shoshi

more about the OLPC and its competition

2008-04-10T18:43:14Z

Hey everyone,

Here is the article that I chose for week 13

OLPC laptop has the right stuff

John Dix. Network World. Framingham: Apr 30, 2007. Vol. 24, Iss. 17; pg. 26, 1 pgs

We have all probably heard a lot about Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child, and most people can agree that the biggest attraction to this product is that it was developed so that they can be distributed to needy children all over the world. Since we have all seen them in class, I will not describe how they look, but I’m sure most of you will agree they seem as if they will be very appealing for all young children. Last year, Negroponte said that they would be producing 1 million laptops per month, which makes OLPC a powerhouse from the start, because collectively all of laptop manufacturers worldwide produce about 5 million units per month.

What most of us perhaps didn’t know was that other computer companies became threatened by the OLPC project and created similar computers but for reasons of profit. Intel for example, developed a similar laptop called Classmate and is charging $250 for it. This run ones Windows or Linux, while the OLPCs XO laptop is based on an AMD processor and runs Linux. During an interview, when Negroponte was asked about that competition, he replied “when someone is selling something below cost in competition with you its called dumping, and when you’re the one taking that approach you call it forward pricing.” He goes on to say that “what Intel is doing is predatory- we know what its cost are… and it doesn’t benefit the children OLPC is trying to help. Intel should be ashamed of itself.” The computer that Intel created is also behind the OLPC as it doesn’t support the feature that enables the children to interact with each other. It also doesn’t have the alternative ways to power the unit like the OLPC does. There are people who are skeptical of these new computers, and are not sure if they will do the Third World nation much good, but from seeing one, and briefly understanding what it is capable of, it is obviously that any child who gets one of these computers will love it, and that these computers will defiantly encourage and allow children to enhance their education through technology at a young age. It would be interesting to hear about whether or not these laptops have been successful in both the developed nations and the Third World countries, so if anyone has heard anything about either the OLPC laptop, or the one that Intel made, please feel free to share.

Word Count: 444

The benefits of learning technology at a young age.

2008-04-04T14:55:03Z

Hey everyone so this is my article for week 13.

Computers and Young Children

Jan Lacina. Childhood Education. Olney: Winter 2007/2008. Vol. 84, Iss. 2; pg. 113, 4 pgs

http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1440052921&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=10120&RQT=309&VName=PQD

I read an article about a recent study that was published by the National Writing Project (2007). It found that Americans believe that computers have a positive effect on their children’s writing skills. The importance of learning to use technology ranked just below learning to read and write, and 74 percent of the people who took the survey think that children should begin to learn about computers at a young age. The purpose of this was to explain the ways that parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children are able to introduce technology to young children while at the same time, building their early literacy skills. It was clear that many of the educators and parents wondered when to introduce computers to young children, and what software is most appropriate for young children. The article writes “Researchers have long advised educators and parents that children under the age of 3 do not need to use computers” (Cantor, 2001; Elkind, 1998; Haugland, 1999; Healey, 1998; Hohmann, 1998). The toddler years are a time for young children to learn how to crawl, walk, and develop social skills. Children at this age do not have a long enough attention span to learn how to use a computer, and they benefit most from learning through movement and exploring with their senses. Software companies attempt to entice parents with attractive cartoon characters and with research asserting that the window of opportunity to introduce children to computers can open as young as nine months of age (www.superkids.com/aweb/ pages/reviews/multisub/baby/). Parents then believe that they need to introduce their children to technology at the earliest age possible. The author believes that caregivers and teachers of young children must educate parents about the importance of waiting until children are developmentally ready.

According to this article, children can be introduced to technology beginning at age 3 or 4 (Haugland, 1999). Research has shown that an interesting benefit of doing this encourage children's development of positive attitudes toward learning, and that they help children advance their social communication skills.

I wanted to include the following websites so that everyone has a few resources of good websites for young children to use.

* KidSpace@the Internet (www.ipl. org/div/kidspace/browse/rzn2000) offers numerous interactive picture book stories for children to read online-and links to additional, interesting websites with interactive K-3 appropriate stories, such as those involving such familiar characters as Clifford and Elmo.

