Internet Explorer 6-Boo!

Reading the article "YouTube Puts Another Nail in IE 6 Coffin" reminded me of when we were in class together a couple of weeks ago and warned not to use Internet Explorer if we wanted to use Google Docs. This article told about how now not only issues with Google Docs are hopefully discouraging people from using Internet Explorer 6, but also YouTube will no longer fully support and work as well with this very outdated browser.  I feel like many people out there don't realize the importance of a high-performing browser, or even that there can be a difference in Internet experience based on what browser is used. I first learned about how much of a difference a browser can make when I was an undergrad student at CMU and worked at the library reference desk.  We were trained to troubleshoot patrons' computer issues, and oftentimes we helped them do what they needed to do just by suggesting that they try a different browser.  Even today I occasionally give this same tip to my students, who are surprised when this simple change sometimes fixes their problem.  Anyway, I think it is good more people are becoming aware that better browsers are available to them besides Internet Explorer 6. Hopefully they will take Google's cues to stop using it.

Ageism in the Workplace

I read an interesting article from the Read Write Web about ageism in the workforce in the IT field. It is unfortunate that prospective workers get judged by their age, and sometimes people assume because they are older, they might not do as good of a job, especially in this field where everything is always new and rapidly changing. The article even pointed to research that was suprising to me, which showed how old age of those working in information technology is assoicated with a smaller salary and less benefits.  It is sad that older people sometimes get discriminated against solely because of their age, despite their capabilities, knowledge, and qualificaitons.  In contrast, the article brought up another interesting point, saying that ageism likes this doesn't play out as much in the business world. It said that, oftentimes, entrepuenurs who become quite successful are older (40s+).

Reading this article made me think about whether I see ageism in my field. I do not see many ways that older teachers are discriminated against in any way that would reflect monetary loss.... I mean not really. I suppose some might argue that if older teachers are encouraged to retire with some special type of buy-out plan, then that could be considered ageist, but I think it's kind of a stretch to say that. Or if a younger teacher gets hired over an older teacher. But this might be for several reasons besides age, like financial reasons. Less experienced candidates with minimal degrees would be cheaper to hire than veteran teachers with advanced degrees.  Younger teachers might be perceived as having a broader skills-set within certains areas (like technology), philosophy shaped by modern research, and more enthusiasm for their subject area, but this should not just be assumed. Nor should it be assumed that older teachers do not possess those same skills and qualities.  I guess there is definitely potential for ageism in education, but I do not see it a whole lot.  Maybe that's because I am younger and don't notice. Hmmm.

Gowalla

I learned what Gowalla is tonight, and it sounds kind of fun.  I just read the article "Gowalla is the Anti-Farmville" from my Read/Write Web Feed.  The "Farmville" part of the title caught my eye, because although I hardly know what Farmville is, I am constantly annoyed by it.  I hate when I receive facebook notifications that tell me about something someone did on Farmville, or when my feed is full of Farmville news. Sometimes I do feel like the people that spend so much time on this facebook application need to get a life, a point to which the article alluded.  Apparently Gowalla is like Farmville in that it is a game played within a social network site setting, but unlike Farmville, it actually involves going out and about in the real world. Apparently participants in this game earn "badges" for visiting different real-life locations, kind of like stamps in a passport. Apparently there are other games similiar Gowalla out there, like one called Foursquare. I didn't know these types of games existed, but I definitely like the way they encourage people to be active.

Assignment for 5th and 6th Hour Algebra 1-A Students:

Hello 5th and 6th hour!

As you work through the Study Guide for the Chapter 5 test, you are bound to come across some problems that you might need some extra help with.

I would like everyone to submit at least ONE comment to this blog post. To do this, click the "comments" link at the end of this posting, and type your comment into the comment box. You will also have to complete a word verification step for security purposes.

For your comment, you may choose to either...

