students to better position them for your trades and technology related programs, and don't say math?" These teachers don't want to teach math because it is boring. They want to teach all the things that are part of the learning outcomes in our technology programs instead of preparing them for post secondary by giving them a proper foundation.
It is so easy to point out that this is a problem in our elementary and secondary school systems. They are the ones with the task of teaching these very fundamental subjects. One suggestion of the media is very true. We need to go back to traditional curriculum. This will help but only take us part way. We need also to remove all of the calculators from math class. Children need to be able to figure things out in their head. This will put us back on a path of strong mathematical skills in our youth giving them an opportunity to meet the skills shortage of tomorrow.
After this there is nothing else the school system can do. No magical fix that some of the other countries are doing that we do not know about. They need to just hand back the traditional curriculum's to teachers and take away all the cool subjects they want to teach.Also make a hard fast rule that indicates when and how calculators can be used in math class. Yet, even with some of our Canadian schools teaching a more traditional curriculum, they are not preforming at the level of other nations. This is where things do not add up and there has to be something else. I believe there is a very big piece missing, but it can not be supplied in a school.
The way our children play is ever changing and I think in here lies a key. I was shopping last week for my grandchildren for Christmas and picked up a Monopoly game. This will be great, I thought, they are at the age when they will need to be doing the math required in this game. The picture on the box was different and on closer examination I found that this game now has a computer to figure everything out for them. They don't do any math at play so it is little wonder that they can not figure things out, they have never have to. Games is a big part of the reason that these children do not know how to do math. I know that I enjoyed the times I would play crib with my grandfather and the entire time I was learning math and strategy. Kids are competitive and by giving them a game in which they have to do simple math to win, they will quickly learn the simple math as well as fundamental problem solving. This allows the school to teach more complex math, thus preparing them for post secondary and to help fill the skills shortage.
Parents, the best thing you can do for your child is to play.
Have a great week,
Jeff
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Twelve
The final week of the course but will it be the final blog?
First I want to thank all of my classmates who took the journey with me. This was great fun and it has been a pleasure reading and sharing all your thoughts and ideas around digital citizenship. I must admit that there were times when I felt that there was no way that I was going to be able to complete some of these tasks as I was a digital immigrant but that over the twelve weeks has changed and here we are, at the end with a new attitude on technology and the possibilities for education.
I have tried to google myself a few times over the course of the the program. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are a lot of people with my exact same name who come up every time. One does lighting for movies and I knew of him as I am one of those people who read the credits. There are a couple of Lawyers, a musician and know I show up. I think that one of the reasons that I do not show up near the top of the page is that I have a limited digital footprint currently. If I make my search very specific like adding the city I live in or my job title then I of course pop up first. I have but one choice to change this and that is by having a greater digital footprint. I will do this by continuing to be digitally active.
I have really enjoyed the common sense approach to the nine elements of a good digital citizen. while participating in the course I have discovered that they are not simple. It takes some real understanding and a good social compass to be able to ensure you are always acting correctly. In fact I had someone today ask me if I was upset about something because I did not include a salutation in the beginning of an e-mail. I was not, they needed a response right away on an issue and I was running to another meeting. Just saving time. If they came to my office door and asked a question they would have gotten the same short answer followed by "I have a meeting so I have to run" and they would not have thought anything of it. I need to make sure I always take that couple of extra minutes to interact properly or don't respond at all.
I think that at the College I work at I have many opportunities to help others by simply being a good digital citizen. If I show people how to act appropriately and when they have not give them guidance, then they will all start to act properly. I am also going to get my faculty to implement elements into the courses that they are teaching that have an online component. This is very important as I think that young people are just looking for guidance. If we teach them and show them they will start to teach and show others.
This might be my final blog for this course, but it is not my final blog. I am hooked. I have a few ideas of what I will be writing about next week. I of course am going to have to come up with a better name for my new blog. I do like to write when I critically reflect so it is very possible that I will continue to write weekly just as a reflection on what ever subject I am taking. Look me up and follow if you wish.