* The International Children's Digital Library (www.icdlbooks. org) provides a wealth of colorfully illustrated books that include interesting plots. The website does not charge a fee, and books from around the world are featured in multiple languages.

* StoryLine Online (www.storylineonline.net) is the best read-aloud book list available on the Web, and my personal favorite. This website offers books read aloud by popular actors from the Screen Actors Guild, such as Camryn Manheim, Haylie Duff, Amber Tamblyn, and Jason Alexander. Additional activities are included with each book that asks children to draw inferences and retell the story. The website also has a phone line service that allows children to call in and listen to an actor read a book.

* TumbleBooks (www.tumblebooks.com) offers one of the best websites for interactive read-along stories. Although the website charges a fee, they offer a trial issue. The books are engaging, interesting, and beautifully illustrated (Lacina, 2008).

Word Count: 550

The past and present of early childhood music education

2008-03-27T20:22:50Z

Hey!

So after looking for a really long time I finally found an article that I think is very interesting:

Looking Back, Looking Forward: A Report on Early Childhood Music Education in Accredited American Preschools

Rachel Lee Nardo, Lori A Custodero, Diane C Persellin, Donna Brink Fox. Journal of Research in Music Education. Reston: Winter 2006. Vol. 54, Iss. 4; pg. 278, 15 pgs.

The link to the article is:

http://ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/pqdweb?did=1284864371&sid=19&Fmt=3&clientId=10120&RQT=309&VName=PQD

This article examined the musical practices that teachers use, how musically prepared teachers are, and the music education needs as reported by early childhood professionals in the United States. It starts by focusing on the preschool music education in the past, which was from 1984-2000. It was interesting to note that the collaborations between early childhood educators and music education professionals have been both practice and research based. The studies from the past also showed that teachers continually try to find out about ways that they can further develop their own skills for song-leading, playing instruments, leading creative movement, and in conducting drama activities with the use of music.

After reviewing the past studies about music education, it was clear that their was a need for collaboration between music and early childhood professionals. The only problem was that all of these studies were completed over a decade ago. Therefore this article talks about the examination of the current state of music education in preschools from a national perspective. I thought that the most interesting findings were that the two major conditions identified in previous studies remain unchanged in the current study. They were that: “(1) that the music education for young children is primarily delivered by classroom teachers and (2) those teachers feel ill-prepared to deliver meaningful instruction.”

From reading the article it seems as if early childhood educators are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of music in early childhood education. The article contributes this awareness possibly because of the national initiative in combination with the music and brain research that has been widely publicized in the media recently. This current study was done to inform policy, and the authors recommend that a new vision that needs to be under taken in order to meet the MENC mission is to guarantee every child the "opportunity to learn music and to share in musical experiences".

I was wondering whether anyone has witnessed collaboration between music professionals and early childhood educators. I believe that this type of collaboration would be a great way to get teachers more comfortable and more familiar with various ways of implementing music into their classroom. Teachers clearly understand the importance of music, and want to make it a part of their classroom, it seems as if they are not just sure how.

