My Very First Journal :)

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...

2005-12-02T05:09:29Z

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...
Originally uploaded by celia_ganda.

this better work this time

cganda @ 2005-12-01T23:22:00

2005-12-02T04:31:56Z

click here to see photos!

I CANT BREATHHHHH!!!!!

2005-12-01T05:32:50Z

i think im gonna go nutssss!so much is going on right now that i can hardly function! i think i spend the majority of my time thinking about the things i have to do rather then actually doing them! instead of me ranting and raving there should be a blog here, but i cant find the article...i dont have time to look for it...and cant even imagine sitting and reading it :*( ON THE OTHER HAND..i think this little "break" im having right now is good therapy...its kinda relaxing talking/writing to myslef. anyways.i cant believe its almost christmas already!!!...and we're halfway done university! where the heck did those 4 years go??? wherever it went, it was a good 4 years :) i had fun..all u girls in the ece program (and mr mark) made the 4 years fan-tab-u-lous!i really hope we somehow keep in touch......I KNOOOOO!!! LETS KEEP BLOGGING! (great idea with the LJ accounts jason!)...id love to here for all of you every now and then :)

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...

2005-12-01T04:02:51Z

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...
Originally uploaded by celia_ganda.

Open software

2005-12-01T01:57:16Z

Before reading Jasons article I had no idea what open source software was. Now I understand that open software gives you the freedom to change your software to make it work in whichever way that best suits you. Something like this would be great for the classroom, because you have to power to adjust and modify the software to accommodate the needs of the students in your class. I like the point that Jason brings up when he says that “technology people” are the ones that control the kinds of technology that is used in our classrooms and that as teachers, we are just expected to use what is given to us. We don’t have much say on what we’d like to use. Technology has changed so much from when I was younger. I feel so behind and out dated when an 11 year old is showing me how to do things on the computer…and I’m only 21! The younger generation is so immersed in a society that is quickly changing and becoming more technically bound (does that make any sense?? :S ), that many of them surpass the older generation in terms of tech- savvy-ness (again, another word I made up but I think it makes sense!!). As such, a lot of the times teachers in the classrooms today aren’t quite sure of how to use the technology that is around them, and as a result shy away from it completely. Jasons suggestion for us to learn about it and create our own software is a great suggestion, because that way as future educators, we can get back on the techie band wagon and show them whose boss! We would be in control to use what technology we find is appropriate or not appropriate in out classrooms. Open software is just the beginning, we can use an already existing piece of technology and change it as far as we can, but sooner or later we as teachers should be able to create the software used in the classroom, after all…..teachers know best!

taking pictures

2005-11-15T15:48:43Z

When i was a little girl i loved taking pictures. my father had an old camera that didnt work that he let me play with. i took it everywhere with me pretending to take pictures of everything. on family trips my father would take a family picture of us then i would tell him to wait and pose for my picture, which he did, and id even say "click!" when i got a little bit older my dad bought me a camera for my 7th birthday with some film. i took pictures of everything! the cake the decoration the presents and cards nad even some of the people at my party! the best camera i had was one that i won in grade 2. it was a polaroid and i was so fascinated at the fact that the pictures came out instantly. thinking back, i eally thinki can realte to the article because wheni was younger allmy pictures were of random objects that now i would be like "why do i have a picture of that!?" or "why would i waste a picture of this!?" I remember when i was in grade 7 or 8 i only wanted to take pictures of my friends, especially boys that i had a crushes on ;). I think when I was younger I was mostly excited about having a piece of technology. It made me feel responsible and important because I was in control and I could do whatever I wanted with it. The decisions were mine and I did what I wanted.

week 8

2005-10-25T16:39:12Z

In the first article I thought that the author using the dog as an example of the ability to “pass” as part of a privileged group (humans using the computer and internet), was a really good one. It made me realize that communication through an object (rather then face to face or voice to voice) can be really dangerous. In the dog example, there is no way to tell who you are talking to because that person can make up whatever persona her or she wants...you could be talking to anyone, even a dog! There is no one monitoring to check your physical profile against the one that you create. I was also a little confused about what LamdaMOO was and all that I think I achieved from it was that I would never join LamdaMOO and I’m not particularly interested in making up fantasy characters or being a dolphin. I just don’t have the time these days and LiveJournal is enough for me at this point. But it did, however, point out the fact what even when people are able to create characters in which ever way they want, stereotypes are still presenteven when people have the opportunity to steer clear from them. The second article was verrry long and a little disturbing. In fact I didn’t quite finish the second one because truthfully, I was grossed out and honestly felt like I wouldn’t benefit from reading it till the end. From what I did read, it only added to any apprehensions I already had about internet chat rooms and realms or whatever they are. That I don’t like it, I can’t trust people in it and that children are not safe from them. The final article was a little more relevant to issues that I find with having computer and internet assignments for children. Hoffman makes a good point when he says that the internet provides equal opportunity and democratic communication only to those who have access. Not every child in the classroom will have access to a computer or the internet. Teachers should be wary of using the computer and the internet for learning when it comes to assignments or homework because not every child will have the opportunity to work on it without having a computer.

