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Week 10

It’s nice to “see” you all back here!

Giardino, J. (CC) 2014 Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/1jNryp1

I don’t think I have fully expressed how much I enjoy Feedly! I set it up way back at the beginning of the semester and every week I get to enjoy articles on topics I am actaully interested in! As I may have mentioned a time or two before, I try to live an active lifestyle and today I found an article that shocked me! “Exercising for Healthier Eyes,” does that sound right to you!? I thought we were supposed to eat carrots to have healthy eyes, not exercise! I have been misinformed! As you can probably predict, I read on so I could inform all you lovely people (maybe a little bit for myself too ;)! The research done on humans so far is limited but tests done on rats lead us to believe this could actually be true! Like our brains, our retinas are filled with neurons, and as these deteriorate, so does our eyesight. Long story short, technology has allowed us to measure these neurones. Those rats that exercise show increased growth factors, which keep the neurons from degeneration in the brain and eyes. Although it will take a long time to have studies from humans, I personally believe that if this happens to animals then it most likely happens to us! So why not go out, get some exercise, and feel great! Maybe we can even do fun things outside soon…. if winter ever ends!

I know one thing that seems to be never ending, the tools that we learn about every week! The people organizing this course seem to have an endless supply J. This week we explored some slideshow tools; Animoto, Photopeach and Prezi are my preferred choices. I find that Prezi is very useful in the school environment to present information in a creative way, while Animoto and Photopeach are tailored for the use of photos. In my personal life, and beyond university, it is most likely that I will use Photopeach again. It is very useful for school related presentations, as well as for personal use to display pictures to friends and family. The downfall with this, as it seems to be with all the similar tools, is that the free version is very limited compared to its full capabilities. There is a limited amount of pictures you can put in one presentation and the song choices are VERY limited. This is true for both Animoto and Photopeach.

I think that I could and would add Prezi and Photopeach to my PLE. I choose Photopeach over Animoto because a larger amount of pictures can be included in the free version of Photopeach. I love the idea of Prezi, it is far more eye catching than a simple (and possibly overdone) Powerpoint presentation! And the tool is also very user friendly. Using these tools will allow me to create visually appealing presentations, and will also contribute to the learning of others. When information is presented in an interesting manner, it is much easier (and more fun!) to learn. For this reason, they both shall go in create!

Well, that’s all folks! Don’t worry, we still have 2 more weeks left of exploring together!

TTFN

Week 9

Long time, no blog!

Rabin, R. (CC) 2014 Retrieved from: http://nyti.ms/1kT9qqN

I feel as though it has been weeks, when it fact it has been a week and a half since my last reflection. When visiting my Feedly I found something that ‘caught’ my eye. J I have always been told that I do not eat enough fish, and that fish is brain food. WELL, I thought that I had found an article that would prove my parents wrong! It discusses how the increasing level of mercury in fish is a growing concern, detected with some advanced technology no doubt! It could potentially do more harm than good. I thought I was going to win this battle, until I read on. I realized that they are saying that because of this people need to be more conscious of what kinds of fish they eat and make sure they don’t have high levels of mercury. This means that people should avoid eating predatory fish, or larges amounts of it, because they have high amounts of mercury built up. So for now, I have lost this battle and will just keep swimming along, telling you all about my discoveries this week!

The 2 tools that we explored this week were VoiceThread and PollDaddy. VoiceThread allows people to make interactive presentations. They can use text, voice clips and videos to express themsleves and make learning easier and more interesting. Also, the audience of the presentation can comment and add their knowledge using the methods I mentioned above and also have the option to call in or upload a file. This can be very useful when trying to get input and collaborate with others. PollDaddy is a tool that easily allows people to ask questions and poll the results. It is free and is easy for both the creator and the user. This is very important because usually when you are asking someone to do a survey they are going out of their way to do you a favor, they would not be as willing if it was complicated or if there was a fee. Both of these tools are very useful and serve their purpose for those people who need these services. I am currently in my last year of my undergrad(finally!). At this point in my life I do not do the type of work that would need this kind of collaboration. However, like technology, life is always changing, and there may come a time when I may need such tools. I will not be including them in my PLE now, but I will keep them in mind moving forward.

It seems that VoiceThread’s main purpose is to get the thoughts, knowledge, and opinions of an idea from many people, understanding different arguments, and working through any ambiguous information. While a collaborative tool such as Google Docs is there to facilitate the work between people, working together to complete a common project or task. The work I do in school is more geared towards reports and presentations in a team environment, making Google Docs my preferred choice. I think there is starting to be a pattern here… I am now a HUGE fan of Google Docs, but no need to fret, I am still keeping an open mind for all the other tools!