Word Count: 457

Clickers in Chapter 10

2008-03-14T16:08:26Z

I decided that for this last chapter, I would focus on what interested me the most, the Clicker Assessment Tools. The first thing that they reminded me of was the show “who wants to be a millionaire” when the contestant chooses to ask the audience. Everyone gets a chance to be part of the game, by choosing an answer that gets polled and displayed on the main screen. I had no idea that these Clickers are being used in elementary through college-level classes. I think that it is a great way to engage students in learning, let them have a little fun, and make use of technology in the class. These could also increase classroom involvement because in many of my classes I have witnessed the teacher asking a general question, and the students rarely responding. With the Clickers they reduce the chance of shy students not participating with the collective class. They were also described in the text s being intrinsically motivating, and appealing for students to use. Another interesting point that I found was that clickers allow those “who normally lose the opportunity to answer questions to those who raise their hands quickly” (p.233). The professors can also gain valuable statistics perhaps for their thesis by asking their class questions to gain specific statistics on that demographic. Clickers provide for fast, easy and reliable results. While reading about how great these clickers were, the thought in the back in my mind was that they were surely expensive. The text surprised me by writing that they range in price from $6 to $60 dollars each. Discounts are also available to large orders so they would be very affordable to use in schools. With technology rapidly evolving, some systems are incorporating a confidence level feature that allows students to input their confidence level along with their answer. I think that the Clickers would be best used for close-ended questions, or general polls. They would not work well for questions that asked for a lot of detail as then it would make them more difficult to use then easy. For younger children as the text suggest they would probably be best used in a game, as something fun to do that can help them expand their experience with technology as well as prepare them for later use in answering questions. What I really like about technology and everything I have been learning about in this course so far is that teachers are learners too along side of their students. Everyone is given the chance to grow together regardless of their starting point or experience with technology.

Word Count: 435

Meaningful learning

2008-03-14T14:51:49Z

After reading Chapter 1, I strongly agreed with what was written about the characteristics of meaningful learning. The text explains that "tasks that require international, active, constructive, cooperative, and authentic learning processes will result in more meaningful learning." Throughout many of the reflections that I have been asked to write throughout my time at Ryerson, this idea has always been a strong theme throughout all of them. I find that I do my best at tasks that I am truly interested in. This mirrors what the text says about intentional learning. Its needs to be goal-directed, so that children want to learn. The learning material needs to be able to relate in some way to the children. This is what the text refers to as Authentic. I personally found that it was much easier to solve a math problem about a dog walker who has 5 dogs, and then 2 ran away, then figure out what 5-2=?. Active learning is very important as I believe it can help children retain the knowledge that they are learning much more effectively. By actually doing something, you are able to learn for yourself and not learn abstractly through books or movies. Through my experiences and documentation I have also witnessed the essential role that constructive learning has. I believe that a great way for children to engage in this kind of learning is for them to keep a journal and write about the activities that they have done and what they learned from them. It is also important for children to be actively engaged in describing photos that have been taken of them. They then help in creating a memorable reflection and at the same time have the change to extend their learning by reflecting on the actual photograph. Lastly I just wanted to point out something I found very interesting about collaboration. From my experience, many of my teachers stressed the importance of individual work, when in reality it is cooperation skills that can help people collaborate with each other to gain what they need without stressing solely on their own. We naturally talk with people, we naturally try and solve problems together (2 brains are better than 1) but yet children are given the tasks of working on their own. I believe that individual assignments are good practice for those times when you’re isolated at home without contact with anyone else, but for all those other times collaboration is the way to go!

Word count: 412

Flicker Activity

2008-03-07T16:59:18Z

Hey Everyone,

So I finally uploaded the pictures I took onto the Flicker Website, and I found it very easy to do, and enjoyable. I took pictures from around my house, but tried to get low down to the floor to capture the view that I child would have. I also used the knowledge that I read about in the children and photography article to take pictures of subject matter that would be interesting to a child. Luckily my room has plenty of stuffed animals, and my house is filled with childhood memories, so it wasn't to hard for me to find things that would interest a child. I also put captions under the pictures, which explains a little bit about what the child said about their photographs. I feel that online albums, where the children can display their photographs are a great idea to implement into classroom settings. For children photography is a great learning experience, and it becomes even more meaningful when the activity is extended so that the children can reflect upon the images they capture, and share them with their friends and family. Obviously their is the concern for privacy, but their is a feature on Flicker that allows the user to choose who they want to share their photographs with. I really enjoyed completing this assignment, and loved how simple and fast I was able to create my album and share it with friends and even groups of people that I added. Oh I almost forgot, here is the link to the photo's I put up, take a look because I think they are fairly funny. http://www.flickr.com/photos/24471714@N04/

Word Count: 271

Children and thier Photographs

2008-03-04T00:57:35Z

I found the article about the children’s’ photographs to be very interesting. I actually went to the website that was provided in the article to look at some of the photographs, and I was very impressed with everything I saw. I enjoyed looking at the photographs that the children took, and even found it more enjoyable to read the answers that they gave which accompanied their photographs. I was surprised to read that children were using words like “memento” in their answers when they were only 7 years old. I’m sure the interviewers wouldn’t have changed their words but I was just surprised by the rich vocabulary that I read throughout many of quotes that I read below the photographs. I wanted to share a couple of examples that I stood out for me when I was glancing through the photographs.

