PLN 15

I commented on the Weblogg-ed blog. I commented on the article Teaching Googleableness (Cont'd) Here is what I commented:

This article goes to show that everyone can be looked up online and should expect that they will be. I think schools and places of employment searching their employees is a good thing. If a teacher like the one is this article does not even care that they display themselves in a negative way online then they do not seem like the most responsible types of people. Many people feel that they are safe online and will not be found out because nobody can see who it is, but the fact of the matter is that anyone can find anything posted online. Posts should be made as if the poster knows that the whole world can and will see everything they put online. People should be cautious of what they put online. If a person wants something to be private they should not post it on the Internet. The Internet is not the place for private matters.

The woman in this post also did not feel as if she did anything wrong. If a person wants to be a professional and be hired by professionals they need to act like professionals all the time. The Internet is no exception. If a person wants to function in the adult world they should act like an adult everywhere not just in person. If a person acts childish and foolish online and does not care of what they have done they do not seem like the trust worthy people. People need to be more careful of what they put online.

PLN14

I commented on the article on Weblogg-ed about a man using 'Twitter' to escape froma Egyptian jail. Here is what i commented:

Cell phones continue to be referred to as a device that its only use is for social activities. Many teachers want cell phones to be banned for the reasons that their students will use them to socialize and will not pay attention to the lesson plans. Cell phones are very useful. They are just like computers in that cell phones have ways they can be used for good and ways that they can be misused. Computers are well accepted in schools and can be used for the same purposes that cell phones are banned from a lot of schools. This situations shows that cell phones are a very useful tools and can be used in very productive ways. Cell phones should be aloud to be held in schools for many reasons. This article is an example of where if someone has a cell phone they can get out of some bad situations in a hurry.

PLN13

I read the Webloog-ed blog by Will Richardson and commented on the article “Making Kids Googlable”

I think this is a big idea that needs to be addressed more in schools. Many people do not know how to make themselves “Googlable.” I would be one of those students. I have wondered many times of what employers or schools would think if they searched me. I do not always know if what I am posting is a good thing or not and how to change my online portfolio if I find bad things on it. I want to “Googlable”, so that I can not only have schools or employers search my name and find no bad items but to also search my name and find good items in the search. I think that there does need to be some education on how to become “Googlable.” I know to fallow the general rule that if you post something, make sure you are aware that anyone can access it. The only question is from there how do I improve my online portfolio? I do not only want to have a portfolio with no bad things on there but to also have things on my online portfolio that are good.

PLN12

I read the article Praying Passenger Kicked Off United Flight on the Denver Post blog written by Ken Belson which talked about how a man who was praying at the back of a United plane was kicked off the plane because he refused to fallow flight attendant orders. Reports say that the man began to pray at the back of the plane when a flight attendant came up to him and told him to go back to his seat. He did not answer and continued praying. The prayer he was praying according to two other people traveling with him was a Jewish prayer that once started could not be interrupted until finished. The flight attendant came back with a few other flight attendants and again asked the man to go back to his seat. Keeping with his beliefs he did not allow to be interrupted until he was done with his prayer. He returned to his seat after his prayer which according to an eye-witness lasted only about two and a half minutes. He was kicked off the flight without any fuss when a costumer service agent told him he would have to get off the flight with refusing to listen to flight attendants. I think this was blown way out of proportion. People should be able to fallow their religion whenever and where ever they want. I do believe that the man should wait for a better time to do his prayer but if it lasted only two and a half minutes it is not a big deal to let him finis his prayer. I think that after the attendant saw that the man had returned to his seat that he should of allowed him to stay on the plane. He still should have been told that he needs to listen to flight attendant instruction. This whole issue caused the plane to be only a few minutes late. 

The man did eventually go back to his seat, so I do not see why he should have been kicked off the plane. He did, however, pick a bad time to do this prayer. The whole prayer only lasted tow and a half minutes. It seems that the flight attendants acted too quickly and blew this whole issue out of proportion. This man should not of been kicked off the plane since he eventually did return to his seat but he should have been told that he has to listen and obey all flight attendant orders even if the doors of the plane are open. I hope that issues like these will be handled better then this one was.      

PLN11

I read the article The Wisdom of Student 2.0 on the weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which was simply a comment of a student who cannot access any of his school documents because the school sever is down and he says that he is going to star using Google Docs. A question was also posed by a commenter on this blog of why do schools spend a lot of money on these big servers when they could use Google Docs for free. I think the answer to this question is that if you used Google Docs, there is no way that a teacher can look in your files if needed. Another issue is that you would need the internet. The internet goes down just like the server did sometimes. Our server at Arapahoe has some good features to it like the drop box feature. You cannot have that with Google Docs. I think that schools should continue to use server but should also encourage students to back-up their files on Google Docs or on a USB. The school should not blame the students though for having a crashed server. A new policy should be adopted to end these headaches though. I think schools should require you to back up your work somewhere else. Since Google Docs is free I think this would be a good option to use. If all of the information was backed up somewhere else the server crash would not effect anyone and life would be able to continue on normally. I do think Google Docs is a good source to keep your files for back up but I also think that school servers need to stay. 

