Reflection

When I first learned that we were going to run our own blogs, I had mixed feelings. My initial feeling was uncertainty, because I wasn’t exactly sure what a blog was. I’d had an idea, but luckily it wasn’t as bad as I had feared.

I liked knowing that at least a few people had to respond. I don’t believe that I’d run my own blog if no one ever cared to respond. It was a good exercise overall to practice participating in a current form of technical media.

The main thing is that it takes time to blog. Then it took even more time to go to other people’s blogs. Luckily, I had nice blogs to read. It was a good exercise to utilize one another as valuable resources. Overall, I learned a lot about the research topics.
I got to share in the benefit of other people’s research, and share my own.

Blogging was one of the things that made me feel as though no matter how much work I did, I was never, ever going to be done. I was/ am overloaded with school work (12 credits and summer school field work). It was one more pressure to deal with that I could not complete and have closure with. I suppose that my reflection there is stress.


I used to be afraid of hyperlinks. They’re easier to create (now) than I had realized. Now I don’t hesitate to insert them. I’m glad that I was forced to do them. In fact, I’m glad (now that it’s over) that I can say knowingly, that I created and ran a technology blog.

Overall, blogging was good practice. I would say that I got everything I was going to learn about the process of blogging in the first two months, though. Friends and family who are close to me always smile when I speak (fondly) of my tech blog. If I ever do venture to do a second blog, I hope to be more creative with pictures. I’d hope to have more time to devote to it.

Stacy

Cybersecurity

This week's class discussion has been on a relevant and current issue, Cybersecurity. Entailing everything from identity theft to cyber-predators, this is scary business. It's just amazing to learn of the great lengths that criminals go to to victimize people. I appreciate all of the useful websites and tips about staying safe and proactive.

I just wanted to say thank you for reading my blog this summer. I don't know that I'd keep blogging if no one were reading it. Your thoughtful comments were encouraging. Talk to you soon.

Stacy

Laptops in Latin America and the Caribbean

This week I read about laptops in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Most of it was in English.) Digital literacy is on the move and spreading around the globe. It offers reflections from schools who have used one to one computing; there is a range in views, the good and the bad. One of its links addresses mobile learning and all of the opportunities for students with technology. It opens a world of new opportunities for students.

Computing in El Paso

El Paso is experimenting with one to one computing. They are working with something called the Tip Program. They believe that they are doing well and benefiting from the latest technology. So far, it's been two years in the program, but they feel that they are "making great strides." They gave only positive feedback about the program.

WebQuests

This week out learning module really made me want a Hershey bar. The WebQuest on chocolate was very suggestive. I also liked it because it was fun. The Webquests reminded me of the BuILders we made for S.O.S. Clearly, we are in the midst of a learning trend. I like them because they are interactive for users. They seem so basic to operate...until we have to design one. I haven't gotten to use any WebQuests with students yet, but I do believe that they'd enjoy them.

Pros and Cons

One to one computing is a teaching style to be considered now. Some people feel that it is the best way to teach, others feel that it actually hinders learning. Some educators feel that using state of the art technology increases achievement. Others believe that students with computers get easily distracted and learning time is diminished with a concentration on the technology; other curriculum gets overlooked.

There are pros and cons of using and not using computers constantly. In my summer school class(es) of eighth graders, they often want to use the computers. (There are only two working computers.) In fact today, a few students told me that the Internet is better than books because it's easier to read information. I explained that they still need to know how to read a book. They disagreed. In part, they didn't want to do their work and were stalling, I believe. There were other students who didn't want to use the computers at all; they really must not have wanted to work. I'd never seen anyone refuse an opportunity to work on a computer before. That made me wonder if each student had an individual computer, would they use them (for work)?

Birthday Blog: Assisted Technology

Today is my birthday. Let us blog.

I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about my uncle, Norman. He's in his eighties and lives alone. He rides the bus to go where he needs to go and has always been independent. Uncle Norman has been deaf for as long as he can remember. Grandma used to say that he'd had Whooping Cough as a baby and that's what caused it.

In any case, Uncle Norman has always had a few pieces of technology that work well for him. When we ring his doorbell, his hall light flashes; it's a red light bulb. He has a TTY telephone. That means that I call the TTY operator and he or she dials his phone number (which I give him or her). When Uncle Norman picks up the phone, I tell the operator what I want to say, then say "go ahead" and I wait for a reply from him. We go back and forth, usually briefly. I'm not so used to it; it took a bit of getting used to for me.

Uncle Norman also uses Closed Caption for television. Have you ever tried to keep up with it? It's got to be difficult enough to be deaf, let alone to haveto read so quickly.

Does 1 To One Computing Pay?

It would cost millions of dollars to furnish every student in NYC with personal laptops. Would the end justify the means? On eSchool News , they have a News and Analysis section, where Bill Gates is quoted from the NY Times. He feels that it will really be cell phones, rather than laptops that will be the channel for most people to have Internet access. When not everyone can afford laptops, but many do have cell phones, they can get to the web. Is it a worthwhile venture to invest so much time, training and money in all of these new computers? What happens when the computers become outdated in a short time?