It was a blast. Have a great Holiday,
Jeff
First I want to thank all of my classmates who took the journey with me. This was great fun and it has been a pleasure reading and sharing all your thoughts and ideas around digital citizenship. I must admit that there were times when I felt that there was no way that I was going to be able to complete some of these tasks as I was a digital immigrant but that over the twelve weeks has changed and here we are, at the end with a new attitude on technology and the possibilities for education.
I have tried to google myself a few times over the course of the the program. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are a lot of people with my exact same name who come up every time. One does lighting for movies and I knew of him as I am one of those people who read the credits. There are a couple of Lawyers, a musician and know I show up. I think that one of the reasons that I do not show up near the top of the page is that I have a limited digital footprint currently. If I make my search very specific like adding the city I live in or my job title then I of course pop up first. I have but one choice to change this and that is by having a greater digital footprint. I will do this by continuing to be digitally active.
I have really enjoyed the common sense approach to the nine elements of a good digital citizen. while participating in the course I have discovered that they are not simple. It takes some real understanding and a good social compass to be able to ensure you are always acting correctly. In fact I had someone today ask me if I was upset about something because I did not include a salutation in the beginning of an e-mail. I was not, they needed a response right away on an issue and I was running to another meeting. Just saving time. If they came to my office door and asked a question they would have gotten the same short answer followed by "I have a meeting so I have to run" and they would not have thought anything of it. I need to make sure I always take that couple of extra minutes to interact properly or don't respond at all.
I think that at the College I work at I have many opportunities to help others by simply being a good digital citizen. If I show people how to act appropriately and when they have not give them guidance, then they will all start to act properly. I am also going to get my faculty to implement elements into the courses that they are teaching that have an online component. This is very important as I think that young people are just looking for guidance. If we teach them and show them they will start to teach and show others.
This might be my final blog for this course, but it is not my final blog. I am hooked. I have a few ideas of what I will be writing about next week. I of course am going to have to come up with a better name for my new blog. I do like to write when I critically reflect so it is very possible that I will continue to write weekly just as a reflection on what ever subject I am taking. Look me up and follow if you wish.
It was a blast. Have a great Holiday,
Jeff
Friday, 29 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Eleven
This was a fantastic week that I truly enjoyed. I have book marked extra sites into my diigo from this week that I have not had a chance to explore yet but will well after the course is complete. The week was jammed with all sorts of exciting and interesting information that every good digital citizen should know about.
The first thing that we explored was the MOOC or Massive Online Open Course. These seem to be growing as more and more Ivy League Universities are starting to get involved. In my feedy a few weeks ago I came across a very interesting piece that indicated there would always be the need for a teacher. The thing is, the teacher will change. In my view, it becomes even more important that we teach children how to be good digital citizens because they could be participating and collaborating with other students in away that they transition back and forth from being the learner to being the teacher and back again.
I really enjoyed the reading that was set out in the course as well. It is kind of interesting that we see all these people wondering why a College or University would venture into the realm of MOOC's. One such article speaks to the lack of a business plan by these institutions. The suggestion that eventually they charge actually defeats the purpose of an open or free course. So why would they do it? I believe that they have thought it through very nicely. In fact, the article does brush on the subject of attracting students. I think this is at the root. As our World becomes more of one large global community, attracting the best students becomes an increasingly harder task. I think that the best students will be in these MOOC's. Those that succeed must be master students as defined by Ellis, Toft and Dawson (2012), so my question is why would you not want to reach out to these students?
I think that by going where the students are, online learning, they have a better chance of drawing them into the programs that already exist in their institutions. There is no way a student would sign up for a MOOC delivered by some no name person run out of the spare bedroom of an apartment somewhere when they can sign up to a MOOC delivered by Harvard with a rock start in the field as the subject mater expert. These Ivy League schools will push the small guys back out of the market and at the same time, once they have the infrastructure built, be doing their recruitment at a fraction of the cost. The revolution in education is upon us. Not really. I think that we have a really cool way of learning and connecting through MOOC's but it will still be the degree that gets you the job.
