Wed. 7/21/2016 class trip

Riverside Gardens is located in the heart of Milk Creek,  Youngstown, Ohio. We met at the café for a little chat and then headed outdoors to enjoy the natural beauty of a very well maintained botanical garden. take him around and pictures that we've been transformed into 360 degree videos. This was easy for our professor, who had an iPhone, but another student and I had to download a separate app for our Androids. We used Google Street View, which was easy to use.

Many people use these apps to give an entire 360-degree view of outdoor environments like we were doing at the garden. You can also capture indoor environments for prospective real estate sales or even similar business purchases. 

Anyone can go to a historical place or a convention or even a project seminar of sorts to videotape and then share with a classroom of students  environments that they may not always have the chance to see. I most enjoyed being outdoors for class, it's something I think educators should do as often as possible with their kids. I personally enjoyed learning how to use a new app and I was able to share this on my social media; one of my girlfriends literally could pick up her camera and rotate it as she chose with her apple 6. 

Mission accomplished!

Pokémon Go!

Pokémon Go is an augmented reality mobile game that uses your device's ability to track time and location, and allows you to catch the original 151 pokémon (pocket monsters) the same way as the original game created in 1996. Pokémon came from Tajiri's idea of combining childhood imagination and insect collecting with his love for video games. Pokémon Go, developed by Niantic and part of the Pokémon franchise, now has 15 million subscribers and just topped Twitter as the most used app on the market, seeing more engagement than Facebook!

Cons:
Just as texting can distract your movements, so can Pokémon Go. Be aware of your surroundings so as not to fall into a lake or get hit by a car, and please don't poke and drive! Common sense. As for etiquette... some folks are just plain clueless, which is why Niantic has been asked to remove certain landmarks such as the Arlington Cemetery and the War Memorials from their app. They also had to change the app's access to your google acct emails and data. One can get around that by opening a new google account to register for the game. It has to use your location to create the augmented reality, so no surprise that it knows where you are... and they all know where you are! As for the game itself... it doesn't have the skill of training and fighting as today's Pokémon games... but I'm not sure that matters much.

Pros:
it's fun.... and very addicting. kids everywhere are getting up and out... i.e. exercising. Not only are they walking through their towns- they're discovering landmarks they never knew existed. And while outside, breathing in the fresh air instead of gaming in the living room, humans are interacting with one another at PokeStops. And who honestly stops to talk to total strangers nowadays? especially young people. Amazing!

The cons,and there are lots... don't really outweigh the pros, as Paul Tassi mentions in his Forbes article; its getting him to do things no game has ever done before... and "has the potential to affect real change in people's lives- and that's nothing short of a miraculous achievement".

Pokémon GO' Is A Terrible Pokémon Game, But An Augmented Reality Home Run  by Paul Tassi

Eval form

Tweeked our eval form... trying to best understand the objective, so I looked at the given link for ideas. Though its a rubric for student assignments, it lent itself in making the evaluation somewhat more student centered.

https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/Twitter_Rubric.html

I liked the idea of putting each assessment in table format to offer space for responses. I'm hoping this is satisfying the criteria expected. If I've missed something... please let me know... and edit away!

Wed 6/13/3016 class mtg

After further clarifying our evaluation form,  I think we're focusing more on what we need to be careful with when allowing students free access to social media in the classroom.  Teachers concerns reflected the possibility of inappropriate advertisements. So we addressed those clearly in the shared document we'll complete for next week.

We also discussed what's taking over game apps this week. .. the most downloaded app to date. .. pokemon.go, which my daughter and I coincidentally spent some time using throughout the town of Columbiana this past weekend.

The end.

Social Media in Education Evaluation Form

Above are the ISTE's National Standards for Educational Technology.... in layman's terms. The author is Mr. Cordes and his blog is found at http://mscordesclass.weebly.com/blog/category/ode
As Mr. Cordes states: "When dealing with educational technology, there are a lot of important things to keep in mind, such as: standards, ethics, and copyright and fair use."

