I Tunes University!

I tunes University can also be known as “I tunes U”. This is a new educational program from the Apple I tunes store that gives teachers and students constant access to information no matter where they are. This program and more technology have made it possible for students to no longer just have to learn from their desk. Many faculty are commenting that they are beginning to take part in I tunes U because it is a fast and easy way to provide a lesson to their students not only swiftly but digitally.

If you haven’t noticed walking around campus almost every student is carrying a cell phone and most also have an iPod or mp3 player. Today’s young adults know more about technology than most. It is not uncommon for a student to gather information right off of their phone. This makes it easier for teachers to get students to use these hand held objects as their newest learning tool. I tunes U allows students to download the lectures straight to their I pod, I touch or I phone. This is a convenient way for the student to learn at their on pace anytime and anywhere. The best part about it is that is free!

Many Universities such as Stanford, Arizona State and New Jersey are all taking part in I tunes U. These universities can all make their on accounts for their school so that people outside will not be able to access the lectures. An Apple i.d. can be added or changed at anytime by the University. There is also a part of the program called External I Tunes U. This allows anyone who ha access to I Tunes to be able to download the lecture to gain knowledge for their personal benefit. Apple monitors all downloads.




In my opinion I think that this is a great idea. Teachers have finally found a way to stay connected with their students by using something they know the most about. I as a student would love this idea. I like the fact that the student has the privilege of learning at their own pace. I am one of those students that has to review things a few things so that I can get a better understanding. If this sort of thing is available when I become a teacher I will take full advantage of using this as a learning tool for my students. I feel that it will be very convenient for the both of us.

Teaching with I pods!!

Can an I pod be used effectively during instruction? This is a question that our EDM 310 teacher wanted us to think about this week. I personally do not own an I pod so my understanding of the device is very little. I needed to do a little research on the topic before getting started answering the questions.

An I pod is a digital audio player that is designed to store and play audio files that are encoded by Mp3. Depending on what kind of I pod you purchase depends on how much can be stored on it. I read that some I pods can store up to 10,000 song! Wow! How can something so small hold that much information? Many people use their I pod for listening o music, but the world is starting to realize that they can be used for much more.

I pods are now being transformed into educational tools. Apple how now created "I Tunes U" that makes many lectures and materials available online. This is not only useful to the instructor but, also to the students. The students are using the I pods as study tools because they are able to fast forward or rewind to parts of the lecture that may have been unclear. This program has become so popular that I tunes has offered it to all colleges. In grades K-12 I pods are being used a lot but mostly in foreign languages. This is because they function in digital voice.



Many students at Duke University began to use the I pod about three years ago as a way to absorb their course content. This was the first school to provide each student with a 20 gigabyte I pod. The students also have many compliments on them such as, size, power, convenience; they fit right into armbands and jean pockets. The students feel that this new tool has really helped them take charge of their way of learning. Although Duke was the first University to use I pods the idea is catching on rather quickly everywhere else. I personally think this is a great idea. I do not have an I pod but I am sure if there was a learning initiative involved I would be encouraged to purchase one.

All About Dr. Alice Christie

In my EDM 310 class this week we were asked to explore the website about Dr. Alice Christie. Mr. Wakeman wanted us to write our response to the page after doing so. I was unaware of who this woman was. I was eager to explore the site because I love learning about new people.

Dr. Alice Christie has been an educator for over forty years. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Technology and Language Literacy from Arizona State University in 1955. She served in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at Arizona State University from 1955 until her retirement. She just recently retired. Before teaching at the University she taught for 25 years in K-12 schools.

Christie feels as though she has learned much from her years as an educator. She does National and International Workshops where she speaks on how technology can enhance teaching and learning. In her research she has tried to investigate several different topics involving technology. She looked at gender differences in the uses of technology, scaffolding teachers as they integrate technology in their classrooms, and the use of electronic portfolios for assessment.



She had many interesting topics on her website but the one I chose to talk about in my post was a workshop Christie did called Virtual Field Trips. It just sounded like something fun. Many school budgets are holding the children back from going on field trips. Dr. Alice Christie speaks of a great alternative to this called Virtual field trips which are appropriate for any grade level. VTF is also very convenient and inexpensive. The children use the right technology such as videos, headphones and audio segments to interact in these field trips. The students are able to explore the rainforest and be an astronaut without ever leaving the classroom. In my opinion I think this is great alternative to a filed trip. Christie had some great things to say about technology and I was very glad I had the chance to read and learn about her.

Wikipedia....Reliable yes or no??

I will admit that I am a guilty user of Wikipedia. Almost every professor I have had made it clear to our class that we are not to use Wiki as a source for any paper done. This was almost impossible for me to do. It is so easy for me to just go to Wiki when I am unsure about a word or needed to know a definition. Wiki seemed to include anything I ever needed to know.

I never really saw the real harm in using Wiki so when given this assignment in my EDM 310 class to find out about the reliability of it, I decided to learn a little more about this encyclopedia Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. The name is a portmanteau of the Hawaiian word for quick, “wiki“, and “encyclopedia”. The encyclopedia is updated in over 100 languages, including constructed languages such as Esperanto. The English version of Wikipedia contains over one and a half million articles. Wikipedia was founded as an extension of the expert-written Nupedia project. However, the idea of a publicly-written collaborative encyclopedia was rejected by Nupedia's advisory board, and the project was managed independently by several top Nupedia contributors. Despite this, Wikipedia soon eclipsed Nupedia in terms of content and traffic. Within two years the Nupedia project was abandoned, and all its content was incorporated into Wikipedia. Much of today's Wikipedia staff are former Nupedia staff. The fact that anybody with an internet connection can edit its contents, has made Wikipedia become viewed as an unreliable source of information. The encyclopedia allows anybody to edit its pages, even anonymously. To address this issue, and to ensure quality, accurate content, all submissions and edits are moderated and regulated by a staff of regular volunteer.

We were asked to review some blogs about wikipedia that can be found on the npr website. All of these blogs contained information concerning the reliability of Wikipedia. A grad student named Virgil Griffith wanted to create a web tool that made it possible for those who had been editing Wiki could be identified. The way this is made possible is that anytime a computer is used to edit or add to the encyclopedia a number is virtually scanned from the computer. Many big businesses have been accused of doctoring these edits to better themselves. An example of this is; someone at Dow chemical purged a whole section about agent orange and its harmfulness and made the whole thing disappear. Another example is that someone from Diebold deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold. This article was critical of the company’s machines. This to me proves Griffiths idea about the scanner a very good idea.

During some of my Wiki research I came across a fact that in 2005 the scientific publication Nature performed a comparison of the accuracy of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica, the leading print encyclopedia. It found that while the amount of errors per article in Wikipedia and Britannica were the same, the severity of errors in Wikipedia were worse. Encyclopedia Britannica suffered mostly from fact omission, whereas Wikipedia suffered from inaccurate information. This research made me have a whole new realization on Wiki. In the future I may not use this source as much and if I do I will be sure to double back and check it with something more reliable.