The other piece that we explored this week was pod and screencasting. I found these to be great tools that can be used in your PLE (personal learning environment). I think that there is a huge advantage for an educator to use both of these tools to create mini lectures and demonstrations on subjects that can then be used by students around the world and for generations to come. One such person who has been successful has been Kahn. Of course, there will always be those who think that these tools are not good and will start to pick them apart. I found a great article written from a neutral stand that will allow the reader to make their own choice. In my mind these tools are great and will always be part of my future PLE, whether I am officially the teacher or the student.
The other very important piece we explored was adding a creative commons license to our Blog. You can find mine at both the top and bottom of my blog. This is critical for anyone who wants to utilize the tools of web 2.0. I think that there really should be another agreement process we have to go through that shows us where and how to get and protect ourselves with a creative commons license before we can go onto the internet. I now know how to do it, have book marked the page, and will make sure in the future I will add a license to anything I create and post.
I found two great pieces in my feedy this week that I really want to share. The first is on using your Diigo to automatically feed you the information for a daily blog. This is a cool idea and i can hardly wait to try it out. The second is an interesting cartoon that was posted as well. Not much information here but it will leave you thinking about how we look at students. I hope you look at this cartoon and reflect on how many fish you have ever asked to climb a tree.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Chen, Angela. (2012). Parody Critiques Popular Khan Academy Videos. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/parody-critiques-popular-khan-academy-videos/37543
Davis, Vickie, (2013). How to automatically post bookmarks to your post using Diigo. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/automatically-post-bookmarks-blog-using-diigo/?utm_source=feedly
Davis, Vickie, (2013). The education Cartoon everyone Should Read. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/quotes/education-cartoon-everyone-read/?utm_source=feedly
Ellis,D. Toft, D. and Dawson, D. (2012) Becoming a Master Student. (5th ed).Toronto, Ont. Canada.
Gsiemens, (2013). WISE Panel: Can MOOC's democratize higher education. Retrieved from; http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2013/11/05/wise-panel-can-moocs-democratize-higher-education/
McKenna, Laura. (2012). The big Idea That an Revolutionize Higher Education: MOOC's. Retrieved from; http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/the-big-idea-that-can-revolutionize-higher-education-mooc/256926/
Selingo, Jeff. (2012). As Elite Colleges Invite the World Online, Questions Remain on their Business Plan. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/19/as-elite-colleges-open-to-the-world-online-questions-remain-on-business-plan/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
The first thing that we explored was the MOOC or Massive Online Open Course. These seem to be growing as more and more Ivy League Universities are starting to get involved. In my feedy a few weeks ago I came across a very interesting piece that indicated there would always be the need for a teacher. The thing is, the teacher will change. In my view, it becomes even more important that we teach children how to be good digital citizens because they could be participating and collaborating with other students in away that they transition back and forth from being the learner to being the teacher and back again.
I really enjoyed the reading that was set out in the course as well. It is kind of interesting that we see all these people wondering why a College or University would venture into the realm of MOOC's. One such article speaks to the lack of a business plan by these institutions. The suggestion that eventually they charge actually defeats the purpose of an open or free course. So why would they do it? I believe that they have thought it through very nicely. In fact, the article does brush on the subject of attracting students. I think this is at the root. As our World becomes more of one large global community, attracting the best students becomes an increasingly harder task. I think that the best students will be in these MOOC's. Those that succeed must be master students as defined by Ellis, Toft and Dawson (2012), so my question is why would you not want to reach out to these students?
I think that by going where the students are, online learning, they have a better chance of drawing them into the programs that already exist in their institutions. There is no way a student would sign up for a MOOC delivered by some no name person run out of the spare bedroom of an apartment somewhere when they can sign up to a MOOC delivered by Harvard with a rock start in the field as the subject mater expert. These Ivy League schools will push the small guys back out of the market and at the same time, once they have the infrastructure built, be doing their recruitment at a fraction of the cost. The revolution in education is upon us. Not really. I think that we have a really cool way of learning and connecting through MOOC's but it will still be the degree that gets you the job.
