Course+Discussions

​ = = EDLD 5306 Discussions Weeks 1 - 5

Introduction: Hi Everyone, I am very excited to have been accepted for admission into this graduate program here at Lamar University. You might say I am a "late bloomer" I graduated from LeTourneau University just this past December 2008 with my Bachelor Interdisciplinary Studies degree. It only took me 57 years to figure out that I wanted to TEACH. I have had some experience in teaching. I was a Scoutmaster of a mega-Troop with over 100 boys. I spent my thirties and forties at summer camp. I became interested in science and technology when I was ten years old. I am an Eagle Scout and an amateur radio, (HAM) operator. My call-sign is W5BSA. I am also an examiner for the Federal Communications Commission and have been an "Elmer" for many people that wanted to learn and earn their radio communications licenses. You can see in the photo above that I also love aviation of all kinds and have been flying radio control models all my life. My website that I have had for 15 years can be found at www.modelflying.com I am happily married for 30 years to my beautiful wife Sheryl. We have three children, Bill, Thom and Rebecca. Bill is a commercial pilot living in Anaheim, California, Thom begins law school this May at Baylor and Rebecca is half-way through her 12 weeks of student teaching in Spring Branch Independent School District. She graduates in May, gets married on August 1 and most likely starts teaching second grade in SBISD in the fall. I currently work as an admission counselor for another university. Please keep me in your prayers. Over the next few months I will be taking the EC Content and PPR State of Texas tests and the GRE and keeping up with this program, whoo-hooo this is going to be fun, but I am very excited about it. In about a year I hope to be teaching fifth grade math and science. I love technology, school, children and just seeing people succeed with their dreams in general. See you in class. Best regards, Joe Ross

WEEK 1 - Significant Quote. Solomon (2004) stated that E-Communications are a wonderful addition to modern communication techniques “however, e-mail has its downsides. It’s easy to misunderstand someone’s words without the nonverbal signals that occur when meeting face-to-face or the tone of voice that’s clear on the phone. We interpret meaning from the words alone but often the missing context leads us astray.” (p. 48)Have you ever heard the saying, “if looks could kill?” Words can too and in an Email, it’s possible that’s all the recipient has to understand the writer’s meaning. Email communication is almost a necessity for everyone young or old to use in this 21st Century. It should be used correctly, appropriately and with as much etiquette as possible applied .Solomon (2004) warned us that we must be very careful of our words and how we apply words to our sentence structures and that this could be especially true in Email communications that might be hastily written. I have learned from unfortunate experiences that carelessness in Email composition can be easily generated by dashing off a quick Email due to time constraints and words used could create unnecessary tension between two parties if the meaning is misinterpreted. It might be difficult to repair a parent/teacher rapport if we hit the send button too soon before reviewing our words. Many professional educators believe that reading comprehension is always about the understanding of meaning. It is important to me to make the best possible effort to ensure that my intended meaning is easily understood. (p. 48) Works Cited: Solomon, G. (2004). E-communications 101. //Technology & Learning//, //24//(11), 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60.

WEEK 2-Significant Quote: Prensky (2005) spoke to the definition of cultural age differences when comparing digital immigrants to digital natives when he explained reasoning for social barriers still held in place by teachers and administrators. Unfortunately, “resisting today’s digital technology will be truly lethal to our children’s education. They live in an incredibly fast-moving world significantly different than the one we grew up in. They not only need things faster than their teachers are used to providing them, they also have many other new learning needs as well, such as random access to information and multiple data streams.”

Hello Everyone, This quote appeals to me because even though I realize he is probably correct in his definitions and even though I am old, I am not and never have been a digital immigrant. I do understand that I most likely go against the norm. I have had computers since the days of the Commodore Vic 20 and 64, Apple Amiga, Apple II, IBM Big Blue 286 and even a first generation Compaq that looked like a sewing machine cabinet and one of the first hand-held devices back in 1980 called the Apple Newton.. I have been ripping MP3s since the day the hard drives became large enough to hold a few songs and CDs could be not just read but written. I have been sending packets of digital information over wireless "radio” frequency" links before the words, Internet, dial-up or broadband became household words. The neatest thing about students, teachers and schools today is that the technology is available at incredibly low cost and often for free. Examples are software that can be found at www.software995.com that allows simple conversion of just about any file format to PDF. As this author stated, we only need to adopt and do away with the barriers. I like other articles this week that suggested that as teachers we might find better roads to success through being facilitators and allowing the students to man the controls. The biggest problem I have in teaching technology is letting the students do the work and keeping my hands off the keyboard and mouse.

