I spoke with my younger sister about a few of the topics I read about. Specifically, we talked about divulging information on social networking sites and about avoiding phishing and internet fraud. She is a senior in high school this year and is constantly online collaborating with friends and classmates on various projects.
The conversation was fairly easy. She knew many of the basic things that I wanted to talk to her about and had some idea of how to stay safe. She was surprised to know how easy it can be to fall for phishing traps or get viruses from suspicious downloads and websites.
I asked my sister how many of her friends used online social media sites and the like and what they did. I was surprised to learn that most of her friends did not take the internet very seriously, counter to what I had read and seen from my previous research. Social media sites for them were little more than bragging tools for showing off cool things that you had done (pictures, stories, etc.) and not as a second life. She was comfortable not divulging too much information online since she didn't see it as a very important part of her life.
Because they were fun and I knew she would look at them, I shared with her the animated videos about internet safety that I had found (http://www.ikeepsafe.org/for-educators/fauxpaw/). She is going to watch them with my other sister for fun. Hopefully she will find some more useful things from them.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Internet Safety Project - Part 1
When I started working on this project, I was surprised by how many good online resources there are for parents to learn about internet safety in the context of helping their children. I was also surprised by how easy it seemed for kids to get around most of the filters set up by less tech-savvy adults. In many ways, today's kids really are living in a different world from their parents or even from many of us twenty-something-year-olds.
I spent found a lot of useful information on the netsmartz.org page for parents. It had a lot of useful information good tips about dealing with particular internet safety issues such as cyberbullying, phishing, online gaming and such. I especially liked the sections that had conversation starting questions that you could use with your children to help bring up these topics in a non-threatening way.
http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents
I also spent some time watching the PBS Frontline documentary "Growing up Online." The documentary described in depth just how much the internet is a part of the growing generation. They use computers for recreation, for work, and for an increasingly dominant part of their social interactions. I didn't realize how real this online life was for them. Some of this undoubtedly stems from how I was raised (no private email account, no Facebook, no chat rooms, etc.). It helped make me aware of how real this all is for kids, and how much things online can affect them.
I liked the videos on the ikeepsafe.org site. They were age-appropriate kid-friendly introductions to many basic internet safety practices. The animated videos did a good job showing how divulging information in chat rooms and carelessly downloading internet content (especially pirated content such as movies or music) can easily result in viruses or other negative consequences. They were fun and informative. I may use them for teaching my own kids both at home and in the classroom.
To answer a couple of the questions posed in this assignment:
1) How will what I have read influence my actions as a parent and/or teacher of children and youth?
Kids are getting increasingly skilled at collecting and collating large amounts of digital data using all sorts of technology. They know exactly where to go and how to search to find the answers to every one of the questions we assign them in class, and they know how to find summaries and reviews for every book or paper we could probably give them. We can either look at this as a danger to their education by assuming that using this information is a form of cheating, or we can recognize the enormous potential these kids have of discovering material for themselves.
I want to encourage the use of technology for helping my students solve problems. If I can get them to actively look for solutions and help online, then I may be able to teach more complex, applicable topics and help them grow more from it. They may think that they are just following the path of least resistance to get a good grade, but they are actually developing skills that they will use throughout their lives: how to find solutions to your own problems by collaborating with others and knowing where to hunt for the answer.
That said, I will also need to monitor the sources that they do use. There are dangerous or inappropriate places to find information as well (chat rooms, some questionable forums, etc.) that could easily lead kids to divulging important information or get them involved in what they should not be. As a teacher, I have little control over what kids search outside of school, but as a parent, I can monitor my children's computer usage and make sure that they really are searching for an equation for physics and not something harmful.
4) Am I aware of the benefits and dangers children face when online with cyber bullying and online predators? Do I know how to prevent cyberbullying?