The other piece that we explored this week was pod and screencasting. I found these to be great tools that can be used in your PLE (personal learning environment). I think that there is a huge advantage for an educator to use both of these tools to create mini lectures and demonstrations on subjects that can then be used by students around the world and for generations to come. One such person who has been successful has been Kahn. Of course, there will always be those who think that these tools are not good and will start to pick them apart. I found a great article written from a neutral stand that will allow the reader to make their own choice. In my mind these tools are great and will always be part of my future PLE, whether I am officially the teacher or the student.
The other very important piece we explored was adding a creative commons license to our Blog. You can find mine at both the top and bottom of my blog. This is critical for anyone who wants to utilize the tools of web 2.0. I think that there really should be another agreement process we have to go through that shows us where and how to get and protect ourselves with a creative commons license before we can go onto the internet. I now know how to do it, have book marked the page, and will make sure in the future I will add a license to anything I create and post.
I found two great pieces in my feedy this week that I really want to share. The first is on using your Diigo to automatically feed you the information for a daily blog. This is a cool idea and i can hardly wait to try it out. The second is an interesting cartoon that was posted as well. Not much information here but it will leave you thinking about how we look at students. I hope you look at this cartoon and reflect on how many fish you have ever asked to climb a tree.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Chen, Angela. (2012). Parody Critiques Popular Khan Academy Videos. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/parody-critiques-popular-khan-academy-videos/37543
Davis, Vickie, (2013). How to automatically post bookmarks to your post using Diigo. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/automatically-post-bookmarks-blog-using-diigo/?utm_source=feedly
Davis, Vickie, (2013). The education Cartoon everyone Should Read. Retrieved from; http://www.coolcatteacher.com/quotes/education-cartoon-everyone-read/?utm_source=feedly
Ellis,D. Toft, D. and Dawson, D. (2012) Becoming a Master Student. (5th ed).Toronto, Ont. Canada.
Gsiemens, (2013). WISE Panel: Can MOOC's democratize higher education. Retrieved from; http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2013/11/05/wise-panel-can-moocs-democratize-higher-education/
McKenna, Laura. (2012). The big Idea That an Revolutionize Higher Education: MOOC's. Retrieved from; http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/the-big-idea-that-can-revolutionize-higher-education-mooc/256926/
Selingo, Jeff. (2012). As Elite Colleges Invite the World Online, Questions Remain on their Business Plan. Retrieved from; http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/19/as-elite-colleges-open-to-the-world-online-questions-remain-on-business-plan/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Screencast Tool
I hate doing it because there has to be away but I give up. Spent way
to long trying to embed my screencast onto my blog. I originally
started by trying to do a podcast but did not like it for this
assignment so I changed to the screencast. The week and entire course is
quickly coming to a close and I must move on so that I can complete the
big project. The funny thing is that my screencast is about putting in
the Creative Commons license on your blog. As well, I have not had any
difficulty getting other images to embed. Eventually I have to push
back, laugh and move on, if I don't, the computer would end up out the
window floating away on Lake Huron. I am sure that in some cases, like
this one, I have discovered and learned more from the struggle than I
did from the actual process of creating the screencast. While I reflect
on this and figure out how to embed a screencast I will discover the
lesson. For now, this too will have to wait. Please see the link
attached. I at least got that correct.
http://screencast.com/t/qEylzShw
When I first started to look at these sharing tools I thought that there was no place for them in my Personal Learning Environment. I viewed these tools as ones that I would only use to communicate with the World or my students as an instructor. This to me looked more like the reverse video that has been showing up in several classrooms, and would make great ones. The instructor logs in, creates either a podcast or screencast on a subject and then posts it within the walled garden of the Learning Management System for the students to view. This becomes a great tool for instructors to help students figure out complex principles or may even allow them to cover a subject the entire class did poorly on in a test.
