Weekly Report and Reflection Post #11

Hello again!

We are coming up on the final week of class rather quickly and I must say this semester absolutely flew past! I have loved this school year and by far I have grown and learnt the most this year then any other year. I am leaving for Alberta as soon as exams are done so the countdown has begun for me; one month from today I am gone! This week we created our own podcasts where we were to discuss a certain aspect of living and working in the digital world. I focused my presentation on digital rights and responsibilities and more specifically the right to assemble and giving credit where credit is due. I utilized SoundCloud to create my podcast as I use SoundCloud regularly to find music and just realized I can use it for podcasts as well (so exciting). Check out my podcast on my page titled Podcast!

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SoundCloud_logo.svg

This week when exploring podcasts I realized how easy it is for anyone to post a podcast and voice their opinions and put out any information on whatever subject they want. As we learned in the CNN video What is Podcasting?, podcasting is not a radio show but a talk show which individuals post online and discuss topics anyone can listen to at any point on almost any audio device! This can be useful to me in my educational activities as podcasts done by academic scholars can offer great insight to the topic they are discussing and it allows listeners (like me) to listen for tone and emotion behind words to get a better grasp of how the podcaster feels on the topic. Individuals can listen to a variety of podcasts done by a variety of people on a variety of subjects, their is no limit to what can be said in a podcast. Educationally, this can be utilized be many intellectual individuals to spread their knowledge on the subject they are focused in. On the flip side, people need to be careful for podcasts that are strictly opinion based and offer information that is not backed up by facts. Individuals can say anything they want and people need to be careful not to take everything heard as truth, take everything with a grain of salt.

Retrieved from: http://myndset.com/2015/10/how-many-podcasts-are-there/

Finishing up this week, I wanted to share a fantastic article I found on PsyBlog which my Feedly brought to my attention! The article is titled 10 Rules From Sleep Experts To Help You Wake Up Refreshed Every Morning and it suggests rules to help with going to sleep and waking up refreshed everyday. I have been told some of these rules many times but believed they weren't important and I did not have to follow them to get good sleep. After realizing I do not follow most of them, it hit me that maybe I am not getting the best sleep possible. After this reading, I am going to make sure to follow most of these rules in order to wake up more refreshed and I suggest everyone does the same. That is it for me this week, have a great day everyone.

Cheers

Jason Wilson 

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #10

Welcome Back!

This week was an interesting week as we were introduced to Animoto and Creative Commons which I utilized to create a slideshow on the importance of copyright. Both of these tools are pertinent to copyright as Animoto is a presentation tool which allows you to remix templates others have created and Creative Commons is a search engine which finds images, media, music, and web items that are copyright free which means you can use them for your own use.

Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/24/animoto-enterprise/

When exploring these tools I noticed just how many different variations there are for slideshows and presentation tools that can be utilized in the classroom for a myriad of reasons. With last week looking at VoiceThread and this week looking at Animoto, PhotoPeach, and Fotobabble I have learnt of these valuable tools that I can incorporate into my educational activities and how each of them have different aspects within them that makes them unique. With VoiceThread allowing you or viewers/contributors to add slides and comment on them (in video!) and Animoto having video templates that allows you slideshow to be video-like and visual appealing, each tool can be used for different reasons in different settings. 

After using Animoto and creating my slideshow, I had a better understanding of Animoto and how and when to use it. For myself educationally, I would utilize Animoto as an introduction to lead in to my topic of discussion for seminars or presentations. With it being a visually appealing tool, it catches the attention of the audience and creates interest in your presentation. I watched my own slideshow six different times just because of how unique the tool is! (and for how awesome my slideshow was of course). Creative Commons goes hand in hand with Animoto and is an additional tool I will make use of. It allows you to search Youtube, Google, Flickr and more for copyright free images, videos, music and more. With the education system being extremely stringent on plagiarism and copyright, this website saves the hassle of checking for copyright and presents you images you can quickly cite and use. This is something all student will benefit from and is something that should be pushed by faculty. 

Retrieved from: http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/03/study-tests-if-smartphones-may-be-making-us-depressed-and-anxious.php

To conclude this week, once again from my Feedly I wanted to share an article in light of spring and summer being just around the corner. The article is titled Study Tests if Smartphones May Be Making Us Depressed and Anxious and examines how individuals have elevated levels of anxiety and depression when being highly engaged or addicted to their phones. This is becoming a pervasive and predominant issue in our society and the cure is leaving the technology inside and getting out of the house. With the beautiful weather coming in, it is time for everyone to enjoy the fresh air and for me to finish this blog and get outside! Have a great day.

Cheers

Jason Wilson

Weekly Report and Reflection Post #9

Hello Friends!

This week was an interesting week as we were introduced to Polldaddy and VoiceThread which in their own right are both very beneficial tools. Our task this week was to take a few polls on Polldaddy and comment on the results as well as comment on a slideshow on VoiceThread that was about digital rights and responsibilities. Both tasks introduced me to these tools and showed me how useful they can be in my educational activities.  