SIMsss

2005-10-18T16:21:50Z

I think that using computers in the classroom is a good idea, but only at appropriate ages. I don’t think it is necessary for a child at such a young age to have the skills necessary to use a computer. I didn’t really understand the whole policy thing that Starr was talking about, but I did understand his point of the danger of sims and other types of simulations, are that they all depend on models that are controlled by the persons who create them. Reading the section on the “original sim” was a little unnerving. It almost seemed as if Starr was saying that we as consumers are unknowing playing with these simulation games, unbeknownst to us, that it is a preparation for something bigger and in the plans of the creators of the games or those who govern over them. I’ll admit that it seems logical use an alternative way of learning that will grab the interest of the child when other methods do not work, but going back to my original point, I firmly believe that the appropriateness of such technologies depends on the age of the child. I say, let the children learn the old school way at young ages. Let them do the hands on, creative thinking and manipulation thing so they can develop and master these important skills. Then at a much older age, highschool or so, it may be beneficial for the young adults to learn in ways that will grab their attention and make them want to learn.
I cant really write anything on the second article because I wasn’t sure where to click or what to read. But after reading the third article it was really sad to see how dependent the family was on the open source networking and ..whatever else it is they used. It was so confusing reading about the many software things that the families use. What shocked me the most I think was reading that on child was playing chess over the internet with his friend who lives across the street! What ever happened to going to a friends house to play games, or playing outside!

HACKERS :S

2005-10-11T15:12:41Z

Reading this article makes me not want to go on the internet anymore. It’s scary to think that the information that I put out there can be so easily taken and used without me knowing it. I think this is why I’ve stayed away from buying things on the internet and using things like ebay or signing up for the different types of accounts that are available. It’s hard to believe that every time I use the internet I leave behind some sort of trace that people can follow and that will lead back to me. I think about the fact that someone could look me up on Canada 411, find my address and then search it on yahoo maps or map quest and end up right on my front door. Reading the section about the “social hacker’s tool kit” was very unsettling. I never realized that the information you put out there, the blogs you write or conversations you have in chat rooms can be collected, analyzed and studied to aid strangers in their façade to gain your trust and interest. Chat rooms especially seem to be very dangerous, although I’ve never really joined one, I always hear about adult abductors using chat rooms in the guise of young children. They pretend to be a friend, gain the child’s trust then set up some sort of meeting. I guess there are really two sides to this hole hacking business. One, for us layman’s, hacking is scary, I do not want to be “hacked into” or have my identity stolen etc etc…On the other hand, there are situations where hackers are imperative to our safety. Governments may need hackers to hack into other systems to find information that may be harmful to society.

cganda @ 2005-10-05T13:34:00

2005-10-05T18:19:27Z

you guys are right...that line is from spider man!

Websites!

2005-10-04T16:12:05Z

I remember hearing the line “with great power comes great responsibility” it might have been from the lion king or something, but wherever it came from I think this line makes a lot of sense. The internet is a powerful piece of technology that is accessible by virtually anyone. The internet can provide access to information that is useful for a child when doing research for a project, but at the same time inappropriate material is also just as easily accessible. The issue of censorship in this article would be the accessibility of children to the uncensored material on the web, and whose responsibility it is to control it. When a child uses the internet in the library, I think that librarians do have a responsibility to assist and inform them about the types of material found and that are available to them. And, where possible, set up controls that filter out adult sites and pop ups. It would, however, be really hard for a librarian to control every aspect of internet usage for every child that wishes to research online. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the parents to sets rules and guidelines for their children when they use the internet. It is hard to decipher whether or not the information in this article is valid. It seems to be more of an opinion paper then anything else. There are no other resources to validate any research or findings to support the views.
The information relayed in the second article, in my opinion, seems to be well grounded. The authors write about the need to prepare children to succeed in the 21st century. They claim that there is a large gap between the education students receive in school, and the necessary skills and knowledge required thrive in the 21st century. Whether or not the research is any good is still ambiguous because, like the first article, there seems to be no evidence of research and secondary supporting sources. I did Google the site for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the website did in fact look very professional and legitimate. The information and opinion found in this article do seem convincing but more research and adequate evidence of support should be included to make this paper a more powerful one.

