PLN6

I read the article Dispatches From the Front Lines #324  from the Weblogg-ed blog written by Will Richardson that talked about how difficult it is to get money for technology these days even harder to spend it accurately. In this blog it spoke of a school principle that finally got a good amount of money to spend on technology but could only buy laptops that were two-thousand dollars. Schools do not need two-thousand dollar laptops. They only need about one-thousand dollar laptops. Why do they have to spend twice as much as they need to? I cannot answer this question. I would like to receive an answer to this question. They good get twice as many laptops to accommodate twice as many people. With a school the size of 1,300 students it would be a lot better to get 100 laptops instead of 50 laptops. 

The city should not be able to tell a school the price they have to pay for technology. If a school has a low budget it should be able to purchase the technology the right price for the school. Every student should be introduced to and familiarized with technology. It wrong to take this privilege away from students because the state think a certain price is right for all schools. A school is like any business. Some are more well off then others and it depends on how many students and funding for the school to determine how much they can spend on technology and in other areas.

The state should not control the price that a item has to be to be purchased by a school. If a school gets funding they should be able to spend it the way they want. I is a shame that only half the students will be accommodated  because the state thinks the school needs to pay a certain price that is not necessary. I hope this changes so all students recieve the privilege of technology. 

PLN5

I read the article Students Pay Price (Literally) for Cell Phone Ban by Will Richardson on the Weblogg-ed blog that talked about how these 9th graders at a New York high school who were paying thousands of dollars for there cell phones. When asked why they used there cell phones they continued to say safety issues. Three dollars a day for a safety issue is a lot to pay though. It was discovered that there were other reasons why these students wanted to keep there cell phones. These reasons included such as for pictures, videos, and even for writing. Will Richardson was at the school leading this conversation on and he showed how the cell phone could be used as an educational tool. He sent a text message to a number also known as GOOGL. In the text message he put,"Spain population." He got a text message back giving him the population of spain. I never knew you could do that and access that kind of information using my phone. He brings up that there should be some school education teaching about cell phones and there educational uses. I believe that it is a good idea to have this taught but cell phones should still not be aloud to be openly used in school.

 There should not be a tax to hold a cell phone. The policy that Arapahoe has is a good one where students can use there cell phones in the halls and are aloud to carry them free of charge. If they are caught with a cell phone thought it is taken until the end of the class. Sometimes it is even given to the office and can be picked up by a parent at the end of a day. 

Cell phones should still not be aloud to be used in a classroom because most students will not use it for educational purposes but for social reasons. Students can not hold that responsibility with that technology very well. It is like most other technologies. If it is a great technology there will also be a way that it can be miss-used. This is what it is  like with computers. They are great tools but are miss-used. 

Cell phones are a great technology but it is a technology that is not ready for open use in class rooms. It can be used for good like all technologies but it is often miss-used by others and there for it should not be aloud in a classroom. Although, it should be aloud to be carried by a person in the school free of charge   

PLN4

I read the article U of SA? from The Fischbowl written by Karl Fisch that talked about the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who is spending 12.5 billion dollars on a graduate research university. In the article Mr. Fisch wrote that the King of Saudi Arabia realizes that even though much of Saudi Arabia is oil but it will not always be oil. I think this is very wise of the King. He wants to bring some of the worlds smartest research scientists to Saudi Arabia to brightens it future. This is a great idea but because the Middle East is not the safest place for freedom of speech and thought it does not seem like the place a lot of research scientists. The Middle East, right now, is a place of turmoil and is not ready for a thing like this to succeed. 

Although this seems that it will be a failure it does show that there is a "downward slide of U.S. universities' dominance." The U.S. may not be the place to go to get an education now. This is the start for the rest of the world to increase their spending on education and realize the importance of education. The King of Saudi Arabia realizes the importance and the effects of a good education for both the present and the future. 

All in all I think that the King of Saudi Arabia has the right idea but the rest of the nation is not ready for it. The Middle East in general is not ready for this great university in a place where there is not much "academic freedom." 

PLN3

I read the article Yet Another Reason We Should Be Teaching, Not Blocking, Wikipedia from  weblogg-ed written by Will Richardson which talked about how Wikipedia needs to be taught not blocked. The article stated how Wikipedia is a source of knowledgeable information which needs to be taught how to use correctly. It ca be a great source of information and it can give you invalid information because anyone can edit it or write on it. It is key to check this source with other sources to guarantee accuracy. This source should not be "passed off" as unreliable or as a bad source. I am glad that i was taught how to use Wikipedia correctly because I can now use it and know that I will use it to its full potential.   

Wikipedia needs to be taught in schools. It is a skill everyone needs to understand how to use properly. It should not be ignored and just blocked from schools. Schools need to take the time to teach students that Wikipedia is a good reliable source of information especially the pages that get visited a lot.  Those pages are edited by so many people that the false items are almost Immediately edited. 

Overall, Wikipedia needs to be taught as a usable and a reliable source for information. It should not be ignored. I am glad I was taught about it and I hope that many others will also learn how to use it.

PLN2

I read the article A "Publish Then Filter World" on Weblogg-ed. This article was written by Will Richardson where he talked about how children need to be more educated on how to function in this "Publish then filter world." This means that when it comes to function in a personal learning network that you will have to edit published things by other people and vise versa. This world has come to the point where you must "publish" your document and then others will filter it or edit it. There is nothing you can do to stop people from leaving their opinion on the web. Our generation needs to be taught how to deal with this and how to "filter." Even though you can't stop people from speaking their mind you can "filter" it or try to change their opinion. Children need to be taught how to do this and what exactly this entails. The only way to learn how to handle these situations is to be taught to do it.

It was brought to my attention in this article that Presidential Candidate Obama has a strong web support. If he became president it could be that this idea of post then edit will be made known to more people and education of it will increase. This could also be any presidential candidate. Something that the President should do is increase the standards for new technology education.

I have not heard of this idea till i read this blog and ii realized the significance of the personal learning network and of the post then edit world we are in. These ideas need to be taught so others will understand and so more students will flourish. Personal learning networks need to be kept going and so the post then edit idea needs to be taught. 

PLN1

I read the article The Ultimate Conference Attendee from the blog weblogg-ed written by Will Richardson. It talked about how that sometime in the future conferences between business will be held using all free Internet technology. The business call will no longer be in affect but what will be in affect are the things that we see in the movies where the companies have video conferences. The only thing is all of this technology is free. Anyone and any company could hold conferences this way. So why don't they? They do not hold conferences this way because the old ways seem to be easier. They work and the businessmen know how you use the old ways of the conference call so they continue that way. The future will probably be using these technologies. Another reason why these businesses do not use these sources is because they would seem too childish or they would say. Since there kids are using it, it probably is not suitable for the professional world. That is wrong. These sources are available and should be taken advantage of. If modern business used these easy to use and ready technologies the business world would be much more productive. Live video conferences would allow people to see reactions and expressions of all the people in the conference and they do not have to travel to a specific place. This would say businesses thousands of dollars. Without having to travel to meet for conferences this would save cost and would be convenient for all people involved. The only thing people would have to worry about would be at what time they would have to hold this conference. It would be great to have a business that utilized all of these free tools. Anyone could use these tools and improve their companies production and lower cost. All companies need conferences and being able to have them where ever and when ever they need one. It is like the conference only you could see everyones reaction and without the long distance phone bill. Bottom line is that these tools should be utilized by companies to cut costs and to increase productivity of the business.