A) Ask a specific question about a problem on the the Study Guide

OR

B) Respond to someone else's question with advice



If you choose option A)

• Start by first inserting this heading at the top of your posting: Put the word "HELP", then a comma, then put the question number you would like assistance with. For example, "HELP, #4". 
• Explain what you understand about the problem.  Tell what you have already done or think would be an appropriate first step or first few steps to do.
• Ask your specific question or questions about the problem / explain where you are stuck.
• Sign by putting your FIRST AND LAST INITIAL and hour at the bottom. I will know who you are because I do not have any students in a given hour with the same exact pair of initials. It is fine if you recognize the initials of a classmate, but please help maintain privacy by not addressing anyone by their name or putting your own name.

If you choose option B)

• Start by first inserting this heading at the top of your posting: Put the word "ADVICE", then a comma, then put the question number you are providing assistance for. For example, "ADVICE, #4". 
• Correct any inaccurate ideas or incorrect initial steps taken conveyed by the person asking for help.  Be sure to explain why the person was not correct, and explain how your idea is more correct /makes more sense.
• You may either provide a hint like by giving them the first step, or explain what you did to solve the entire problem. 
• Make sure you explain your thinking, do NOT just tell everyone your answer!
• You do not have to answer a question from a student who is in the same hour as you.
• Sign by putting your FIRST AND LAST INITIAL and hour at the bottom. I will know who you are because I do not have any students in a given hour with the same exact pair of initials. It is fine if you recognize the initials of a classmate, but please help maintain privacy by not addressing anyone by their name or putting your own name. 
 

Good luck, and please email me if you have any questions!

Reforming Mathematics Education: Goal should be understanding prob. and stats, not calculus.

For the first time today I came across TED's website. I did not know what TED was beforehand. Here is a brief description from their website:

"TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design."

As a math teacher, I am always getting the question, "When are we ever going to use this stuff?" Sometimes it is not easy to answer, because oftentimes, they are not.  This short video below shows a speaker, mathematics professor Arthur Benjamin, give his two cents about the direction in which we SHOULD be headed in math education.  He says our math curriculum today is heavily based on arithmetic and algebra, and is it is all leading towards calculus.  He acknowledges the value of understanding calculus to a few particular fields, like "math, science, engineering, economics..", but thinks that it is silly that in k-12 education we focus on the end goal being calculus. He believes, and I agree, that instead of there being an emphasis on teaching math skills that lead to calculus, the focus should be on probability and statistics. This is the type of math can be helpful and relevant to everybody. Check it out! I find it inspiring!

Wish all airports had free Wi-Fi

I do not fly very often; usually it just seems to be once every couple of years. The last time I flew was when I visited a friend who teaches in Utah on mid-winter break last year.  Since I don't fly very often, I don't know the ins and outs of lots of airports, but something I read in blog I just came across, Building a Smarter Planet, reminded me of a frustration I had at DTW when I was last flying out of there in Feb. of 2009.  I came across this blog, by the way, because there was a link to it from a ReadWrite Web article that came up in my reader, which was called, "Airports, Prisoners & Hospital Patients: Today's Top Stories on Internet of Things".

The blog posting to which I was led that reminded me of my frustrating airport situation was titled,  It's Time for Better Technology in Airports.  I remember when I was flying out of DTW last February I brought my laptop along.  Like I said, I do not fly very often, so I was surprised when I was pulled out my laptop to try to kill time in the airport and realized that you had to pay to use the wi-fi. This was super annoying to me, and I did not want to pay.  As I looked around at people, I noticed many people of the other people who were waiting were engrossed in their phones. These people must use the Internet on their phones. I was the old school person who did not check my email or facebook from my phone (I still don't access the Internet from my phone).  So I had to sit there pretty bored, as I had been planning on being entertained by surfing the web on my own laptop.

The posting I read, however, was not venting about how annoying it is that some airports charge for wi-fi.  This blog author was instead complaining about the poor quality of technology used in airports' "baggage handling and security checkpoints".  I thought it was ironic when he mentioned that DTW has the highest customer satisfaction ratings when compared to other large airports.  Haha. I guess perhaps people don't mind so much having to pay to get online.  Or maybe wi-fi accesst is free now at DTW, although it wasn't a year ago. Or maybe most people don't really care, because they can get mobile web on their smart phones. That is probably the likely explanation.

