Assignment 2

Web 2.0 Blog—WikiSpace

The Web 2.0 tool I researched was WikiSpace. This free tool allows individuals to create simple web pages that groups can edit. The link to this tool is http://www.go2web20.net/app/?a=WikiSpace. Currently teachers are using this in many ways. One tip that was suggested on the WikiSpace tool page was for students to create a wikified research paper. The students created a WikiSpace page with their research paper, and then linked their sources using the wiki. The students also incorporated videos and pictures on their space. Wiki pages are also being used for educational web conferencing. Presenters are able to post information and videos on wiki pages before conferences to help facilitate learning and provide resources for the future. An example of this is discussed in this blog post, http://itselementary.edublogs.org/2008/02/26/its-elementary-show-14-conferences-20-style/comment-page-1/#comment-22.

Jonathan Spreng

Assignment 1

Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives, Digital Wisdom Blog

This article was very interesting. Rather than discussing the difference between digital immigrants and digital natives, but rather focuses on digital wisdom. The author makes a good point at the very beginning of the article. He points out that given that many people growing up in the 21st century will be digital natives, a new distinction is needed, that of digital wisdom. Digital wisdom is identified as a twofold concept. This concept is first the use of technology, and then the access of information through technology. The author asserts that the wise digitally unenhanced individual will have less access to tools of wisdom than the digitally enhanced population. The article then goes on to discuss the use of technology in accessing wisdom and how digital use enhances how we interact with the world. For example digital devices help up plan, remember, and organize our lives every day. This is a very interesting concept and ties in with many educational theories. For example Lev Vygotsky’s theory on the zone of proximal development correlates to the use of digital information. The theory essentially states that an individual can only learn so much by themselves. It takes a peer or other social interaction to push that individuals learning to the next stage. Digital wisdom specifically addresses this. Through digital devices we are connected to the world to share ideas and increase learning, or we can access new information to take our own learning to the next level.

Jonathan Spreng

Assignment 2

A web 2.0 tool makes sharing information more interactive. An easy example of this, is social networking sites like Facebook. Another for video sharing is Youtube. In fact, this blog is a web 2.0 tool since it is an interactive site that shares information (actually an easy way to cheat on this assignment would be to put this link of the blog here since it is proof that teachers, or at least we the future and you the current teacher, use this technology... but I'll add another link later.) In fact, this link has a whole bunch of web 2.0 tools that one can use. This is actually a blog, which is a web 2.0 tool, telling about using web 2.0 when going back to school. This poster describes teachers using the tool to help students, but also in the office. "Some more specific services include: organizers, grade books, research tools, document managers, diagrams, and more." One site on their list that I have personally used is Easybib.com. This is a great way to make sure students know the correct way to make a bibliography. The days of having to remember, which no student could every memorize all of the bibliography formats perfectly, are over. Now all a student needs to do in order to find reliable sites is to make sure they are able to fill out all of the information that they need. It is a very useful application in a classroom.

Michelle Jones

Assignment 1

After reading the article about digital natives and digital immigrants, I can't help but semi agree with his ideas. Where I noticed some do not believe that technology will change us, I disagree. I watch my parents struggle to adapt to new technology all the time. They are the "digital immigrants." Even though my mom has a degree and is able to teach computers in class, when she first got a facebook I had to walk her through the uses. This is because technology has already started to change us. It has made us able to adapt quicker to a variety of different things. It also makes us able to multitask easier. Now, where I might argue against his idea is when it comes to whether our brain is actually changing or our ability to gather prior knowledge to make those adaptions are changing. Through technology, we can learn more faster so it is completely possible that our only change is in prior knowledge. However, this is still a change.

Michelle Jones

http://books.google.com/books?id=GE_o85oLetQC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153&dq=digital+advancement+changes+the+brain&source=bl&ots=7JX5KHLFFk&sig=vbW8eypl7Yrxr30I9NW0cOMzHkE&hl=en&ei=Ph3nSqCaBJDSsQPhkIGbBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false
This link in google books has a section that talks about Marc's theory and how technology changes the way we learn.

