Podcast

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great Easter weekend wherever you might be!

This week our job was to create a podcast or screen about one of the tools we learned about. I created a podcast about Garageband because it is a very interesting program that I wanted to learn more about.

Here is my podcast, I am sorry it is in video format however my computer was experiencing some technical difficulties.

Using podcasts or screencasts can help a person to be more in touch with the digital world for many reasons. It is a very effective way to produce and listen to content. Instead of watching long videos of learning or attending speeches or lectures, it is more effective to listen to what the person is saying through an audio file. When a person is reading a long file of words, it can be exhausting and uninteresting. Through using podcasts, it is personal information that is communicated making the content more interesting to the receiver.

Podcasting can also play a part in engaging with the social world. It is a technology that people can subscribe to and therefore become a place of social engagement. If a person subscribes to your podcasts or has you on a social media website that you are sharing the podcasts onto, it becomes a source of learning for them.

Podcasting also plays a large role in enhancing our digital literacy and responsibility by educating us on new topics that we are unfamilliar with in the online world. We can be on the go while listening to this new information and still intake so much information about new things. It allows us to also share our expertise with others about certain topics. We can easily record ourselves talking using many of the programs we explored this week to create a podcast.

I hope everyone enjoyed learning about podcasts this week as I know I learned a lot of information. 

Have a great rest of your easter weekend!

Thanks,
Sammy

Week 11 Report and Reflection

Hello classmates, instructors and peers!
This class and semester has flown by, cannot believe this is the second last week! Also Happy Easter to everyone, I am glad the weather has cleared up for Easter Sunday!

Feedly
This week, I decided to focus on an article about the Goodman School of Business at Brock University and some special guests that had joined students to talk about entrepreneurship. If you look to the picture below, you may recognize the two people from the hit show 'Dragons Den'.

http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/bruce-croxon-and-jim-treliving-return-to-brock-to-talk-innovation/

Jim Treliving (left), and Bruce Coxon (middle) are two members of the Dragons Den that have been very successful from starting new businesses. It is often interesting hearing about how you can be successful from those who are successful themselves.

It is now Tuesday at 1pm when I am writing this article and I missed them by an hour! Very disappointed as I am a student in Sport Management that is interesting in entrepreneurship as we had to take a class on that last year.

Check out this article at:
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/bruce-croxon-and-jim-treliving-return-to-brock-to-talk-innovation/

Podcasting
This week, we explored many tools that can be used to create a podcast or screencast while learning how to create our own. If you want to learn about Garageband, check out my podcast which is included in my last blog post!

I intend to use podcasts to further my learning on topics in which I do not understand in the future. In my learning experiences when I struggle to understand a topic, I have looked at youtube videos to help me understand better. However, it can often be exhausting to sit and watch a long video about a topic --- This is why podcasting can be so effective because you can listen to it on the go. 

http://wiltonelder.com/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-active-music-listening

This summer, I am working at a job that allows me to listen to music to keep me busy. Therefore, if I download many podcasts to listen to throughout the day, that will further my knowledge on that certain concept.

Garageband
By using Garageband and working with the features of the program to create my podcast, it allowed me to become more knowledgeable for future experiences in which I will need to record my voice or a person talking. I was not familiar with using Garageband to record voices as I had only used it in the past to create a song. It is another tool that I can use toward making my presentations more interesting in the future. 

I will add Garageband to my PLE as I will be able to use it to send voice messages to people that are far away or to educate others by recording my voice and creating a podcast. I will add it under the research section of my PLE as I intend to use it for educational purposes.


Have an excellent last week of school everyone!!

See you next time,
Sammy



This work by Sammy Wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://samanthafwilson.blogspot.ca.

Week 10 Report and Reflection : Animoto

Hello everyone!

This week we explored many presentation tools as well as gained knowledge on the idea of copyright. I will first talk about an article that was of interest from my Feedly reader, then discuss my use of Animoto as well as my personal learning environment.