Tech. Conferences for those in the Business World

For people in the business world looking to learn more how to use the Internet to their advantage, there are several conferences being held all over the world, according to the "ReadWrite Web Events Guide". As I was perusing my Google reader looking for something at least semi-interesting to discuss for a blog post, this caught my eye. Conferences are taking place in the upcoming months at various cities in the United States, as well as one in England, one in Australia, and one in New Zeland. They seem to be centered on topics such as using social networking, incorporating latest technologies (like augmented reality), getting others to invest in your company, and in general, developing web-based adverstising and communcation strategies.

One thing that I thought was pretty nifty about this events guide was how there is a link next to each event that says "Google Calendar". People can just click this to add the event to their Google calendar. I did not even know that there was a Google calendar, but it does not surprise me.  I enjoy using iCal on my mac, but I'll have to check out the capabilities of Google's calendar too, just out of curiousity.

Most Embedded You Tube Videos

I just looked at an interesting article from the Read Write Web feed about the embedding of YouTube videos on blogs, The Most Popular YouTube Videos and the Bloggers Who Embed Them.    Had I come across this article before taking this class, I probably wouldn't have found it to be quite as interesting, but now that I am blogging and know how to embed, it carries more meaning and is something to which I can relate.

The article reported the top 10 most embedded YouTube videos from July to Decemeber of 2009.  The video that was most embedded on blogs, according to Sysomos, a company that analyzes and keeps track of social media, was the JK Wedding Entrance Dance.  This does not surprise me, because I know it was quite a hit.  This happens to be one of my personal favorites as well.   I haven't heard of any of the others that were mentioned, such as Evian Water Babies or Muppet's Bohemian Rhapsody.  I am excited to check these out. 

This article also gave statistics accompanied by nice pie charts regarding what type of YouTube videos were the most popular for embedding and who is emebedding them. Music videos came in first at about 31% of the embedded videos, and as far as the "who" goes, apparently 20-35 year-olds are the ones behind most of the video embedding on blogs (about 57% of those doing this).  For more on this, check out the article that has been linked above!

Apple has best Wikipedia Entry

According to "Lundquist", a consulting firm, out of all the fortune 500 companies, Apple has the top Wikipedia entry.  I just learned this from the article, "Companies on Wikipedia: Apple's Fans Get it Right". I thought it was interesting that the article recommended that companies should not edit their own Wikipedia entries, but leave it to others who are supporters of the company. It makes sense that the source for more credible and less biased information is not the company itself. The article did mention however, that some appropriate roles for these companies to take in terms of increasing the quality of their company's Wikipedia entry are using the discussion board feature to communicate with those who do edit the page (I know what this is talking about since becoming a wiki user for this class), making non-copyrighted images available, modifying factual information/statistics, and checking for errors/inaccurate information.  After checking out the entry on Wikipedia itself, it is easy to see why this entry was given such high ratings. The information is very clear and presenterd in a well-organized fashion. I also noticed lots of interesting images throughout. Another neat feature of this entry is a "Timeline of Apple products". You can tell that users of Apple products are proud to back the company as they did a nice job with the entry.

Hugging in Schools

I just checked out an Eduptopia poll that posed the question, "Are school bans on hugging justified?" Apparently some schools have attempted to ban hugging while others are considering putting time limits on hugs. The article mentioned 3 potential issues arising from hugging: crowded halls, students' tardiness to class, and sexual harassment suits.  Personally, I feel that hugging should by no means be banned, as long as it is appropriate hugging. I think schools have to define and make judgements about what is considered "appropriate". Positive physical touch is something important for kids to receive, and if they are inclined to show affection to their friends in this way, then I do not view this as inappropriate. If students are making it difficult to walk down the hallways for any reason, they should be spoken to about this and their behavior should be monitored, but allowing no hugging at anytime whatsoever does not seem fair.  As far as the tardy to class concern goes, students are responsible for getting to class on time - that is the bottom line. If they choose to engage in behaviors which make them late, they reap the consequences.

What should definitely not be allowed is kissing. This is probably pretty obvious, but there has not been any well-enforced rules against kissing at schools I have worked at.  At the last school I worked at, it was impossible to walk down the hallway without witnessing kids making out. Now that I teach at a middle instead of a high school, this is not so much of an issue. I do notice other types of PDA, in my CLASSROOM even, that I have to call students out on. Just today I had a boy and a girl who sit in a row next to each other turned facing towards each other, holding hands. I had to tell them to keep their hands to themselves. Oh geez....

