Module 5

I remember about a year ago asking my husband what a Podcast is. He thought it was to do with something about listening to a radio program but after it had broadcast on air. I was a little confused with his answer, wondering why anyone would want to listen to something on the radio after it had been on air? What was the point?
It wasn't until I watched the presentation on Podcasts that I was able to understand the full idea of podcasting and it's benefits. Podcasting and Vodcasting inspires the student to move past trying to please the teacher in order to receive a good grade to challenging the student to publish for a global listening audience. Podcasting information inspires the student to be as creative as they can, using different forms of digital media. Podcasting is inspiring, creative and interactive and is a powerful tool to use in the classroom.
YouTube is something I am familiar with, both on a professional level and a social level. I have used YouTube in my teaching for various activities. One of the activities included a small group of seniors students who were learning about Public Speaking. As one of the lessons I played Martin L. King's "I Have A Dream" speech to inspire them to create their own speech about an issue they are passionate about. I have also used YouTube in my own classroom as a means of digital storytelling. I have used YouTube when conducting or participating in Professional Development sessions as a way of reinforcing different concepts. When it comes to Education, YouTube can be used in so many different ways.
I have used iTunes before as a way of downloading songs onto my iPod. I find it amazing how you can create files or folders on the computer, then transfer them to the iPod, so that the songs are still categorised. One folder for relaxing music, one folder for the gym, one folder for entertaining, one folder for kid's music... the list goes on!
I have recently become a mum. My kindergarten students watched me grow and change, and they always had questions to ask about my pregnancy. I visited Seniors classes as part of their Health lessons to talk about my pregnancy and how the baby grows. I have now been inspired to create my own video with little Emmanuel as the star as a way of reconnecting back to the children, so that they can see him and see the different movements he makes and the things he does during the day. When I have completed it I will be creating a Vodcast (or perhaps even on YouTube??) for them to view it on. Something I can say I've never done but am up for the challenge!! I will post the link here when it is done... stay tuned!!

Module 4

Flickr. I spent the morning browsing through Flickr trying to work it out. Although I managed to upload photos onto my account, I don't think I have truely unlocked all of the options Flickr has.

Copyright issues on Flicker are huge. People posting photos of themselves or others may seem harmless... However, many things can be done to exploit those pics. Take, for example, the article "Flicker vs. Free Speech". A picture of US President Obama was taken, then altered by a student to make Obama's face look like that of Heath Ledgers face in the movie, The Dark Knight. It was later altered again by another group and put onto Anti-Obama posters.

What photos are acceptable according to copyright and what photos are not? "The Commons" page on Flickr is a page designed for people to share photos according to common interests. Whilst this is an amazing tool for bringing like minded people together, it also brings up copyright issues. In their "The Commons" statement, Flickr state that they can not take responsibility if the photos may be used for other purposes, and can not guarantee that the photos will not be reproduced by others. In other words, upload photos onto Flickr with the knowledge that the photos may be used in many different households and workplaces by many different people.

One of the "safe" options that I used for my Flickr account, was to share the photos with friends that I invited. My photos are not open for the public to see. Whilst this means that the comments directed to my pictures will be minimal, at least I wont have strangers looking at my pics!

Here is a sample of what I put up - me with my growing belly...