Video Clip Assignment Project
A link to my video clip project page can be found under my blogroll and here.
Scrutinizing the Cybercell
Actually, in an education class I’m taking along with this one, we had to take a quiz to see what type of learning style we were and how to apply it in the classroom. My style was multimodal. Today I took this quiz and responded, so the idea is fresh in my mind. I found it very difficult to pick one specific activity that would encompass a multimodal learner, and the idea that the internet can provide such reading/writing learning styles is one that should be exercised more often.
Personally, I think the internet should be used more often in classes. Books are offered in full text online, papers can be submitted, checked for plagarism, and graded online, and quizzes and tests can be taken and instantly calculated. Moreover, from experience, I know that students are much more likely to meet and respond to online groups than actually go out of their way to meet in person. The use of the internet is so much more efficient and works with a very busy, time-constrained person(like myself). The cost of books, paper, pens/pencils, desks, etc. is astounding to a new school. Many computer companies will work with the school and donate or cheaply sell computers to the classroom.
Moreover, in today’s society, students (or kids in general) who have access to a computer and the internet, spend a lot of personal time on it. Websites appealing to these people just make sense.
Websites targeting kids and teens
My partner Raegan and I looked through many different sites but decided to stick with Mountain Dew. Created by Pepsico, the owners of the company, the website has demonstrates many different ways to attract attention.
The homepage opens with pop-ups of clickable videos and links. Each pop-up has a unique and attractive picture. The background is black and green, making it “cool” for young boys (or girls) to look at. It’s definitely not a website that would be embarassing to be seen on in a middle school boys perspective. At that top of the page they have quick and easy links to gaming events they have sponsored, some entertainment websites, and apparel they are either sell or allow you to creat. The purpose of this website is definitely to keep people on it as long as possible.
While some people may visit MountainDew.com because they like the soft drink, the website is geared towards entertainment. This may cause confusion among the people looking for information on the drinks alone. It may send a message saying “Hey! Look at all of the neat things we can do” opposed to “This is our product, hope you like it.”
It seems this website supports a lazy or sedentary lifestyle. Everything on the website is about television shows, programs they sponsor, video and gaming entertainment. In fact, the nutritional information is buried in the site, and the person visiting has to click 3 or 4 times to finally get to the product information. The link sends the surfer to the Pepsi Product Information website, an outside source.
While the website is entertaining and visually appealing, it’s definitely meant to keep people on their website instead of educating them about their product.
BWP Chp. 4 – Wiki’s
I absolutely love Wikipedia. I understand why teachers are hesitant to let students use it as a resource, but as a personal informant, I think it’s great. When there’s something I want to know more about after a conversation with friends, I turn to Google and typically the first or second entry is Wikipedia, so I turn to that as well.
In the first class, we had to take that technology survey and it asked “do you know what a wiki is?” I put the answer saying I could probably figure it out if I wanted to. Now in a multiple answer question, I am sure I could have gotten the answer right just from knowing about Wikipedia, but it’s refreshing to know the definition of a wiki is exactly how someone would sum up the site.
The best part about Wikipedia is that everyone and anyone can share their expertise and knowledge on a subject. The worst part about Wikipedia is that everyone and anyone can share their expertise and knowledge on a subject. But like the chapter in BWP states, most people want to make the post correct rather than share false information. In a way, wiki sites are really amazing. Moreover, in the major, mainstream, or popular articles, it seems almost all of the information is correct.
I didn’t know wikipedia added several spin-off sites like wikirecipes.net and wikitravel.org. For wikinews or something similar, this seems like a good idea, but when you’re posting Grandma’s recipe to make the best chocolate chip cookies and another entrant’s Grandma has a similar recipe with just one step off, I personally wouldn’t appriciate the change.
Conclusively, I think Wikipedia should be treated like all other sites on the internet. Information cited with eternal references should be okay to use in my opinion. The book mentions that the class might contribute to their own “class Wikipedia,” but the problem arises that is that class really worth being in an encyclopedia? Maybe if 50 years later all of the students have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize. Otherwise, I don’t think Ms. Honey’s class of 2013 belongs in an encyclopedia. Perhaps wikispaces would have been a better idea, because it’s password protected and doesn’t carry the stipulation of “pedia” on it.
I edited Richard Bowes in Wikipedia as Diswi1. I tried to look through what I knew a lot about, but I really just ended up splitting hairs. I took a new approach to it and just clicked on “Random article” until I found something that was decently long and needed some work.
Quebracho
Finding an obscure entry was slightly difficult. Our particular volume of our encyclopedia, we had pages and pages of entries such as “Rome” and “rock”. Obscure entries are also infinitely shorter than the well known ones with great history or diversity. A strength, however would be that I would actually read the whole post, whereas I probably would skim or selectively read parts of the article.
Encyclopedia Americana explains that Quebracho means “axe-breaker” in Spanish. This term is applied to trees with immensely hard wood and also to extracts from the woof of two such trees. The extract is used as a dye and as a treatment to some respiratory disorders.
Wikipedia has slightly less, but more detailed information on Quebracho. It relates the tree provide tannin as well as a very durable timber. Wikipedia had less information than Encyclopedia Americana.The article is short of information and definitely needs more information.
Britannia Online has so much more information available on Quebracho. It has six different links to related or topics that include Quebrancho. Moreover, it has the collective information of both Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Americana.
I found that Wikipedia was just as credible as the Encyclopedias. I wouldn’t trust the information to talk about in a paper or to a teacher, but I think Wikipedia’s site opens itself to the knowledge of millions of people compared to trusting just one.
FINALLY!!! BWP-Chp. 1 and 2
Firstly, I would like to comment on how Berner’s Lee invented the read/write world wide web. Moreover, I think it’s amazing that we can go from a few sites with only potential to review a product to a massive conglomerate of our own web pages.
Dan Gillmor’s quote saying “The people who’ll understand this best are probably just being born,” really strikes me. I consider myself to be pretty technically savvy, meaning if Google can answer it, I can fix it. My father works with computers and I like to think I know more than him, while my mother asks for my help to turn our P.C. on. I am 21 years old, and we’ve had computers in our house for about 15 years. Most of my life I have been raised around the technology so it’s fascinating to me thinking how children being born today will understand the system infinitely better when they are my age. At least we will always have Window’s DOS!
It actually surprises me greatly that the fastest growing age group of internet users are between the ages of two and five. Though the internet is useful in billions of ways, I find it rather shocking and unbelievable that a two year old can surf the web when they can barely speak.
I found it very interesting that the author of “The Secret Life of Bees” followed along the students’ blogs. As an English Education major, ideas such as this are very mind-opening for future lesson plans!
Weblogs:
- are a constructivist tool for learning.
- expand the walls of the classroom.
- archive the learning that teachers and students fo, facilitating all sorts of reflection and metacognitive analyiss that was previously much more cumbersome.
- are democratic tools that support different learning styles.
- can enhance the development of expertise in a particular subject.
- can teach students the new literacies they will need to function in an ever expanding information society.
Reading these chapters has really given me insight into the endless possibilities a weblog can create.
David After Dentist
Just a really funny clip about a kid that was given too much Novocain.
Morning Sun
I found this picture on Flickr, I’m pretty sure all of the images are user-created. I just thought it was really pretty. Maccelesfield Forest is in Cheshire, England.
Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!
This is a really cool link about how to survive a zombie attack. Enjoy!
BWP Ch. 1-2
I ordered my book online and still haven’t received it yet, so as soon as I get it, I will post my response!
UPDATE: I just got an e-mail saying my book is (finally) being shipped today, so I should have it soon!
