Web 2.0

Web 2.0 tools is such an amazing thing to be able to have in today’s teaching world. I have done a lot of research on Web 2.0 tools previously in other education classes, and am so lucky because it is a great tool to have in your classroom. I had to make a science notebook one semester, and got the majority of my resources from the Web 2.0 tools website. I think that web 2.0 is changing not only the way we teach, but how our students are learning. I think that it is a positive change. I also found out that I do like Wiki’s because it seems like the students also like it, which in turn helps spread information better. I believe that these tools make it so much easier to find materials, links, and even teaching suggestions. I think that this can make us better educators with a little push towards the right direction.

Copyright & Fair Use Policy

What I have learned so far....

I have learned that Copyrights and Fair Use is way more important than I have ever thought it would be. I always knew that it was a VERY serious issue, but I didn’t realize how many stipulations were put on us (teachers). This truly affects the materials that we can use to teach with. For example, “Poem less than 250 words; 250-word excerpt of poem greater than 250 words”. We are very restricted on what we use, and we must follow these rules. Another thing I have learned is the Cyberbullying is a big deal, especially in today’s world. There are very few teenagers that don’t have a cell phone, or some kind of technology in their hands at all times. When someone puts something negative or embarrassing on the web, for example Facebook…it goes viral. It then turns into a game of who can hurt whose feelings. I don’t think that Cyberbullying will ever stop or go away at all or at least anytime soon. We need to keep these things in our mind so we can educate our future students.   

How do I feel about it??

Well, first off…I am VERY against bullying of any sort!! I don’t think that anyone should have to hear any negative comments about anything. I used to get made fun of for my height. I would get called names like short stuff, small fry, and little girl. Those were very hurtful at that time in my life, but of course now it doesn’t bother me. I think that if you bully someone, it will eventually show their true colors.  

I feel that the Copyrights and Fair Use is a policy to have. But I do think that some of the rules are a little too strict. When you are in the classroom you need a surplus of material to use, it is hard to do different things with your students every day, epically when you are limited. I do understand that there has to be some copyright laws, but I don’t see why it has to be so picky. As long as your site where you got your information from I don’t see a problem. Although, we may disagree with some of the laws we still have to follow the rules.

MAPping Activity

Before:

Honestly, I’ve never thought about that way I search the web. The World Wide Web is any amazing tool to have in our lives. I rely so much on it. When I don’t have access to the internet, I feel lost. It’s sad to say, but that’s the truth. I will have to say that Google is my main site when searching on the web. I am not real savvy with the internet, but know that Google will get me where I need to go. I like how easy it is to navigate. I never use Wikipedia because I know that just anyone can get on that site and put anything they want. I learned that the hard way when I was doing a research folder one time. I know that you can use “quotation marks” and find exactly what you typed in, for example song lyrics. The more you use it, the more secrets you can find out about how to get what information your trying to find faster.

After:

After doing the MAPping activities I found out that I need to really pay close attention to what I’m doing during my searching process. I use Google for almost everything I do on the web. Doing this activity has made me more cautious of websites. I never realized that many search engines do not list the full address. I find this very useful because there are many suspicious people on the internet, not to mention all the people who know how to hack into your computer. I also noticed that sites that have edu., ac, and sch. are very reliable sources to look for.  I looked at the Victorian Robots site that was listed. I couldn’t believe that someone actually put that on the web. When I searched this site, I could tell right off that the site was all for fun. If someone was looking up information for a research paper, they would probably believe the information that they were reading…simply because we usually always believe what we read on the internet.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I realized why this was such an important activity. I didn’t really understand why the professor was making this an assignment, but now my eyes are open and I am now more cautious. It’s a scary fact that just anyone can put anything on the internet. I also learned that there are certain tool and functions that you can use to check the site before using it, or even putting your personal information in. When doing a research paper, we always want to do our best and get the best grade we can. But, when we use these sites with false information that can come back and haunt you. I hope that I can educate others on how important it is to pay attention to what you are looking at on the internet. I will now start to look at all of my websites that I look at and get my information from. I will do things like looking for the full web addresses, checking the author and checking the information found with other information. That will now be my new method of searching the web.