I had read some about cyberbullying prior to this assignment, but I guess I didn't take it seriously before. I assumed that children would be able to easily distinguish between the real world and the artificial one they visited online. After reading and watching some of the posts in this assignment, however, I have started to see what a real problem this can be. Bullying is nothing new, but the idea that kids can take this home with them in the form of online interaction was surprising to me. I didn't know that so many kids consider their online life at least as real as their non-digital interactions. To help fix this, I will probably have my kids use generic accounts shared with the rest of the family, ones that I have access to and will check periodically. I will hopefully be able to see quickly if any of my children are falling into this trap and head it off by blocking offenders and talking with my child to help them through the issue.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Multimedia Project: Teaching relative motion with videos
I would like to teach the Utah Core science objective of motion in relative frames. I will do this by creating a video that shows a car driving past my (moving) car on the highway and then measuring the time it took for that car to pass by. I will then show the simple calculations that would go into finding the other car's velocity, both relative to me, and relative to a stationary observer. A condensed storyboard is included below:
The completed video is included below:
Monday, November 14, 2011
Personal Technology Project: Interactive Whiteboards for Everyone!
When I first heard about interactive whiteboards, I was thrilled. The amounts to a giant touchscreen at the front of a room with technology and software designed to let the operator interact with screen content by merely touching it with a finger or a pen. I immediately started seeing applications for the technology in a classroom setting, where the teacher can write notes, annotate documents, and manipulate pictures in real time in front of his students and then save the results for later distribution. The only off-putting thing about this technology is the cost: typically between $1000 to $5000 for an entry level Smart Board (one particularly popular brand). Because many schools might balk at this cost, I decided to try and find my own low-cost alternative.
By chance, I stumbled upon the Wiimote project and a piece of software called Smoothboard on one of my favorite tech blogs. The software utilizes the remote from a Nintendo Wii console to track an infrared light source, such as an infrared pen, and then map those movements to a computer screen. The interface of this software is set up with teachers and presenters in mind. It includes on-screen tools for drawing and annotating on the screen, as well as interacting with the computer itself by simulating mouse clicks and movement. When the computer is connected to a projector, the screen and all its annotations can be projected to the front of a classroom and then manipulated in front of an audience. The only requirements for this setup are a computer, a projector, a Wiimote, and an infrared pen of some sort. Since the first two are often included in most classroom setups by default, the teacher must provide only the Wiimote, and the pen, which will typically cost no more than $50-60 together.
To answer the questions of this assignment:
1) In setting up and running this tool, I learned that there are a great number of technical quirks and difficulties that can result from having a system that is too complex. I was able to build a working setup using this software and some inexpensive components, but it took several hours of tweaking to get it working correctly the first time. It also takes some patience and practice to use the system well. Once I figured out the basics of the setup, however, I was rewarded with an incredibly cheap replacement for the typical interactive whiteboards used in schools that worked nearly as well, if not better in some instances. It is possible to benefit from an interactive board without spending thousands of dollars on a commercial solution.
2) I see this tool being most useful in a science classroom as an easy way to demonstrate physical phenomenon and experiments using interactive computer demos. There are a number of good programs and apps online that simulate phenomenon such as wave interference, electrical circuit design, and various ballistic paths that would be enormously useful to display during a lesson. I could use the whiteboard technology to actually manipulate the variables desired on the screen and then run the simulation to show the kids exactly what would happen. They could even come up and interact with the simulations directly to help them form hypotheses and understand what is happening. I would also be able to save all of my board work for later so that I could distribute it to kids that missed class, or make it available online for them to review.
3) I would like to use this tool to help kids understand wave propagation. Traditionally, physics students learn about wave interfierence either by watching a lecture or interacting with physical ripple tanks. Ripple tanks are large tubs filled with a shallow layer of water with a light underneath. The water is agitated by some moving source to create ripples, and the students then observe how the ripples interact. This setup is expensive, delicate, and prone to causing a mess. There are several excellent online simulations of this same effects on a computer screen without the mes or cost of a physical setup. I would use the simulation provided at http://www.falstad.com/ripple/ to illustrate the wave interactions of these computer simulated waves up on the board. The simulation allows you to move the source around and adjust it's frequency in real time and observe the results. I would use the interactive whiteboard to project this simulation onto the front of the room and then use the mouse to interact with the virtual ripple tank in-front of the students. I could also allow the students to come up to the front and interact with the tank directly by using the infrared pen.
I will be demonstrating my setup next week (11/21) in class to allow students the chance to see this inexpensive design in action.
