C4T #2 Blog Post

Comments for Teachers:

  I have really enjoyed reading Wesley Fryer's blog Speed of Creativity. He  is a digital learning consultant, author, digital storyteller, educator and change agent. With respect to school change, he describes himself as a “catalyst for creative engagement and collaborative learning.” His posts are filled with tons of great information about technology and the use of it in the classroom.  He uses his blog to digitally document his journey of learning and collaboration with other educators and lifelong learners around the globe. He focus mainly on topics related to engaged learning, web 2.0 technologies, digital storytelling ,educational leadership, literacy, blended learning, creativity, appropriate uses of educational technologies, digital citizenship, and educational transformation. His blog is informative and entertaining. I have learned a lot about different technological resources and events that can help me in the future as a teacher.

C4K Post summary #1:

In the first post that I read from Wesley Fryer's blog, he described his time at the 2013 Tulsa Mini Maker Faire. He attended the faire

with his children and a friend. At the Faire they learned about a really cool iPad remote-controlled robotic car created by Patrick Forringer. Patrick bulit some of the parts of the iPad controlled car with a 3D printer. He calls it MEP, short for Mecanum Educational Platform. The MEP creates a local wifi hotspot, similar to the commercially produced Parrot AR Drone. Welsey Fryer thought that this was one of the coolest and most inspiring things they saw all day at the faire. 
His son took a turn at playing chess on a large touch-flatscreen TV, which was connected to a grid computer running the Scorpio chess engine (free) running at the Tandy Supercomputing Center in Tulsa. The TSC is a nonprofit that provides access to academic, corporate, and government entities needing high performance computational capabilities. The chess program was a quick way to get an interactive, AI-based program running for the Maker Faire which would showcase their capabilities. He encouraged Oklahoma educators to get in touch with the TSC staff. He said,"they are eager to do outreach with and for K-12 students and are just getting started!" One of  my favorite things that he saw at the faire was a demo on “aquaponic gardening.” Aquaponic gardening uses a tenth of the water normally required for gardening. Agronomists from all over the world are using small clay fired pellets as a soil substitute to grow a variety of different plants, fruits, and vegetables as well as raise fish such as Koi.

My Comment:
Hi, my name is Briann Smith, I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I also have a blog, that I post for my class. I really enjoyed reading your blog post on the 2013 Tulsa Mini Maker Faire. It seems like you and your family had a great time at the faire. I have never been to Oklahoma, but I will add the Mini Maker Faire to the list of places that I should visit. It’s incredible that the faire has so many innovative gadgets and products. The iPad remote control car was fascinating, I bet that would be fun to use. I know a lot of people who would love to use the iPad controlled car. My favorite part of your post was about the aquaponic gardening. That is incredible that they can grow plants from only using a tenth of the normal amount of water! It always amazes me what people can create by using technology. Once again, I enjoyed your post and I look forward to your future posts!

C4K Post Summary #2:
In the second post that I read from Wesley Fryer's blog, he included his notes from Dr. Neeti Kohli‘s presentation, “Is the Pied Piper (Electronic devices with screens) taking our kids away?” In his notes he included the following:

Parenting is not easy: you must guide your children to decide what is right & wrong

The simple answer to our question today: Like the Pied Piper, “the screen” is attracting a large number of our children…taking them away from the realities of life and person-to-person relationships         

“because children have high levels of exposure, media have greater access and time to shape young people’s attitudes…”

What is digital citizenship?
- teaches our children about Internet safety
-federal requirement
-very important
-preventative
Digital citizenship: a “prequel”
- person to person relationship
- play outside
- homework comes before the screen
- don’t overeat in front of the screen
- avoid paying violent video games
- avoid scary scenes
The screen is not bad, we cannot take it away
- we must use it and be proficient with it
- we need to identify these harmful effects

• It is very important to involve everyone in this message: Needs to go to parents, to teachers, to administrators.         
• the younger generation is being taken over and dominated by screens to a large degree, we need to do something about this

My Comment:

Hi, my name is Briann Smith, I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your notes on  Dr. Neeti Kohli‘s presentation, “Is the Pied Piper (Electronic devices with screens) taking our kids away?” As a future a teacher and current college student, I am constantly hearing about the use of technology and media in the classroom and the convenience of iPads. I think the use technology is great and convenient! I also believe that teachers need to be proficient and be able to effectively teach students how to use technology. I also wonder about the long term effects on the children. You brought up digital citizenship, which I think a lot of adults need to remember when it comes to children and media. You made some valid points and I learned a lot from your post!