History of technology- videos

I have watched a number of videos about history of technology in education. These videos give you a brief outlook of what technology was like, I believe these are very interesting to watch.




I also think this video is very interesting to watch.



This video is very interesting



All these videos are interesting and fun to watch!

Web 2- FACEBOOK.

A popular web 2 is Facebook which millions of people a day use. It is a social networking site where people can communicate with people and upload anything of their choice. You are able to read the news through Facebook, and keep up to date with the world. You are able to sign up easy by using an email address and a password.

Facebook is free therefore it is a great benefit to keep up to date with what is happening within the world we live in, and the people we know. 

You are able to add your relationship status,age, where you are from, family, education, work status and many more things.Another benefit for this web page you are able to follow and like pages depending on your hobbies and interests. There is also an instant messenger where you are able to message your friends for free and its a great way to keep in touch, as you are able to video call and call them over the instant messenger for free!. 

Although Facebook is a free and interesting way to get in touch with long lost family or friends, there are many cons considering this app. If you upload a picture onto Facebook, they automatically own it and therefore can use it for advertising without your permission, which many people dont understand! Also many people spend a lot of their times on this app, and a lot of online bullying occurs often with young children in schools. 

People would rather speak over Facebook than actually face to face. 

web 2 - VOKI - pros and cons!

I have recently been using a website called VOKI .  It is a free service which allows you to create your own speaking character. When you first sign up to the website you have to verify yourself which is abit of a pain because it takes a while. I believe this is a negative because many people would not want to go through that process.

Once I had made an account i was able to start making a character. 

This was an advantage of the website as you were able to create your own character and design it however you like, you were able to change the voice, change the gender, change the background etc. 

One benefit of this website was you were able to add a voice and change what the character said. Another benefit of VOKI is you are able to use the character on different apps, like Facebook, or you can use it on presentations. 

A negative aspect of this app is you have to pay to use it, you are able to sign up for free and use it for a short while until you have to start paying. 

The prices are quite expensive, this might put people off using this app so i believe this is a negative aspect of this app. 

This app is very useful for education because you can use the character in presentations and this will help the children understand the question more if there character is speaking, it makes it more fun and interesting. 

pros and cons of Instagram

Instagram is a web 2 which is a interactive web page which millions of people over the world use everyday. It is a web page where you show different photos and videos. 

PROS

The pros of Instagram is that it very easy to set up, as you are able to set it up through Facebook or twitter, and many people who use Instagram also use both of these web pages too. You are able to share the picture you have uploaded on Facebook, twitter, Bebo, Tumblr etc, I believe this is a benefit as you don't have to keep uploading the same photo a number of times then. Also through this app you are able to put different effects onto your photos therefore you are able to edit them without using a number of different apps. 

Another benefit is you are able to look at other peoples photos and videos and you are able to like them, which is then shown on your 'liked' photos. Many celebrities now using Instagram to share their personal life. 

CONS

There are a number of cons considering this app, including it allows people to share and save your photos. Although you can have your profile as private, once you put the photo on Instagram they then own it, therefore you have to consider what you want the world to see. Another negative is that you are able to put only a 30 second video up, i think this time is to short and should be longer.

Instagram is a growing web page, millions of individuals use it everyday to show the world their pictures and videos. 

Harvard Referencing.

Today in university I learnt how to use referencing on word. I have to use Harvard referencing but this might differ.

First you have select reference, then click on insert citation, this might be different on different laptops, and different softwares. 

You will then see this....

You are then able to fill in the following information. The good thing about this on word is you are able to reference anything!! For example if you have used a website, journal or an article you are able to put all this information in!

Also the best thing about referencing on word is that everytime you include a reference its saves it automatically!!! so you don't have to keep writing the same reference!!

Referencing on word is simple, and you can then use the reference's for your bibliography. All you have to do is click on Bibliography.

Then all your references you have used will appear and they will be in  alphabetical order.

Referencing on word is great for students because it really helps keep your work in order and up to date!! This has helped me greatly!

Emails and interactive whiteboards

Emails.

There are estimated 2.5 billion email users in the world. There are a number of different email browsers including hotmail , gmail , outlook  and many more. I personally use hotmail but in university we use outlook. This is the layout of outlook.

It is simple and easy to use. Emails are very beneficial to the education system as it is a easy way to get in contact with one another. It is a simple way for teachers to email a number of people at the same time and get in contact with the pupils. Also pupils are able to interact with each other through email, and are able to email a number of people at the same time, so this makes it easy when pupils have to work together as a group. 

Interactive whiteboards.

Interactive whiteboards are becoming more popular within the classroom environment, they enable children to become more active in their learning. 

They allow the children to write on the board and get involved instead of watching.As shown below.

This is a benefit as the children are able to get involved in their learning, therefore I believe they will learn more. It helps them develop their skills and basic knowledge. 

More schools are now including interactive whiteboards in their classrooms, I think this is a benefit and it helps the children feel valued and involved. 

mobile phones

Mobile phones are a huge part of an individuals life. Many people depend on there mobile phones, and they have developed throughout the years.
SIX BILLION   people have phones in the world, and many of these phones have 3G or 4G which allows internet access.
Phones are used to text,call,email,FaceTime, video call, play games and take photos.

There are a number of apps which you can download onto your mobiles which allow you to do a number of different things. For example you can download an app which allows you to look at the number of steps you have made that day.