Audio Books

This week we talked about audio books. There are pros and cons. They're ideal for students with visual impairment. They're the easy way out for students who do not want to read. How can we introduce audio books to students and then tell them to go read several hundred pages? The students who should be able to read chapter books seem to lose their love for reading with each passing year. How can we find a balance for students without making them dependent on audio books?

One To One Computing

It's time to bid farewell to elgg and move on to my new subject. For the duration, my next tech topic will be one to one computing. This is the philosophy that every student should have an individual laptop to use in school for learning. The website that explained it to me was http://www.apple.com/education/k12/onetoone/. The rationale is that students will learn better if they have their own computers to utilize. That means everyone gets a laptop, even after leaving the computer lab! Every teacher would become a computer teacher.

Cyberbullying

This week's discussion on cyberbullying was a real eye-opener. I've been a classroom teacher in elementary schools for 12 years. To my knowledge, that hasn't been a major problem. (Then again I've been in a primary age bubble.) There have been various and disturbing other incidents that come to mind, but not this one. Perhaps that happens once the children are older, literate and tech savvy. Until then, there's traditional bullying, unfortunately.

I now see that primary grades are a great place to be proactive and open the door to communication about cyberbullying. We talk about (traditional) bullies and what it does to people. Why not cyberbullies? In early childhood, students mainly pretend not to listen...but they do hear us.

Blogs and Elgg

My elgg research led me to http://blogsavvy.net/giving-blogs-with-elgg. This is for "Professional Blog Consultants." Elgg is actually based on blog networks. This site offers help based on the type of blog one wishes to run (business, community, education, a cause, or for money).

The more we blog, the more relevant it seems. A few months ago, I didn't understand what a blog was. Now I see that it is big business.

Education blogs are free at Edublogs.org .

Elgg Tour

In my Elgg journey, I came across the site, http://tesl-ej.org/ej34/m1.html. It has graphic organizers which clearly outline the learning landscape of Elgg (from a recorded tutorial to a user's manual). It also tells us what elgg means... "elk " or "moose" in Scandinavia.

This led me to another site, http://elgg.net/tour_1.php , to walk us through. Like MySpace, users must be over the age of 13 to subscribe. Elgg offers e-portfolios and file repositories.

Social Bookmarking

This week's class discussion about social bookmarking is quite interesting. I've been looking forward to learning about it. I was so excited about registering at del.icio.us, until I had to give personal information. These days, we have reason to hesitate, unfortunately. I've read postings by classmates who share my opinion.

Here I thought I'd be able to bookmark my webct address and my blog... but no. These two accounts that I wanted to list were not recognized by them. I gave out my personal information for a blank page. Maybe I did something wrong and will have to troubleshoot. I'll have to investigate further when time allows.

Elgg Sites

My Elgg research led me to http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/elgg.php. There are many different types of elgg sites, depending on one's needs. Steve O'Hear interviewed the creators of Elgg, Ben Werdmuller and Dave Tosh in this article. They say that Elgg, " is social networking software designed especially for education - built from the ground up to support learning. "

Elgg.Net is really for personal networking. Elgg Spaces is for e-learning. The creator has control over audience and what is being viewed in Elgg sites.

Elgg is designed to differ from a traditional Virtual Learning Environment. That's not to say that VLE has existed long enough to merit being called traditional, but differ nonetheless. Elgg is detailed to compliment the learner, rather that the course content. The creators call it "learning landscapes."

RFID

This week we had an interesting topic to read about and discuss. Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID is all around us. Who knew that we use it in EZ-Pass? The different frequency levels are used for different technologies, also including self-checking at the library/market and tags that can be placed under the skin in animals for tracking. It is amazing to think that radio waves can read data close up or several meters away.

Telephony

This week's class discussion was about Telephony, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol or IP. It took a long time for me to give in and subscribe to cable as my phone provider. I'm afraid to lose power and have no phone. I try to remember to keep my cell charged just in case. I was wondering if others have kept their land lines or switched to IP.

Elgg

According to http://elgg.org/about.php "Elgg is an open source software platform designed to allow people to easily connect and share resources. Established in March 2004 by Ben Werdmuller and David Tosh, Elgg allows you to create a social network and host it on your own infrastructure, modifying the features to fit your specific needs." One can start one's own custom-made, online interconnected data exchange.

Elgg networks are taking off around the globe. They can be found in private schools, universities and for social networking. The above site offers several links to tell more about Elgg and help people start new ones.

Welcome

Welcome to Stacy's Corner! I am Stacy, a NYC school teacher of 12 years. I am currently in the middle of my second Masters program, which is in Library and Information Science. One of my classes is about technology and so here I am! I hope that you will join me to discuss current technology issues... and there are so many! We will emphasize Elgg for the first half of this course and 1:1 Computing in the second half (along with other information science goodies). I welcome your posts and will do my best to respond in a timely fashion. I hope to hear from you soon!