Google Buzz

I just read How I Became the Robert Scoble of Buzz, an article that was brought to me through the Read Write Web feed. Before reading, I didn't even know who Robert Scoble was...lol. I learned Robert Scoble was someone who quickly socially networked with several other users of Twitter shortly after it first came out. Apparently this man tried to follow as many tweeters as he could and in this way got people to follow him back (I am aware "follow" is probably not the proper term in the context of Twitter; it's a google term, but I don't care).  The unnamed guest author of this article was checking out the new Google Buzz and was able to get a lot of followers in a short amount of time and the article is basically him expressing how fascinatied he is by this accomplishment.

This author seems to be quite the fan of Buzz. He mentioned things he enjoyed about it compared to other social networking sites, such as the way it doesn't limit the number of friends you have like Facebook (which apparently has a 5,000 person friend limit), or the number of characters you can post at a time, like Twitter.

Personally, I do not currently see myself having much of a desire to use Buzz any time in the near future. However, I do admit I have at least checked it out.  It was super easy to do since I am in my gmail account all of the time.   When I saw the Buzz icon thingy  appear on the left side of my email account page it was slightly intriguing, and so I clicked on it. I was suprised that some of my friends already were using it quite a bit, posting status updates. I wondered what its appeal to them was. I thought we were all content with facebook. I know I am. Maybe they like it because it's like one stop-shopping for google account holders. They can check their email, follow and comment on friends' statuses, and read their reader feeds all at the same place (and probably do whatever other stuff Google has to offer that they enjoy using). As for me though, I don't see what's the buzz about Buzz, and will keep doing my thing on facbeook. I don't want to have more than 5,000 friends anyway. I can hardly keep up with the approx. 500 that I have. :)

Getting Group Discounts Online

I was just introduced to a way of getting discounts online of which I had not been aware prior to reading an article from the Read Write Web called "Scoop St: From Flash Mobs to Group Shopping Discounts".  Basically, the website Scoop Street provides a way of getting a group of people together who all have a common interest in purchasing something.  If enough people commit to making the purchase in a certain amount of time, then they get a discount because of getting a group rate. If not enough people commit, then those who were initially on board are not charged anything. The website offers deals for items such as sporting event tickets, spa packages, and restaurant certificates. Apparently a couple of college roommates at Georgetown started this website not too long ago. At first I thought businesses might feel like they are getting gypped by people getting together online to get a group rate at their establishment (and some might),  but then the article brought up a valid point that this is actually more so helping out those businesses.  They are getting more business because the good deals are bringing people in.

Apparently the whole concept of getting random strangers together via the Internet to purchase something at a group rate is not a new one. The article mentioned that this type of thing has been happening in China ever since the 90's.

Maybe the reason why I haven't heard about a website of this nature before is because there is not one that has deals for this area (at least, not that I know of).  According to the article, Scoop Street is now just offering deals for New York City area, but it the owners want to expand it other areas as well. Does anyone know if we have something like this for deals at businesses in the Lansing area?

 

 

The Future of Online Learning

I have been having a hard time blogging lately because whenever I do find time to try to sit down and do it, I look through my google reader and find little that catches my attention or inspires me to write something. Maybe I need to find some more feeds to subscribe to. Because I am behind with blogging, I am going to discuss something that didn't really strike me as profound or surprising or interesting any particular way, but I am just using what I have to work with from my feeds so I can do another blog post.

Tonight I looked at an Edutopia poll that asked people, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?"  I guess I could be at least somewhat interested because we have just written a couple of papers for class centered on the topic of online learning. Apparently the U.S. Department of Ed. estimates that about 25% of K-12 public schools now offer online learning. Sara Ring, the author of this brief article/poll proposes some possibilities for what online learning might look like in 20 years, throwing out the idea that maybe all classes will then have some type of online component. She also suggested the idea that perhaps in 20 years all learning will be done online and students will not even go to school (I highly doubt that this would be the case in 20 years, because I think people will not lose sight of the value face-to-face interaction).