While I had all these wonderful ideas floating in my head as I explored both of these tools, it dawned on me that others would have the same idea as well. Why spend my time creating new podcast on a subject when there must be someone out there doing it already. Why not search and subscribe to these. The information then, just like my feeder, comes to me. If I find great podcast, I can then share these with other students.
The screencast tool really spoke to me. I totally enjoyed the process and believe that this tool used correctly in a classroom or learning situation will help students grow and learn. A screencast will allow students to be both the teacher and the learner at the same time. If a student asks another one for help and the second student creates a screencast to walk them through the problem, the second student has actually become the teacher. This process makes the student to move the information into a different part of the brain and they will actually retain the information much longer. There is a better chance for real learning and discovery when this occurs. Used at it was here in this course, we all became teachers for these short little video's. I am sure we choose things that would be easy for each one of us to do our assignment on as that is human nature. While I was doing mine I know that I did learn a lot more about Creative Commons.
This was an excellent project that I really enjoyed (I was only kidding about my computer going for a swim) even if I could not get the video to embed. I totally now believe that both of these can be in my PLE as collaboration tools or for collecting information or better yet as pieces to assignments that I will be completing in the future.
Jeff
http://screencast.com/t/qEylzShw
When I first started to look at these sharing tools I thought that there was no place for them in my Personal Learning Environment. I viewed these tools as ones that I would only use to communicate with the World or my students as an instructor. This to me looked more like the reverse video that has been showing up in several classrooms, and would make great ones. The instructor logs in, creates either a podcast or screencast on a subject and then posts it within the walled garden of the Learning Management System for the students to view. This becomes a great tool for instructors to help students figure out complex principles or may even allow them to cover a subject the entire class did poorly on in a test.
While I had all these wonderful ideas floating in my head as I explored both of these tools, it dawned on me that others would have the same idea as well. Why spend my time creating new podcast on a subject when there must be someone out there doing it already. Why not search and subscribe to these. The information then, just like my feeder, comes to me. If I find great podcast, I can then share these with other students.
The screencast tool really spoke to me. I totally enjoyed the process and believe that this tool used correctly in a classroom or learning situation will help students grow and learn. A screencast will allow students to be both the teacher and the learner at the same time. If a student asks another one for help and the second student creates a screencast to walk them through the problem, the second student has actually become the teacher. This process makes the student to move the information into a different part of the brain and they will actually retain the information much longer. There is a better chance for real learning and discovery when this occurs. Used at it was here in this course, we all became teachers for these short little video's. I am sure we choose things that would be easy for each one of us to do our assignment on as that is human nature. While I was doing mine I know that I did learn a lot more about Creative Commons.
This was an excellent project that I really enjoyed (I was only kidding about my computer going for a swim) even if I could not get the video to embed. I totally now believe that both of these can be in my PLE as collaboration tools or for collecting information or better yet as pieces to assignments that I will be completing in the future.
Jeff
Friday, 22 November 2013
Digital Citizenship - Week Ten
I really have enjoyed the video at the beginning of this week as I do totally agree with Kirby Ferguson and have watched it several times this week. I liked it so much I could not resist adding it here. Try as I might, the code supplied for embedding just would not work. I loved the piece where Kirby speaks to Apple and how they used copyright to their advantage.
I honestly believe that the people in the world are no smarter then those generations past, we just have been starting our learning and exploring and expanding our knowledge base from a totally different starting point. This is accelerating at the speed of the web as new ideas are shared almost instantly. The gap between time and space has shrunk considerably in the past century. Albert Einstein was several years getting his new theory of relativity out to the world and yet more before he could prove it as he was trapped in war torn Europe. We now get video footage from behind the lines almost as fast as it is happening. I know I have never had a truly new idea in my life but rather just thoughts or adjustments to the ideas of others. The entire world remixes.
The object of study this week of course would be copyright laws. While most people might not enjoy the exciting read any copyright law is, I am sure they would prefer it to a court order. One of the pieces that I did learn form was the part on fair dealing. I find this very interesting and I think that its intent is to enable some people the ability to use certain material in constructive ways for the betterment of all. I like that it does give the ability for material to be used in education and for study. I do find it interesting that this has yet to be tested in the courts. I would hate to be the first so for the near future I will still proceed with caution. I think that if I remain reasonable and remember to properly cite the information then I should be safe. While it might seem like they have given education more freedoms, we did learn last week that with freedom comes responsibility so I will still cite.
