The future of Schools
Think back to 1st grade in the Elementary School (those apart of District 748 at that time and others that may relate as well) when we visited the school computer lab and used the green-screened computers with the large floppy disks, the old Mac computers with Claris Works, library catalogs, large video tape cameras, and teacher-written report cards. If at that time we were able to think as deeply as we do now, what would we have said the world would be like today? Would we have predicted digital video (DV) cameras, flip phones, computer catalogs, flat-panel monitors, online grading systems, My Space, etc. Technology evolved so fast from 1996 to 2006, and looking into the future I think we will see many changes as well. A lot of the new stuff that we have today was built more from scratch, but I think in the future we are going to see a lot more technology that is based off of today. Faster computers, smaller and bigger memory cards, Ipods with more capabilities and large amounts of memory, etc. The future classroom is going to be more computer based. Students will have more access to computers than we even do now, maybe a majority of the students will even have their own. Wireless technology will also come even further. We'll see more internet connections and devices that work off of wireless technology. Cell phones may also have some application in the classroom as well. Perhaps students will be able to use their cell phones in conjuction with homework. I saw a pen scanner that hooks up to a computer and will upload any text/numbers that it scans over. What a future we have in store thanks to the technological advances that we have been seeing so much of. It's amazing to think that everything we have today is going to be considered very obsolete with only a few years down the road.
Things Learned
I've always thought that concept of blogging has been a great way of sharing ideas and talking with people, and I'm glad that we got to use it in College Geography. As we've learned in the class, the world is changing and changing ever more through technology. Using Blogger to communicate is a prime example of this movement. How many classes of Mrs. Hartman's would have used this 5 or 10 years ago? How many students would have known what the world blog meant? I think it has been an interesting way to share ideas and I've enjoyed doing it from the comfort of my home through the internet. I've learned how a lot of our classmates think on different issues and learned that we all think deeply about many things. It will be interesting to see how College Geography classes of the future communicate ideas. I believe we are the first class to use a blog to communicate? Clearly we've set a new trend.
Bird-Flu Vaccine
A new vaccine is currently being tested to fight bird flu. As of now, scientists are using mice to test the vaccine, but are unsure whether the drug will be effective in humans. Also, the vaccine is designed to fight a version of bird flu identified in Vietnam in 2003. For this reason, many wonder if it can also be used as protection in the latest forms of bird flu found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the article it states that our government is spending
$250 million on vaccine doses that fight the Vietnamese version of bird flu...which can protect up to 20 million Americans. In my opinion, it seems like a lot of money to be spending when you're not even sure it will work. I am glad that we are trying to find ways of avoiding bird-flu deaths in America, however I am not sure why we are using a vaccine, made to fight a version seen 3 years ago. I am sure that bird-flu has possibly changed over the years so scientists should be finding a vaccine that can help the H5N1 version that we are seeing today.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11933664/#storyContinued
3) what do you like or dislike about blogging as a part of the class?
I both like and dislike aspects of blogging. I thought that it was a really good idea to expand on what we talked about in class or just bring up current events. It helped me keep up to date and have a little knowledge about what is going on around me. I like how we could talk back and forth and how everyone has to participate in some way. It was interesting hearing what other people had to say and what interested them. This blogger is a great tool for class and it adds a lot. What I don't like about it is that it adds that extra work load to what is already needed in class. I sometimes had a hard time keeping up with it all, but I think that is partly because of my already full schedule, and the blogger cannot be blamed. But I think that there is a lot of work included in this class, and this was just one more thing to do. But still, I really enjoyed learning new things in a new way that breaks away from traditional study to something that we can all participate in, in the way we chose. We could comment on which posts we wanted and create new posts to let others know what we thought, overall, it is a helpful asset to the class.
