Web 2.0

         Web 2.0 technology is an amazing way of sharing and reflecting back and forth with your students. Wiki's, to me, seem to be the best way to get information flowing from one student to another. As a mathematics teacher I would like to set up a Google site with formulas and homework. This would give the student somewhere to find information that they might have missed in class. I would also like to link my site to a wiki so they could discuss the problems on their homework, and or any other subject for that matter. I believe that web 2.0 is changing the way students learn in a good way, and hope to utilize it in the best way. I believe this would be very informative to the teacher because they could track their students understanding of the subject matter and not rely on the question, "any questions?" Because we all know how fun it is to tell your classmates that you don’t get it. 

Copyrights and Fair Use Policy

         Netiquette is the only topic this week that I knew something about. Just like in everyday situations, school and work your etiquette will display your intelligence, beauty and worldly humor. This can also be done online. My dad once told me, just because you don’t see eye to eye with someone, doesn't mean you can't be civil. I thought that I had enough common since to know when a copy right was going to be broken. After taking the quiz, I realized how much I really didn’t know about the copy right rules and laws. Using 10% of a song or only having so many days to use video for educational purposes, sounds harsh to me. But just like the article said, it's not about money, it's about control. Cyberbullying is a big deal, being a shy child growing up I know how bad it feels to be bullied. Kids have more technology at their disposal than anyone my age did. I can see how this may lead to a never ending torture. If you're bullied at school you can come home to escape the pressure. But if your being cyber bullied, it doesn’t stop when you're at home it happens everywhere.

          There is nothing more enjoyable then being in a room or conversation with positive people. When two people disagree about something they should be able to talk it out without trying to hurt each other. This may sound crazy but I've seen a conversation on Facebook turn into a really nasty event. So I believe Netiquette is very important to use and share with your students, maybe it will help them be a better learner and helper to their peers. Cyber bullying is sad,  kids who get  enjoyment while picking on others need help. Using programs in schools to stop cyber bullying would be amazing and letting the students know that they matter is what we need to do as teachers. I do understand why we need copyright laws what I don’t understand is why it's ok to show a clip from an Encyclopedia CD but not the evening news. Yes I know that there is a time frame where they both are acceptable, but I don’t see a reason for limiting the use of news from any media source. The use of music in presentations , the copying of a picture from a website and the copying of a program from one computer to another without the proper rights, sound like copyright violations even if you don’t know the law. 

MAPping Activity

Before:

            I've never really thought about the way I search the web for information. I would normally just type in what I was looking for and hope I got some results. I stay on my trusted web sites because I know the information there will be valid. It's not hard to hop on Wikipedia and add some information that isn't true. I spend a lot of time on the internet and run into false information all the time. But I thought I could usually spot it right away. On April fools I do not turn my computer on because I know that all my favorite sites will have false information listed for fun. Since I have quite a bit of computer background I usually look at the links and judge whether it’s a good site or a bad one before I even click on it. I know the old trial and error method very well. I have to reinstall windows fairly often for customers when they don’t pay attention to what they are clicking.

After:

            Since doing the MAPping activity I think that I may need to re-evaluate the searching process. I used Google search for most everything. The information in the activity opened my eyes to the fact that many search engines do not list the full address. This contradicts my theory of checking the address because there plainly just not all there. Sites like .edu, .ac , .sch, .k12 are most defiantly the ones to look for. After doing the activity, I found that most of those sites are credible. When you're on a site look for the author, if he or she is a Dr. or PHD you can research there name. From that you can see what university there at, and that should let you know if they have credibility. Victorian Robots was the site I viewed, and it is obviously a joke. When searching for Victorian Robots it's not plainly stated that these sites are for fun. If a student was looking up information for a research paper they might even believe the information presented here. The pictures provided on the website look to be somewhat real. Until you click on the links, you may never know that the information is truly false.

Conclusion:

            In conclusion, this was a really informative activity and will help me in farther searches. It's not that the information on the internet is not true. It’s the fact that anyone can put stuff on the internet. When researching a paper students are so driven to get a good grade they might not always check the site there on. This will lead to confusion and false information. After doing this activity I hope I can help my students make better choices when doing papers for me. Given that more books can be found online, and Wikipedia are just so easy to search, I hope that I can convince them to dig a little deeper. I myself will be digging a little deeper next time I have a research paper. Looking at the full web address, checking the author and checking the information found with other information will be my new method of web searching.