Book Reviews

July 1, 2012

Review One...
Digital and Media Literacy - A Plan of Action' by Renee Hobbs

I would not recommend this book. 

This book is simply sad looking. I feel that a book about digital and media literacy should be loud and out there. Kind of like media is. We are constantly surrounded by bright flashing lights of alluring television ads, loud music, and the constant siren call of social networks. This book does not say any of that. It really doesn't say anything. The boring green cover only has the title and author printed on it. It'd be more appealing if it had forms of media literacy printed all over it.

I figured I'd give the inside a chance. I discovered it to be just as dull and boring as the cover! It had the standard table of contents. But when actually flipping through the book I discovered it wasn't broken up into chapters like the table of contents suggested or I assumed. It was one continuous book with sub-headings. I believe that's what they're called. 

There were no pictures, I'm not saying all books should have pictures, but one would think there would be some pictures with the title being containing digital and media literacy. There were no charts or graphs that gave statistics out on how digital and media literacy are becoming more and more of a need in today's technological society. 

I will give the actual text some credit though. I skimmed through the book and just by reading the first sentence of each sub-heading you are able to get a general idea of what digital and media literacy is, even if you had no prior knowledge to it before. An example that I found and liked was…

Sub-heading 'Learning and Teaching: What Works'

"Today educators use a variety of engaging texts, including those from mass media, popular culture, and digital media, to support the development of digital and media literacy competencies across K-12 and higher education." 

I think digital and media literacy is soon going to be become the only way educators can get into the brains of students. I think digital and media literacy is important because we need to teach the tech savvy generation how to be safe and how to use/view it the right way.

In short I didn't think this book did justice to its title. 

Review Two...
'Empowering Students with Technology' by Alan November

I would recommend this book.

This this book screams technology. There are pictures of old advertisements, webcams, and  lights on a highway. It has a very flashy cover and the word empowering is printed in large bold letters. Who wouldn't want to read this?

Flipping through the book I find there is a very detailed table of contents. I find a more detailed table of contents more helpful. If you were just looking for information on a specific topic you could easily find it. 

I think the part that I found most interesting is on page 16. There is a chart breaking down the anatomy of a web address. I think we forget how truly complex web address are. It's just become second nature for most of us to type in a .com or a .html without thinking about what it really means. I also found it interesting that on page 19 there is another chart that talks about domain names. Such as what com, org, or net means. Com is a commercial or profit organization, org is a nonprofit organization, and net is a network. 

The only thing that may make using this book difficult is it was published in 2010. Even though that was only 2 years ago technology has advanced so much since then. In the book there are examples of web screenshots. The tool bars on top of the screenshots look almost ancient compared to what they look like today.

Class Eleven - Blackboard

June 29, 2012

The discussion question was...
Consider the use of mobile technologies and how you personally use them. Can you see a place for them in the classroom? In what context? What kinds of guidelines would you suggest for having mobile tools accessible in your school classroom?

I responded with...
I don't think we have a choice about whether mobile technologies should be in the classroom or not. Almost every student, starting around middle school, has at least a cell phone. The middle school that I work in, most of the students, not only have cell phone (the top of the line cell phones like the Andriod and iPhones), but tablets of some form too. Students are already so into technology I feel we are forced to teach it in the classrooms. We might as well teach them the correct way to use it, especially mobile technologies because they can go everywhere with the student. The article, 'Adventures with Cel Phones', was great because it had a teacher using  mobile technologies in the right way. The students were supposed to do a poll online and then the teacher responded to their answers. The article claimed it gave students who may be shyer a chance to speak honestly. It also warned that mobile technologies can be bad too. Students should be taught about internet safety, sexting, chat rooms, public messages, and using them for cheating in the classroom. The only way I feel that mobile technologies can be used in the classroom is if it used strictly towards educational means. If part of a lesson can be made more interesting and engaging to students by using mobile technologies, then why not use them. In terms of guidelines I think all parties, so parents, teachers, and students, should be involved in coming up with guidelines for when mobile tools are appropriate to be used. Parents and teachers should create a list of expectations from students and students should follow them, if not then consequences will occur. It's like any new set of rules in a classroom. The only phrase I can think of that I would tell students beginning to use mobile technologies in the classroom is…"Use it for good."

The short clip on NBC, 'Are Teen Brains Wired for Multi-Tasking?,' was interesting because the doctor scanning teenagers brains claimed that because of teens multi-tasking abilities their brains are becoming more flexible and able to sort out the information needed and unneeded.

I definitely fall into the category of technology multi-tasking. Just as I was reading over articles and watching the videos I was also checking Facebook via my phone and listening to music via my computer. But I need to be surrounded by at least one form of technology at all time. Most of the time it's my cell phone. I carry it around the house and it sleeps in my bed while it charges.

Prezi...
http://prezi.com/ivu7gljxxjhl/mini-schnauzers/
Overall I liked Prezi. It's a different and definitely more interesting way of doing something similar to a PowerPoint Presentation. I did mine on Mini Schnauzers. I own a Mini Schnauzer and am obsessed with her! All the pictures on the presentation are of her. I was going to put way more up, but the assignment said a "short" presentation.

This could definitely be used in the classroom. Any student could use this when making a presentation. Like I already said it's far more interesting then just looking at one boring slide after another. Students would be able to make their own unique presentation. It reminds me a little bit of Glogster and how you can type whatever you want and then drag them around the screen. Adding images and videos was simple enough too.

The benefits of this are the flexibility it allows. You are able to choose a template of your choice and a layout of your choice. The way in which you want it to flow is also up to you. The only immediate drawback that I noticed was it took me a little bit of time to figure out how to use all the tools. I did watch the instructional video and that was very helpful. But I think with more time I could easily master it.