The creative commons article was also very interesting and enlightening. I totally enjoyed looking at each of the creative commons licenses when I was looking for images for my Aminoto. A very cool concept and I think that it will become a huge piece of my classrooms going forward. As our College moves towards an entirely mobile institution, more and more students will be posting things on the web. They will all need to understand this concept and I think that as a College we should make it a policy that we do not allow students to post anything they will be using for grades unless they have first created their own Creative Commons account. It protects the students, has them learn about copyright and helps them become better digital citizens.
Unfortunately I did not find anything in my feeder that peeked my interest. There was one that started out very good but turned into speaking about funding. Another that I did enjoy was based on five lies about Brock University. I liked this because some of the things mentioned had actual ties to being a good student, which every successful Brock Student must be, as well as some humor. Check them out.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Ted Talks (2012), Kirby Ferguson:Embrace the Remix. Retrieved from; http://on.ted.com/FergusonRemix
Media Smarts (n.d.), Fair Dealing for Media Education. Retrieved from; http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education
Wolf, L.G. (2010). Remix Reuse Recycle- A Creative Commons Assignment. Retrieved from; http://www.leighgraveswolf.com/2010/06/11/remix-reuse-recycle-a-creative-commons-assignment/
I honestly believe that the people in the world are no smarter then those generations past, we just have been starting our learning and exploring and expanding our knowledge base from a totally different starting point. This is accelerating at the speed of the web as new ideas are shared almost instantly. The gap between time and space has shrunk considerably in the past century. Albert Einstein was several years getting his new theory of relativity out to the world and yet more before he could prove it as he was trapped in war torn Europe. We now get video footage from behind the lines almost as fast as it is happening. I know I have never had a truly new idea in my life but rather just thoughts or adjustments to the ideas of others. The entire world remixes.
The object of study this week of course would be copyright laws. While most people might not enjoy the exciting read any copyright law is, I am sure they would prefer it to a court order. One of the pieces that I did learn form was the part on fair dealing. I find this very interesting and I think that its intent is to enable some people the ability to use certain material in constructive ways for the betterment of all. I like that it does give the ability for material to be used in education and for study. I do find it interesting that this has yet to be tested in the courts. I would hate to be the first so for the near future I will still proceed with caution. I think that if I remain reasonable and remember to properly cite the information then I should be safe. While it might seem like they have given education more freedoms, we did learn last week that with freedom comes responsibility so I will still cite.
The creative commons article was also very interesting and enlightening. I totally enjoyed looking at each of the creative commons licenses when I was looking for images for my Aminoto. A very cool concept and I think that it will become a huge piece of my classrooms going forward. As our College moves towards an entirely mobile institution, more and more students will be posting things on the web. They will all need to understand this concept and I think that as a College we should make it a policy that we do not allow students to post anything they will be using for grades unless they have first created their own Creative Commons account. It protects the students, has them learn about copyright and helps them become better digital citizens.
Unfortunately I did not find anything in my feeder that peeked my interest. There was one that started out very good but turned into speaking about funding. Another that I did enjoy was based on five lies about Brock University. I liked this because some of the things mentioned had actual ties to being a good student, which every successful Brock Student must be, as well as some humor. Check them out.
Have a great weekend.
Jeff
Ted Talks (2012), Kirby Ferguson:Embrace the Remix. Retrieved from; http://on.ted.com/FergusonRemix
Media Smarts (n.d.), Fair Dealing for Media Education. Retrieved from; http://mediasmarts.ca/intellectual-property/fair-dealing-media-education
Wolf, L.G. (2010). Remix Reuse Recycle- A Creative Commons Assignment. Retrieved from; http://www.leighgraveswolf.com/2010/06/11/remix-reuse-recycle-a-creative-commons-assignment/
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