Christie,
Although I see what you are saying, I also know that if we do nothing out of fear of tomorrow, we will be incapcitated forever. Therefore, as a careful educator, I take precautions that will guard against the immediate and near future. Without that precaution, people can get themselves into great trouble. However, using the knowledge we have and the understandings that we have, we can only make assumptions about what the future holds and make our decisions using the information and understandings that we have right now.
You are right, all our online activity may be monitored. That's why I tell all my students to not do anything that would get you or your family into trouble because, in an electronic world, you never know where things might end up!
Kelly Christopherson
Posts made by Kelly Christopherson
Tamara,
Will you be going into education? Not sure what ACU stands for.
As an educator, I've found that, although I didn't like that my out-of-school life was "reviewed", I either had to accept that or be ready to face the consequences of my actions. So, as a young adult, in my mid-20's, I became aware, very quickly, that my actions at a local bar or at the arena or any other place, were noticed and would eventually get back to me - even in a large city. It's amazing how news seems to travel. I'm not sure how it does that, but if you want to make sure that someone hears something, mention it off-hand to someone, suggest that it is not to be public, and they'll find out. That's my experience anyway. Of course, having never taught in a city of over 1 million, I can't say this holds true there.
Will you be going into education? Not sure what ACU stands for.
As an educator, I've found that, although I didn't like that my out-of-school life was "reviewed", I either had to accept that or be ready to face the consequences of my actions. So, as a young adult, in my mid-20's, I became aware, very quickly, that my actions at a local bar or at the arena or any other place, were noticed and would eventually get back to me - even in a large city. It's amazing how news seems to travel. I'm not sure how it does that, but if you want to make sure that someone hears something, mention it off-hand to someone, suggest that it is not to be public, and they'll find out. That's my experience anyway. Of course, having never taught in a city of over 1 million, I can't say this holds true there.
I was a teacher in a larger city and everything I said does hold true, like it or not. Now, if you want to have your teacher-trainees get feedback, I might suggest that you look for people who might be willing to do this, such as myself or other teacher-trainees in other universities.
Now, if you are looking for people closer to home, you might try to make some contacts in SL on eduisland. I've met people from Brazil, Mexico and Chile while there, just wandering about. Me wandering about, I tend to do that while there!
As for students who are minority age, you could look for someone interested in doing a collaborative project, flatclassroom project, or make contacts with other teachers who have students interested in doing a similar exchange. If you were to look at this blog or this blog, you will be able to read what some students are doing. I haven't made contacts myself, but you can bet that I'm trying!
Now, if you are looking for people closer to home, you might try to make some contacts in SL on eduisland. I've met people from Brazil, Mexico and Chile while there, just wandering about. Me wandering about, I tend to do that while there!
As for students who are minority age, you could look for someone interested in doing a collaborative project, flatclassroom project, or make contacts with other teachers who have students interested in doing a similar exchange. If you were to look at this blog or this blog, you will be able to read what some students are doing. I haven't made contacts myself, but you can bet that I'm trying!
Gladys - Blogmeister is a blog host in itself. I use it instead of the others as it gives me more control over the classes I teach. I can view things as a teacher and work with kids editting their posts before they are posted. I don't know about the new blogger as I haven't tried it with a class. I use edublogs myself and you could either write the information in a processing app and then post or write it on the site. If your students have dial-up, have them use the processing app no matter which one you choose. They just have to cut and paste. Hope this helps!
I would like to say that Flock is a great browser that allows you to aggregate and browse within the browser. I use it for blogging and, with it on my laptop, it allows me to access blogs I'm reading without another program. Only problem, it is limited to my computers that are synced.
I've tried Opera but it just didn't do the job I wanted. With Firefox's different plugins, it is a great browser. I use Safari a bit but it isn't quite as versitile as I would like.
As for programs themselves, I use Edublogs (WordPress), Elgg, Bloglines and blogger. I usually write in one and just transfer although I've started to limit myself to Edublogs and Elgg.
I've also looked at desktoptwo which is an online desktop which has all the different tools that one needs for working.
I've tried Opera but it just didn't do the job I wanted. With Firefox's different plugins, it is a great browser. I use Safari a bit but it isn't quite as versitile as I would like.
As for programs themselves, I use Edublogs (WordPress), Elgg, Bloglines and blogger. I usually write in one and just transfer although I've started to limit myself to Edublogs and Elgg.
I've also looked at desktoptwo which is an online desktop which has all the different tools that one needs for working.