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Blog Post 5



A group of students working on a podcast



The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

This video shows its viewers several different advantages of podcasting. The first big advantage I saw was that it allows students that may be out of school for an extended period to have access to what is going on in the classroom. This is very important because it keeps students from getting too far behind. The second advantage that I saw is that it allows students to get more involved in day to day classroom learning. They are able to write out scripts and act out different topics which they may be discussing in class. Podcasting is a great way to get students to work together with their peers. It also allows parents to actually hear what is going on in their childs classroom from day to day and they are able to actually see something that their child has produced which is very neat. Overall, podcasting is a great addition to the classroom.


100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better
This is a great website that has many ideas on how to use your iPod to enhance your studying. The iPod has so many applications now that can aid in almost any course of study. It offers many different types of study guides from Sparknotes to World Nomads, which aids in the study of foreign languages. It also lists different types of podcasts and audiobooks that can be downloaded to your iPod. You can download and learn Spanish from your iPod, that is pretty cool. The possibilities with an iPod are endless. iPods are everywhere now and it is amazing the amount of information that can be found and learned just by using an iPod.

Judy Scharff Podcast Collection

This is the most informative site that I have seen for podcasting.  It breaks it down for the reader beginning with the basics of what a podcast is.  It then goes on to give tips for success in creating a podcast.  Some of the tips for success are: allow students the time to really become familiar with audacity, allow the students to pick the people they are going to work with, and another is to allow them plenty of time to complete their project.  It then gives you a time schedule for creating a podcast.  I think that this is very good to see because it lets you know that for podcasts to be an effetive learning tool for students, it must be done properly and it does take time.  The site then continues on and gives topic suggestions, research suggestions, and even gives teachers a grading rubric.  This site is a great tool for teachers.

Blog Post 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
I really liked this blog post. I can not tell you how many times I have heard people make comments like this. The reality of the situation is that this is INEVITABLE. If you don't allow children to use the internet, cell phones, etc. at home; they will use it elsewhere. I think that there are just as many positive things about technology as there are negative things about technology, just as with life you have to take the bad with the good. If people do not see how great it can be they will fall behind in a very rapidly changing society. Dr. McLeod is a professor at Iowa State University and he helped establish a national technology program, CASTLE, for secondary and college education. He did this to help make sure that schools were meeting the technological requirements that had been set.

The iSchool Initiative
I love this. What a great way to save money and better budget our schools money. We spend so much each year copying papers for our students. If we could cut down the budget as much as Travis was saying, then we would be able to better compensate our teachers for their hard work and they would have something to work hard for!
I feel like if this were done the correct way it could be an outstanding opportunity for children now and in generations to come!

The Lost Generation
After I watched this the first thing I said was, "Cool!" The way that this was presented to the viewer was amazing. I do believe that we can change the view that our society and the younger generation (unfortunately, my generation) has about life right now with just some effort. I find it very maddening when I see so many young people not working, not going to school, and not trying to do anything that would better their life. The problem with our society right now is that it as a whole is lazy. I think that with a little effort and concern for our countries well being we could turn it around and prove all the "experts" wrong about their predictions for the future. I do think that if we keep living and acting the way our young generation is right now that the experts will be right about their predictions.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
WOW! How amazing! I would have never thought that something like this could happen. To think that such a beautiful song could be created by so many people who had never practiced, or even met before! I think that this just goes to show the path that technology is taking, the opportunities are endless. If you can think it...you can do it with technology!
I can understand some of the comments and thoughts about how the use of techonolgy is taking away our social skills. But I think that no matter how much we use technology we are still having to meet and interact with people in our everyday lives and I do not think that that will ever change, no matter how much we depend on technology.

Additional Assignment #1

Before getting this assignment I had no idea about Google Squared or Wolfram Alpha. Some of the educational implications for the both of them are just to broaden peoples knowledge of facts. I had no idea that the population of China and India were so great. It is very fun and interesting to search random information and find out so much about it. You could use Wolfram Alpha in your classroom if you wanted your students to become familiar with a certain topic because it gives you everything you could possibly want to know about that topic. I like the idea of using Google Squared to compare different things, such as a countries population. Before viewing all the information given to me from these websites the "Did You Know?" video was very alarming but after viewing this information the statistics do not seem as alarming because you have to think about the statistics and what they mean before letting the "scare" you. In the "Food for Thought" article I think that it is amazing that the i pad is so user friendly!

Project #5

Blog Post 3

"A Vision of Students Today" was interesting because it made me think about all of the years of schooling that I have had up to this point and how much time I have spent sitting in a chair just listening to lectures, some of which were useful and some of which I have no recelection of.
Our lives are so busy these days with school, work, families, and just day to day activities that the comment about having 26.5 hours of things to do in a 24 hour day is very true. The only way I can get everything done that I have to do is to multi-task. I often think about how much time I am wasting when sitting in class learning some of the stuff that I am forced to learn and it makes me mad. I think that the future of education is going to change though. I think that more and more classes and information will come from technology and that more and more of our jobs wil be based on the use of technology.

