Copyright

I was never taught the importance of copyright in school. After reading about it I understand the importance. It is very easy to steal work that is not yours especially on the web. I am not saying I do it, but copying and pasting images into a word document for a paper or project is a very easy thing to do. Sometimes you forget to cite where you got it from. I believe the EFF Teaching Copyright Curriculum is great thing for teachers to have their students do, or be aware of. I just feel placing images on the web is opening the door for people to see your work and take it. I can just remember back in elementary school when I had to sign permission slips to use the internet and now it is just so freely used by everyone. Maybe people should think twice on what they post online.

This is a photo I licensed with Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54426910@N02/5040874590/?edited=1

Image I might consider using in the classroom:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjarrett/2897227352/

Images in Curriculum

I believe when teaching visual aids/photos are very important to have to go along with what is being said. When giving a power point presentation I believe it is important to have images to show what is being taught. Images are a very important part to any curriculum. For example, when teaching/learning the parts of a plant/flower, or the human body it would be nice to have an image that could be labeled so the important parts could be properly explained. Images not only are a useful resource when teaching they are a necessity. All students learn differently. Some learn just by having things explained to them, others need to visually see what is being taught to them.

Wow!

I can not believe the technology that is now available for school classrooms. It has advanced so much over the past years, it is incredible. What happened to overhead projectors and T.V's on carts? I know this may not be the latest, but Smarboards are the coolest things ever! Last week I visited the classroom I will be observing for the year and I could not believe the technology available in the room for elementary school students. There was not one chalkboard in the classroom. There was a dry erase board and a Smartboard. Someone told me that Smartboards have been around for a while but that was the first time I have ever seen one. Not only can a teacher display his/her computer screen on it, but movies can be shown on it, writing can be done on it and then saved to be printed off as a handout.

Twitter

Last week I was introduced to Twitter. I remember when it first became popular. I never really thought much of it or even wanted to join, Facebook was good for me. Only a few of my friends had Twitter accounts at the time and they just followed celebrities. To me, I didn't really care about celebrities so I didn't see the point of joining. I now have a Twitter account and learned a little more about it last week. I am still confused with how Twitter works and I do not fully understand how to follow people but, I did learn what it has to offer. I learned that through Twitter people can have discussions to share useful information and resources. Along with that, people can post questions, contact and build relationships with professional peers around the country/world, and even follow experts in their field of work. Twitter can be a useful resource. It can help you keep in contact with people and build your knowledge in your professional field. I am still trying to figure out how it all works but I do see its potential.

RSS

Last week during class I was introduced to RSS- Really Simple Syndication. I really never understood RSS until I read about it last week and explored. I had heard the term used in previous classes by teachers but it never made sense to me. I didn't know what they were talking about. I learned that RSS allows people to subscribe to online information by using a reader which will automatically check/download the new content on the subscribed web pages. RSS can help one organize all the information available to them on the web by simply clicking a button. It eliminates having to go through all the individual websites to get to the one that actually interests you. I became part of google reader last week where I subscribed to follow two websites so far. It's great because it has automatically downloaded the new content available on each site. It keeps me updated!

Hello World!

My name is Amanda Perelli, and I am a senior at Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education. This is my first time making a blog and it is for my online class called CEP 416 Teaching and Learning with Technology. I am not very technology savvy. I do not have much experience with the latest technological advances on the web. I have blogged before for one of my previous education classes on a class blog where I would post discussion comments. I enjoyed doing it. I liked reading about my peers perspectives on the issues we discussed in class and voicing my own opinion. I am looking forward to this class and learning about all the latest educational technologies available. Along with that, I am looking forward to just becoming more comfortable with the web and technology in general. This class has only been going for two weeks and I have already learned how to make a website, twitter, and blog!