Due to the standard driven world in which we teach, I thought it helpful to keep these in mind for our evaluations of the social medias we'll be exploring.  Not that I care... but I'm sure our administration will take this into consideration when evaluating our desires to use social media in a state governed classroom.

Feel free to edit/add/check out the eval form.

hw 1: famous from social media

Some research for myself to assist in appreciating what's out there...

I was viewing Justin Beiber's first you tube videos and another young voice caught my attention- (I love the piano).  His name is Greyson Chance and he's developed his own style of music over the years and is doing quite well. Ellen DeGeneres liked him so much after having him on her show that she signed him on to her record label.  

Thought I'd share the youtube link that got him noticed.

Vines, a video sharing app, allows users to film short, separate instances that create a six second video that loops continuously... very clever. My Tessa informed me it isn't as big as it was a few years back... but I had blast watching them. 

Lele Pons- by far my favorite... has a net worth of one million and is the most seen person on vines with 8.4 billion loops!  -Wikipedia  Her fame's helped her promote her book funny stuff.

The Russian photographer, Murad Osmann, used Instagram to propel his "Follow Me" project, which captures his girlfriend taking him by the hand leading him around the world. I was as mezmerized with all their locations as well as the amazing dresses ... so romantic! Below is just one portrait displaying his work... it's easy to see why he is as famous as he is.

Snapchat is probably the largest growing social media today and is a fast, fun way to interact with friends using photos, videos and captions. It has the option of deleting snaps quickly and permanently, which encouraging much of the teenage sexting that is also growing in popularity- but as with all things trendy- there's always going to be reasons to supervise scandalous activities, especially for the concerned parents and mentors of a society.  I'm not sure of any fame ... but I know my eldest daugher is snapping her life story as we live and breathe!  ...ugh

Thursday at Panera

First Encounters: Comfortably informal, our meeting began with food for me and my hungry daughter along with get to know you chit chats. It's warm here in not so sunny Ohio, and we've begun our studies on the second week of our six together.  

We discussed some of the many social medias,of which YouTube is one... did I know that? It's how Justin Beiber came to fame... pretty neat. His latest stuff is rather impressive, btw. I'm even more impressed by Courtney's taste in music: classic rock and the such. (Doobie Brothers next week?... just putting it out there.)

We also looked at blogs. I was floored to learn folks can ditch their day jobs for what advertisement companies are paying for big blog hits. I plan to read a variety of these... and blog again.

Besides all that- I learned there is much I do not know, which happens when one steps away from the technological arena and concentrates on silly things such as health, happiness and children (did I mention I have five? -they never really leave you know.)

"If you're not moving forward you're falling behind."  -Ken Steiginga, CNE

I've heard that since my first Windows update decades ago. So I appreciate the new and innovative technology- and am amazed how its change our culture and our world, (the pros and cons being equally and profoundly relevant.)

So... my plan is to get LinkedIn, i.e. become professionally vulnerable... and then get on Twitter and actually tweet, probably just to my kids. I also Snapchat them and my bff in Michigan. I need Facebook because I'm so far from my hometown, and Jersey people are, honestly, just way cooler. I did set up and use Instagram and Facebook for Ms. S's Math Class this year- so I'm not a complete dweeb when it comes to this stuff... as if my Y-town kids could've given two shytes.

I am hoping our class enlightens the road I'm traveling towards!  I do so delight in communicating and sharing knowledge- something social media allows us all to do with our phones any time, whether within a classroom or without. And I see life leading me back to my non-traditional schooling roots, and the desire to facilitate the learning that exists safely and freely without subjection to state guidelines, institutions,  bureaucracies... and similar ignoramuses. It's always been one of my purest and most satisfying passions.

I hope this isn't too long- I do love a captive audience, an audience of zero at the time of this writing...