Also on many of the new smart phones you have a voice control where you can speak into your phone and it will respond to you.

Many business people will use their phones for emails, conference calls, video calls etc. They are able to have a 3 way conversation on the phone with different people which is a benefit. 

Phones have become an essential part of technology and have a wide range of benefits to society and the education system as pupils are able to email from their phones and are able to complete assignments using different apps like word. Therefore there are no excuses if a pupil has not completed their work. Also they are able to use calculators or different apps to help them achieve success 

WEB 2 - wordnik in education

I have recently looked at an web 2  called wordnik . I think this app is great to use in education, because it helps an individual understand the meaning of a word.

Once you first go onto the website, it is simple and easy to use . I believe that any child in a school environment would be able to use this website, with help from a teacher or without help. I think this app is very helpful and useful as you are able to type in any word and it will give you the definition

For example i wrote in the word 'plan' and a number of different definitions came up and the app even gave me examples. This would be helpful for a student in a school or university as they might be having difficulties with certain words and this app will be able to help them. 

This app gives you the chance to sign up and be a member. 

I think this app should be used more within schools as it great to use and really helpful. 

The app gives you example's meaning you can use these in your work, and from the definitions you are able to conduct a sentence from it.

The app also helps spelling, as if you are unsure it will correct it for you, which is great! 

Within the app there is a community where you can talk to other people on the app and ask questions about different words/sayings. 

I think this is really good and helps people learn different words and definitions. I defiantly think schools and practitioners should use this app in their teaching. I think it will help individuals greatly. 

Social media

Social media is now taking over the world. As technology is becoming more important in schools. Many schools now involve technology everyday e.g. laptops, ICT. Schools now promote ICT and children are able to do it as a GCSE, A-LEVEL and in University.  Everyone is now part of the social networking world, they are either on Facebook, Twitter etc. Many people use there mobile devices to access these social networks or online newspaper/magazines.

Although  I believe that these social networking sites can be very beneficial to the educational system, as there are 232 million users on Twitter and 500 million using Facebook, therefore news travels fast on theses social networks. There are many educational twitter users which often post different comments on the educational system which a number of people re-tweet and repost which then gets viewed by a large number of people. Facebook also uses advertising which often promotes different things e.g. different books, journals, magazines.

Many people also visit newspapers and journals online. They are able to access these from many devices, including phones, iPads, laptops. People are now accessing these online instead of getting them from a shop etc.

Although there are many benefits of social networking there are a number of negatives, which consists of children are now unable to communicate face to face, many are unable to write properly as they constantly use the internet and spell check. Even though there are negatives, there are also positives, which consists of more knowledge and information which is easy to access, people are now able to see the wider world from the internet. 

Social media is starting to take over the world, is it bad thing? 

Blog review @teachertoolkit

I am going to be reviewing one of the blogs I follow, which is called @Teachertoolkit.  This blog is said to be one of the best popular teaching blogs in the UK,  which reassures me that it is valid and correct. It is written by a man called Ross Morrison McGill, he has been a teacher since the age of 18, and from the blog he has be able to write a book about education. He is an award deputy headteacher and the founder of @STLchat. The blog includes a number of useful educational information which is easy to read. Ross has been writing this blog since 2004. He is the most followed teacher on twitter in the UK.

Within his blog he has a number of different links to different learning techniques, OFSTED, Department for education, students and parenting. Ross also discusses staff wellbeing, school leadership, job hunting, and teacher resources. Each of these different links take you on to different pages which explain in further detail.

The blog allows you to look at different teaching plans, different homework's, presentations, assessments, assemblies and different posters.

Ross Morrison McGill also writes an article for the guardian which you can look at here. 

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/ross-morrison-mcgill?INTCMP=SRCH

Included on the blog is a number of different awards Ross has received.  I involved this blog within my blog because I believe it is a reliable source and has a lot of useful and helpful information which I found interesting. I thought I would use this blog because I can use some information from it in the future. 

Ted Talk- Inspirational video

I have recently visited a website called TED TALKS. Which is website full of different videos, about different topics.

I searched for educational videos. I was particular inspired by a video called: 

       Pearl Arredondo: My story, from gangland daughter to star teacher

This video inspired me because it was about a girl called Pear Arredondo, who grew up in LA, her father was part of a gang, and was in and out of jail a lot. She explains that she has had a hard life, and grew up in a tough area. Her local school was very rough, and the teachers weren't very supportive. Her mum supported her education, and moved her to a school and hour and half away, just her daughter could receive the best education. Although the teachers in that school considered her a trouble maker, they seemed surprised when she was able to graduate from high school. She then went onto university, and then came back to her old school to start her teaching career, her aim was to help the children who were in the same situation as her.

She encouraged the children she taught that even if they were from a rough background they would succeed, she shared her story with them, and supported them. She created a new school, with teachers who would support each child. She felt like her community needed this new school. She made it clear that if a teacher didn't want to teach, couldn't teach or didn't have the motivation to support the children then they were unable to teach in her school.

She makes it clear that all the children within her school want to come to school to learn, the school makes them feel valued and supported. I felt inspired by this video because you can tell Pearl wants the best for her school and the children that are there. She wants to empower them so they achieve the best they can and move further into high education. She inspired me because you can tell from watching this video she is proud of her job, even though she has had a rough background she was able to achieve an amazing career, and do something better for herself  and her community instead of joining the local gang. She is very inspiring.