Web 2.0 blog

A web 2.0 tool is used to get the most out of the internet. This can come in many different forms such as using Google sketchup to create a layout of a building to using a narrowed search engine to find what you are looking for. Web 2.0 tools simply let a user get more out of their internet use. At the Cash La Puder middles school the media teacher is very active on Weebly.
Weebly is a site that lets you create a free website and blog. The user can upload videos, pictures and many more items. Another web 2.0 tool would be Google reader this tool is very useful it saves the user time because it brings articles to them so they don’t have to looking for it. I recently have used youtube to help in me with a horse judging team I am coaching. I was able to look up class’s for them to judge as well as how to videos.
Sadie

Assignment #2

Web 2.0 is again in the spirit of enhancing the classroom and more importantly the world utilizing the technological advances of the day. Web 2.0 most specifically utilizes the World Wide Web to do a variety of things such as promote creativity, create networking connections, and share information on a global scale. Many sites on the Internet are considered Web 2.0 and help to accomplish any of the above goals. Some of the more popular manifestations of Web 2.0 are sites such as wiki pages, facebook, youtube, and hulu. Many more of these sites can be found here.

Teachers in modern classrooms utilize aspects of Web 2.0 all the time. Whether it be having a wiki site for their students to be a part of, posting or having their students posting assignments on youtube, or just creating a social network for their classes. This brings the World Wide Web and technology into the classroom. Something that is important because students are using these things anyway and this helps to teach them new and exciting ways to use these advancements in technology. This is not just a cool idea either, it is real and real teacher use Web 2.0 all of the time in their modernized technological classrooms. The lesson we are creating right now in this very class is a great example of Web 2.0.

Reflecting on Article

As I read this article I could not help but think about the vast amount of information available to people today that was not available fifty years ago. When I started high school eight years ago it was the first time I had ever been on the internet. When you compare that the here and know where I spend several hours a day online it is amazing. In the article it talks about how having so much information at our fingertips and how it allows us to make more informed decisions as well as enables us to ask better questions while spending a fraction off the time researching. This is very important when it comes to education, because less time can be spent look up information and more time can be spent learning. Wither it is a teacher looking to update a lesson or a student writing a paper it simplifies the whole process.
Why I believe that technology is a great asset to teachers it a proven fact that why teachers my have the technology available to them few use it more then two times a week. This is pointed out in a article by Les Foltes he this article talks about how if a teacher does not use the technology it does not good. This is very inportant to keep in mind because many people feel that technology needs to be placed in schools right away and want to spend alot of money to do it. However, what they fail to relize is that if the teacher does not know how to use the technology or is has habits and does not want to change it is all for nothing.

Assignment #1

After reading the article by Marc Prensky it is clear that he is an advocate of the advancement of technology and the benefits that it has on the human race as a whole. He believes that this advancement will not only help to move the human race forward in the idea of its knowledge and wisdom, but that overall it will make humans into a whole new creature. He coins the term homo sapiens digital within his article. I see where it is that he is coming from, and I can see the clear cut benefits and good that can come from the advancement of technology. I myself utilize technology on a regular basis and know the benefit. But that does not mean that I think it will forever make people into something new. Yes people are advancing at a faster rate than ever before and we are moving in new directions that nobody could ever have perceived. But I believe that deep down people are always going to be people. Yes we will become intermittently more and more dependent on the technology around us, but that does not necessarily need to be. Especially as a history major I can see the benefit of the past. It is our past that dictates who or what we become. So to move blindly forward in the technological world would be forgetting who we are, where we come from. Reading something out of a book is such a different experience as opposed to the Internet. Opening up a leather bound primary source is in itself a lesson in history that technology cannot replicate. There are a variety of different articles showing the importance of books over technology out there in the world. So I am not saying that we should turn our backs on the advances that are being made in the technological world, but we should never forget that which came first, that which we came from.

Kelse Risenr

Assignment #2

With technology changing everyday there are new applications that one can use. These include Web 2.0 tools. Web 2.0 is about the users and content, instead of just surfing the Internet. Its about what the Internet can do for an active collaborator, rather than a passive viewer. (http://www.webreference.com/) This technology is changing the way that messages are spread across the Web. The advantage that these technologies have over others is that many, if not all of them are free. The most popular of these technologies being Myspace, Youtube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogger, and podcasting.