A seven-year-old girl named Claire was answering questions about a photograph of a dog that she had taken: Why do you like this photo? Claire: I like it because I love that dog, and then because I really like it because we’ve already lost one and I wouldn’t like to lose it again, I wouldn’t like to lose it. I: What will you do with this photo? Claire: I’ll keep it because it’s a souvenir for me and then each time I see it my heart beats really fast.

Another example that interested me was this one:

When a seven year old girl was asked about the picture she had taken of a house, If you could change or improve this photo, how would you do it?... Maud: ...I’d like to change the colour of the shutters.

It would be interesting to further ask her how she would change the colour, I wonder if she knows that she can change the colour through a Photoshop program, or if she would say that she would need to paint them with a brush. I thought that it was interesting to ask the children about why they took the photographs, I myself never really thought about why I take them, but now that I have put a bit of thought into my answer I have realized that most of the photographs I take are for amusement. It’s fun to take photographs, and it extends that amount of enjoyment you instantly get from partaking in an activity. With the photographs you can remember the fun times you had, or the beautiful things that you saw. I personally also enjoy taking photographs for artistic purposes and find myself trying to be creative with what I capture.

I really liked how the children were asked to use the camera in any way they wished rather than being instructed to ‘take photographs’. I also never realized that photographs varied depending on the age of the photographer. It was interesting to read about the youngest children in the study and how they were predominantly accompanied by members of their families at the time of taking the photographs. It would be interesting to further extend this study to see if there are differences between young adults, middle-aged adults, and the elderly. The study could have also examined the differences in the photos between each country. Perhaps there are differences in what the children took photographs relative to the cultural norms of their country? I also think that the methods in this study could be used by parents to ask their children about the photographs they take so that they could write what their children on the back of the photos. This would make for a very interesting album, and great memoir for the children to look back upon when they get older.

Word Count: 514

Scratch

2008-03-02T23:39:37Z

Hey everyone!!!

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I have had a crazy couple of weeks, and blogging still hasn’t become part of my daily routine yet. I wanted to share my scratch creation with everyone and now that I have figured out how to put it online, here is the link to it http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/shinitz/111577
At first is found Scratch fairly difficult to work with, but after playing around with it and giving it a few days rest, I was able to create something I am very proud of. I will be creating more animations because they really are fun to do, watch and share. I could see how Scratch could be a great program for children to use, and how they could probably create some very original projects. I also had a question about my Wiki creation, which was the short story about bubbles the fish. I made a mistake in how I named the title and realized that I could not change the title without changing the link that linked it to the rest of the Wiki pages. How do you change the name of a link, without changing the link that is attached to that name? It sounds a bit confusing, but I hope someone can understand and help me because I could not find the answer online. I posted a link to my Wiki in my previous post, so please go check it out!

I did it!!!

2008-02-09T19:22:20Z

Hey everyone,

So i created a short children's story on my wiki page that you might want to check out...

http://lemmingworks.org/earlychildhoodeducation/index.php?title=User:Shoshi999r

You should all try something out on it.... its fun!

Reflections from the WIKI Lab and the article reading.

2008-02-05T00:09:35Z

Upon reading the article entitled: “Hacking Human: data-archaeology and surveillance in social networks." The main thought left in my head, was that I was a stalker, and that it is so easy to become one. Through facebook I have become an addictive stalker of people who are not necessarily my friends. Facebook puts pressure people to add each other because they don’t want to be considered rude if they don’t add someone that is familiar to them. I have access to many people’s profiles, pictures, videos, and wall post with their other friends, and I don’t consider myself a close friend to the majority of them. I find myself however stalking certain people, trying to get a glimpse of what is going on in their lives, pictures to see how they look, and even updates that they post about themselves. Facebook makes it easy for me to find out when anything important has changed in anyone’s life, by posting it all together on a homepage so that I have a guide to tell me which profiles I need to visit that day. I am embarrassed of what I am doing, yet it had become so mainstream that I am able to confess about it on this blog, and continue to stalk people without even feeling to weird about it.

