Some Final Thoughts...

As a future teacher of the 21st century it is my belief that we as teachers have to be more technologically aware of what is out there and available to use in today’s society. We as teachers should be teaching the children these valuable skills because it these skills that is going to take them into the future. Now that being said I think as teachers in a first nation community we also have to respect the values and beliefs of our culture. We as teachers need to somehow find a balance between teaching our traditional skills, values, and beliefs and the new technological skills that these children need to become successful in our society. And this something I look forward to working on.

Assignment: Chapter 6

The types of issues that I would be worried that students are producing for sharing online is information that is not true and information that is not theirs and they claim that it is. I would also be worried as to who they were talking to online. As we all know anyone can claim to be anyone online. Some rules that I would want children to practice while online are: do not use a webcam, restrict the use of adult search engines, and see what kind of games are they playing (are they age-appropriate and what kind of material is in them?).

Just a Poem..

Here is a poem I found online thought I'd share it with everyone...

A COMPUTER POEM FOR THOSE OVER FORTY

A computer was something on TV
From a science fiction show of note.
A window was something you hated to clean,
And ram was the cousin of a goat

Meg was the name of my girlfriend.
A gig was a job for the nights.
Now they all mean different things,
And that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment.
A program was a TV show.
A cursor used profanity.
A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age.
A CD was a bank account.
And if you had a three-inch floppy,
You hoped nobody found out.

Compress was something you did to the garbage,
Not something you did to a file.
And if you unzipped anything in public,
You'd be in jail for a while.

Log on was adding wood to the fire.
Hard drive was a long trip on the road.
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.
And a backup happened to your commode.

Cut, you did with a pocket knife.
Paste, you did with glue.
A web was a spider's home.
And a virus was the flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head.
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash,
But when it happens they wish they were dead.

-- author unknown

The digital divide: the "have-nots"

Not being able to access the web is rather a scary thought…I connect to people on a daily basis online, whether it is through emails or instant messenger. We are so fortunate to have such easy access to the internet, but that is not the case for everyone. Those people are truly missing out on something else. The Web is a great tool and resource of the future. The web is full of so many free resources that people should take advantage of. I just wish it was more affordable so that everyone would have access to the internet. Maybe that’s something the governments can help with. By making computers and broadband access more affordable more people can be connected to the World Wide Web.

Chapter Four: Wiki Spaces

I would use a wiki space for the project of students at two first nations’ schools in New Brunswick and British Columbia recording and sharing native stories and music. For creating a novel study with author participation, I think a wiki would work best. With the wiki spaces everyone has a chance to be an author and have a say in the project, there is a lot of room for collaboration. The students can upload their recordings, videos, and music onto the wiki spaces, and be able to share these with other students. Also with a wiki space, you can always have a blog linked to the space as well, in which everyone can have a chance to make and share their own comments. I think a blog would probably suffice for keeping a daily science journal or creative writing with peer review. The students can personalize their own blogs and have the freedom to write whatever they want, and with the comment application the children can leave their peer reviews on that.

Wikipedia.....

I read the chapter last night about Wiki spaces and it gave me a new understanding into the whole idea of Wikipedia. While going for my BA at Dalhousie University I was taught never use Wikipedia as a resource for anything. The university did not recognize this website as a credible resource of information because the sources for the information is not known. So I found it interesting to read about how accurate the information is on Wikipedia. And I am also interested to learn if UNB accepts Wikipedia as a credible resource?? But I think that Wiki spaces in general are a great resource for sharing information and it seems rather simple enough to keep the website updated.