I just figured out that not only can you upload multiple pictures to a Picassa Web Album, BUT you can do videos as well. This will change you a HUGE amount of time. So you can just upload a whole set of pics/videos and walk away. Then just link the album to your blog!
You could have albums already linked so you only do this once then just upload it.
For example, Mike and Mrs. M can give their parents a web based photo album. It can sit at the grandparents house a link to a Web album so as they baby grows they just upload latest pic to that album and grammy and grandpa see pics automatically.
* I will be trying out the new wi-fi enabled SD cards that automatically connect to a web album... so you won't even need to upload them they will automatically do it on their own.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Who am I....I'm an ADULT Darn it!!
I thought for many years that my advantage in the High School was that I was closer in age to the students and could better relater to their world. I've slowly started to realize this is not true. I am a Digital Immigrant - I remember going through school when access to computers was limited, most assignments were handwritten, except for final draft of major papers. The Library catalog, reference books magazine/journal databases and the Librarian herself were the primary research sources. But as I read chapter 2 of iBrain, I realized that I'm a hybrid. I grew up in the video game world and as I was reading, I was listening to NPR programing, participating in an online virtual world game, and making lunch - multi-tasking - I can quit if I want to!!! So, yes, I've been hooked on technology for many years, despite immigrant status and my own professed Luddite attitudes.
~Jesse
~Jesse
iBrain Chapter 2
It Doesn't Have to be a Battle
Chapter 2 of iBrain lays out a comparison of digital natives and digital immigrants and then talks about how the two groups might come together. Let's start with digital natives.
DIGITAL NATIVES
Respond faster, but encode differently
Shorter attention spans
1/3 watch TV while using other media
Multi-Task almost constantly
Technology makes the world shrink for them
Too little face to face communications can cause circuits to atrophy and too much can overwhelm the circuits
They use screens 8 hours and 35 minutes a day - meeting the clinical criteria for pathological internet use thereby lowering their academic achievement and interfering with their social lives (not to mention their physical health)
Adolescent specific information:
Adolescents are/should be learning how to be empathetic and moving from concrete to abstract.
Wired to be selfish
As they age they develop the ability to delay gratification, consider others' feelings, put things in perspective and realize danger in a situation. Technology stunts this development.
They crave new technology
Playing video games 2-7 hours a day tuns off the frontal lobes - even when not playing. Makes them devoid of social skills, aggressive and desensitized to violence. (Limited amount of video gaming may enrich minds and improve cognitive performance, pattern recognition, systematic thinking and executive skills)
DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS
Learn methodically - one thing at a time
Fearful of new technology
22% of Americans have never use the internet or email (WHOA!)
Difficulty to hold information in their mind
Can't process information quickly
More effective in seeing the big picture (place information into a context)
Midlife brain goes from dial-up to DSL
2 sides of brain come together - personality mellows
COMING TOGETHER
Digital natives need to work on their interpersonal skills, immigrant needs to work on technology. Together they could be powerful.
MY THOUGHTS
I found this chapter to be one of the most interesting of the book. It explained a lot in terms of why kids and even adults that I know in their early 20's are so different from me. I am on the cusp of this movement. Since I was born in 1981 technically I am classified as a digital native, but in some ways I also feel like I can be an immigrant because it drives me crazy when kids are texting each other constantly or updating their Facebook status with their everyday minutia. Knowing that there is science that actually shows that the screen time is stunting their abilities to interact in socially appropriate ways makes so much sense, but it is also really scary because we are contributing to that 8.5 hours of screen time a day. The skills that are being stunted by this use are more important to me than others that we teach in our content classes. Who is going to make a better citizen - someone that can find the square root of a number or someone that can realize danger in a situation and make a decision accordingly? I can see and have seen how technology can assist in student learning and achievement but I think we all need to be wary of how we are using it and how much we are using it. If you think about the big picture and preparing students for the working world - I would argue that interpersonal skills are far more important than technological ones.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Hello my name is Keith and I have CPA
Continuous Partial Attention...... what did everyone think of this? I found it very true of my students riding with me from STI with their phones on Texting while having a complete conversation with me as they listened to their ipods earbud in the other ear.