When practicing how to use the Wiki, I must confess that it was really easy and fun to do. I remember struggling with the Wiki in my music and creative arts class. It was really hard for me to understand what was going on, and I was having trouble doing what I wanted to do. I thought it was really cool how the Wiki allowed me to easily use Jason Nolan’s name to lead viewers to his live journal page. I also found the “Most frequent Wiki markup explained” site to really help me better understand how to edit on my Wiki. I can see myself returning to this page a lot during my project because the instructions are simply and clearly laid out for me. For some reason it was a bit difficult for me to upload a picture of myself on my page, but the process just made it that more rewarding for me when I finally saw my picture up there! I really enjoyed this process and I think the clear instructions played a large role in my enjoyment. I am looking forward to getting started the SongChild project, and am thankful for such an organized and helpful professor.

Word Count: 421

my response to chapter seven

2008-01-25T17:06:42Z

The first point that was of particular interest to me in chapter seven was regarding computer conferencing. Students are able to learn and be connected through a virtual networked system. At Western University for example, I have friends who choose to attend class online from the comfort of their bedroom. They watch the live lecture from their computer screen, and notes are conveniently already posted online. At Ryerson, some of my professors choose to post their notes online, but many choose to not do so. I have never taken an online course, but I think that it would have been a more enjoyable and convenient way of obtaining a credit. This would also help students who fall ill to be able to attend class without having to share the same physical space with their peers and teachers. I think that it would also be very interesting to be able to connect with students from all over the world so that I am exposed to various cultural views and new ideas.

During this final year at Ryerson I am finally taking a course that uses blackboard for a graded discussion forum where it is each student’s responsibility to be a moderator during one week for their assigned group members. I am defiantly going to return to this chapter later on in the term to aid me stimulating a great discussion. One drawback that I found so far with these online discussions is that it is difficult to keep track of the progress of the discussion. I also find myself forgetting sometimes that I am suppose to post every week and then scrambling at the last minute to post something, even if it is not of the greatest quality.

Instant messaging is something that I believe we are all familiar with. I go on MSN Messenger at least four times a week. I find that this kind of communication is a great way to talk and catch up with friends, relatives, and even new people who you want to get to know without having to give them your phone number. I am able to talk with my grandfather who lives in Israel for hours without having to pay long distance charges. The time change also makes it difficult for us to talk which is why MSN easily allows us to see if the other person is awake and/or available.

The concept of video conferencing could become problematic for some people in my opinion. By having video conferencing available on cell phones for instance it could catch people in lies. If a mother called her son to see how he was doing at the library and saw a bunch of people in the background and a bon fire for instance, she would probably be suspicious of where he really was. This could be seen as another benefit of videoconferencing but at what stage does technology begin to invade people’s privacy?

Word Count: 487

MUST SEE VIDEO

2008-01-25T16:27:26Z

Hey everyone

As you all know Chapter 7 is all about communicating so i decided to use technology ;) to post a video so that you can watch how two young children communicate...

Let me know what you think.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Readings: Chapters 2 & 4.

2008-01-21T19:13:00Z

As I was reading chapter two of the text, I thought that the researchers made a very good point by saying that most students do not comprehend the material they search for when they are asked to find a predetermined answer. I personally forget about most of the research that I do for my assignment papers right after I hand them in. The only information that I retain is the material that I find interesting. After reading about the Open Directory Project, I thought more about the techniques that I use when I am searching for information. The main sites that I use are Google, and the Ryerson Library database, which I only use to find scholarly articles to use in my research papers. I am surprised that I have never heard of the ODP before as it “claims to be the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the web.” Why did I get attached to Google? While never even hearing about the ODP? I was also wondering if a site like ODP has people to review the information that the global community and volunteer editors contribute. In other words, who insures that this information is valid?

