Journal #4
From Toy to Tool: Audio-blogging with cell phones

Summary: First off I would like to say this is a great article. It covers all questions that one might ask while reading it. It talks about audio-blogging which is when a student or someone records a conversation or something they are saying and then has that sent to a blog, such as blogger.com. The teacher is trying to incorporate the student’s everyday toy into a learning tool. She talks about how her and her students have never been charged extra on their phone plan by doing this; however she encourages you to check your plan before using it. She says that she has always offered her phone to any students who either don’t have a phone or don’t want to use theirs. She thinks it a great way for students to get involved in technology and it will help them to learn with their everyday social device. Also, many teachers don’t like cell phones on campus or in their classroom. She says one way to get around this is to have the students only bring their phones when they need it for an assignment and also to only have it on during this assignment. She worries that using a cell phone is just an easy way for a student to cheat in class. Great article, I have never heard of audio-blogging until I read this!
Questions: 1- Can audio-blogging be used by younger students as well? Yes! She stated that you can either file a grant with the school and have a few phones with plans provided for the class or you can offer your phone to them to use. This is a way for them to record their readings, such as a book or poetry and also to remember something they learned that day in class. It’s something that all students should try, young and old. It’s a form of technology that is going to explode and it’s going to be a great explosion, think of all the trees we will save! : )
2- Why use audio-blogging when we have video cameras? Audio-blogging isn’t out to get rid of video cameras, it’s a way to record a quick note or maybe even an interview without all of the devices. It’s just a simple cell phone, which almost everyone has. So why would you want to go and buy a $300 video camera when you can just use your cell phone? Especially since cell phones have video and picture messaging on them these days. It saves you a tone of money and time because it’s uploaded to the computer for you. All you have to do it speak and click!

Journal #3

Journal #3
Video in the Age of Participation

Summary: The article starts out talking about YouTube, which is a site that shows digital homemade videos, and how it’s clear that digital video is the next frontier in the technology world. It talks about how teachers have used videos and movies to effectively teach in the classroom and how they can access different sites online which show videos. One of these sites is about the National Geographic and it has a camera on an African site. The article talks about how digital video is connected to standards as well. Teachers are to connect these videos directly to what they’re learning. The article also talks about how people are uploading their video clips daily. DEN (Discovery Educator’s Network) is an experiment that allows teachers and students to download and edit these videos. Once they have done this they can upload the revised video to the DEN site! The site ends by talking about new technologies that will help the education of our children. Most things are based on text book materials and in the future this may be different.
Questions: 1- Why do we want so much technology in schools? Technology is something that is changing so quickly and we want our children and teachers to be kept up to date. It will be a huge problem for our students if they go onto their next school not knowing how to use any type of technology. We want our children to be experienced to the max in every type of technology we have to offer.
2 – What’s so great about digital videos? So you know how you have all of those old Videos lying around the house of your child’s first baseball game. You have to fast forward and rewind to the good parts. Well not anymore. With digital videos you can edit your movies by putting in what you want and leaving out the not so important parts. It’s fun and easy to do and it keeps you more organized!

Journal #2

Breathing Fire into Web 2.0
By: Justin Hardman and David Carpenter

Summary: This article begins talking about how our technology in schools is outdated and we’re teaching our children in the past rather than the future. This is not a good thing, which is stated in the article. There has been an all-in-one web based system called myDragonNet which was created at the Hong Kong International School. This system has it all and it meets all of the requirements for the teachers as well. This site allows teachers to put up calendars for their classrooms as well as classroom management, curriculum development, and electronic portfolios. Basically this is a site for students, which isn’t myspace or facebook. It allows students to put up their work as well as be able to show it publicly or just keep it private between you and your teachers. It also allows teachers to be able to show off past students work throughout the years. It’s a great way for students to be involved with different activities and express themselves. When I was reading about it I got the impression that it was a school newspaper, a personal myspace, and a classroom webpage all in one!
Questions: 1. Why do schools need to update their technology, they already have computers, isn’t that good enough? No, that’s not good enough. Our technology is changing what seems to be weekly but more realistically monthly. We see new commercials about the latest and greatest cell phone or laptop. The newest PDA, Computer, and Cell phone all in one! Schools need to keep up with the newest computers and software for students. Or else they will go into the real world not knowing the new devices, only know the old.
2. Is the all-in-one web based system a good idea or is it just exploiting kids to the World Wide Web, where they could get themselves into trouble? This web based system is totally safe! It allows students to have their own password so they can control who sees their work and who doesn’t. They are asked ahead of time if their work can be used for future classes and you can only see the class information if you’re in that class. It’s a great way to keep kids into technology as well as informed with what’s going on in class, clubs, and sports teams. It’s safe and fun at the same time!