So when asked the question, "What will online learning look like in 20 years?", the largest category of voters (52% of them, which includes me) selected the choice that states we think online learning will be "Prevalent."  The description for this category says, "Online learning will continue to grow, though not every school will have it.  Online-only schooling will enjoy greater popularity."  I was not surprised that this answer choice was the most popular. It is somewhat interesting though, that 32% of the voters guess that in 20 years online learning will be "Universal". They think that some type of online learning will be required in every school and that many more students will take classes that are solely virtual.  Maybe if more people, myself included, were more open-minded at how online learning could continue to develop into something easy to use and that will still provide ways to engage students allow sufficient interaction between both classmates and the students and teacher, then we might have pictured the "Universal" category as a more accurate description for 20 years from now.  Maybe many of us educators that voted also have a hard time seeing how we as teachers will fit into the picture if online learning is so widespread.  Will we become online instructors? Many of us are probably not open-minded to that possibility, and some of us might be afraid that online learning might take away our jobs that we now enjoy as we physically interact face-to-face with a group of students. 
It will be interesting to see where we find ourselves in 20 years...

Augmented Reality

Until tonight, I had no idea what "augmented reality" was.  I came across the article, "Augmented Reality Coming to Video Conferencing" on my Google Reader tonight, and discovered not only what AR is, but I also learned that it might soon become a more widespread tool used in a variety of settings, including education.


From what I understand after briefly checking out this article and the accompanying you-tube video that is an advertisement for an augmented reality company called Zugara, it seems that augmented reality refers to a special type of online live video chatting that can be done between two people that doesn't just let you see the other person, but both parties can interact with graphics and other objects that are not really present, but the computer can somehow still put them in front of people. You really need to look at the video to see what I am talking about. Or wikipedia describes AR like this: "a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imager- creating a mixed reality."

It's crazy and really cool at the same time to think that an augmented reality product like viewed in the video might someday be something I could use in communication with students. I have no idea how it works or what is actually required. How does the virtual object in front of the person know that it is being manipulated? How does the person know where to reach for it if it is not really there (by seeing it next to them on their screen?)? I am definitely interested in learning more about this type of technology!

Creative Commons Assignment

I just completed the Creative Commons assignment. I didn't mind the videos and first set of links that were about CC.  I found the plagiarism part pretty frustrating because if you actually set out to read everything there was a TON of info to read, like about the various cases.  The information needed for the "test" was not anything I didn't already know.  Oh well... But regarding the CC materials that we were supposed to check out, I thought the video and various presentations provided very helpful explanations.  I didn't ever know what the difference between a "C" and "CC" was before.  I will be on the lookout now for for licenses on things I see online. And I will be careful to cite things that I use in the proper way. I especially liked the clarity about how to cite images that was shown in the article How to Cite and Use Creative Commons Resources by Preetam Rai, because I borrow images often to insert into my instructional power points.

Some of this CC stuff is still a little confusing to me... I am not exactly sure how one goes about getting the CC license for something that they want others to be able to use.  Is it sufficient to just write my own "CC"  next to it, or do I have to go through some procedure to officially obtain the license for my own work?  Maybe I missed this somewhere in one of our readings...

Using a Document Camera!

Today in my 5th and 6th hour I had the fun priviledge of teaching my Algebra 1 classes using one of my schools' two visualizers (aka document cameras). I seldom bother to check one out because I feel it's too much of a hassle to go get it and return it at end of the day, plus I would rather only use certain technologies if I could use them consistently (like if I had my own). I used one a few weeks ago when my students were doing presentations for a "Dream Car" project, and the next day I decided to use it to present notes since it was still in my classroom (I usually use Power-Point instead).  The students were very vocal about how the visualizer made taking notes much easier for them. They felt like they could keep up with my pace because as I would write things down, they would have time to do so as well. They also liked how it was clear to them exactly what the important, necessary information to write down was, and how they were shown a way to organize their notes on a paper in a way that was logical and visually pleasing. All they had to do was write down the notes exactly as I had written them. Anyway, yesterday when we were doing our usual Power Point, the students asked why I didn't have the document camera anymore. They said it made taking notes so much easier for them, and were hoping I would check it out again.  So today I checked with a teacher who had it signed out for the day and I asked her I could use it for those two classes. She didn't really need it for that part of the day, so I was able to use it again. I told the students that the visualizer was back by popular demand (even if just for a day).  The note-taking went great today with it, and I even seemed to think there were less disruptions than usual. Perhaps it was just the fact that we were switching things-up from the norm that made the class more attentive than usual, or maybe it was just the way this technology gave them clarity regarding what to write.  More than likely, it was a combination of both. Hopefully I will not be lazy and check this thing out more often. :)

