EXAMS!!

It's that time of year where the nice examiners like to test our understanding of what we have been doing so far in uni. If I am perfectly honest I am one of those people who hate exams and would much rather coursework. All the revision, not knowing what is going to come up in the exam, and then the worry afterwards whilst waiting for our results. They don't half know how to put pressure on us. There is just not enough time in the day. Thankfully we get our reading week and the week of exams where I can revise more then! I would like to wish the rest of 1B good luck! Hopefully there will be all this stress for good results, which is what we are all hoping for and I am sure that we will all do great. Just one thing we got to do...heads down and work our little bottoms off!

Pro's and Con's of my most used web2 app!!

Twitter. What is Twitter? Who uses Twitter? Well, Twitter is another social networking site that is open to the public. Anyone can use it from celebs to people who are not celebrities. On Twitter you are aloud to 'Tweet', this is where people write things such as what they are doing, how they are feeling and other random thoughts that they have. People 'follow' one another on Twitter where they can see what their friends are doing and talk in direct messaging service to each other as well as follow their favourite celebrities. However, just like every Web2 app there are so many pro's and con's to these sites. So I am going to start with the disadvantages so that I can end with a good look for Twitter, as it's not that bad after all, as long as it is being used the way it should be.
Firstly, there is the disadvantage of misusing Twitter. I think this is the sum up of all the disadvantages of Twitter, as the main disadvantages are people misusing Twitter for things they should not be doing. In the last year there have been so many stories in the news of people being arrested due to making horrible comments about others whether those comments being racist, sexist and things that are just wrong and should not be said at all let alone on a social networking site.
Secondly, I move on to the con of privacy settings. People need to make sure that their accounts are made private so that only friends can see what they are writing on their account. Especially younger users. So many people are using this social site now that it can lead to so many problems. Some problems you hear of are that of older men talking to younger girls so it is important that privacy settings are done correctly and that you ensure that you don't accept people you do not know. This is a huge disadvantage for Twitter as it could be such a nice site if there wasn't bad people out there doing things like that.
Thirdly, I have the disadvantage of arguments. Social networking sites seem to be the main cause of arguments these days due to people making inappropriate comments about others. And all this is down to people not acting their age on them and not using them in the correct manner.
Advantages for Twitter however are things such as people being able to keep in touch with friends. There comes a stage in people's lives where they move away, get new jobs, go to new schools/colleges/university as well as many other reason's and Twitter can be used for people to keep up to date with their friends, arrange to meet up and so on. And as you know I am currently studying educational studies in Uni I am able to keep in touch with friends from uni and get help off them if I am unsure of anything.  So Twitter has it's good uses.
Another advantage for Twitter is that if you are following your favourite singer for example it may be Calvin Harris, He may 'Tweet' when he is touring next allowing you to know in advance so that your able to ensure that you look for tickets to go see him live.
Finally, there is the advantage of being up to date with whats happening around you today. So many people tweet things that they have heard, seen or think that it is like an informal news site. You find out so much on Twitter, it's shocking, especially how things get around so fast. Twitter is a good way of finding out things you don't know in some ways. Therefore having Twitter can be of an advantage to you.
Overall, Twitter is a good social networking site and can be used in many ways, however if you don't use it in the correct manner it can become a danger to you.

Edublog

I have links on my blogger to a couple of different educational blogs, however my favourite blog that I follow and enjoy looking at is edublog. Edublog is said to be powering 1,558,798 edublogs since 2005. The site is a very safe and reliable site that allows teachers and pupils to blog about education. There are many privacy settings that allows your account to be open for everyone to see or it can be made private so only the people you allow are able to take a look at what you have to say. This for me makes this blog site a very good and safe one for children of all ages allowing children to be able to gain knowledge of the internet from a young age with it being safe for them to use. The site also allows you to have an app on your mobile phone allowing you to update your blog whenever and wherever you like.
As well as many privacy settings that this site allows you to have, the site also provides help and support for you, by you emailing them questions and they then reply shortly after they have received your email with advice and help. The site is not only based for schools to use, but comprehensives, colleges and universities are able to use these sites. You are able to customise and make your blogging page for your very own school using logos and different images etc.
There is so much more you are able to do on this education blog that help me enjoy looking at it and seeing what differs in different schools as well as for any sort of similarities and pupils views on education which help me pick up other opinions as I am hoping to go into an education based career these views on education help me gain a wider knowledge on how children learn and what they think of their learning enviroment. So take a look at http://edublogs.org/why-edublogs/ and see what you think of the different ways pupils and teachers blog about their education.

