C4T #1

My assigned teacher for this post was Jeff Utecht. Jeff and his wife have lived in various countries across the world, and they are currently residing in Thailand. Like in America, the students and faculty in Thailand are in their second semester. At the conclusion of the current semester, Jeff and his wife plan to return to the States. I find it very interesting to that he is living and teaching in a foreign country.

He is an extremely busy person not only with his teaching, but also with several projects he has been working on for an extended amount of time. The first blog that I read was entitled “Too Many Projects Not Enough Time”, and in this he talks briefly about his projects. The first undertaking Jeff blogs about is live streaming for their basketball team and the importance of knowing how to use today’s technology. The use of live web streaming is helpful in that many families and other fans cannot travel from country to country watching their favorite team play. Being live on the web allows viewers from a distance to watch the basketball game. Along with live streaming, Jeff also set up sessions for teachers to learn how to use their new technology, such as iPads, iPhones, and new computers. The endeavor Jeff explains is the Ninja Program. The Google Apps Ninja Program.is a program created by Jeff for students to learn how to master Google Apps. There are five different areas; to pass an area the student must make an 80%.  Once the student has mastered an area, they receive a “widget belt” and button from Jeff. After completing the entire program, they receive a t-shirt. The number of people signing up took Jeff by surprise.  He not only had students signing up for the program, but he also had other educators signing up. I think this program is a great idea. I was in a “new world” when I first started using Google Apps. This program would be helpful to newbies! Finally, Jeff blogs about COETAIL Online Cohort. COETAIL stands for Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy and is a five-class course offered by Buffalo State, SUNY. This course teaches educators how to use technologies and how to apply them in the classroom. Jeff is very excited about the number of educators signed up for this course. Although this course is for International Educators only, I think it is a great course because it teaches them how to use and apply new technologies in the classroom. I think this is helping the transition between books to computers and tablets. His hard work will pay off!  

The second blog that I commented on is entitled Advice for Parents of 1:1 Programs. A 1:1 is a program in the classroom where there is 1 computer for every 1 student. I think this is a good idea for doing homework and teaching students to use the computer and Internet responsibly, but this program also has down sides. This blog post begins with a concerned mother who has a computer for school. She states, “because students have their laptops with them all the time, there is not “down” time… he gets up and will open the laptop before breakfast to play, he will play…around with his iTunes in the car on the way to school, on the way home from school…it is a huge fight in our household”. This is a big concern to many parents, even my Dad. Jeff addresses this concern in multiple ways. A few examples include, having rules for when technology can be used, giving the child a time limit for being on the computer, having conversations and watching the child play, and disconnecting them does not mean to take away all technology. This is a great blog for any parent to read, especially those who are having problems with children who are always “plugged” in.

Being on the computer, cell phone, and using an iPod is a big irritation for my Dad. When I was living there, we always had rules and I can even remember him taking away my phone at a certain time. Of course, this was before texting was popular.  My brother and I had a time limit for being on the computer, playing video games, and watching TV.  Actually, just last night, we were eating a family dinner together and I was working on homework. When he said ,“dinner is ready”, he wanted me to immediately stop what I was doing and come to the table. Being in the middle of an assignment, I proceeded to finish what I was doing then sat down at the table. This was rude to him. I think that there should be rules set by parents for the amount of time for being “plugged in”, but I also think that parents need to understand that most homework is done online these days. Most of the sites I use for homework will log out after a short period of time and all work will be lost. Parents need to understand that the times have changed and being on a computer is a necessity. I think there needs to be a happy medium found for both the parents and students. This will keep the arguments from occurring because the student will respect their parents and the parents will respect their child. Although I do not have children, yet, I feel like this will be a problem in my household as well. I do not think that a child needs to be on the phone and computer every waking minute of the day. I understand that computers are now a necessity to get an education, but there has to be a limit. I am a big outdoors person; so, sitting at a computer for hours and hours drives me crazy. I have to get up and walk away after about an hour or so just to keep my sanity. In conclusion this is a great blog post and I definitely recommend it to all parents.