Facebook becomes more Stalker-Friendly

I was checking out the Read/Write Web feed just now and discovered some helpful news about how back in December, Facebook had made some disconcerting changes related to users' privacy settings.  Apparently they switched the default settings on several items (like photos, videos, status updates, and more) from private to public. They also made it so that when people try to search for you, they can view ALL of your profile pictures (not just the one on your current page). I guess you can't even alter this in the settings anymore, so if you don't want people you are not friends with to see all of your profile pictures, you would just need to delete them.

I am glad that I came across this article because it caused me to immediately sign into my own facecbook account and change some settings back to private.  In Facebook's defense, I do recall some type of warning message that appeared when I signed in not too long ago (it must have been in December), saying that they were making changes to people's privacy settings. One thing I didn't realize though, until examining this carefully tonight, was that it had taken my several albums which before only "friends of friends" could view, and made it so that "everyone" could access these. Creepy!

According to the article, Facebook argues that in general, society's thoughts about privacy are changing and people are becoming increasingly willing to share more personal information. (They even use the growing popularity of blogging as evidence for this). They believe that in making these privacy changes, they are just appropriately adjusting to this new shift in thought. I think if people are wanting to make things less private, fine, they should have that option, but their right to keep things as private if they wish (like profile pictures) should not be denied.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_privacy_explanation_debate.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29

Educators' Stances on MLK Day

I just read a short article/survey from the Edutopia feed which was about what schools should do on Martin Luther King Jr. Day  (http://www.edutopia.org/poll-schools-observe-king-day). It presented readers with a little survey asking them which of four options seems most appropriate for schools on this holiday. You can check out the link if you want to see the options/results. (I was going to put a screen capture image of the survey results from Grab in this post... but then I wondered... is that even legal? Does anyone know if it is? I want to be careful about these things, and I know I will learn more about that kind of stuff in this class. I am playing it safe for now though).

Anyway... I am definitely not opposed to having the day off, but I also think having school that day gives us good opportunities for teaching about this incredible American hero.  Personally, I have fond memories of celebrating the hoilday when I was a student at Ralya Elementary in Haslett. I remember in music class we spent at least a week or two learning songs about MLK, and on the actual holiday we had a program in the gym and we performed the songs.  I can even still remember two of the songs. :)

Our district gave students the day off, and we used today as a PD day, which I thought was fine. I  wonder if the students even thought much about today being a holiday though when they were chillin' at home...

Getting Started!

Hi Everyone!

I am just getting started with the blogging for our class, even though it's technically week 2 now. I have a little catching up to do, but I'm not too stressed out about it. I am relieved that my schools' conferences are not until NEXT week so I should have enough time to get things done for this Friday. For those of you who do have conferences this week, I hope everything goes well for you and that you are able to find time to complete any assignments that you still need to do.

I'm not far into our book yet, but one thing that's been impressed upon me so far from the blog chapter, though it may not really seem that profound, is how blogs are supposed to be ENGAGING and INTERACTIVE. This definitely shouldn't be a new idea to me... after all, being able to communicate back to the author seems to be one of the main purposes and defining qualities of blogs.  I guess I just keep thinking about this because I feel like my posts for Bruce's class were usually pretty lame and didn't really elicit responses (although you guys were cool and still thought of nice comments to say anyway). It was like I was trying to get my minimum number of required posts done and didn't really think about how to engage my readers.  Reading that part in our book was a bit of a challenge for me. For this blog I will at least be more conscientious about trying to give you guys a little more to think about and respond to.  :)