Starting 2013 as I mean to go on...Revision, Work and more Work!

It's the start of 2013 and all I am thinking about is revision and uni work. My mind is constantly ticking over about the two exams I have to sit at the end of this month and handing in my assignment, which is of course this blog. So, I guess the only thing I should be doing is getting this work done and hopefully get a lovely pass from all three. I have a few goals that I would love to achieve this year; 1.Is to pass my first year at Uni and continue on into the second year with ease...but I know it is going to be a lot of hard work needed to be put into it. 2.Is to pass my driving test that I booked this morning...nervous! 3.To be happy, successful and have a very healthy 2013 with Chris and my family and friends.

Web 2 app being used in eductaion??

I have recently come across a WEB 2 app called Wordnik. Wordnik is like an online dictionary/thesaurus. You are able to type a word in the search bar and the programme will search the word and give you a meaning of that word and ways in how you are able to use the word you searched for. For me Wordnik is a fabulous new app that I have grown to love and use quite regular. I used Wordnik for my first essay for university, it helped me gain more knowledge of certain words and allow me to be able to search for more appropriate word to use in my assignment. I think Wordnik is great and would be a very handy tool for children to use in education whether they use it to write stories or essay’s or to just finding out what a word means if they are not sure. There are so many ways in how Wordnik can be used in education today, especially as technology has become such a big part of ways of learning in today’s society. Children in schools could be reading, come across a word and want to find out what that word means they can just go off and do their own research. It is a way of children becoming more independent as they are learning to find things out for themselves rather than relying on a teacher. Homework could be set where the child is doing spellings, sometimes it is easier to spell words if you know what it means as it makes more sense to you. Therefore this app is a great app that should definitely be used in education today as children can become more independent. It’s a great app that would be of such use in schools. I love Wordnik and would really recommend it to schools.

http://www.wordnik.com/ To the left is the link to the app that I have used quite a lot and would really recommend for schools to use.

Ken Robinson Ted Talk

Whilst Studying Educational studies in Swansea Metropolitan, I have come across Ted Talks due to one of our lectures being based upon Ken Robinson. I really enjoyed the talk, and had to write a five hundred word reflection essay based on the talk about school killing creativity. Normally I don’t find talks like this that interesting but from the minute my tutor pressed play I was engaged in the clip, I wanted to find out more, what he had to say about education. My thoughts, when I actually looked back on the video clip in order to gain a little bit more sense in it, to look to see if I had missed an important comment or something, became more familiar to me. I actually felt more switched on as some would say. I actually managed to listen to something, really enjoy the clip and have quite big thoughts on it. I agreed with most that Ken Robinson had to say about education. I have recently watched more clips on education as Ken Robinson has helped inspire that little bit more in education despite my passion to become a teacher since a child. Ken Robinson talked about schools killing creativity and what education is working towards now. He believes that people are being educated to go to university, sit exams and work, there is far less focus on subjects such as art and drama and music now that people are being forced to learn things that they have no interest in what so ever. This proves that, yes, schools are killing creativity. I have recently left school and have gone straight to university and I fully understand what Ken Robinson is saying as I have experienced it. Schools are only focusing on the core subjects such as Maths, English and Science. Before long graduates are not going to be seen as important as what they are today and what they were a few years ago due to so many people going to university now, that holding a degree is not going to be seen as good anymore. I totally agree with these thoughts that Ken Robinson had. Here is a link to the Ken Robinson talk on Ted.

Happy New Year!!

Well Christmas has come and gone! all the stress people go through making sure they have got everything, haven't forgotten something, the huge build up before just for a few presents to be opened and then it's all over for another 365 days? Well it's only five more sleeps 'till New Years Eve. The time of year where all people are friendly wishing each other Happy New Year, giving kisses and shaking hands and wishing for a much happier new year. Well here is a little image to wish you all a very happy and successful New Year.