My favorite of the above mentioned is Youtube. Youtube is a video sharing website where users can upload and share videos. This specific Web 2.0 allows you to post a video on any subject possible. I have used this for entertainment as well as learning purposes. The other day I found a video on how to make braided rugs and I used it to teach my residents how to make them during their old fashion camp.

That is why I think this is really popular among teachers. I have been shadowing many middle and high school classrooms and the amount of teachers that use this tool is unmeasurable. Every teacher that I would visit used it at least once. It is clear that these tools are used in the classroom because you can go to many sites and see podcasts from different colleges, videos on any type of subject, and allows students to post on assigned articles, which cuts down on the paperwork and grading at home.

Reaction to the Article

At first I was frustrated with the information in the article. My perception was the scientists quoted in the article were saying that the learning styles would no longer be necessary in the classrooms. As we know the three main learning styles are Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic, and the present technology leaves out one of these styles. With technology we can see the screen (visual), and you can hear the sounds of the game (auditory), but how would a student who learns by doing actually learn with this technology. They woyuld have to think about what needs to be done and then the technology does it, but that still isn't the same as actually physically do the activity. So I think this new technology will take away some from learning. That is unless they focus on the wisdom that they discussed. If we build the wisdom needed to use this technology we could implement it to be very successful in the classroom. We have to know how to use this technology and find an understanding before it should be used for the purpose of learning.

Another article that I found really fascinating and also relates to the posted article is the one titled Future Technology in Education. You can find it at the following link http://www.wiu.edu/thecenter/articles/thefuture.html
Even though I wasn't old enough to remember the Jetsons before they were reruns I still feel that I could relate to the article in seeing how times have changed and how the technology has affected my education. An example would be I remember carrying around floppy disks. They were big and bulky, but now we have the flash drive. Also the best technology we had during my elementary and middle school years were the over head projectors, but now we have pod casts, smart boards, even the white board. Its amazing. I think many of you understand and have experienced exactly the same thing that I'm stating.

Randee Nuse

Blog Assignment #1

I thought this article was very interesting. In the beginning, it basically states that people everywhere benefit from technology. It is easier to find information and therefore people want to learn and it benefits them. Although the article does state that technology doesn’t replace basic human traits, it does support reasons why digital enhancement and other new tools of technology are enhancing the world of wisdom and knowledge as we know it. This article is very relevant to education and my role as a teacher because it affects both the students and teachers of today’s world. It is important for the very reason I’m taking this class. It is important to be able to understand what’s happening in the world and stay up to date with technology. As the article states, “Digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring both to wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities.” Teachers are constantly trying to prove that they understand and can use technology. From the article, Fast Forward into the Future by Jay Goldman, one teacher goes to lengths to prove he’s technology savvy. I think his situation is exactly what Marc Prensky is advocating for in his article. Something that teachers may find interesting is the knowledge based expert system. According to PCAI, Where Intelligent Technology Meets the Real World, they “use human knowledge to solve problems that normally would require human intelligence. These expert systems represent the expertise knowledge as data or rules within the computer. These rules and data can be called upon when needed to solve problems.” Teachers and educators everywhere can incorporate this in their classroom to help improve students’ learning while also using technology. Digital wisdom can be taught, but it is up to us to take a stand and do it.Katie Aust

Blog Assignment #2

Web 2.0 tools are used to do a wide scope of things from following live conversations online, writing privately, asking public questions and connecting with your doctor in person. These are tools that ultimately use the internet to “enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.” It is easy and informative to access the various Web 2.0 tools. From viewing specific websites from real teachers, it is easy to see why they are incorporating these tools into their classrooms. It allows for them to post discussions online, connect their classroom to ones across the world, receive and learn about events or assignments and ultimately share each other’s ideas and opinions. For example, incorporating Google Reader, Slideshare and Moodle into an assignment in the classroom intrigues and interests both the students and the teachers. Overall, the Web 2.0 tools allow for so much expansion, detail and creativity to be added to any project. This is an important, new and fun concept that can contribute to all of our classes.

Katie Aust