Here is a slideshow I prepared that briefly introduces the tools required to set up this type of Interactive Whiteboard and shows several pictures of me using it:
By chance, I stumbled upon the Wiimote project and a piece of software called Smoothboard on one of my favorite tech blogs. The software utilizes the remote from a Nintendo Wii console to track an infrared light source, such as an infrared pen, and then map those movements to a computer screen. The interface of this software is set up with teachers and presenters in mind. It includes on-screen tools for drawing and annotating on the screen, as well as interacting with the computer itself by simulating mouse clicks and movement. When the computer is connected to a projector, the screen and all its annotations can be projected to the front of a classroom and then manipulated in front of an audience. The only requirements for this setup are a computer, a projector, a Wiimote, and an infrared pen of some sort. Since the first two are often included in most classroom setups by default, the teacher must provide only the Wiimote, and the pen, which will typically cost no more than $50-60 together.
To answer the questions of this assignment:
1) In setting up and running this tool, I learned that there are a great number of technical quirks and difficulties that can result from having a system that is too complex. I was able to build a working setup using this software and some inexpensive components, but it took several hours of tweaking to get it working correctly the first time. It also takes some patience and practice to use the system well. Once I figured out the basics of the setup, however, I was rewarded with an incredibly cheap replacement for the typical interactive whiteboards used in schools that worked nearly as well, if not better in some instances. It is possible to benefit from an interactive board without spending thousands of dollars on a commercial solution.
2) I see this tool being most useful in a science classroom as an easy way to demonstrate physical phenomenon and experiments using interactive computer demos. There are a number of good programs and apps online that simulate phenomenon such as wave interference, electrical circuit design, and various ballistic paths that would be enormously useful to display during a lesson. I could use the whiteboard technology to actually manipulate the variables desired on the screen and then run the simulation to show the kids exactly what would happen. They could even come up and interact with the simulations directly to help them form hypotheses and understand what is happening. I would also be able to save all of my board work for later so that I could distribute it to kids that missed class, or make it available online for them to review.
3) I would like to use this tool to help kids understand wave propagation. Traditionally, physics students learn about wave interfierence either by watching a lecture or interacting with physical ripple tanks. Ripple tanks are large tubs filled with a shallow layer of water with a light underneath. The water is agitated by some moving source to create ripples, and the students then observe how the ripples interact. This setup is expensive, delicate, and prone to causing a mess. There are several excellent online simulations of this same effects on a computer screen without the mes or cost of a physical setup. I would use the simulation provided at http://www.falstad.com/ripple/ to illustrate the wave interactions of these computer simulated waves up on the board. The simulation allows you to move the source around and adjust it's frequency in real time and observe the results. I would use the interactive whiteboard to project this simulation onto the front of the room and then use the mouse to interact with the virtual ripple tank in-front of the students. I could also allow the students to come up to the front and interact with the tank directly by using the infrared pen.
I will be demonstrating my setup next week (11/21) in class to allow students the chance to see this inexpensive design in action.
Here is a slideshow I prepared that briefly introduces the tools required to set up this type of Interactive Whiteboard and shows several pictures of me using it:
Monday, October 10, 2011
Copyright Assignment
The first video I choose was created by a member of the Society of Robots (www.societyofrobots.com) to show users a time-laps of the construction of a simple line following robot.
This video is centered around a personal video that the author filmed himself of him building a robot he designed. This is, of course, his own intellectual property and is free to show. However, the movie is overlayed with a music track that, presumably, the poster did not compose himself. Nowhere, either at the beginning or the end, is there any mention of an author for the song. The description of the movie, likewise, does not include any credit. There are also several animations from an unidentified CAD program of pieces of the completed robot. Since the design is original, the only question here is whether the computer program can be shown without giving credit.
The second video detailed how to make the perfect omelette.
This video is centered around a personal video that the author filmed himself of him building a robot he designed. This is, of course, his own intellectual property and is free to show. However, the movie is overlayed with a music track that, presumably, the poster did not compose himself. Nowhere, either at the beginning or the end, is there any mention of an author for the song. The description of the movie, likewise, does not include any credit. There are also several animations from an unidentified CAD program of pieces of the completed robot. Since the design is original, the only question here is whether the computer program can be shown without giving credit.
The second video detailed how to make the perfect omelette.
This video appears to be a digital recording of a British cooking show. As such, it would be a violation of copyright to post it to youTube without obtaining permission from the broadcaster or publisher. There is no mention of such permission or even network show times in the video description. This video is most likely in violation of copyright.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Internet Communications Project
Here is the link to my Class Website (Internet Communications Project):
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