Retrieved from: https://2011.sandiego.wordcamp.org/sponsor/polldaddy/

Polldaddy consists a myriad of different polls that ask questions and then gather results through polling. Once an individual answers the poll they are able to see the results and comments as well as comment themselves. This would be beneficial in my educational activities as I am in a research class where we have to conduct similar tests on participants to gain information. I will be able to utilize this tool and not only gain quantitative data from the the polls results but I can gain qualitative data as well from the comments where individuals give reason to why they answered how they answered. VoiceThread is similar in this aspect but goes more in depth and assist in group projects. In VoiceThread individuals can start a slideshow and then collaborate online to create a project on any topic. It allows individuals to connect from different devices and work on it simultaneously which is very useful. The uniqueness to VoiceThread is that not only can you comment with words, individuals can comment with video and voice clips or even have it connect to their phone and leave a comment! This gives a way better personalized experience over other tools. It is of great use and VoiceThread will be something I suggest to my group members for future projects.

To finish up this week, I wanted to quickly point out how great I have found Feedly to be before I share another article. Feedly has become a daily part of my routine and I can not get enough of it. It produces the most interesting articles I have seen that are not only relevant to my classes in school but ones that are very appealing to many of my other interests!

Retrieved from:http://www.primanews.org/2015/10/06/uk-prisoner-voting-may-be-affected-by-european-court-ruling/

This week, the article I would like to share is titled Incarcerated people voted in primaries in Vermont, Puerto Rice, and Maine. Why can't they vote anywhere else? and this topic is a predominant discussion in one of my sociology classes. This article discusses how prisoners in certain states can vote while others can not. The argument arises of what rights should be given to prisoners who are serving time in prison. I feel that context is important as certain individuals have committed such heinous criminal acts that I feel it could be argued they can not vote but individuals who commit crimes that harm no one should still have the right to vote. How do you feel about the situation? Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Jason Wilson

Technology Use Scenario

I chose scenario number four and it goes as follows: During word-processing class, Mr. McIntosh notices Mary has both of her hands under the computer desk. As Mr. McIntosh comes around to her station Mary puts her hands back on the keyboard, but he notices that her cellphone is on her lap with a text on the screen. Mr. McIntosh asks Mary to stay after class, where she says that she was sending a text to her mother about picking her up after school. What does the teacher do?

Retrieved from: http://failfandomanonwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/49662836/Texting%20in%20Class%20Wank

In this situation I believe Mary is using technology inappropriately because during class when the teacher is teaching, everyone needs to be able to give their full attention in order to learn to their fullest and give respect to the teacher. What makes this situation inappropriate is that not only is Mary being disrespectful to Mr. McIntosh but not giving her full attention, she is also being disrespectful to her classmates. Multiple studies are being produced which are providing evidence for how detrimental cellphones and texting are in class. A study titled Effects Of Classroom Cell Phone Use On Expected And Actual Learning demonstrates how students lost 30% on quizzes when texting during class and then being quizzed on the material and another study titled The Impact of Mobile Phone Usage on Student Learning demonstrated how it negatively affects individuals around the person using the phone bringing their marks down as well! There can be no argument as to why using cell phones during class is inappropriate. 

Retrieved from:http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/graduation-student-shaking-hands-with-professor-and-royalty-free-image/479765200

This situation can easily be ameliorated by Mary and Mr. McIntosh if they work together on a solution. Mr. McIntosh should inform Mary and the class that if they need to text their parents they are able to when asking for permission if it is during class or simply just letting them know to wait till after class due to the negative effects of texting during class. Mary should do her part to let the teacher know that she needs to text her parents and let them know of any situation occurring. Rather then hiding, being open about why she needs to use her cellphone is most appropriate. I hope everyone agrees with me!

Cheers

Jason Wilson   

Weekly Report and Reflection Post #8

Hello Everyone!

It is the start of March and this school year is quickly coming to a close. I have my job set in Alberta for the summer and I could not be more excited! Anyone who is looking for their next thrill I highly recommend going out west because as the saying goes, west coast is the best coast! The week for us ADEDers was digital rights and responsibilities and checking out Google Hangouts which was a pretty interesting activity and resource we will be utilizing in the future.

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Mountain_(Alberta)

This week was a short week but we still learned some interesting information in regards to being a better digital citizen. We focused on the element of digital rights and responsibilities and I learned more on the rights and responsibilities of living in a digital society. Within this society, every individual who has access to the internet and digital world has rights and responsibilities placed on them. The three that I found to be most important were right to privacy, right to assemble, and giving credit where credit is due and this was because I feel they are where most issues arise on the internet. 

Retrieved from:https://www.thinglink.com/scene/642291121766006784

The pervasive issues of the breaching of privacy on social media and certain information being disseminated when it shouldn't, bullying and excluding others from forums and activities, and stealing the ideas of other individuals and claiming them as your own are some of the predominant problems. These issues arise frequently and I believe it is important individuals in the digital community know they have a right to privacy and to assemble as well that everyone should give credit where it is due as it is proper netiquette. The digital community is unique and allows individuals to utilize technology and connect wherever but this does not give them the right to subvert the right of others. I learnt more on rights and responsibilities this week which will only help me in bettering myself within the digital community and in being a digital citizen. 

To finish up I would like to share an article titled "10 Simple Steps to Stop Procrastinating" from my Feedly feed (is that right? lol). This article suggests 10 steps in stopping or at least limiting procrastination, something that is detrimental to most students. Most have difficulty with procrastination and little suggestions like these go a long way in at least getting the brain started in moving in the right direction. Hope it is of use or interest to someone; That is it for this week, have a great day!


Cheers
Jason Wilson