Feedly
I apologize in advance as I have chosen another article from 'The Brock News' as I am very interested in learning about what goes on at school.
This past week, my friend attempted to break a world record by erging (another term for a rowing machine) for 24 hours straight and beating the past record of 271km. Jacob Thomas is a varsity rower at Brock on the lightweight mens team. Midway through his new record attempt in which he was on track to beat, his erg shut off and all record of his rowing for the first 8 hours was lost.

This is unfortunate HOWEVER,  Jacob continued and raised money for the Canadian Cancer Society as his girlfriend's dad recently had just died.
I know I cannot imagine exercising consistently for 24 hours!

Give this article a read as I promise it will show you the true meaning of an athlete:
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/badgers-thomas-looking-to-break-individual-24-hour-world-record/

http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/badgers-thomas-looking-to-break-individual-24-hour-world-record/

Slideshow Tools
For my slideshow video, I used Animoto as it was a quick and efficient way to create a slideshow about copyrighting.
In the future, I can use Animoto to create a multimedia presentation for presentations or personal activities such as making a memory slideshow about someone. Using Animoto for a presentation is a good way to get the audiences attention as it is mostly pictures and music with little text. There is not much time spent on each slide as well so the audience does not get bored quickly.

Compared to other tools, Animoto is an easier tool to use as all you have to do is insert pictures and a song and the slideshow is done. On other programs, there is a large space for text or other features that must be edited therefore it can get boring. Google Docs for Example is just a big wide open page where text and media is usually implemented.

Please check out my video that I made about avoiding copyrighting below!



Personal Learning Environment
I will definitely be adding Animoto into my PLE as it is an essential tool in developing slideshows. I will not only use it in my educational environment, I will also use it in my personal life. I like to create nice videos for family on their birthdays or for celebrations. Animoto is such an efficient tool to use as it requires such little work.

Have a great week everyone,
Thanks Sammy

Animoto

Hello all!

This week I worked with an online video creation program called Animoto.
Animoto was a very easy to use and efficient tool to use to create a slideshow. There is not a lot of depth to the tool therefore a slideshow can be created quickly. However, the slideshow still looks very good and well done. It was interesting to see that after I created the video and found it very simple, the motto of Animoto which is to make it simple and make it beautiful.

From this exploration, I also learned about copyright and what it involves. The main principle is that you are taking someone's work without asking or giving them credit. Once something is published under a person's name, the legal rights belong to them.
It can include literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other forms of intellectual works!

Most of you probably hear copyright when it comes to stealing music or movies from a source and streaming it illegally or creating your own copy without purchasing the rights to it.

When it comes to being a digital citizen, it is very important to be responsible and know what is illegal or legal to do on the internet as you can run into trouble if you are not careful. Simply watching a movie on an illegal site or taking music and downloading it without paying for it is a crime.

Be careful!

Please check out my Animoto below as there is some very useful tips on how to avoid copyrighting!



Have a good week!
Sammy

Technology Use Scenario #13

Hello everyone!

This is my second post this week I know it is a lot of information to read! 
However, I guarantee you it is worth the read to learn about digital responsibilities.

What happened?
Dr. Brown, a principal at Bluebird Elementary School, is concerned with safety in his school, for both his staff and for students. During the summer, Dr. Brown had cameras installed in each of the classrooms. The video from each of these cameras is viewable on the internet, so that parents can check on their students' classes during the day. Some parents are concerned that because these cameras are connected to the internet, other people could also use them to "spy" on their children. Do we have an expectation of privacy while at work, home, or play?


My Opinion
I do not think that technology is being used appropriately in this situation. There is an expectation that there will be cameras around the school. However, I do not agree with the footage being able to be viewed on the internet. Parents have to have a degree of trust with their children and the school that they will find out if there is a problem. Parents have a right to be concerned that people could use the footage to spy on the children. We live in a world where there needs to be a degree of privacy on the web. There are predators that go on the internet to find their targets. To ensure that we are not making it any easier for the students, the footage should not be live streamed online. As a principal, you should keep the school safe therefore he could have cameras that are linked to a computer in the main office. The principal does not need to allow the parents to see the video or anyone else on the internet for that matter.

