Week 4 Extra Blog: Creative Commons Licensing

I chose this YouTube video titled Creative Commons—Building on the Past to share because it provides a basis on the topic of Creative Commons licensing in a creative way. Like the video points out, Copyright laws can often be restricting and limit someone’s access to other people’s work. Creative Commons allows a person to make his or her own rules and build a custom license with as many or as few restrictions as he or she wants. The video provides examples of the use of Creative Commons such as not allowing your song to be used for commercial use or allowing someone to use your movie as long as you are given credit. It is easy to use Creative Commons by visiting the site creativecommons.org and it is free. Creative Commons is a great way to bypass Copyright laws and allows the individual to make his or her own decisions and rules. This video was entertaining visually and it helped to emphasize the benefits of Creative Commons and provide information to people who are not aware of what this licensing is.

Week 3: Web Technology

During week 3, we learned about the history of the internet, common computer terminology and the new social digital generation of today. Computers use to only work on one task at a time. However, in 1957 a large scale computer network was needed and so the modern internet came out of the collaboration and foundation of three concepts; the concept of a military network in America, the commercial network in England and the scientific network in France. Later on, a group of men from BBN created the interface message processor, which was basically the first internet router. The internet as we recognize it today came about in 1969; e-mail as we know it in 1965. In 1973 people started using the internet for e-mail and communication purposes, despite the fact that that was not the main purpose of the browser. New internet technological terms such as bits and bytes, cookies and firewall were introduced and explained as well. Finally, the concept of Web 2.0 and the new type of internet that has emerged was discovered and explored. Web 2.0 refers to trends in web designs in which users create public information, create communities online and network socially with others. This new web has to lead to different student learning.

The web today and the trends we are seeing are directly related to my future career as a teacher. The term Education 2.0 has been coined to refer to the digital tools used to transform teaching and learning; learners and teachers must work together to create and build communities and networks of learning. It is not enough for a teacher to simply stand in front of a classroom and teach on a chalk board. Newer generations of students are becoming more socially interactive and fluent in the language of the internet. It is important for me as a teacher to recognize this change and to address it in my classroom. Students can use collaborative technologies that allow them to communicate and comment on work of their classmates and others around the world. Education 2.0 also calls for a collective wisdom and a classroom that is participatory and adapting.

I found this youtube video to be interesting and relevant to what we learned in class this week. The video describes the evolution from Web 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0. Web 2.0 and its communication and interaction were stressed with the creation and constant use of sites such as Facebook and Blogger. We are now emerging into an era of Web 3.0; claimed to be a continuation of Web 2.0. Sites such as Amazon already use Web 3.0 features that stress the individual’s needs and wants. The internet and its connections are also becoming less recognizable as new devices like phones and other applications now have access to the web. I found this video to be interesting and I liked how it stressed the future of the internet. The internet is ever changing and becoming more interactive and tailored to the individual.

Week 2: Educational Technology

During week 2 we learned about the MACOSX including its main features, advantages and differences from PC computers. The obvious differences between the Mac and PC deal with its hardware; the Mac processes information and has different outward features than the PC does. Each new version of Mac is given a name; the OSX version and the computer we use in class is referred to as the "Leopard." Some of the features on the Mac that were discussed in class and on the lecture notes online was how to turn the computer On/Off (it is found in the back of computer which you can turn to face you) or you can turn the computer off by clicking the apple button in the upper left on the menu bar. The desktop includes major components such as the menu bar, the dock, the hard drive, inserted media devices and folders/files. On the menu bar you have the Finder window which is like the Windows Explorer in a PC. This is where items are located from the hard drive, other storage devices and folders/files. The dock at the bottom of the screen is essentially a group of aliases that provide the user with shortcuts to open applications, folders and files. Learning how to create folders, saved documents and aliases on the Mac was also discussed and assessed. These tasks can be done mainly through the Finder window. In addition, a brief overview was given on the Mac keyboard and mouse.

This lesson applies directly to the education field that I am pursuing as an elementary school teacher. Many public school districts throughout the country are or have purchased Mac computers. Therefore, it is crucial for me to know how to operate such a computer so that I can use it effectively and efficiently. How embarrassing would it be if I couldn’t store my grades online on the computer or I didn’t know how to create a graph for a presentation for the class because I am a PC owner? To prove that public schools are in fact using Mac computers I found an article written by Joe Hill, the director of Math and Technology at the Rockingham Public County Schools discussing why his county, along with numerous others, are using Mac computers in schools.
http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/rcps_tech/whymac.html
This shows that Macs are relevant to my field and that this lesson does apply because I need to be able to effectively operate a Mac seeing as it is likely that I will be in a classroom that uses such a computer.

http://apcmag.com/15_reasons_macs_are_still_better_than_windows.htm

I chose this article to look at because I think it is important for me to understand and become familiar with the positive, best features of the Mac computer. By reading this article I learned how to troubleshoot a Mac using three applications in the utilities folder. The author of the article also pointed out some useful apps on the Mac such as iphoto and stickies; I found the stickies to be cool because you can set reminders for yourself on fake sticky notes on the computer screen. I didn’t realize that Macs don’t have to run additional security software like PCs do. In addition, I found the authors commentary on the small features of the Mac to be informative; quick look lets you view all the major files, the image viewing app allows you to view a PDF and open or export it to other image formats, and the Mac has sophisticated screen shot capability. I am a PC owner, but I think it is important for me to understand why so many people like Macs and what its unique features are so that one day when I’m a teacher or working on a Mac, I can easily navigate my way around the computer.