Sunday, September 30, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Double Journal Entry # 5
"The teaching of critical-thinking skills is not part of the regular curriculum, and printed text is still considered the mainstay of school reading"-Jane L. David
The first part of this quote was explaining the trouble educators are facing these days. The thought that in today's world of social media, viral fads, and most importantly real-time, relevant information for today's learners is still being stifled is troubling.On the bright side we are aware of what is out there but that is still not enough...I think that its on the plate of the administration to accept the notion that all content isn't bad content and teachers should be able to use anything that is seen as appropriate(and legal) information that students need to enhance learning.
1.David, J. L. (2009). Teaching media literacy. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 84-86. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Teaching-Media-Literacy.aspx
The first part of this quote was explaining the trouble educators are facing these days. The thought that in today's world of social media, viral fads, and most importantly real-time, relevant information for today's learners is still being stifled is troubling.On the bright side we are aware of what is out there but that is still not enough...I think that its on the plate of the administration to accept the notion that all content isn't bad content and teachers should be able to use anything that is seen as appropriate(and legal) information that students need to enhance learning.
1.David, J. L. (2009). Teaching media literacy. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 84-86. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Teaching-Media-Literacy.aspx
Friday, September 21, 2012
Baltimore Ravens Wikipedia Page
Wikipedia Reliability Worksheet
Article title:
Answer the following questions to see how reliable a Wikipedia article is.
Start with the main page. Does it have any cleanup banners that have been placed there to indicate problems with the article? (A complete list is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/
Cleanup.)
Any one of the following cleanup banners means the article is an unreliable source:
This article or section has multiple issues.
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.
This needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
This may contain material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.
This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject.
This article requires authentication or verification by an expert.
This article or section needs to be updated.
This article may not provide balanced geographical coverage on a region.
This is missing citations or needs footnotes.
This article does not cite any references or sources.
No cleanup banners were found pretaining to this article
Read through the article and see if it meets the following requirements:
Is it written in a clear and organized way? The page is written in a linear fashion, going from the first year of the team's existence in 1996 until last year's season.
Is the tone neutral (not taking sides)? The tone of the page is as neutral as a fan sports page can be, no disparaging comments about other teams just the overall fan attitude of our own.
Are all important facts referenced (you're told where they come from)? All the information is the official website as well as articles from esteemed journalists.
Does the information provided seem complete or does it look like there are gaps (or just one side of the story)? No large gaps that I could see even when the team was renamed after its departure from Cleveland. However too little information was given on the band that was located in Baltimore that supported the Baltimore Colts.
Scroll down to the article's References and open them in new windows or tabs. Do they seem like reliable sources? (For help in determining the general reliability of a source, check out the Knowing What's What and What's Note: The 5 Ws (and 1 "H") of Cyberspace handout.)
Reliable references:
Baltimore Ravens official web site
Baltimore Sun
Possibly unreliable references:
Sports E-Cyclopedia.com
Ravens Post
NFL Fanhouse
Definitely unreliable references:
Baltimore Ravens blogs
Click on the Discussion tab. How is the article rated on the Rating Scale (Stub, Start, C, B, GA, A, FA)? What issues around the article are being discussed? Do any of them make you doubt the article's reliability?
The article itself was given a B rating as far as quality of content.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Its importance is also rated higly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only issue was the relocation details and the Colts Band.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on the above questions, give the article an overall ranking of Reliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable. Reliable.
You may use a Reliable article as a source (but remember that even if a Wikipedia article is reliable, it should never be your only source on a topic!)
You may use a Partially Reliable article as a starting point for your research, and may use some
of its references as sources, but do not us it as a source.
You should not use an Unreliable article as a source or a starting point. Research the same topic in a different encyclopedia.
How did you rank this article (Reliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable)? Give at least three reasons to support
your answer.
Article title:
Answer the following questions to see how reliable a Wikipedia article is.
Start with the main page. Does it have any cleanup banners that have been placed there to indicate problems with the article? (A complete list is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/
Cleanup.)
Any one of the following cleanup banners means the article is an unreliable source:
This article or section has multiple issues.
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.
This needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
This may contain material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.
This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject.
This article requires authentication or verification by an expert.
