I understand that OLPC is a good cause. It aims to make technology and education via technology to all children around the world. It is not that I think that this is a bad idea, because doing something is much better than doing nothing, but I don’t think that giving a computer to a child in Africa is going to be the best way to improve their way of life. What I would like to see is "An Education for Every Child". To me this would mean teachers. It would make sense to me to invest this money, or even this technology to educate people to become educators. One laptop may help one child, or one family, but one educator can help many.

Maybe because I am in the teaching profession I put a high value on person to person learning. I also think there is so much more between teacher and student that a laptop cannot provide. There is interaction, questions and answers, another role model, another person to care. I am not naive, I know that educators are few and far between in the third world countries. I think that is the issue and no matter how many laptops are given out that will not change, unless the laptops are to train those who will one day educate others. What I do think is a good idea is having a combination of the laptops and teachers. This would be ideal because the laptops can provide in areas that the educators cannot, like connecting with children outside the community or even outside the country.

I know I seem maybe ungrateful or ignorant to be so critical over a good cause, but I am not anti-OLPC, I am simply pro educators.

Word Count: 291

I must admit I was surprised to see how seamlessly music and technology fit together. Technology has made it possible for anyone to create sharable music. The other day I recorded my song for the songchild project and I did feel very proud that I was able to write and record a song. I never thought in a million years I would do something like that, but now that I have I am glad I did. My voice is not very appealing, but I think I was able to get a good message across in my song and that my song is one that could potentially be used with children in meaningful ways. The idea of this has opened up a new range of ideas for me for when I begin teaching. I could not only write and record songs that would be meaningful to the children in my classroom, but I could get the children themselves involved in the writing and recording of music.

My boyfriend is actually the one who helped me record my song. He is a part-time DJ and has experience doing recordings. It’s funny how much you learn about technology in the process of recording. I never even thought about having the ability to change the speed, volume, balance or tone of a song with a touch of a button or two. It is also neat how it is possible to combine several voices or several instruments into one recording. This would take much long to have to record everything at the same time as there is so much more room for error. It also allows for someone like me to put together a song without spending hours of time learning a complex system.

This also made me thing of how technology has changed visual arts, which is more my territory. I think it has definitely made it easier to share artwork, but it has also made it a lot easier for those in photography to have good photos. With all the editing programs available out there today anyone can have attractive and professional-looking photos. I’m not sure how I feel about this as an artist. There is something to be said for being able to produce visual art or music without the aid of technology, and my only hope is that the use of technology does not degrade real talent. 

Word Count: 396

So I have decided to dedicate an entire entry to a subject brought up by the flickr lab: privacy of children. As I searched through the many images of children on flickr, I thought about how I would feel in the position of the child. The child did not give permission for their family or friends to post photos of them for the world to see. Anyone could go on their and take or look at images of children. I actually came across several flickr accounts that people had turned to private because pictures of their children were taken and put on other sites. 

I think that one of the things that bothers me about the idea of this is that what are we teaching our children by allowing all these images be available to the world? When they get old enough to begin posting photos of their own will their judgment of when and where to post be blurred? I think it would be very rare that it would be endangering a child to put photos of them on the internet, but it's not quite as safe once that child becomes a teenager. I have heard many accounts of times where people have been stalked or harassed by strangers on the net. In fact I myself have had someone communicate with me through the internet after he read some poems I wrote. He seemed very innocent at the time, but red flags went up quickly.

I think that the main point I am wanting to make here is not that it is necessarily dangerous to post children's photos or information, but it is important to teach them to discern when and where it is appropriate. The good thing about sites like flickr is that there are privacy settings so you can choose who can see your photos and who cannot. Facebook is also this way and I think it is important because it still allows you to share information with friends and family, without it being open to everyone. Teaching children about these settings and how to use them is probably a better thing to do then to not put information up about them at all. Should you completely shield children from technology and the possibilities they will not learn how to use it well when they do start using it.

I'm undecided on who I think should be teaching children this specificly, but I think for now I would say anyone who is using technology with children has the responsability to teach them how to be safe, just like anything else.

Word Count: 412

So Scratch was amazing to play with. I made a short movie involving one large bat picking on thanother small bat and then being scared away by an even larger bat.  It was nothing too impressive, but it gave me a real feeling of accompishment. 

more to come...

Okay so apparently this course and I do not work well together. My personality if far too avoident for such open ended courses. I seem to find a way to talk myself into putting off writing my journals week after week and before I know it I am completely out of the habit and six weeks behind…how embarrassing, and somehow completely uncharacteristic of me. I think technology is a tough subject for me. It’s not that I am not aware of technology. I actually am fairly knowledgeable about how to use technology, I just can’t seem to get interested in it. I think I am far too bitter about the crazy world we live in, so I am determine to disassociate myself with anything considered new age.

