Responiblity for Internet Safety

The biggest problem with students using the internet properly is that a lot of adults don't know enough about computers. Most kids know more about computers then some parents. Parents are getting their kids to help them when the computer breaks. This is a huge problem.

Sure there are lots of protective software out there but most of it can be easily bi pasted or shut down. This software and programing to protect kids should be used in all schools. But the best way to protect kids is to put the responsibility in there hands as well. Talk to them about why they shouldn't engage in inappropriate activities online. Encourage them to be upstanding moral citizens and good people.

Too much blame is being thrown around for issues such as this these days and not enough responsibility is being picked up. No one single person or organization is to blame here. Everyone needs to do there part; parents, teachers, businesses, government, etc. So before people start pointing fingers at others they should make sure they are doing their part first.


Kirk Hall

Excel in the Classroom

Excel charts and tables could be used and as far as I'm concerned should be used for every classroom in one form or another. They can quickly and easily make examples or show information in an organized fashion that students can understand and follow. As we have also seen in assignment 6 excel can quickly and easily allow you to calculate large numbers of grades; perhaps for several classes at once. The uses of excel pretty much speak for themselves once you understand how it works and how to use it.
Warning - I personal would keep hard copy files of all orignal marks before entering them into any program. Computers can be screwy and people can push the wrong button and make it all disappear quite easily.

Discussion Boards for Teaching

Pros
+ Students can enter discussion boards at home and continue their learning outside school
+ Students can learn from each other and help each other succeed
+ Teachers can follow students progress without being intrusive
+ Introduces students to on-line communication
+ Can give teacher control of the discussions by being the administrator
+ Can allow teacher to remove inappropriate content that you couldn't remove if it were a blog

Cons
- Students can get distracted easily on computers with other functions
- Students could misuse discussion board: personal chat, cheating, cyber bullying
- Teacher could over use discussion board and lose real life hands on learning
- Students could mislead each other in projects or make group errors that effect the class
- Students may become dependent on technology for learning and interacting
- Could remove teacher from learning process too much


Five ways to enhance learning with discussion boards:

1. Set up a general class discussion board in the first week of class so that students can interact and learn; have students be required to make posts at certain intervals to prompt use.

2. Make sure to supervise and observe all content and interactions on the site while not intruding on the students; make it a safe and enjoyable place to interact and learn.

3. Set up a new thread for every major project or test. This way you can help guide their discussion topics.

4. Post things that interest your students to prompt use of the site: links, videos, games, pictures, etc.

5. Post things that will help your students learn: examples of work, links to helpful websites, educational programs, diagrams or text to further learn of subjects being covered, etc.

This web is one I would present to my drama class when beginning work on making a full scale theatre production on stage. Having a clear outlook of what needs to be done will give them an idea of where to begin. As well the students can explore the inspiration software themselves and branch off from this starting map into even smaller sections to explore the different aspects of drama. This would be a great learning tool to combine the ever so distance arts and computer sciences.

This will cover C1; Students will access, use and communicate information from a variety of technologies. Students will get a chance to explore a new program and use it to further their progress in the play.