I think it’s interesting how I am reading a textbook that contains helpful information about how to use devices such as GPS, sensor technology, and handhelds. Technology has developed so rapidly that there are now University Textbooks available to teach people how to use certain sites on the Internet, and explains what they offer. The project ideas that teachers can use with their students such as the Denali National Park Fire Succession Study sound amazing but complex. The fact that children in grade school can carry out complex studies like this is astonishing as it sounds like work that a university student in Environmental studies would be conducting.

After reading about the different ways of supporting writing with technology in Chapter four, it made me wish that I had the opportunity to use concept maps throughout my schooling. I don’t remember teachers ever explaining to me how to make a concept map, or teaching me useful ways that I could organize my ideas. I remember trying to create my own kind of concept map before I had to write an essay, but it usually turned out really messy and became more of a setback than an aid. Using technology to create concept maps allows the students to be organized in a clear and concise manner.

I only began to use PowerPoint for the presentations that I was required to give as a University Student. I could see how PowerPoint would work great for children in the primary levels. When I created a presentation using power point, I had fun. It was enjoyable for me to use my creativity, and structure the PowerPoint using various effects, pictures and colours. PowerPoint presentations were always more interesting for me to watch as they were much more stimulating then listening to someone talk. They would be a great way to get children involved in their peer’s presentations while at the same time it allows the students to practice their technological skills.

Word Count: 524

What is your personal experience with technology?

2008-01-18T15:55:38Z

I have grown up surrounded by technology for my whole life. As a baby my parents played music for me for me on a tape-deck. I can remember as a young child sitting in front of the television, watching what are now known as classic Disney movies. Television shows have always played a prominent role in my life as I have probably spent more time in front of the television than I have anywhere else. As an adult I now rely heavily upon the internet and my computer to carry out research and complete assignment s for University. I am connected with technology on a constant basis through my cell phone which has become a safety blanket in the way that I don’t feel comfortable leaving home without it. Technology has been a part of my everyday life without me even thinking twice about how complex it is.

Technology has advanced so quickly before my eyes that for me, it is so easy, quick, convenient and normal to use. Instead of carrying around my CD case, my disk player and a working set of batteries all I have to worry about now is having my charged IPod which is able to play up to 2,000 songs that I easily downloaded with the click of a couple buttons on my computer. Video games have become a virtual reality for me and my friends. Recently I have been going every night to my friend’s house to practice in our band. We do it for fun, but we take the game seriously. We play Rock Band, a game that has a guitar, bass, drums, and a microphone. We position ourselves as if we were a real band, with the drummer in the back, the guitar and bass players standing to the side, and the singer in front. When I play it feels as if I am actually a part of a band, trying to do my best not to let down my fellow band members. Instead of actually learning how to play these instruments, we are playing virtually through plastic toys. I call us “The Plastics”, the rest of my friends don’t even bother imputing a group name into the game because it takes too long and all they are interested in doing is playing.

My father has also played a large role in affecting my personal experience with technology. He started his own post production company and had a significant role in bringing High Definition to the television sets that many people use today. I have watched and developed an understanding of the role technology plays in creating the television shows, movie, and commercials that we watch. There is so much that happens in between the filming and the final product that we see on the screen. Without colour correction, editing, sound matching and so many other processes, what we see on the screen would be totally different from the quality we are used to.

Word Count: 500 words

my first experience on this thing

2008-01-11T17:17:53Z

View Poll: what is this measuring?
ok so i went to the washroom and when i came back..... everyone had added people as friends, blog pages were being created, and i was just simply confused. After i figured out what was going on, i think that this blogging stuff is fun but also complicated. Im sure i will get used to it soon, and end up loving it! (Atleast im hoping that will happen.)

Poll #xxxx what is this measuring?
Open to: all, results viewable to: all

do you prefer to own a dog or cat?

<input ... >a dog
<input ... >a cat
<input ... >i dont want a pet for some reason