This article or section needs to be updated.
This article may not provide balanced geographical coverage on a region.
This is missing citations or needs footnotes.
This article does not cite any references or sources.
No cleanup banners were found pretaining to this article
Read through the article and see if it meets the following requirements:
Is it written in a clear and organized way? The page is written in a linear fashion, going from the first year of the team's existence in 1996 until last year's season.
Is the tone neutral (not taking sides)? The tone of the page is as neutral as a fan sports page can be, no disparaging comments about other teams just the overall fan attitude of our own.
Are all important facts referenced (you're told where they come from)? All the information is the official website as well as articles from esteemed journalists.
Does the information provided seem complete or does it look like there are gaps (or just one side of the story)? No large gaps that I could see even when the team was renamed after its departure from Cleveland. However too little information was given on the band that was located in Baltimore that supported the Baltimore Colts.
Scroll down to the article's References and open them in new windows or tabs. Do they seem like reliable sources? (For help in determining the general reliability of a source, check out the Knowing What's What and What's Note: The 5 Ws (and 1 "H") of Cyberspace handout.)
Reliable references:
Baltimore Ravens official web site
Baltimore Sun
Possibly unreliable references:
Sports E-Cyclopedia.com
Ravens Post
NFL Fanhouse
Definitely unreliable references:
Baltimore Ravens blogs
Click on the Discussion tab. How is the article rated on the Rating Scale (Stub, Start, C, B, GA, A, FA)? What issues around the article are being discussed? Do any of them make you doubt the article's reliability?
The article itself was given a B rating as far as quality of content.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Its importance is also rated higly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only issue was the relocation details and the Colts Band.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on the above questions, give the article an overall ranking of Reliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable. Reliable.
You may use a Reliable article as a source (but remember that even if a Wikipedia article is reliable, it should never be your only source on a topic!)
You may use a Partially Reliable article as a starting point for your research, and may use some
of its references as sources, but do not us it as a source.
You should not use an Unreliable article as a source or a starting point. Research the same topic in a different encyclopedia.
How did you rank this article (Reliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable)? Give at least three reasons to support
your answer.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wikipedia as a resource...
" Students shouldn’t be citing encyclopedias. I would hope they wouldn’t be citing Encyclopaedia Britannica, either. "-Jimmy Wales
It was neat to find out the actual source of the "Wikipedia-hate"
that has flooded American universities. In Vermont one teacher found such a
problem with the use of online encyclopedias that the most popular of its kind
has been dismissed. In our "participatory culture" the fact that we
as students can come together with low barriers and high support from our peers
and (some) of our educators means that the new century of learning is coming
and is here to stay. Not only is our information available faster but to the
surprise of the educators it is becoming more and more accurate especially on
Wikipedia with the help of people chosen by Wikipedia to manage the content. However I
for one believe that Wikipedia should be used for what it was made for and that
is to display current information to the public not to be cited.
1. Jenkins , H. (2007). What wikipedia can teach us about the new media literacies (part one). Confessions of Aca-Fan: The Offical Blog of Henry Jenkins, Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab.html
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Wikipedia
a. What is Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a
non-profit, multilingual, web-based encyclopedia that's sole mission is to give
the most relevant and reliable information.
b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it? Most say that it can only "work in practice" but I would say that the content is monitored by people picked by the creator of the site so the "chaos" is a little overblown.
c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? They trust the people to troubleshoot any discrepancies on the site.
d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? Sanger left because he felt the authority of the information should be given to the experts.
e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? It will be removed quickly and if anything else it will show up in red to the administrators.
f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? That this site is viewed frequently but maybe not used that much.
g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? The accessibility and the relevance of the information presented.
h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? Because it can compromise the neutrality of Wikipedia because of any ties they have to their customers.
i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries? The content is monitored to weed out any self-interest content and abuse.
b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it? Most say that it can only "work in practice" but I would say that the content is monitored by people picked by the creator of the site so the "chaos" is a little overblown.
c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? They trust the people to troubleshoot any discrepancies on the site.
d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? Sanger left because he felt the authority of the information should be given to the experts.
e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? It will be removed quickly and if anything else it will show up in red to the administrators.
f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? That this site is viewed frequently but maybe not used that much.
g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? The accessibility and the relevance of the information presented.
h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? Because it can compromise the neutrality of Wikipedia because of any ties they have to their customers.
i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries? The content is monitored to weed out any self-interest content and abuse.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Double Journal Entry #3
"The picture learner likes to convert language to pictures."-
Mariaemma Willis & Victoria Hodson 1999).