"It's Not About the Technology" was a great blog post. I could not have agreed more with Ms. Hines on most everything that she discussed. It does not matter how much money we spend on technology and how great the technology is if the teachers using it do not know how to use it. If the teachers cannot use it to benefit the students then it is useless and a waste of money. This is where her comment that "teachers must be learners" is so true. If a teacher is willing to learn how to use all of this new technology and incorporate it into her teaching than her students will benefit from it.

"Is It OK to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher" was a great blog to explore. EDM310 is the first class that has even introduced me to this kind of technology, but I still have a long way to go. I really did not have a clue that there were so many different applications and programs out there to aid in the learning process. I hope that after this class I am a little bit more literate because I do agree with his comment that all teachers should be somewhat literate. I am always willing to try and learn new things and I think that this is one of the most important things that we, as teachers, have to be able to do. If we cannot keep up with the new technology then we will never be able to understand our students because the new technology is all that they have, so for us to understand how to teach them we must know what they are doing.

Gary Hayes' Social Media Count is so cool. It is mind blowing to see these numbers rise so quickly. I think that this just shows how much we already use technology and it is only going to grow in the future. To me, as a future educator, this means that we are going to have to stay on top of all the changes in technology so that we are able to teach our students in a way which is appropriate for the times and so that they understand and learn.

Summary Post C4T #1

I have read some of Eric Langhourst's blog posts and they have been very interesting.  He is an 8th grade history teacher and the posts that I read of his were from a seminar that he attended which was at Mount Vernon.  The first post that I read talked about how Washington was not only the first President and the great general that we all know him to be but that he was also a very innovative farmer and was on the cutting edge of technology for his time period.  He was the first farmer of the time period to switch his crop from tobacco to wheat.  This was so important because it allowed him to continue to make a profit because wheat was not taxed.  Eric created a lesson plan from this experience for his 8th grade students, which I think will be very effective in teaching them more about Washington.
The second post was a very short podcast about his stay at Mount Vernon.  While at this seminar the guests were able to stay on the grounds of Mount Vernon and Eric was able to experience some of the most picturesque sunrises while sitting out on the large porch at Mount Vernon that Washington used to sit on.  It is so great that the grounds committee at Mount Vernon have made such an effort to keep the view as wonderful as it is by not allowing any high-rise buildings or condominiums to be built that would block the view.

This is one of the pictures that he took while watching the sunrise over the Potomac

Blog Post #2

The movie "Did You Know?" was extremely informative and interesting.  I did not realize how much our country has grown technologically but also how every other country in the world is growing just as fast if not faster.
The video made me really think about the future and how much our society will depend on technology.  When watching it I found it very interesting that by the year 2049 it is predicted that the computer will be smarter than the human brain. Does this mean that the need for humans in the working world will be non existent?  I also found it very interesting about the top 10 jobs in the world today were not even around 10 years ago.  It makes you wonder what kind of jobs our kids will be doing.



"Mr. Winkle Wakes" is interesting because when you think about the traditional way that schools teach there haven't been any significant changes like we have seen in the world of medicine or technology.  You go in a school and you see students sitting in desks listening to their teacher lecture and taking notes.  One would think that with the world changing as fast as it is our ways of teaching and learning would also become more updated.
I think that this class (EDM 310) is a great example to show that students don't have to sit in a desk and take notes to learn!  In my opinion, sitting in a desk and taking notes will become far less popular in the future because there are so many different ways to teach now days.



I loved this video! I have a three year old little boy and if I said that he did not have an imagination and some creativity I would be lying.  The things he says and the ideas he comes up with sometimes are amazing. He can draw something that doesn't look like anything to me but when I ask him what it is he has an immediate answer.
When you think about all of these arts that are spoken about in this video: art, music, drama, dance, and then think about some things that children love to do, they are very closely related.  My child plays pretend all day long (drama), and he loves to dance, he loves to draw, paint, and create just about anything, and he loves music whether it be listening to it or creating it with some of his toys. All of these things allow him to create something and express himself.



To allow children to explore different technologies gives them a great opportunity to learn.  I definitely agree with the teacher when she says that just giving students a pen and some paper doesn't allow ALL students to learn and succeed just a select few.  Having all of these resources is such a great opportunity for us as students but also for future generations to learn together as a group.  I loved how the students were teaching the teacher, what a great thing!  I am not a fan of classrooms that have teachers that think they know everything because in my opinion there is always something new that can be learned!