Week+3

Jan 25th 2009


 * Class Discussion**

A lot of the ideas and concepts we discuss in class are going to be **difficult to implement in the classroom with the current curriculum** and ministry requirements. It is clear that education is changing but currently we are stuck in the middle ground between old curriculum and expectations and new technologies. Students are changing, but post secondary institutions and ministry expectations have not. **Students' literacy is changing**. They can understand technology and communicate through shortenned text with their peers, but as a result students are having several issues with comprehension of longer texts and critical thinking skills in relation to what they have read. So, although technology can be a great way to engage students into a subject matter, **students still need to practice and be evaluated on traditional skills.**

This quote will help me express my conflicted views.

– Mark Twain, writer and humorist
 * "Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty." **

I was pretty cocky coming into the teaching profession and more and more I become uncertain with how to properly approach it.

Here is my audacity effort:

media type="file" key="grahamaudacity.mp3" width="173" height="69"

I understand that the podcast lacks a message, but when I created it, we were just given the instructions to create something and play with the program. I will try and add more of a message to my later projects, now that I know what is required.

I learned a lot working with this program. When I was younger I used to edit movies that my friends and I made on IMovie and the technology that was lacking most from the program was its ability to edit voice and sound. This program would have been perfect. I liked how you can **amplify the volume, change effects, incorporate other music and sound effects**. There were a few things that gave me trouble with the program but I'm sure that is just part of the **learning curve for the program**. Looking back **I could have done a better job of fading in and out between tracks.**

Here is the video version...all pictures were found on Google image, under advanced search and open to reuse. media type="file" key="Movie.wmv" width="300" height="300"


 * Movie Maker**


 * Movie Maker is a good program for editing visual podcasts and videos. It is similar to IMovie.**

Picture found using Google images, labeled for reuse, from Flickr -http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/498122926_443eaf90ed.jpg
 * Social Networking in the class**

Personally I use the social networking site Facebook, but I simply use it as another email address because I know some people who only communicate through it. In the class, **I would shy away from using an actual social networking site**. There is too much **content on the site that is questionable for the classroom**. I can see the **students knowledge of these sites being used**. I would like to have **students create either in digital form or on a poster, a Facebook profile for historical figures.** I could see the students creating wall posts between John A. MacDonald and Alexander Mackenzie.