Technology presentation

Here is my presentation for our end of class assignment.

http://www.slideshare.net/JustinWelty%22%3EJustin

Tweeting intelligently

For the last post I decided to take a look at Twitter.  This is something I have avoided, because I thought it was a useless form of social trash.  However, I decided to sign up and see exactly what it was all about.  Signing up is really easy, and with a smart phone you can do it from anywhere.  The hardest part you will have is to figure out what your screen name should be.  Some people use a form of their name, but if yours is Jim Smith, then you may have to pick something more obscure.  For me I went with JayDubya83.  Of course part of that had been used, so I had to add the 83 to make it work.  After you have created your account, then all you have to do is start following people.

Following itself can be a tricky situation, because many time if you are looking for a celebrity, there may be more than one person using that name.  For example, I searched Ricky Gervais, and there are at least eight that could be him, and another few that are updates, and news for Gervais.  However, it looks like he only tweeted for a little while, then stopped.  This is how a lot of people use Twitter, to follow celebrities, and keep up with the daily gossip.  You can follow a few comedians if you want a few extra laughs of the day, or follow some of your favorite sports figures if you want to learn about them. 

To use this for education might be a little easier than you may think.  For one, the President has his own Twitter page.  The social studies aspect of that would be easy to implement.  If you search education, then you get pages like The Library of Congress, Teach for America, the Office of Educational Technology, and even Nasa.  You could easily have your students follow these pages, and create charts that depict what students have learned from this.  As an English teacher you could have them follow some of the authors on the web, like Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling, and Margaret Atwood. 

Twitter may be a mostly social media for people to use a way to get themselves out there, but if an educator tries hard enough then they could find some practical applications.  There's no reason to not use tools like this since the world of technology is ever changing, then so should the way we teach.

Learning With Pandora

The tool that I chose for the second blog was using Pandora Radio.  Pandora is a streaming radio service that daily uploads new songs as they are found by Pandora's search team.  The idea is to give users free streaming music over the internet that is custom tailored to their personal tastes.  The basic premise is that you enter an artist name or song into the search bar, and Pandora creates a station that should fit your style.  It also features artist biographies, and lyric lists for you to browse while you listen.

I have used this for quite some time now, and for the most part I only use it for listening to a new variety of artists that fit my sound.  How is it that this could be used in education?  This is an excellent question, but I find it has many applications if you learn to stretch your educational boundaries into something a little abstract.  The way that I would think is most logical would be to search artists of certain genres, and then use their artist biographies to link them to what was happening at that time in history.  One of the nice things about the music industry is that it usually mirrors the mood of the world at the time.  A few examples of  this would have to be how much of the music during the Vietnam conflict called for peace and understanding, and during the Civil Rights Movement many artists of different races came into prominence.  Another way is to use it is during intense study sessions.  Many studies have been conducted with people using low level music to help retain knowledge.  An educator could actually try lecturing with a soundtrack, then testing students while playing the same music in the background to see if test scores improve.

For my personal experiences I generally use this to expand my music knowledge into new artists.  I really enjoy broadening my taste in music, and learning the history behind new bands.  I also find this is helpful for college students to save money.  I personally enjoy using Pandora instead of getting on iTunes to download my new favorite artists.  Or at least this way I can get a better selection of songs because now I get more than a thirty second clip.

Pandora is nearly self explanatory once you sign up and start.  I actually first created an account from my smart phone.  The basic service is free, and the only disadvantages are you have to listen to ads, and your skipping is limited to five a day.  To best narrow your search results you are supposed to pick a song that you feel best fits your taste you are looking for.  I however usually pick an artist I am interested in exploring.  Pandora is also starting to upload artist interviews, and live concerts to help broaden your horizon. 

The best way is to get started by going to www.pandora.com and creating your very own account.

Delicious

If you get a chance, please visit my delicious page @ http://www.delicious.com/jdubs1983  Maybe it will give you some help!

Podcasting

I will admit I have never done a podcast myself, but I did find out about them quite a while ago.  The best part about podcasts, is that it gives people multiple avenues to be heard.  It is very similar to a blog in that nature, but allows people who may not be good at making spoken word into a good piece of literature.  My previous podcasting experiences have all been through the avenue of music.  Certain musicians use podcasts as a way to get some extremely rare music to fans, or to explain some of the visions and processes that go into making our favorite tunes.  I have also found a few of my friends check out "experts" podcasts for the fantasy football season. 

The resource I checked out was Yodio.  What I really liked about Yodio was the ability to sync your words to photos.  This is about as great as it could get for an educator who uses PowerPoint slides often.  You could basically use Yodio to publish lectures on an open source that everyone in your class could log in to.  This is great for students who may have questions of what is covered, or in extreme cases any students who may be sick for an extended periods of time.  The outside of the classroom benefits are more toward the social networking side.  Imagine being able to share vacation photos, or home improvement projects with friends and family where you can tell the story along with the pictures. 

Yodio only had one drawback I could find at that was not being able to record from your computer.  Their system works on you calling a server and recording straight from your phone.  This would not be much of a problem for homes with landlines, but I can only use my cell phone, which has a limited number of minutes.  I would say that the ability to record both ways would be highly beneficial.  However, I would imagine you could somehow cheat the phone system by using Skype to call. 