Could be worse I could have TBBO?
anyone want to guess what this is?
bueller
bueller
or digital... squirrel!
Could be worse I could have TBBO?
anyone want to guess what this is?
bueller
bueller
or digital... squirrel!
Watch how people use tools to post....
You can see how Jesse is using TAGGING in his post.
Tagging allows you to search and find content within a blog or webpage.
If you tag your post then you can jump right to points as you blog gets larger.
Newest thing on internet is Tagging Photos... so as stuff is uploaded you know your picture went up.
has a feature that will auto tag your pictures once you have labeled a person's face in the system.
Also... if go into the post setting you can see how some are using the date/scheduling feature to pre set post so they will go online when needed. You can pre set your class...
* be careful of links, videos, pictures I tend to download the content rather then just linking in case content changes or disappears
Tagging allows you to search and find content within a blog or webpage.
If you tag your post then you can jump right to points as you blog gets larger.
Newest thing on internet is Tagging Photos... so as stuff is uploaded you know your picture went up.
has a feature that will auto tag your pictures once you have labeled a person's face in the system.Also... if go into the post setting you can see how some are using the date/scheduling feature to pre set post so they will go online when needed. You can pre set your class...
* be careful of links, videos, pictures I tend to download the content rather then just linking in case content changes or disappears
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Luddites on Parade
I'm not sure how we are supposed to do this, but I just finished iBrain Chapter 1 and want to get it out there. Sorry if I'm stepping on anyone's toes. Frankly, as a concerned "Digital Immigrant and " I found the chapter to be very interesting and confirmed some of the observations that I have had in class regarding the "digital natives". Its good to know that there is researched positive affects of the digital era. When people debate evolution vs creationism, what gets lost in the conversation is the idea that evolution continues...there is no stopping point. So naturally the idea that our environmental inputs - digital age - would have an impact on our neural wiring. I am very concerned about our social skills. My wife signed me up a few months ago for Facebook. Its great and nice, but I still miss in person contact. My parents moved here in 1986 and I remember people always stopping by or vice versa. That doesn't happen anymore. Even though I live in the town I grew up in, I rarely have people stop by for a beer and conversation and my wife and I don't reciprocate. My students don't wait. They barge into conversations with other people to inject their own unrelated requests or statements. These are interpersonal skills that are being lost. I believe that some of this behavior comes from the "chatting" with multiple people, each in their own window....you don't have to be polite in that environment. I also see the continuous partial attention. It becomes additive for the kids. They have to know whats going on and have 30 things going on. Parents then ask about ADHD......Over the holiday, I'm planning on going camping, somewhere with my family. I appreciate this time with, almost, mandatory disconnection from the digital world.
~Jesse
iBrain Chapter 1
Because of how we are using our brains, our brains are changing, evolving. I wonder if this is really new or has been going on forever we can just measure it now? When people first learned to type it must have taken a different brainset. I know that I don't even think about the spelling of the words, they just seem to flow off my fingers. That must be a different brain connection.
There are a couple of ways our brains are changing that I don’t think are so great. Mind you, I am a big believer in “different is different, it isn’t better or worse; it’s just different.” American Field Service says this about other cultures all the time. And it does apply to about everything.
Except, the more time we spend on computers, time spent with real people declines. Our students may interact more, virtually, than they do fact to face. What is that going to do to social skills that many of them already lack with busy working parents. Another facet I didn’t like was that “studies show that fewer young adults read books for pleasure now than in any generation before them”(3). Are we going to have to change how and what we teach because of that? Everyone will still need to learn to read, but I hope they continue to learn the pleasure of a really good piece of fiction.
