Why We Won’t Purchase More Kindles at the Unquiet Library

In the article, Why We Won’t purchase More Kindles at the Unquiet Library, the author talks about why their school library has decided to use the Barnes and Nobel Nook simple touch in their integration of eReaders, instead of the Amazon Kindle which they had been previously using. The reason for the switch was due to a change in the License Agreement. Where previously K-12 and school libraries could have multiple kindles on one account, allowing books to be shared, Amazon now required that each kindle have it’s own account. Requiring that each kindle must have the book downloaded and paid for separately. Although Amazon was working to set something up with and website called Overdrive.com, this website requires the purchase of a subscription that most school libraries will not be able to afford. Amazon said that they were working on a backend management tool that would be helpful to schools, however it would not be available for several months. The author also felt that it would not be comparable to what was already being offered by the Barnes and Nobel Nook.

As a future educator, I see the great problem with this new standard. For schools to have to purchase each kindle and then purchase the books for each kindle separately is costly. It also causes problems with simply keeping up with the kindles, making sure they all have the same books. The Barnes and Nobel nook on the other had, already has a system in place for how schools can manage their numerous nooks on one account. I agree with the librarian’s decision to switch from the kindle to the nook on the basis that the nooks are more user friendly for schools.

Embracing E-Reader Technology with Nook Club

In the article, Embracing e-reader technology with Nook club, author Hayley Ringle discusses the advantages of school libraries having nooks for students to use. She mentions that while the nooks themselves come at a fairly expensive price of about $300 per nook, the books that can be purchased and downloaded on them are significantly cheaper then buying the traditional book. She even gives a comparison of prices of Suzanne Collins’, “The Hunger Games” stating that the traditional book in hardback form casts 17.99 while the e-book format costs only $5. Ringle includes a couple of comments from students who have used the nooks who enjoyed various things about the electronic readers from being able to read in the dark with the illuminated screen, to the fact that the nook was much lighter than a traditional book. The advantage for the school with the nooks is that, since all six of the current nooks are on one account, the school only has to purchase the book once for all six nooks to have accesses to it.

As a future educator I have very mixed feelings about nooks and other types of electronic books. I can definitely see the advantages of them, including the cost efficiency of buying books. Also, just the fact that they are technology has a great advantage in getting kids interested in reading. For these reasons I think the nooks could be a great addition to schools, even though there is large initial cost to purchase the nooks. However, I don’t feel like the nooks should replace all traditional books. I think that students need to have the option to use a traditional book. The reason for this is because I know from experience that while some students will embrace the idea of electronic books, others will prefer the feel of holding a real book in their hands while reading. This is actually something that the school librarian said in the article, that the goal was to blend the use of traditional books and e-books, not replace the traditional with the e-books. If this blending of the two types of books is truly the ultimate goal, then I agree with the idea of integrating e-books into the school system. 

GAIN google earth

I learned a lot about google earth by looking at the tutorials and tips, and just messing around with it myself. At first I thought it was going to be just like google maps, and although you can do much of the same stuff that you can do on google maps on google earth, google earth also has a lot more to offer. One of the things that i thought was really cool about google earth is that you could explore terrain under the sea, and even explore various ship wreck. Google earth shows you where the sip wreck is, gives you some brief information about the ship, and how it sank, and in some cases even provides a video of the discovery dive.
Another thing that I though was pretty cool is that, its not just the earth you can explore, but also the moon, and even mars. This would be great for students learning about the planets and the solar system to be able to actually see that they look like.
You can also look and see what towns and cities looked like throughout history and compare how things have changed.

The idea sheets gave some interesting ideas for projects that teacher could have their students do with google earth. One sheet gave the idea that students could trace the path of  Explorers using the line tool, and create place markers along the way to mark important sites and events. This would help the students actually see where events took place rather than just hear about them. Students could also create place markers marking where various traditions started around America or the world.
Older students could actually explore various battle fields, and i some cases may even be able to use the date feature to go back to the particular year when the battle took place, and see what the battle field looked like then.
Another idea talked about how students could use the layer feature to demonstrate the historical migration of humans and also current migration patters of various ethnic groups.
Google earth has a lot of potential educational uses.

I looked at a couple of the sites from part C but the one that stuck out to me the most was the google earth goods. it talked about 26 different ways to use google earth in the classroom. One suggestion was using google earth to track the color Change of leaves in various parts of the world. This could be great for a science lesson. Another lesson that I thought was really interesting, especially for older students, is having them develop the next great city. Simply find a big open piece of land and let them work. Students would have to research city infrastructure in order to do this, and work together to design the layout. It would be a very intensive, but interesting project when learning about the dynamics of how a city works. Students can also make a virtual biography about a historical person, embedding picture and videos, marking important sites, and then take a class on a tour of that persons life. If your class is studying Shakespeare, you can even take look inside of the globe theater. These are just a few of the ways that teachers could use google earth for educational purposes. There are so many things that could be done with google earth. It is truly an amazing resource.

GAIN google maps

I use google maps quite often, so learning about some feature i didn't know about was great. Google maps doesn't just give directions.

