Week 5 Media & Information Literacy

This week we read and watched videos about visual literacy. Visual literacy is how we learn with pictures and symbols. We watched some interesting videos about how media can change images with photo shopping. The Dove Campaign video shows the makeover of a woman for a skincare advertisement and how she is digitally enhanced. Another video showed how and why visual literacy can be used in the classroom.

As an elementary education teacher, it is important to realize that when teaching with visual literacy images can be skewed. Using primary documents such as photographs of history to teach about a certain time period helps enhance the learning experience. Like, "they" say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." At the same time, however, whomever created or photographed the picture has their own personal opinion of what is being photographed and that can be picked up through the image. I think using visual literacy in the classroom is overall a very positive thing as it gains the interest of students, and enhances critical thinking skills.

The following is a video I found on You Tube.It further explains with the use of photographs, why we should incorporate visual literacy into learning. As noted by the author, it was created to "inspire teachers of all subject areas to appreciate the opportunity for learning using visual imagery in their classes."

Week 4 Copyright Law, Plagarism, and Ethical Issues

This week we learned about how to use technology effectively for teaching purposes. The first presentation taught us how to properly broadcast information on tools such as a power point. The four key guidelines given were contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. In the second presentation we learned about using multimedia and hypermedia and the advantages and disadvantages of using either. From outside links, we learned how to tell if a web site is legitimate and has factual information.

Learning how to tell if a website has factual or trusted information will be very useful as an elementary education major. When I get into the teaching field and my students are trying to research material it can be hard to find websites with accurate information. With the information given today, by being able to better understand the URL, I can more easily determine which of these websites are valid.

The following article, "Hypermedia in the Classroom: A Developmental Handbook for Teachers," is an article telling teachers how to implement hypermedia into a classroom. I found it using the Google search engine. Click here to read the article
Click here to view the website that hosts the above article

Week 4 Homework

Here is a video I found on YouTube called the Creative Commons Solution

Week 3 Web Technology

In week three we learned about Web 2.0, copyright, and No Child Left Behind. Web 2.o refers to internet users' ability to change change the content they see on the web, with applications such as Facebook, and Myspace. We went to a Web 2.0 applications forum and discovered that there are thousands of different applications on the web including those for use use in social networking, teaching, cooking, shopping, budgeting, and music. After Web 2.0 we learned about copyrighting and all of its legalities. No Child Left Behind was created in the United States due to low reading scores in school. One of the components of NCLB includes bridging the gap between education and technology and trying to get all students equal opportunities to experience technology in their learning.

I think the copyright laws are very important to understand as an Elementary Education major. With all of the new technology and information available to us its confusing to know what we are legally able to use in the classroom without infringing upon copyright laws. I did not realize that you could get a fine as high as $100,000 per offense. In this lesson there were some helpful links to help teachers understand more fully what the copyright laws entail.

http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
The above link is to a website my brother told me about which provides different works that the authors put under a creative commons license. The sight also explains what it means to be able to use a work under the Creative Commons license. You can also find the website at the top of the Creative Commons search page:http://search.creativecommons.org/

Week 2 Educational Technology

This week was an introduction into the world of technology. First, we had an orientation on how to use Mac computers. I have a PC myself, but I love Macs. They are very user friendly and have so many cool applications. We also learned about the basics of technology. In a short video we were shown some of the terms that have to do with computers such as html, ISPS, servers, and URL's. Two other videos were presented as well. The first was about how internet is affecting society. The second was a brief history about the first e-mails. Lastly, there were a series of videos from PBS called "Growing Up Online," which showed how technology is having an impact on the younger generation.

As an Elementary Education major the last video "Growing Up Online" was a real eye opener for me. Children these days are so much further advanced in technology than when I was in elementary, middle, and high school. Teachers are having to implement all of the new technology into their curriculum. This class will be a big help in getting me up-to-date on how to better reach my students through technology.

Here is a link to a website I found called TeAchnology. http://www.teach-nology.com/ I found it through Google search engine. Its a website that has tutorials and other information on helping teachers how to use technology in the classroom.