9/14/09

so I guess today was our first official class. We got an introduction to Google Docs, with can be a potentially useful tool for teachers in the classroom. the speed at which information can be updated live from all over the world in staggering, and for something I didn't know existed until the class meeting it is rather intuitive. the ease of using the program can make it possible for younger children to utilize, making it valuable for any level of schooling

Issues dealing with copyright are becoming more and more prevalent due to the ease at which information can be exchanged over the internet. There are obviously problems concerning peer to peer downloading software, but there are also website that contain whole books, and music albums that are not copyrighted. Old editions of classics and old recordings of classical music is readily available for free and it is totally legal.

I grew up during the Napster era, and I will admit that I have done my fair share of music downloading, but i fail to see what the big deal is. More often than not, people will download a few songs off of an album, and if they like it, they will go and buy the actual album. Bands are putting songs up to download as a promos for this same reason. a few years ago the band Radiohead, released their album online for download. all that one had to do to download it was donate whatever they felt necessary, so if you gave one cent, you could still get the whole album. Even with this, the album was one of their most successful. The internet has created a new marketing medium, slowly companies are reallizing its potential, with the digital age however, it is becomeing more and more difficult to monitor the exchange of information, creating a sort of legal gray zone.

First Class

The first class went much like any other class I have taken. we started off with an outline of the course objectives, and reviewed the syllabus. However as we began to discuss the purpose of the course, it became clear to me how much the classroom has changed in the short time i have been away from grade school.

When I was in middle school, the district first began to put computers in the classroom, now schools are attempting to give every student a lap top. As I moved through high school the smart board was still a relatively new technology, and to the best of my knowledge was not implemented in my school. I think that this goes to show is that as technology advances, and the newer students become more proficient in this technology, it is used as a valuable tool for the classroom.

Being on the track to become an art teacher, I hope that through this class I will be able to find and adapt ways to use technology in my art classroom, as a part of the traditional media such as drawing and painting. I have seen some developing technologies that can be adapted to smart boards that could potentially be very useful to the art teacher, and I hope that by the time I become a teacher I will have access to these tools

- Michael Schweizer