Thursday, October 29, 2009
Convergence Culture
Convergence culture, as Henry Jenkins explains it, is a collective media. Every medium is connected, creating a flow of information. It is a cultural rather than a technological process. He explains that old media is not replaced by new, as many believe, but is instead blended with new to create this convergence. As educators, we have an opportunity to utilize skills and applications in technology in order to better reach a younger generation. We must embrace these practices and learn to use them effectively rather than ignoring them in our classrooms. In today's classes, many children are either being taught that social networking and other digital tools are not safe, educational, or productive in any way. However, in today's businesses, these are the practices that are being used by those at the top. It is our responsibility to teach our students the skills necessary to succeed in today's world. They should not be limited to digital tools, but should instead be shown the safe, effective and educational ways to use them.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Is the Northwest Octopus Becoming Extinct?
No, it isn't. In fact, this creature doesn't exist. What does exist, however, is a hilarious internet hoax created by a man named Lyle Zapato.
At first glance, the site entitled "Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus From Extinction" seems legitimate. It is divided into sections including: an about section, why it's endangered, how you can help, frequently asked questions, sightings and media.
After reading through the site, I realized that it was a joke but young children may not catch on so quickly. Here are some steps that I took that could be used to verify the credibility of other, less obvious, sites.
First I noticed that the website was a .net site which lessened its credibility. In the corner of the site, there was a logo that read "site monitored by NSA". When I clicked on this logo, it took me to another webpage with comics. I noticed that these logos changed to appear as ads that said things like, "Are you infected with black helicopters?"
The site mentions that it is supported by greenpeas.org which I, after googling it, realized doesn't exist. The bottom of the site says to address concerns to Lyle Zapato. When I googled his name, I got a range of results that led me to believe that he has written books. This may seem credible at first. I then googled "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" and found a wikipedia page that informed me that this creature was an internet hoax created by Lyle Zapato. This google search also yielded results from websites such as museumofhoaxes.com.
At first glance, the site entitled "Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus From Extinction" seems legitimate. It is divided into sections including: an about section, why it's endangered, how you can help, frequently asked questions, sightings and media.
After reading through the site, I realized that it was a joke but young children may not catch on so quickly. Here are some steps that I took that could be used to verify the credibility of other, less obvious, sites.
First I noticed that the website was a .net site which lessened its credibility. In the corner of the site, there was a logo that read "site monitored by NSA". When I clicked on this logo, it took me to another webpage with comics. I noticed that these logos changed to appear as ads that said things like, "Are you infected with black helicopters?"
The site mentions that it is supported by greenpeas.org which I, after googling it, realized doesn't exist. The bottom of the site says to address concerns to Lyle Zapato. When I googled his name, I got a range of results that led me to believe that he has written books. This may seem credible at first. I then googled "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" and found a wikipedia page that informed me that this creature was an internet hoax created by Lyle Zapato. This google search also yielded results from websites such as museumofhoaxes.com.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Exploring Delicious
For the Delicious activity, I chose the website Classroom 2.0.
This website seems very helpful to me as an educator, especially since I am new to the teaching tools that technology provides. This site offers a "Beginners Group" so that people (like me!) can receive extra help. Classroom 2.0 includes articles, other teachers' blogs, and chat options with other teachers. It would be a great tool for learning more interesting and effective ways of teaching, and for receiving help when it is difficult to understand how to use a new tool.
This website seems very helpful to me as an educator, especially since I am new to the teaching tools that technology provides. This site offers a "Beginners Group" so that people (like me!) can receive extra help. Classroom 2.0 includes articles, other teachers' blogs, and chat options with other teachers. It would be a great tool for learning more interesting and effective ways of teaching, and for receiving help when it is difficult to understand how to use a new tool.
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