This podcasting tool is extremely easy to use, and has an amazing tutorial system that pops up as soon as you log into the page.  They also have a picture on the front page that spells out all the steps involved in creating your own podcast.  Once you have created your podcast and synced it to your photos, they also have a nice tool that lets you categorize what type of podcast it is.  The final step is using your own social network tools to embed your podcast into any website you may want it to post to. 

With all of the options out there for people to make podcasts with different tools, I would recommend Yodio for anyone who wants to, or needs to integrate photos.  Their system is as easy as it gets, and being able to add slides or photos to your words may give you greater flexibility than just the spoken word.

First one ever!

Well hello.  My name is Justin Welty, and I am in my sophomore year at IUPUI.  My major is secondary english education, which I recently switched from a political science major. 

Traditionally I have avoided the idea of ever using a blog.  I thought that mostly it was a way for anyone to pretend to have an expertise in something, just because they can easily post it to the internet.  However, since we have to have one for class, I guess I'm going to embrace it.  Creating the blog was easy, and I usually am not a huge tech guy.  I am still not entirely certain exactly how to update the template, I did look at it, but the whole "gadgets" idea needs further exploration.  If I have any tips, I guess they would be simple, to make it your own.  If we have to do them, then might as well enjoy the whole experience.  Also, if you have a Gmail account, this is super easy to set up.

My Critical Thinking Essay

I read two articles for the module two assignment, the first was The Pros and Cons of Texting and IM by Kelley Loftis. She takes a look at the continuously developing problem with texting among teens, both in and out of the classroom. A major focus of the article is how exactly texting is affecting classroom behavior both during class sessions, and more importantly in regards to cheating on tests. This has become a hot topic everywhere you go. Even in University level, our syllabi almost always mention the use and prohibition of electronic devices. The second article A Few Ways to Motivate Teachers to Use Tech by Larry Ferlazzo focuses on ways to get teachers not already behind technological classrooms excited in their own ways. His whole idea behind the article is to get the teachers to relate the use of technology to their own needs. This article is especially relevant to me since my last bit of formal education was actually in the classroom technology boom. We slowly learned to transition to ideas like internet research, and typed papers. Now that I am in a University setting, each class has used some sort of technology to facilitate teaching, which initially was outside of my comfort zone. The other huge change is that research has become almost impossible to do without the use of the internet.

A quote from Loftis’ article that I found interesting was in regards to monitoring class texting habits, “Think of the possibilities. How easy monitoring would be if you could track your students’ text messaging usage because he/she was in proximity of the computers in your classroom?” The reason I found this interesting was that ever since the introduction of the Patriot Act after 9/11, the “big brother” notion has been a real threat. While it would be nice to curb the process of using texts to cheat on exams, at what cost to personal privacy would it come? A far better approach may be working with parents and administration to have concrete consequences for usage.

Ferlazzo has a quote that speaks to an even broader subject than that of technology, “building a relationship means framing the invitation to try it in a way that speaks to what the other person wants, which may not be the way you would prefer to frame it.” This quote is interesting because it speaks straight to the process of teaching anything to anyone. Whether it is getting educators to embrace technological change, or getting students to read Shakespeare. As an educator to reach our subjects, no matter the level, we may need to adapt ourselves outside of our own comfort zone to truly get the message across.

The main question that Loftis really brings out of me is one of how to create an effective offense against texting. Without daily removal of cell phones and such, how does an educator stop the use in their classroom? In my infancy of education studies, I would like to create a contract with parents, the administration, and the educator, one that would give the teacher some power in dealing with these technology disruptions in class. I would like to think that the parents would be highly interested in making sure their child gets the most out of any education they are getting. If these were not possible would it then lead to some sort of electronic monitoring? This idea bothers me since I would like to think there is a better solution than privacy invasion. Or perhaps this inclination toward outside entertainment during class means that the teacher needs to find a better way to engage students.

Ferlazzo helps me start to question how I will use technology in my class. As an English teacher, where will technology fit for me? Besides the obvious using of a teleprompter to display my subjects, what else will I be able to do? I would like to introduce the ways they can academically research online. I was left far behind on that subject when I arrived at college, and that is one of my goals to better prepare students for the college lifestyle. I would also like to use online forums to enhance the debate and discussion for my different classroom topics. 

Loftis really strikes a nerve when it comes to some of the classes I have taken so far. I constantly see students texting during class, and I both get annoyed with them and empathize with the professors. They have a unique challenge when it comes to combating this. I have yet to see a professor take a cell phone, but I have seen them stop class when one rings. The nice thing about the university level is that we are supposedly more mature, and do these habits less. 

Technology in the classroom is actually much more prevalent now than prior to 2001 when I graduated high school. The biggest example is evidenced by this class. I am currently taking an online class which was almost unheard of when I was in school. I also enjoy the ability to work in groups by using forums, and in another class I used a Wiki page to create a group project. The future of technology and the classroom is something I for one am excited to continue to explore.