This quote sums up my learning style completely. I always saw myself as a "hands-on" learner (Or kinesthetic, according to the article) but I realize before I can even start a task I have to visualize myself and all the possible outcomes in my mind. I do prefer projects, experiments, and other action plans assignments, opposed to lecture and reading but my "over-analyzer" personality leads into my learning style because I have to see what I'm doing mentally before I can tackle it academically. I believe that today's education technology is going hand and hand with my learning style because now everything we learn as students is coming to us by way of multimedia that makes learning if not more fun at least more aesthetically pleasing.
1.
Hodson , V., & Willis, M. (2011). Learning styles and diverse learners. Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Learning Styles, doi: http://en.wikibooks.org
This quote sums up my learning style completely. I always saw myself as a "hands-on" learner (Or kinesthetic, according to the article) but I realize before I can even start a task I have to visualize myself and all the possible outcomes in my mind. I do prefer projects, experiments, and other action plans assignments, opposed to lecture and reading but my "over-analyzer" personality leads into my learning style because I have to see what I'm doing mentally before I can tackle it academically. I believe that today's education technology is going hand and hand with my learning style because now everything we learn as students is coming to us by way of multimedia that makes learning if not more fun at least more aesthetically pleasing.
Thank you for your time,
A.J. Washington
1.
Hodson , V., & Willis, M. (2011). Learning styles and diverse learners. Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Learning Styles, doi: http://en.wikibooks.org
Friday, September 7, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Double Journal Entry # 2
"For example, bn (been), btwn
(between) and wd (would) can all be found in a 1942
dictionary of abbreviations"-Ammon Shea
After reading the two articles on today's "texisms" about our "attitude" on the language itself, as stated in the article: "Are Digital Media Changing Language?" by Naomi Baron and a constant need for change in our language dating to almost a century ago in the article: "The Keypad Solution" by Shea (quoted up top). Each article raises good points on how the English language will evolve rather from "Bottom to the top"(Shea) or through "Cycles, much like taste in music and politics"(Baron). With that said both of these authors know that we as people will always find new ways to talk to one another so it is best to accept it with open arms while it runs its course. In my high school a fellow student and I were scorned for lackluster writing on a reaction paper to a film. First, you have me misusing the word "fright" with "freight" to express fear, next you have a student who used a text expression to show laughter (I'll leave you to figure out the abbreviation LOL). That was my lucky day because for 60 agonizing minutes my fellow student was ridiculed for what is in my opinion a far less severe crime. In conclusion I say that these changes should be embraced because if time hasn't shown already, it's not going anywhere.
1. SHEA, A. (2010). The keypad solution. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=1
2. Baron, N. S. (2009). Are digital media changing language?. EL: Educational Leadership, 66(6), 42-46. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are-Digital-Media-Changing-Language¢.aspx
After reading the two articles on today's "texisms" about our "attitude" on the language itself, as stated in the article: "Are Digital Media Changing Language?" by Naomi Baron and a constant need for change in our language dating to almost a century ago in the article: "The Keypad Solution" by Shea (quoted up top). Each article raises good points on how the English language will evolve rather from "Bottom to the top"(Shea) or through "Cycles, much like taste in music and politics"(Baron). With that said both of these authors know that we as people will always find new ways to talk to one another so it is best to accept it with open arms while it runs its course. In my high school a fellow student and I were scorned for lackluster writing on a reaction paper to a film. First, you have me misusing the word "fright" with "freight" to express fear, next you have a student who used a text expression to show laughter (I'll leave you to figure out the abbreviation LOL). That was my lucky day because for 60 agonizing minutes my fellow student was ridiculed for what is in my opinion a far less severe crime. In conclusion I say that these changes should be embraced because if time hasn't shown already, it's not going anywhere.
1. SHEA, A. (2010). The keypad solution. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=1
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
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