Hopefully, even if they aren’t reading analog media, they will be reading digitally. There is a prediction “that the future of news will be in the electronic digital media rather than the traditional print or television forms”.(4) Even though this book was only published a year ago, in 2009, I think that is already happening.
Brains format in the younger years and as our brains grew, they developed connections to send and receive signals. This book says that at age two, our brains max out. And that we “cannot function efficiently with too much information.” I found that a bit hard to believe as we don’t use much of our brain. I’ll have to think about that.
Bottom line, the authors are saying that technology is changing how our brains work and make connections. Peripheral vision is improving, as well as cognitive ability and multitasking skills. They also say we need to make sure we don’t overwhelm our brains with technology, and think about how best to train our brains with the technology.
It’s a bit hard to see, after only reading the first chapter, exactly where this book is going. While I may not like or agree with everything in this chapter, we aren’t going to retreat from technological developments and it is better to be informed so we can decide the best course of actions for our students and our children. I read a book for another class, “Last Child in the Woods” and it talked about nature deficit disorder, a lack of exposure to the natural world as a result of so much time spent in front of a screen. I think we need to maintain a balance and have our student learn to use technology wisely, but not loose them selves, and their brains in it too much.
I’m not positive what my “Hmmm....” is for this chapter. I think the part that bothers me the most is that reading for pleasure is declining. When I connect that to children spending less time outside, I think that is something we really need to be aware of. For me, reading a really good book, (defined as one I really enjoy), is one of life’s great pleasures. So in a long walk in the woods. I don’t want my students to not have an opportunity to enjoy those as well, just because they spend so much time with a technological brain.
There are a couple of ways our brains are changing that I don’t think are so great. Mind you, I am a big believer in “different is different, it isn’t better or worse; it’s just different.” American Field Service says this about other cultures all the time. And it does apply to about everything.
Except, the more time we spend on computers, time spent with real people declines. Our students may interact more, virtually, than they do fact to face. What is that going to do to social skills that many of them already lack with busy working parents. Another facet I didn’t like was that “studies show that fewer young adults read books for pleasure now than in any generation before them”(3). Are we going to have to change how and what we teach because of that? Everyone will still need to learn to read, but I hope they continue to learn the pleasure of a really good piece of fiction.
Hopefully, even if they aren’t reading analog media, they will be reading digitally. There is a prediction “that the future of news will be in the electronic digital media rather than the traditional print or television forms”.(4) Even though this book was only published a year ago, in 2009, I think that is already happening.
Brains format in the younger years and as our brains grew, they developed connections to send and receive signals. This book says that at age two, our brains max out. And that we “cannot function efficiently with too much information.” I found that a bit hard to believe as we don’t use much of our brain. I’ll have to think about that.
Bottom line, the authors are saying that technology is changing how our brains work and make connections. Peripheral vision is improving, as well as cognitive ability and multitasking skills. They also say we need to make sure we don’t overwhelm our brains with technology, and think about how best to train our brains with the technology.
It’s a bit hard to see, after only reading the first chapter, exactly where this book is going. While I may not like or agree with everything in this chapter, we aren’t going to retreat from technological developments and it is better to be informed so we can decide the best course of actions for our students and our children. I read a book for another class, “Last Child in the Woods” and it talked about nature deficit disorder, a lack of exposure to the natural world as a result of so much time spent in front of a screen. I think we need to maintain a balance and have our student learn to use technology wisely, but not loose them selves, and their brains in it too much.
I’m not positive what my “Hmmm....” is for this chapter. I think the part that bothers me the most is that reading for pleasure is declining. When I connect that to children spending less time outside, I think that is something we really need to be aware of. For me, reading a really good book, (defined as one I really enjoy), is one of life’s great pleasures. So in a long walk in the woods. I don’t want my students to not have an opportunity to enjoy those as well, just because they spend so much time with a technological brain.
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