Jorgensen

2005-09-27T06:51:02Z

I used to think that webcams would be the answer to a lot of problems. I remember watching an episode of Maury Povich….or it could have been Montel??….whatever, the point is that I was watching one of those day time talk shows and the topic was abusive babysitters or something along that line. The image played on the screen was from a hand held camera hidden in a box, of the child being slapped and pushed around by the babysitter (who was also caught stealing money and other items left in the house). I thought that it was a great idea to have something like a hidden camera when you suspect that something ‘off beat’ is going on at home when you’re not around. But after reading this article, a number of points I never thought of were brought up that made me think twice about the use of webcams. Jorgensen mentioned that children would begin to feel so accustomed to a surveillanced society that they would feel unsafe when they are not in fact being surveillanced. I think that really steps over that privacy line we all draw for ourselves. I do not like the idea that my child could grow up feeling that he/she needed to be watched all the time. Webcams are great for certain types of surveillance that are there to protect and help people, such as how it was used in the pool article, but they can also be very invasive and create more distrust (I was watching the news and they had a story about parents who put a webcam in their teenagers room WITH THEIR CONSENT!!!...CAN U IMAGINE!!! ). It does seem like a good idea to be able to watch your children in daycare when you can’t be with them, but considering the webcam from a professional view steers me in a different direction from a protective parental side. As a future ece’r I could not picture myself in a daycare that had webcams all over the place, I don’t think that I would be able to work. Imagine being watched all the time, and every move you make can be totally misinterpreted by the viewer depending on which angle the camera is at. Its also a slap in the face to my ability as a worker because there is so much distrust *hmmph!!* >:(

Halavais!

2005-09-20T03:12:09Z

I think Halavais hit the nail on the head when he said that weblogging is easier lived than described. I would have never imagined myself putting things on the web for others to see. When the internet craze was starting to explode, I was sure that I would stay well away from it all because it seemed extremely confusing. I couldn’t be bothered to learn about how to post things on the web and create webpage’s and such. I figured I would only use the internet to do research and send an email every so often. If someone tried to explain to me how to work on my live journal page over the phone, I’m sure I would give up in an instant due to confusion and frustration. It was easier starting small, like signing up for an account, then actually getting onto the page and playing around.
Other then writing for class assignments and essay I don’t usually enjoy writing anything if I don’t have to or its not getting marked, but bogging allows me to write whatever I want, and in a way its not just mumbo jumbo that I write (unless I really choose too). Most times I’ll think carefully about what I write because I know that other people have access and can read what I’ve written down. This whole weblogging experience is sort of like the “dear diary” phase I went through in my earlier years ;)
Using this type of technology in the classroom can be both beneficial and hindering to the learning environment of a young child. Weblogging would essentially allow children to communicate with others from different parts of the world in real time, providing a great social environment and learning experience for the children. Any other means of communication could be costly and take long periods of time. However, too much use of computers in classrooms could also take away from many important skills that have been replaced with the use of computer. Skills such as printing and peer editing have been substituted with printed out sheets of paper and computer editing (not to mention the ever so popular spell check where I too have fallen victim to…….I can’t spell anymore!).
The end :D

cganda @ 2005-09-13T17:52:00

2005-09-13T21:53:53Z

tesssssting!!!

Sherry Turkle Articles

2005-09-13T06:09:38Z

Manufacturers are creating toys for children that allow them to come close to realism, without having to deal with certain emotional and physical components. For example, virtual pets available on the computer and even in hand held toys allow children to care for their digital pets by providing the essentials of pet care, without actually having to do it. The simple press of a button or click of an icon allows the children to feed, exercise and even groom their pets. Should the child happen to forget for a few days to do so, their pet “dies”, only to allow them to start over again with a new pet. When I was taking care of my 5 year old niece, I remember being introduced to a box full of “expired” hand held virtual pets that either ran out of batteries or were broken in someway. She told be that they were her old pets that died and “did not work no more.” She had kept them in a box because she didn’t want to throw any of her pets away in the garbage. Her not wanting to throw away any of the old pets is an example of how some children today see these toys as “sort of alive” as Shelly Turkle mentioned in the first article. As toys, my niece could easily place them all in an old shoebox in her closet, but as her virtual pets she could not simply discard them in a garbage can and decided to keep them safe in a little shoebox.
More and more children, and at younger ages, are also joining the online craze, where the internet has allowed them to talk to people via chat rooms and instant messaging services. For me, this poses as a serious risk for young children because it allows intruders with harmful intentions more accessibility to unsupervised children. Both children and adults are able to create personae that could be misleading to others because no real face to face interactions, although available with web cams, is required. It is misleading information like this that create harmful situations for children who are gaining more and more access to computers, leading to potentially dangerous situations.

Sherry Turkle articles

2005-09-13T06:06:34Z