PLN10

I read the article Making Kids "Googlable" on the Weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which talked about how schools need to teach the students how to make themselves "googlable" or make them have a good online portfolio when google searched or searched  in some other online search. I found this very interesting. Now many business owners and place that are going to hire employees will google search there candidates or use some other searching tool such as Myspace. The article brought up the issue of helping kids get a good portfolio so if they are searched by an employer they will give them a good impression. There are times where I personally would not know if what I was posting online would give a good or bad impression. 

Some teaching needs to be done to educate people on what would give a good impression and what would give a bad impression. I know anything on the internet needs to be posted in a way that the poster would not mind everybody seeing it and realizing that everybody can see it. I do not think many people know what would leave a good impression and what would not leave a good impression to a future employer. The bottom is line is somehow future generations are going to have to be taught this skill to succeed in this age of technology where you can find a plethora of information on someone by searching their name. This skill will be needed for my generation and for generations to come.  

PLN9

I read the article Dispatches from the Front Lines #346 on the weblogg-ed blog written by Will Richardson which talked about how this student who was forbidden to text while on school grounds texted his teacher for help on homework and she told on him and got him suspended for even longer then he already was in for. I think this I very wrong. The student was only using the cell phone to get help from a teacher not to socialize or mess around. Maybe the student was messing around with their phone too but the fact of the matter is that the student tried to get help from a teacher by using an easy and convenient tool and she told on him getting him an in-school suspension for two more days.  The student only wanted help with his homework and the teacher just gives him two more days of in-school suspension. 

To me, as a student, i find this frustrating. The only reason students are not allowed to use cell phones is because they will not pay attention and will use it for social purposes. The student used his cell phone for useful reasons. He just wanted some help on his homework. He never got that help because of a rule. We need to remember why rules are in place. If anything the teacher should have told him to talk to her later and to put his cell phone away without getting him punished. She could of also given him help and then told him to not use his phone. Many things could have been done differently and more effectively. 

I think a national cell phone in schools policy should be adopted in schools. Cell phones are not allowed if used for social purpose or to goof off. This would be hard to determine if the student was using the phone for a good or bad reason though. The use of cell phones like in this instant should be aloud. The teacher should not have told on this student. All he wanted was help which he never received. 

PLN8

I read the article When Are We Going to Stop Giving Kids Tests That They Can Cheat On? on the Weblogg-ed Blog by Will Richardson which stated only the question in the title: When are we going to stop giving kids tests that they can cheat on? The reason we do not do this now is because if there is a test a kid will figure out a way to cheat on. Every form of test is able to be cheated on. If you wanted to give kids a test they were not able to cheat on you would have to put each child in a sound proof box. Then you would have to check each student to make sure all they brought in was a pencil. A check of the child's hands and arms would also have to take place to make sure the child didn't write any thing on his or her arms. The Sound proof boxes would have to be made of one way glass so you could see what the student was doing but the student couldn't see out. This is the only way tests would become cheat proof but even then a kid would come up with a way to cheat. They would slip paper in there shoe or put a cell phone in a place not able to be found by a quick search. As long as there are tests kids will find a way to cheat on them. That is how people are. There never will be a way to have a test that there is no way for a student to cheat on. 

Even though there is no way to completely eliminate cheating there are ways to prevent cheating. Prevention is the only thing that can be done. Elimination is not possible in this time. Kids will come up with more creative ways and innovative ways to cheat. A question i pose is what would the world be like if these people used there thinking to come up with ways to help instead of finding ways to cheat. Cheating will never be eliminated but only prevented.

PLN7

I read the article The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It on the Weblogg-ed blog by Will Richardson which talked about how the internet is headed in the same direction it was headed in four years ago. The internet has not been changing. It has stayed the same and has not been improving and getting better. It is up to the new generation to change this. They need to think creatively to revolutionize the way the internet is run. There again is not teaching at all on this issue. People continue the old ways of the internet because it is comfortable to them. For me I would not know where to start to try to revolutionize the internet. I do not know what needs to be changed or exactly why the internet needs to change. I know al things need to develop and continue to change but it is hard to see where sometimes. More education on the issue is needed. The world needs to be taught on the issue so collaboration can take place so revolution can take place. 

Education on technology such as this needs to be increased so everyone can help in the revolution. The internet is a valuable tool that needs to be updated with the times and to keep up with all the new technologies that are ahead of it. There is nothing like the internet so it will never become obsolete but the way it is used can and will be obsolete unless something is not done to stop it.