TTFN

Technology Use Scenario

Scenario #16
Kelly just got her driver’s license. Her parents allow her to take the car to school and to her part time job. She enjoys the freedom of being able to drive. One night, her parents allow her to pick up her friend Sally and go to the movies. She begins driving to Sally’s house and remembers she wanted to remind her other friend Lisa that they would be meeting after the movie. She decides that she can text Lisa and continue to drive to Sally’s house. Kelly gets so involved with typing her text to Lisa that she does not see the car ahead of her braking. At the last minute, she is able to step on the brakes and stop her car before becoming involved in an accident. What went wrong? (Ribble, 2011, p. 93)

As I touched on in my Week 8 blog, I believe that technology has more responsibilities then there are rights. In this situation Kelly exemplifies how we as users forget this very important fact. The first reason we can see she is in the wrong is because texting or using your phone while driving is illegal. But it is so far beyond that. It is illegal because it is dangerous and irresponsible. I think that our generation has all done this at one point or another, and for the most part, everyone knows it is wrong. But why do we continue to send little messages here and there, thinking it is harmless? Our generation is so fast paced; we want everything done as quickly as possible and are always multitasking. We can see this by the way society has transformed. Kelly made a bad decision when she decided to text while driving. From the context of this scenario is seems that she was not even in a hurry, so why the rush? There were a number of options that would have been far better.

1) Kelly should have waited until she got to Sally’s house, then texted

2) She also could have pulled over and texted while safely parked
3) As she only needed to send the message for a plan after the movie, she could have texted while at the theatre before the movie started

It is not a shock, but 77% of young drivers are confident that they can safely text and drive. When it comes to driving, it is not solely based on the individual. You also have to remember that even if you personally are able to safely text and drive, there are other people that you have to share the road with as well. If you are texting while driving, that probably means there are other people doing it too, and they may not be as capable as you. In 2011, 23% of vehicle collisionswere admitted to have involved cell phones, that is the equivalent of 1.3 million crashes, and that is only what people actually admitted to! When you are driving and using a phone you are distracted, whether you want to admit it or not. This decreases your reaction time, which could lead to an accident that could have potentially been avoided. Even if you are reaching for a phone to use the speech to text application or dialing a phone number and using your Bluetooth, you are distracted in some way.

When you do this, it is not only your life you are putting in danger, it is everyone around you. Can you imagine the guilt you would feel if you had texted a buddy of yours to say hi, and you got in an accident that killed people? What if you killed someone’s parents? Would you like to tell those children that they will never see their parents again because you wanted to ask ‘John’ what he was up to that night? What if your parents, a sibling, a friend or even a friend of a friend had their life taken away from them because someone driving felt they had the RIGHT to text while driving?

Our actions and the decisions we make everyday are very powerful, we have to be aware of this and make educated choices. 

Does that put things in perspective?

TTFN

Ribble, M. (2011). Digital citizenships in schools (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

Week 8

I was looking at Feedly today, seeing if there was anything that sparked my interest, when I saw it, an article that I could not just pass by like the others! My entire life I have been under the impression that running isn’t that good for you because it is hard on your knees- it’s not an excuse, I swear! But today I read “Why High-Impact Exercise Is Good for Your Bones.” I can imagine the shock you are feeling, so let me ease your pain and tell you a little bit about this article. When we do high impact exercise such as running and jumping it adds mass to our bones, and reduces the amount of mass our bones will lose as we age. This is a good thing! The problem is that “older” people are typically not safely able to do these high-impact movements as it may cause damage. The lesson today is to jump in with both feet, while you still can!

So, allow me to jump into our next topic, Wikis! As described in a wiki that we were  suggested to read this week, “a wiki is a website that anyone can edit easily using a regular web browser.” The concept of having one place on the Internet that a group of people can access and edit is a great idea. A video that I watched had a excellent example of a group coordinating a trip and using a wiki instead of e-mail. This seemed very practical, but for personal use, I am not sure if I would ever actually use it. To me it seems that a wiki for personal use, in school for instance, would not be more beneficial than some other tools. In past weeks we have explored Google Docs and Evernote. These are both tools that I found very useful and am now using on a daily basis, exposing my peers to my new found knowledge, sometimes against their will! My preference is Google Docs, because once someone has a Gmail account, they are able to use all of the user friendly Google tools. For students that have MANY accounts to keep track of, this is plus. 

Gibbons, S. (CC) 2014.

This week was the first time I have really sat and thought about the digital rights and responsibilities we all have. I personally feel as though there are far more responsibilities as a digital citizen than rights. In my mind map I have outlined those that I consider significant through my exploration. There are however, a few that I personally believe are the most important. As a generation that has grown up with the Internet, it really is our main source of communication. Sometimes we forget that we have to respect other people’s opinions even if we don’t agree with them. That being said, we do have the right to report inappropriate information.  Sometimes it is difficult but we also have to make the effort to source all of our material. If we are not the one that has created it, then someone else has and we must give them credit for it! With all of the responsibilities we have as digital citizens, we are entitled to rights as well. The most important one for me is privacy. I expect that my private information held by companies will not be given out, sold or displayed for the public to see. It is all of these rights and responsibilities that contribute to making us educated (if I do say so myself!) digital citizens!

TTFN