Have a very blessed day,

Joe Ross

Works Cited:

Prensky, M. (2005, December 2). //Edutopia.org//. Adopt and adapt: Shaping tech for the classroom. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from The George Lucas Education Foundation:

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WEEK 3-Significant Quote. Mills (2007) notified us that “Web 2.0 is full of established tools such as blogs (personal publishing), wikis (collaborative publishing), real simple syndication (RSS), content aggregators, streaming video (YouTube), file sharing, podcasting, and social networking (MySpace). Of importance to educational leaders is that the pace of Web 2.0 technologies can almost ensure another process or tool will be gaining notoriety and presence among our students as quickly as we gain an awareness and understanding of these established tools.”(p. 4) Web 2.0 is having a huge impact on educators, parents and students whether we like it or not. Social networking leads the way in Web 2.0 and savvy business and marketing corporations love it. It’s probably a good thing that the digital natives are good at "tuning out" with all the ad banners they have to wade through. Does anyone else see a comparison of our generation trying to do our homework with the television or radio on? I never was able to convince my mom that I could do a good job on my homework and watch TV at the same time. I hear parents regularly tell their children “no MySpace or texting until your homework is done.” My favorite Web 2.0 tool is wikis for their value as two-way or multi- path communications in collaborative efforts. According to Mills (2007) we as educators need to understand and be able to evaluate our students work with the knowledge that it has been prepared by them from the bottom up not the traditional top-down methods that we are the most familiar with from the early days of the Internet and media (para.1).

Many blessings,

Joe Ross

Works Cited:


 * Mills, L. B. (2007). The next wave now: Web 2.0. //The Education Digest//, //73//(4), 4-5.

WEEK 4-Significant Quote. Hitchcock (2007) warned us in very simplistic yet startling terms “what it comes down to is one simple thing: If you wouldn't say it to a complete stranger on the street, then do //not// "say" it online." (page 15)

Hello Everyone, This statement by the author seems simple enough and falls in the category of common sense. That's where the problem begins with many of us; using good common sense. Whether it be for our own children, family or students charged to our care we must understand how simple acts of innocence can put them and us in harm's way when using online communication and especially with the advent of all the latest Web 2.0 media types that can now include videos, photos and .wav files. Part of a properly designed classroom includes positioning any computers in the room so that monitors can be easily viewed by the teacher from any location in the room. This was true in our home too. When my children were still at home, as Hitchcock (2007) suggested, they were not allowed to take their computer in their rooms and shut the doors. Computers were to be used in spaces where my wife or I could walk by at anytime and say, "what was that web site that you were just on?" It's part of our job and responsibility to be willing to challenge someone's online activities when they are using online technology and especially while under our care. We must understand the types of activities that are available to our students and be able to advise them on how to protect themselves, yet still have fun. A good example is by changing their Internet account and privacy settings in applications such as MySpace and understanding how they work and should be used. I don't want my students to perceive me as a "computer cop" but I do expect them to understand the rules just like all the others we practice under good classroom management strategies and I also want them to know that they can always come to me for help if they experience any "online" issues such as cyber-bullying.

Many blessings,

Joe Ross

Works Cited:

Hitchcock, J. A. (2007). Cyberbullies, online predators, and what to do about them. //Multimedia & Internet@Schools//, //14//(3), 13-15

WEEK 5-Significant Quote. Gravina (2007) explained "wireless may be part of the answer to overbooked computer labs. Wireless technology also may provide a possible cost savings in modernization projects and new school construction. It can provide teachers with access to their grades and folders outside of the classroom walls. Administrators have found this mobility a valuable tool for performing classroom observations and monitoring student discipline and attendance."

Hello Everyone,

When you think about wireless it helps to understand that this is just one link in a long daisy chain that makes up a viable network. The term //wireless// comes from terminology created many years ago when Nikola Tesla first invented the radio with his early spark transmitters. Today's wireless system is nothing but a radio frequency carrier that is most often found in the UHF and microwave portions of the radio frequency spectrum. Our computer packets of information come from a modem and go in and out of a network and simply get a free ride on these radio frequency carriers. With the radio frequency mostly being in the ultra high frequency range and above it is easy for these short wavelength radio waves to travel effortlessly through concrete walls and other structures. The cabled or hard-wired network, as it is sometimes called limits the locations that a computer with network access can be placed and are expensive and labor intensive to construct. These same radio frequencies are what allow you to use your cell phone with success even when calling from a basement below ground level. My point is that wireless is a great tool and benefit to us but in and by itself it can't really do any work. If you have wireless on an over-taxed network with too many users and not enough bandwidth you have not gained anything except frustration. As school districts move to wireless they must also include budgets and planning for large broadband support that most likely includes T1 or even T3 lines that will support many simultaneous users. Older desktop computers can be adapted to use wireless network cards. Only then will teachers and students have true connectivity when either at or away from the campus in an on-demand 24/7 environment as the Texas Long Range Plan mandates.

Have a very blessed day,

Joe Ross

Works Cited : Gravina, R. J. (2007). Everyone’s going wireless, so why aren’t we? //School Administrator//, //64//(5), 8.