One of the feature that cam up right away was the ability to explore various places through the world wonders project. You can see various locations as well as get information on them, and even see videos about them. This would be a great resource for students who were doing projects on discovering the world.

Another feature that i learned about was the ability to see pictures taken by webcams from various locations. By hovering over the map icon you can choose to view where the web cams are and then click one to see the images. They have been taken within the last 45 mins. You can also see traffic for various areas. Selecting traffic brings up streetlights. When you click on a streetlight it takes you to that are and allow you to see What roads have fast moving traffic or slow moving traffic, and even where there is construction.

These are just a couple of features that i learned about on Google earth, and there are even more.

I looked at the google trek feature. This is so cool, because it allows teacher to take students on a virtual tour for free. Teacher can track where they want students to go, add links to websites with important information, and even add pictures. This was interesting, i had never known how to turn a word into a link before, so that was interesting to learn.  Students could travel across the country, or world in just a couple of class periods. Of course there is quite a bit of set up on the part of the teachers, but done right, it could be worth it. Setting up this google trek was very easy to do. This is a great tool for teachers to use in their classroom.

TECH Picasa

Picasa automatically brings up the pictures are saved on your computer. In order to work with or edit a picture you simply double click on it. You then have the ability to crop images, use red eye, filter images, or even add text. One of the things i though was interesting was that you could press a button and Picasa would only show you pictures with people's faces.

One feature i thought was really great was the ability to create a collage. For the most part you could only create a collage based on templates they already had in place, however, it is still a great feature, as you can move your pictures around to the carious locations that you want them. In picture pile you can move picture around to any where you want them, however there is no way that i found to bring pictures to the front or back.

Another feature that i thought was cool was was the ability to use your pictures to make a movie. You could add transitions between pictures, add text, and even add audio to the movies. Once your movie is done you can even upload the movie to youtube right from Picasa.

Over all i found Picasa a little difficult to navigate, but once you know what you are doing it is a great site for editing picture and even making fun things with them. Below are the pictures that I edited. The original is first and then the edited one.

GAIN google sites

 Setting up a website with google sites was actually fairly easy. it was easy to navigate, and quick to set up. You can start from scratch, or you can choose a classroom website template. I looked at the classroom template, however, i preferred to start from scratch as it gave me more freedom to create a page that i wanted. Adding pages to the sidebar was easy, you simply clicked the add page button and it brought up a new page for you to work on. Inserting picture was also try easy, you simply clicked insert, and then image then chose your image. When they image came up it is the original size, however you could easily make the image smaller and easies to work with. Over all Google sites is a great and easy way to create sites that are easy for students to navigate and for teacher to post important information.
My site is at https://sites.google.com/site/missamath101/home

TECH game-based learning

For this section I choose to look at a couple of Macro games.

The first one that I looked at was called Fitocracy. This games links gaming with fitness. The mission of the creators was to make fitness more fun, and a more addictive experience. I choose to look at this game in depth and so i did set up an account. When signing up for an account, it asks you to give your weight. The reason for this is so that different quests and achievements can be created just for you. Don't worry, they are not going to post this. It also asks you do check what your inteseted in the fitness for such as cardio, weight loss, strength, or group training. It even gives the option of adding friends so you can encourage one another, or even compete against each other. There is also the option to join various groups that allow you to make new friends and discover new workouts, for instance i joined three groups, swimmers, couch to 5K, and Nah, I'll take the stairs. Finally, it gives you the ability to follow expert  on fitocrats that will keep you motivated in your workouts.
The point of the game is that you workout in order to level up. You input workouts, for instance, i did a work out at the pool today that I was able to input and i earned 227 points. I also input my workout for monday at the pool. The website is designed to be very encouraging. You also have the ability to schedule a workout. Simply choose the date you want to schedual your work out for, so i want to schedule a workout for tomorrow, so I would go to Wednesday July 18 and schedule a work out. The site then sends you an email with the details of your work out. The site allows users to see who on the site has the most points. You can even challenge your friends or people in groups, and interact with people in your groups to talk about your successes and even learn new workouts.
This game would be great for a PE class, as it adds the gaming experience and the competition that some students may find lacking when dong typical workouts. There is obviously a certain amount of honesty that has to go into it, but if you can keep your kids hones this is a great game. It is also available to get on your smartphone, so the students can take it with them everywhere.
This is a game that I will continue to use.

The second game I looked into was not as in depth. I looked at chore wars. Chore wars lets users earn points for household chores. This gets kids motivated to do usually mundane chores such as taking out the trash, or washing dishes. Only the Dungeon master, or the person who set up the account to create chores, others can only claim them. While this game is obviously most useful for the home environment it could also be used in classrooms.  Students do various things like clean their desk, pick up papers, pass out paper, take out the recycling, etc. in order to gain points. The teacher could then set in place a reward system for students as they earn points. Chores that are urgent can be put up as quests. Quests double that XP and gold of a normal adventure. This game is a great way to make anybody, kids and adults, more excited to do chores.