An article that I found on the internet about online predators states many facts that prove how dangerous it can be to have footage of children on the internet. Here are just a few that stood out to me:

• targeting boys and girls over the internet because they can act like anyone they want
• if a child indicates frustration with parents or teachers, the adult will verify the child's feelings
• predators can easily find information about the child online based on facial images
• predators look for chat rooms on the internet
• they spend a lot of time online

If you want to see a few more warning signs, you can use the website below.

http://www.familysafecomputers.org/predators.htm

http://quotesgram.com/internet-safety-quotes/

Feedly

I also found an article on Feedly this week that is about Internet Safety for Kids and Families. 

This article brought up two questions that each networker needs to ask themselves before posting information for the public to see. 

These questions are:

1) Do I really need to share this?

2) Is it ok if the world sees this?

If you answer NO to either of these questions before you post something, it should be kept private to only those that you know well or yourself.

Here is the article that I used below.

http://internetsafety.trendmicro.com/back-to-basics-on-data-privacy-day

I am not done posting yet this week, one more!

If you have any comments to add, feel free I would love to hear your opinions!
How could this be made more safe? Is the principal making the wrong decision?

Sammy

VOICETHREAD

Hello everyone! This week, we used a new presentation tool called Voicethread. It was very interesting in that there are a lot of different uses and tools involved in the program.

Voicethread
Voice thread is a very useful tool in that you can use it for presentations as well as an interactive tool. It is an easy no downloading required tool that includes multiple features where you can create a presentation, document, images and videos. One interesting tool that is very specific about this website is the ability to comment on slides using many different options. You can use microphone, webcam, text, phone or you can upload a file to comment. Sometimes it is easier to get your thoughts out through voice and that is why using the microphone or webcam tool can be very useful. It is easier to keep thoughts flowing when you can speak it out instead of typing.

This could be used academically as a source for sharing documents to everyone in a class for open discussion. It could be used as a forum-based program for anyone that wants to comment their ideas and opinions. It can also be used as a presentation tool as you can create a slideshow presentation. You can also use it to discuss certain issues for planning. It could be used as a tool to come to a decision with a group of people in the workplace or in a classroom setting as everyone is able to leave their responses. Voice thread is similar to Google Docs in that it can be used as a collaborative presentation tool. What makes this tool stand out compared to Google Docs is that learning can be presented in multimedia forms which often makes it easier to learn.

In the future, I can use voice thread in the workplace, in an educational setting and for social purposes as it has many different features for all uses.

Here is an example of a voice thread that you can check out based on what our digital rights and responsibilities are.

https://voicethread.com/myvoice/#thread/4264778/21791877/30174177


Have a great week!!
Sammy

Week 9 Report and Reflection: Voicethread

Hello again everyone!
With the warm weather approaching, I hope everyone is getting excited for summer! It was a busy week in ADED 1P32 with 3 different blog posts. I have enjoyed this class so far because it is increasing my knowledge on digital learning and the different tools that I can use all through the web.

Feedly
This week, an article that caught my eye on Feedly is about how families with their busy lives do not get to eat dinner together anymore. It is very important to eat dinner with your family as often it is the only time to spend all together in a day. The person writing the article is asking multiple questions about why it never seems to work. For example, staying late at the office to finish up tasks.

I can relate to this article because growing up with 6 kids in my family meant that there was slim to none time to be together with everyone. We were all actively involved in travel sports therefore when we got time to be together, it was very special. It was impossible to eat dinner all together because we all had different schedules. However, I would notice that we had not spent family time together and would try to organize a time that everyone could be home for example Sunday at dinner.

From one of the Scenario's I had commented on from a classmates blog, I was able to make a connection to Feedly. One of the scenarios was about a child that was using technology so much that it was ruining their social aspects of life. This can be another issue in families as children are now on their phones at the dinner table. There are many distractions in the world today that can alter our communication with others, but it is important to keep in person contact prevalent in a digital society.

http://www.sgcofc.com/family-weekend-youre-invited/

If you want to view the article you can see it here:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/how-asking-5-questions-allowed-me-to-eat-dinner-with-my-kids/?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Voicethread
Voicethread is a very useful tool for collaboration, alike Google Docs. I especially liked how with Voicethread you could use your voice or webcam to comment on slides. This is showing the increasing use of multimedia and how effective tools like this can be for group work. Voice thread can be used to collaborate on group projects, work meetings or new ideas and social means to decide on certain things.

