Comments on Presentations 11/30

Instructional Design - Brooke
As an instructor in the library, whenever I am asked to do a new instruction, I have to look at everything Brooke talked about tonight. Assessing the user needs is definitely the most important part for my instruction because each user group is completely different. Another topic that Brooke spoke about was evaluation and how you need to see if your learners are in fact learning anything. This is another issue that the libraries deal with. Our group found that the Dick and Carey was too inside the box, too restricted. Awesome job! I hope you are feeling better!

Quality of Life - Michiko
Michiko touched upon something that I am very much interested in within her presentation, and that is the concept of lifelong learning. How do we help people continue to learn throughout their life, assisting them in making new connections with past learning experiences. I really enjoyed this presentation, especially learning the theories of aging. I hadn't come across those in my reading yet. If you get a chance, Michiko, could you post your presentation? I would really like to learn more about the theories. Thanks! And great job!

Security - Vasa
Vasa, you did a great job on this presentation! I can't believe the video that you showed us; how scarey. Security is one of the main reasons some of my family has not joined the Internet craze. I think the main thing is that you have to learn how security works (or doesn't) on these sites before taking part in them. Although, I am not sure how you would learn how a site is secure unless it's stated, but even then, how can you trust that? Is there some kind of measure of safety that some agency has come out with that will help consumers protect themselves?

Denise - Culturally Relevant Teaching
I found Denise's presentation fascinating. When I was growing up, I saw the opposite of this happen in schools that I attended. Some teachers never gave students chances and really focused on their cultural background, social status, etc. Some even made comments negatively towards/about students. How can technology assist in this process? When you posed this question, Denise, the first thing I thought about is how teachers could develop a learning network, sharing stories and learning from each others' experiences. I think this would be the first thing that needs to happen so that people see the issues that are currently out there and then can work together to fix them. Great job!

Thanks for all your hard work on your presentations!

Former UF graduate who doesn't use technology...

For our article this week, I chose one from the March 31, 2000, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The article is called "David Noble's Battle to Defend the 'Sacred Space' of the Classroom," which speaks about a professor and author who doesn't use any form of technology. He doesn't use email; he writes his books on paper and submits them to publishers as is; he doesn't make webpages for his courses nor does he have an online presence except for what other people publish about him; he refuses to teach online courses... It's an interesting piece to read. http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i30/30a00101.htm

Addicted to Wii :(

Because our internet connection is not working at home, I have been slacking in the "do work at home" area, and instead have taken up Wii sports on Mat's Wii system. I have to admit that I LOVE playing it. When I was younger, I was known as the Nintendo master on the first system (sad, right?). Since then, I have let my abilities go and have been turned off by the 90-button controller games, such as the playstation and game cube that have 90 buttons on them that you have to try to hit all at once to get the player to do anything correctly. Now, the Wii is here, and I am addicted once again. I also would like to get the Atari system - that is so great! My sister had one of those when we were growing up, and I played it sometimes and loved it. I guess my mind is too simple for the confusion involved in the 90-button controller games. Simple is better :)