Whatever the reason, I should not have been so careless, and I regret not putting the time into this journal, as I should have. Not only do I say this because now I have to write a journal everyday for the next 6 days, but because I cheated myself out of reflecting about a topic I will likely never take up on my own accord. This is not to mention the fact I made it impossible for those in my group to comment on my entries, which is completely unfair, and I do sincerely apologize.

As an update though I did successfully make 40 days fast without watching any television, though I quickly fell of the horse as far as computers are concerned because I spend way too much time on one writing assignments (though obviously not doing my journal entries...)

I’d also like to take this opportunity to mention that I have started a WIKI for ECE students in our year. It’s so that we can share lesson plans in teacher’s college and beyond. I think it will be a really valuable way of sharing information and ideas should we choose to take advantage of it. The WIKI is not quite ready to be revealed, but should you be interested in being part of it please e-mail me at: tarrosiel@gmail.com.

I realize this was not much of a journal entry content-wise, but I assure you I will get more in depth in the next few days.

This chapter immediately made me think of Math Circus. When I was in elementary school, there were not very many games on the computer at my school, but we did have Math Circus. There was one game where you had to order lions from smallest to largest, one where you had to help a knight rescue a princess and one where you had to help a trapeze artist make it safely to the other side of a gap. There were several others, and I think they eventually came out with a math circus II. Each mini game had levels that you could progress through. The first level was always every easy, but as it went on it got harder and harder and problem solving with math concepts came into play in a big way. While I was playing Math Circus I wasn't even aware that I was learning. I always enjoyed myself and I thought I was just playing a game. When my sisters, who are a lot younger than me, got to elementary school there were all sorts of computer games that kids could play in experimental ways to learn math, science and language concepts.

I also remember this hospital game where you had to build a hospital to treat the maximum number of patients possible. You had to consider things such as cost and space as well as what were the most common diseases of the time, and what were the most effective treatments. It was a neat game to help children learn to think about issues from several perspectives, in a fun way.

I think it is a good supplementary tool to use technology for experimental purposes, but I think it is important to keep in mind that first, children need hands on experiments, that the can see and touch in real life. The virtual world quest mentioned in the textbook was something I found odd, yet interesting at the same time. I think that it would likely encourage children to want to learn about different things, like the animal used as an example, but I think that we need to encourage learning for the sake of learning too. I mean if children get rewarded for each new piece of information they learn (whether in a virtual quest, or in real life), then what will happen after school when these rewards are not present? I think we want to make life long learners, so it is okay at times to use technology to encourage experimental and concept, learning, but not as the main way of teaching.

Word Count: 429

I have to be honest that when I went into this chapter about community building I had already decided I wouldn’t like the idea. However, when I got to the part where a little girl had drawn some dragons and had received comments I had a change of heart in a way. I think for older students, having a blog isn’t a bad idea. It would be kind of neat for them to be able to share the blog with their classmates as well as with family members and friends who may live far away. I had a blog for a while and I got comments from friends all over Canada. It was kind of nice to know that so many people who were important in my life cared enough to want to read about what is happening in my life. I think kids would find the same thing, and it would give them a forum to share thoughts and ideas without the fear of being ignored or interrupted. Although I never thought I would, if I were to teach an older grade (maybe 5 or 6) I would really consider creating blogs with them.

I do still however think that community building does have to start face to face. The only community present in the classroom should not be one on-line. Children need to learn to work in groups and build on each other’s learning in a personal way. They need to learn to be sensitive and accepting of those who they are working with. I think blogging should just be a small branch off of the tree with is the classroom community.

Wikis I think are a good idea. We made a Wiki in Danny’s music and arts class and I really thought it was a good tool to share ideas between educators. I think this is a great tool to share ideas quickly with a lot of people and in a way that they can be referred to easily. One of the issues with a Wiki though is that people using the wiki have to be dedicated to ensuring it is taken care of and used with respect to others on it. As long as everyone is commited to making it work, it will.

Technology connects us to people in ways that we have never been connected before. Even just the simple idea that you can tell a large group of people information at once really saves us a lot of time, and makes building relationships easier and more accessible than ever before. Instead of talking to one friend in the evening on the phone you can go on msn or facebook and communicate with several people at once. Not only can you be communicating with several people, but you can be playing solitaire, reading articles, writing an essay and listening to music all at once.