Personal Learning Environment
I intend to add Voicethread to my PLE because I can add it into my Presentations part of my learning environment as well as a communication tool. I will use it for school group work within the next few weeks because it is a very useful tool that anyone can access. I have already used it as a communication tool by commenting on slides and collaborating with other group members. My PLE has grown immensely during this semester through all of the tools that I have learned about and began to use. It is interesting to continue to learn about all of the tools that can help us to further our education and learn more about the interesting parts of the digital world.

If anyone has anything to share or any more ideas for using Voicethread, please share!

Thanks for reading,
Sammy

Week 8 Report and Reflection: Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Hello everyone!

This week I will share with you an item of interest to me from my feed reader on Feedly. I will also talk about my experience with Wiki and the other activities that we completed this week.

Feedly
An item that I found astounding this week was an item from the Brock News about a fan bus to Ottawa to cheer on the Brock Men's Basketball team. This past week, the Badger men beat Laurier to earn a spot in the second round of playoffs at Carleton this weekend (March 5).

What was incredible to me is that the 'We Are Ready' team was able to organize a fan bus full of Badgers that wanted to travel to Ottawa to cheer on the Badgers. It is only 20 dollars per student to travel there and back on the bus. I found it hard to believe that a bus travelling 5.5 hours each way would only come 20 dollars per student. Brock Athletics along with the 'We Are Ready' fan organization at Brock, does all that they can do to ensure that the school has support at all of their games. Along with the bus load of fans that will be attending the game, there will also be a viewing party at Brock during the game for those that are not making the trip down.
What amazing school spirit!

Link to the article is:
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/bus-trip-and-viewing-party-planned-for-badgers-basketball-playoff-game/

http://www.gobadgers.ca/news/2016/3/5/mens-basketball-brock-basketball-viewing-party-saturday-night-at-sean-o-sullivan-theatre.aspx?path=mbball

Digital Rights and Responsibilities
Through the learning activities completed this week using Wiki, I learned a lot about what the rights and responsibilities are of a person that is using technology. I found it difficult to limit it to 3 important rights and responsibilities as I think all of them are equally as important as the rest. There were many that I came up with including:

• freedom of speech but using it wisely
• right to privacy
• ethical use of technology 
• cyberbullying*
• use of citations to avoid plagiarism*
• copyrighting music, movies and television shows*
• the acceptable use policy of restricting access to certain things
• being aware of what you post is there forever
• mindful about not bashing others opinions on blog posts
• respecting others and yourself

The three that I chose to explain in my forum post are noted with an asterisk (*).

As we grow up, we are taught to be careful about posting on social media. However, you still encounter so many people that are not keeping a professional image by some of the inappropriate things they are posting. It is important to keep in mind that employers will usually search your name online therefore they can see anything that you have ever posted.

https://edtp504sum11.wikispaces.com/Digital+Rights+and+Responsibilities

Using Wiki to Support Learning
Wiki is another useful tool alike Google Docs that allows you to store information and files online. With wiki however, it is much easier to use if you are using it for attaching files, pictures and videos. You also do not need to add people to a presentation as a Wiki allows anyone to edit. Wiki can be used as a coordination tool as everyone can edit it and therefore they can plan something easier than in email.

Wiki can be used effectively however one must be careful that the information is valid. Since anyone can edit, it is often possible that there is falsified information. Wikipedia is a good example of this. It can be useful when looking up quick information about a subject but would not be a good tool for in-depth research. In elementary school, I can vividly remember we had a lesson on evaluating online sources to see if they were valid. Our teacher had used Wikipedia as an example of what not to use as it can portray false information. She also showed us that we can edit the information on the website. However, what she did not show us is that there are auditors on Wikipedia that go through edited information and take out anything that is false.

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Sammy