Journal #9

"Inspiring Students with Peer Tutoring" by Brandy Smith

This article demonstrates how easily technology can be incorporated into the classroom while using peer-tutoring to give students in need a extra confidence boost. The author, Brandy Smith, reveals how she came up with a peer-tutoring program which helped students and teachers alike. Smith picked ten students who would benefit from leadership roles, students that were not traditionally picked for these roles, but needed the empowerment. In this program the students would learn how to become technology experts, Tech Kids, who in turn would go to classrooms and teach their peers and teachers how to understand the basic functions of computer technology. This program has so many benefits for so many people. The Tech Kids benefit from the positive social interaction and leadership roles, the students benefit by learning how to use technology to enhance their learning experiences, and the teachers benefit by learning how to incorporate computers into the classroom without having to take time out of their schedule to attend an in-service. The program encouraged teachers to use computers in the classroom more frequently while the students received more one-on-one computer time. Everyone wins from a program like this!

Question 1

Would you incorporate this peer-tutoring technology in your classroom?

Definitely. I have studied the benefits of peer-tutoring before and it is a wonderful concept especially for students with learning disabilities like ADHD. This type of peer-tutoring has additional benefits for incorporating technology in the classroom.

Question 2

Can you think of any foreseeable drawbacks to a program such as this, like children abusing the power of their leadership roles?

No. I don't think children would abuse this power. The ego's of children with learning disabilities or behavior problems are usually rather fragile. This peer-tutoring would empower them in a positive way. Everybody loves the chance to shine, why would these kids try to give this up?

Journal #8

"In Your Face" by Christoper Beam

This article discusses the social networking phenomenon. The author, Christopher Beam, compares two of the most popular networking sites the Goliath MySpace and it's ing'enue Facebook. Beam seems to favor Facebook for being "comfy, sturdy, and attractive, without being showy", which may have been the case until recently when the website decided to expand it's borders and allow users to add and develop new programs. In doing so, some 900 new programs have popped up on Facebook. The author seems upset that none of the new programs have any real significance and the site still lacks an email or instant messaging system, which are apparently the keys to real success. Beam feels that in order for Facebook to take over MySpace it needs to be more all encompassing so users can virtually live online. It was about half way through this article that I started worrying about the state of society today. I think technology is a good thing. I think that what it has done to open up the international lines of communication is amazing. Aside from the whole technology in education theme we have going I love the Internet for so many other reasons. I love having quick and easy features like email which allow me to talk to my friends all over the world, and it's quite convenient to pay bills on line, but there has to be a limit to how much we do online. I feel like we should be spending more time out in the real world, we should get back to more personal, face to face conversations when ever possible. Who wants to be a totally shut-in who lives online all day. Do we need a supernetwork? Beam believes it is great to be able to download the same programs that your friends have or view what movies and music they buy while you graffiti all over their personal photos, but this all seems a little too much for me. Now I know that the people who do this allow their friends to have access to all their downloads and photos, but I just cant help but think of how this information can fall into the wrong hands. I guess it's just me, because according to the author the number of people who sign up for this kind of interaction is in the hundreds of thousands. It not like I think that this technology is the beginning of the end. I just think we can find better things to do with our free time. I'd rather go outside and play a game of softball with some friends.

Question 1

What do you think there is a positive side to social networking?

Yes. I do think it is nice to see what your friends and family, who live several hundreds of miles away, are doing. I feel that it's nice to share photos and music, but I just don't like to see so much dependency on the Internet.

Question 2

Would you incorporate this technology in your classroom?

No. I definitely plan on using class blogs or wiki web pages but social networking does not seem to be educationally appropriate.

Journal #7

"Google Spy" by Michael Agger

This article discusses the latest Google technology, Google Street View, which allows people virtual visual access to major cities across the United States. This technology has created quite the uproar. People are expressing concern that the photos taken by Street View are revealing too much personal information, but Google feels differently. Google defended itself by explaining that these photos are taken on public property and not in real time. Google seems to feel that no damage can be done as long as they take down any photos that are offensive. I think differently. This article had hyperlinks to several of the photos and allowed the reader to get a sense of what Street View was capable of. Several of the photos that were supposed to be taken down were still accessible on this site. Granted what I saw wasn't anything incredibly shocking, I couldn't stop thinking what happens next with this technology? I have to admit. I have heard of this technology before. In fact I've even used it without knowing what it was. Even worse I did exactly what I am afraid everyone else is going to do. Spy on other people. I don't know about you, but I like my privacy. Sure I would love to spy on other people, but if that means they can spy on me as well, then I'm out. Have you read 1984? Obviously live photos will be next and that's just taking it a little too far for me. I think this technology is getting close to crossing the line. At the end of this article the author discusses how he would like this technology to give him access to international locations without having having to leave the comfort of his home. While this does sound nice there is nothing like the real thing, and for me there is nothing like being in the comfort of my own front yard knowing that someone from Ohio can't see what I'm doing.

Question 1

Do you see any positive effects of this technology?

Yes. Quite often I go to mapquest for directions and find myself wishing I had some sort of visual reference, but I've managed to make it this long without Street View, I'm sure I can continue to make it on my own.

Question 2

What is the worst thing about this technology?

That this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think we are going to have a lot of issues like this come up in the future as our society becomes more technologically enhanced. Just because we have the capacity and the technology to do something like this doesn't mean we should do it. One of those ethical, social, human issues we discussed in class.

Journal #6

"Filming Compassion" by Janet Bremer and Marilyn Clark

The authors of this article decided to create a video production assignment for their high school students that would help fulfill the students service work requirement and help non-profit organizations at the same time. These students were asked to make a video for a non-profit organization using their own video equipment and later donate the video to the association. To begin with I think it is great that students in this school are required to do service work in order to graduate. This helps create a sense of community for the students especially when you tie in the concept of working with non-profit organizations. Everyone benefits from a situation like this. I also liked the idea that the students were not allowed to accept help or video equipment from the organizations they worked with, this helped level the playing field and encouraged student creativity. It also made sure that this was primarily a student creation. I thought it was great that the organizations had some say in the direction of their video. This way the video assignment had a purpose and could be put to use, rather than just sit on a shelf somewhere and gather dust. Another positive about this assignment is that the students had to ask their peers and family members to review their video. This not only helped the students develop critical and analytical thinking skills, but it gave the non-profit group exposure as well. Last, but not least, I think this was a wonderful way to incorporate technology in the classroom and benefit the student, school, and community. Honestly I can't think of anything negative to say about this assignment or article.

Question 1

Would you use this concept with younger children?

Definitely! My favorite part of this assignment involved working with the community and giving exposure to humanitarian agencies. I would probably modify the assignment for elementary school children though. I would possibly have them edit work that has already been filmed since going out on location and conducting interviews might be a bit beyond their capacity.

Question 2

As a teacher what would you do differently with a project like this?

I would have my students collaborate with a language class, like Spanish, and make a bilingual video project that would help non-English speaking communities as well.