We have become a generation that is used to multi-tasking and having every bit of our attention used up. This concerns me a bit because I think for myself, and in some children I have seen, it has made it difficult to concentrate on one thing and to focus at school because it does not stimulate me to the level that I am used to. Because of this I have decided to do a little experiment with myself. For 40 days, aside from schoolwork I am not going to be using the computer at all. I will also not be watching television, movies or playing video games. I started this experiment of sorts 2 days ago, which leaves me with another 38 days to go. So far it has been more difficult than expected. I am finding that I am already feeling less connected with people both in and outside my house. Outside is for obvious reasons as I am not able to communicate with them in the same way as before. But it was surprising to me that I am feeling apart from my family. See, my family will often eat dinner in front of the TV, or relax watching TV or movies in the evenings. So I am now unable to participate in the activities my family typically does together. We’ll see how the next few weeks go!

Anyway, I also wanted to talk about the fact that it is so much easier to say something over the internet than it is to say something in person. In my experiences people are more willing to make confessions, talk about tough issues, and even say hurtful things. This can be both good and bad. I have seen it in a good way when people are able to discuss things on their mind more freely, but I have also seen people, myself included, say things that I wish I kept to myself, or say some things in a less tactful way than I would in person. I think the message here is that we need to teach kids to ask themselves, "Would I be comfortable with telling this person this face-to-face? Why or why not?"

I can see how technology is a benefit to sharing ideas, like how the text talks about, because it is good for getting a variety of ideas from a wide range of perspectives.

Word Count: 500

First of all I want to apologize, I realize it has taken me far too long to get up all my journal entries. I hope to be caught up by tomorrow. I had difficulty acquiring a text for monetary reasons. I will from now on be up to date with all my entries.

Okay on to Technology. Coming into the course I stubbornly feel young children should learn how to do things without technology. I feel like if we right away give them the easy way of doing things, they will never really have a full understanding. For example having a large amount of information available at the touch of a button is very common in today's world and I think it in a way devalues knowledge and the amount of effort it takes people to discover and communicate new things and ideas.
I was watching Little House on the Prairie the other day and in one episode one of the daughters was entering a contest in order to win a dictionary. She studied and studied because she desperately wanted the dictionary. It reminded me just how much I took my access to knowledge for granted. I can find most anything I want to know in just a couple minutes. I think it is important that children have not only an appreciation for the technology, but an appreciation of the availability of knowledge. I think by teaching them to do research from books and articles on paper first, then moving to the internet in the older grades.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the issue of safety. I know the book talked about schools having difficulty blocking websites containing violence and such. I was actually working at a school at one point where I was roaming around a computer lab with grade 6's and I saw that one of the children was on a website for guns. Although I think it is a good idea to block inappropriate sites from children, I thin it is just important, or perhaps more important to teach children to sensor themselves, and give information to parents about insuring their children are safe on the internet. I think at times the internet seems almost unreal and that looking into things on the internet or giving out information on the internet is not as dangerous or harmful as it is in "real" life.

I am actually very skeptical of technology as can probably be seen. However I was impressed by the concept maps by samantica. I think they are really useful and really help kids organize their thoughts visually without the difficulties of trying to do it by hand. Other tools like this I can see using in my classroom for children who need it. I think in my mind I would just rather see children helping each other and being face to face, instead of technology helping children screen to face.

Perhaps I'll warm up to the idea in time.

Word Count: 496

My family got our first computer when I was 11 years old. My first experience with a computer however was much earlier than that. I was about six or seven and we were being sent in groups of four to the library to use the computer lab to type up our creative writing projects. At the time the library computer lab was in an old storage room and consisted of four computers, each with their own printers. I remember watching the librarian turn on the computer and waiting patiently as it booted up. She got me into a writing program, then left the room. A couple minutes after I began to type the screen froze and no matter how many times I clicked the mouse it stayed frozen. Because I was afraid I had broken it I pushed in the power button, hoping that it would at least turn off. To my surprise it restarted, and despite my fears the computer was not broken, and I was able to get myself back into the writing program. i never told the librarian, just in case it were to blow up later. 

I think that this very fist experience with computers scared me into staying away from technology as much as I could for the remainder of elementary school. I was given the technology to use without really having any understanding at all how the computer worked, or how it can be used. I had no way of knowing that it was completely normal, especially at that time for a computer to freeze. It actually reminds me of how my Grandma often will be concerned about the normal functioning of her computer. One notable time was when she called me all worried because her screensaver had turned on. She was too scared that pushing any buttons would break her computer.

I think these experiences are becoming less and less though with most children who grow up in Canada. Technology has because part of everydayness and even I returned to the computer after years of estrangement. Technology is now just a part of my life and new technology does not scare me in a personal sense. Technology on a wide scale however is scary. I fear that in a few short years we will forget how to do many basic things ourselves. In order to prevent my own dependence on technology I refuse to use it to do things I can do myself.